Musings of an Ukraine Traveler

Dear All,

I hope your fall is as beautiful as ours is so far. There was a little too much rain and overcast weather last week, but since Saturday, it has been perfect.

Wednesday the 29th, Natasha asked me if it was ok for Americans to receive gifts before their birthday. I said yes and so in the evening she, Ashya, and Masha came over and with a beautiful poem gave me a wine-colored shoulder shawl that they had had made for me. It is so beautiful and warm. Then on Thursday morning, a student of Natasha's that I know rang my bell at 8 and recited a thoughtful, lovely birthday greeting and gave me 3 pink Acerba(?) daisies, and a very large box of delicious chocolates.

Wini, Alice, Judith (a woman from Alice's church in Phoenix) and I took off for Simferopol on Thursday evening. The coupe was really nice and cozy. We had brought our dinner and 2 bottles of wine. Ate dinner and drank one bottle of wine; celebrated my birthday and got to know Judith a little. She was a good sport about everything including sleeping on one of the top beds. We reached Simferopol about 9 am. It was warm and sunny. We hired a cab ($25) to drive us to Yalta which is about an hour and a half drive through the mountains and down to the sea. It was a beautiful drive as well as the typical Ukrainian hair raising, I-am-going-to-die drive. We stopped at a winery along the way, tasted a few kinds and bought 2 liters. We watched the men fill the plastic bottle from the keg! Only in Ukraine!

The driver took us to the Yalta Hotel which is absolutely huge. It is not tourist season, but there were at least 500-600 guests. The hotel overlooks the Black Sea from every window; has two large restaurants, large outdoor and indoor pools and private beach area that can accommodate hundreds. There are 3 lifts to take guests to the beach area; many shops, courts etc. We had two double suites with balconies, a refrigerator, dishes and utensils. The rooms cost us each $20 a night and that included a full breakfast brunch!

Later that day (Friday) we met 3 PCVs and walked the embankment and took in all the sights. Wini, Judith and Alice took the gondola to see the city from the top. I had already been so hung out with the others and drank expresso and capuchino at a great coffee bar. We walked the artists' walk, fingered all the souvenirs and ended the evening at an Azerbajani restaurant for some wonderful shashlik! Next morning we headed for Livadia Palace--where the Yalta Conference was held and the summer residence of the Romanovs (last of the Tsars).

I had seen the outside on my trip in August, but this time went through the Palace itself. It is so elegant and yet so simple and rich. I had no idea that FDR had actually lived there during the Conference. Churchill was in a different palace as was Stalin. The pictures, the displays are ones that I have never seen before. Besides the Russian plagues there are English ones too so we could read and know what the guide was saying. The second floor was dedicated to the last Tsar, Nicolas, his wife, 3 daughters (including Anastatia) and his son.who spent most of their time their until the revolution and their execution by the Bolsheviks. No English, but the pictures and furniture told of a family full of life; loving and beautiful.

In the afternoon, Alice and Judith went swimming in the sea; Wini soaked her feet in it; I watched and took pictures. The water was cold, and the beach is small rocks--not sand. The sea air was wonderful, invigorating. I would have liked to walk the shore line, but there is no shore line. The beach drops sharply into the water. That evening we ate, Tartar style, reclining on pillows at a low table in a restaurant named Cactus that served Mexican food. Good food, good atmosphere and good friends!

On Sunday morning, we rented a mini taxi to take 6 of us to Sevastopol. The drive was all along the coast--the sea on one side the Crimea mountains on the other. They are real mountains! In Sevastopol, we chose to go to the Greek ruins of Chresoneus. Although I saw it in August, this time I saw more and it was a glorious sunny day. Wow. We ate lunch at an Uzbehki restaurant, walked the embankment and saw many of the monuments and then hopped on a marshrutka for Simferopol and the evening train home. We reached Kyiv yesterday morning at 9, ate breakfast at McDonalds; Judith headed for Lithuania, Alice for Vinnytsia and Wini and I for Korostyshiv.

It was a wonderful vacation but I am glad to be home and get to work on my projects. I had the web pages on Crimea all done the day before I left, but the computer froze on my last page so I lost it. Redid it tonight and published it so you all can see it. Later this week, I will post pictures from our trip to Yalta.

