With the New Year.

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Mornings are now the best part of my day. I can get up in my own time, and waiting for me in the kitchen is a huge breakfast. Everyone has already eaten by the time I sit down but there is still an entire table of food. Many things are freshly prepared from the garden, including honey and walnuts.

Today was very lazy. I had a bath after breakfast - not only are the taps connected to the wrong tank but they are installed in reverse, so to make the hot tap run more I have to turn the cold one off and vice versa. Confusing even for an awake person. I watched TV with Mr. Kovalchuk while Ana spent three hours in the bathroom getting ready for the New Years' party. One the one hand it's relaxing living with such friendly people and being treated to Ukrainian hospitality, but I still have to try harder to keep up with conversations. The dialect swaps the sound 'g' for 'h', which is more disorientating when Ana's father or her grandmothers speak because they also talk differently to how I am used to. All the same we have been staying in all day. Popasnaya is an open space, where black trees contrast with white fields and the air is cold and clear. It is picturesque even when it is almost never light outside, but there isn't much to do.

In Ukraine the 31st December is the biggest occasion of the year; there was an even larger feast than usual, and the table was moved into the living room so the family could watch a variety show. We ate goose, cold chicken, salads and potatoes with mushrooms, and drank wine, cognac and champagne. We lit the fire and raised our glasses at 11 to welcome Russian New Year.

At 11.50 President Yuschenko gave a speech, then at midnight the six of us chinked champagne glasses and said "z novym rokom". Everybody lit a sparkler from the candle in the centre of the table and poured themselves another drink. Eating and drinking so much in a very hot room made me drowsy, but comfortably so. I fell asleep at 1 despite much shaking and pinching from Ana. Mrs. Kovalchuk succeeded in waking me up at 2, to take me downstairs to see in the final midnight of the night, British New Year. The grandmothers went to bed soon after, and at 2.30 myself and Ana walked to the Popasnaya youth club to celebrate with more people. She was in a party mood but all I could think of was more sleep.

My tiredness-grumpiness set in again, and after five seconds of the loud annoying DJ I insisted on going home.

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