Weathering the Storm with the WP#56

It has been some week and first and foremost, my heart goes out to the people of Ukraine and the people of Russia. What is happening, should not be happening, but it is. I have been to both countries and while I did not understand the languages, except for a few key words, including trying to figure out the Cyrillic alphabet, I found the people as most people, to be very nice and helpful and was unafraid of traveling there. People want to live their lives and be happy.

That was many years ago, perhaps 10 or so, when I was in both Odessa and Kiev, and even further back since I was in Russia and seeing what is happening is heartbreaking. The people of Russia, and I have friends and colleagues there in the travel industry, are being impacted also. The sanctions, meant to stop Putin and his the war machine and all the rich oligarchs also impact the average city of the country, and perhaps even more so. I know how fragile the industry of which I am a part, can be impacted by decisions and events out of my control.

This was not to be a political blog and 75 years since the end of WWII, war was not to happen again on the European continent, but it has, but it is not the first time as it also happened when war broke out in the Balkans after the break up of Yugoslavia including the genocide. Let’s not forget that either. The problem is that we humans tend to forget about our past and make the same mistakes and while Ukraine is not part of NATO, we can’t appease Putin like Chamberlain appeased Hitler and the people of that country and the country itself has a right to it’s sovereignty. The world needs to help, even if the treaty does not exist. I know help is coming in many different forms.

I would much rather be talking about my love for Rosa and of course I will do that here, whenever I can and people willing to listen, but what is happening will, in a still very unsettled environment, impact everyone be it more inflation, fear of traveling, the pandemic, whether founded or not as we are globally connected and not isolated from the world. And, Covid still exists, even if it is waning, or seems to be and is not the headline it has been. It will be a part of our lives and keeping up with all of these events is necessary.

I had resisted until yesterday to turn on news broadcasts and instead, touched base with colleagues in Europe in bordering countries like Romania to get the real scoop as neighboring countries are opening their borders to the refugees from Ukraine and to colleagues in Russia.

Lastly, but most importantly and it has been only a week since Rosa and I parted ways, and the plan is to be in Rome with her this summer, I miss being with her in person. The three weeks traveling the country with her, were the best three weeks of my life and getting back into the routine has been harder than I thought. I start an 11 week program in March,  Teaching English as a Foreign Language, so don’t be surprised if I am contacting you from across the pond at some time sooner than that as not being with her in person until July is going to be hard.  

As always, I am interested in your thoughts, comments, questions and adding to the discourse is always appreciated be in on the site itself or on Facebook, Twitter or wherever you read this. Thank you for your support of this small business and it is truly appreciated.