so, the funny thing about this trip was that it allowed me to have 3 christmas celebrations. and had i stayed just a little longer, i could have had 2 new years, as well. the thing about ukraine, from what i've learned, is that they really like their holidays. i guess the entire month of january is one giant party. while i was in ivano-frankivsk, i got to experience the new new year (as opposed to the old new year, on the 13th). the day started out as any other - ie i woke up much earlier than i would have wanted thanks to my internal clock that seems to adjust very quickly to new time zones. after a slow start to the morning, it was off to the market. mike & jonathon actually made it all the way, andrea & i turned back early w/the dog. it really is cold in this country! we had a nice chat tho, and i think i may have convinced her to become a physical therapist. haha.
back at the house to warm up, it was eggs for breakfast (cooked by mike) and then back out for a tour of the town. apparently this little city has had quite the history. it used to be called stanyslaviv (and still is by some.. again, see coping mechanisms in future post), and has been part of poland, the austrian-hungarian empire, the western ukrainian people's republic, back to poland, the soviet union, poland again, the ukrainian ssr, occupied by the nazis, the ussr, and now happily an independent ukraine. phew.
walked around, and jonathon pointed out various monuments, churches and important buildings. most were actually quite pretty, and it was nice to get an insider's guide to a place, rather than just relying on a tour book. everything was all festive for the holidays. i think that was what was the best thing about being in europe in the winter - at least it wasn't just gray and dreary.. there were lights and trees and decorations all around. actually, new years in ukraine is when santa claus makes his visit, so kids get a lot more excited over this holiday than they do in the states.
tried to find our way to an internet cafe, however, this being new years eve, everything was closed. by this point we were freezing, so it was fortunate we found one cafe opened where we could warm up with some hot drinks and ukrainian breadsticks. after a while, headed over to where jonathon works, and after he made a few phone calls, the guard at the building let us in to use the internet. then it was back home, stopping at a local convenience store to pick up drinks for the evening. soon, the international crowd began to arrive: obviously me, mike, jonathon and andrea being from the states; vera and her friend ulya (sp?) from ukraine, who did most of the meal prep; cain and nigel from canada, who work with jonathon; 1 turkish guy (not sure who he was connected to); 2 poles; and 1 other ukrainian girl who was dating nigel - and who also happened to be a professional cook. and so our party began.
i tried to shake myself out of the funk i was in - after all, how many times are you in europe for new years? i don't know if it was homesickness, having never experienced that before. but i just wasn't in much of a mood to do anything. fortunately it was temporary, and by the time people were heading out to the main square, i was much more inclined to participate. they funny thing was that b/c it was so cold, no one really wanted to go out. but, since most were no longer sober, the cold did not matter as much, and literally 10mins before midnight, we made a mad dash to the town center. mike and i walked quickly - i was not about to run on the ice - and so lost the rest of the group. standing around the town center was very cool: there were people everywhere singing, dancing and drinking. fireworks were being shot off into the crowd (i just hoped nothing landed on me and set me on fire). the ukrainian president was speaking on a giant tv screen set up just for this occasion (apparently it's a tradition to listen to him/her talk).
but the funniest thing was that we had no idea when it was actually midnight.
there was no countdown. no giant cheer from the crowd. no increase in the amount of fireworks. and obviously no tacky crystal ball to watch drop. we were clueless, but having left the apartment 10 mins before, we deduced that it was most likely midnight by now. eventually mike and i found the rest of the group, and we proceeded to dance the night away. at one point some people formed a circle - and it was amazing, b/c the circle just kept growing and growing as more and more people decided to join. it really was neat to be part of such a community atmosphere. it reminded me of when theresa and i went to the hungarian folk dance hall the year before. so much fun. after a couple hours, it was time to make our way back. mike and i left before everyone else; however we arrived after. turns out they found a cab! totally zonked, it was eye mask and ear plugs to the rescue, as most of the guests continued the celebration until about 5 or 6 am.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
i say L'viv, you say L'vov..
so it's been literally a month since my last post. i apologize, but i've been very busy. after returning from europe, it was time for the rock boat. then it was a last minute move to boston. i've been here for just over a week, and am adjusting nicely. but that's not why you're here! let's return to our trials and tribulations of life in the former soviet union..
as i mentioned in my last post, a lot of guide books are calling l'viv the next prague or krakow. personally i think this will become more apparent over the next 20 years (power wash your buildings!), but it really is a beautiful city. the architecture is stunning - the city center is actually a UNESCO world heritage site (boost for tourism, much?). and you can see why: despite centuries of being fought over and pulled into different foreign governing bodies, everything in the city is still intact. since medieval times! nothing has been majorly reconstructed - it's the real deal. you can easily see the various cultural influences on the city, and it's interesting to see how they managed to co-exist and survive over such a long span of time. to think how other cities were completely destroyed in (relatively) recent wars, it's quite an amazing feat. although, i could definitely do without the stereotypical soviet bloc style of architecture. it's ugly. 'nuf said.