Going to close and wish you all good night as you are just getting your day started.

 Zdrastvytje!

Monday afternoon and I am just getting around to writing you. Part of it is putting off, but most is life in Ukraine! Yesterday, I went with Therese to Zhytomyr as she wanted to look at coats; I needed a printer cartridge and we both wanted groceries from the supermarket. We left Korostyshiv about 10:30 and planned on being back by about 1 (Ukrainian lunch time). Ah well------! We get about 8 km out and the bus breaks down. No panic as usually the drivers get them back on the road within 10-15 minutes. Well 30 minutes later passengers were leaving the bus like rats from a sinking ship. The first 10 were able to flag down rides within a few minutes. Therese and I and the remaining passengers kept flagging and the cars and trucks kept moving to the other lane. Finally another bus stopped. We paid another fare and got in. Almost immediately this bus pulled into a gas station and filled up. Do you know how long it takes a bus to fill up!

We reached Zhytomyr at 12:30. The sun had come out and the temperature was mild so Therese and I braved the bazaar crowds and the univermag (department store except it's like a lot of little stores inside with no connection) hordes to look at coats and pick up printer cartridges. The last thing we did was go to another big univermag  to check out their coats. We were totally amazed when we walked up to second and third floors and were in Best Buy-like store. The steps up were white marble and women were cleaning them continually. There were floor men all over in dark suits. Their were clerks who walked up and said, " How may we help you today?" The second floor was wall to wall televisions, DVD and VCR; stereo systems, washers, etc etc that you could actually touch and see and their were all kinds of selections. On the 3rd floor were every kind of electric appliance you can imagine. Many microwaves; mixers (rare here); coffee brewers and expresso machines (almost never seen in Ukraine). It was so slick, so Western, we were like two kids in the proverbial candy shop.

Vowing to come back, we headed for the supermarket to pick up our groceries and head home. Buy this time it is about 2:00 and we are starving. Therese stands in line to get our bus tickets. Lady tells her that there aren't any. She gets in another line to see if changing cashiers makes a difference. I am reading signs in Ukrainian and I can make out that some new policies are in effect and that you must have a ticket and a seat on any bus to Kyiv and that baggage must not be in aisles. Buses to Kyiv are what we usually get and many times people don't buy tickets and the bus ends up being absolutely packed with people and babushka bags of every description in the aisles and entrances. The second cashier says no places on the bus. We are outside getting ready to get a cab when two of Therese's students appear and help us. Therese gets in line with them and we get tickets with seats on the 3:10 bus. So after a 40 minute wait we head for Korostyshiv. I walk in the door at 4:00; grab a bite to eat and nap. It was a long day.

Last Tuesday, my coordinator Zhanna and the bookkeeper, Anya had a surprise birthday party for me at the office when I walked it at 9. Pineapple, kiwi, candy, cake, wine (2kinds), cheese, sausage--all typical Ukrainian laid out beautifully. They proposed beautiful congratulatory toasts and by 11:00, I had had about 4 glasses of wine and too much food. They also gave me a beautiful begonia. The flowers look like small roses. I have it in the window in front of my desk and its beauty lifts my spirits on these gray fall days. The sun came out about 10:30 and it was beautiful. Took advantage to go to office and store. Zhanna is gone all week to Poland so I am working out of my flat. I can keep warmer here as heat is not on yet and I can use my computer.

Made chili today and am going to bake apples with brown sugar (thanks Delaine!) and make cornbread. Therese will come over for dinner and we will probably play scrabble. She doesn't have any classes tomorrow so we are free. On Saturday, Therese made chocolate chip cookies with the sugar and the chips her sister had brought her. I worked real hard at controlling my eating of them. I took 4 to Drahalchuks. They really liked them. Also took the sugar over for them to see and taste. Can't find it here. Maybe in Kyiv.

This is a pretty easy week for me. I am preparing to do a team building workshop on Friday in Kyiv for a Counter Trafficking Organization. Very excited about that. Have a meeting in Kyiv on Saturday, but will come home that evening. Helping Natasha with a few projects and that is it. Am getting a lot of reading done and trying to keep up with Rah Rah. He found (how I don't know) the brand new skein of yarn I bought for a project and had it all over the living room yesterday.

Will close. Know that my thoughts and love go out always for you.