Haven't updated in more than a week. That's not to say that nothing's happened, but I usually can't be bothered to update during the week - I'm lazy like that. I'll look through my pics now and see whether there's anything worth showing you.

On Tuesday I watched a bit of Champions League footy, and did the same on Wednesday. I was a little closer this time, however.

I went to see Dynamo Kyiv draw 1-1 with Arsenal. The Arsenal fans were pretty much just Russian and Ukrainian fans, I doubt there were many English people in among them. They were certainly very quiet. Overall not the most amazing game, but for 200 UAH I kinda had to go as everybody in Kyiv seemed to be talking about it - most of my students were very interested when I said I had a ticket. Even the women.

Here's a statue of the guy the stadium's named after, Valeriy Lobanovsky. Was Dynamo's manager for years, plus managing both the USSR and Ukraine. Quite well liked, it seems.

Thursday passed off without much incident, due to the fact that it's been raining almost permanently since last weekend (except for the footy, mercifully) so I just went home earlier than normal. Friday, however, was a different story. After work, we headed to the nearby Domashnia Kuchnia (popular 'restaurant', more like a motorway services where you point to what you want then pay for the total - such places are numerous and popular here) and got a bite to eat. After they kicked us out earlier than anticipated, we headed upstairs to Pyvarium (big bar/pub place, with live music, expensive - but homemade - beer, and a generally nice atmos).

As me and [removed] were arguing about the difference between Bovril and Marmite, a Ukrainian gent at the table opposite asked, as we spoke English, if we were Americans. [removed]'s South African and I'm, er, not American, so we informed him so. We carried on talking to him and his group of friends (he was the only one halfway competent in English, the others were pretty low level, but could get their point across). When it was time for everyone to leave, they asked me if I wanted to go for 'disco'. I said I had no money but that didn't dissuade them.

So I left my fellow teachers to head to [removed]'s house while I jumped in a taxi with these guys, and went to Shooters, a large and very nice club which is open 24/7. Despite me not having any money, they still bought me quite a few drinks, plus the taxi home, so a good night was certainly had by all. I must say that I have nothing but good things to say about the people of Kyiv thus far: everybody I've met has been cheerful, friendly and very generous. I can't imagine a foreigner getting the same kind of welcome back in England.

I didn't crawl out of bed till very late on Saturday (I got home at 5.30am) but [removed]'s place was home to another party that day, namely [removed]'s birthday party. I felt a bit worse for wear after the cocktails, Red Bulls and absinth (I think...) so I went light on the drink. I didn't feel very sociable after Friday night, but there were plenty of people there and I had just a few drinks, not much, so I was sober virtually the whole night. And by the whole night... well, the few that remained finally left at 8am today... by which point the Metro had reopened (it closes between midnight-ish and 7.30am-ish) so I took a nice cheap ride home on that, almost falling asleep. I didn't wake up till 3pm, so work tomorrow is gonna be tricky.

Anyway, that's me up to date, here's some random pics.

Nice building in downtown Kyiv. I was walking about and decided to snap it.

Decisions, decisions... not the type of decision I'd make in the UK as we have no white eggs.

Maidan Nezalezhnosti. Just so you know. You can find better pics on the net, though.

Some guy, near the gate to Dynamo Stadium. Not sure who.

Some nice graffiti on the underpass next to Dorohozhychi Metro. For those that don't know, the words are from Master of Puppets by Metallica.

I have more pics, but that'll do you for now. Keep checking for anything interesting.

Okay, I got the net working in my flat at last, which is a huge relief. Now I can bore you guys with my blog at weekends as well as during the week. This is going to be a massive post: I'm going to recount everything that's happened up to now, as I have the time. Anyway, where was I?

7th September: I was nursing an almighty hangover so I stayed indoors the entire day, resting mostly. I had missed the F1 qualifying to go to the beach (a good choice, I think) but no way was I gonna miss the real deal. I called up my brother [removed] (or the other way around) and we both commented on the start and finish of the race over the phone. For the middle, I fell asleep - not that it was boring, but after last night I suddenly felt super tired around 3pm. I woke up to watch the thrilling climax, however - then to find out on BBC World that Lewis had been cheated out of victory in what most level-headed people have dubbed the worst decision in F1 history. I wasn't best pleased.

I later found out that fellow teacher [removed]'s girlfriend [removed] is a Ferrari fan. Hrmph.

