MoldovAnn

I wrote this late last Wednesday night/early Thursday morning, from my hotel room in Kharkiv. Didn’t get a chance to post it until now.

It’s officially the fourth Thursday of November in Ukraine, the traditional day of giving thanks in the United States.

I’m in Kharkiv tonight, my third city in 3 days during this tour of eastern Ukraine. A bartendar asked me tonight, after hearing me speaking English with my colleague, where I was from. It took me a moment to answer, I wasn’t quite sure how. I finally said “Originally, I’m from America, but now I live in Kyiv.” I was surprised by my own hesitation – how on earth could I be confused about where I am from? It was another one of those moments when I realized I have changed, my world is different from what it used to be.

This is my first trip significantly east of Kyiv. It’s embarrassing to admit that I have been living in Ukraine for 4 years and never been to eastern part of the country. But I’m trying hard during this trip to make up for lost time! The first stop was Dnipropetrovsk. All I can say is that I was amazed – pleasantly surprised doesn’t come close. Honestly, I’ve only ever heard about how industrial and polluted and ugly eastern Ukraine is. Well, so far, I’ve seen a quite different picture. Dnipropetrovsk was really beautiful; the city center is jam-packed full of hip cafes, outrageously expensive shops and beautiful architecture. The riverfront, excuse me, puts Kyiv to shame (then again, that’s not particularly hard since Kyiv’s riverfront is totally disgusting). I’m actually looking forward to visiting DP again, for pleasure and not just for work.

We drove to Kharkiv last night, about 2 hours from DP. It was already dark and I couldn’t get a full impression of the city, but we enjoyed a stroll through the huge (and clean!) park in the evening. We stopped for a “refreshment” at a cute-looking cafe with a display case full of decadent goodies. The waitress got a real kick out of us ordering desserts and beers – not the usual combination. She smiled and chatted with us and was all around friendly.

Wednesday we drove to Luhansk, 300 km from Kharkiv. It was rainy and foggy, the driver was on speed or something, driving like a maniac. I closed my eyes and resigned myself to a messy death on the open highway. 4 hours later we arrived in Luhansk and visited the Window on America. From there, we went to the Taras Shevchenko National University of Luhansk (not to be confused with the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, they are separate institutions).

Since my presentations are about studying in the US, I normally speak to groups of students who understand English and thus I can be lazy and present in English. So I wasn’t quite prepared when they asked me to do my presentation in Russian. I ought to be able to, in fact, I can, but I was tired, I wasn’t in my groove, there were sooo many people in the room – I don’t know what happened, but I started to get tongue-tied and all discombobulated. When my colleague whispered in my ear “Ann, just speak English”, that destroyed any shred of self-confidence I had remaining. It wasn’t one of my more shining moments, let’s put it that way. I quickly turned the floor over to my Ukrainian colleague, who did a bang-up job.

A quick dinner and another terrifying 4 hour drive, back to Kharkiv. I kept myself distracting by posting notes on the harrowing experience to Facebook. So I can’t say I have much of an impression of Luhansk, having seen very little.

A week later, I’m finally sitting down to finish this post. I started Thanksgiving Day in Kharkiv, gave a presentation at the Kharkiv State University of the Arts. We also met briefly with the university rector. I think she was the first female rector I’ve met. Her office was great – all sorts of musical instruments and other items, a big couch covered with stuffed animals (given to her by her students, she told me), and fun little knick-knacks everywhere. I suspect the “personality” of her office had more to do with her being an artist at an arts university, rather than the fact that she is female, but it was one of the most comfortable and friendly offices I’ve seen in a long time. There was also a resident cat, lounging on the sofa outside her office, entertaining and disdaining the visitors waiting to see the rector. I loved it!

I took the express train back to Kyiv that afternoon, arriving home late Thursday night. My wonderful husband had prepared a simple but lovely Thanksgiving meal for us, and we celebrated just the two of us. We have so much to be grateful for, such a wonderful life together.

Saturday we “officially” celebrated Thanksgiving, with family and friends. Igor’s mother finally accepted an invitation to visit us in Kyiv (first time in 4 years!), and it was fun to get to treat her to an enormous and delicious meal for a change. She felt very out of sorts – not her usual role to be the guest, not directing everything and everyone – but we were very happy to have her relax and just enjoy herself. Igor decided to bake a turkey. He did, as always, a fantastic job and everyone seemed really impressed with the giant bird. Friends brought a ham, pies, and lots of other great dishes. Oh, and Igor also cooked an enormous catfish. Food galore – just the way Thanksgiving should be!

Zigfried Koshinsky, aka Ziggy, aka Fat Cat, had a heyday. He entertained everyone playing fetch, sneaking nibbles when no one was looking. By the end of the night, his belly was nearly dragging on the floor. Even the cat got it right.

Today is Easter in Ukraine, and for all Orthodox Christians. We spent the weekend in Korosten, and had a great time (as always). Our good friends Bill and Eileen joined us, which of course was a big hit with Igor’s family- fresh ears for all their stories, fresh taste buds to appreciate the fantastic cooking, and fresh hands to take a try at some preparing some traditional dishes. Bill and Eileen both love to cook, so we made a special request to Igor’s mom for a lesson on preparing pelmeni (meat dumplings) and vareniki (dumplings with non-meat fillings, we made them with potatoes this time). It was a blast.

