Travel Day

Ah, the day that I dread, not because of the travel but because of the computer mess in my reservations.  I was unable to check in online so don't have a seat assignment from Kiev to Paris.  It's an Air France fight.  Air France computers can't talk to Delta computers.  My ticket is Air France, the seats are Delta seats.  I have seat assignments from Paris to JFK and from JFK to Rochester.  I have two completely identical reservations in the computer which is crazy making.  I may have gotten a free round trip because of the mess coming home last time but I've really had to work for it.

I got up at 6 this morning (11pm Tuesday in Rochester) which was too early.  I picked up the apartment, took out the trash, walked a few blocks to an ATM (called Bankomat here) to get money for the taxi.  Now it's two hours until the taxi comes and I'm basically twiddling my thumbs.  My flight is scheduled to leave Kiev (Boryspil Airport) at 12:30 (05:30 Wednesday NY time).

Yesterday was an emotional day of saying goodbye to friends.  Today I'm just kind of numb.  Wish me luck.  More later.

Fall in Ukraine

Fall is different here than in Western NY.  The temps are in the same range: cold nights, days fluctuating between comfortable and quite chilly.  The leaves are falling from the trees but we don't have the vivid color displays western NY'ers are used to with the brilliant reds, oranges and yellows.  Leaves just get dry and fall off green or brown or slightly yellowish.

And another difference is that in western NY, gloomy days are really gloomy; rainy days are really rainy.  Here we can get torrential cold rain and then those clouds pass away and the sun comes out again.  There haven't really been any dark and gloomy days.  I think it's easier to stay cheerful here because of the weather.

I'm in countdown mode to home, a mere 4 days away.  Of course I wonder if I will get home without trouble.  I'm going to be optimistic and think that just as I had no trouble coming, I'll have no trouble returning.  Of course, I do have to fly through Paris again where I spent two unwelcome days in June.  We'll see.

As each time I've been here, i feel sad to be leaving.  That doesn't mean that I won't be happy to see friends and family at home; it just means that my heart is in two places.

more good flying

Well, Sasha called Sunday morning.  He had been sniffling when we talked on Saturday and it had developed into a full blown misery overnight.  He decided not to come but to stay home drinking hot tea and lemon.

People started arriving for worship at around 12:30 (worship was to start at two).  Svitlana came and brought grapes, peppers and a pumpkin from her garden.  she took over the kitchen and made blini and sliced the meats and cheeses we had bought earlier.  The pumpkin she roasted in the oven.  We had bought sour cream from a woman I knew at the market from a previous visit.  and we also found, at another stall some slightly pickled cabbage.  We don't have anything like it in the US, at least that I've tasted.  It wasn't a sauerkraut taste because it was only fermented for a few days and wasn't salty like sauerkraut.  It was delicious.

First to arrive was Andriy who has some health challenges but is a really cheerful guy with a great laugh; then a defrocked Lutheran priest came.  He had been disfellowshipped because he officiated at the weddings of one gay and one lesbian couple.  Also a nice guy.  Others drifted in and we started service at about 2:45.  we had to drag Svitlana out of the kitchen to join us.

Worship lasted about an hour and then a few people requested special prayers for illnesses.  Then we ate and drank coffee and tea for hours.  It was a really nice afternoon.

In the evening, Roman, Andriy, and I went out to a micro-brewery called Bierkraft.  Their dark beer was really good!  We ordered some finger foods: fried potatoes, baked chicken wings, and small shrimp sauteed in butter and garlic.  Messy but good!


Because Roman's car was acting up, we decided that both Roman and Andriy would stay at my apartment for the night to make sure that I could get to the airport on time in the morning.  Thank God, the car started right up and, although it was running rough, got me to the airport.  Then Roman dropped Andriy at the train station to go to his town about 40 km from Donetsk and went in search of a mechanic. (today he reports that his car is back on the road).


The flight to Kyiv was quick and efficient and I took a bus from the airport to the central train station (it costs about $3 as opposed to $20 or $30 for a taxi).  From the train station I walked to the apartment.  It was cold in Kyiv yesterday, in the 40's with a stiff breeze.   When I got back to my apartment, it was freezing.  There's no heat until October 15.  I took a hot shower, a long hot shower, and crawled under all the covers and dozed for a while.


