Kate cooked a hearty brunch of boiled potatoes, tomato/cucumber/sweet pepper salad, bread and butter, green onions, and compote. Over such a tasty meal, I learned more about her background.

She started learning piano when she was six, and she attended a music school in Lviv. She’s been a DJ at her radio station for eight years as of this fall. She studied psychotherapy as her third degree, but she finds the work mentally stressful, so she only does it when someone calls upon her and doesn’t seek out new clients. She loved the school where she studied it because she got to practice on her classmates and feel confident that she was well-equipped to practice. Her mom makes cute little panties and eye masks to sell at the market, but she is also now studying at the same psychotherapy five-year program. Kate is also learning to be a graphic designer and has worked on a few contracts, but it’s hard to find regular work as a new designer. I suggested maybe she can ask her friends who are also designers to pass along work to her so that she can build her portfolio.

Around 18:00, I finally left the house and started walking to Lychakiv Cemetery. On the way, I saw the lion of Lviv.

The weather actually felt slightly chilly today because of the clouds and wind: perfect for walking in a cemetery. It was nice and quiet, and I saw many different designs of tombstones. I couldn’t read any of it, but it was calm nonetheless.

On the walk to city center, a toy store had a Rubik’s cube hanging outside its door.

To be a cheap drunk, I stopped at Drunken Cherry to try a glass of their cherry-flavored wine (₴30). It was sweet, as expected, and the cherries at the bottom of the glass had tiny seeds.

Then I went to Kumpel Restaurant-Brewery to try some of their brew and Galician food. They had to turn away a party of five, but they had room for me. I tried the Kumpel bronze ale (₴37 for 0.4L), honest garlic soup (₴70), Bayderka (₴36/100g, traditional Galician pork sausage), and Kumpel side dish (₴47, cabbage stewed in honey and beer, pickled cabbage, and potato dumplings). Everything tasted quite good, including the bread bowl of the garlic soup. I was so full by the time I finished chewing the last potato dumpling!

It took some time to get the check, and by the time I finished settling the bill, I had to go catch a marshrutka back to Kate’s before they started making themselves scarce at 22:00.