Jono Miller

Back in Australia, this is often referred to as the ‘silly season’.

There is the pressure of Christmas shopping (so much money spent it’s got to be sinful!).

There is an end of year break up for every imaginable group.

A BBQ to attend, the beach to visit, long days, balmy evenings, test matches, carol services, holidays to organise, family coming to stay, far too much food to be bought, prepared and consumed.

Although there are some traditions which I miss, I’m glad for the easy pace of life here at this time of year. New Year’s Eve is celebrated in a big way, but the winter helps keep the surrounding weeks rather low key. The days are very short. The sun is rising after 7:30am and setting before 4pm.

DOLLS

You may find yourself in the middle of your ‘silly season’ and not knowing what to buy for Christmas presents. Consider Ukrainian dolls. Click here to see photos and prices and email me today so your dolls can arrive before Christmas.

PLANS

I guess it all started on Saturday night! We had our first snowfall for the winter. A decent fall leaving a good 6 inches of crisp white snow everywhere. It looks absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately I can’t take any pictures as my camera has mysteriously stopped working. (Also well done to the 3 people who guessed the poll on my website correctly.)

КРОКИ is the name of a Ukrainian CD I bought last weekend. It means 'steps'. Here there are a few things happening – one step at a time.

I FINISHED THE FIRST PAGE!!!!
I have bought a Ukrainian book and a large dictionary and I am going to read and understand this book. Today I finished the first page - I wanted to call someone to celebrate it seemed like such a milestone. Only 403 pages to go! Kolya said perhaps I should just start with the newspaper.
Language study is progressing - but it certainly seems like little steps. I can make myself understood in rather bad Ukrainian but am still struggling to pick up conversations.

I have a few steps to make this coming Sunday. 5000 metres to be exact. I am aiming to improve on last years placing in the Kyiv State Athletic Championships (that was last place). My training has involved much more football than running. Motivation seems to be at an all time low. Although I don't need my shoulder for running, I still feel like it will be forever before I regain proper usage of my left arm. I could not even do half a pull up last week when I tried.

GETTING THINGS DONE
Last Saturday I took my pump to a local fix it guy to see if he could work out my problem. He said to come back on Wednesday. I turned up on Wednesday and he said he hadn’t looked at yet and today was his birthday so come back on Friday. I went back on Friday and he said that Wednesday was his birthday and he’s been drunk for the last two days – what did I expect!?! So I’m still drawing water from the well up the road and taking a shower at friends’ houses.

THE WEATHER
Summer just disappeared. It ran away with fast abandon. The last couple weeks have been cold and wet. I’ve been told that it might come nice again later in September but right now its hard to believe how quickly and drastically the weather can change.

The idea of winter is setting me to getting the heating system ready. I have a number of problems left over from last winter that still need fixing. I’m having trouble finding someone who knows how to fix my furnace. I’d like to give it a test run and work out the problems before I really need it.

WAITING TIME NEED NOT BE WASTED TIME
Waiting seems to be a part of life. Whether its waiting for someone to get out of the bathroom, waiting at traffic lights, waiting on the telephone, waiting for the internet to connect, waiting in a queue at a shop, waiting for a bus or train – life is full of waiting. I don’t really like waiting and I definitely don’t like wasting time. Therefore I try to organise my life to have as little waiting time as possible and to be as productive as possible. But there are times when I cannot be the master of my destiny and I rely on others and waiting is inevitable. It feels like I do a lot more waiting here in Ukraine than I did in Australia.