Ukraine - Day 2: "first day of work"

this post isn't in the same "wonderment" vein of the first post. Perhaps I was a little overwhelmed by this point. This is at day 2, after my laptop had charged. It starts off with the first night"

"Thursday the 23rd. Day2

It was easy to fall asleep after unpacking my clothes and putting away the groceries.

I woke up at 8am and realized I forgot to turn the lights off. Easier to prepare for work. I scrounged up a pan and thick wooden spatula to make an omelet with, but the spatula was too thick so I made scrambled eggs with ham. Then I called work and Regina came to pick me up with Julia, the secretary. The office was a couple blocks away, it was a red brick building with a wall, dark metal side door and solid gate. Honk Honk went the horn and the gate opened. It went from boring brick to italian villa, with cars parked inside and a little 2 story security house. the main building had large glass doors and everything inside was white marlble. We went inside and met the programmers and artists on the first floor, then up the marble steps to marketing on the 2nd floor. My desk is with marketing and the producers on the 2nd floor, and Alla's office has blinds that can open to view the whole area - very daily-planet news, but in italian faux-marble. On the 2nd floor, there was a little zen fountain. On the landing, there was a sweet motorcycle. On my desk, there were a couple clay figurines. The lead artist, Alex, told me his son, 20 years old, made them. Alex was this really cool mix of russian/german mafia plus Alan Rickman. {ed - jenya, the driver from the other day is awesome and nice too. he's like dimitri's long lost brother, with short blonde hair and blingin gold chains). After a couple meetings on usability with Regina and the lead programmer, Llosha, we headed to lunch.

Julia drove Regina, Alex, and I to the mall. The mall was really nice, better than South Point. Up the escalator, through the giant arcade - yes, giant arcade, and to a restaurant that had a mix of sushi and italian. The decor was brown modern leather and cool industrial columns separated from the interior by glass. I got the english menu. I picked out beef carpaccio and a veal dish. Despite the english menu, the waiter couldn't figure out what I wanted because of the lack of numbers. So after some translation back and forth, the waiter suggested the veal with red wine sauce instead, so I got that. Alex and I got vodka the Russian way, so it came with a plate of 3 style marinated fishes, green tomatoes, onions, gherkins, and some other vinegary veggies. The first toast was to finishing the game properly and was followed by a tomato based fish and the veggie no english could find. Next came a toast to prost, kanpai, and a german term followed by savory herb-mayo fish and green tomatoes. Third was to new friends with any sort of follow up, so Korean-style I wrapped up fish in lettuce and ate it with my hands. The vodka was great and working already. Alex said I was an honorary russian for drinking the right way and using my hand. We got along marvelously, finished lunch after agreeing on work, politics, and some game design. Then we headed to a park by the Dnepr river {Shevchenko park - ed}, walked across to an island with old gov't constructed buildings (the river is 1.5km wide). The main land side had some old "modern" restaurants left over from Russian times that were abandoned.

The park had a big rock that I climbed and could see for miles and miles over the river - very awesome.Then we walked down the water, past some giant fountains in the river, and to a little restaurant on the water with traditional food. Alex demanded that the waitress take away the table cloth. I had to laugh at her puzzled looks; that and she had better obey her cracker american master's friends. Alex ordered the food. vodka and giant kabobs arrived - yay. More talk of games and life, then back to the apt. Alex and Regina took the cab to their homes and I went to sober up and hydrate. Robby called me from Benson's phone and they helped me figure out the + symbol appears when you hold the 0 in. After that, I called Mom and dad, and called Janet for, oh, an hour and then some. Pierrot Le Fou and a bottle of gassed water later and I was asleep."

The new friends and discovery of new ways to celebrate friendship were the highlight of the day. A great welcome to a new country so far.