Elevator From Hell

This is somewhat of a lighter post. First, Judi and I are housed on the seventh floor of a very old, dilapated apartment complex. It looks like it was built during the soviet union years and has suffered the same fate as the political system which built it. Below is a photo of the entrance to our apartment.

Below is a photo of our stairwell leading to our apartment.

As you can tell, not in such great shape. Since our apartment is on the 7th floor, our facilitator showed us how to use the "elevator" to get up to our apartment. In broken english he explained: "Just let door close, place key card in slot in upright position and........" I didn't hear the rest. I mean how hard can it be to operate an elevator? After our facilitator took us up the elevator to our apartment, he handed me the key card and said: "You remember instruction, no?" I said: "Yes, yes I remember instruction. Whatever." The elevator is literally 3 x 3 feet. Below is a photo:

After awhile, Judi and I decided to go out for some coffee. As we got into the elevator, I fumbled for my key card and panicked. The doors closed and the lights went black. I tried to feel for the key card slot in the side of the elevator, but to no avail. We were in pitch black, in a broken Ukrainian elevator, and no one knew where we were. After several minutes, and some serious wimpering from Judi BTW, I got the key card into the slot, pressed the button and we both tumbled out the door onto the 7th floor from where we started. We decided then and there that we would never take that elevator again. Of course, that didn't happen. The next day we decided to give the elevator one more try. We both walked in, I had my card in hand and we were ready to go. As the door closed, I dropped my card and all that could be heard in the extreme darkness as the doors were closing was Judi saying: "Oh Sh_t!" For 5 minutes, we tried everything to get out of the elevator. Finally, Judi grabbed her cellphone and gave me some light, so I could find the card and insert it into the proper slot. When I did so, the elevator doors opened up and we stumbled out where we had started. This time, there would be no third try. I mean what? You think we are stupid or something?