March 3, 2007
I awoke this morning to find that the tree – perhaps an ash?—out in front of our building which shades our balcony, had been stripped of its bark in the night. I’m guessing it was used for fuel in the night. Now I understand why so many trees have deep scars up to about six feet high, even when they are not near roadsides. This week I watched a woman try for a half hour to unscrew a piece of metal from a septic tank. She finally succeeded, and to fill the hole, kindly shoved a black plastic bag in place of the piece she had removed. These pieces of metal are sold at the market each day. An elderly couple sells onions, potatoes, beets and cabbage on a box at our quiet corner, all day, almost every day. They use a scale and weights. I am constantly reminded of how resourceful human beings can be. There must be a kind of intelligence (would that be the eighth?) developed in conditions of scarcity, fear and duplicity.
I decided to plant flowers in our backyard when the weather gets nicer. I mentioned this to a friend, and asked if it was ok to do so, and who owned the enclosed yard. “No one owns it.” “The city owns it.” “Don’t do that, because no one owns it.” I thought of the little triangle at the three-way stop in Maple Corner where Robin Meiklejohn cultivated a public garden years ago. Robin’s gift to the village has been repeated many times in the past 25 years, by those who live near that triangle. Who owns it? The town or county, I suppose, as it is in a right of way.
But here, I am quite silly for wanting to plant flowers in the yard. The fear is that they would be stolen the next night, and sold by 10 a.m. The entire city – really the country – has been condominium-ized. The land is publicly held, but the buildings or apartments in those buildings can be owned. The land is leased—from the city? From the district? The nation? There are two evident problems created by this system. People abandon buildings. The state loses its revenue; the buildings crumble. Second, there are no condominium fees, no provision for maintenance of commonly owned areas. People dig trenches to plant cables, lift the lids off sewers and sell them for the metal, pull down trees, and strip bark.
I have brought many books with me. In addition to books about Ukraine, and some history texts and atlases, I have brought novels or memoirs about the former USSR and its client states. Grief of my Heart: Memoir of a Chechen Surgeon; The places in between, about a solo trek across Afghanistan; Caravans by Michener; Fools Rush In, about a journalist in Bosnia; Inside the Hornet’s Nest, an anthology of Jewish American writing; Dancing Under the Red Star, the story of an American woman in a Soviet prisons and the gulag; The Memoirs of Catherine the Great; a biography of Alexander II; a history of Slovakia; an anthology of contemporary Russian writers translated into English By reading these books, I can get a sense of how USSR’s policies affected different regions and individuals.
Reading these books helps me understand the bare oozing wound on the tree. Although several non-Ukrainians have written evocatively about the recent history of Ukraine, very little of this kind of recent reflective history of Ukraine by Ukrainians has been translated into English – if it exists at all.
On a lighter note, I have discovered the difference between inexpensive vodka and the good stuff. When you lay the good vodka in your freezer, it is still there the next day. With the inexpensive bottle, if you lay it down, it dribbles out the neck of the bottle, forms congealing vodka and finally, having evaporated, vodka flavored ice crystals on the freezer floor. The bottle lost about five ounces this way though the cap was screwed on very tight. Honest.
Hope you all are well.
Linda
Monday, March 5, 2007
Friday, March 2, 2007
Ukraine Bulletin #5
March 2, 2007
I have just finished my first full week of teaching. Although I am teaching “10 hours” a week, it turns out that an “academic” hour is only 40 minutes long. Did I pick the right field, or what!?! Sometimes the classes don’t meet, and we don’t make up the time. So far this doesn’t feel like a terribly difficult schedule. Tuesday, 12:40-2 p.m., Wednesday 12:40 -2 p.m., Thursday 2-5 p.m. The classes are relatively small – 10-20 students in each of them. The largest class cannot read or write English, so (ah shucks) I have no “correcting”to do, and their “final project” will have to be some kind of group effort. In that class (American Social History) I have a translator, so an hour lesson is really a half hour. This means I don’t need to do too much preparation. Another class has no final exam. So this feels like a very easy workload.
