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:

• 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

it was time for mike and i to board our bus to ivano-frankivsk. at first things appeared to be going smoothly - we found the bus w/o any problems and managed to board. however, when we went to sit in our assigned seats, we were told that they were "busy", meaning taken. so we were relegated to the seats behind the driver. which was fine in the end; at least we got to sit together. but here's where things start to get interesting. despite the numerous empty seats, and despite the long line of passengers awaiting outside the bus, the driver wasn't letting anyone else on. that is until immediately before we left. then the driver opened the doors, the passengers paid him their fare, and took their seats. and off we went. strange, i thought. but i was more worried about my pack that was precariously situated on the floor between the driver and the door, seemingly likely at any moment to fall off the bus.

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.