We rented a car to make the trip easier (and because I don’t trust any public transportation on a holiday), which meant I was the designated driver and had a good excuse to not drink the requisite obsence amount of alcohol. We arrived on Saturday at lunchtime, which was fantastic and overwhelming. Eileen’s mother and step-father live on a farm, and apparently have a lot in common with Igor’s parents, so it was fun to talk about the things familiar and the things different. We went to the village house to take a basket of goodies to Igor’s father, who took it to the middle-of-the-night mass to be blessed. He’s got the whole she-bang now out there – 5 sheep (one lamb born not too long ago), 2 pigs, rabbits, chickens, and his cow recently had her first calf, a beautiful cappucino-colored little guy.

This morning, Easter Sunday, started early, as always. Igor’s father is the religious one in the family, so he went to church at 2 am. I picked him up from the village at 7 to bring him to town for the traditional big Easter meal. He’s been “fasting” (as they call it) for 40 days, which means no meat or dairy products. And he was on total fast (ie, no food at all) since Good Friday. So by the time Easter finally arrives, he is SOOO ready to eat! They had slaughtered a pig and a turkey last weekend in preparation for Easter, and the table was full with meats in various forms – multiple kinds of homemade sausages, baked turkey, potatoes baked with pork (which Eileen said was like a stew), and of course the beloved Ukrainian salo (pork fat). It’s still too early for the most vegetables, but the green onions were ready in the little greenhouse in their yard. We had lots of fabulous salads – radishes and green onions, boiled eggs with green onions, Chinese cabbage with green onions… all utterly delicious! And of course the traditional Easter eggs and Easter bread.

Today was a bit tiring for me – it’s kinda boring to be the only sober person in a group of really drunk people, but it’s exhausting to be the only translator in a multi-lingual group. I love being part of the cultural exchange, don’t get me wrong! New guests always ask interesting and different questions, and I love being part of the dialogue. But when they get all excited, and everybody wants to talk and ask questions and give answers, it’s hard to keep up and I get really tired and grumpy. I had a few moments today that I regret, when I snapped at Igor’s family and at him, but I hope they understand that it’s hard when everybody wants me to translate for them at once.

I just have to pause to say the sky is absolutely gorgeous tonight. For all the things we dislike about where we live right now, one good thing is that we are up high (10th floor) and have a fantastic view of the setting sun. It’s like a giant rainbow out of my window right now – from indigo to cranberry. Just gorgeous.

And back to the weekend. Igor’s college roommate and best friend Sasha called yesterday from the hospital to tell Igor that his daughter had just been born. Igor is godfather to Sasha’s first child, Viktor, who is about 1 1/2 years old. So we made a quick stop at yesterday to buy presents for all involved parties, namely the newborn baby and her older brother, which were delivered today after the feast in Korosten.

In short, it was a great weekend- extreme calories (although we decided any foodstuffs blessed at church were calorie-free), lots of booze, great friendships established, lots of hugs and invitations to visit again.

Tomorrow I’m off to New York for a conference. It’s a quick trip, just a week, with no visits to Ohio. But two Peace Corps friends are in New York and we’ll be celebrating Emily’s birthday together. It’s hard to believe we were last all together four years ago, in Moldova.

Speaking of which, Anya and Grisha called today to wish us a Happy Easter. Anya was again in charge of voting in Tvarditsa and with great satisfaction reported to me that the recount of her district had the same results – that is, no errors under her leaderhship. Who would have expected otherwise?!

The sun has set now, it’s been a long day with lots of adventures and impressions. I’m ready to curl up with a good book and call it a day. Tomorrow is an early start and a long day. Hard to believe I’ll be in the motherland tomorrow night…

In case you missed, March 8 was International Women’s Day. Congratulations to all the wonderful women in the world!

We had a great weekend. After a good workout at the gym on Saturday, followed by the usual sauna bake, Igor had ordered massages for us. Oooo, it was so exactly what I needed. We finally found the masseuse that we both like a lot, and he worked out nearly all the kinks in my back and shoulders that have been plaguing me for some time now. Saturday night was a lovely evening at the Canadian Embassy – a French wine and cheese tasting with the owner of a local French wine boutique. We were introduced to some very nice wines, and the chocolate mousse (an unexpected treat) was to die for. We had some serious sugar buzzes going.

A bit about International Women’s Day, excerpted from www.internationalwomensday.com.

The very first International Women’s Day was launched on 19 March (not 8 March) 1911. Plans for the first International Women’s Day demonstration were spread by word of mouth and in the press. Success of the first International Women’s Day in 1911 exceeded all expectation.

Meetings were organized everywhere in small towns and even the villages halls were packed so full that male workers were asked to give up their places for women. Men stayed at home with their children for a change, and their wives, the captive housewives, went to meetings.

