Got back from Poland- always a great place to be; always a great place to leave, if you know what I mean. Jean M in northern IN- she's on my list of 'favorite people' (that's a long list, actually)- would say as we went out their front door with our bags and stuff Nice to see you come, Nice to see you go. It's nice to have a break, nice to do some sideline stuff- but then it's really nice to know I have a place and there's stuff for me to do there! Hello Ukraine!
Having said all that, this past week was fairly quiet. This morning's news said that Europe is officially in a recession. I beleive it. Ukr is feeling the pinch, for sure. The exchange rate for the dollar into local currency has been frozen at above market value for the dollar (I don't understand how this works, but apparently it does... or they hope it does); there is a freeze on withdrawals from banks in excess of a certain sum (to keep the banks from tanking... think the 30's and the run on the banks); no bank or currency exchange place can trade anything but US dollars, Euros or the Russian ruble (I don't totally understand this either- except it's supposed to simplify things for banks). There is almost no building going on- cranes are on-site but haven't moved for weeks. Cost of living has gone up, wages have not. People are scared. I know they are other places, too.
Which brought to mind 2 pix from Pol. We visited a family- Baby is 15 mos old, Dad has been working in Northern EU country for months- was home briefly about a month ago; hasn't seen Baby much since he was about 6 mos old, I'm guessing. Mom has a video of Dad on her cell phone, talking to Baby...
He says Can you give Daddy a kiss? And that's when Baby eats the phone. Darling. Poignant. This is not an unusual scenario at all; Ukr and Pol are full of families just like them. Sometimes the 'away' parent gets home weekends (depending on distance); sometimes, like this case, every 6 mos or so.
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