A day on the town and a tearful goodbye

Jordan and I spent the next day in L’vov but, having had enough excitement for a while, didn’t stray too far from the hotel. However, we did manage to eat at a Ukranian McDonald’s. see a parade of some kind of green and white fans, tour through the festival of L’viv, and make friends at a local café.

As it turns our, we are very good tippers. Firstly, we were generous even by Canadian standards. Secondly, I learned that tipping is not necessary in Ukraine and is done only for excellent service. Add some Canadian pins to that and no wonder the waitress was so happy with us. Whatever cultural norms we broke, I’m happy to have made her night. That smile was priceless!

Before we knew it, it was Sunday – time to find the airport. The plan was that Jordan would fly out of L’vov and that I would stay and wait for Brieanne.

We got a taxi early since we didn’t know how far away the airport was or how far in advance we needed to be there and because I didn’t want to miss Brieanne’s arrival. There ended up being no reason to fret because got to the tiny, two-roomed airport with plenty of time to spare. After hanging out for a couple hours and seeing our first Ukranian police officers in action, it was time for our good-bye.

I write “goodbye” not because it’s forever but because it felt like that. Ninety days is a very long time after spending most days together for the past four months and every hour together for the past week and a half. We grew together a lot over that time and I am thankful for that but it make this placement even more difficult. Even though I’m doing something I’ve always wanted to do and wondered if I could, I wished I could be experiencing the normal summer stuff with my friends, my family, and Jordan – or at leas that Jordan could be experiencing this with me. Travelling together was awesome and watching him leave was like finally realizing that I’m half a world away from the people I love.