then there's the monuments and statues. boy those ukrainians love their statues. standing big and proud, you can almost taste the flavorful patriotism. l'viv is truly the capital of ukrainian culture. here they don't like to speak russian, b/c well you're in ukraine - why wouldn't you speak the national language? (this is in contrast to eastern ukraine.. b/c well you're in ukraine, which wishes it was russia, so why wouldn't you speak russian?) here they are proud enough of their city to at least semi-clean the garbage off the streets and semi-fight pollution. and it's even cool enough to have 2 sister cities in NY (buffalo and corning), hah. it also has one in iowa. not as cool..
despite what i wrote in my journal ("i'm not sure i'll make the whole week in ukraine.") and despite all the frustrations of our first real day in ukraine (spent, if you've forgotten, all day in various train and bus lines attempting to buy tickets to our next destinations), we managed to have a decent second day. though surprisingly useless when it came to street signs and directions, as the book was in latin based characters, and the actual street signs were - surprise! but not really - cyrillic based, lonely planet managed to come through with a somewhat decent walking tour of the city. it allowed us to see a dozen or so churches and even more statues and monuments. and it ended on castle hill, which gave us a windy but scenic overlook of the entire city. the skies were a bit hazy, so the view wasn't quite as spectacular as it potentially could have been, but it was nice nevertheless. though i will admit climbing 240+ steps one way (yes, i counted. i can't walk up/down steps w/o counting. which is almost as bad as my ocd of the toilet paper goes OVER) and hanging on for dear life to the rails b/c the ground was so icy and slippery was not very fun. however, it was fun to watch the ukrainian girls manage this climb with 4" spiked heels on..
the rest of our day went like this:
anyway, as we putted along our way, the driver struggled to get a cassette tape into the tape player overhead, but eventually we were rocking out to some quality ukrainian music. who knew people still had cassette tapes. but wait - it gets sketchier! it was actually a bootleg version, so every once in a while there would be a strange gap in the song. or the music would seem further away and you could hear coughing in the background and sounds of the tape recorder being moved or dropped. the music was way loud, blaring something along the lines of "warm rain" according to mike and other weird topics. i felt like i was on a party bus.
about 30 mins into our ride, the driver hastily pulled over to the side of the road and yelled something which made all the last minute boarders get off. strange, i thought - but this is ukraine, afterall. then we turned a corner and pulled into what turned out to be the main bus station. more yelling in ukrainian. after parking, almost everyone except for mike and me and the 2 german passengers got off. ahh, smoke break, b/c ukrainians can't last more than 30mins without a cigarette. then more yelling in ukrainian from a bus station employee. he seemed to be asking a question, but no one was responding. so he asked the 2 germans something which they didn't understand. english? he asked. he then demanded to see their tickets. after they showed him their tickets, he skeptically looked around at the rest of the passengers before getting off to allow us to leave the bus station. okay - time for sketchy point #4: after pulling out of the station and driving up the road a bit, we pulled over and picked up the passengers our driver had originally ordered off. and it all became clear.. the driver was pocketing that money, and so he couldn't risk bringing them into the bus station where apparent audits happen. ahh, corruption.
so we bounced along, ukrainian music booming, making random (and sketchy) stops in the middle of nowhere. maybe for bathroom breaks. maybe so people could puke. maybe to satisfy nicotine addictions. who really knows? the ride took a lot longer than expected, but we eventually arrived in ivano-frankivsk. took a local bus to a park where we met up with mike's friend and fellow PC volunteer jonathon. after a short and brisk (it's effing cold in ukraine!) walk to his apartment, met 2 other PCVs andrea and jason who were well on their way to having a good time with some vodka. (see coping mechanisms, to be featured in an upcoming post). i certainly didn't mind. it was funny, and i was just excited to be around people who spoke english. and to be in a warm place.
as i mentioned in my last post, a lot of guide books are calling l'viv the next prague or krakow. personally i think this will become more apparent over the next 20 years (power wash your buildings!), but it really is a beautiful city. the architecture is stunning - the city center is actually a UNESCO world heritage site (boost for tourism, much?). and you can see why: despite centuries of being fought over and pulled into different foreign governing bodies, everything in the city is still intact. since medieval times! nothing has been majorly reconstructed - it's the real deal. you can easily see the various cultural influences on the city, and it's interesting to see how they managed to co-exist and survive over such a long span of time. to think how other cities were completely destroyed in (relatively) recent wars, it's quite an amazing feat. although, i could definitely do without the stereotypical soviet bloc style of architecture. it's ugly. 'nuf said.