In 1913 International Women’s Day was transferred to 8 March and this day has remained the global date for International Women’s Day ever since. IWD is now an official holiday in China, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The tradition sees men honoring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc. with flowers and small gifts.

The new millennium has witnessed a significant change in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that “all the battles have been won for women” while many feminists from the 1970’s know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women’s visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.

However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into
university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.

Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women’s craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more.

This is the season of never-ending holidays in Ukraine. Or at least it starts to feel that way to me by about this time every year. We’ve had Latin Christmas, New Year’s and Orthodox Christmas (Jan. 7), with one more to go – the so-called Old New Year, which celebrates New Year’s Eve by the the Julian calendar, even though the region changed to the Gregorian calendar 90 years ago. Man, those Slavs will think of any excuse for a holiday!

We spent both New Year’s and Orthodox Christmas with Igor’s family, as we usually do. It was the usual festival of gluttony and sloth, ending with several doses of something to calm the stomach. Fun was had by all. Igor’s father fulfilled his life-long dream and, in the year of the Cow (as it is called in Ukrainian), he bought himself a cow. (It wasn’t actually his life-long dream to buy the cow in the year of the cow, it just worked out that way.) So, his farmstead is now complete – pigs, sheep (his second lamb was born last month, almost one-year to the day from the first one, which was born on the morning of our wedding), a goat, chickens, turkeys, rabbits and a cow. He’s convinced he’s going to keep us all alive during this economic crisis with the products of his farm – let’s hope things don’t get that desperate.

They slaughtered one of the pigs in the last few days of 2008, so the big excitement for everyone during the holidays (except, of course, us vegetarians) was the homegrown pork, salo, and other various pork products. I’m sure it’s all quite tasty.

Since our trip to someplace (anyplace) warm and sunny didn’t pan out, Igor and I decided to spend a night at a spa center just outside Kyiv, creatively called Spa-Center. Since we sold our car not long ago, we headed to the bus station where various buses depart in a northwestern direction from Kyiv to find something that could drop us in the vicinity of the hotel. Lo and behold, right as we came out of the metro, the Korosten bus was pulling out directly in front of us. The driver slowed down, opened the door and yelled out a greeting to Igor – an old acquaintance! Although his bus was full, he let us stand in the aisle for the 15 minute ride to Vorzel. As we walked up the long driveway to the spa, we both laughed that we were probably the first people to arrive at this up-scale spa by foot.

We checked in, changed to our bathing suits, donned the hotel robes and headed to reception to get set-up with access to the spa center. And boom, the lights go out. It was still early afternoon, so there was plenty of natural light, but then the smell hit us. Something was definitely burning. As we descended the stairs we quickly realized the problem – the door to the utilities room was wide open and the stench was coming from the electrical panel. That was more than a blown fuse. After about an hour or so, Igor asked at reception if we should pack up and head home. No, they assured us, the power will be back within the hour. To their credit, it was back on in about 30 minutes. Of course, it went again several hours later, but by that time we had already thoroughly enjoyed the spa facilities.

We enjoyed the novelty of sitting in the steaming outdoor jaccuzi while snow fell around us, then took a quick dip in one of the pools. Igor was anxious to get to the highlight of the experience for him, the various saunas. They have a steam room, a Finnish (dry) sauna and a Russian banya. You can get a “treatment” with a venik by one the spa workers, or you can buy your own birch or oak branch and go to work on yourself with the leaves. Igor opted for this, and pretty much got the full experience – getting on a good sweat in the banya, swatting himself with the birch branch, and then stepping out of the banya and dumping a bucket of cold water over his head. That whole process is too extreme for me, but he did convince me to let him do a gentle “massage” with the birch branch a couple of times. Not bad.

After a couple of hours, we were thoroughly relaxed. The transformer blew again just as we were leaving the spa, and the electricity was out for another hour or so. I was a bit afraid to actually stay the whole night there, not feeling particularly confident that the place wouldn’t catch on fire at some point, but thankfully no more transformer problems.

We easily caught a bus back to Kyiv the next day, and decided to check out an appliance store before heading home. We’ve been talking about getting a juicer, and I did some investigating a few days earlier. I had found that for a little bit more, we could get a food processor that includes a juicer, instead of just a juicer. Well, one thing led to another, and before we knew it, we were lugging home a small space ship, I mean large kitchen “combine” (as they are called here), that does everything except wash the dishes. Oh wait, it has some self-cleaning mode too. We tested the juicing function first thing, and Igor got a little carried away. Next thing I knew, we had several liters of juice from all kinds of things – beets, carrots, parsley, cabbage (that’s particularly disgusting, I might add), apples and I don’t even know what else. The machine works great, and we found some combinations with beet juice that aren’t too bad actually.

Once these holidays are over, we are going on a mostly-juice diet for a while – we both feel fat and out of shape. There’s not much we can do for more physical exercise at the moment, since it’s damn cold with plenty of snow, but we can work on our eating habits and get back on track with eating healthier. I love the holidays, I enjoy the time with family and friends, but I’m ready to get back to work, to a schedule and a routine. One more trip to Korosten this weekend for an early celebration of Old New Year with friends, then the holiday season officially ends and we’re back to normal.