·
Wednesday, 31 May 2006
Packing up the Visitors & Off to the
Airport…
The day is quickly
gone.
The logistics of
packing and transporting the in-laws to the airport consume the hours. I do not make the trek to the airport. I am tired and glad to have some time
alone.
It has been fun,
but busy. I am sorry to see them go,
happy with how things generally went, but somewhat disappointed too…I feel a
bit like a spoiled, cranky, over-stimulated two year old.
I take a long hot
shower and veg in front of the TV.
No sleeping in
tomorrow – Mark has appointments!
·
Tuesday, 30 May 2006
Rain Day
We are tired and
it is cold and rainy. We loaf a
bit. We eat. We watch TV and read. Dad enjoys opera and some other music on a
local TV channel. The vacation is almost
over. Tomorrow the plane takes my
in-laws away. On Thursday, they will be
touring the Isle of Capri!
The Sad List of Stuff We Did Not Do!
We did a lot these
past few weeks, but there are items on my checklist that did not happen.
I am “bummed” that
we did not get to go to the Museum of Folk Architecture and Folkways. The weather has been too bleak and we could
not arrange transportation. I really
wanted to go there to see the dancing ad costumes and to picnic. This is a big disappointment for me.
I had also hoped
to visit the botanical gardens to see the hundreds of varieties of lilacs in
bloom – a stunning site on a beautiful spring day. We should have tried this last week when the
flowers were at their peak, the weather was fine, and we were still fresh
too. But now there is too much walking
involved and bad weather and no energy…besides the blossoms are gone
anyway. Sigh.
The Lavras also
got bumped from the vacation checklist. Navigating
the huge area and the hilly terrain would have been too much really. We had hoped to poke around there a bit
today, but discovered at the last minute that it is closed on Tuesdays!
Mark tried to get
Opera tickets but they were sold out.
We did not even
manage one picnic.
Internet Café…
Did I mention the
amazing Internet Café in the mega mall under the Arena City area? There are about 250 computers available at 6
HRV an hour…all of the seats are filled.
Most of them are gamers, but many of them check e-mail and some even
watch DVDs! (Our Internet Center in
Kerch has only 5 computers!)
Mom V. checks her
e-mail and lets their Rome connection know their plans.
I look for
personal mail – friends and family know we are vacation so though there are 400
e-mails to wade through, most of them are work and news related. Sigh.
I hoped to hear from our daughter and grand kids.
·
Monday 29 May 2006 (Memorial Day Observed
in USA)
Babi Yar – 150,000 People Slaughtered…
A grey, rainy day
seems appropriate for another sobering visit.
This memorial is to the 150,000 Kievians, primarily Jews (33,000), who
were slaughtered and dumped in a ravine by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic
War (WWII).
There are two
monuments. One erected in 1976 to the
memory of “Soviet Citizens” who were “victims of fascism”. The central figure is a communist resistance
fighter. This monument really ignores
the fact that many of the 150,000 victims were Jewish and invited there to be gunned
down simply because they were Jewish!
It is also some
distance from the actual site. The ravine
where they were “buried” has been leveled and made into a highway and an
apartment complex.
When Ukraine
became independent, they invited Israel to erect a monument. It was dedicated in 1991, commemorating the
50th anniversary of this event.
It is a ten-foot high menorah, is about ¾ of a mile from the other
monument, and is closer to the original gravesite.
The Jewish people
were told to pack their warmest clothes and arrive at the corner of the
cemetery. When they arrived, they were
mercilessly slaughtered.
We came to Babi
Yar on the metro with M. and M. and 2 of their older kids who are just “home”
to Ukraine from college in the USA. M.
and M. moved to their Embassy jobs in Kiev last fall and so the kid’s “home” is
new to them and so is the language! The
kids are fun and it is fun to watch the parents interact with them!
We trek around in
the rain to see various monuments and discuss what various guide books tell us
about the incident. We try to find the Jewish cemetery, but end up
wandering through a military cemetery.
I am wearing my
summer clothes and it is cold and wet. I
trek down steep, muddy paths like a mountain goat though I am wearing
high-heeled slides.
After our sobering
morning history lesson in the cold rain, we head downtown and have a tasty
lunch at an Irish pub.
·
Sunday, 28 May 2006
Street madness & Kiev Days
We walk down to
Kiev’s main avenue and find a road race in progress. Kiev Days is in full swing and the starting
event today is a run down Khreshchatik Street.
The plan is to
stroll to Andreyevsky Spusk where the usual numbers of street arts and crafts
venders will be triple today. We make
strategic plans for a bathroom break at McDonald’s enroute. Extended walking and stairs are no popular
with some members of our little party so we try to avoid these too.
The day is bright
and lovely. There is much to see as we
wander up the length of the street turned pedestrian mall every Saturday and
Sunday year round. There are extra
events today though and of course, the good weather inspires even more crowds.
Winter snow, fur
coats and cold are all just unpleasant memories on this fine day.
Gregorian Chants & Lighting Candles – a
High Point
We arrive at
Mykhaylivska Square, and take photos, consult guidebooks, etc. We enter the beautiful cathedral where we
light candles and then observe church services.
Dad V, an expert
and enthusiast of Gregorian chant is delighted to hear the monks singing. A holy procession with icons ensues as the
faithful circle the church, pausing to pray at designated locations.
This is a
wonderful experience.
Trekking the Cobblestones of Andriyivsky
Street in High Heeled Slides
We reach our
destination: the huge art market! We ooh
and ahhh and bargain a bit as we stop at various booths. The traditional embroidered towels are so
beautiful, but not possible on my budget.
