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Author Topic: BB's Odyssey to Odessa  (Read 10948 times)

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Offline brownbeard99

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BB's Odyssey to Odessa
« on: May 13, 2021, 12:00:33 PM »
I thought I would give you a little background for those of you who don't know me.  I an am American living in Odessa, Ukraine.  I am living with a Ukrainian woman I love dearly and we have plans to marry soon.  She doesn't want a green card and has no interest in moving to the US.  We live in the city center in an area that has everything we need... and many things we don't need.

On our block, there is: a three star hotel, a wedding chapel, a grocery store, an art gallery, an upscale Asian bistro, a 24 hour convenience store, a Hugo Boss store, a strip club, a sex shop, a BDSM club, a pharmacy, a pizza place, a karaoke restaurant and more.  It's quite and interesting city.

Instead of spending too much time on the past, I just wanted to start my daily journal today:

A Day at Privoz
I woke up this morning really tired. V3 had a stuffy nose and was snoring all night long. She woke up in a good mood and got up to make breakfast and left me in bed trying to sleep. Finally, she woke me up and I hesitantly went to the breakfast table. She made kasha with milk and also some slices of gouda cheese with tomatoes (we were out of eggs, which she wanted to make). V3 asked what was wrong with me, and I told her I couldn’t sleep because of her snoring. This immediately put her in a bad mood.

Our plan for the day was to go food shopping at Privoz and also look at wedding dresses, with our eye on the future. After breakfast, she took a shower as I sat on the couch waiting for her. After she got out of the shower, she went back to bed and started playing on her phone. I was confused because I usually wait for her to finish putting on makeup, and then we get dressed at the same time when we have somewhere to go.

After about ten minutes of waiting for her, I asked if we were going to leave soon. She said “okay” and she started getting ready. I grabbed my oversized backpack and we headed out the door. We walked a few blocks and got on the trolley bus. Most of the trolley busses in Odessa are very nice… clean and modern, like something you would find in a nice American city. The ride costs only 5 UAH per person.

We entered Privoz… a very large bazaar that is a labirynth of merchants selling fish, meat, dairy products, produce, beer, electronics, clothes and shoes (mostly fake Adidas, Nike, Off White, Puma, Supreme, etc). It took a couple hours to navigate the maze to buy: homemade sour cream, potatoes, onions, greens, salo (cured pork), ground pork, pork loin, fresh grapefruit and mango juice, and sausage made from horse. By the end of the journey, my back was starting to get tired from carrying 30 pounds of food around.

As we left the bazaar, V3 started walking back to the bus stop, but I reminded her that we were going to look at wedding dresses. She told me she changed her mind this morning about looking for dresses because she was mad at me for my mood. I got angry and told her it’s not right for her to change her minds about our plans without informing me. I said it was at least worthy of a discussion. We then had an argument on the street for about five minutes, followed by total silence. Finally, she said, “Okay, let’s go”.

We walked several blocks to a street where she knew there were several wedding shops. On the way, we stopped at a second hand store, where they were selling men’s shorts for 47 UAH. I wanted something to wear around the house, but the store didn’t have anything I liked.

Finally, we got to the wedding shop area, only to find most of them had closed, most likely due to the economy. We finally found two shops, but the selection was terrible and they didn’t have anything close to what she wanted. We kept walking down the street, but everything was closed. We gave up and started walking to where we could take a mini bus home. As luck would have it, we passed by a wedding shop she didn’t know about, so we went inside.

The shop had a great selection and she picked out four dresses she liked. The prices were $450, $450, $500, and $750… alterations included. She tried on all four and we both fell in love with one immediately. We then looked at hair jewelry and veils. V3 asked me what I wanted to do. I asked her if she wanted to get the dress. She gave me an enthusiastic “yes!”, so they took her measurements and I put a deposit on the dress with cash on hand. Total cost for everything was $595.

We left the shop and jumped on the minibus… very crowded with standing room only. It costs 7 UAH per person. When we got by our flat, we decided to go out to eat at a cafe instead of eating at home, so we had pizza and beer at an outdoor pizza place a block from our house.

