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Published: November 20th 2006
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Thursday night I took the train to Kiev again. I slept most of the time on the train because the train left at 11pm. In the morning, I talked to the other passengers in my car. One of the guys is from Kazakhstan and studied at the University of California for a
year. His English was very good. Since I planned to meet up with Tatyana and Kolya at 3pm, I decided to walk around with the Russian guy I met on the train. He seemed like a decent fellow and he was also in Kiev for a vacation. Since he is about 10 years older
then me I was only interested in him as a friend and temporary travel companion. We walked around and saw so much. Castles, churches, and political demonstrations. At Maidan square, where there is a statue symbolizing Kiev's freedom, a lot of babushkas
were having a demonstration. They set up tents and had signs all over supporting Ulya, a woman who wants to start a revolution in Kiev. The old women sang songs about needing to
have a revolution. I thought that it was very interesting that the elderly were the ones who were protesting. It
Kolya smiling
It took quite a lot of convincing for me to get even this little smile. Russians never smile for photographs. Kolya smiles a lot but as soon as I pull out my camera he tries to keep as straight a face as possible is almost always young people who protest in America. After walking around for a while we had lunch. The guy, Alex, wouldn't let me pay for
anything. Before, when we were walking around, I had told him that I don't drink much and that I get drunk easily. When we went to lunch he bought himself a liter beer and bought a liter beer for me. I did not want to drink at all and I especially did not want to drink anywhere near that much. When I told him that I could only drink a small portion of the beer, he told me that in Russia it is rude to not drink everything that someone buys for you. But I was smart enought to put my own safety over fear of being thought of as rude. There was no way I was going to drink a full liter of beer with a man I had just met. It was also uncomfortable because he was hitting on me and is probably at least 10 years older than me. So, a little bit after that I said goodbye to him. I said I am only here for a short amound of
time so I wouldn't be able to. After that I met up with Kolya, Tatyana, and Igor. Kolya, Igor, and I played cards and chess. We talked for a long time as well. Kolya told me about what it is like to be in the Ukrainian military. Every man in Ukraine has to serve in the military at some point. Kolya ended up serving in a police unit. He trained in how to use all sorts of weapons. Their training happened in a forest about a twenty minute walk for his appartment. Hundreds of young men trained together. He said that at the time the training was very secret and everyone had to show their documents when they left the camp for the day. If someone forgot his documents he would have to stay after for four hours cleaning the camp. Barbed wire surrounded most of the camp but Kolya found a way to get around it for when he forgot his documents.
Sataurday we hiked around that very same forest in which the army trained. We walked along the beach of a huge river. It was so peaceful and beautiful. We were the only ones there. We spent all
of Sataurday together. He is a lot of fun to be with-he's a good conversationalist and loves to tell jokes. Even the language barrier didn't seem to be too much of a problems. He was also really respectful and never tried to do anything more than kiss me.
That night we returned to Tatyana's appartment and spent some more time together. Igor was with us most of the time. Kolya was really great with Igor-he will make a great father someday. Kolya showed Igor different card tricks and all of us talked for a while. We started talking about crime in Kiev and Kolya showed us how to quickly disarm people if they try to attack you with a knife or gun. Mugging is still a problem in Kiev (mostly just a problem if you walk around by yourself at night in the wrong neighborhoods) but it used to be a much bigger problem.
Kolya told me that when he was 16 he walked alone at night in a dangerous part of Kiev. Some thugs beat him up badly and stole the money he had on him. He pulled off his tee shirt to show me a huge scar
he still has on his shoulder. After this incident Kolya decided to make himself strong and streetwise enough that no one would want to mess with him again. I must say he did a great job-when he took off his shirt I couldn't believe how great of a figure he has. He looked like he had just stepped out of one of those commercials for muscle building equipment. He said that now that he is older and stronger and Kiev is not as dangerous, no criminals mess with him. He feels perfectly comfortable walking wherever he wants in Kiev at any time of the night.
Kolya also talked about corruption in the universities. He said that students have to either do very well on exams or pay a lot of money to get into law school. He said that he didn't have the money so he had to study very hard. Even once students are admitted it is hard to succeed without paying teachers off. He said that once a teacher offered to raise his grades if he payed the teacher a small sum of money. He refused and didn't get a good grade in the class.
I must say
though that primary education in Ukraine is much better than in the USA. Igor, who just turned 12, showed me his math book. The problems he is doing I learned how to do when I was 15 or 16.
All of us talked late into the night. It was sad when I had to say goodbye to Kolya. He couldn't see me on Sunday because his cousin headed off to the army Sunday night and all the relatives gathered to see him off. Kolya took a train to his cousin's early Sunday morning.
So Sunday Tatyana and I walked around Gidropark. The Dniper river runs through the park and it is quite beautiful. It think it would be fun to return sometime in the summer and go swimming there. But Ukrainians will swim no matter how cold it is. It was 40 degrees fareignheight on Sunday but people were swimming in the river. Tatyana told me that Ukrainians think that it makes people healthier if they swim even when it is cold.
Sunday night I said goodbye to everyone and took the train back to Kiev. I miss them, they are great people. Especially Kolya. But Delta flies to Kiev
so maybe I will go back to Kiev for a week or so in the summer. Kolya said that if I come back we can go see some other areas in Ukraine as well. He said that the small towns on the outskirts of Kiev are very interesting as well. So maybe I will come back. Kolya and I are going to keep in touch by email for now.
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Sam!
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Genna!
It's great to see that your last month in Russia has been such an improvement over the first few. Sorry Wendy and I haven't been able to comment much this semester; we've been absolutely swamped with work. Still, we've been thinking of you and making plans for your triumphant return to the States![ By the way, when exactly are you coming home? Wendy and I want to make sure we'll be able to see you before she has to go to Shanghai on 12/20. Drop me an e-mail whenever you've got a free moment.