Around 5:30, a friend texted asking me to meet him for a beer, so I walked to the center and we spent about 3 hours drinking and talking at another micro-brewery.  It was great.  We parted ways, he to the subway and I walking home.  Two guys tried to scam me, similarly to what happened last trip but I learned my lesson well.  When one of them identified himself as police with  bogus ID, I said "NO!" really loud and shouted "Police!" really loud.  They took off running!  I felt quite satisfied with myself.  No more foreigner scams for me! 


I did laundry and read this morning and am about to head out to Glossary in search of my first meal of the day.  It's just after 1pm as I write this.  Life is good.  I can't believe I have only 8 days until I fly home! and six until my birthday.

Donetsk

Aerosvit Airlines is really very good and efficient and there are good deals to be had.  I got round trip for just over $50 which is less than the train!  I got picked up at 05:30 on Friday and arrived at the airport.  At the Kyiv airport (Boryspil) buses take passengers out to where the plane is parked.  The fight was about half full and we taxied onto the runway about a minute ahead of schedule and arrived in Donetsk in about an hour.

My friend Roman picked me up and we stopped to have a coffee and French pastry (puff pastry, cheese filling, ring of pineapple) before coming to the apartment.  Traffic was miserable during rush hour and it took longer to reach the center than it took to fly from Kyiv.  We had lots to talk about so the time was not unpleasant.  I have the same apartment I had the second last time I was here.  Still no refrigerator and there is hot water only from 6 to 10a.m.  And the shower has terrible water pressure so showers take longer but those are both really minor problems.

Friday night, we went for dinner at a restaurant owned by a friend of Roman.  There were two birthday parties going on, both rowdy.  One was some police officials and the other some officials from the department of medicine.  There was live music and a lot of excitement.  It was really fun.  I had a bowl of solyanka, a rich soup with meat, and then fried potatoes and also a chicken dish with pineapple.  I am not a fan of sweet and sour and fortunately, it wasn't sweet and sour, just pineapple wedges in the chicken and vegetables.  It was really good.  For dessert, we were invited to share in a multi-layered cherry cake that was delicious.  We topped it off with coffee.  A nice meal.  The owner, a jolly woman, was everywhere making sure things were going smoothly.  It seems that it is not merely a restaurant but also in back there is a sauna.  I thought it a strange combination of businesses but apparently it's not so strange here.  There are "complexes" sometimes, restaurant, sauna, billiards.  So one can drink too much then go sweat out the alcohol.  oy!  After Roman brought me  back to my apartment, he went out to work.  He is a taxi driver.

Saturday, I caught up on some writing in the morning and in the afternoon Roman came so we could plan worship for Sunday.  We will have it at my apartment at 2pm.  Calls had to be made to let everyone know where we were having worship and that took a while.  We went out to dinner at a restaurant downtown.  I had green borsch, and a home-style pork stew with rich broth and potatoes.  We had ice cream with sour cherries and cherry liqueur for dessert.  And, of course, a coffee.  As Roman was driving me back to the apartment, he got a call to pick up a couple of friends who were quite drunk.  We took them to their places before coming back to the apartment and Roman went out to work.

This morning, we were supposed to go to a baptism at a Lutheran church but it got cancelled.  People will begin gathering soon and we'll visit before we have worship and food.  My friend, Sasha, is coming from Mariupol this afternoon late and we'll go out to dinner, hopefully, to celebrate our birthdays.  His is the 12th and mine the 17th.  He'll stay over because the last bus leaves at 7.  In the morning I have to be at the airport at 8 to fly back to Kyiv.

