There's an old Protestant hymn called "His Eye Is On The Sparrow." The refrain says "I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free." That has something to do with why I blog. I only ever write blogs when I am away from home. It is a tool I use to keep from being too lonely and homesick. Most of my friends really don't know what it's like to be in a culture not your own for an extended period, to be surrounded by different customs and different languages. Sometimes it's like existing in a "cone of silence." There are times when I feel very low and very alone, and of course many times when life is very good. I write almost always with a positive spin and it makes me feel better to emphasize all the good stuff.
Tony deMello, SJ, said that if you want to be loved, be loving. I always hoped that my blogs would create a kind of dialogue so I could keep contact and hear from friends and family at home. So, to twist deMello, I write so that I will be written to. For the most part it doesn't work. I generally get little to no feedback on my blogs and generally people at home are too busy with their own lives to write to the absent one(s).
For the past few years, I travel, not for travel but to use the life-skills I have learned to the benefit of an emerging liberation movement for LGBT in Eastern Europe. I am driven to do this. I also blog so that I can bring my family and friends with me. I blog because I'm happy. I blog because I'm free.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
A lying-low Sunday
Hi. I got up about 6 and checked email then showered and headed out just before 7 to trek to the metro. I met my friend, Dmitri, at Vokzalna station and we walked over to St. George church. It's a beautiful building about 10 years old, build in 75 days. Liturgy was beautiful and the choir magnificent. Dmitri was the cantor and began the service in his deep bass voice. When he was singing with the choir, I could distinguish his voice. He also chanted the reading from St. Paul (called Pavel here). Since people stand for the entire liturgy, there's a lot of moving around. Throughout the service, people buy candles at the shop and visit their favorite icons for prayers and to light candles. "Featured" icons are behind glass and people touch their foreheads and lips to the glass then wipe it down with a cloth left for the purpose. About a third of the congregation received communion. We were in church from 8:30 to 11 and afterwards Dmitri walked me back to Vokzalna Metro and he went off to study - he has 4 exams this week as he prepares to graduate from Orthodox seminary. I made my way back to Zoloti Vorota (Golden Gate) where I made a one minute video for church at home today. I came over to my organic coffee shop for my first coffee of the day and to send my video. After coffee and water, I sent my video and ordered some hot weather lunch. Now on the second day of Kiev Days, it is sunny and hot again, probably mid-80's at noon. So I ordered a cold soup called Okroshka. It has a kefir base and has diced radishes, potatoes, chicken and dill and is served with a few ice cubes in it. It's really light and delicious. I had another water because I'm feeling a little dehydrated, then a cabbage and cucumber and dill salad. I will top it all off with another cappuccino before heading back to Kharkivska for naps and reading. It feels really good to have the period of intense travel finished.
You know, everything is harder here. Distances and walking and hand-washing clothes take up significant time each day. Shopping is more varied and the fresh vegetables are awesome, even if cabbage, radishes and dill predominate.
So I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the day. I hope you can enjoy the long weekend. Rostek will be away for three or four days on business this week so the apartment will be quieter than usual. I will have to do some intense language study this week. Over and out.
You know, everything is harder here. Distances and walking and hand-washing clothes take up significant time each day. Shopping is more varied and the fresh vegetables are awesome, even if cabbage, radishes and dill predominate.
So I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the day. I hope you can enjoy the long weekend. Rostek will be away for three or four days on business this week so the apartment will be quieter than usual. I will have to do some intense language study this week. Over and out.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Kiev days
If you've been following my blog, you know how much I've been on the move. The conference yesterday marked the end of my insane travel schedule and my body could finally let down. This morning dawned beautiful and sunny and clear with low humidity and I just didn't want to drag my carcass out of bed. I finally got up around nine but really still lay around in bed reading. Rostek and Danny started stirring around 10. We had coffee and set out for the city. We had options: we could go to a museum, we could go to a river beach or we could take a boat ride on the River Dnipro. We decided on the boat ride. We made a stop at McDonalds. Rostek and Danny ate and I had a cappuccino. It is a holiday weekend "Kiev Days" and people were out in a holiday spirit. The boat ride was about an hour long up and down the river. It kind of amazed me that people swam in the river at the many beaches because the river runs right through the center of the city and is rather filthy. It looks blue in the pictures, but as you see it from the boat, it's kind of brown. After the boat ride, we walked endlessly through crowds. Danny (Denis) was in English vocabulary learning mode so I was teacher all day. We stopped for lunch at a cafeteria and I just had a bowl of borsch, a rye roll and a big glass of Kvass. When I got tired of walking around 5, I said "OK, boys, you can go wherever you want but I'm going home." We all ended up coming come and I took a nap and Rostek cooked supper. It featured cabbage salad with onions and dill. Dill is an herb that is widely used in cooking here. Salad typically does not have dressing. I think Danny squeezed a little lemon juice but it got swallowed up by the dill. It's about 10pm now and the boys are off seeing Johnny Depp and his latest Pirates movie. I am going to sleep as soon as this is sent because I have to get up early tomorrow to go to the center to meet my friend Dmitri to go to church with him. He is a featured singer in their choir. So, good night. Oh, here's the link to the photos from today: https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/20110528?authkey=Gv1sRgCMCT4cWD25ubUA#
Thursday and Friday
Roman and I came to the apartment from the train station. He was a little amazed that I was so comfortable on the metro and knew how to find our connections. The first thing we did was to shower and then hand wash some clothes. (When I get home, I will kiss my washer and dryer!). We each started reading and first he fell asleep and then I did. After about an hour we woke up and went out to look for crosses as baptismal presents for the guys from his church we had baptized on Sunday. On our way to get crosses, we decided to stop for lunch and wandered into a Turkish restaurant. Lunch was good and relaxing and I think we release the last of the effects of the long train ride. We looked all over the neighborhood for a religious goods shop (which are quite common in Ukraine) and finally decided to go to a local Orthodox church because there are usually shops inside the church. We entered the compound of a huge church undergoing construction. There was a shop which according to the sign should be open but was not. We crossed the compound to a much smaller old church and there was indeed a shop with a young woman attendant but she was just watching the shop until 5 when the owner would return. So we left and went back to the apartment to work on our presentations for the conference on Friday. We called Rostek and arranged to meet him at the metro stop to have a cappuccino at McDonald's before coming home. Then we headed back to the shop in the big church. It was an impressive shop but the two women running it were so rude that I walked out. Roman took their behavior for granted. It seems that such behavior is common and a leftover from Soviet times. We went to the smaller church and were able to buy the crosses and chains we needed. The woman assured us that they were already santified (blessed) by the priest. We added our prayers and blessings just to be sure. So the guys will get thrice-blessed crosses. When we met Rostek, we sat for a long time enjoying the warm evening before heading home. Rostek stopped to buy wine and cheese. I stayed up very briefly before sleeping because we had to get up early on Friday to leave for the meeting place for the conference. We chose the place at the main train station (actually we were supposed to go to the end of the metro line) and eventually our bus was full and we headed out to the conference center, almost an hour outside the city. I was only able to take two pictures before conference started. Here they are: The conference began with introductions and speeches by the organizers. I was interested to know that there are now 33 legally registered LGBT organizations in Ukraine, 11 more than last year. We then were divided into groups of 10 to play an ice-breaking game. In spite of the language barrier it was fun. Our "secretary" recorded answers. Then it was time for a coffee break, free time and lunch. It was really good to see people I had met from the various cities I visited. They greeted me like old friends. Lunch was really good, a big cabbage salad, a hearty soup and a kind of casserole of pork, potatoes and carrots with a side of risotto. After lunch we returned to session and after a report on our ice-breaking activity which brough a lot of laughter, a a report on LGBT statistics as well as anti-gay statistics for Ukraine for the past year, it was time for my first "job" - to help moderate the session for religious groups. It was a fairly small meeting, perhaps 25 people. The best things is that it was civil. We never were able to get to the heart of the disagreements but those who had been so at war on the internet for the past few months were able to talk together - it was a start. Another coffee break and it was time for my plenary presentation. Anna, my language teacher, was my translator for my presentation, although many understand rather than speak English. I began by acknowledging my pleasure at seeing friends from all over Ukraine and then made a joke about my name. I told them that this conference was the first where I was called James - the humor was in part because if you can see James spelled in Cyrillic, it bears relation to no name anyone had ever seen. I said that I was usually called Jim, which still is strange but not so much for them, and that in Nikolaev, they call me Jimmy. I told them that the details, specifics and references for my presentation were available in an electronic booklet they would receive during the conference. It's a booklet in Russian produced from a conference I was involved in in Timisoara, Romania in 2009. It's about dealing with the attacks of conservative religious groups. I had made a powerpoint presentation of only six slides. We opened for questions afterwards and there were several. When the moderator said our time was up, the whole group started rhythmic clapping until I stood again and took their acknowledgement. I was touched and embarrassed by their warm welcome and acceptance of me. After two more presentations, it was time for supper. Again, a big salad of cabbage and then a veal cutlet with mixed vegetables. Very tasty. Unfortunately, I was not staying for the whole conference but was going back to Kiev. The driver took me to the end of the metro line and I made my way to the center, changed lines and came home to Kharkivska, dragging a little, alright, a lot. So I stopped at McDonald's (it was after 9 by then) for a cappuccino. I walked the half mille to the aparment very slowly. My feet and a lot of other parts just plain hurt! No one home when I got there but about a half hour later, Rostek and his bf arrived and then went back out to shop for supper. No way I could eat again so I went to bed. Today we will head out to a park that has a museum of ancient wooden churches and village houses and is along the banks of the Dnipro river so there is a beach. One of my friends sings in the choir of an Orthodox church so I will meet him Sunday morning at 8:15 and go to Orthros and Divine Liturgy with him. After that I have nothing but language lessons and wandering Kiev until the middle of the month when I will return to Donetsk for a wedding.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Thursday night
There was a movie in the '70's called If it's Tuesday, This must be Belgium making fun of the kind of tours where they see 7 cities in 10 days. I feel like I'm in that movie. I had a wonderful time in Donetsk and left there with Roman by bus to go to Mariupol, 120km from Donetsk. We arrived and were met by Alexandr (Sasha) the leader of the LGBT group there. He took us to their office and the group gathered. By the time we finished there were at least a dozen guys in attendance. Roman gave a wonderful explanation of scripture in Russian to guys who had no idea there was another way of looking at things. After the meeting that lasted a couple of hours, Sasha, Roman and I went to a little Jewish restaurant and had a simple, filling and delicious dinner (hummus, cabbage salad, soup) and coffee without milk (kosher). Then we took a bus to the apartment that Sasha had arranged for us. It was a really nice apartment that cost us 100 UAH for the night (about $12). On Wednesday, Roman and I explored the city. Mariupol in on the Azov Sea (which is 15 meters at its deepest) which should make it a beautiful city but it is surrounded by coal-burning factories belching foul-smelling smoke everywhere. We headed out for the sea but stopped a bit short and ate and drank at an outside restaurant (it was in the 90's and quite humid). We started to walk to the sea but ran out of time and took a bus (a wrong bus) on which Roman fell asleep. It didn't matter because it was the wrong bus to start with. We got to the right place and the right bus and it had taken us two hours on a sweltering bus, leaving us just enough time to pack up, pay the owner of the apartment, and grab a taxi to the train station for the 15 hour overnight train to Kiev. We shared a compartment with two women, one of whom snored like a lumberjack. We arrived in Kiev at about 9 this morning. We took the metro back to my apartment, showered, hand washed some clothes and hung them out and dozed a bit. Then we went in search of a church goods store to buy crosses for the two guys in Donetsk we had baptized on Sunday. We found the shop but it was closed till five. We went back and got the crosses and then met Rostek at McDonald's for a cappuccino. We came back to the apartment, drank a couple of bottles of Moldovan Chardonnay and now I am preparing for bed. Roman and I will go to a conference early in the morning at which we both have presentations. I also have to moderate a session for LGBT Christians. I will return to Kiev tomorrow night and have nothing on my schedule for a few weeks when I will return to Donetsk for a wedding. One month from this date I will fly home to NY. Here's a link for some pics of Mariupol: https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/Mariupol?authkey=Gv1sRgCMaT2rXBxZDGkgE
Monday, May 23, 2011
and Monday, last full day in Donetsk
With the weather being as it is in Rochester, I've been somewhat reluctant to say how absolutely beautiful the weather has been here every day. Today was a picture perfect day of mid-to-high 70's and low humidity.