8th-12th September: Week two, and surprisingly it already feels like business as usual. Not much to report during the week (I seldom get up to anything really interesting on weekdays as the routine is pretty straightforward) so I'll skip forward to the Friday night. We went to a club called 44. We were going to go to a sushi place - Japanese food is abundant and inexpensive in Kyiv, so if you fancy cooking or eating any of it, this is the place to be (in Europe, obviously). Shops provide all the stuff you need to make your own, and places like Sushiya sell reasonably priced sushi etc all over the place, and in the case of Sushiya 24 hours a day. On Prospekt Peremohy (the main huge avenue that runs towards the centre of Kyiv) alone I walked past three or four, and there are more to find. Anyway I digress...

This club, 44 (named after its address - like the old 76 Club in Burton, if I recall), is a somewhat small establishment, and one of the surprisingly few in Kyiv offering live music. There was a band playing there, and I think it cost 40 UAH entry, which is a lot but not exceptional (and for live music, it's certainly much more reasonable than the Caribbean Club, for example). I honestly didn't see much of the band, however, as the place was so packed and difficult to move around that I spent virtually all of my time in the room next door, guzzling beer that I ought to have contributed more money to. The service left something to be desired: in a country that often still abides by the old Soviet principle of giving everybody a job, regardless of their redundancy, having 3 barstaff for maybe 200 people is both a surprise and simple bad business. The beer was neither too much nor particularly cheap (shops and kiosks are much, much cheaper than any kind of pub or club, so you've just got to take what you can get). I got talking to a few interesting people, which I'm always keen on doing. After being finally turfed out by the barstaff at past 3am, it was another ripoff taxi home and bedtime.

13th September: Surprisingly, I didn't have a hangover - I was more tired than hungover. I got out reasonably early and went to the shop by the Metro station to get some essentials - it's a weekend , so I kind of need to. Eventually, I left the house at 2ish to head to [removed]'s flat for an almighty triple-header of football. I didn't think I'd stay for the whole time, but it's surprising how the time flies when you've got company and beer. I ended up watching all three (on and off) and a good time was had by all, though there was a bit of trouble finding someone who'd deliver a pizza to us on a Saturday night: Mama Mia, the most popular (it seems) pizza place, said they couldn't get a pizza to us for two and a half hours. Me and [removed] scoffed at that, but then [removed] comes from a country where it's there in half an hour or it's free. Fortunately, Google turned up a place that didn't take so long and for a reasonable price. By this point - over six hours after the start of the first match, and with only crisps and the like to nibble on - we devoured the four large pizzas like hungry wolves, and they lasted a very short time.

[removed] and [removed] headed off to play pool in town, and I foolishly joined them - foolishly because I'm not particularly good at pool, and don't particularly care for it either. The fact that the game that we tried first was Russian pyramid - think pool, but you can hit any ball off any other ball, and the corner pockets are 4-5mm bigger than the balls - explained why one game took almost an hour. The damn things wouldn't go in the pockets, so just getting a pot was a cause of congratulation. Fortunately, they then had a game or two of American pool, which went a lot quicker, but by then I was way too tired, and I felt like I'd thrown too much money away to be playing pool in a super swish pool club: no 50 pence pieces left on the side of tables here.

14th September: I got my internet to work, yay. I spent the entire day browsing the net, watching TV shows and so on, so there's not a lot of interest to report really.

15th September: Today, that is. I went to Megamarket near the school (I wanted to go this morning but I was so damn tired I couldn't drag my arse out of bed), and was under the impression that it was rather big. I wasn't quite prepared for HOW BIG. It's gigantic. Everything you could want in Ukraine (or out of it) is here. I was in heaven: for too long I'd been without certain essentials (like a mug - we need one at work) and here it was, in one vast room. Twenty years ago, Soviet citizens would've wept at the sight. The fact that I spent a full five minutes deciding which lunch box to buy gives you the idea how much stuff there is here. There's pelmeni (Russian ravioli) as far as the eye can see, and I like my pelmeni (though for some reason they don't eat it with sauce here - I do, though). There's a surprising amount of fish for a near-landlocked country.

I wanted to buy a webcam to talk to the UK, but the ones in Megamart made no indication of having a microphone, which I think is pretty damn important. Oh well, another day. I know that talking about a supermarket is hardly a topic worth blogging about, but after my struggles in the previous few weeks I walked around the place with a big beaming smile on my face.

