gas, heat, internet

Thursday, January 8th
On January 7th we flew back home to Kyiv and all we read about in the papers during the trip were the problems between Naftogas and Gazprom, or rather between Ukraine and Russia.
We were hoping for a warm and dry flat, but did not really dare expect it to be that way.
After a perfect trip we landed in our flat……. and everything was fine! Except for the cold air that comes through the gaps between walls and windows…..everything is working as it should: water, heating, electricity.
The only non-functioning utility is the internet.
On our first morning back home, Svetlana our Russian teacher came punctually as ever and started off by speaking only Russian. In the past weeks, she had mostly been speaking German in between the exercises and now we accelerate the pace. This is what we wanted, but did we really…………?
Then I’m back on the phone with our internet(non-)provider. Unfortunately, Anton (who has become a constant help over the phone in the past months, because he seems to be the only English speaker at this telecom company) is not on duty today, so the first answer is “please call back on Monday”. Not surprisingly, this answer is not accepted and I demand help today. “We will call you back”. Not having been called back in the afternoon, I make a second attempt: “The master will call you in one hour.” Everyone who can hold a hammer or a saw is called a master in this part of the world, but I assume/hope that it is Anton that they are referring to. After one-and-a-half hours, the next attempt by me (!) leads to Anton. Kids cry in the background, he seems to be at home. He gives a mobile number and asks to call him again in 20 minutes. 19 minutes later, he calls J.
After many “plug in, plug out, wait, what lights blink?, plug out,….”, he finally gives up! This has never happened before!
He tells me to call the call center again in half an hour. He has already advised them to send someone out to our place and I need to make an appointment. When I call, the lady immediately says that a “specialist” will come out tomorrow and call me shortly before.

Friday, January 9th
No internet, no specialist.
No warm water, no heating. The kids take cold showers and then invent their own contingent-plan: they fill plastic bottles with water and place them under their switched-on bedside lamps. They hope to create a warm water reservoir big enough for the next parental shower-attack.
At 11am, the water is back.
I make my first call of the day to Telesistema. The same Marina that was on duty yesterday says that the specialist would come on Monday. Her administrator (apparently some sort of boss) had told her so. Unfortunately, she is unable to connect me directly to this boss, because I don’t speak any Russian.
I call Peter for help. Shortly after that, Yaroslav calls me back, takes all the info and goes to battle with Telesistema. Half an hour later he concedes defeat. Apparently, the problem is much bigger than us.
Then, just before going to bed, one last check of the control lights and surprise: the internet is back!
No one will ever tell us, what was wrong this time and how it was fixed, but for now, I just enjoy!