Mom and Dad V.
find some painted miniature dolls to take home as souvenirs and Dad V. gets a
St Nicholas too (Ded Moros sp? Actually!).
I must pay attention
to my feet as I navigate down the steep slope on the slippery, uneven
cobblestones in my rather spiky-heeled slides.
The crowds are thick and so the experience is not as pleasurable as it
could be. There are many wonderful
artists and also many venders pushing trinkets too. The Kiev Day crowds change
the character of this adventure.
We stop for lunch
– dining under a large tree at a café on the hillside.
I poked my head
into the Bulgakov house, but I guess a visit will happen on another Kiev trip.
At the bottom of
the hill, I was glad to see the old dog woman.
Her canine friends pose beautifully on a large blanket and people put
coins in a bucket to help her feed and house her many dogs.
Podil
I the lower city,
we take more photos and consult guidebooks and point out numerous sites. We take photos of St Andrews from down below.
We seek out a café
for coffee or tea, but there are no seats available – too many crowds. Even the McDonalds at the end of the street
is crowded beyond belief. So, we take
the funicular up the side of the hill and wend our way back across town.
In Maidan Square
young people are gathering for the rock concert so we keep moving.
Later, we turn on
the TV and view the singing and dancing from the comfort of our flat. Later when the fireworks go off we open our
terrace door and hear he sounds less than a mile away and watch the colors
spill across the TV screen. The
fireworks mark the end of Kiev Days.
·
Saturday, 27 May 2006
We arrive at the flat...
… with bags of
supplies we picked up at a grocery store enroute to our temporary home.
Kiev weather has
turned cold and wet since last week. My
suitcase does not contain appropriate wear.
I am ready for summer, but the forecast is pretty bleak.
Mom V buys a new camera
Mom and Mark
conspire on purchasing a new camera since her old one cannot be fixed
readily. It is not good to break a
camera mid-vacation – they have their visit to Italy next week too. Gotta replace that camera!
We visit a few
stores and end up in a luxury underground mall.
I rest my aching feet and alternately watch extremely thin, beautiful
women buying Baskin Robins ice cream or couples getting their photo taken with
an engaging little chimp, while Mom V makes her final selection at the camera
counter.
The Nikon she buys
is the same as the one that broke and seems to be about the same price as she
would pay in the USA. For those living
on the average Ukrainian budget (or a PCV ad his non-PCV wife) that is a small
fortune!
WHO is buying all
this luxury stuff in Kiev? The city is
full of Bentley dealerships and pricey merchandise! Even in Kiev, the average monthly income is
about $300 (about $100 more than anywhere else in the country, but still not
enough to support this kind of life style!)
The agenda tonight is a sushi-making party…
…at the flat of an
acquaintances. M. and his wife work at the
American Embassy and they included us on their guest list. The flat is huge and elegant – a far cry from
the life style of Peace Corps Volunteers.
I try not to gape! (It is really
huge, even by American standards!)
We sip wine and
visit with a crowd of young people who work at the embassy or ex-pat
schools. Later we get the chance to try
our hand at rolling sushi.
It is a delightful
evening.
·
Friday, 26 May 206
On Board the Overnight Train to Kiev
Another travel day
– we board the train for a 23 hour ride back to Kiev. No walking involved and time to rest up a bit
before we tackle Kiev Days!
·
Thursday, 25 May 2006
We are off to an early start.
Lyudmila kindly
arranged for a tour guide (the director of local museums!) and a translator (Masha,
from English Club) to take us all to see some of the special sites around
Kerch.
The 1st stop: Adzhimushkai Stone Quarry-a
Monument to Heroes
This is a chilling
monument to those who suffered and died and those who survived this hideous
event.
On May 20th
1942, Hitler’s troops occupied the Kerch Peninsula. 10,000 Soviet troops were ferried to the
Taman Peninsula and did not have time to cross before they were attacked. They hid in the damp, dark, underground labyrinths
under the quarries. About 5,000
civilians also hid there.
The defenders held
out for 170 days. They received approx
100 grams of sugar each day and many died, picked off by Nazi gunners as they
tried to collect water for those underground.
The Nazis also
used gas to kill people in the dank, subterranean hiding place. There are mass graves and monuments
underground. One area contains thousands
of colorful toys marking the site where children are buried.
At the end of
October 1942 the Nazis made a final attack.
Our tour guide,
armed with a flashlight and a spare lead us through this sobering underground
museum where we observed the conditions people lived under during those six
months. Many of the survivors actually
ended up in concentration camps.
The events here
lead to Kerch being honored as one of the Hero Cities of the Soviet Union.
Coming out into
the sunshine of a warm spring day following our hours below was quite a
shock. It is hard to imagine what it
would be like to emerge after six months of darkness, starvation, thirst and
fear.
12-meter high
pylons depicting the heroes emerging from underground flank the entrance to the
underground museum. It is a massive
monument to these heroes.
The Tsar Barrow
Just up the road
from the quarry is a marvel of Greek history – the Tsar Barrow. Our guide detailed many interesting facts
about it, but my mind was sill on the sobering sites in the Adzhimushkai Stone
Quarry.
Mom V’s camera was
fumbled in a photo taking venture here so if Mark cannot fix it, we may be off
on a camera buying mission soon!
The View from Mitridates
Our guide soon
whisked us to the top of Mitridate Mount to take in the stunning view of the
blue sea and the panorama of the city.
I am grateful for
this since Dad V would find climbing the almost 500 steps up to it quite a
challenge. No visit to Kerch is complete
without a trip to the Mitridate.
I had hoped to
picnic there and maybe explore the Greek ruins, but the vacation and family
visit is escaping far too quickly…sigh.