Roman came around 10 and we went to the public market to find breakfast. We found a stall that Roman often shops at, run by a delightful little old lady who sells fresh brown eggs and incredibly delicious cultured milk products. We had some fermented milk product made with whole-cream milk with a mild creamy taste, and sweet bread filled with apricot preserves. We ate it right there while she told us about herself. She is ethnic Greek. Apparently after WWII a lot of Greeks settled in this part of Ukraine. The milk came from her two cows, Katya and Nochka. She was so delightful that I asked if I could take her picture, which I did. It's also in the link at the end of this blog entry. We then went to Makiiva where Roman owns an apartment. As we approached the apartment, there was an intense burnt smell. Roman owns a room and there is another room and shared kitchen and bath and toilet space. On Feb. 22, he awoke in the morning to a burning smell and traced it to the other room. He knocked on the door and when there was no answer, he forced the door open. Fierce black smoke erupted and the act of opening the door caused the smoldering to flash flame. The two occupants of that room had died, probably from smoke inhalation. Their cat died too. He called the equivalent of 911 and the heat and flame was getting so intense, he got out. It took the fire department 30 minutes to arrive, by which time everything was destroyed in the apartment. Roman's room was not burned but the door was almost burned through and everything has smoke damage. He has been staying with a friend since then. There isn't insurance and the government who owns the building isn't interested in cleaning up anything. So it's unliveable now and Roman doesn't have any money to fix things himself. What a mess. We didn't stay there long because the smell of burnt and piles of destroyed furniture was getting to me. We went on to his friend's place where he's staying after first stopping at another public market to get meat and cheese (with walnuts), bread (grape bread, not sweet) and fresh vegetables, and water, and nescafe. We went to five different shops to get those things. His friend, working currently as a bread-baker at a supermarket, was home and joined us for lunch. A really nice guy with great restaurant cooking experience. We visited for a while and then Roman and I set off for a meeting of the Donbass region coordinating committee of LGBT organizations. It was a great meeting that lasted a few hours. Afterwards we headed to downtown Donetsk and ended up at a park by the river to have a coffee and some blinis (crepes served with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream and mulberry preserves). I didn't have my camera with me at that park but, on the spur of the moment, Roman took me to another park which is full of iron and steel sculptures, some fanciful, others representing soccer, oops, futbol, teams who will come for the 2012 European Cup Soccer Event. Here's a link to the pics I took: https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/20110523?authkey=Gv1sRgCM_IzbW9iJ2QNw# I'm delighted with many of them. We then came back to my apartment and I insisted that Roman lie down for an hour before he went out to drive taxi for several hours. I chatted on Facebook with Rostek and Natalie (in Moldova) and when the hour was up, made tea and woke him. He left for work.
Tomorrow morning, we will buy crosses for the two guys who got baptized Sunday and then will take a noonish bus to Mariupol, about 120 kilometers. It's an old Greek city (City of Mary) on the Sea of Azov which is thigh-deep for a long ways and 15 meters at it's deepest point; it connects through a canal with the Black Sea. Part of the Crimean Coast is on the Azov Sea. We will meet with the LGBT groups from Mariupol at 6 tomorrow night. One of the guys was at the coordinating meeting earlier today and said to me "We are waiting for you in Mariupol." So that's it, up to the minute. I'll go to bed soon. Talk to you soon.
Tomorrow morning, we will buy crosses for the two guys who got baptized Sunday and then will take a noonish bus to Mariupol, about 120 kilometers. It's an old Greek city (City of Mary) on the Sea of Azov which is thigh-deep for a long ways and 15 meters at it's deepest point; it connects through a canal with the Black Sea. Part of the Crimean Coast is on the Azov Sea. We will meet with the LGBT groups from Mariupol at 6 tomorrow night. One of the guys was at the coordinating meeting earlier today and said to me "We are waiting for you in Mariupol." So that's it, up to the minute. I'll go to bed soon. Talk to you soon.
Sunday
By the time I settled down at 11:30 pm on Sunday, I was exhausted and didn't blog about the day. Sunday was wonderful here in Donetsk
I got up and had coffee and bread with butter and cherry preserves (a kind of sour cherry that I learned to love in Romania). Roman and Svitlana came about 10:30 and we made a video to send to my church. Never were able to send it because the internet was too slow for a large file and our prepaid usb broadband account kept showing 0 Hrivnas even after we put money. Finally we gave up and I let folks at church know that we wouldn't be able to send it. I will send it when I can find an internet cafe. We went to the public market (you should see the warren of alleys and shops and meat markets and bread shops and incredible fresh vegetables and organic fruit and dried fruit and Orthodox religious stores and and and...... We bought a number of things to fee the group after worship and people started drifting into my apartment around noon for a two o'clock service. We put everyone to work cutting bread and kielbasa (different from at home) and pork sausage and a couple of kinds of aged cheese and a couple of kinds of halvah for something sweet after the service. When we finally started service, we were 14 people, of whom Svitlana was the only woman and a straight one at that. There was also a straight young man. And one even calls himself half-Orthodox and half-Buddhist. Service was good. People felt free to ask questions and make comments during the service which I very much appreciated. We had communion together. Before the service was finished, one young man said he wanted to be baptized and a second said he did too. I suggested that we finish service, send everyone off to eat something in the kitchen and the boys would meet with Roman and me to talk about baptism. I was blown away by their ability to articulate what it was they were seeking as a spiritual life. We told them to choose a sponsor/godparent. One chose but was refused and then asked another. The second boy chose the first boy so we had to baptize him first so he could sponsor the other. We went out onto the balcony and I half-drowned each of them. They were greeted by heart-felt applause by the other members of the community. We then ate and visited for several hours. Every single scrap of food and drink was consumed. Roman and I drove Svitlana home and hung out at her house for hours. It was well after eleven when we got home. Svitlana must be related to our Roza because she just says whatever she's thinking. It's kind of refreshing, if occasionally shocking. That was Sunday.
I got up and had coffee and bread with butter and cherry preserves (a kind of sour cherry that I learned to love in Romania). Roman and Svitlana came about 10:30 and we made a video to send to my church. Never were able to send it because the internet was too slow for a large file and our prepaid usb broadband account kept showing 0 Hrivnas even after we put money. Finally we gave up and I let folks at church know that we wouldn't be able to send it. I will send it when I can find an internet cafe. We went to the public market (you should see the warren of alleys and shops and meat markets and bread shops and incredible fresh vegetables and organic fruit and dried fruit and Orthodox religious stores and and and...... We bought a number of things to fee the group after worship and people started drifting into my apartment around noon for a two o'clock service. We put everyone to work cutting bread and kielbasa (different from at home) and pork sausage and a couple of kinds of aged cheese and a couple of kinds of halvah for something sweet after the service. When we finally started service, we were 14 people, of whom Svitlana was the only woman and a straight one at that. There was also a straight young man. And one even calls himself half-Orthodox and half-Buddhist. Service was good. People felt free to ask questions and make comments during the service which I very much appreciated. We had communion together. Before the service was finished, one young man said he wanted to be baptized and a second said he did too. I suggested that we finish service, send everyone off to eat something in the kitchen and the boys would meet with Roman and me to talk about baptism. I was blown away by their ability to articulate what it was they were seeking as a spiritual life. We told them to choose a sponsor/godparent. One chose but was refused and then asked another. The second boy chose the first boy so we had to baptize him first so he could sponsor the other. We went out onto the balcony and I half-drowned each of them. They were greeted by heart-felt applause by the other members of the community. We then ate and visited for several hours. Every single scrap of food and drink was consumed. Roman and I drove Svitlana home and hung out at her house for hours. It was well after eleven when we got home. Svitlana must be related to our Roza because she just says whatever she's thinking. It's kind of refreshing, if occasionally shocking. That was Sunday.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Getting nowhere fast
It's almost midnight but I wanted to post this before I sleep because tomorrow I think I'll be able to have some pics to share.
Getting places seems to take a lot longer than necessary. My flight to Donetsk was scheduled for 13:45. I decided to check flight status before I took a bus to the airport. I was up early and wandered on down to McDonald's for a cappuccino. When I finally was able to get to the airline page for flight status, I saw that my flight was delayed 285 minutes. What?!? So I didn't go to the airport. I hung around the house, then Rostek and Danny (Denis) and I picked up some stuff at the market for lunch which Rostek cooked: chicken breasts in smetana (sour cream) and mashed potatoes and a cabbage and dill salad. Then I dozed for half an hour and decided to pamper myself and take a taxi to the airport (120 Hrivna as opposed to 20 Hrivna for the bus), so $15 as opposed to $2.50. I got to the airport and the departure board was showing an 18:30 departure. I had alerted Roman in Donetsk that I would be late. We finally took off at 19:00 and arrived at 20:00. So we ended up delayed for 315 minutes. I had booked with Aerosvit Airlines which has a basic monopoly on all in-country flights and a not very good reputation. Imagine my surprise when our airport bus (domestic flights park out on the tarmac and people are bussed to and from the terminal) took us to an orange and teal plane with the huge word Windrose on it. It was actually a fairly comfortable plane. They served us a sandwich and drink (water or juice) on the short flight to Donetsk. It's a one hour flight but a 12 hour train ride. I was taken a bit aback when we arrived and the baggage cart rolled up to the terminal entrance and everyone went and got their own bags of the baggage carts. It was pretty efficient, actually. Roman, the leader of the LGBT Christian group in Donetsk and his friend and colleague, Andrey, met me at the plane. They are both taxi drivers. I am using Andrey's apartment while I am in Donetsk until Tuesday. We are less than 100km from the Russian border here and Russian is the common language. Both Roman and Andrey speak pretty good English. They took me on a tour of the city. Donetsk is the capital city of the Donbass Region. The primary industry is coal mining. The city is very young by European standards, only 150 years. It arose around the coal industry. It has a HUGE new stadium for futbol (soccer) built by the riches man in Ukraine. He also owns two 5 star hotels. Donetsk will be the site of the 2012 World Cup of Soccer and the city is in a fever to build hotels and prepare for the huge influx of foreign tourists supporting their national teams. We stopped at a market and picked up some things for me to have for morning, and then came to the apartment to have tea and poppy bread. Andrey will drive taxi all night and Roman for a few hours. Roman will return in the morning and we will make a 2-minute video to send to my church for the weekly "mission moment". Before I sign off, I should say I love this apartment and wish I could translate it to Kiev for the month of June. There's a hall, a large kitchen, a large living room and a bedroom, and toilet and bath of course. The only drawback is that it's on the 4th floor with no elevator! So I go slowly up the stairs. No big deal. Signing off. It's late. Oh, the good part, the Christian group will come to my apartment for fellowship and worship tomorrow. I'll go out to the market in the morning to pick up some refreshments for them. Everyone loves a party!
Getting places seems to take a lot longer than necessary. My flight to Donetsk was scheduled for 13:45. I decided to check flight status before I took a bus to the airport. I was up early and wandered on down to McDonald's for a cappuccino. When I finally was able to get to the airline page for flight status, I saw that my flight was delayed 285 minutes. What?!? So I didn't go to the airport. I hung around the house, then Rostek and Danny (Denis) and I picked up some stuff at the market for lunch which Rostek cooked: chicken breasts in smetana (sour cream) and mashed potatoes and a cabbage and dill salad. Then I dozed for half an hour and decided to pamper myself and take a taxi to the airport (120 Hrivna as opposed to 20 Hrivna for the bus), so $15 as opposed to $2.50. I got to the airport and the departure board was showing an 18:30 departure. I had alerted Roman in Donetsk that I would be late. We finally took off at 19:00 and arrived at 20:00. So we ended up delayed for 315 minutes. I had booked with Aerosvit Airlines which has a basic monopoly on all in-country flights and a not very good reputation. Imagine my surprise when our airport bus (domestic flights park out on the tarmac and people are bussed to and from the terminal) took us to an orange and teal plane with the huge word Windrose on it. It was actually a fairly comfortable plane. They served us a sandwich and drink (water or juice) on the short flight to Donetsk. It's a one hour flight but a 12 hour train ride. I was taken a bit aback when we arrived and the baggage cart rolled up to the terminal entrance and everyone went and got their own bags of the baggage carts. It was pretty efficient, actually. Roman, the leader of the LGBT Christian group in Donetsk and his friend and colleague, Andrey, met me at the plane. They are both taxi drivers. I am using Andrey's apartment while I am in Donetsk until Tuesday. We are less than 100km from the Russian border here and Russian is the common language. Both Roman and Andrey speak pretty good English. They took me on a tour of the city. Donetsk is the capital city of the Donbass Region. The primary industry is coal mining. The city is very young by European standards, only 150 years. It arose around the coal industry. It has a HUGE new stadium for futbol (soccer) built by the riches man in Ukraine. He also owns two 5 star hotels. Donetsk will be the site of the 2012 World Cup of Soccer and the city is in a fever to build hotels and prepare for the huge influx of foreign tourists supporting their national teams. We stopped at a market and picked up some things for me to have for morning, and then came to the apartment to have tea and poppy bread. Andrey will drive taxi all night and Roman for a few hours. Roman will return in the morning and we will make a 2-minute video to send to my church for the weekly "mission moment". Before I sign off, I should say I love this apartment and wish I could translate it to Kiev for the month of June. There's a hall, a large kitchen, a large living room and a bedroom, and toilet and bath of course. The only drawback is that it's on the 4th floor with no elevator! So I go slowly up the stairs. No big deal. Signing off. It's late. Oh, the good part, the Christian group will come to my apartment for fellowship and worship tomorrow. I'll go out to the market in the morning to pick up some refreshments for them. Everyone loves a party!