We went home after and watched Netflix while putting together a 2000 piece puzzle we purchased at a supermarket the previous day.

It is too difficult to post photos here, but I also posted pictures of Privoz, the pizza place and the wedding dress on a blog I started.  The address is: 

http://ukrainediaries.wordpress.com/

If you want to comment, please do so on my thread "BB's Peanut gallery"




Offline brownbeard99

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Re: BB's Odyssey to Odessa
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2021, 03:53:02 PM »
« Last Edit: May 15, 2021, 04:35:46 PM by brownbeard99 »

Offline brownbeard99

  • Full Member
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  • Posts: 220
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  • Gender: Male
  • Spouse's Country: Ukraine
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  • Trips: Resident
Re: BB's Odyssey to Odessa
« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2021, 04:36:05 PM »
Wedding planning

The past couple days have flown by. V3 and I went all over the city center looking for a suit for the wedding. I found a nice blue sport classic suit and leather shoes, shirt and belt. After searching all over the city, we ended up going to a men’s clothing store that is in my building... I pass by it several times a day and never even noticed. After a little searching, we found a tailor to make adjustments to my suit. My total cost for everything was about $500.

We slept in this morning. V3 made eggs for breakfast and then we looked all over the city center for shoes for her wedding dress. We couldn’t find anything, so we took the minibus to the Riviera mall on the north side of town. It’s a nice modern mall... whenever I miss the US, I go there. There is a modern cinema, McDonald’s, and a huge Ashan store that is like a super Walmart... but much nicer.  We couldn’t find her shoes, but I found two pairs of nice summer shorts for 349 UAH each and a pair of socks for the wedding for 89 UAH. We also wen to the Brocard cosmetic store and picked out a nice shade of lipstick for the wedding.

We stopped by the wedding office. The city has several government owned wedding chapels throughout Odessa... they do all the paperwork and also the ceremony. Our planned date is June 8. It will be a crazy day because we have to drop off our passports at 10 am, then run back home to change and have people come over to do her hair and makeup... and then get back to the chapel for the wedding at 1:30.

We have scheduled a photographer for six hours (300 photos) for $220. The cost for the marriage license and ceremony, including the chapel is 1550 UAH. I’m a little nervous about the ceremony because it will be in Russian!

A little side note... I am happy to share my experiences, so others can learn more about Ukraine and being with a Ukrainian woman... but my situation is quite different from other people. V3 loves living here. She has absolutely no interest in moving to the USA. She has reluctantly agreed to apply for a spousal visa at some point, so she can come visit someday.

You can by a nice flat in Odessa for $25,000 and a secondary home in the country for even less. I spend money freely... we go wherever we want, do what we want and buy what we want... and it’s rare to spend more than $2,000 in a month.

I am aware that many girls here want jewelry, iPhones and fur coats, but V3 is not into material possessions. She never asks for anything. It is a big responsibility to be 100% responsible for another person. She could go back to work and make $500 a month and have to travel 50% of the time... but it’s really pointless for so little money. I gave her the choice, and she chose to stay home. I make sure she never wants for anything. She has an old Chinese Redmi phone... I offered to buy her a new one and she said “no thanks”... That’s a big change from a girl I met in Kiev (Kyiv) who asked for an iPhone on the first date.

It’s nice to have a woman who is not obsessed with money. She is a widow. When her husband died, she could have legally taken his flat. The family started fighting over it and she told them she had no interest in it. She already owns her own flat. The same thing happened when her grandmother died earlier this year. She gave up all rights to property.

When I buy property, she told me to put it in my name only. She wants me to know she loves me for who I am. She doesn’t want money, property, toys, or a green card.

Ironically, I’m using her for a “green card”. Currently I can overstay my visa until 30 days after quarantine ends, so there is no rush. Days in Ukraine don’t count against you as long as we are under quarantine, but I will need a long term solution soon.

 

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