I also regret not getting photos with the Gryphons (we call them Merv
and Andy…thanks Tom C!) that guard the stairway.
St. John the Precursor-the Oldest Church in
Eastern Europe
We ended our day
of touring at the beautiful and historic church in Lenin Square, another
must-see in Kerch.
Dad V bought an
icon here.
We had a late
lunch at an outdoor café on Lenin Street.
Masha joined us and continued to delight my in-laws with her wonderful
English skills and her beauty and grace!
·
Wednesday, 24 May 2006
We visit Yeni Kale…
This ruined Turkish
fortress built in 1703-1706 on the edge of the Sea of Azov was intended to
prevent the Russian Navy from entering the Black Sea. There is not much written about it, but it
has a lovely profile and so we decided to seek it out today.
Mark and I had
attempted to find it once before, but did no have definite instructions. Today, with the aid of a map, we were able to
stroll out to it and take a few photos.
I wish we had more time here in Kerch so we could have had a picnic
lunch and lazed away the day. But, we
had to have tea at the library at 4 and then English Club follows at 5:30.
Tea with Lyudmila
We sipped champagne
with Lyudmila and made our presentation to the library.
Mark and I gave a
set of C. S. Lewis books in English and in Russian to the Library as a memorial
gift for Caleb. (We usually this around
Caleb’s birthday) I wrote the remarks
and Mark and his tutor translated them. I
read the English aloud and Mark read the Russian to a gathering of library
staff and Vogels. We put bookplates inside the cover of each book, with a photo
of Caleb and a few words stating the books were given in his memory.
Vogels also
presented a pair of their own books to the library.
·
Tuesday, 23 May 2006
Kerch Bazaar
I love the bazaar
and of course we ad many purchases to make since we buy all our produce there
each week. We stocked up on food and let
the in-laws soak up the general ambience of the huge market place.
Mom bought a few
meters of oilcloth to make into a tablecloth for her California kitchen. The motif is bright yellow lemons on a filed
of lovely dark blue. She also purchased
a hat for a baby girl.
We lunched at an
outdoor café at the edge of the marketplace where we had Tartar food.
·
Monday, 22 May 2006
Tea by the Sea and the Bus Trip to Kerch
We started the day
with a seaside walk and a cup of tea by the water. Then it was time to pack our belongings for
the six-hour bus ride to our perch in Kerch.
We wrangled all
our luggage onto a bus to the train station and then found a cut restaurant for
a leisurely lunch. The décor and meal were
traditional Ukrainian – we started with borsht and had some vareniky too.
The bus ride was
typical – it was hot and sticky and no one would allow us to open the windows
for fear of drafts. We got out twice
during the six-hour trip. Using the
toilet at bus stations is a character building experience.
I spent my time on
the bus knitting a scarf for my mother-in-law and listening to Mark’s MP3
player (He had several “This American Life” stories with him).
It was dark and
cold when we arrived in Kerch. After so
long on the bus, we elected to walk, but it seemed like a very long trip as we
rolled our luggage along the uneven pavement.
We were all very happy to reach our cozy flat and tumble into bed for a
good nights sleep.
·
Sunday, 21 May 2006
Bus to Bakhchisarai and Khan’s Palace
The city of Bakhchisarai
was founded in the 15th C.
The name actually means “the palace garden” in Crimean Tartar and the
palace and its garden are what we wanted to see.
There were no
organized excursions from Sevastopol to Bakhchisarai so we decided to simply
take a bus and find our way to the palace. The terrain there is dry and rugged and it was
already hot when we arrived. We had to
catch a marshrutka across town and ended up standing, or should I say squatting
in a very crowded van as we bounced and sweated across town. Outside Khan’s Palace, venders lined the path
to sell baklava and Tartar foods that we happily sampled before we made our way
into the beautiful, quiet, garden.
One of the reasons
we wanted to visit the palace was because in photos it seemed reminiscent of
the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. This is
one of our favorite places so we were interested to see this similar
palace. Our friend Jay, a former Peace
Corps Volunteer, served in Bakhchisarai and he has also spent time in the
Alhambra. He and I discussed the two places
at length.
The visit proved
to be wonderful and there were many similarities. I enjoyed the museum housed there too and of course,
we visited the harem and saw the famous Fountain of Tears that inspired Pushkin’s
poem.
It would be fun to
explore the area, but on this trip, we could only sample a little of the
culture and beauty. There area has many
cliff dwellings and monasteries to visit, but the climbing involved made them
prohibitive to use on this trip.
We ran into an
acquaintance as we paused in the gardens.
The young woman, whom we met at a library function a few weeks ago,
introduced us to her party. We were
honored to meet the leader of the Crimean Tartar people. When he learned of
Mark’s association with the Internet Center and his IT expertise, he was quick
to suggest a possible project involving IT for members of the Tartar
community. We agreed to discuss the
possibility at a later date and exchanged business cards.
An Angel Takes Us in Hand…
Back in Sevastopol,
we took a sunset walk after dinner and discovered a beautiful church. We started t enter only to be advised that it
was closed.
Suddenly a young
woman swept down the steps and greeted us.
She took me by the hand and insisted that we follow her inside. She chatted away in Russian, and pointed out
all the renovations and artwork as she gave us a private tour of this place she
so obviously loved.
After a thorough
tour of the main building, she took us downstairs, unlocked the door, flipped
on the lights and showed us the underground chapel. All the while, she chattered away and smiled
at us encouragingly.
“Oh I wish I had
paid attention in English class,” she uttered in Russian and we all laughed and
smiled!
She was like a
small bird or an angel, happily pouring out stories we could not begin to
understand. She seemed to know or feel
my father-in-laws joy and love for religious art and music.
