Day 44 - Drinks with the chief

The countdown has begun. We have booked our flight home. We depart Ukraine the afternoon of 5 December. We are 9 more sleeps until the big trip back over the pond.

Last night we found out our landlord is leaving on vacation and he invited us into one of the private rooms at the hotel for a celebratory drink. We found out last Friday what Ukrainians call a "drink". It really means the glass keeps getting filled until the bottle(s) are gone. Lisa did not take part as she was still recovering from the "drink" we had on Friday night. Yuri, our landlord introduced us tot he Chief of Police for the region. They asked what was left for us to do, and once they found out, they started calling all department heads we will need to speak to, to make sure all goes smoothly for us. We are now formally known by Police, city officials, passport office and records as " the couple form Canada; he speaks Ukrainian, and she only speaks English". If we have any problems, the chief gave us his personal phone number.

We now know the in Ukraine it is not what you know, but who you know.