Friday, May 20, 2011
If I run fast enough, can I catch myself?
Link to a few photos of Kiev taken today: https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/ViewsOfKiev02?authkey=Gv1sRgCPuIq6iY89PC5gE#
There are photos of the blessing of a couple but I won't post the link on the blog because of privacy and security issues. If you'd like the link, email me at mulcahyj@citlink.net and I'll send it to you.
Hi. You know, I'm a slow learner. I just can't get it into my head that I'm not 20, or even 30, 40, 50 or 60. I can't get it into my head that 70 is only two years or so away. So, I keep pushing. And sometimes life pushes back.
I've had a great couple of days. Yesterday I actually did some Ukrainian language homework. It's been frustrating for me that I meet with my teacher and then don't have time before the next class to do the assignments. But, we're making some small progress anyway. My ability to memorize words isn't what it used to be. I'm getting ahead of myself here but as I was on my way on the metro to have a lesson this morning, I was scanning the ads in the metro car. The Cyrillic alphabet is really comfortably familiar to me now, even when I'm not sure where in the word the stress comes. An ad caught my eye and I loved that I understood it. "Hair removal and pedicure in your home!" I kept saying it so I wouldn't forget it and it was the first thing I said when I met Anna. Fortunately, she already knew I was nuts! Ok, back to yesterday (Thursday).
I studied in the morning and hand-washed some clothes and hung them to dry and headed in on the metro to meet Anna at "my" cafe, Glossary Organic Cafe. We caught up, studied numbers to 100. I also had questions about Ukrainian culture. As I was paying the cafe bill, I was offered a discount card since I'm a regular. I was ridiculously pleased to be a regular! Pleased all out of importance at getting a 5% discount card! Anna walked me down to Khreshchatik St which is really a main street where people walk and shop. We stopped on the way so she could introduce me to Ukrainian "junk food" - her guilty pleasure and, I fear, my new guilty pleasure. It's fried dough with a hotdog inside, or at least a sausage that tastes like hot dog. It has everything delicious and comforting, especially grease. It's called perepichka. After leaving Anna, I just wandered with no set schedule and sat on a bench reading and people watching for a couple of hours. It felt really good that there was nowhere I had to be. When I decided to head back to Kharkivska and the apartment, I bumped into a friend and chatted for a few minutes before continuing home. I didn't stay up too long after I got home.
This morning I had to get up early to set out for my language lesson (at the McCafe - they actually have a separate area in a large Mickey D's that is a coffee shop with great desserts). I had woken early but then fell back asleep and I had that shocky feeling when I did finally get up. I set out but stopped for a cappuccino before I caught the metro. It was fun waiting for Anna and people watching again (and also watching people watch me. No way I can blend in.) I was wearing a collarless blue shirt and and old man came up and grabbed my shoulder and asked "where's your collar?" - I actually understood him but he freaked me out a little so I moved away quickly. When Anna came we had quite a good lesson, my last until after my next travel and conference, so it will be almost June before I can sit with her again.
I had an appointment with friends right after the lesson and met them on a metro platform. We hopped the metro again to go quite far to a park. We gathered our friends along the way until we were 10. Our purpose was to go to a small chapel to bless the relationship of two of the guys who had been together for six years. Unfortunately the chapel was occupied and we were out of luck. That chapel would have been full with our little company, that's how small it was. The whole park was the site of a village destroyed by the Germans in WWII. We took the metro again, also quite far, then took an ancient Soviet-era trolley bus, then walked a considerable distance to the offices of a local AIDS organization where we could use a terrific room for our service. Now, here's the exciting part. A wonderful gay historian, John Boswell, wrote books about gays in the middle ages. One of his books detailed a religious rite for the "making of brothers" - it seems to be a medieval version of a same-sex marriage ceremony. One of our friends had adapted it and we had an incredible blended ceremony, quite Orthodox in flavor in which we blessed/married our couple. It was in Old Church Slavonic, English and Russian. All the priest parts were chanted by me. At the beginning of the ceremony, I took a decorative sash and bound them together around the waist. During the actual blessing prayers, they bowed and my stole was over both their heads for the several prayers and blessings. Then, I tied their hands with my stole and led them three times around the "altar" table while a friend chanted. Then I offered them a cup of wine and held it for each of them while they drank three times each. First one, then the other, and so forth until finally after the third drink, the cup was empty. It was incredible to be part of this service, to see a blending of east and west, modern and medieval ceremony, orthodox and protestant. There was a fair amount of chanting and much of it was me and no one ran screaming from the room. I will post some pictures I took today and yesterday of Kiev. I cannot post the pictures of our ceremony because of security concerns but if you'd like to see them, let me know and I will send you a link. I ask you not to share the link nor to post any of the pictures anywhere. There still is cause for fear here.
Lest I forget the celebration - first champagne toast, then somehow two or three bottles of wine for further toasts, along with sweets. It was the first solid food I had had all day and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with heat, alcohol and low blood sugar.
We took the LONG walk back to the metro and parted ways at Teatralna station (did you guess that's the theater district?). I wended my way to Glossary to have a meal. First I drank water, then had an energizing fresh vegetable juice drink. then I had a cappucino and an absolutely delicious soup (solyanka) with veal and sausage and ham in a tomato base.
I was energized for the long metro ride home and lucked out by getting a seat during late rush hour. I took a liesurely walk home and stopped for a big bottle of mineral water which is almost finished. I think I've been a bit dehydrated. The heat is really quite strong and, as you know, I'm more comfortable below freezing than I am above 70!
There are photos of the blessing of a couple but I won't post the link on the blog because of privacy and security issues. If you'd like the link, email me at mulcahyj@citlink.net and I'll send it to you.
Hi. You know, I'm a slow learner. I just can't get it into my head that I'm not 20, or even 30, 40, 50 or 60. I can't get it into my head that 70 is only two years or so away. So, I keep pushing. And sometimes life pushes back.
I've had a great couple of days. Yesterday I actually did some Ukrainian language homework. It's been frustrating for me that I meet with my teacher and then don't have time before the next class to do the assignments. But, we're making some small progress anyway. My ability to memorize words isn't what it used to be. I'm getting ahead of myself here but as I was on my way on the metro to have a lesson this morning, I was scanning the ads in the metro car. The Cyrillic alphabet is really comfortably familiar to me now, even when I'm not sure where in the word the stress comes. An ad caught my eye and I loved that I understood it. "Hair removal and pedicure in your home!" I kept saying it so I wouldn't forget it and it was the first thing I said when I met Anna. Fortunately, she already knew I was nuts! Ok, back to yesterday (Thursday).
I studied in the morning and hand-washed some clothes and hung them to dry and headed in on the metro to meet Anna at "my" cafe, Glossary Organic Cafe. We caught up, studied numbers to 100. I also had questions about Ukrainian culture. As I was paying the cafe bill, I was offered a discount card since I'm a regular. I was ridiculously pleased to be a regular! Pleased all out of importance at getting a 5% discount card! Anna walked me down to Khreshchatik St which is really a main street where people walk and shop. We stopped on the way so she could introduce me to Ukrainian "junk food" - her guilty pleasure and, I fear, my new guilty pleasure. It's fried dough with a hotdog inside, or at least a sausage that tastes like hot dog. It has everything delicious and comforting, especially grease. It's called perepichka. After leaving Anna, I just wandered with no set schedule and sat on a bench reading and people watching for a couple of hours. It felt really good that there was nowhere I had to be. When I decided to head back to Kharkivska and the apartment, I bumped into a friend and chatted for a few minutes before continuing home. I didn't stay up too long after I got home.
This morning I had to get up early to set out for my language lesson (at the McCafe - they actually have a separate area in a large Mickey D's that is a coffee shop with great desserts). I had woken early but then fell back asleep and I had that shocky feeling when I did finally get up. I set out but stopped for a cappuccino before I caught the metro. It was fun waiting for Anna and people watching again (and also watching people watch me. No way I can blend in.) I was wearing a collarless blue shirt and and old man came up and grabbed my shoulder and asked "where's your collar?" - I actually understood him but he freaked me out a little so I moved away quickly. When Anna came we had quite a good lesson, my last until after my next travel and conference, so it will be almost June before I can sit with her again.
I had an appointment with friends right after the lesson and met them on a metro platform. We hopped the metro again to go quite far to a park. We gathered our friends along the way until we were 10. Our purpose was to go to a small chapel to bless the relationship of two of the guys who had been together for six years. Unfortunately the chapel was occupied and we were out of luck. That chapel would have been full with our little company, that's how small it was. The whole park was the site of a village destroyed by the Germans in WWII. We took the metro again, also quite far, then took an ancient Soviet-era trolley bus, then walked a considerable distance to the offices of a local AIDS organization where we could use a terrific room for our service. Now, here's the exciting part. A wonderful gay historian, John Boswell, wrote books about gays in the middle ages. One of his books detailed a religious rite for the "making of brothers" - it seems to be a medieval version of a same-sex marriage ceremony. One of our friends had adapted it and we had an incredible blended ceremony, quite Orthodox in flavor in which we blessed/married our couple. It was in Old Church Slavonic, English and Russian. All the priest parts were chanted by me. At the beginning of the ceremony, I took a decorative sash and bound them together around the waist. During the actual blessing prayers, they bowed and my stole was over both their heads for the several prayers and blessings. Then, I tied their hands with my stole and led them three times around the "altar" table while a friend chanted. Then I offered them a cup of wine and held it for each of them while they drank three times each. First one, then the other, and so forth until finally after the third drink, the cup was empty. It was incredible to be part of this service, to see a blending of east and west, modern and medieval ceremony, orthodox and protestant. There was a fair amount of chanting and much of it was me and no one ran screaming from the room. I will post some pictures I took today and yesterday of Kiev. I cannot post the pictures of our ceremony because of security concerns but if you'd like to see them, let me know and I will send you a link. I ask you not to share the link nor to post any of the pictures anywhere. There still is cause for fear here.
Lest I forget the celebration - first champagne toast, then somehow two or three bottles of wine for further toasts, along with sweets. It was the first solid food I had had all day and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with heat, alcohol and low blood sugar.
We took the LONG walk back to the metro and parted ways at Teatralna station (did you guess that's the theater district?). I wended my way to Glossary to have a meal. First I drank water, then had an energizing fresh vegetable juice drink. then I had a cappucino and an absolutely delicious soup (solyanka) with veal and sausage and ham in a tomato base.
I was energized for the long metro ride home and lucked out by getting a seat during late rush hour. I took a liesurely walk home and stopped for a big bottle of mineral water which is almost finished. I think I've been a bit dehydrated. The heat is really quite strong and, as you know, I'm more comfortable below freezing than I am above 70!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Coffee and flowers and the subway and massage
I want to say a few words about flowers and coffee and the subway and massage:
Ukrainians are crazy about flowers. Every subway station has cut flower shops, people are selling them on the streets, and you can see people carrying them home from work or to work for that matter. The long stem roses are magnificent in many colors. The flower that is in season right now looks exactly like Lily of the Valley but has a very strong sweet scent, different from what we have at home. It's really a nice aspect of life here.
And coffee: anyone who knows me also knows that I'm crazy about coffee. I've discerned five styles of coffee here and I suspect there are more:
There is instant and one can buy a cup of instant at any number of little shops. It is served in plastic cups that don't seem to be made for hot drinks.
Then there is espresso: dark and strong
And, my usual choice, cappuccino which is espresso with steamed/frothed milk, served alone or with cinnamon or with chocolate (in Odessa, little pots of thick chocolate)
And we must not forget Americano. It is weak and usually served with hot milk, like a weak latte. It shows what Europeans think of American coffee.
And the metro/subway. The system is inexpensive, clean, efficient and so very far underground. To ride costs 2UAH (called Hrivna) It's about $0.25. It is common to enter a station and take a steep escalator down a very far distance. People who are content to stand and ride, move to the right side of the escalator step and people who want to rush down do so on the left side of the step. Having reached what you assume to be the bottom, you then find another escalator that goes an equal distance or more. Several stations have interchanges so you can change lines. I live on the green line and often change to blue or red depending on where I'm going. When we cross the river, we surface and cross a bridge then return underground. One of the first phrases I learned from hearing was Nastupna Stantsia (next station). It makes it possible for me to doze, like many do, and keep an ear tuned to the next stop till I hear my stop.
And massage: at home, I visit Kevin, my massage therapist monthly. He keeps me functioning and is really like family to me. After all the forms of travel and walking, I decided to seek out a massage therapist here. It was determined I needed massage, not a vertebrist - I suppose that's our equivalent of a chiropractor. I found a man named Yevgeniy with the help of a friend and had an appointment this morning. He only worked on my back and used techniques that were totally unknown to me but he did a good job. When he had worked on my back almost an hour, he asked if he could work on my abdomen. I agreed. He put deep, almost painful pressure on several parts of my abdomen. I don't really know why or how but he certainly got things moving, if you know what I mean! I will return to him when I return from my next trip and finish a conference, probably the first week in June.
