01/09/03 — On my way to Kiev
This entry and the last were both written on trains as part of the journey to my grandfather's birthplace. The first, sitting on bunk bed on a train from St Petersburg to Moscow with three middle aged men from Azerbaijan who don't speak a word of English apart from "the class will begin now" which they repeat with gusto. This one on the train from Moscow to Kiev, on the bottom bunk on the other side of the compartment, which is odd, all reversed, and for the first part with no one else in the compartment.
My first encounter with a Ukrainian is someone who speaks spotless English and helps me find my carriage. My second is the sweet lawyer sitting opposite me who speaks hardly any English but a little German and we are using my language guide to exchange basic information. His name is Valery. And now he's just helped me compile a list of essential words in Ukrainian using my poor Russian and hand signals. This all bodes very very well.