Visits to Donetsk are always enjoyable.  They are really gearing up for European Championship Football (soccer) in 2012.  They may be fixing the roads but they are neglecting to make sure that signs in other languages or guides/translators are available.  I think it will be a lot of fuss.  Ukraine is a great place but not ready for prime time, at least where language help for foreigners is concerned.  It will be a good learning experience.  I will be sure I'm not in the country during the time of the games.

odds and ends

This visit to Ukraine is very different from my first visit when I was running all the time and traveling and establishing working relationships with people I wanted to collaborate with.  I haven't had to run around so much.  It's also been different in that with good internet connection at my apartment, it's been easier to keep in touch with home and keep up with what's going on at church. The apartment I'm in is centrally located; it's convenient: it's just the right size.  It's nice to take all the walks that bring me anywhere I want to go within 25-30 minutes.  I've spent a lot more time by myself and many days only talk to my waiter at Glossary.  He has no idea how much he's done to brighten my world on some days.  As I reread that last sentence, it sounds kind of sad, but it isn't really.  I've always been a man who does well without a lot of daily human interaction and I'm generally not someone who feels lonely.  I think I've had necessary time to think and reflect here to arrive at a plan for the next part of my life. So that part is good.  Often we need to reach uncomfortable spots in our lives to do the necessary work.

I have a lunch meeting with Anna at 13:15.  She will lend me her usb modem for my trip to Donetsk tomorrow.  I hope it will work there.  I hate to be without internet.  I then have a later meeting to plan some workshops at the local gay alliance.   It will be good to see my friends in Donetsk and I'm hoping that my friend from Mariupol can come on Saturday to spend some hours with me.  He'll have to take a long bus ride to do that and I appreciate the effort.  Whenever I think of Donetsk, I think of Andriy greeting my church on video, saying "hello, kirche in Amerika."  It's really a funny clip.

When I come home, I'll never be able to see cabbage without thinking of Ukraine.  For many reading this, that doesn't sound pleasant.  For me it is very pleasant.  Every single day, I have cabbage salad.  This time of year it has so few ingredients, finely sliced cabbage, julienned cucumber, a small bit of green onion, fresh dillweed, lemon juice and oil.  In spring, it also has julienned radish.  At my restaurant, I have it every day.  It stopped being on the menu but they make it for me anyway.  I wonder if I have developed an addiction to it?  Do I need a 12 Step program?  We don't use a lot of dillweed in the States, and when we see fresh dill in the market, it usually is with a flower head used for pickling.  That's not at all the same thing.  Same plant but different time in the life cycle.  I have had some wonderful soups this week.  Cream of Spinach with the spinach so fresh that the soup is bright green.  Buckwheat porridge which isn't porridge but buckwheat cooked like rice.  It has a distinct flavor.  I had it with chicken meatballs in a tomato sauce.  Hearty and good.  I even had dessert, Lazy Varenyky (fresh white cheese dumplings served with sour cream and honey).  I spend between one and a half and two hours over my dining ritual each day.  It's relaxing and I read and watch passers-by.  It's probably healthier than scarfing down food!

It's hard to believe I have less than two weeks left here.  The time, although not as busy, has gone too fast!

A surprise, not in a good way

On Saturday evening, I did a little shopping at the local supermarket.  I noticed potato chips so I picked up a bag which I opened when I got to the apartment.  It wasn't a large bag and I ate the whole thing, thinking from the first taste that they tasted distinctly odd.  I mentioned that to a friend on Facebook and he asked "odd how?"  I picked up the empty bag to see if I could figure that out.  Didn't take long:  they were CRAB flavored potato chips!!!!!   I won't make that mistake again.  When you think like an American in a different culture, you are bound to have surprise tastes - not all of them welcome.

Is it really more than a week?

I don't think I've ever gone this long without blogging when I've traveled.  Usually if a few days goes by and I haven't posted, I start feeling a nagging inside that says "write!".  Well, I had the nagging but managed to ignore it.  Sort of writer's block.

Actually the worst of the slump was over by Sunday last week.  I was premature when I wrote on Saturday morning that I was going to go out.  I didn't except to the supermarket in the afternoon because I was out of food in my apartment.  I've often blessed the local supermarket because they have so many different varieties of stuffed breads that nicely serve as a meal.

