The train was like an oven. We have had very few trips where it was that hot, thank God. We think it's because there were a group of kids on the train and the providnitsa kept it hot for them. The kids were a group of musicians who had been in Kiev and were coming home. The tuba we saw was really banged up and not in a case, just carried around by a boy like a piece of luggage.
It was interesting listening to the kids when they got on the train. Mel and I boarded very soon after the train arrived at the station. The kids came on about 10 minutes later. Kids are kids all over the world. "I want the top bunk! Last time Paulina had the top!" Lots of wrestling and playing around, hooting and hollering, laughing, pushing, mild arguing about this or that. I understood most of it - told Mel I must now have the vocabulary of an 8 year old rather than a 2 year old. Well, in understanding - speaking I still am not all that great. :( ha ha It was actually fun listening to them. They were in the 3 coupe's to one side of us. Only one time did the male chaperon raise his voice and then he really YELLED: YURI! I wonder what Yuri was doing?? I know they were going home because one of the female chaperons was doing a commentary as we came into the Kherson station: "There are the babushkas! There is your father! I see your mother." and so on and so forth.
It was so hot on the train that I ended up with a heat induced headache in the middle of the night. I was drinking water off and on all night and only had to get up twice in the night. My pillow was actually damp at one point. Usually I sleep with my head toward the door because that is how I am most comfortable but this time I ended up changing back and forth several times. Mel put a blanket over the heat register to try and block some of the hot air and that helped. I stuffed an extra pillow down between my bunk and the wall and that also helped. Enough cold air was coming off the window (not through it but just off the cold glass) that it helped cool our heads a bit. We left the door about 1/3 open all night to help air circulation. Due to the movement of the train, the door actually shut once and when I woke up I could hardly breath due to the heat. It had to be over 100 degrees in that coupe'. Unbelievable.
I got up to go to the toilet room just before we came into a station. The door was still unlocked and I didn't know we were coming into a station. The providnitsa came and rattled the door handled and then said, "Stansia!". I hollered back that I understood, and she continued to rattle the door handle. My head was pounding and it just made me mad. I know that when the train comes into a station that if you happen to be in the toilet room you are not supposed to flush the toilet - it all goes out on the ground and who wants that right there at the station?? I was not moving fast enough for her and she got really upset.
Now when this situation happened before, the providnik (male) told me through the door, "Don't flush until we leave!" So I didn't. Just stood there in the toilet room for 10 minutes, waiting until we were on the way again. sigh. Not the most pleasant place to stand for 10 minutes. But this woman wanted me OUT of there RIGHT NOW. Grrrrrr. It was the middle of the night and my head hurt and it was her fault in the first place because she was keeping the train wagon so ____ hot when it didn't need to be that way!
I finally opened the door just as the train actually stopped and she started hollering at me. I waved my hand at her (my head was pounding) and said, "I understand!" and walked off. She quickly locked the door and then rushed past me, shoving me (on purpose) against the rail. Vengeance is mine, saith the providnitsa! I just walked back to the coupe' and found some ibuprofen in my bag and took it. I could hear her farther up the wagon, rushing to open the outside door and get the steps down in case anyone needed on our wagon.
The sad thing? I really didn't care at all that she had to rush like that. I had had it with Ukrainian trains that are really traveling ovens with toilets from the 1800's. I laid back down on the hot bunk, closed my eyes and eventually went back to sleep for a few minutes.
Oh, it was so good to get home! A nice shower at 11:30 when the water came back on! The water pressure has to be quite low due to the low gas pressure - if the water pressure is too high then the shower is cold. But a strong warm dribble shower is great after a hot ride in a train-oven.
I did two loads of laundry yesterday and they both dried quickly. Tells me that the air is really dry, which is unusual for this time of year. I hung them on a drying rack in the living room right beside the fish pond and the sheets were still dry within 3 hours. Very unusual. I hung the towels in the same place after the sheets dried and they are dry this morning.
I had to add almost 6 liters of water to the fish pond when we got home yesterday morning. The fountain was barely working at all. I also added water to both of the other fish tanks because they needed it, too. Usually this time of year I don't need to water the plants so often, nor add water to the fish tanks (this is my first winter with a fish pond). We've had very little snow and very little rain before that, so it is dry. Too dry.
All for now. I need to go finish the last bit of my Sunday School lesson, finish my morning coffee and then get ready to leave for church. I complained about our cold flat, but I admit - I would rather have a 60 degree flat than a 100+ degree coupe'! Oh yes! It feels "just right" in here now.
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