I’ve already been asked to other universities to do a lecture or teach a class. However, I prefer to keep those commitments to occasional visits, as I think I should “dance with the one that brung me”. My Wednesday English conversation classes are designed to meet some of these requests (at a time that is convenient to me). I did teach a class of upper level students who are learning to teach English, and pointed them toward Emily Dickinson (“There is a certain slant of light”) and Robert Frost (“The Road Not Taken”), which they will look up on the Internet and read.
Still, it is astounding to see how many universities, institutes, law schools, technical schools, medical schools, private colleges and so on are in this city. Many of them are housed in grand buildings with pillars, marble steps, tall ceilings, large windows, decorated plaster and so on. I would guess these buildings date to about 1890-1910 or so.
The universities are really not in the digital age yet. Very complex schedules are written out by hand (for the whole university), on an almost weekly basis. There seems to be very little administrative oversight as the buildings are quite separated from each other, all around the city. In some ways, this decentralization gives a tremendous amount of latitude to faculty as far as course content and scheduling. The faculty have department meetings, but no university-wide committees, for example. They are trying to conform with the Bologna Process, by which their educational system would meet European standards. One practical result has been that a department that once awarded two diplomas (Psychology and English) to each student, now can only award one (Psychology), with a “certificate” in English. Each department has English faculty attached to it, and these faculty teach general English as well as terms specific to the profession for which the students are training.
The psychology department is not happy about this change, as they wanted their students to receive recognition for their English skills and achievement. They were perplexed when I told them about double majors, which is a subtlety that hasn’t quite trickled down to them yet. Psychology students are not happy about the change, either, as it happened after they had enrolled and when some were ready to graduate. I mentioned our system which generally includes a safeguard for a student who enters a university under one set of policies (if those policies change, the student is only held to the requirements stated in the year he/she entered) as well as the general practice of not significantly altering the name or content of the degree in midstream. This seemed incomprehensible to the faculty – they simply don’t have that kind of control over the degrees they offer.
It is perpetual April here, with the ugliness of post winter. It is mild (30s and 40s) and no snow. I plan to plant flowers on our balcony for a bit of cheeriness – the whole city could use some beautification. The parks, avenues and river are beautiful in the spring or summer, but many of the buildings are grim and gray. There is some construction going on, but there are also many unused buildings. This could be a great city for artists to move to, as there is space for studios and galleries. Many enormous buildings contain a sort of permanent indoor mini mall – kiosks and booths selling everything from jewelry to Xerox services. The exterior of the buildings doesn’t really indicate what is inside them, however. It has taken me a while to realize I will never know what is going on in a building unless I go in the doors. The building we are in, for instance, gives no hint of the lovely apartment we have.
There is something here that I can’t quite put my finger on, about not demonstrating wealth or possessions. Everyone carries plastic shopping bags around town – these could contain onions or diamonds and no one would be able to tell the difference. It seems as though a spiffed-up building might just invite vandalism or resentment. This is an odd contrast, for me anyway, with the thousands of women wearing gorgeous fur coats, hats, and all the lovely boots, gloves etc to match. To my eyes these furs look like a confident display of wealth.
Only about ten years ago, there was nothing on the shelves to buy. Travelers write of going into mom and pop stores to find a shelf of homemade pickles in jars. Those with enough money traveled to Kiev or even Moscow to purchase simple food items. This problem is attributed to “wild capitalism” after the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union. Systems of supply, storage and delivery had to be initiated and implemented. Eventually, businesses began cultivating contacts for bread, milk, eggs, meat, etc.
One Western indulgence that has transferred to Ukraine whole-cloth is the cosmetics industry. It is astonishing that every item you could want is here in beautiful gleaming stores. Fashion and beauty are worth paying for, apparently. I can’t find toner for my printer (I’m sure it is somewhere in the city) but I can get all the creams and makeup I could want (and then some). The women’s styles are quite high on the urban femininity scale. A bit hard to describe: spike heels designed to out-Condoleeza Condoleeza, tight see-through tops, spectacular (often visible) underwear, net stockings, short skirts, black leather everything, waists tightly belted with enormous belt buckles, fingernails with entire landscapes painted on them, tight pants, flowing coats, and certain very, very Ascot-y hats.
