Saturday was quite an awesome day. In the late morning, Florin stopped by my hotel to pick me up on the way to pick up Revs. Nancy and Pat. We went to a center called Seeds of Happiness. It is a kind of Buddhist-flavored center. It's a beautiful building with great meeting and meditation space. We were there to meet an American author and spiritual teacher whose name is Regina Sara Ryan, a former Ursuline nun of my era. She is in Bucharest this week to teach a seminar on her latest book called "Praying Dangerously". There were a great group of young people in her class. One was a beautiful young woman who has been around the world climbing mountains. We had lunch and discussion with Regina and her class. It was really great. After lunch we all dispersed back to our hotels for a bit. The weather is beastly hot and humid. Florin stopped by again around 5:30 and we took a taxi to pick up Nancy and Pat to go for a communion service and discussion at an LGBT center Florin started called ACCEPT (pronounced ahk-chept - stress on the second syllable). Only fivepeople came, three guys and two young women and the four of us. We had a really good open conversation and heard the story of a young man who had been severely spiritually and emotionally abused by a priest he trusted. He had been refused communion 4 years ago when he was 17 because of being gay. He had not had communion since and didn't ever expect to. When it actually came time for communion, he chose to receive. After the service, we all went out to a pizza restaurant and had a meal together. it was excellent. Oh, the young guy I mentioned asked if I had heard of the Assyrian church. I said "Of course" since that is the church of Iraq. It turns out he was baptized in Iran by an Assyrian priest - his parents were diplomats under Ceaucescu.
Sunday. There were plans to go out with some Embassy folk this afternoon but I decided this morning that I wouldn't go. I am a bit peopled-out and needed alone time. After a restful morning and early afternoon, I went out in search of a meal. The desk clerk suggested a place which I didn't end up finding but I did find, on my own, a Lebanese restaurant that was awesome. I got to speak some Arabic and eat Lebanese comfort food. I had fatush, lamb kafta, spicy potatoes, good bread, baklava and kunafa, finished with a small cup of strong Turkish coffee with cardamom. It was wonderful. The waitstaff were so happy to have a foreigner who spoke some Arabic and knew their food. I nice little serendipity in an otherwise solitary afternoon.
This evening, I will connect with Florin, Nancy and Pat either for dinner or dessert since we will be saying good-bye to our dear Florin tomorrow and all flying off on different flights to the USA.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012
Thursday and Friday in Bucharest
Florin, Pat, Nancy and I met for a strategics meeting early and then went to be present at a morning seminar on a clearinghouse for pro bono work among lawyers and then had lunch. I went back to my hotel for a nap after that.
In the evening, Nancy was scheduled to give a talk at the University. There were about thirty in attendance, mostly young women. It was, as expected a very powerful talk on MCC's approach to sexuality and faith and religion. In the discussion period afterwards, which went on for well over an hour, it was clear that most of those present had decided that the church had little to offer them but that they were very anxious to discuss with Nancy the aspects of faith she described in her talk. Florin, Pat and I also mingled during the wrap-up having very interesting conversations. One couple approached me, a man and a woman. His father and brother are priests. Her father is a priest. They really wanted to continue the discussion with us and asked for a meeting time. I suggested that they come to our meeting on Saturday evening and they agreed to do that.
Picture of Nancy preparing for her talk:
Picture of Florin introducing Nancy:
Picture of the techs using a fire extinguisher as a microphone stand:
We went out to dinner afterwards to debrief and all of us felt very good about the lecture and especially about the participation of those attending. It was after 11 when I returned to my hotel.
On Friday morning early, Florin met me at my hotel and we walked up to Nancy and Pat's hotel to go together to a meeting at the Romanian council of Churches office. we met with a woman who was vibrant and passionate about her work with women. We were joined by a priest who in former days had been one of Florin's professors at seminary. He was difficult. He was a sender rather than a receiver and liked to hear himself talk. We had no common ground and it was a most difficult hour. We all wanted to strangle him. The woman got so frustrated she left the conference table. Although the four of us are generally easy-going, we weren't kind in our assessment of that priest.
My companions had lunch with a government official and a physical in women's health issues and I chose not to attend but went back to my hotel. I wandered the city for a while in the afternoon but the heat and humidity finally drove me back to the hotel to nap. Florin picked me up around 7:30 and we walked over to pick up Pat and Nancy for dinner. We went to a "country" restaurant and ate outside while the peacocks cried their eerie calls and on the other side of us, folk musicians played with gusto. I finally had sarmale (cabbage rolls) and mamaliga (polenta) and reveled in the taste. After dessert and coffee, we did a walking tour of the city. the heat and humidity had me soaked. I got back to my hotel at almost midnight.
