mini bus to Malin

As soon as the woman on the bus listened on my phone she smiled as Dr.Victoria explained the situation. When she handed it back to me I said to Victoria understand! she said yes. Relieved the hospital knew I was not lost after all and was on the correct bus. The driver was collecting fares,however when I tendered my fare of 12 grivna, he said something, but what just then the telephone woman came and sat beside me handing the driver 2 grivna on my behalf (apparently the fare can vary dependant on the mini bus drivers company) I decided to practice my Russian language by thanking Galina for helping with the phone and the fare, she explained that she lived on the outskirts of Malin and worked in Kiev. I was aqble to tell her about my family and she told me about her own family, this conversation took a lot longer than normal due to the language barrier, but we managed. I asked her where she worked, replying with a few words which I never understood Galina brought a square of paper from her bag handing it to me,unfortunately I did not know the wording on the paper. Suddenly Galina reached into her large shopping bag and produced a bag of doughnuts " I work " here. A Bakery,she worked in a bakery offering the bag to me I took a doughnut, I was hungry and the doughnut was great. Later on the journey the bus left its normal route turning into a forest track as the road ahead was blocked. We were at least 40 minutes driving through the forest finally emerging back on the normal route. Finally I began to see parts of the surroundings that I recognised, Galina who had been an interesting fellow traveller stood up to leave asking if I knew where to get off in Malin, insisted on handing me another doughnut before getting off. I have found that Ukrainian people are generally friendly and helpfull on my travels. At last I arrived in Malin, snow covered roads and icy pavements. Next blog finding how to get to the hospital from the centre of Malin, on my own.