куда пошла вода?

Here's a quick update: I finally got the internet working in my apartment! I had to bring my laptop to the office of the company and have "slick" Dima help me configure this VPN business. It didn't work that night, but I tried it again the next morning one last time before calling him up again and it suddenly started working. So yesterday was spent mostly hanging around the apartment catching up on internet stuff.
The day before that I finally went over to the university that's supposedly sponsoring my stay here, though not many people seemed to know about it. I met my advisor/professor Natalya, and she was very friendly and helpful. She took me to the International Education Office so they could start taking care of all the paperwork and technical stuff for my affiliation with the university. They told me that the school has a partnership with Willamette University, and that four of its students are currently studying at the university here! I look forward to meeting them soon. They also said that they're going to set up a meeting for me with the Rector of the University (basically the President), which I'm now really nervous about. This guy is a big wig. A HUGE wig. Before becoming the Rector here, he was head of Crimean Parliament in the early 90's when they were sorting out the whole autonomy issue for Crimea, which has a lot to do with my research here. He was very much a central figure, and I've actually been reading about him in a book about the whole Crimean issue. So I have to meet with him and tell him about what I want to research. I'm king of dreading this meeting cause my ideas aren't entirely crystalized yet, plus I'm not confident enough in my language abilities to be really be able to make a good first impression. We'll just have to see how it goes.
I also got a washing machine that day, though the landlordy guy's son (I think) had to come back the next day (yesterday) with all the right tubes and tools to install it. He was here for about two hours, but apparently it works alright now. I've been conserving my clothes cause I knew it would be a little while before I'd be able to wash anything. The thing is really small though, probably about a third the size of what we would consider a normal washing machine, so I'll have to do washes in cycles I guess.Of course, I couldn't do any washing right now if I wanted to because all my water is currently cut off! It wasn't something the kid did yesterday, cause it worked last night after he left, but this morning I tried turning on the water and nothing came out, either hot or cold. I'm hoping some problem is just being fixed somewhere up the line (maybe turning on the hot water?), and it'll get going again very soon.
To tell you the truth, I'm not too preoccupied with the water situation right now because in a few hours I head off for the train station and head to Kiev for 4 or 5 days or so. I'm really excited to get to see the city, and it'll be nice to meet up with all the other Fulbrighters again. I still have to pack, and I'll have to bring something nice cause there's a reception at the apartment of the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy, whatever that means. I have a feeling it will be fairly swanky. Of course I'll have to shave tomorrow morning at the hotel now since I can't do it here without the water. I really hope when I get back from Kiev the water will be working fine. I may or may not get online much from Kiev, so I won't promise anything here until I get back.
Once I do get back to Simferopol, one of my top priorities is to hit the beach, either Yalta or Sevastopol. I haven't been able to get away yet, and I really want to try swimming in the Black Sea before it starts getting too cold. I heard it's swimmable through October, so I should still be good. I guess that's it for now. I'll tell Kiev you said hi.


-Austin