The female comrade in blue work clothes sitting on a tractor and smiling as she works is nowhere to be found.
I heard an interesting saying this week: “Kiev is the first city in Ukraine, but Dnipropetrovsk is not the second.” Kiev has politics, more museums, more churches, and the best university. Dnipropetrovsk has wealth. Many Dnipro-ites see this as a clear choice, and are eager to stay here and join the bustling business life.
I hope you all are well and enjoying winter!
Best,
Linda
I have just finished my first full week of teaching. Although I am teaching “10 hours” a week, it turns out that an “academic” hour is only 40 minutes long. Did I pick the right field, or what!?! Sometimes the classes don’t meet, and we don’t make up the time. So far this doesn’t feel like a terribly difficult schedule. Tuesday, 12:40-2 p.m., Wednesday 12:40 -2 p.m., Thursday 2-5 p.m. The classes are relatively small – 10-20 students in each of them. The largest class cannot read or write English, so (ah shucks) I have no “correcting”to do, and their “final project” will have to be some kind of group effort. In that class (American Social History) I have a translator, so an hour lesson is really a half hour. This means I don’t need to do too much preparation. Another class has no final exam. So this feels like a very easy workload.
I’ve already been asked to other universities to do a lecture or teach a class. However, I prefer to keep those commitments to occasional visits, as I think I should “dance with the one that brung me”. My Wednesday English conversation classes are designed to meet some of these requests (at a time that is convenient to me). I did teach a class of upper level students who are learning to teach English, and pointed them toward Emily Dickinson (“There is a certain slant of light”) and Robert Frost (“The Road Not Taken”), which they will look up on the Internet and read.
Still, it is astounding to see how many universities, institutes, law schools, technical schools, medical schools, private colleges and so on are in this city. Many of them are housed in grand buildings with pillars, marble steps, tall ceilings, large windows, decorated plaster and so on. I would guess these buildings date to about 1890-1910 or so.
The universities are really not in the digital age yet. Very complex schedules are written out by hand (for the whole university), on an almost weekly basis. There seems to be very little administrative oversight as the buildings are quite separated from each other, all around the city. In some ways, this decentralization gives a tremendous amount of latitude to faculty as far as course content and scheduling. The faculty have department meetings, but no university-wide committees, for example. They are trying to conform with the Bologna Process, by which their educational system would meet European standards. One practical result has been that a department that once awarded two diplomas (Psychology and English) to each student, now can only award one (Psychology), with a “certificate” in English. Each department has English faculty attached to it, and these faculty teach general English as well as terms specific to the profession for which the students are training.
The psychology department is not happy about this change, as they wanted their students to receive recognition for their English skills and achievement. They were perplexed when I told them about double majors, which is a subtlety that hasn’t quite trickled down to them yet. Psychology students are not happy about the change, either, as it happened after they had enrolled and when some were ready to graduate. I mentioned our system which generally includes a safeguard for a student who enters a university under one set of policies (if those policies change, the student is only held to the requirements stated in the year he/she entered) as well as the general practice of not significantly altering the name or content of the degree in midstream. This seemed incomprehensible to the faculty – they simply don’t have that kind of control over the degrees they offer.
It is perpetual April here, with the ugliness of post winter. It is mild (30s and 40s) and no snow. I plan to plant flowers on our balcony for a bit of cheeriness – the whole city could use some beautification. The parks, avenues and river are beautiful in the spring or summer, but many of the buildings are grim and gray. There is some construction going on, but there are also many unused buildings. This could be a great city for artists to move to, as there is space for studios and galleries. Many enormous buildings contain a sort of permanent indoor mini mall – kiosks and booths selling everything from jewelry to Xerox services. The exterior of the buildings doesn’t really indicate what is inside them, however. It has taken me a while to realize I will never know what is going on in a building unless I go in the doors. The building we are in, for instance, gives no hint of the lovely apartment we have.
