some Ok so I know that this installment is way long past overdue, So with a little more than urging from some I am finally writing.
After our dinner and walk back to the apartment I noticed I felt a little chilled, didn’t really think anything about it and so we went to bed two happily married people and for those of you that want particulars of the wedding night, well use your imagination J J
The following day we had to go to a different office to register our marriage certificate and start the process for the name change in Lenas passport. It was one of those cool gray kind of autumn days that have a fair amount of humidity in the air as we walked from the apartment towards the agency that takes care of this registration. ( you would think that as good as the soviets were at centralizing everything else that the idea of having all government offices in one convenient place would have occurred to them. However anyone who has been there knows this is not the case).
Lena and I enter the small nondescript building to see about ten people who were waiting for the services offered by this office. Now again this is were you can see Ukraine customer service at its best (or worst) as the case maybe. I hear Lena exclaim quietly “Oooh mama mia we will have to wait a long time!” so with my prior experience I’m thinking I should have brought a tent and sleeping bags for the wait. There is only one chair left so Lena sits and I stand. Now for those of you who don’t remember Lena is almost eight months pregnant at this time. So you can imagine that we kind of stick out like a sore thumb. I see a lady come out of a door on one side of the waiting area she sees Lena and comes right over and talks to her and I can tell that she is asking what we are here for. Next thing I know she takes the documents with her through a door opposite the she had come out of. Lena tells me “We will go” and once w are out the door she explains that this lady is the director of this office and that she would process our documents and that we were to come back later. It is times like this that I swear that Lena has a special angel on her shoulder that just draws people to her. Oh before I forget another thing that she told me is that this lady used to work under the wicked witch of the east and now heads an agency that is over hers. Just some of the interesting stuff you learn J
As we walked Lena took my hand and acted a little shocked because my hands were cold. Again I really didn’t think much of it sine if the weather is cool my hands tend to be cold never have had warm hands. The one thing that I did notice is that even with the cool weather I was feeling a little warm and actually perspiring a little under my leather jacket. I just kind of shrugged it off that I had got a mild case of something. When at home I might feel this way but next day everything is fine. Well with just two days to go before I was due to leave this was not to be the case!
We took care of a couple other errands and then back to the registrars to pick up our documents where they told us that Lena had to send them off to Kiev to get some special stamp. So once again the evil paper chase. (By the way we finally got this document and one other back by the middle of November.) We headed back to the apartment as it was time to eat I had noticed that my mouth was feeling a bit tender again another “never mind” by me Lena made dinner and I noticed I didn’t really have much of an appetite but ate anyway Lena had made fried potato’s with onions along with a salad and some cold canned peas. ( I have yet to convince her that these can be served hot.) Now something that is a left over from my ice hockey days and playing in Canada is white or malt vinegar on my fried potatoes. I asked Lena if she had any and I get this look like “are you crazy?” Apparently white vinegar is considered very potent stuff and used for medicinal purposes topical treatment only. I put some on my potatoes then my new brother inlaw decides he would like to try it. Lena is just shaking her head at the both of us like we are two mischievous children. As I ate I notice that the vinegar seemed very strong.
After we ate I started to sweat and then I would have chills. I’m thinking “man I’m really coming down with something” the cycle continued and Lena had me gargle with some awful eucalyptus tasting stuff and gave me a tablet of antibiotic. I just continued to go down hill. Next day was even worse my mouth was quite sore and eating was no fun at all. Lena had been trying to get in touch with her friend Yulias mom who is a doctor but she had been busy all day. Now guys this is where you really find out how well a woman from the FSU knows how to take care of her man. I’m lying there on the pull out sofa feeling like the dregs and Lena is waiting on me hand and foot. Asking if I need this or that and plying me with any number of known home remedies. Even made me homemade chicken soup! Later that afternoon Yulias mom calls an says that the fever is caused by an infection in my throat and that Lena will have to give me two injections of antibiotic. Her exact words when she got off the phone were “Prepare your popochka for injection!” Now anyone who know me will tell you that I hate needles!. Blood draws have become no big deal but my body just seems to have an aversion to having something put into it. So here it is the night after our marriage and there I am with my pants pulled down and my new bride sitting on my legs telling me to relax so she can stab me. Yeah right! I know it’s coming it’s just a matter of when and you want me to relax! Says you! So with a great effort and exhaling a deep breath I apparently relaxed enough that she though the time was right…and… ooofh! there is was actually the jab of the needle wasn’t so bad as that feeling of the fluid from the injection going in, just not something I’m used to. Now funny thing is having worked in construction most of my adult life I can tell you that I have had my fair share of cuts, bumps and bruises and over the years have learned to pretty well shake all but the worst of them off with little more than an uttered oath when they occurred. But that injection! She’s about half way through and I’m say “Ok Lena” “Lena stop Lena” “Lena that’s enough” and she’s calmly saying “Just a second Greggochka almost finished” So here I am the one that is supposed to be her “strong man” whining about a simple injection. Oh well guess you win some and lose some. (shrug)
It was near bedtime (at least for me) and so Lena brings me a glass that is about half full of what I first thought was water, then I noticed there was something red or brown color floating in it. My instructions were “Here drink this!” So I take the glass only to find out that this glass contains a stiff three fingers of vodka with red pepper! For those of you that don’t know this is the tried and true FSU cure for a cold or whatever might be ailing you. Now I am not a big drinker as I mentioned earlier and so for me this is a lot of vodka. Under normal conditions I could have probably nursed that baby all night but in this case the whole thing had to be drunk at once! So I start drinking, I have to stop about halfway through just to try and catch my breath. I hear Lenas “come finish it! I give her a sideways glace and can see that there is as little escape from this as there was from the injection, so down it went. You ever notice that warm ball feeling you get in your stomach after drinking pure alcohol? Well this was that feeling to a factor of four! I think I was instantly tipsy and definitely feeling the effect within minutes. I laid down on the sofa bed and Lena laid down beside me and then made motions with her had like she was trying to pull something out of me and throw it away. Which when I asked is exactly what she was doing. She hates to see anyone sick and this was her first time to see me sick so she was trying anything and everything she could think of to make me feel better. By the way I slept like a log that night.
