like the butcher who backed into the meat grinder...

I got a little behind in my work.  Get it?

I'm sorry I'm days behind.  It's been intense and I didn't always have great internet in Nikolaev.  First of all, here's what I thought of this morning and acted on my thought:

On Wednesday, my driver picked me up at 06:20 to take me to the airport for an 08:25 flight to Odessa.  Andrii had come to meet me.  It was about 9:30 - short flight.  He told me we had to stay 4 hours at airport because three Dutch participants would come from Vienna and one French participant from Warsaw.  We had a good chance to visit and catch up on news.  Our colleagues all arrived on time.  Edwin and Ellie are from an elite police section called Pink and Blue from Amsterdam.  Of course they are police officers.  Jochim is a diplomat of sorts.  Joel is from ILGA-Europe and is Senior Policy and Programs Officer.  A very congenial group.  We had a nice time on the two hour drive to Nikolaev.  I was excited that I would see Ellie and Edwin in their Police uniforms!  maybe a small fetish...  The First Secretary of the Netherlands Embassy would arrive later from Moldova by train.

Opening ceremonies were in the evening at a nightclub upstairs in a private room.  Of course we had speeches and welcomes and we international observers had to sit in the front row.  I was sitting near Joel who's a really nice guy.  His face, in repose, always has a slight smile and he has a very welcoming manner.  Part of the entertainment was an entertainer.  I suppose he was a kind of drag queen but I really don't know what to call him.  In the course of the entertainment in which he boistrously sang Russian pop songs, he plopped himself in Joel's lap.  Joel was a good sport about it and I didn't envy him.   but shortly the performer decided that if one lap was good, two were better and plopped into my lap as well.  It was a really fun performance and really engaged the crowd.  Here he is.  Sorry for the quality, the lighting was odd.

We ate after that.  It was my first meal of the day at 9pm (21:00).  After eating there was dancing and we went back to the hotel about 10:30.  It was a really nice hotel but no elevator.  I was on the third floor.  It was a challenge every time although I'm starting to feel more strength and less ache in my legs.  In the course of this first day, Ellie and I became fast friends.  She is so awesome.  I will try to keep her.  I will pick this up later.