In the evening, Nancy was scheduled to give a talk at the University. There were about thirty in attendance, mostly young women. It was, as expected a very powerful talk on MCC's approach to sexuality and faith and religion. In the discussion period afterwards, which went on for well over an hour, it was clear that most of those present had decided that the church had little to offer them but that they were very anxious to discuss with Nancy the aspects of faith she described in her talk. Florin, Pat and I also mingled during the wrap-up having very interesting conversations. One couple approached me, a man and a woman. His father and brother are priests. Her father is a priest. They really wanted to continue the discussion with us and asked for a meeting time. I suggested that they come to our meeting on Saturday evening and they agreed to do that.
Picture of Nancy preparing for her talk:
Picture of Florin introducing Nancy:
We went out to dinner afterwards to debrief and all of us felt very good about the lecture and especially about the participation of those attending. It was after 11 when I returned to my hotel.
On Friday morning early, Florin met me at my hotel and we walked up to Nancy and Pat's hotel to go together to a meeting at the Romanian council of Churches office. we met with a woman who was vibrant and passionate about her work with women. We were joined by a priest who in former days had been one of Florin's professors at seminary. He was difficult. He was a sender rather than a receiver and liked to hear himself talk. We had no common ground and it was a most difficult hour. We all wanted to strangle him. The woman got so frustrated she left the conference table. Although the four of us are generally easy-going, we weren't kind in our assessment of that priest.
My companions had lunch with a government official and a physical in women's health issues and I chose not to attend but went back to my hotel. I wandered the city for a while in the afternoon but the heat and humidity finally drove me back to the hotel to nap. Florin picked me up around 7:30 and we walked over to pick up Pat and Nancy for dinner. We went to a "country" restaurant and ate outside while the peacocks cried their eerie calls and on the other side of us, folk musicians played with gusto. I finally had sarmale (cabbage rolls) and mamaliga (polenta) and reveled in the taste. After dessert and coffee, we did a walking tour of the city. the heat and humidity had me soaked. I got back to my hotel at almost midnight.
Wednesday
While Florin went to the airport to pick up Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson and Rev. Pat Bumgardner, I waited for my friend, Andreea Molocea, whom I hadn't seen since Fall of 2009 in Timisoara at a conference. She arrived promptly, more beautiful than I even remembered. She is studying for her doctorate in feminist studies at Central European University in Budapest which has fairly low residency requirements.
We walked to the old city where there are many sidewalk cafes and chose one at random. Andreea said they were all good. Lunch was leisurely and pleasant. We spoke of our lives and what's going on, of friends, a bit about politics. It was very pleasant to catch up. We walked a bit afterwards and then went our separate ways, I to the hotel to wait to hear from Florin; Andreea to go pack for her trip to Italy the next morning.
Florin called and I walked to the hotel where Nancy and Pat were staying and we all headed out for dinner. We didn't do much business, just hung out and caught up.
All in all, it was a pleasant day of catching up with old friends.
We walked to the old city where there are many sidewalk cafes and chose one at random. Andreea said they were all good. Lunch was leisurely and pleasant. We spoke of our lives and what's going on, of friends, a bit about politics. It was very pleasant to catch up. We walked a bit afterwards and then went our separate ways, I to the hotel to wait to hear from Florin; Andreea to go pack for her trip to Italy the next morning.
Florin called and I walked to the hotel where Nancy and Pat were staying and we all headed out for dinner. We didn't do much business, just hung out and caught up.
All in all, it was a pleasant day of catching up with old friends.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
After a long hiatus - written in Bucharest
Picture one is a chicken breat sauteed with herbs with a rich herb pesto, a side of rice with vegetables
Picture two is chicken meatballs in a savory tomato-onion sauce with a side of steamed buckwheat
Picture three is a bottle of Morshynska sparkling water
Picture four is orange wedges sort of arranged as a spider
I haven't written for a couple of weeks. I quite frankly have felt lousy with significant fatigue and light-headedness. I finally suspected that it was medication induced. The cardiologist supposed to be working on my blood pressure switched three meds just before I left the country. One of them was a potentially potassium depleting diuretic. I stayed on my two original meds and discontinued two. I started eating bananas daily and within a few days noticed improvement. Today so far I've had no episodes and my blood pressure is under pretty good control.