My final day in Sumy we will leave tonight at about 1am to head for Borisipol so that I can catch my flight. The antibiotic has helped but my mouth is more sore than ever can’t even stand to brush my teeth. The day is pretty uneventful as Lena makes me stay in bed most of the day feeding me hot tea and whatever else that’s soft that I can chew. The time as always passes quickly another injection (no I didn’t whine with this one) we get a little sleep and off to Borisipol . Now the distance from Sumy to Borisipol is only about 350km but because of the condition of the road takes about four hours. So here we are bumping along the highway in the wee hours of the morning to a rendezvous neither of us wants to make. After the two shots I’m not feeling half bad except for my mouth, so we try to laugh and joke as we roll along. We arrive at the airport before sunup and have about an hour and a half before checkin so decide to use the time to catch some sleep. Soon the dread time comes when I have to check in for my flight. If want to see two people who are filled with hesitation and that every move seems like it has to be made with much deliberation that would be us. Long lasting hugs and lots of tears on both sides as I walk through the barrier to check in with my flight. The worker at the entrance says something to me in Russian to which I just give him a blank stare. I hear Lena tell me “he asked if you have anything to declare” “Neyt!” my reply I trudge toward the checkin looking over my shoulder every step of the way and all I can see is my beautiful bride with tears streaming down her face. I get my luggage checked and my boarding pass and just can’t stand it anymore I rush back to where Lena and Lesha are standing and hug her as long and hard as I can while the tears stream down my face. They’re starting to call my flight for boarding so one last hug for Lesha and and very long one for my love then a very, very long walk to the boarding station. We have time to exchange one sms before time to take off “love you”.
This will be my first time ever flying Areflot and we are heading for Moscow and then to Atlanta. It was pretty much what I expected from other stories I read. Rude service and breakfast was some pickled vegetables on a bun. Well with my sore mouth I just couldn’t take it. That flight was uneventful as we land in Moscow. As we exit the gate we are met by a number of uniformed ladies who are calling out our connecting flight. I approach the very attractive young lady calling out my flight (Go figure that she was an attractive Russian woman how difficult is that to find) Anyway she collects our passports shows us where to wait and disappears through a door. I strike up a conversation with a young black guy who is definitely from the US and definitely a little out of his element. As we talked I find out he had been visiting a girl in Lugansk. Now for those that have been around awhile you know what that can mean. Well he tried to downplay the whole thing to the point of her just being a friend. I find myself just kind of going along for the ride with the conversation while in my mind I’m going Uh huh sure. The young smokinhotkova appears with our passports and indicates the way to our boarding gates, and off we go. He stops to get something to eat, since my mouth is so sore I decline and head for the boarding gate. Go through security once again and go and find a place to sit. Soon a young couple with two young girls sits down nearby. I’m watching his little girls v\being little girls and once again I strike up a conversation. Seems he and his wife are Russian and were home visiting relatives. He works for a computer firm and they live just outside of Atlanta. My ex always wondered why I would stop to talk to perfect strangers (I’m sure Lena will wonder this also) I always told her “It’s because you never know just what kind of interesting person you might be standing or sitting next to” Now I’ll be the first to admit that more than once this has backfired and I have learned more about a person than I ever wanted to know, but in the long run it’s all good.
Our flight is ready to leave and I see the Russian family disappear onto the plane a head of me. I find my seat and ready for take off. I’m starting to feel the effects of whatever it is that I caught and the pain in my mouth has increased at least by two only thing I can do is drink fluids and sleep. Can’t wait to get home to see a doctor (when’s the last time you heard someone say that?) We land in Atlanta and I catch my flight for New Orleans finally arriving home I crash into bed. Only problem is my heart is still in Sumy.
Just so you know I went to the doctor the next day and found out that I had a severe case of strep throat. Never had it before always been one of those that my doctor said was disgustingly healthy. Anyway he gave me a mouthwash to use to numb my mouth so I could eat some things, seems all the antibiotic was a bit of an overload on my system and had killed all the good bacteria in my mouth and now had a yeast infection in my mouth. (Ladies if a yeast infection in your nether regions feels anything like the way my mouth did I bow to your strength.) So about two weeks later I was almost healed up and I could feel it start again wasted no time getting the doctor for another go round of a much more gentle antibiotic.
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