Suitcase mood.

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I got up a bit earlier this morning, and was ready for breakfast at 9. I was allowed some coffee to go with my chicken wing and three slices of apple cake, then Ana and I set off for Lugansk again.

The minibus ride to Pervomaisk was much the same, only with Ukrainian 'gangsta rap' instead of Tom Jones playing on the radio and even more babushki. The feeling of being so far from home was strong, but not in an unwelcoming way. There is a very Eastern European feel to the manner in which people go to work in the morning; the bus shelter and minubuses themselves are falling apart, and the ride and the scenery are uncomfortable, but everyone gets to where they want to go.

Apart from us, who even at 11 in the morning were too late for the minibus to Lugansk - again. We walked around Pervomaisk for a while, but it was too cold and slippery to be on the street so we soon went home the same route.

We finished watching 'Vozvraschenie' in the afternoon, drinking coffee and eating more apple cake. I really don't want to say goodbye to Ana again. I feel very comfortable talking with her, and am beginning to feel at home in her house.

In the evening more guests came for dinner. They were the family of Mr. Kovalchuk's friend Volodya, who we stayed with in Moscow. His wife Svetlana and Mrs. Kovalchuk are like sisters too, and their daughter Anya - who we went clubbing with in Moscow two months ago - is a close friend of Ana's. Anya hadn't travelled down but her brother Denis and his wife came, making eight people at the dinner table. There was another banquet laid out in the living room, with so many dishes there was barely enough room for the plates. It was refreshing to be part of a loud conversation that didn't centre around questions about me; I was the quiet one listening to close friends catching up. Strange how our lives met again by chance. Two people who looked so lethargic and old in a small high-rise flat 1500 kilometres away were brought to life by a few glasses of cognac and some of Mr. Kovalchuk's jokes. But then who wouldn't be?

After dinner we left the adults and went upstairs. Denis traded me his lap-top cable for my mobile phone charger for the evening, so I could show Ana my photos from Yaroslavl. Mr. Kovalchuk gave me a going away present, a bottle of Ukrainian vodka - the pepper and honey variety - and three glasses to drink it with. Mrs. Kovalchuk presented me with a box of chocolates, presumably as 'zakuska' for the vodka!

I'm going to hate going away tomorrow. What a shame that I can't be in four places at once.

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