Blogs from Ukraine, Europe - page 43

Ana had her last day of lectures at university today, so she had left to get the bus for Lugansk before I got up. I spent the entire day by her computer, writing in this diary. Every so often her mum would come upstairs to offer me some pears and mandarins or a glass of home made apple juice, and she made me a big lunch of golubtsy parcels with meat inside. I will probably leave something behind when I go back to Yaroslavl, but I'm certainly not leaving without the recipe for her apple sponge cake. I had a chat with her babushka in the afternoon. For a woman of 80 she is remarkably full of life and has a very cheeky sense of humour. Again I wish I understood more of what she says ... read more

Our train east for Lugansk left at 11 in the morning. In our compartment was a Russian girl travelling around Ukraine and a man who now lives in Austria, returning for his first New Year's celebration at home in five years. The four of us had a good conversation for a few hours, until the English Russian student and the Ukrainian English student decided to sleep. The train was equally hot and uncomfortable as the one from Moscow, so none of us rested very well. I feel bad that the man left while I was asleep and I couldn't say goodbye, or even find out his name. He was fascinating to talk to and asked me challenging, relevant questions about England - the royal family, religion, food and culture, Jamie Oliver - that I enjoyed answering. ... read more

I love this city, especially the girls . . . The last few nights I was there I stayed with a great host - Yuriy and his girlfriend Julia, at their dormitory and was able to experience Ukrainian university life. Really not that different from American dorms, except the little things - like that their dorm was an hour train ride from the University, and the dorm had two working showers for 200 students. One of the nights I was there I made chili for them, which they all seemed to love. I also introduced them to Tabasco. The best, though was the next night when they showed me how to make Varenicky, which is basically the Ukrainian version of pierogies. Just like my grandma used to make! It was interesting talking with everyone about the ... read more

When you first pass into Ukraine, it hits you like a brick wall - you are no longer in the EU. The border guard questioning you, the men in army fatigues, the soviet mentality, feeling like you've stepped back in time 20 years, the marshutkas (more on that with the photos) and the fact that everything is written in a completely different friggin alphabet. L'viv managed to escape WW2 unscathed, and is packed with beautiful, if somewhat crumbling old buildings and more churches than you can imagine. From the old castle overlooking town, the old town juxtaposes with towering concrete monstrosities of the old soviet blocks. Talking with Ukrainians about the current political situation, everyone seems to be dissapointed that not much has changed since the Orange Revolution. Corruption is still apparent, and people are unhappy ... read more

Finally...after 23 hours on a train in a compartment by myself I arrived in Kiev. True I slept most of the way, but nonetheless by the end of it all I was nearly singing to myself and playing out entire scenes in movies. The most excruciating part of the journey, however, had to do with the border crossing that occurred around 1:00 a.m. in the morning. Evidently, the Ukraine has different sized tracks that the rest of Eastern and Western Europe to prevent invasion by train. Who invades by train anyway? So, at the border the train stops, jostles around for quite sometime, is lifted by some sort of giant forklift, the wheels of the cars are changed, and then you are ready to go. This whole process takes around 4 hours while intermittently you are ... read more