Well, that wraps up my current travails. At least I'm up to date now, so I can keep you guys informed (the five that are reading) of what happens to me day to day in Kyiv. And don't worry, there's more piccies on the way. I just can't be bothered to look through them to show you tonight (I've written a bloody essay here, so gimme a chance).

Keep watching.

Photo time! I finally got my photos off my phone and onto my memory stick, so I can show you a few things that I've seen. I took the photo above while I was going to get food on my first night in Kyiv. I don't know what that is, but it looks important so I took a picture. I had no idea where I was at the time...

Anyway, back up to date:

6th September: Did you know there are beaches on the banks of the Dnipro River running through Kyiv? Beaches? Seriously, I know that sunbathing on the banks of the Trent or Thames would probably kill you, but it's a serious possibility in Kyiv. This is what I did on Saturday: I went east of the river (the 'left bank' apparently, which makes no sense to me at all) to a barbecue with guys from the neighbouring [school], plus a few guys from [removed] (my school). Surprisingly cool in the shade, but the sand was very hot underfoot. Having said that, the water in the river was very cold, but I had no swimming clothes so I just paddled. I also took a ride with some of the girls from the [school] on a boat over to a little island in the middle of the river, which was fun - the boat was a bit small, so it was a tight fit. Good time had by all, though.

The view at sunset was pretty good, too.

After I left the other guys, I got a call from [removed] to meet in the middle of town for a drink and some pool, and with no other plans I duly obliged. We hung around Khreshatik and Maidan Nezalezhnosti for a while, drinking on the streets from kiosks. Do they still have Big Tastys at McDonald's in the UK? Well, they do here, and they're 18 UAH (£2.13) so not cheap, but they're big and tasty, so I can't complain too much. We were buying some more beer when a random Ukrainian commented (in Russian/Ukrainian) on how he like [removed]'s tattoos. Now, [removed] speaks some Russian and Polish, and I speak almost bugger all, so you'd never think that this would last, but this guy and his group of around 8 friends encouraged us to join them. So we did.

This is a really bad picture of where we went for most of the time after. There's Soviet-type statues in the middle, and that big rainbow thing, and there were carnival-type rides as well, for some reason. We just sat around drinking for a long while, having very stilted conversations in a mixture of English and Russian/Ukrainian. We all split up for home time, and fortunately two of the guys were going back the same way as me, so we shared a taxi. We went to Mister Snack before that and even though I said I didn't want anything they got me a chicken sandwich, which was nice. Places like Mister Snack (or Містер Снек in Ukrainian) seem like a good replacement for the post-pub kebab shops of Britain. The group also had some food of their own so I had a banana and some pistachios. Altogether, nice people.

I've rambled on about Saturday now, so I'll wait till tomorrow to enlighten you on my roaring hangover and anger over the F1.

To respond to Pete's query: no, I don't have a picture of the door, and it's fixed now. Sorry, but after I burst out I didn't think of taking a photo, funnily enough.

2nd September: Second day of the month and of my working life. After a tough first day some were surprised, and relieved, that I actually turned up: apparently, it's not uncommon for people to scapa at the first sign of teaching. After the efforts taken in getting interviewed, getting my visa, and coming here, I don't think I want to duck out now. Anyway, I first taught some 10-year-olds (or thereabouts) and they were surprisingly tame - though that wouldn't last, as I discovered in later lessons. Plus I taught a couple of older groups, the latter of which lasts two hours, so a bit of a slog. After a tiring first lesson, I learnt from other teachers that the students in a 2-hour lesson, finishing at 9.15pm, are perfectly happy to have a 5-10min break in the middle. So am I, for that matter, so I'm doing it for all my subsequent lessons.

3rd September: Working-wise, same as Monday, though things are getting a little more comfortable across the board. If I had any extra-curricular activities during this week, I certainly can't remember them - there's a developed routine of work, drink round the corner, sleep, work etc.

4th September: Nothing new on the work front, but still a tiring day's work. Even though I often want to get straight home after work, the prospect of a nice cold beer when I'm completely dehydrated (partially due to talking in my lessons, but chiefly due to the insane humidity which has given me a permanent veil of sweat over my whole body) is too alluring.

