International Women's Day & Some Unwelcome Stress

Yesterday was quite exciting, as I got the day off! Despite only having just over two hours of classes a day anyway, I was pretty ecstatic when my teacher told me that Friday was a state holiday. In Britain we don't really celebrate International Women's Day at all, but here it seems like a big deal. The streets have been littered with people selling a variety of flowers, and people in the supermarkets seem to have been buying a lot of wine, vodka and cake.

It seemed apt to spend a (maybe not so well earned) day off doing something that I love, so my roommate and I decided to hit the shops. Riveria is a shopping centre situated about 30km to the north of the city centre, but the tatty little buses (маршрутки) go all the way there and only cost a mere 25p! So I'd already snapped up my first bargain of the day before the shopping had even started. True to form, the bus was disgustingly (perhaps dangerously) busy, and I decided to take a nice, blurry picture of it for you all to see.

Riviera wasn't bad at all, a particular highlight for me was probably Zara. it was much bigger than I imagined, and the prices weren't too much higher than in England. I remember once in Russia seeing a dress I had in the sale in Zara, but it still cost more than I bought it for at full price - ouch! I could have bought quite a lot, however I didn't feel like parting with an awful lot of money. I think the size of my shopping bag was a little deceptive. I only bought a really nicely cut plain white t-shirt, and much needed new handbag.

A very exciting purchase...

A cheeky selfy in Zara.

I am starting to regret not making two purchases now, however I probably would have felt guilty next week and would have ended up eating less instant noodles in order to save myself a bit more cash!

So, the Zara dress would have been met with much disapproval from everyone who knows how many striped items of clothing I own, so I had to say no to that. The blouse was from Pull&Bear, a shop which I've never been in before, but have read a fair bit about. Again, it's monochrome, just like most other things I wear. This was only £20 though, so I may have to go back and buy it at some point.  Furthermore, having just consulted ELLE Ukraine, perhaps I should have bought the dress, as it would have made me a bit of a модница (cool) over here...

I really don't know why fashion is written in Latin?! Ahh dear.

We had a much needed and deserved beer and pizza break half way through our little shopping session. Unfortunately they didn't have any BBQ left, so I went for Мафиоса (or something Mafia related). It was pretty good, even the Italian said it wasn't too bad - so all in all a pretty glowing review. As ever, the beer prices were ridiculously cheap. I think if I lived here permanently I'd have some kind of alcohol problem, that's for certain!

More English everywhere!

Cheap peeve - cheers!

Sara and I have been on a search for some kind of Ukrainian/Russian comparison book, or even Ukrainian/English, but this search has been somewhat unsuccessful thus far. Riviera had a massive book shop, complete with uncharacteristically helpful shop assistants, but no Ukrainian books. I did, however, come away with a Russian translation of Wuthering Heights, which only cost me a couple of quid. I can't promise to read it all, but I shall have a good go at it.

Aside from shopping, this week has been a bit of a grumpy one. I've chosen to stay in Ukraine for over 90 days, which means I need a visa, and the visa system here is perhaps a little daft. Applying for it back in England was a mega ordeal, involving translators and trips to a public notary person, and meant I had to be more like an adult than ever. Despite overcoming this hurdle I need to extend my visa over here and get myself a residency permit or something. All in all, it sorting out the documents for it all just involves a load of photocopying and getting a few passport photos taken (the man who took them thought I was Ukrainian and asked me if they were for a Shengen visa - win!). However, like with everything over here, it all seems to be quite last minute and rushed, and the lady helping me sort it warned me that I may not be able to go to Kiev at the end of the month as I may not have my passport. This resulted in me being extremely grumpy, as it's something I've been looking forward to for a while. I'm now playing a bit of a waiting game to wait for a document to come. If it arrives next week everything should be fine. Keep your fingers crossed for me please! I'm not very fun when I'm grumpy.