At one point, we
paused and he sang a few verses of a suitable hymn while she listened
reverently.
When the impromptu,
after-hours tour ended our angel guide, kissed us each three times and escorted
us out the door, leaving us with the feeling that we had somehow been visited
by an ethereal creature.
It was a
delightful experience that had the feeling of a dream.
·
Saturday, 20 May 2006
An Excursion to Yalta
The weather is
grey and colder today, but still quite pleasant. We board a Mercedes van for an hour drive up
the coast to the beautiful area of Yalta.
Chekhov wrote “The Cherry Orchard” and other plays and stories during
his time in Yalta - it is easy to see how he could be inspired to write in such
a lovely place by the sea.
Alupka Palace
This palace is worth
an extended visit. It is an incredible
mix of styles. A soldier and statesman
who was instrumental in development of the Crimean wine industry built the
structure in the 1830s. Count Vorontsov’s
castle is 16th C. English gothic style on the northern side and is
has a Moslem architectural style on the southern side.
Wandering through
the 150-plus rooms is like seeing a fairytale coming to life. I particularly like the steps guarded by
sleeping and awakening white marble lions, but many of the actual rooms are
equally stunning.
Our tour guide
kept us moving along and did not let us waste any precious time at souvenir
stands. She also kept a running commentary throughout the tour.
We continued our
tour in the elegant and diverse gardens surrounding the area. There were ponds and waterfalls, peacocks,
falcons and exotic trees and flowers – our guide had a story about every one!
The next stop was Livadia Palace.
Livadia was the
summer residence of the Russian emperors including Alexander II and III and
Nicholas III. The great white palace was
built in 1910.
In 1945, the three allied powers (Roosevelt,
Stalin and Churhill) met in Livadia castle to settle Germany’s future. They also planted the seeds for the formation
of the United Nations. Seeing the
conference table and seeing the accoutrements and photos related to the Yalta
Conference had a powerful effect on me.
Touring these
palaces reminded me of the “summer homes” at Newport and on Jekyll Isle and
America’s castle: the Biltmore in Asheville, NC. I also flashed back on stately palaces we
visited in Spain – El Escorial and the summer palace in Aranjuez. The world produced some monumental buildings
in that era. Breathtaking splendor.
Swallow’s Nest
One of Crimea’s
most famous landmarks is the Swallow’s Nest Castle perched on Avrora Cliff,
overlooking the sea. This romantic
structure was built in 1912 and now houses an Italian restaurant. We stopped to take photos of this attractive
building before we headed down to the promenade where we dispersed for lunch.
Art Show, Confederate Bikers, Chess and
Herds of Cats…
Our guide released
us for lunch. We walked along the water,
enjoying bright sunshine and cool breezes.
We observed many people playing chess – one of them was a two-year-old
boy who you could play against. We also
saw a Harley Davidson with a huge Confederate flag draped above it – props for
an extensive fantasy photo booth on the waterfront.
We ended up having
blini (Ukrainian pancakes – crepes) at a local “fast food” place and then
meandered through an outdoor art show. About
15 cats came racing through the pedestrian walk – a herd of cats or perhaps a
gang, but they made an impression with their show of force!
After boarding the
bus, we headed back to Sevastopol. The
sites we visited were beautiful and the day was very pleasant.
·
Friday, 19 May 2006
Settling in Sevastopol…
We arrived in Sevastopol
(about 400, 000 pop) after about 18 hours on the train to find bright sunny
weather and a cheerful, pleasant driver waiting for us. Mark booked a flat in the central city of
Sevastopol from the same agency he dealt with in Kiev and it proved to be a
good bargain. Our driver took us on a
windshield tour of the area and told amusing and inspiring stories about life
in this city on a hill.
When we arrived at
the flat, the cleaning crew was just leaving.
We opened the door and suddenly water spewed out of the kitchen
area. Our driver slammed the door and
called for the women t return. The hot
water heater had simply broken, but was quickly fixed and we were able to
settle into the lovely flat.
We have two
bedrooms, a kitchen and living area, a lovely, remodeled bath with luxury tub
and a huge terrace. It is a delightful
place to call home during our visit.
Sevastopol is one
of the Hero Cities (WWII) and we learned much about its history as we explored
the area. The Black Sea Fleet is at home
there. We saw the famed monument to the
scuttled ships. We learned more details
about the Crimean War (1854-1856). We wandered through the park and took photos
of the important and picturesque sites, did some souvenir shopping, purchased
food for snacking and breakfast and coordinated an excursion for tomorrow.
We ended up dining
by the sea at an outdoor café.
Tomorrow we are
off to explore Yalta.
·
Thursday, 18 May 2006
Bentleys, Lladro’s, Villeroy & Bosch…Not
a Peace Corps Experience!
Nothing about the
central city of Kiev suggests a Peace Corps experience. People are well dressed and prosperous looking,
but the stores are what make it seem unbelievable. The city has so many luxury items
available. Where does all the money for
these shops come from - who buys these things?
As we wandered
around the area my in-laws, Mark and I pondered this many times. A recent Kiev Post states that the average
monthly income in Ukraine is about $190, which is the price of a pair of glitzy
shoes at a toney shop on Khreshchatyk Street.
We walked around
Arena City, near the central rynok at the end of Shevshenko Boulevard at the
west end of Khreshchatik Street and saw a Bentley dealership and a place
selling Lladro and a Villeroy and Bosch store with upscale merchandise. The prices we saw were about the same as
these goods would cost in the USA – we checked prices on Swiss Army knives,
Ecco shoes, Nikon cameras, and several computers too.