5th September: Final day of the week, and thankfully the teaching Gods have deigned to give me the easiest teaching day of the week, with little kids, relaxed young people and one of my trusty adult groups. The little kids only have 1hr lessons, not 1.5hrs, so my total day is somewhat shorter. The school was nice enough to provide pizza and beer to congratulate us on the first week. Very good. A bunch of us then went to a fellow teacher's flat to have a bit of a drink and a bit of fun, along with a few Ukrainian students, girlfriends, and teachers from the sister institution, the Language Academy. A good time was had by all, but I don't think these people understand how you're supposed to play charades - films, songs, stuff like that, not single random words, surely? Meh.

I'll cover the weekend tomorrow, and might well get up to date.

Whew, it's raining today, first time in a while. Just like England: hot and humid for ages, then rain. Anyway, where was I?

30th August: To be honest, I don't remember if I did much of interest on that Saturday. I remember that I went around Khreshatyk (the main shopping street area) and Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square). Sightseeing, window-shopping, that's it. Then I came home and watched some footy on the TV (I've got pretty good cable TV, which most people don't so I'm kinda lucky, even though nearly all of it is in Ukrainian or Russian). Oh yeah, then around midnight-ish, I locked myself in the kitchen. What?

Basically, the door is designed really badly in that it's a push-button lock door, so you push the button, and the side with the button can turn the handle and unlock it, but the side with the lock needs the key. So they decided to put the side with the lock on the inside of the kitchen. Good move! I can totally understand why you'd want to lock yourself in, so that other people can come in but you have to have the key. Nice. After some panicked phone calls to people at the school, [the school director] just suggested I give it a running jump. Amazingly, it worked perfectly: I flew through the door, the wooden frame splitting in two. I just stared at the frame and laughed out loud (I'd been in that room for a while, so I was a little hysterical). Another bad thing to happen to me. They keep on coming.

31st August: Sunday was a little quieter than that, obviously. I went to the Golden Gate Irish pub - overpriced beer and loathsome ex-pats aplenty - to watch Villa v Liverpool. 0-0, dull as ditchwater, but nevermind. I also had to explain the story about the door, so that was fun...

1st September: Now the real work starts. My first lesson - with teenagers - was a catastrophe, as even though I came in really early to do plenty of prep, I rushed through my entire lesson plan with half an hour to spare. Plus the kids can be a little tough to handle sometimes. Mercifully, my second group of teenagers were much more sedate and much easier to get to grips with. Finally, my adult group went relatively smoothly, but I relished the post-work beer more than most, I think. Interesting note about this, actually: it's perfectly normal in Ukraine to stand around on a street corner drinking beer. Such behaviour in England is simply not done, but the price is an obvious reason for it: 4-5 UAH (50-60p) for a 500ml bottle/can of beer from a street kiosk, or 10-20 UAH (£1.20-£2.40) from one in a pub. I'm amazed such a practice hasn't caught on in the UK too.

More tomorrow - though being my first week it's pretty predictable...

Okay, I've not posted since I got here, so I've got an awful lot of catching up to do.

27th August: flew into Kyiv, got picked up by [removed], the school director, and went for a nice Ukrainian meal, before heading back to my new flat to unpack and rest. I'll post pics of all this kind of stuff soon, but I can't connect my phone yet...

28th August: We had an induction at the school for the whole day, chiefly for new teachers such as myself, plus [removed] and [removed], who are 'new' here but have been teaching for a good while now. After that was done and dusted we went out for beer, food and a good time. I ended up in the Caribbean Club with some of the Ukrainian office girls and a couple of other guys. Very expensive - 60 UAH on the door for guys (use http://www.xe.com for rates - it's expensive, trust me). Fun time though - but I did have to get it early-ish the next day, so not terribly wise (and it took us an age to find my flat via taxi).

29th August: Second day of induction, just a half day. I walked back from the school to my place to scope out the route, and how long it'd take, and swiftly set out for the evening meal at a Japanese restaurant. I got to the meeting point a bit late, though, and everybody had gone. I then found that the place they were initially going to was too busy, so they took a marshutka (cheap minibus) down Prospekt Peremohy to another place. I had no idea that it'd take almost an hour to walk there, but never mind. I felt knackered and a bit pissed off when I finally arrived, but I suppose these things happen. This, however, would not be the last - or worst - thing to happen to me in the first week.

More tomorrow.