The sun is brilliant and it is in the mid-to-high seventies today. Low humidity and wispy clouds. To say it's perfect weather would be an understatement. I hear that at home it's gray and wet, interminably. I'm sorry about that.
Ukrainians are crazy about flowers. Every subway station has cut flower shops, people are selling them on the streets, and you can see people carrying them home from work or to work for that matter. The long stem roses are magnificent in many colors. The flower that is in season right now looks exactly like Lily of the Valley but has a very strong sweet scent, different from what we have at home. It's really a nice aspect of life here.
And coffee: anyone who knows me also knows that I'm crazy about coffee. I've discerned five styles of coffee here and I suspect there are more:
There is instant and one can buy a cup of instant at any number of little shops. It is served in plastic cups that don't seem to be made for hot drinks.
Then there is espresso: dark and strong
And, my usual choice, cappuccino which is espresso with steamed/frothed milk, served alone or with cinnamon or with chocolate (in Odessa, little pots of thick chocolate)
And we must not forget Americano. It is weak and usually served with hot milk, like a weak latte. It shows what Europeans think of American coffee.
And the metro/subway. The system is inexpensive, clean, efficient and so very far underground. To ride costs 2UAH (called Hrivna) It's about $0.25. It is common to enter a station and take a steep escalator down a very far distance. People who are content to stand and ride, move to the right side of the escalator step and people who want to rush down do so on the left side of the step. Having reached what you assume to be the bottom, you then find another escalator that goes an equal distance or more. Several stations have interchanges so you can change lines. I live on the green line and often change to blue or red depending on where I'm going. When we cross the river, we surface and cross a bridge then return underground. One of the first phrases I learned from hearing was Nastupna Stantsia (next station). It makes it possible for me to doze, like many do, and keep an ear tuned to the next stop till I hear my stop.
And massage: at home, I visit Kevin, my massage therapist monthly. He keeps me functioning and is really like family to me. After all the forms of travel and walking, I decided to seek out a massage therapist here. It was determined I needed massage, not a vertebrist - I suppose that's our equivalent of a chiropractor. I found a man named Yevgeniy with the help of a friend and had an appointment this morning. He only worked on my back and used techniques that were totally unknown to me but he did a good job. When he had worked on my back almost an hour, he asked if he could work on my abdomen. I agreed. He put deep, almost painful pressure on several parts of my abdomen. I don't really know why or how but he certainly got things moving, if you know what I mean! I will return to him when I return from my next trip and finish a conference, probably the first week in June.
The sun is brilliant and it is in the mid-to-high seventies today. Low humidity and wispy clouds. To say it's perfect weather would be an understatement. I hear that at home it's gray and wet, interminably. I'm sorry about that.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
A nice finish to a nice day
Link to some photos of Kiev: https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/ViewsOfKiev?authkey=Gv1sRgCNCOqeKKpa3WdQ
Link to some photos of Flash Mob for International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO): https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/FlashMobForIDAHO?authkey=Gv1sRgCIivs-qw9L7G0wE
So, I got a massage scheduled for Wednesday morning at 10 and a language lesson Wednesday at 2:30. I headed downtown around 15:45 and arrived at 16:30 (that's 4:30 to you Yanks). I went to what is becoming my favorite hang-out spot downtown: the Organic Cafe. I hadn't eaten yet today so I had a mozzarella, dried tomato and pesto sandwich on a baguette, a bowl of cream of mushroom soup, a bottle of water and a cappuccino. When I went in, the waiter, who has begun to recognize me as a regular commented that the cover of my Ipod matched my shirt. I showed him that it also matched my undershirt. He was impressed. He must be gay to notice such things (is that stereotyping?) At six I met Vladimir at Teatralna station and we took a metro to Khreshchatik, a main street for shopping and strolling. We met up with another Vladimir and walked to a Roman Catholic Cathedral (Polish). Three more of our friends were inside. I took some pictures of Yevropaishcha Ploshcha (European Square) including one of a rose-colored chestnut tree. The chestnut is the symbol of Kiev and there are many in full blossom right now. We all walked over to the site of the scheduled flash mob. Flash mob is a favorite method of being able to have a quick demonstration with no advance publicity to alert authorities or counter-demonstrators. There were a few guys handing out anti-gay, ex-gay literature. People would take the pamphlets and tear them up in front of the distributors. Not in an ugly way, just in a disagreeing way. Finally the moment came and there was movement over to a wall by the river. A few quick speeches were made, slogans of "NO to homophobia" were shouted and the balloons were released, most carrying messages of equality.
We walked down to Khreshchatek St afterwards and watched kids break dancing outside McDonald's. We met up with more friends. Rostek and Kostya came and we walked a while and then came home. So, a nice end to a nice day. In our wanderings I met another gay Orthodox monk and I will visit his monastery soon. All in all, a splendid day.
Link to some photos of Flash Mob for International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO): https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/FlashMobForIDAHO?authkey=Gv1sRgCIivs-qw9L7G0wE
So, I got a massage scheduled for Wednesday morning at 10 and a language lesson Wednesday at 2:30. I headed downtown around 15:45 and arrived at 16:30 (that's 4:30 to you Yanks). I went to what is becoming my favorite hang-out spot downtown: the Organic Cafe. I hadn't eaten yet today so I had a mozzarella, dried tomato and pesto sandwich on a baguette, a bowl of cream of mushroom soup, a bottle of water and a cappuccino. When I went in, the waiter, who has begun to recognize me as a regular commented that the cover of my Ipod matched my shirt. I showed him that it also matched my undershirt. He was impressed. He must be gay to notice such things (is that stereotyping?) At six I met Vladimir at Teatralna station and we took a metro to Khreshchatik, a main street for shopping and strolling. We met up with another Vladimir and walked to a Roman Catholic Cathedral (Polish). Three more of our friends were inside. I took some pictures of Yevropaishcha Ploshcha (European Square) including one of a rose-colored chestnut tree. The chestnut is the symbol of Kiev and there are many in full blossom right now. We all walked over to the site of the scheduled flash mob. Flash mob is a favorite method of being able to have a quick demonstration with no advance publicity to alert authorities or counter-demonstrators. There were a few guys handing out anti-gay, ex-gay literature. People would take the pamphlets and tear them up in front of the distributors. Not in an ugly way, just in a disagreeing way. Finally the moment came and there was movement over to a wall by the river. A few quick speeches were made, slogans of "NO to homophobia" were shouted and the balloons were released, most carrying messages of equality.
We walked down to Khreshchatek St afterwards and watched kids break dancing outside McDonald's. We met up with more friends. Rostek and Kostya came and we walked a while and then came home. So, a nice end to a nice day. In our wanderings I met another gay Orthodox monk and I will visit his monastery soon. All in all, a splendid day.
Try to Remember
It's Tuesday morning and I am trying to remember back to Sunday because I left off this narrative on Saturday night/wee hours Sunday morning.
Florin and I met for breakfast at 9 on Sunday. It was not a buffet but was a fixed menu. We sat down and the waitress brought us fried eggs, pancakes with rasberry jam, fish with seaweed, coffee and several other things. It was quite a big breakfast. We went to our respective rooms to work on our presentation which would be at 1:30, stopping only for a brief salad for lunch (grated carrots and apples and walnuts for me and borsch and cake for Florin). The meeting started late, of course, since most participants had been out partying until 5a.m. Oleg, the director of the host organization, gave the opening talk on what we would talk about and then Florin and I talked about MCC, the bible, ways of looking at it and interpreting it, with some focus on the texts used to attack lgbt people. There was quite a bit of questioning and discussion. We took a tea/coffee break for 15 minutes and I was invited to sit with a group from a central Ukrainian city to answer their questions.
When we came back together, we watched the movie Prayers for Bobby dubbed into Russian. If you haven't seen this movie, please do. It is about a young gay kid from a very religious family (especially the mother played by Sigourney Weaver) who ends up committing suicide. That was the beginning of a transformative journey for Bobby's mother. MCC plays a significant role in the movie. It was very emotional and there were a lot of tears.
After the movie we adjourned to the pool area where we had a ceremony of closing. We lit candles, heard speeches (including from Florin and me), released balloons and then ate and drank together. It was a wonderful closing to a fruitful weekend. All day Sunday we had no internet access at the hotel so I wasn't able to catch up on email or blogging. I slept early and hard! I still had no definite transportation back to Kiev.
On Monday morning, there still wasn't internet service. We had breakfast at 8:30. I'm getting used to fish for breakfast and kind of like it now, as long as I have my cappuccino! When I returned to my room, we had internet service and I just answered a few brief emails. Our driver came at 9:50 and we began the two hour journey to Odessa where Florin would go to the airport and I to the bus station. We got to the bus station right around noon and there was a 12:30 deluxe bus to Kiev. I took it and enjoyed the 7 hour journey. The amount of agriculture in Ukraine is staggering. The soil is very fertile. There were hundreds of acres of rapeseed, which was in full blossom creating panoramas of brilliant golden. Rapeseed is the source of canola oil. Apparently a Canadian agricultural corporation works with farmers here to plant and harvest and press it. I haven't verified this but a man on the bus told me that rapeseed depletes the soil so that it is not productive for two years after harvest. I don't know if that's true. I hope it isn't.
I arrived in Kiev at 19:30 and walked to the metro. The first metro line allowed me to sit because it wasn't crowded. The second metro line was jammed with people going home from work. I stood for nine long stops. When I go to my station, Kharkivska, I still had a long walk to the aparment. I was definitely feeling my age. I stopped at McDonald's for a cappuccino and texted Rostek that I was on my way but would be slow. My backpack and bag were feeling heavy. It took about half an hour to walk home and I really took my time. Rostek had supper ready, chicken in a sour cream sauce with bowtie pasta and mashed potatoes - very good, very flavorful. I had a glass of Chardonnay and crashed.
Today in IDAHO (International Day against Homophobia (and Transphobia)). There is a demonstration tonight in a downtown park at 7. I will attend. I called my language teacher and she is too busy to meet today. That's good. It'll give me a chance to catch up on homework. We'll meet tomorrow. So now I'm caught up. When I went to take pictures on Sunday, I found that the chinese batteries I had bought for my camera had died after two days. Sorry. I'll try to do better. I have a fairly light schedule this week and on Saturday will fly to Donetsk and on to Mariupol. More later.
Florin and I met for breakfast at 9 on Sunday. It was not a buffet but was a fixed menu. We sat down and the waitress brought us fried eggs, pancakes with rasberry jam, fish with seaweed, coffee and several other things. It was quite a big breakfast. We went to our respective rooms to work on our presentation which would be at 1:30, stopping only for a brief salad for lunch (grated carrots and apples and walnuts for me and borsch and cake for Florin). The meeting started late, of course, since most participants had been out partying until 5a.m. Oleg, the director of the host organization, gave the opening talk on what we would talk about and then Florin and I talked about MCC, the bible, ways of looking at it and interpreting it, with some focus on the texts used to attack lgbt people. There was quite a bit of questioning and discussion. We took a tea/coffee break for 15 minutes and I was invited to sit with a group from a central Ukrainian city to answer their questions.
When we came back together, we watched the movie Prayers for Bobby dubbed into Russian. If you haven't seen this movie, please do. It is about a young gay kid from a very religious family (especially the mother played by Sigourney Weaver) who ends up committing suicide. That was the beginning of a transformative journey for Bobby's mother. MCC plays a significant role in the movie. It was very emotional and there were a lot of tears.
After the movie we adjourned to the pool area where we had a ceremony of closing. We lit candles, heard speeches (including from Florin and me), released balloons and then ate and drank together. It was a wonderful closing to a fruitful weekend. All day Sunday we had no internet access at the hotel so I wasn't able to catch up on email or blogging. I slept early and hard! I still had no definite transportation back to Kiev.
On Monday morning, there still wasn't internet service. We had breakfast at 8:30. I'm getting used to fish for breakfast and kind of like it now, as long as I have my cappuccino! When I returned to my room, we had internet service and I just answered a few brief emails. Our driver came at 9:50 and we began the two hour journey to Odessa where Florin would go to the airport and I to the bus station. We got to the bus station right around noon and there was a 12:30 deluxe bus to Kiev. I took it and enjoyed the 7 hour journey. The amount of agriculture in Ukraine is staggering. The soil is very fertile. There were hundreds of acres of rapeseed, which was in full blossom creating panoramas of brilliant golden. Rapeseed is the source of canola oil. Apparently a Canadian agricultural corporation works with farmers here to plant and harvest and press it. I haven't verified this but a man on the bus told me that rapeseed depletes the soil so that it is not productive for two years after harvest. I don't know if that's true. I hope it isn't.