Dining in central
Kiev is a culture shock for those of used to living on the $10 a day a Peace Corps
Volunteer’s money averages out to. A few
years ago, there was relatively nothing available to purchase in Ukraine, now
the shelves are filled with luxury items, but WHO has the money to purchase
these items?
Touring the City on Foot…
We spent the day
wandering down Khreshchatyk, the beautiful main street of Kiev. On weekends, this wide, tree-lined boulevard
is closed to traffic and people link arms and stroll, musicians perform,
venders sell trinkets and outdoor cafes draw crowds.
The chestnut trees
are in bloom and the weather is balmy.
We walk slowly, trying to avoid stairways that make walking a challenge
for my father-in-law. Actually avoiding
stairways is quite a challenge in this beautiful city of walkers.
We purchase street
food (delicious sharumas) and watch people wander by while we savor our
snack. Then we continue walking.
We enter St
Sofia’s Square, formerly called Bohdahn Khmelnytsky Square, and have a frenzy
of photo taking. There is a huge (10
tons of bronze – 36 feet high) state of the old Kozak leader.
We head into the
grounds of St Sofia’s cathedral and take in the beautiful sites there. The frescoes and mosaics are wonderful. The cathedral was established by Yaroslav the
Wise back in 1037
Plan a McDonald’s Stop if You Want a Toilet
Bowl!
Here my
mother-in-law has her first experience with the porcelain feet we call a
Turkish toilet. The toilets in St Sofia’s are brand new and exceptionally
clean. There are long banks of toilets
behind closed doors. Behind the doors
are the porcelain feet with a hole between them where one squats. This is not an easy position for some people
to assume – hard on the knees. (Later we
figured out that there are 50 McDonald’s burger places in Kiev and they
generally have toilet bowls in the woman’s room – with proper planning one can
visit them, purchase some tea and make use of the facilities)
Next, we stopped
for tea at an outdoor café at the Golden Gate – it was immortalized in Mussorgsky’s
piano piece, “Pictures at an Exhibition”.
The gate served as the entrance to the city and was built back in
1037. There is also a fine monument of
Yaroslav the Wise holding a model of St Sofia’s Cathedral and of course, the
large bronze cat.
Our PCV friend Tom
met us by the cat and took a few photos of us all before we headed toward the
Opera House. We continued walking and took photos of the starry domed St
Volodymyr Cathedral. We skirted the
botanical gardens where lilacs perfumed the air and headed for the railroad
station to catch the night train to Sevastopol.
After all the
walking and the late night before, we were all ready to sleep when we were
ensconced in our cozy railroad car. We
will return to Kiev during Kiev Days and take in a few more sites before my
in-laws depart for their visit to Italy.
·
Wednesday, 17 May 2006
The Kiev Flat
Mark arranged, via
the Internet, for a flat in Kiev. It is just
a few blocks form the historic market place on Khreshchatik Street. There is a metro stop nearby. It is a reasonably priced alternative to a
hotel and will allow us more space and privacy, plus we can easily prepare
meals here if we wish.
The hotel industry
in Ukraine is just developing, even in the major cities. Unless you are among the rich and/or famous
or traveling with a large business, it is difficult to negotiate a satisfactory
hotel arrangement. People here stay with
family or friends. Traveling is not so
common.
The flat he engaged
is modest, bright, clean and fairly spacious.
The entryway and stairwells are typical for all the private buildings we
have been in here in Ukraine and may be off-putting for travelers not
accustomed to life in this fast-changing country. It will be a good place to call home for our
days in Kiev.
The plan is to
stay two nights and then head to Sevastopol for a few days. After some sightseeing there, we will go to
our home in Kerch, on the other side of the Crimean Peninsula and share our
Peace Corps site with them. We will
return to Kiev and the flat there for the final days of their visit, which
coincides with Kiev Days activities in the beautiful capital city.
Cheesecake at 2 AM
The weather is
sunny and hot as we walk to the market to stock up on a few supplies. We buy flowers to take to the airport and
find fresh strawberries to serve with a local version of wonderful
cheesecake. The central market (Besarabskyy
Rynok) is a pricey place to shop, but the food is very fresh and it is so
beautiful to wander through. The bright
fruits and vegetables are stacked artistically and the venders wear lacy caps
and cajole in sing-songy Ukrainian to sample their wares.
I remain at the
flat and bathe and nap when Mark heads off to the airport o collect his parents
and their bags. In a few hours he returns,
daisy bouquet still n hand and no parents in tow. They missed the plane connections and went
back to Italy to fly in on a different plane.
Thank goodness for cell phones!
Mark is not at the
flat long. He returns to the airport by
taxi to escort his parents back with him.
They are tired,
but happy to be in Ukraine at last. At 2
AM, we sit in the kitchen drinking hot tea and eating large portions of rich,
creamy cheesecake, with sweet strawberries and dollops of fat sour cream.
Tomorrow we explore
and then catch the night train headed to sunny Crimea – let the vacation begin!
·
Tuesday, 16 May 2006
We are off on the overnight train to Kiev!
Amanda and Jay
arrived early. Amanda wants to download
some tunes on her MP3 player in preparation for their extended trip through
Russia, Georgia and other places. We
are all traveling to Kiev together – she will complete her Peace Corps
paperwork and then she and Jay depart on their big adventure (part of which
involves working o an organic farm outside Moscow – can’t quite imagine Amanda
milking cows!). We will check into a
flat in Kiev and pick up Mark’s folks from the airport for a couple weeks of
sightseeing and visiting.
Amerada arrives
with bags of stuff for me o have. She is
sad to part with her favorite brown sweater.
I promise to give it a good home and maybe even send photos of it to her
later! There are books and other
assorted things. I wait to go through
them so she won’t have to say goodbye to the stuff again.