On Sunday morning, I woke early, tidied the apartment and washed the dishes and was getting ready to go out to church when my apartment phone rang.  It was my friend, Bishop Vladimir, who announced that he was coming around 11 to my apartment with a few of our friends for Divine Liturgy.  I walked up to the Cathedral at 8:30, in time for a special ritual for St. Barbara, a 3rd Century Christian martyr who was boiled in oil.  Her relics are in the Cathedral and I usually stop to have a visit with her.  In her honor, Ukrainians serve varenyky boiled in oil on her feast day.  After my visit to the church, I went and sat on a bench outside the cathedral and watched people coming and going.  I love how casually serious Ukrainians are about church.  There's all sorts of coming and going no matter what's going on in the church.  But, for sure, churches are busy places here.

After my friends arrived at my apartment, we had liturgy which lasted about an hour and a half, then we had a snack and then headed out to walk to Saint Sophia, an 11th Century church that is now a museum.  Bishop Vladimir got us in free and we spend a few hours going through the different buildings of the complex.  The residence of the Metropolitan, now uninhabited, contains some amazing displays not only of church items but also of history.  We walked back to my apartment around 5 so Vladimir could pick up his bags - which I call his traveling church.  Just as we got back to the apartment, I got a call from a friend to meet him for coffee.  We all walked down to the subway, parted ways, and I rode the three stops to Kontractova to meet my friend for coffee.  I got back to my apartment around 9.  Altogether a day that banished the cobwebs that had formed in my mind.  All the walking alone did much to make me feel better.  When I got home I sent an email to the apartment manager/agent to tell him that I had accidentally locked the bathroom door, but that it wasn't an emergency.  He called immediately to say the handyman would arrive at 10 or 10:30pm.  He did.  He was a very large cop, very loud, very happy.  We spoke German together.  He went into the kitchen, got a knife, and within half a second popped the door open.  I felt very unhandy and very stupid.  I kept apologizing and he kept laughing.  He was in my apartment less than 10 minutes.  Well, at least I know how to get it open should it get locked again!

Autumn arrived this week.  Overnight, the warm days in the 70's disappeared to be replaced by a few overcast chilly days and some rain.  I got out every day, did a lot of walking and generally felt that things in my life were going to be all right.  The days I didn't go out had increased my lower left back pain to the point that I started out hobbling each time I got up until I got out and did some serious walking which seemed to stretch and relax the muscles.  I had a nagging thought that perhaps the cancer had arrived in my bones.  I no longer think that because increased walking has reduced the pain almost completely.  I can feel it resolving.  I think it was the negative thoughts getting stuck in my body.  As the thoughts leave, the pain also is leaving.

The high point of my week really was Thursday evening when I spent several hours with a newish friend over a few beers and french fries at a local micro-brewery.  They have three brews: silver, gold and bronze.  I started with silver but switched to bronze which was dark and hearty.  Good time with friends is precious.  Easy flowing conversation, laughter and trading stories.  We walked quite far to a subway stop after and went out separate ways.  I hope to have a few more such evenings before I come home.

I went to Glossary each day for long lunch.  The staff there take good care of me.  Each day, as I'm getting ready to leave, I ask the waiter "So, what am I eating tomorrow?"  He says, "I will think about it."  I still start with sparkling water and cappuccino, sit for a while, have cabbage salad and then something different after that.  This week I had a variety of things: chicken and a rice pilaf, soup with seafood, pumpkin soup, kidney bean soup.  The soup with seafood was the only one I didn't like much.  It wasn't very flavorful.  They think it's a riot that I have cabbage salad every day.  It's not even on the menu anymore.  All I can say is that I like it and that we don't have anything like it at home.  I had a few desserts this week:  tiramisu and lazy varenyky served with sour cream and honey. 

The week was a bit lonely because I didn't have as much face to face time with people as I would have liked.  I had several Skype calls home.  Had coffee a few times with friends.  Had a few "business" meetings.  Did some writing.  Walked a lot.  It was a good week.  I got up this morning at 5:30, hoping for a skype call with friends but I don't see them online.  I'll repeat part of last Sunday's routine, tidying up and going up to the Cathedral.  Not sure what else I will do today but walking will be involved, and, oh, yeah, I have a piece of writing to finish.  Next weekend I'll be in Donetsk.