I arrived in Kiev at 19:30 and walked to the metro. The first metro line allowed me to sit because it wasn't crowded. The second metro line was jammed with people going home from work. I stood for nine long stops. When I go to my station, Kharkivska, I still had a long walk to the aparment. I was definitely feeling my age. I stopped at McDonald's for a cappuccino and texted Rostek that I was on my way but would be slow. My backpack and bag were feeling heavy. It took about half an hour to walk home and I really took my time. Rostek had supper ready, chicken in a sour cream sauce with bowtie pasta and mashed potatoes - very good, very flavorful. I had a glass of Chardonnay and crashed.
Today in IDAHO (International Day against Homophobia (and Transphobia)). There is a demonstration tonight in a downtown park at 7. I will attend. I called my language teacher and she is too busy to meet today. That's good. It'll give me a chance to catch up on homework. We'll meet tomorrow. So now I'm caught up. When I went to take pictures on Sunday, I found that the chinese batteries I had bought for my camera had died after two days. Sorry. I'll try to do better. I have a fairly light schedule this week and on Saturday will fly to Donetsk and on to Mariupol. More later.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Saturday, the rest of the day
So we went down for lunch at 1pm because we had to meet our organizers at 1:30. All we wanted was a bowl of borsch and a salad. It took forever and I ate my too hot soup and went up to see the conference room where we would conduct the service. We had finished writing the ritual for blessing of relationships and communion and sent it to our translator earlier. It seemed like the two couples who sought blessing, one male and one female and a very few spectators would be the only ones. We thought that because in previous years, people were afraid to come. Well, were we ever wrong to think that! The room was filled to capacity, probably 50 or 60 people by the time we started. The table was covered with a Christian rainbow flag made by Rev. Lu at my church. The flag had been blessed and passed around Open Arms on Easter and every one in the congregation held it and offered prayers. I began the service by explaining the origin of the flag and said that it represented my people's presence with us in the solidarity of prayer.
It was really a beautiful service and then Florin and I offered communion. About 30 people received which was also more than we expected. I have pictures of the whole thing but am not free to post them on my blog because of the need for privacy for the couples and attendees.
We have heavy hired security around us at all times because it is still dangerous in Eastern Europe to be openly gay and gatherings cause fear among those who dare to come. The organizers were very pleased at the turnout. The director of the host agency has called me Djimmi since the first time we met in 2009 and continues to do that.
Florin and I met at 7 for dinner and walked through a huge street festival. A main street was blocked to traffic and the streets were full of people. There was a stage set up at one end of the street with live entertainment. We found a great restaurant and were able to eat outside. I had cheesy onion soup and a pork cutlet with green beans. Dessert for me was a hot fudge sundae and cappuccino. Florin had miso soup, a veal cutlet with fries and for dessert chocolate ice cream. We took a long time over our dinner and walked through the streets down to the stage. When we got back to the hotel, Andrey was waiting for us with a taxi to take us to the evening festivities that started at 10pm. It was great good fun. We had taken over a bowling club. Very modern, automated scorers, ten or so lanes, heavy rock music, American and Russian - it was great to hear Cher in NIkolaev, Ukraine. At midnight or just after, there was a reception for the couples we blessed, all the customs were observed. For the first time in Nikolaev, two of their mothers came to offer the traditional gift of bread and salt to the couples. It was very moving and emotional.
It was a wonderful party and when we wanted to leave at one, a security man came with us back to the hotel in the taxi to insure our safety.
It was a truly wonderful and blessed day. I participated in great happiness with two beautiful couples and many young vibrant people. Tomorrow, Florin and I will present a workshop which we have to put finishing touches on. It's almost two a.m. here and we decided to meet at 9 for breakfast and to work. So, till Sunday.
Love,
Jim
It was really a beautiful service and then Florin and I offered communion. About 30 people received which was also more than we expected. I have pictures of the whole thing but am not free to post them on my blog because of the need for privacy for the couples and attendees.
We have heavy hired security around us at all times because it is still dangerous in Eastern Europe to be openly gay and gatherings cause fear among those who dare to come. The organizers were very pleased at the turnout. The director of the host agency has called me Djimmi since the first time we met in 2009 and continues to do that.
Florin and I met at 7 for dinner and walked through a huge street festival. A main street was blocked to traffic and the streets were full of people. There was a stage set up at one end of the street with live entertainment. We found a great restaurant and were able to eat outside. I had cheesy onion soup and a pork cutlet with green beans. Dessert for me was a hot fudge sundae and cappuccino. Florin had miso soup, a veal cutlet with fries and for dessert chocolate ice cream. We took a long time over our dinner and walked through the streets down to the stage. When we got back to the hotel, Andrey was waiting for us with a taxi to take us to the evening festivities that started at 10pm. It was great good fun. We had taken over a bowling club. Very modern, automated scorers, ten or so lanes, heavy rock music, American and Russian - it was great to hear Cher in NIkolaev, Ukraine. At midnight or just after, there was a reception for the couples we blessed, all the customs were observed. For the first time in Nikolaev, two of their mothers came to offer the traditional gift of bread and salt to the couples. It was very moving and emotional.
It was a wonderful party and when we wanted to leave at one, a security man came with us back to the hotel in the taxi to insure our safety.
It was a truly wonderful and blessed day. I participated in great happiness with two beautiful couples and many young vibrant people. Tomorrow, Florin and I will present a workshop which we have to put finishing touches on. It's almost two a.m. here and we decided to meet at 9 for breakfast and to work. So, till Sunday.
Love,
Jim
Catch up and first half of Saturday in Nikolaev
Just a few photos from my morning walk: https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/20110514?authkey=Gv1sRgCOL17aeggKb_tAE#
So, I think I left off in Odessa. Florin and I walked out to find supper and found a simple place. We both had borsch, Florin had roasted vegetables and I had cabbage and cucumber salad. We were able to find Kvass, a popular local drink (fermented from Rye bread). After eating we found a shop where I could find some batteries but they only had Chinese batteries in the AA size that I needed. We went back to the hotel fairly early because we would travel Friday morning. We went out at 8 in search of breakfast but did not find any open restaurants. We finally wandered into a rather upscale hotel that had a restaurant. We had their buffet breakfast and they prepared a bowl of oatmeal for me. We were stunned at the exorbitant cost of breakfast. I won't specify the amount!
Andre drove from Nikolaev to pick us up and we were also joined by a Moldovan women. We were surprised to find a really nice SUV as our transportation. The road was in pretty good repair and we arrived in a bit over two hours at the office of LIGA, the organization sponsoring the weekend conference. The director, Oleg, is Andre's partner. I had met them both in Romania in 2009. Oleg calls me "Djimmi" and introduced me as such to the conference.
Our hotel is quite nice. There's a picture of the front of it in my photos. We have private rooms and there's excellent wireless access. I was able to have a skype call with a good friend in Rochester. We watched a few documentary films at the opening of the conference and then had a buffet dinner. I retired to my room at 9 feeling a bit unwell. I felt feverish. I took some ibuprofen and went to sleep. The fever broke during the night and I woke up several times sweating heavily. I got up at 7, showered and prepared the document for the blessing of couples today and sent it to the translator so she will be prepared.
I met Florin at 8:30 and we went down to breakfast and then out for a walk. It's really a peaceful beautiful city. We walked for a while, had a cappuccino and returned to the hotel so I could blog and Florin could shower. That just about brings us up to date. The people at the conference are warm and welcoming.
So, I think I left off in Odessa. Florin and I walked out to find supper and found a simple place. We both had borsch, Florin had roasted vegetables and I had cabbage and cucumber salad. We were able to find Kvass, a popular local drink (fermented from Rye bread). After eating we found a shop where I could find some batteries but they only had Chinese batteries in the AA size that I needed. We went back to the hotel fairly early because we would travel Friday morning. We went out at 8 in search of breakfast but did not find any open restaurants. We finally wandered into a rather upscale hotel that had a restaurant. We had their buffet breakfast and they prepared a bowl of oatmeal for me. We were stunned at the exorbitant cost of breakfast. I won't specify the amount!
Andre drove from Nikolaev to pick us up and we were also joined by a Moldovan women. We were surprised to find a really nice SUV as our transportation. The road was in pretty good repair and we arrived in a bit over two hours at the office of LIGA, the organization sponsoring the weekend conference. The director, Oleg, is Andre's partner. I had met them both in Romania in 2009. Oleg calls me "Djimmi" and introduced me as such to the conference.
Our hotel is quite nice. There's a picture of the front of it in my photos. We have private rooms and there's excellent wireless access. I was able to have a skype call with a good friend in Rochester. We watched a few documentary films at the opening of the conference and then had a buffet dinner. I retired to my room at 9 feeling a bit unwell. I felt feverish. I took some ibuprofen and went to sleep. The fever broke during the night and I woke up several times sweating heavily. I got up at 7, showered and prepared the document for the blessing of couples today and sent it to the translator so she will be prepared.
I met Florin at 8:30 and we went down to breakfast and then out for a walk. It's really a peaceful beautiful city. We walked for a while, had a cappuccino and returned to the hotel so I could blog and Florin could shower. That just about brings us up to date. The people at the conference are warm and welcoming.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
pictures and a footnote
The link to some Odessa pictures is: https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/20110512?authkey=Gv1sRgCK7Fqq2v8squJQ#
A footnote from yesterday. After Florin and I ate at the Jewish restaurant, we decided to visit the synagogue around the corner. We enter and saw a few groups of rabbis and students discussing the Talmud. We sat quietly in the last row. We weren't there long before an old rabbi came in and shouted at us. We were indecent because we weren't wearing yarmulkas. So we sheepishly left.
A footnote from yesterday. After Florin and I ate at the Jewish restaurant, we decided to visit the synagogue around the corner. We enter and saw a few groups of rabbis and students discussing the Talmud. We sat quietly in the last row. We weren't there long before an old rabbi came in and shouted at us. We were indecent because we weren't wearing yarmulkas. So we sheepishly left.
Getting to Odessa
There was a little drama on Tuesday night. When Rostek came home late from work, I showed him my ticket. His first reaction was "This ticket says you leave from Borispol Airport, not from Central Bus Station" So there was a panic mode. Then we realized that the bus originated at the airport but would pick me up at the Central Bus Station at 7:30. So, a lot of drama and no little amount of panic over nothing. My ticket was fine. I tried to get to bed but it was after 10 before I was packed and ready to go. I got up at 4:45, took a shower, and set out around 5:30. My backpack and duffel bag were heavy. I walked the kilometer to the metro station, rode to the exchange station, took a different line to the Central Bus Station. I got there around 6:40 for a 7:30 bus. I went over to McDonald's for a cappuccino. About 10 minutes before departure time, I tried to find my bus. I knew it was supposed to be at Berth 6. Of course the berths were not numbered. I saw that one bus had a sign "Odessa" on the window, so I showed my ticket and it was the right bus. We left on time. The entire 550 kilometers was on good roads and through magnificent farm country. During the Soviet era, Ukraine was the "breadbasket" of the USSR. The produce here is wonderful and fresh. It actually has Wegman's beat hands down. 7 hours after leaving Kiev, I arrived in Odessa. It was a thrlll to see the Black Sea as we came down a hill into the city. Florin was at the bus station to meet me, having arrived Wednesday evening. We went to the hotel and then out to have lunch. Florin is fascinated by Eastern European Jewish history and we went to a restaurant next to a synagogue. We drank Ukrainian beer. I had mushroom soup and chicken curry. Florin had fish soup and vareniki. We had no room for dessert but walked back to the hotel. I lay down for an hour while Florin went shoe shopping. In the evening we went out to walk around and see the area, a beautiful area with interesting buildings. We will walk again today and I will take pictures. The whole time we are talking and planning for the weekend's workshop in Nikolaev and Florin has valuable insights about content for my workshops at the end of the month at a national conference. I think it was midnight before we finally slept. While we were sitting at an outside cafe, eating yet again (borsch and pizza), a woman gave us her card: interpreter, apartment agent, cosmetics seller. We suspected by the way she walked up and down the street that she was selling other more personal services as well. Because we ate so close to bedtime, I had nightmares. Really disturbing nightmares. I awoke at about 7 and went back to sleep and resumed the nightmare where it left off. I finally got up at 9 and showered. Florin slept a bit later and we went out in search of breakfast. The first place we went into had no breakfast. It was a sushi restaurant. It is very odd that there seem to be sushi restaurants on every block! We finally found an outside table at another place a few blocks from our hotel. Florin had breakfast vareniki with sour cream and honey. I had oatmeal with walnuts, golden raisins and apricots we each had two cups of cappuccino. Very satisfying. I think tomorrow morning I will have the same breakfast. This afternoon, actually it is already afternoon, we will go out to tour and perhaps to meet with an activist here. I will blog more later and perhaps post some pictures.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Tuesday evening
I had an excellent lesson and a two good cups of coffee with Anna Dovgopol, my teacher. I uploaded to my blog a picture of Anna and one of me with my Ukrainian haircut. I had hoped to con Anna into coming with me to the bus station but she is no enabler. She is an empowerer. She made sure I had the phrases need to ask directions if I got lost. And off I went. I found the correct Metro stop (remember the words are written in Ukrainian - Cyrillic alphabet) and followed directions to the Central Bus Station. I found the correct window and said in Ukrainian (or what passes as Ukrainian coming from me!) One ticket to Odessa tomorrow. And that was that. I then made my way home. I timed the whole process and figure that to make my 07:30 bus in the morning, I have to leave here at 05:30, shlep my luggage to the metro, change metro lines and then shlep my luggage to the central bus station. I should get there a little after 7. Wish me luck. It is supposed to be a six hour trip over pretty good roads with a few stops for tea and pee. Florin said he will pick me up at the bus station in Odessa to take me to our hotel. I don't know if he is already in Odessa or is arriving in the morning. It will be great to see him. I haven't seen him since September. So, I don't guess I'll post again until I'm settled in Odessa.