then there's the monuments and statues. boy those ukrainians love their statues. standing big and proud, you can almost taste the flavorful patriotism. l'viv is truly the capital of ukrainian culture. here they don't like to speak russian, b/c well you're in ukraine - why wouldn't you speak the national language? (this is in contrast to eastern ukraine.. b/c well you're in ukraine, which wishes it was russia, so why wouldn't you speak russian?) here they are proud enough of their city to at least semi-clean the garbage off the streets and semi-fight pollution. and it's even cool enough to have 2 sister cities in NY (buffalo and corning), hah. it also has one in iowa. not as cool..
despite what i wrote in my journal ("i'm not sure i'll make the whole week in ukraine.") and despite all the frustrations of our first real day in ukraine (spent, if you've forgotten, all day in various train and bus lines attempting to buy tickets to our next destinations), we managed to have a decent second day. though surprisingly useless when it came to street signs and directions, as the book was in latin based characters, and the actual street signs were - surprise! but not really - cyrillic based, lonely planet managed to come through with a somewhat decent walking tour of the city. it allowed us to see a dozen or so churches and even more statues and monuments. and it ended on castle hill, which gave us a windy but scenic overlook of the entire city. the skies were a bit hazy, so the view wasn't quite as spectacular as it potentially could have been, but it was nice nevertheless. though i will admit climbing 240+ steps one way (yes, i counted. i can't walk up/down steps w/o counting. which is almost as bad as my ocd of the toilet paper goes OVER) and hanging on for dear life to the rails b/c the ground was so icy and slippery was not very fun. however, it was fun to watch the ukrainian girls manage this climb with 4" spiked heels on..
the rest of our day went like this:
- perused through a market (found my keychain!);
- ate at cafeteria style puzata hata (mmm luke warm borscht);
- had conversations with eddie the hostel owner and the ukrainian girls he had working there - which consisted of debating whether they would have clean sheets for the next guests (we're short on water, can you take some home, sure, can the maid take some home too - i'll pay her more, i'll ask - she says okay), and if they could be cleaned, if they would be dry or just frozen since they would be hung outside;
- watched a sketchy man walk into and around the hostel, then leave (even eddie was confused);
- listened to some gangsta ukrainian rap music and watched corresponding music video;
- migrated to the kitchen and overheard eddie lecturing another sketchy long-term guest from malta about not being sketchy (i need to talk to you about something, haha, no really - did you say something to the girl mumble mumble, no!, we'll she's complaining you said something inappropriate, oh no i only said mumble mumble and that's all - all innocent - nothing);
- walked to the train station, and actually managed to be successful in buying tickets from ivano-frankivsk to kiev (not sure why that didn't happen the day before, i guess the teller just felt like being helpful);
- said our goodbyes to joslyn and l'viv
anyway, as we putted along our way, the driver struggled to get a cassette tape into the tape player overhead, but eventually we were rocking out to some quality ukrainian music. who knew people still had cassette tapes. but wait - it gets sketchier! it was actually a bootleg version, so every once in a while there would be a strange gap in the song. or the music would seem further away and you could hear coughing in the background and sounds of the tape recorder being moved or dropped. the music was way loud, blaring something along the lines of "warm rain" according to mike and other weird topics. i felt like i was on a party bus.
about 30 mins into our ride, the driver hastily pulled over to the side of the road and yelled something which made all the last minute boarders get off. strange, i thought - but this is ukraine, afterall. then we turned a corner and pulled into what turned out to be the main bus station. more yelling in ukrainian. after parking, almost everyone except for mike and me and the 2 german passengers got off. ahh, smoke break, b/c ukrainians can't last more than 30mins without a cigarette. then more yelling in ukrainian from a bus station employee. he seemed to be asking a question, but no one was responding. so he asked the 2 germans something which they didn't understand. english? he asked. he then demanded to see their tickets. after they showed him their tickets, he skeptically looked around at the rest of the passengers before getting off to allow us to leave the bus station. okay - time for sketchy point #4: after pulling out of the station and driving up the road a bit, we pulled over and picked up the passengers our driver had originally ordered off. and it all became clear.. the driver was pocketing that money, and so he couldn't risk bringing them into the bus station where apparent audits happen. ahh, corruption.
so we bounced along, ukrainian music booming, making random (and sketchy) stops in the middle of nowhere. maybe for bathroom breaks. maybe so people could puke. maybe to satisfy nicotine addictions. who really knows? the ride took a lot longer than expected, but we eventually arrived in ivano-frankivsk. took a local bus to a park where we met up with mike's friend and fellow PC volunteer jonathon. after a short and brisk (it's effing cold in ukraine!) walk to his apartment, met 2 other PCVs andrea and jason who were well on their way to having a good time with some vodka. (see coping mechanisms, to be featured in an upcoming post). i certainly didn't mind. it was funny, and i was just excited to be around people who spoke english. and to be in a warm place.
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