Sunday night Nov. 13 through Monday Nov 14th.

THIS ENTRY IS BEING WRITTEN ON TUESDAY MORNING AT THE AIRPORT IN KIEV UKRAINE WAITING FOR THE SECOND OF MY THREE FLIGHTS TODAY TO GET BACK TO NEW YORK

On Sunday evening my Cousin Ephriam came to my hotel and we walked to a Mexican restaurant in the area.  The food was great but the waiters and waitresses spoke no Spanish at all, only Hebrew and some English.  We said goodbye and I told him that I will probably be back next year as a Sar-El volunteer.

On Monday, the first of my flight to Kiev and then Lviv Ukraine was scheduled to leave at 2 pm.  In Israel you have to get to the airport 3 hours before your flight due to the enhanced security screeneings for you and your luggage.  I checked out of the Abraham Hostel/Hotel and caught a taxi.  By the way, for anyone traveling to Tel Aviv on a budget, the Abraham Hotel private rooms are excellent.  Perfectly clean, free breakfast, and about $75 per night and they give a 10% discount for Sar El volunteers.

My flight was late leaving and I worried that I would miss my connection in Kiev but all went well and our Ukranian guide Alex was waiting for me at the airport when I arrived at 930pm very tired and cold (it had snowed a lot in Ukraine and the temperature was about 25 degrees Fahrenheit).  

Roads were icy and Ukranian drivers were even more adventuresome.  I stayed over at Alex' and met his wife and two children.  They live in an old building that looks like its out a a spy movie in Russia.  The inside is different.  They joined two apartments together and modernized it completely.  Chicken soup, mutton and chicken awaited me.  The food and company was great and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.  5am came too quikly and Alex made some breakfast and we were in his car back to the airport by 530am.  My flight from Lviv to Kiev was on time at 7am and I slept soundly for the one hour ride.  Now I have 6 hours to pass.  The lufthansa counter doesn't open until 11am and I don't have a seat reserved yet on the Munich to New York flight.  It'll be a much longer flight if I can't get a window seat.  There was some explanation regarding "code sharing" as to why I couldn't reserve a seat in advance.  So, I wait and wait and wait....