Day before another round of travel
We Americans have forgotten how many conveniences we're surrounded by every moment. What took me an hour to do this morning (getting to another part of town on two metro lines) could have been done by car in a fraction of that time. So basically I left home at 8:45, got to Station Obolon around 9:50, started walking the kilometer to Kostya's place. Kostya and Mikhail met me half way. They had set out to meet me. I had a coffee and then Mikhail cut my hair. He said he wasn't going to change my style. Then he did. He cut it pretty short and it seems like it might be low maintenance. Of course every time I get a haircut, I feel like all the color gets cut out and all the gray remains. I looked in the mirror. I still don't look like a Ukrainian, but my haircut does! What I have learned, should I be lucky enough to get a seat on the metro is that it's a great place to catch a quick nap, keeping my ear tuned to the stops. Stops are announced and then next stop is announced. That's very helpful. One thing I notice is that Ukrainian couples, heterosexual, are very free about expressing affection in public, sometimes quite passionately. It's not something we generally see at home. I got back to the apartment around 13:00 and ate for the first time today: cheese and bread, coffee and juice. I have only a few minutes before I have to go back to the center to have a language lesson. I will try to persuade Anna to go with me to the bus station to get a ticket for tomorrow's morning bus to Odessa - a five or six hour trip. Odessa is a great city on the Black Sea. More later.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Victory Day May 9
Link to pics from today: https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/KievMay9Holiday?authkey=Gv1sRgCOaf_u2u1OvUpwE#
привіт! Ukrainian for "Hi!" Today was a national holiday in Ukraine, marked by parades and all the old veterans wearing full uniforms and medals, lots of medals. It's a holiday left over from the Soviet era. I walked down to McDonald's to have a language class at 10. I grabbed an outside table. The weather was delightfully warm. It felt good after days of being on the edge of uncomfortable. Anna arrived and I went in to get us cappuccinos. Anna feels it beneficial that I learn Ukrainian handwriting. It is a challenge because the letters are often very different in handwriting than in books. I hope I haven't burned out all those brain cells needed for language learning.
I have a phone for use in Ukraine so I can have a local phone number for calls and texting. Just before my lesson finished, I got a text from Rostek "buy bread". I stopped in the supermarket on the way home and got bread, some drinkable yogurt and butter. The woman at the checkout asked me a question I didn't understand (basically "do you need a bag") Bags aren't free here, you pay a small fee for them. We did the pantomime thing and then I had to choose between a small bag and a big bad. She had really good humor about it. I ate when I got back to the apartment. Rostek and Denis had eaten earlier. Then we set of for an hour's metro journey to Konstantin's apartment, me carrying a bag with all my dirty laundry. We don't have a washing machine in our apartment and can't find a laundry in our neighborhood. There are no self-service laundromats here. We got to Konstantin's and put the clothes in the wash and visited until they were done. We hung them on racks. Hopefully they will be dry by tomorrow. Mikhail was there. He's a hair stylist and will cut my hair tomorrow morning. He's going to try to give me a care free style that makes me look Ukrainian! Good luck with that! It will be an adventure finding the correct metro station. I have to go into the center of Kiev and change trains.
We decided to take a walk along the river and walked through a really swanky neighborhood with a really contemporary Orthodox church. Then we went down into the park along the river and wandered for an hour. By the time we got back to Kostya's apartment, my legs were feeling it. Rostek and Denis went to get something to cook for late lunch/early dinner and we had a feast of pork cooked with onions and a really good grated salad of carrots and turnips and a few other things, flavored with dill and lemon. Very tasty. Oh, yeah, and rice. We drank cups of jasmine tea. And we visited some more. Finally around 8, we set out and when we got to the interchange station, I took the green line home and the boys when somewhere or other. I got home and handwashed some things and now I'm catching up with this blog.
Oh, just a leftover note from last night: I think I mentioned the other day that I had coffee with an Orthodox seminarian. He's one of the happiest people I ever met. Last night, just as I was getting ready for bed, Dimitri called just to say hi. We laughed through the conversation and it was a wonderful way to end my day with a smile. People are so thoughtful. And one more note: there was a facebook photo posted of people at church at home waving to me. I also received several nice emails today. Each week, I'm sending a two minute video message from me that gets played during worship. It keeps me connected. Now, I'm ready for bed. It's after 11pm.
привіт! Ukrainian for "Hi!" Today was a national holiday in Ukraine, marked by parades and all the old veterans wearing full uniforms and medals, lots of medals. It's a holiday left over from the Soviet era. I walked down to McDonald's to have a language class at 10. I grabbed an outside table. The weather was delightfully warm. It felt good after days of being on the edge of uncomfortable. Anna arrived and I went in to get us cappuccinos. Anna feels it beneficial that I learn Ukrainian handwriting. It is a challenge because the letters are often very different in handwriting than in books. I hope I haven't burned out all those brain cells needed for language learning.
I have a phone for use in Ukraine so I can have a local phone number for calls and texting. Just before my lesson finished, I got a text from Rostek "buy bread". I stopped in the supermarket on the way home and got bread, some drinkable yogurt and butter. The woman at the checkout asked me a question I didn't understand (basically "do you need a bag") Bags aren't free here, you pay a small fee for them. We did the pantomime thing and then I had to choose between a small bag and a big bad. She had really good humor about it. I ate when I got back to the apartment. Rostek and Denis had eaten earlier. Then we set of for an hour's metro journey to Konstantin's apartment, me carrying a bag with all my dirty laundry. We don't have a washing machine in our apartment and can't find a laundry in our neighborhood. There are no self-service laundromats here. We got to Konstantin's and put the clothes in the wash and visited until they were done. We hung them on racks. Hopefully they will be dry by tomorrow. Mikhail was there. He's a hair stylist and will cut my hair tomorrow morning. He's going to try to give me a care free style that makes me look Ukrainian! Good luck with that! It will be an adventure finding the correct metro station. I have to go into the center of Kiev and change trains.
We decided to take a walk along the river and walked through a really swanky neighborhood with a really contemporary Orthodox church. Then we went down into the park along the river and wandered for an hour. By the time we got back to Kostya's apartment, my legs were feeling it. Rostek and Denis went to get something to cook for late lunch/early dinner and we had a feast of pork cooked with onions and a really good grated salad of carrots and turnips and a few other things, flavored with dill and lemon. Very tasty. Oh, yeah, and rice. We drank cups of jasmine tea. And we visited some more. Finally around 8, we set out and when we got to the interchange station, I took the green line home and the boys when somewhere or other. I got home and handwashed some things and now I'm catching up with this blog.
Oh, just a leftover note from last night: I think I mentioned the other day that I had coffee with an Orthodox seminarian. He's one of the happiest people I ever met. Last night, just as I was getting ready for bed, Dimitri called just to say hi. We laughed through the conversation and it was a wonderful way to end my day with a smile. People are so thoughtful. And one more note: there was a facebook photo posted of people at church at home waving to me. I also received several nice emails today. Each week, I'm sending a two minute video message from me that gets played during worship. It keeps me connected. Now, I'm ready for bed. It's after 11pm.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Sunday - in two parts
Sunday Part I:
Morning. I slept well last night snuggled in my wool blanket. This morning dawned with hazy sunshine which was a relief after days of cloudy and rain and cold. We left for church at around 10 and took a bus and a metro to get there. We went to the Greek-Catholic Cathedral which has been under construction for 9 years. It is the Cathedral Church of the Archeparchy. There were a lot of kids in church but for a church that size, I expected more people. We stood for most of the liturgy. We took a different bus home that said it came on our street which is Verbitskoho St. It let us off right near our apartment. I came to the apartment and Rostek went to pick up some quick things for lunch since we had skipped breakfast to go to church. Denis was cooking potatoes and soon Rostek arrived with good rye bread, a cooked chicken and a container of something green that turned out to be Morska Kapusta - sea cabbage. It was a variety of edible seaweed. I liked it. That's all for now. I will meet a group at 4 to go to some monastery. More reports later.
Sunday Part II:
OK, it's now 9pm and I'm wiped out. I should have remembered that Brother Vladimir likes to walk and walk and walk. He really is a fabulous guide. Five of us took the metro and a bus to a monastery (being a monk, Vladimir is big on monasteries. Today he was dressed in his monk's habit and hat). The monastery was fascinating. There were several ancient churches and we visited all of them. One was having service so we stayed for a while to pray and get incensed. In one of them, my favorite saint - St. Pantaleimon, a physician) had a really nice icon and a long prayer to him written beneath. Vladimir pushed me right up the the icon and read the prayer over me. St. Pantaleimon is a saint of healing. A priest we were waiting for never showed up so we decided to walk up into the Central Botanical Gardens. These gardens are worth a trip to Kiev to see. They have a area of lilacs that make Rochester's look quite small. A few early ones are in bloom but the majority are about a week of warm weather away. There were several wonderful magnolia hybrids that had a very strong lemon scent. The gardens are up on a hill and we climbed and climbed and climbed some more. All this exercise is so good for me. I am loathe to say that I forgot my camera but I will definitely return there with a camera and to see the church of the monastery of St. John at the very top that was closed today. We took a bus to the metro and parted ways. I walked home from the metro very slowly. I am, as I said, wiped out, but in such a good way. I met two couples who want a blessing on their relationship. I told them we will talk in June when the bulk of my travel is finished. May is shaping up to be a punishing month - also in a good way.
And as a final thought: I don't know if it's related to a little homesickness but I have seen so many body doubles in Kiev of people I know all over the place. I have recognized people from home and of course they aren't here. It's kind of fun. Every time I go out now, I wonder who I'm going to see that looks EXACTLY like someone from home.
Tomorrow is a national holiday - Victory Day. A holiday left over from the Soviet Era. I have a language lesson in the morning and a picnic in the afternoon. I also have to hand wash clothes so I have clean things to take to Odessa on Wednesday.
Morning. I slept well last night snuggled in my wool blanket. This morning dawned with hazy sunshine which was a relief after days of cloudy and rain and cold. We left for church at around 10 and took a bus and a metro to get there. We went to the Greek-Catholic Cathedral which has been under construction for 9 years. It is the Cathedral Church of the Archeparchy. There were a lot of kids in church but for a church that size, I expected more people. We stood for most of the liturgy. We took a different bus home that said it came on our street which is Verbitskoho St. It let us off right near our apartment. I came to the apartment and Rostek went to pick up some quick things for lunch since we had skipped breakfast to go to church. Denis was cooking potatoes and soon Rostek arrived with good rye bread, a cooked chicken and a container of something green that turned out to be Morska Kapusta - sea cabbage. It was a variety of edible seaweed. I liked it. That's all for now. I will meet a group at 4 to go to some monastery. More reports later.
Sunday Part II:
OK, it's now 9pm and I'm wiped out. I should have remembered that Brother Vladimir likes to walk and walk and walk. He really is a fabulous guide. Five of us took the metro and a bus to a monastery (being a monk, Vladimir is big on monasteries. Today he was dressed in his monk's habit and hat). The monastery was fascinating. There were several ancient churches and we visited all of them. One was having service so we stayed for a while to pray and get incensed. In one of them, my favorite saint - St. Pantaleimon, a physician) had a really nice icon and a long prayer to him written beneath. Vladimir pushed me right up the the icon and read the prayer over me. St. Pantaleimon is a saint of healing. A priest we were waiting for never showed up so we decided to walk up into the Central Botanical Gardens. These gardens are worth a trip to Kiev to see. They have a area of lilacs that make Rochester's look quite small. A few early ones are in bloom but the majority are about a week of warm weather away. There were several wonderful magnolia hybrids that had a very strong lemon scent. The gardens are up on a hill and we climbed and climbed and climbed some more. All this exercise is so good for me. I am loathe to say that I forgot my camera but I will definitely return there with a camera and to see the church of the monastery of St. John at the very top that was closed today. We took a bus to the metro and parted ways. I walked home from the metro very slowly. I am, as I said, wiped out, but in such a good way. I met two couples who want a blessing on their relationship. I told them we will talk in June when the bulk of my travel is finished. May is shaping up to be a punishing month - also in a good way.
