TestimonialsSasha finalizes her move and sees summer settling in kyiv. Olga is rehearsing for her concert and is looking forward to her mother’s upcoming visit to Paris. For the sixteenth week, the two sisters tell their daily life.
Olga and Sasha are two Ukrainian sisters. The first is 34 years old and is a wine merchant in Paris, where she has lived for seven years. The second, aged 33, lives in kyiv, like her mother and her partner, Viktor. Now, she works for a French digital communication company. The two sisters have agreed, since the beginning of the conflict, to keep their logbook for “M”. This week, Sasha is finalizing her move and sees summer settling in Kyiv. Olga is rehearsing for her concert and is looking forward to an upcoming visit from her mother.
Tuesday, June 7
Olga: Bus, TER, TGV… I spent nine hours in transport to return from the south of France, where I had gone to join my cousin. I have already forgotten that I saw the sea! And always this ball in the belly hidden just behind my diaphragm. Constant worry. I keep thinking about what Sasha said last week: that it’s still very dangerous in Kyiv [Kiev, M a décidé de respecter le choix orthographique d’Olga et de Sasha], that she never knows if there will be a tomorrow. I rediscover the fear I had when the Russians [Olga et Sasha ont choisi de ne pas mettre de majuscules à « russe », « russie » et « poutine »] were around Kyiv. I just want poutine dead. Finally, I’m not sure it stops if he disappears. It’s so hot in the East right now, a lot of guys are dying. It doesn’t stop.
On the other hand, I had great news: mum bought her train tickets to Kyiv-Warsaw and I bought her plane tickets to come from Poland. It arrives on the 27th, in three weeks! We’re going to stay a fortnight in Paris and we’ll go to the sea. I’ve rented a little house with a barbecue. I am so happy. But what is it expensive! The hotels, we haven’t even looked at. Who do you have to be to spend a week at a hotel on the Côte d’Azur? Not a small wine merchant like me, in any case.
Sasha: With my move, the new apartment and the new job, I’m exhausted from the start of the week. I try to organize myself in this crazy rhythm, but I must admit that I can’t find resources anywhere. I quit the sport, Viktor still keeps the dog. I can try to solve all my problems. Except one. The war. On social networks, I see people returning to more or less normal lives and at the same time, every day, I see three, four posts announcing soldiers’ funerals.
Wednesday, June 8
Olga: A Wednesday like a Wednesday. Work, singing, metro, sleep. This week is busy. Every night, I either have tastings at the store or rehearsals for upcoming concerts. Tonight, I’m rehearsing with the choir with which I’m giving a concert at the end of June. We will sing the Requiem of Mozart. It’s very pretty and very sad. Perfectly in tune with my feelings and my emotions of the last hundred and five days. But I rejoice as long as my mother comes. Finally. She will be there for my concert, I am very happy. I had a hard time imagining it!
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