Wednesday, 7 April — not enough time!

The time is rushing by and entirely too much of it is taken up with work. Things that didn’t quite get nailed down before I left have (of course!) turned into emergencies. But I’m not on holiday, I’m here to do a job — and so on with the shot. Still, it’s great to be heading off to work in Lviv! On the drive to work, I realize I’m getting used to the drivers swinging wildly in and out of lanes as if playing “chicken” with the oncoming traffic; and I realize the purpose of the crazy maneuver: it’s to prevent damage to the cars’ suspension by avoiding the worst sections of roadway!

At the office, it’s up the five flights of stairs (great exercise but hard on my injured knee) and down to work. Getting some great collaboration going with one of their senior software guys, and then it’s time for lunch. Today we’re driving to lunch at a special place. It’s the cafeteria of a factory that makes prosthetic limbs. It’s popular with the working locals because of its combination of good hearty cooking, low prices, and nostalgic Sovok vibe. I have potato pancakes with mushroom sauce, cooked shredded cabbage, and borshch. Any proper meal in Ukraine — as in Russia — must include soup of one kind or another. And this borshch is good! I think my whole meal cost under two dollars.

Rumbling along the road at speeds of 5 km/h or more, back to the office, up the five flights of stairs, and back to work. A very productive afternoon; these folks are quite sharp indeed and despite some minor linguistic hurdles we make great progress. I learn that our office building has been extensively renovated; it was previously the near-ruins of a forklift factory.

Tonight we get a real treat. Our host takes us to an excellent little Georgian restaurant and plies us with much excellent food and drink. First some Georgian drink like grappa to go with the first dish: a Georgian wrap that’s something like a tiny cilantro and sheep’s milk cheese burrito wrapped in injera. And so on it goes, with various rounds of excellent vodka mated with stuffed mushrooms, grilled meats, eggplant and nuts wrapped in grape leaves, pork cutlets, and many more. Sadly, being right after Easter no lamb is left. We finish with a Georgian brandy (which everyone insists on calling a Cognac) that’s reminiscent of a really good Armagnac. I smoke a cigar on the way home and we retire to our rooms happy and tired.

Whoops! I sit down at my laptop to deal with the last of the unfinished work details, and they start to unravel. A couple of hours later (2:30 am!) I hit the point of diminishing returns as my edits start breaking more than they fix. I’ll just have to finish this in the morning.