And as a final thought: I don't know if it's related to a little homesickness but I have seen so many body doubles in Kiev of people I know all over the place. I have recognized people from home and of course they aren't here. It's kind of fun. Every time I go out now, I wonder who I'm going to see that looks EXACTLY like someone from home.
Tomorrow is a national holiday - Victory Day. A holiday left over from the Soviet Era. I have a language lesson in the morning and a picnic in the afternoon. I also have to hand wash clothes so I have clean things to take to Odessa on Wednesday.
Friday, May 6, 2011
A successful outing
I met a new friend for coffee tonight. We hadn't met before. We were to meet outside metro station Zoloti Vorota - Golden Gate. I saw a young man waiting but lots of people were waiting. He finally approached me and asked if I was Djim. It was he. He said they told him to look for an "old" American. He said I didn't look old enough to be described as "old." How can I not love THAT!
We went to an organic restaurant across the street and I had cappuccino and he had cafe americano. I also had a bowl of delicious cream of mushroom soup. We had a wonderful discussion. I spoke slowly and used simple phrases and he did very well in English. We used the dictionary when necessary and had quite a deep discussion. Rostek and Konstantin joined us briefly. Konstantin went home, Rostek went to find Denis, his boyfriend, Dimitri and I finished our coffees and conversation and we walked back to the metro. He helped me refill my minutes for my prepaid cell phone and then we parted ways. The trip home by metro seems faster each time I do it. I have adopted the Ukrainian way of either dozing on the metro or reading or discretely people watching. I arrived home before Rostek and Denis but I expect them, with dinner, quite soon. When I arrived home, I telephoned Dimitri as he asked me to do so he wouldn't worry. All in all a splendid outing.
We went to an organic restaurant across the street and I had cappuccino and he had cafe americano. I also had a bowl of delicious cream of mushroom soup. We had a wonderful discussion. I spoke slowly and used simple phrases and he did very well in English. We used the dictionary when necessary and had quite a deep discussion. Rostek and Konstantin joined us briefly. Konstantin went home, Rostek went to find Denis, his boyfriend, Dimitri and I finished our coffees and conversation and we walked back to the metro. He helped me refill my minutes for my prepaid cell phone and then we parted ways. The trip home by metro seems faster each time I do it. I have adopted the Ukrainian way of either dozing on the metro or reading or discretely people watching. I arrived home before Rostek and Denis but I expect them, with dinner, quite soon. When I arrived home, I telephoned Dimitri as he asked me to do so he wouldn't worry. All in all a splendid outing.
my father was a wandering Aramaean
Well, it seems I lost a blog day, or you could almost say I lost a day. Thursday was a day of wandering as in the desert.
But first, a word of differing custom. Anyone who knows me, knows that I really like my coffee - just about any coffee. I prefer excellent but will settle for terrible. Out, I usually have cappuccino. At home, here is how we make it: take one spoon of coffee (not instant) and put it in your cup, then pour boiling water. Stir, add milk (and sugar if you are so inclined) and drink. Be careful, all the coffee grounds are still in the cup. If you are lucky most of them will sink to the bottom. I suppose to most of my readers, this sounds terrible, but it's really OK, and I wouldn't have thought of it on my own. It is a widespread custom here.
Back to yesterday. I left to walk to the metro and went to Kiev to meet Anna for a language lesson. We found a nice coffee shop where we could study. She is a strong teacher and gives too much homework. After I finished my lesson, I decided to go back to the apartment for a few hours. Well, I wandered around the apartment complex for an hour trying to find my building. There are so many buildings, all similar, few with numbers. By the time I found it, by accident, I had only a little time before I had to go back out to meet some friends at 6. It was good to see them and I hadn't seen them since September. We went to a very interesting cafeteria, they called student cafeteria, that was large, had many rooms, each decorated in some national theme: a China room, an Indian room, etc. Each room had pictures and sculptures showing how ALL culture actually originated in Ukraine - even Egyptian and Greek! Very funny. Great place and lots of students because the food is cheap.
Speaking of cheap: subway tokens are made of plastic. To ride the subway cost 2 Hrivna which is about 25 cents. It is very efficient and clean and a wonderful mode of transportation.
My friends and I had a beer (a tall beer cost about $1.25USD) If I had wanted imported dark Belgian beer, it would have been more than double that. After wandering the city for a while, we parted ways at the metro. At first I got on the correct line (green line) to go home but got on in the wrong direction. I recognized this immediately and got off at the next stop and got on the right train. When I arrived at Metro Station Kharkivska, it was raining a cold dreary rain and the wind was blowing. It was a wet walk to my apartment and I got lost in the dark - again. I called Kostya, actually Kostya called me because Rostek was worried I wasn't yet home. I spotted a market, same brand I shopped at in Romania in 2009, Billa. Rostek came and rescued me. Now I have map to apartment firmly memorized in my head. No more getting lost. I was exhausted and hadn't eaten since morning. I had some brinza (a kind of farmer's fresh cheese) and bread, some beet salad, some fish salad, and two cups of hot tea. And I went to bed.
Friday morning, I didn't have to leave early because Anna was coming here for my lesson. I walked to metro to meet her and we walked back. Minor detour because I can't walk and talk at the same time. We had our lesson and I walked her back to the metro. This afternoon I took a little nap and I will shower (the hot water to the building was shut off this morning) and leave to Kiev Center to meet a friend I haven't met yet. His name is Dmitri. I trust that tonight, I will find the apartment with no problem. In sha Allah.
Tomorrow is the first day since my arrival on April 28 that I have no schedule! It will be marvelous. Perhaps I will get a haircut and maybe find a massage therapist. All this walking is great and my body feels it. My jeans are getting looser - that's a god thing. Oh, and I have to buy a blanket for my bed. The weather has taken a turn back to cold and wet. Next week is supposed to be gorgeous.
But first, a word of differing custom. Anyone who knows me, knows that I really like my coffee - just about any coffee. I prefer excellent but will settle for terrible. Out, I usually have cappuccino. At home, here is how we make it: take one spoon of coffee (not instant) and put it in your cup, then pour boiling water. Stir, add milk (and sugar if you are so inclined) and drink. Be careful, all the coffee grounds are still in the cup. If you are lucky most of them will sink to the bottom. I suppose to most of my readers, this sounds terrible, but it's really OK, and I wouldn't have thought of it on my own. It is a widespread custom here.
Back to yesterday. I left to walk to the metro and went to Kiev to meet Anna for a language lesson. We found a nice coffee shop where we could study. She is a strong teacher and gives too much homework. After I finished my lesson, I decided to go back to the apartment for a few hours. Well, I wandered around the apartment complex for an hour trying to find my building. There are so many buildings, all similar, few with numbers. By the time I found it, by accident, I had only a little time before I had to go back out to meet some friends at 6. It was good to see them and I hadn't seen them since September. We went to a very interesting cafeteria, they called student cafeteria, that was large, had many rooms, each decorated in some national theme: a China room, an Indian room, etc. Each room had pictures and sculptures showing how ALL culture actually originated in Ukraine - even Egyptian and Greek! Very funny. Great place and lots of students because the food is cheap.
Speaking of cheap: subway tokens are made of plastic. To ride the subway cost 2 Hrivna which is about 25 cents. It is very efficient and clean and a wonderful mode of transportation.
My friends and I had a beer (a tall beer cost about $1.25USD) If I had wanted imported dark Belgian beer, it would have been more than double that. After wandering the city for a while, we parted ways at the metro. At first I got on the correct line (green line) to go home but got on in the wrong direction. I recognized this immediately and got off at the next stop and got on the right train. When I arrived at Metro Station Kharkivska, it was raining a cold dreary rain and the wind was blowing. It was a wet walk to my apartment and I got lost in the dark - again. I called Kostya, actually Kostya called me because Rostek was worried I wasn't yet home. I spotted a market, same brand I shopped at in Romania in 2009, Billa. Rostek came and rescued me. Now I have map to apartment firmly memorized in my head. No more getting lost. I was exhausted and hadn't eaten since morning. I had some brinza (a kind of farmer's fresh cheese) and bread, some beet salad, some fish salad, and two cups of hot tea. And I went to bed.
Friday morning, I didn't have to leave early because Anna was coming here for my lesson. I walked to metro to meet her and we walked back. Minor detour because I can't walk and talk at the same time. We had our lesson and I walked her back to the metro. This afternoon I took a little nap and I will shower (the hot water to the building was shut off this morning) and leave to Kiev Center to meet a friend I haven't met yet. His name is Dmitri. I trust that tonight, I will find the apartment with no problem. In sha Allah.
Tomorrow is the first day since my arrival on April 28 that I have no schedule! It will be marvelous. Perhaps I will get a haircut and maybe find a massage therapist. All this walking is great and my body feels it. My jeans are getting looser - that's a god thing. Oh, and I have to buy a blanket for my bed. The weather has taken a turn back to cold and wet. Next week is supposed to be gorgeous.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
you put de lime in de coconut...
Link to Manyava Monastery: https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/ManyavaOrthodoxMonastery?authkey=Gv1sRgCLiL2Oi6trD7qQE
Bright and early Tuesday morning, I was catching up with my blog, Rostek's mother came over to the house we were staying in (her mother's) and started getting food ready for breakfast: salad, hard boiled eggs, vareniky stuffed with potato and cheese fried in butter, holodets (a jellied dish with meat and carrots and other things eaten cold). I walked around a little and took a few pictures of Kalush. We took a taxi to the bus then on to Iv-Frankivsk. We put our luggage in a locker and walked into the city. I took a few pictures. We met Igor and Bogdan and took increasingly smaller buses and a taxi to the Orthodox monastery of Manyava. It is in the foothills of the Carpathians and is in the process of being built. We had a picnic by a stream for a few hours and then took a bus to a taxi to a bus to Frankivsk. I will NEVER take my car for granted again. I wish you could have seen some of the buses and especially the last taxi we rode in! So far, almost all taxi drivers have driven like bats out of hell! Oh, did I mention squeezing five of us in taxis plus the driver? Did I mention that generally taxis are small cars? When we got back to Frankivsk, we walked on a really cool street of shops and restaurants where no traffic is allowed. We sat outside (some patrons had blankets wrapped around them) and I restored my quota of caffeine. When it was time for the train, we walked to the baggage locker, reclaimed our bag and headed for the train. Igor and Bogdan stood with us on the platform until it was time to leave. I was in a first class cabin with three stranger, two men and a woman. They were strangers to each other, too. Denis and Rostek shared a cabin with a married couple with a two year old. I got the better deal.
Surprisingly, I slept, not well, but I slept. Fourteen hours on a train is a long long time. My cabin-mates were all considerate. No one talked to anyone else.
When we finally reached Kiev, we took a taxi to the apartment and I will have a quiet day making phone calls, planning for travel and catching up with old friends. I will also speak to my language teacher to set up tomorrow's lesson and perhaps coffee with a friend I haven't met yet in person.
Bright and early Tuesday morning, I was catching up with my blog, Rostek's mother came over to the house we were staying in (her mother's) and started getting food ready for breakfast: salad, hard boiled eggs, vareniky stuffed with potato and cheese fried in butter, holodets (a jellied dish with meat and carrots and other things eaten cold). I walked around a little and took a few pictures of Kalush. We took a taxi to the bus then on to Iv-Frankivsk. We put our luggage in a locker and walked into the city. I took a few pictures. We met Igor and Bogdan and took increasingly smaller buses and a taxi to the Orthodox monastery of Manyava. It is in the foothills of the Carpathians and is in the process of being built. We had a picnic by a stream for a few hours and then took a bus to a taxi to a bus to Frankivsk. I will NEVER take my car for granted again. I wish you could have seen some of the buses and especially the last taxi we rode in! So far, almost all taxi drivers have driven like bats out of hell! Oh, did I mention squeezing five of us in taxis plus the driver? Did I mention that generally taxis are small cars? When we got back to Frankivsk, we walked on a really cool street of shops and restaurants where no traffic is allowed. We sat outside (some patrons had blankets wrapped around them) and I restored my quota of caffeine. When it was time for the train, we walked to the baggage locker, reclaimed our bag and headed for the train. Igor and Bogdan stood with us on the platform until it was time to leave. I was in a first class cabin with three stranger, two men and a woman. They were strangers to each other, too. Denis and Rostek shared a cabin with a married couple with a two year old. I got the better deal.
Surprisingly, I slept, not well, but I slept. Fourteen hours on a train is a long long time. My cabin-mates were all considerate. No one talked to anyone else.
When we finally reached Kiev, we took a taxi to the apartment and I will have a quiet day making phone calls, planning for travel and catching up with old friends. I will also speak to my language teacher to set up tomorrow's lesson and perhaps coffee with a friend I haven't met yet in person.
