i was kinda suss when a dodgy lookin ukrainsky woman joined us in our sleeping cabin even though it was already full. but i just kept dozing on my top bunk and tried, for a change to keep myself outta trouble.
she was there for a while though. some of the others left and she was still there making all kinds of racket with plastic wrappers, tape, screwdrivers and a snazzy little tool that could turn any seemingly innocent wall into a SECRET COMPARTMENT!
she pulled the table down, the wall apart and stashed cigarettes in the floor! she turned the ceiling into a door, opened it and stashed some there. they were seriously everywhere. and she wasn't shy bout it either. but when we got to poland, the border guards [six or seven of them in all] took the train apart. and when i say apart, i guess what i mean is A -farking- P A R T. the ceiling came down, the floors came up, all along the corridor the walls came off, bit by bit.
we could either watch or stare at the floor coz we were kicked out of our cabins. the fat controller was pretty nice to me, grinning and asking me, "nice?" i replied, "strange." and he said, "very, and all for work." or was it "awful work". i don't know. just the same as when he checked my passport i couldn't be quite sure if he said "good way" or "go away". benefit of the doubt, i say. yea, so my train was delayed at the border for about an hour an forty minutes due to impressively contortionistic cigarette smugglers. but, after only 36 hours, i have made it from nikolayevka to warsawa!
but somehow i don't feel much like roaming the streets right now. could be due to the shock of below 30 degree temperatures after absolutely roasting every day in nikolayevka. could be the "flat" ukrainsky shoes i bought ~ sqodge said they make me walk like a girl, can you imagine! could be the lack of alcohol intake, my last dosage was two beers with vareniky for breakfast yesterday morn at kiev station with yura pre-teary goodbye.
and i really don't know where to start right now with the whole ukraine slash budapest slash poland extravaganza. i feel like the first things that come to mind about nikolayevka will only make it sound bad: the next to useless power station is undergoing works at present so there's no hot water; there's high unemployment (partly because of the power station's uselesness) and not a whole lot to do which is probably largely why people drink so much; there's a lot of illness and poverty including my (2nd) cousin andrei who i think has killed his liver but keeps drinking and keeps putting himself in hospital. he's 28.
but at the same time, and even more than those negative aspects, it's a really lovely place and kinda feels like my second home now, despite the fact that i still can't navigate myself around ~ again, i blame it on the alcohol intake, it's damn hard to avoid. i know you wont believe me but i HAVE tried. the people in nikolayevka are really lovely but i'll hafta tell ya bout them next time COZ i gots a train to catch. meeting mum n kevin in a few hours somewhere between warsaw and gdynia. don't know what's next.
hope you're ace, spanks fer the mails n comments, i will be back in vienna next week and will definitely write ya then.
love n stuff
xx
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