After the distressingly violent attempts to hold Pride in Kiev and the discussions in Parliament about "gay propaganda" laws which would make it illegal to even say the word "gay" or any related word, most of my time was spent with friends trying to encourage and support. I became closer to Jenia and Kate and had some wonderful meals with friends.
We had two three day weekends in a row. First for Kiev Days celebrating 1530 years of existence. I spent two wonderful days of wandering with Sergei and then we had the Feast of the Holy Trinity which is a national holiday. One of the customs is to bring arms full of greens (especially a kind of rushes that when walked on give a pleasant aroma). When friends arrived for liturgy on Sunday, they strewed greens all over the floor of every room. Untypically I sat for worship because I felt terrible. After my friends left, i rested for a while and made my slow way to Glossary for a meal. I decided to break my routine. When I told Jenia that I would not have cabbage salad, he shouted to the chef - "He's not having cabbage salad!!!!" Everyone laughed. I asked Jenia to make me a fresh fruit smoothie with bananas and then had a poached salmon dish. Within an hour I noticed that I felt better than I had. When I walked home, i had little weakness and walked pretty fast. That's when I stopped taking the potassium-depleting diuretic.
On Tuesday morning, Jenia and Kate picked me up after they stopped at Glossary to pick up breakfast-to-go for me. They took me to the airport. I got there at 11 for a 1 o'clock flight which was listed "on-time". I got to the gate and found that it was going to be delayed so I broke out my "breakfast". It was cabbage salad, savory chicken meatballs, and steamed buckwheat. I was, in the end, glad for it because the flight never left until 4:45 arriving in Bucharest at 6:30. Poor Florin had been waiting since 3. We checked me into my hotel and went out to a rather fancy restaurant for dinner. We had a private dining room (private in the sense that we were the only ones in that particular room). We had a cream of potato soup, vine leaves stuffed with strong male sheep with mamaliga (polenta) and a profiterole for dessert, topped off with cappuccino. That was it for me. I slept like a rock. I'll pick up Thursday later. The pics at the top are of Glossary favorites.
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Wednesday, May 23, 2012
From Friday to Wednesday
There are a few oddly-assorted pics at the bottom. Also, earlier, I added a wedding picture to my last Thursday post.
We left Nikolaev at 6 and arrived at the airport in Odessa just before nine. We had to stop along the way at an Azerbaijani gas station to get some coffee. Andrii dropped us at the airport and Marisia, Joel and I went right to the coffee shop to get another coffee - a very bad coffee it turned out to be. We visited for an hour until it was time to check in to the flight to Kiev. An uneventful flight. Marisia and I shared a cab from the airport since we live in the same neighborhood. They dropped me on the corner and I walked to the apartment. I puttered around, showered, changed and walked up to Glossary to see Jenia and have a meal. When I told Jenia that there was nothing on the menu that appealed to me, he asked me what I would eat if I could have anything. Half-jokingly, I replied "borsch". He went and spoke to the chef and the chef said that if I had a few hours to hang out and wait, he would make me borsch. I did and he did. It was wonderful.
On Saturday, I knew that the opening ceremony for Kiev Pride would be held. The location was still a secret. I checked with Zoryan around noon and he had not heard the location yet, but he called me shortly after that to say he had the location of opening ceremony so we met near Red University and took a take to the southwestern edge of the city to a resort hotel. The ceremony was supposed to begin at 1 but it really took until 2:30 to get people registered and gathered. There were representatives from the Dutch, German, and Spanish Embassies. I was quite disappointed that there was no official representation from the US Embassy. Bishop Vladimir came in full clerical robes. I was proud of him for that.
The whole thing was extremely poorly organized. There were too many speeches. The sound system was poor. We were promised that we would be informed about the location of the Pride march on Sunday shortly before gathering time.
There were going to be workshops in late afternoon after a poetry reading. I didn't want to stay and Zoryan agreed. We decided to go in search of a late lunch which we did at a Georgian restaurant that had really good ethnic back ground music. We stayed over lunch for a long time. We had eggplant roll-ups, filled with a ground walnut/cumin paste. It was a very different taste and I liked it. We then had a big plate of greens: green onions, cilantro sprigs, dill sprigs, tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet red pepper wedges. We also had shaslik which is shish-kebabs. We got beef and pork. The meat was wonderfully marinated and was served with a savory pomegranate syrup. We topped the meal off with a cappuccino and took a taxi to my place where Zoryan dropped me off and went on to meet his boyfriend. It was the largest meal I had eaten since arriving.
