Blogs from Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Kyiv, Ukraine, Europe

With less than 2 weeks until we return to Washington DC, the place where our adventure began, we find ourselves again in Moscow ready to head to our large apple, aka New York City. We split our time between Kiev and Odessa. Our Ukrainian friend from DC Anna set us up with a home stay with her parents. We stayed in her old room even. The food they prepared was amazing. Everything maybe except the sala, which is the top layer of pig fat with spices. I tried a bite. Its like chewing gum with an aftertaste. I hope it won't remain in my stomach for 7 years. We also had nalishniki, a favorite. It is a bit like a crepe with some cheese inside. This cheese is hard to find in the US and I ... read more

Pok - pok - pok - pok - pok - pok - pok! - the sounds drifting through the chestnut trees outside my new building from games of tennis on the clay courts nearby are a soft Saturday morning wake-up call. The new neighbourhood is a refined one: sometimes a red squirrel appears in the tree opposite our balcony, or a husband and wife step into the courtyard below and help their toddler to practice walking. More often than not the bells of the Kievo-Pecherska Lavra chime loudly; the place is a calm village in the centre of a thrusting city. The flat is cosy, too. Creaky chairs and a table sit in the narrow, mint green kitchen. It has a wide windowsill, on which I spent sleepless spring nights reading Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's 'One Day in ... read more