Leaving is hard. Watching her leave is hard too.
Amanda is closing
out her Peace Corps service.
One accumulates so
much stuff in 27 months. You arrive with
about 100 pounds of stuff and when you leave, you can only take home 100 pounds
(or what the airlines allows).
The 23-hour trip
to Kiev is uneventful. Jay has a
bellyache. Amanda falls asleep and so
does Mark. Jay and I sip vodka and talk
of literary matters while the Ukrainian countryside flashes by outside the
windows.
·
Friday, 12 May 2006 (Actually, it is 3 minutes
after midnight so it is Saturday!)
The full moon
shines through the kitchen window, spilling into the living room. My world is quiet and dark. I am a bit puzzled by the silence and
darkness - it is Friday night and the weather is mild. Our proximity to the seaside park with all
the outdoor cafes, discos and other amusements makes me think people should be
out, even at this late hour. But, it is
quiet. I sit here in this quiet, typing
on my laptop, moonlight teasing my toes.
Mark’s breathing
is the only sound. He is deep in
dreams. The cat who was our guest has
gone home to her family. I miss her
quiet companionship. She vied with the
computer for “laptop” status.
She was a nice
guest and a reminder to us of many things.
Mark and I are accustomed to each other’s ways and her cat ideas of how
life can be, and should be. offered us pleasant surprises…a chance to think
outside the box. How quickly we forget,
there are other ways to see and experience things. I miss her influence already.
Today unfolded on
its own. I started the day knowing I
would probably hear from Miss Pushkin’s “owner” (in quotes because I am not
certain ANYONE can own a cat really!). I
also knew an English Club member (and friend) planned to come by for dinner and
some computer-geek-fellowship with Mark.
(S. took a quick vacation to Hungary to purchase a laptop computer at an
excellent price and plans to coordinate with Mark on setting it up.) My own agenda involved tasks associated with
the upcoming visit of Mark’s parents and our vacation… – many logistics to
accomplish.
The day is behind
me now. In the final assessment, it was
a pleasant day. We had good conversation
with the cat-people and dinner with S. proved to be pleasant too. I simply relaxed and let the day take its
course.
I simply enjoyed
each moment.
And now, I have a
private audience, a midnight assignation, with the full moon, the scent of
lilacs, and the sounds of the sea.
Life is good.
·
Thursday, 11 May 2006
Did I mention that
what Americans call lady bugs are called “God’s cows” in Russian. This puzzles me.
Victory Day
sentiments linger on. So, the TV airs
old movies about the war and other conflicts and wars. I watch, absorbing the action and puzzling
over some things and nodding my head when some things click.
I am like a small
child trying to learn what this game is the adults play with sounds. I walk a line between understanding things
and then, like a light going out, I am in the dark, totally clueless.
I dabble at
reading Ukrainian, Crimean and Russian history.
I am a dilettante – not a bad thing, thought here are connotations of
superficiality in that word. There is
also pleasure and love involved too. My intermittent and erratic quest for
knowledge motivates me to learn more of the language. It is not the conversations I long to have,
it is the understanding.
Many PCVs are
motivated by a need to communicate. My
need is more based on absorbing information.
Frankly, I am not
motivated intrinsically by the language.
I leave that to linguists.
This whole
language issue is interesting. It is a
challenge, but sometimes our limited abilities free us from petty matters. We can use it to screen out events and
activities.
Obviously, knowing
the language, being fluent in it, would be wonderful, but with one year
remaining here, I do not see big changes ahead.
We are not striving for fluency, rather dealing with the demands of
daily life. We can handle most
challenges, not always with ease or grace, but we manage.
This makes me
think what it might be like to have no hearing or to be incapable of
speaking. There would be ways to lead a
full life. The limitations would merely
be bumps in the road and we would find other ways to move forward and succeed
at the things that interest us.
So, we are blessed
with so many abilities that we forget about.
This experience in Ukraine is a proving ground for many of the lessons
we have leaned in other avenues of our lives.
TV Notes…
There are Russian
versions of many shows we watch in re-runs in the USA. It is interesting to see the characters
recast into Russian settings and language and the same plots re-played by
Russians.
“The Nanny” and
“Who’s the Boss?” are easy to recognize, even if you understand no Russian.
There is a version
of “People’s Court” too.
The daily soap
operas are aired in the evening around 8:10.
Of course the plots of soaps everywhere are similar (love, infidelity,
heartbreak, abortions, alcoholism, divorce, desperate lives, etc), but the cultural
details are of interest. The clothing
and food choices, the vodka shots instead of martinis, the nudity…
Variety shows are
alive and elaborate here. They are
highly over-produced and every singer has a huge group of dancers accompanying
their singing. The theaters are huge and
filled with enthusiastic audiences who often bring bouquets to present to their
favorite performers. The costuming is
dramatic, bright and bold – sequins and glitz abound.
TV commercials are
aired in blocks of about fifteen- twenty and span ten-fifteen minutes easily.
Enough time to do some household tasks, take a shower, etc.
The best thing on
TV are the movies. I love Russian
films. I am often spellbound by
them. When I return Stateside I plan to
prowl the movie world and find versions with English subtitles.
The films start at
around 10 PM and lure me into staying up too late too often. I never seem to see the beginning so I seldom
know the name of the film.
Miss Pushkin and I
stayed up watching a film last night while Mark got his beauty rest a few feet
away.
·
Wednesday, 10 May 2006
At the top of
Mitridate Mount, under a grey sky and almost gale force winds, we huddled
together for warmth.
M. and I are
outsiders here. I feel a bit like a
voyeur as I look at the people gathered here today to honor the memory of their
dead and to toast those who survived. In
many ways, I am at home here among those honoring veterans. I am a veteran, and my father served in WWII.