We had decided not to have liturgy on Sunday morning because we knew we had to be available to go to the Pride March when we got notice. There were bands of homophobic bigots spread out all over the city keeping watch for us. Notice went out that anything obviously "gay" should not be worn because of danger. We were also advised to avoid the center of the city. We heard that there were as many as 6000 well-organized homophobes just looking to cause violence and disrupt anything we wanted to do. Ultimately, the march was canceled and three of the leaders were beaten, one badly. As of today (Wednesday) he is fine, thank God. There has been extensive press coverage all over the region and the European Parliament will certainly discuss the matter and issue a statement when they meet. It's not necessarily a bad thing that we couldn't march. And Kyiv is not generally a dangerous place at all. Bigots are everywhere.
Around 17:00, Zoryan texted asking if I'd like to meet him and his boyfriend, Timur, in the center at McDonald's. Of course I agreed. We spent about an hour together. This is the third boyfriend of Zoryan I have met. I've liked them all. He has really good taste in men. I always wonder if "this" is the one he'll end up with.
Monday was a beautiful day. It was about 80 with a soft cool breeze. Kostya texted and asked if I'd like to spend some hours together. We met and had coffee at an outside restaurant and ultimately walked to a local Ukrainian fast food place called Puzata Khata (which doesn't translate well but I would translate it "Comfort Food") They have just about all the typical home cooking one could want, obviously not as good as home made but great for people who want to have home cooking fast and cheap. I had compote which is really the liquid left behind when you boil fruit, red borsch, and two kinds of varenyky, potato and cabbage. It was exactly what I wanted. We then walked up to a park near a theater and sat enjoying the temperature and the breeze.
I took a down day on Tuesday. I lazed around, didn't shower, didn't go out and just read books. It was great. I'm a the end of my clean clothes. The washer broke down on Sunday and the repairman didn't come until today. Fortunately it was a simple repair - it needed a new belt. I will do a load of wash right now and at 17:30 or 18:00 will meet my friend, Sergei. I haven't seen him since I arrived. Actually I was supposed to meet with a different Sergei but that will have to wait.
My time is going too darned fast. Why, oh why, did I schedule myself so poorly. I will certainly not be ready to leave Kyiv on 5 June, although I will be happy to see friends in Bucharest for a week. Here are a few pics:
Zoryan clowning around at the opening of Pride on Saturday:
Sheremet, after he was beaten and had pepper spray in his eyes on Sunday:
While violence was going on elsewhere, here are two people who look like statues dressed in traditional cossack costumes, except for the bronze paint!
We left Nikolaev at 6 and arrived at the airport in Odessa just before nine. We had to stop along the way at an Azerbaijani gas station to get some coffee. Andrii dropped us at the airport and Marisia, Joel and I went right to the coffee shop to get another coffee - a very bad coffee it turned out to be. We visited for an hour until it was time to check in to the flight to Kiev. An uneventful flight. Marisia and I shared a cab from the airport since we live in the same neighborhood. They dropped me on the corner and I walked to the apartment. I puttered around, showered, changed and walked up to Glossary to see Jenia and have a meal. When I told Jenia that there was nothing on the menu that appealed to me, he asked me what I would eat if I could have anything. Half-jokingly, I replied "borsch". He went and spoke to the chef and the chef said that if I had a few hours to hang out and wait, he would make me borsch. I did and he did. It was wonderful.
On Saturday, I knew that the opening ceremony for Kiev Pride would be held. The location was still a secret. I checked with Zoryan around noon and he had not heard the location yet, but he called me shortly after that to say he had the location of opening ceremony so we met near Red University and took a take to the southwestern edge of the city to a resort hotel. The ceremony was supposed to begin at 1 but it really took until 2:30 to get people registered and gathered. There were representatives from the Dutch, German, and Spanish Embassies. I was quite disappointed that there was no official representation from the US Embassy. Bishop Vladimir came in full clerical robes. I was proud of him for that.
The whole thing was extremely poorly organized. There were too many speeches. The sound system was poor. We were promised that we would be informed about the location of the Pride march on Sunday shortly before gathering time.
There were going to be workshops in late afternoon after a poetry reading. I didn't want to stay and Zoryan agreed. We decided to go in search of a late lunch which we did at a Georgian restaurant that had really good ethnic back ground music. We stayed over lunch for a long time. We had eggplant roll-ups, filled with a ground walnut/cumin paste. It was a very different taste and I liked it. We then had a big plate of greens: green onions, cilantro sprigs, dill sprigs, tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet red pepper wedges. We also had shaslik which is shish-kebabs. We got beef and pork. The meat was wonderfully marinated and was served with a savory pomegranate syrup. We topped the meal off with a cappuccino and took a taxi to my place where Zoryan dropped me off and went on to meet his boyfriend. It was the largest meal I had eaten since arriving.