Stray Thoughts
Stray Thoughts Many things have caught my attention that I've failed to mention in describing daliy events. These thoughts are in random order. On the bus from Lvov to Frankivsk, I was struck by the beauty of the rolling hills. I have read the term "rolling hills" in literature all my life but I think it's meaning only came true for me as I was soothed by the scenery on that drive. The May Day long holiday weekend seems to be the gardening equivalent of our Memorial Day long weekend. Everyone seemed to be out preparing their gardens for this growing season. Even in Kalush, Madame Doctor was going to spend the day digging in the dirt. There seems to be a drive in humans that comes from our primitive past evolving from nomads to herders to agrarians. There seems to be an interesting dichotomy in Ukrainian behavior. There is an innate kindness and hospitality. People have gone out of their way for me over and over again, looking to my comfort and well-being. People have spend days shepherding me around wanting me to see the best there is to see. At the same time, I am often struck by the abruptness and what looks like rudeness on the part of store clerks and other functionaries. I am glad I have time to observe this and will have some time to try to figure it out. Brooms have short handles. Many gardening implements have short handles. These short handles require people to bend over to sweep the floor or dig or hoe. I don't want you to form an image of me sweeping out my apartment. I'm sure other random thoughts will occur to me. It's one in the afternoon. I am going to shower and clean up and take the first chance I've had to investigate the neighborhood and be sure that I can find my way around and back to the apartment. I may, later, take the metro downtown if I feel up to it, but I may just hang out at home.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Lvov, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kalush
Link to pictures from Monday in Lvov:
https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/LvovUkraine?authkey=Gv1sRgCLi8ioOFq8HNjAE
Links to pictures from Tuesday in Kalush: https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/KalushUkraine?authkey=Gv1sRgCIqN4JHAy-7v8gE
Links to pictures from Tuesday in Ivano-Frankivsk https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/IvanoFrankivsk?authkey=Gv1sRgCNz2rZ_T3JvXUA
Monday evolved into a marvelous day. Lvov is a really beautiful city. Two friends went off in seach of the perfect dog, a new friend and I sat for a few hours in a really nice coffee shop while I repeatedly satisfied my caffeine cravings. The shop came with its on hookah-boy, a youngster dressed in Persian style who provided water pipes for anyone who wished. The smell of the smoke was pleasant and I found they weren't smoking tobacco but an herbal mixture filtered through milk, not water. I didn't try it.
Our party started gathering (and I didn't expect it). I started out with Igor, then Bogdan came, then Alexander, then Rostek and Denis. Alexander (Sasha to his friends) ordered a bottle of champagne and we toasted whatever we could think of with endless clinking of glasses. We then set out for a walking tour. We visited so many places, they blur in my memory. We hadn't gone really far when Sasha who is a professor of music decided we had to stop at a friend's tiny restaurant for green borsch. So we did. it only had five or six tables. We took a trestle table and settled in. More toasting, more clinking. This time with vodka paprikash. It's tea colored and spicy hot. Another bottle bit the dust. The green borsch was amazing and we then had meat and potato vareniky and finished with coffee. Six of us ate a delicious meal which included a bottle of vodka. The cost was about $32. I forgot to say that on the way to the theater, we met one of Sasha's friends while walking. I don't know her name but she is a famous actress in Lvov. She had red hair, a colorful outfit, absolutely beautiful skin and a suitably flamboyant style. She was lovely. We continued walking seeing old churches and other buildings and monuments and finally took a taxi to the Greek Catholic Cathedral of St. George. Then we went to the bus station for our bus to Ivano-Frankivsk. It was a two and a half hour trip to go 75 miles. The main highway from Lvov was a secondary road actually in bad repair. Bumps and potholes and a few times cows in the road. We kept stopping and picking up more passengers until we were stuffed to the gills with people. In the bus station we met a woman named Tamara. A very friendly, very talkative woman who whispered to me "my name is Tamara. I am security" Well, she certainly was VERY friendly. When we arrived in Ivano-Frankivsk we immediately changed to another smaller bus/van to travel another 40 minutes to Kalush where we would spend the night at Rostek's home. His mother is an Endocrinologist. I got the pleasure of sharing a seat on the bus with Tamara. A very warm woman.
We were welcomed like royalty by Rostek's mother and food started appearing as if by magic. Potatoes and cutlets and salad and vareniky. This was the first time I had vareniky stuffed with cabbage. And a bottle of brandy. More clinking, more toasting. Another dead bottle. It was loud and lively and fun. Rostek's mother is a charming funny woman and we laughed a lot.
I suppose it was around midnight when we finally retired for the night. I was awakend by sunshine streaming through the windows. Oh, I neglected to mention that the season is a few weeks ahead of western NY. The fruit trees and lilacs are blooming here and the tress are fully leafed out.
Today we will go back to Ivano-Frankivsk and visit an Orthodox monastery before catching our evening train to Kiev. We entrain at 8 and arrive at 10am. I hope I can sleep this time. I will edit this blog entry in a while to give a link to some photos.
https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/LvovUkraine?authkey=Gv1sRgCLi8ioOFq8HNjAE
Links to pictures from Tuesday in Kalush: https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/KalushUkraine?authkey=Gv1sRgCIqN4JHAy-7v8gE
Links to pictures from Tuesday in Ivano-Frankivsk https://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/IvanoFrankivsk?authkey=Gv1sRgCNz2rZ_T3JvXUA
Monday evolved into a marvelous day. Lvov is a really beautiful city. Two friends went off in seach of the perfect dog, a new friend and I sat for a few hours in a really nice coffee shop while I repeatedly satisfied my caffeine cravings. The shop came with its on hookah-boy, a youngster dressed in Persian style who provided water pipes for anyone who wished. The smell of the smoke was pleasant and I found they weren't smoking tobacco but an herbal mixture filtered through milk, not water. I didn't try it.
Our party started gathering (and I didn't expect it). I started out with Igor, then Bogdan came, then Alexander, then Rostek and Denis. Alexander (Sasha to his friends) ordered a bottle of champagne and we toasted whatever we could think of with endless clinking of glasses. We then set out for a walking tour. We visited so many places, they blur in my memory. We hadn't gone really far when Sasha who is a professor of music decided we had to stop at a friend's tiny restaurant for green borsch. So we did. it only had five or six tables. We took a trestle table and settled in. More toasting, more clinking. This time with vodka paprikash. It's tea colored and spicy hot. Another bottle bit the dust. The green borsch was amazing and we then had meat and potato vareniky and finished with coffee. Six of us ate a delicious meal which included a bottle of vodka. The cost was about $32. I forgot to say that on the way to the theater, we met one of Sasha's friends while walking. I don't know her name but she is a famous actress in Lvov. She had red hair, a colorful outfit, absolutely beautiful skin and a suitably flamboyant style. She was lovely. We continued walking seeing old churches and other buildings and monuments and finally took a taxi to the Greek Catholic Cathedral of St. George. Then we went to the bus station for our bus to Ivano-Frankivsk. It was a two and a half hour trip to go 75 miles. The main highway from Lvov was a secondary road actually in bad repair. Bumps and potholes and a few times cows in the road. We kept stopping and picking up more passengers until we were stuffed to the gills with people. In the bus station we met a woman named Tamara. A very friendly, very talkative woman who whispered to me "my name is Tamara. I am security" Well, she certainly was VERY friendly. When we arrived in Ivano-Frankivsk we immediately changed to another smaller bus/van to travel another 40 minutes to Kalush where we would spend the night at Rostek's home. His mother is an Endocrinologist. I got the pleasure of sharing a seat on the bus with Tamara. A very warm woman.
We were welcomed like royalty by Rostek's mother and food started appearing as if by magic. Potatoes and cutlets and salad and vareniky. This was the first time I had vareniky stuffed with cabbage. And a bottle of brandy. More clinking, more toasting. Another dead bottle. It was loud and lively and fun. Rostek's mother is a charming funny woman and we laughed a lot.
I suppose it was around midnight when we finally retired for the night. I was awakend by sunshine streaming through the windows. Oh, I neglected to mention that the season is a few weeks ahead of western NY. The fruit trees and lilacs are blooming here and the tress are fully leafed out.
Today we will go back to Ivano-Frankivsk and visit an Orthodox monastery before catching our evening train to Kiev. We entrain at 8 and arrive at 10am. I hope I can sleep this time. I will edit this blog entry in a while to give a link to some photos.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
I must be out of my mind...
So, we all went to bed at 10 on Saturday night and had to get up at 2a.m. to get ready and catch an 04:22 train to Lvov. Of course there were fireworks and fire crackers and carousing outside our building so it got to be 2am and I didn't sleep at all. We got to the train station in enough time to get tickets back to Kiev. We will leave Tuesday night and get to Kiev at 10 Wednesday morning.
We had a first class compartment on the train. In Ukraine, first class means four bunks, two lower, two upper. Since we were three people, we arrived to our compartment to find a middle aged woman on her home to a small village after begin diagnosed and having chemo for cancer. There was no way I was going in an upper bunk! Well, after not sleeping before the train, I continued to not sleep on the train. We were in the last car in the train and it felt like we were being whipped around like in cartoon trains. There was a toilet at each end of our train car. I spend the morning hours semi-comatose and woke myself up occassionally snoring. I've had a bit of a sore throat since arrival - probably due to the people coughing and hacking their way across the Atlantic. When we arrived in Kiev, we walked around a lot amidst the incredible crowds who are here for the long weekend holiday. We finally found a cafeteria of the same brand as the one I ate at on Friday and I had ...wait for it....borsch, varenikis and kvass. I was really dragging my behind and didn't finish my varenikis - my friends did. We didn't have a place to stay for the night, by the way. We took a taxi over to a friend's apartment and stayed for a while laughing, talking, drinking coffee with cognac and generally being a bit outrageous. Our host is a talented pianist who is in love with three ladies: Marlene Dietrich, Billie Holiday and the third one escaped me. Chalk it up the effect of the cognac on a tired head. Our host also play a few classical pieces for us. Very nice. They knew of two small hotels. We walked to the first (did I mention it was pouring rain?) and there was no room at the inn. We walked to the second: they only had single rooms so we'd need to pay for three. There was a lot of discussion but by that time I just wanted to lie down. Three rooms cost about $25 dollars each. It's not a luxury hotel but it's clean and has hot water and toilet and shower in each room. At that point, it sounded like heaven to me. All I wanted was a hot shower and a nap, not necessarily in that order. The gang "allowed" me two hours. I napped hard for an hour, showered a long lovely shower and now I'm catching up on this blog, expecting to be invaded any minute. It's going on 9pm (21:00) and I'm going to try to fight the good fight to be left alone for the night. I'm not at all sure I'll win. I can truthfully say, I'm not a kid anymore. Tomorrow, we'll take some conveyance (bus or train) to the city of Ivano-Frankivisk. Wednesday, when I arrive in Kiev, I am going to spend the day at home and in solitude. Right now, I'm wondering how strong my resolve is to stay in tonight. Stay tuned.
We had a first class compartment on the train. In Ukraine, first class means four bunks, two lower, two upper. Since we were three people, we arrived to our compartment to find a middle aged woman on her home to a small village after begin diagnosed and having chemo for cancer. There was no way I was going in an upper bunk! Well, after not sleeping before the train, I continued to not sleep on the train. We were in the last car in the train and it felt like we were being whipped around like in cartoon trains. There was a toilet at each end of our train car. I spend the morning hours semi-comatose and woke myself up occassionally snoring. I've had a bit of a sore throat since arrival - probably due to the people coughing and hacking their way across the Atlantic. When we arrived in Kiev, we walked around a lot amidst the incredible crowds who are here for the long weekend holiday. We finally found a cafeteria of the same brand as the one I ate at on Friday and I had ...wait for it....borsch, varenikis and kvass. I was really dragging my behind and didn't finish my varenikis - my friends did. We didn't have a place to stay for the night, by the way. We took a taxi over to a friend's apartment and stayed for a while laughing, talking, drinking coffee with cognac and generally being a bit outrageous. Our host is a talented pianist who is in love with three ladies: Marlene Dietrich, Billie Holiday and the third one escaped me. Chalk it up the effect of the cognac on a tired head. Our host also play a few classical pieces for us. Very nice. They knew of two small hotels. We walked to the first (did I mention it was pouring rain?) and there was no room at the inn. We walked to the second: they only had single rooms so we'd need to pay for three. There was a lot of discussion but by that time I just wanted to lie down. Three rooms cost about $25 dollars each. It's not a luxury hotel but it's clean and has hot water and toilet and shower in each room. At that point, it sounded like heaven to me. All I wanted was a hot shower and a nap, not necessarily in that order. The gang "allowed" me two hours. I napped hard for an hour, showered a long lovely shower and now I'm catching up on this blog, expecting to be invaded any minute. It's going on 9pm (21:00) and I'm going to try to fight the good fight to be left alone for the night. I'm not at all sure I'll win. I can truthfully say, I'm not a kid anymore. Tomorrow, we'll take some conveyance (bus or train) to the city of Ivano-Frankivisk. Wednesday, when I arrive in Kiev, I am going to spend the day at home and in solitude. Right now, I'm wondering how strong my resolve is to stay in tonight. Stay tuned.
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