The Great
Patriotic War, as WWII is called here, ended 61 years ago. The
survivors are quite grey and the children of those who served are also
old. The grandchildren and great
grandchildren are here, bearing bouquets of tulips, lilacs, and lilies of the
valley. Military medals adorn many
chests.
There is a solemn
parade of people filing past the monument to this Hero City. Thousands of individuals pause and present
bouquets or lay wreaths at the base of the obelisk that dominates the top of
this 90 meter mount in the center of the city.
There are patriotic speeches, a 21-gun salute and finally the mayor
advises everyone to adjourn and drink a toast – the traditional hundred grams
of vodka will warm the body and the soul.
Despite the
blustery cold day, the veterans and their families gather at tables set up just
for them. Each is served a plate of
kasha with a slice of bread and 100 grams of vodka.
People bring out
their private stashes and packets of radishes and salo appear on tables. Bottles of vodka appear. The singing begins.
We stand by
watching taking photos, absorbing the details and shivering with the cold when
out of the blue, someone grabs Mark’s elbow.
“sit with us, have some kasha! Come, come, come – I have good Russian
vodka!” says V. He is an acquaintance of M’s.
V.’s son went to America a few years ago and has disappeared. He and M. have spent time on the Internet
tryng, without success, to locate the young man.
We are whisked
into the middle of the activity. A
vacant table is procured and chair borrowed.
We sit and magically a plate of food appears and out of a briefcase
comes the bottle and shot glasses – the
toasting begins. Other veterans join us
and put humble offerings on the table. Radishes,
salo, bread and there is more toasting. We
take photos and exchange stories, using our Russian language skills or
reverting to English and letting them struggle with their language skills. Around us there is singing, laughter, and
there are some tears.
The word
camaraderie is an accurate one.
We are no longer
watching, we are part of the event. M.
tells them I am retired Air Force and I am toasted by the sailors at my table.
Later, we dance to
street musicians in Lenin Square.
·
Tuesday, 9 May 2006 – Victory Day
On this date each
year, Ukrainians solemnly commemorate victory over the Nazis in the Great
Patriotic War (in USA we say WWII). This
is a day of military parades as soldiers and families gather to remember fallen
comrades and lost loved ones. About 20
million lives were lost in the countries of the USSR, so few families escaped
the consequences of this war.
Ukraine, a
borderland and consequently a battleground, was devastated by the Great
Patriotic War - cities, people, lives
were destroyed. Read about the heinous slaughter
at Babiy Yar in Kiev or research the events here in the Hero City of
Kerch. This country was torn apart by
war, with both sides occupying at various times. Many of these stories are only
now coming to light. About 3-5 million
Jews died in Soviet countries yet the word Holocaust was never used in the
Soviet media. Tartars were exiled from
Crimea.
Not only were
Ukrainians and Crimeans victims in this tragic world event, but their own
leaders were proving to be despots as well.
The stories of activities that Stalin executed during this same era are
overwhelming and difficult for the average American to fathom.
But, today, we
pause and remember.
In a few weeks on
Memorial Day, back in my hometown in the American Midwest, there will be solemn
ceremonies commemorating those who served in WWII as well as in other
conflicts. A large American flag will
catch the spring breezes and fly in memory of my father. Another red, white and blue flag will fly in
memory of my son.
I am a veteran
too. Perhaps one day a flag will fly
there for me.
In honoring our
past, we learn to honor our future – to make choices consistent with our
values. We can rededicate ourselves to
finding pathways to peace and to living lives of gratitude.
·
Monday, 8 May 2006
There is a kitchen
sink, complete with the cabinet that surrounds it, sitting in the courtyard
outside my kitchen window. A man and a
boy are slowly filling up the area with other household goods. Above my head, I can hear floorboards
groaning and objects banging against doorframes as people go about the business
of clearing out the flat.
It appears the upstairs
neighbor is moving.
The elderly women
and her Pekinese dog are leaving. This
is the woman who often scowls at us and shares strong opinions about what we
are doing. She lob off her thoughts in
rapid Russian, hurling comments like grenades.
With our limited Russian skills we can only speculate on what she might
be saying to us.
I first met her
when I opened my hall door and found her scrubbing the painted concrete steps that
lead to the second floor. She
immediately pointed at my bare feet and let me know in no uncertain terms that
bare feet in a flat are unacceptable!
A few days later,
she turned her sharp tongue on Mark. She
was not happy when Mark tried to tame the neglected berry thicket that
dominated the small garden. The thorns threatened us, tearing our clothes and
pricking our arms and legs when we entered the garden to hang laundry on the clothesline. The out of control vines reminded me of the
wall of thorny shrubs that once kept Prince Charming from the palace in the old
fairy tales.
The berries, old
woman ranted, should be harvested, canned and sold in the store. Mark continued to work, hacking, hacking,
hacking. He reclaimed half the garden
and planted iris and daffodils. We made
plans for some tomatoes and squash. We smiled at the woman and listened to her
vent.
Our neighbor shakes
a fist and scolds at me when I give the courtyard cats an occasional snack and
scoop up each kitten for a moment of gentling talk.
Of course, she may
actually be saying kind, loving things.
People often speak in loud, assertive voices here – their strident pitch
and volume make everything sound like a debate or an argument.
I simply nod my
head and strive to decipher what she says.
I smile and listen attentively for a while. I utter a few words of agreement in Russian,
smile a lot and usually end up shrugging my shoulders and apologetically saying
“Izvinite, ya ne panimayu” (Excuse me, I don’t understand.).