We had decided not to have liturgy on Sunday morning because we knew we had to be available to go to the Pride March when we got notice. There were bands of homophobic bigots spread out all over the city keeping watch for us. Notice went out that anything obviously "gay" should not be worn because of danger. We were also advised to avoid the center of the city. We heard that there were as many as 6000 well-organized homophobes just looking to cause violence and disrupt anything we wanted to do. Ultimately, the march was canceled and three of the leaders were beaten, one badly. As of today (Wednesday) he is fine, thank God. There has been extensive press coverage all over the region and the European Parliament will certainly discuss the matter and issue a statement when they meet. It's not necessarily a bad thing that we couldn't march. And Kyiv is not generally a dangerous place at all. Bigots are everywhere.
Around 17:00, Zoryan texted asking if I'd like to meet him and his boyfriend, Timur, in the center at McDonald's. Of course I agreed. We spent about an hour together. This is the third boyfriend of Zoryan I have met. I've liked them all. He has really good taste in men. I always wonder if "this" is the one he'll end up with.
Monday was a beautiful day. It was about 80 with a soft cool breeze. Kostya texted and asked if I'd like to spend some hours together. We met and had coffee at an outside restaurant and ultimately walked to a local Ukrainian fast food place called Puzata Khata (which doesn't translate well but I would translate it "Comfort Food") They have just about all the typical home cooking one could want, obviously not as good as home made but great for people who want to have home cooking fast and cheap. I had compote which is really the liquid left behind when you boil fruit, red borsch, and two kinds of varenyky, potato and cabbage. It was exactly what I wanted. We then walked up to a park near a theater and sat enjoying the temperature and the breeze.
I took a down day on Tuesday. I lazed around, didn't shower, didn't go out and just read books. It was great. I'm a the end of my clean clothes. The washer broke down on Sunday and the repairman didn't come until today. Fortunately it was a simple repair - it needed a new belt. I will do a load of wash right now and at 17:30 or 18:00 will meet my friend, Sergei. I haven't seen him since I arrived. Actually I was supposed to meet with a different Sergei but that will have to wait.
My time is going too darned fast. Why, oh why, did I schedule myself so poorly. I will certainly not be ready to leave Kyiv on 5 June, although I will be happy to see friends in Bucharest for a week. Here are a few pics:
Zoryan clowning around at the opening of Pride on Saturday:
Sheremet, after he was beaten and had pepper spray in his eyes on Sunday:
While violence was going on elsewhere, here are two people who look like statues dressed in traditional cossack costumes, except for the bronze paint!
Monday, May 21, 2012
Nikolaev - Thursday evening
As I write this it's already Monday morning and I have to catch up. On
Thursday at 18:00 we gathered in the small conference room. On the table
in front were colorful Ukrainian cloths, a huge fancy loaf of Easter bread at
least 2 feet across and a carafe of wine. We were going to celebrate a
wedding of two women: Julia and Svitlana. Edwin was in his full police
uniform but Ellie was going to be delayed because she was being
interviewed. They were going to be honor guards for the couple. We
had 50 or 60 people in attendance.
I had sent the text of the ceremony to Andrii who would serve as my translator. He and I have a really good working relationship and we can work together without being very formal. I regret to say that I, as yet, have no pictures of the ceremony but I will post them when I get some. (EDITED Wedneday - here's a pic:)
It was a beautiful ceremony including the exchange of rings. When it came time for the vows, Edwin stood beside the couple as a witness. Did I mention a few times how hot he looked in his uniform?
After the wedding was finished. I spoke to the gathered folks about church and about communion and told them that I understood that many of them were estranged from the church because of the church's institutionalized homophobia. I explained what communion was, not the theology of it but rather the meaning of it. I then asked them if they wanted me to celebrate communion with them. They were kind of shocked to be asked. A young red-haired woman with whom I had had a great conversation the night before stood and said clearly "yes, we want this." There was general agreement that they wanted this. When I issued the invitation to communion, I spoke of how Jesus and his friends used to eat a little bread and drink a little wine together because that's what friends do. I invited them to eat a little bread and drink a little wine with me. About a third came to receive communion. I received after they did. Imagine my shock when I drank the cup and found that it was not wine but grape juice. The general joke of the evening was that I had performed a reverse miracle and change wine into grape juice.
After the ceremony, we signed certificates for the couple just married as well as for the two couples from last year. Edwin and Ellie signed as “official” witnesses for all the certificates. We then went back to the office for a little party for the international guests. There were platters of various kinds of varenyky. Awesome. After we ate, we celebrated the 10 years together of Oleg and Andrii and again we signed a certificate for their renewal of vows. I finally could take off my stole and be unofficial.
Friday morning, I got up at 5 and got ready to leave at six. Marisia, Joel and I were driven to the airport (two hours by car) and then Marisia and I flew to Kiev while Joel waited for a much later flight to Brussels.
I had sent the text of the ceremony to Andrii who would serve as my translator. He and I have a really good working relationship and we can work together without being very formal. I regret to say that I, as yet, have no pictures of the ceremony but I will post them when I get some. (EDITED Wedneday - here's a pic:)
It was a beautiful ceremony including the exchange of rings. When it came time for the vows, Edwin stood beside the couple as a witness. Did I mention a few times how hot he looked in his uniform?
After the wedding was finished. I spoke to the gathered folks about church and about communion and told them that I understood that many of them were estranged from the church because of the church's institutionalized homophobia. I explained what communion was, not the theology of it but rather the meaning of it. I then asked them if they wanted me to celebrate communion with them. They were kind of shocked to be asked. A young red-haired woman with whom I had had a great conversation the night before stood and said clearly "yes, we want this." There was general agreement that they wanted this. When I issued the invitation to communion, I spoke of how Jesus and his friends used to eat a little bread and drink a little wine together because that's what friends do. I invited them to eat a little bread and drink a little wine with me. About a third came to receive communion. I received after they did. Imagine my shock when I drank the cup and found that it was not wine but grape juice. The general joke of the evening was that I had performed a reverse miracle and change wine into grape juice.
After the ceremony, we signed certificates for the couple just married as well as for the two couples from last year. Edwin and Ellie signed as “official” witnesses for all the certificates. We then went back to the office for a little party for the international guests. There were platters of various kinds of varenyky. Awesome. After we ate, we celebrated the 10 years together of Oleg and Andrii and again we signed a certificate for their renewal of vows. I finally could take off my stole and be unofficial.
Friday morning, I got up at 5 and got ready to leave at six. Marisia, Joel and I were driven to the airport (two hours by car) and then Marisia and I flew to Kiev while Joel waited for a much later flight to Brussels.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Nikolaev - Thursday middle of the day
When we returned to the conference hotel, Edwin and Ellie had to go their rooms to put on their full uniforms. They are members of Pink and Blue, a police unit of gay and lesbian officers in Amsterdam who not only are on call 24/day for calls about "incidents" but also do training for new police officers and help officers who are investigating gay-related incidents. They and some Ukrainian police officers were part of a round table discussion. There was also a representative of the Ukrainian regional government. We heard national and international reports on police mishandling of gay-related incidents and the abuse that gays have to endure often at the hands of the Ukrainian police. The Ukrainian officers and officials were uncomfortable hearing the data and reports. There were quite a few reports and fact and figures and charts. It was academic and dry. And then Ellie got up to report on the Netherlands and the development of the gay and lesbian unit Pink and Blue. She was engaging and funny and beautiful in her uniform. the audience absolutely loved her and gave her the best applause so far. She's a champion. Edwin gave occasional facts and mostly looked very handsome in his uniform. He's a great guy. The two of them and their unit have done such an outstanding job in Amsterdam that their model will be used for national implementation in Amsterdam and they are beginning to be available for trainings internationally as well. Here's a picture of Edwin and Ellie in their uniforms - ooh la la:
After the presentation, it was mid-afternoon and they went off with the Ukrainian police to fraternize and view the police base. Joel and I sat in the lobby to take advantage of internet access and then went to get something to eat at the hotel restaurant. I had solyanka, a meat soup and mlintsi with apricot jam (mlintsi are crepes). I had to leave to get ready for my part of the program which would start at 18:00.
After the presentation, it was mid-afternoon and they went off with the Ukrainian police to fraternize and view the police base. Joel and I sat in the lobby to take advantage of internet access and then went to get something to eat at the hotel restaurant. I had solyanka, a meat soup and mlintsi with apricot jam (mlintsi are crepes). I had to leave to get ready for my part of the program which would start at 18:00.
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