I cast her
pleading look. (Resorting to the
“foolish American role” is not my favorite strategy…)
She stamps her
walking stick and walks away, muttering under her breath, the Pomeranian,
following along at a rapid pace behind her.
Other neighbors have
indicated that the woman upstairs is a bit eccentric and far too
opinionated. Maybe even a bit
crazy. Catwoman, another courtyard
neighbor, shakes her head and rolls her eyes whenever the woman speaks.
Despite her
prickly attitude, I am sorry to see her go.
I wonder where she
is going and if she will be happy (happier?) there.
Perhaps she is
going to the family dacha for the warm months.
Perhaps my new
neighbors will be tourists eager to have a flat near the sea for a few weeks
during the summer.
Perhaps the old
woman and her dog will return in autumn when the trees begin to turn and air
begins to chill.
Maybe she will be
back in her flat when we harvest the berries (and the tomatoes and squash) in
our garden and we can share them with her.
·
Saturday, 6 May 2006
“Are
those…ostriches?” A. asked, as she pointed her finger at the small black specks
far below us. “Yeah, Those are
ostriches!”
“Wow! They are ostriches!” I responded, squinting
my eyes, hoping to get a better view.
The “strauss” farm
(strauss, though not spelled like this, is the Russian word for ostrich) seemed
to have plenty of feathered occupants strutting around the premises. From our vantage point high on the hill
overlooking the Sea of Azov, it looked as if there were around fifty of the
large birds in residence.
Somehow the idea
of an ostrich ranch here in Crimea just seems funny. Of course, people into green tourism and
health food would be delighted with this prospect, but it just seems odd to me.
I had momentary
flashbacks to when I retired from the US Air Force a few years ago. The counselors in the pre-retirement employment
seminars kept making cracks about retirees who bought into the idea of raising
ostriches.
Apparently, there
were many failed ostrich farms in the San Antonio area and people were
abandoning the big birds in the rural areas around the city. On a quiet Sunday afternoon drive outside San
Antonio, you could find your car stopped by a couple large, homeless ostriches
brazenly panhandling for a snack. It is
no laughing matter when an ostrich stretches out its neck inside your car,
seeking a bite to eat!
The abandoned
birds presented quite a problem to local authorities.
So here on the
eastern-most tip of this part of Crimea, someone has invested in ostrich
ranching. I wish them success.
I wonder if the
owner is retired Air Force!
·
Friday, 5 May 2006 – CINCO de MAYO!
·
Thursday, 4 May 2006
A very strange work schedule.
Mark had last Friday
and Saturday off. These are his regular
days off now that the Internet Center is open.
He worked Sunday,
and then Monday and Tuesday were holidays, so more time off. He worked Wednesday and is working
today. Friday and Saturday are his
regular days off again.
He will work
Sunday and then Monday and Tuesday will be off because of more holidays! So, next week he will work Wednesday and
Thursday, and again have two days off!
The following week
he will work Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday and then we go on vacation for two
weeks.
It will be June
before he returns to a regular work schedule.
He will have
worked only 7 days in May!
·
Wednesday, 3 May 2006
We have a feline houseguest. I
call her Miss Pushkin (pronounced with a silent “h” as in Pusskin). She is in residence here for at least the
next week. I am no longer pet deprived!
Miss P is a small calico with lots of orange, white and browns. Her chest is pure, snowy white. Her shortish tail seems incongruous – like a
transplant from a tiger striped cat.
She is peeking at me from under the living room chair, observing me and
her new surroundings a bit skeptically. Maybe she is not too fond of the
CD I am playing (Jimmy Buffet is not everyone's idea of music!).
I shared some tuna with her earlier so she knows we eat well here!
Her owners will be back next week.
It is nice to have a cat guest around.
·
Tuesday, 2 May 2006
We get held-up!
We encountered
members of a wedding party as we made our way home from our May Day picnic at
the tip of the peninsula looking down to the bay where the waters of the Black
Sea and the Sea of Azov merge. The
meeting was unexpected as the garishly costumed people circled our vehicle and
urgently pounded on the windows.
Our driver Sasha,
an off-duty militia (policeman) man, quickly rolls down his window and
rapid-fire Russian conversation spills into the car as a man, dressed like a
peasant woman rattles a cup under Sasha’s nose.
In front of us, a man abuses an accordion and several voices (apparently
lubricated by some beverage of celebration) blend with the music (whose chief
merit is volume, seconded by enthusiasm).
Several women with garlands in their hair dance by the roadside. Across the street, a large brown cow,
oblivious to the events around her, stretches her neck to reach the tender
leaves on a tree blossoming behind the wall of a dacha. Chickens scratch in the dirt and a few geese
waddle past.
“Give them money,”
Sasha says, digging into his trousers pocket for a couple small bills. Mark follows suit and, money in hand, the
crowd around the car cheers and laughingly disperses. Sasha puts the car in gear and we leave the merrymakers
behind.
These were not
drunken thieves, Sasha explains. There
had been a wedding in the small village at the end of the peninsula and the revelers
were simply raising money for the newlyweds in a time-honored way.
So many of the old
traditions have died out. It was fun to share
this small window into the past as we wound our way home from our lovely day of
celebrating by the sea.
With the next day
being a holiday too, I imagine the party would go on far into the night. A wedding is something to celebrate and
Ukrainians are well versed in taking time to celebrate.
The willingness to
stop work and take pleasure in life’s events is something worth
cultivating. There is a saying: “If not
now, when?” There may never be another
opportunity to pass this way again!
Celebrating and sharing joy is simply another way of expressing
gratitude.
As we drive away
down the dusty road, past cows and chickens, I smile and make a mental toast -
“Three cheers for the newlyweds and to their wonderful friends too!”