There is something here that I can’t quite put my finger on, about not demonstrating wealth or possessions. Everyone carries plastic shopping bags around town – these could contain onions or diamonds and no one would be able to tell the difference. It seems as though a spiffed-up building might just invite vandalism or resentment. This is an odd contrast, for me anyway, with the thousands of women wearing gorgeous fur coats, hats, and all the lovely boots, gloves etc to match. To my eyes these furs look like a confident display of wealth.
Only about ten years ago, there was nothing on the shelves to buy. Travelers write of going into mom and pop stores to find a shelf of homemade pickles in jars. Those with enough money traveled to Kiev or even Moscow to purchase simple food items. This problem is attributed to “wild capitalism” after the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union. Systems of supply, storage and delivery had to be initiated and implemented. Eventually, businesses began cultivating contacts for bread, milk, eggs, meat, etc.
One Western indulgence that has transferred to Ukraine whole-cloth is the cosmetics industry. It is astonishing that every item you could want is here in beautiful gleaming stores. Fashion and beauty are worth paying for, apparently. I can’t find toner for my printer (I’m sure it is somewhere in the city) but I can get all the creams and makeup I could want (and then some). The women’s styles are quite high on the urban femininity scale. A bit hard to describe: spike heels designed to out-Condoleeza Condoleeza, tight see-through tops, spectacular (often visible) underwear, net stockings, short skirts, black leather everything, waists tightly belted with enormous belt buckles, fingernails with entire landscapes painted on them, tight pants, flowing coats, and certain very, very Ascot-y hats.
The female comrade in blue work clothes sitting on a tractor and smiling as she works is nowhere to be found.
I heard an interesting saying this week: “Kiev is the first city in Ukraine, but Dnipropetrovsk is not the second.” Kiev has politics, more museums, more churches, and the best university. Dnipropetrovsk has wealth. Many Dnipro-ites see this as a clear choice, and are eager to stay here and join the bustling business life.
I hope you all are well and enjoying winter!
Best,
Linda
Ukraine Bulletin #4
February 20, 2007
Well, I taught my first class today. I had about 17 students, and two professors sat in on the class, too. We did some ice breaking exercises and a short in-class writing assignment. We discussed class expectations and academic honesty and the syllabus. The students also contributed to a discussion, so I feel we are off to a good start. My full schedule (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons) begins next week.
Mud season is here. It’s hard to believe we will get much more snow. The weather is warm-ish (25-35 or so Fahrenheit). There is garbage and litter everywhere. We haven’t figured out if there is any regular pick-up or clean up.
Yesterday I met with the history department and we had a good discussion of their system, research possibilities and obstacles, and their future plans for conferences. I have brought many books and resources which I hope will be useful to them.
I plan to travel around Ukraine on weekends – I might start this weekend as David flies home Thursday. I can visit other Fulbrighters around the country. It is a huge country, though, and some visits will take 12-24 hours by fast train!
There have been some surprising bits of information.
Most of the rural land here is owned by Ukraine. The farmers lease their land, but they cannot buy it or own it (yet). Imagine a country having that resource and wealth all tied up in land. What an opportunity! But also, how to “allow” farmers to buy their land? Apparently, they cannot get loans to do so.
Students often go to a university, then attend graduate school there, defend their dissertation there, and begin teaching as a professor in the same university. In other words, they defend their dissertation, become a professor, and are pretty automatically hired. So they know the university well when they begin teaching there. Needless to say, the faculty know them well, too.
I am teaching in the International Relations Department (among others), in International Economics. From what I can gather, it is an international business and marketing degree, although they do study economics, as well. The same department keeps track of foreigners and exchange students in the university, and acts as an arm of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (i.e., the police). I register with them, and they know my whereabouts.
We have found the “Window on America” at the local library, which has books, CDs, VHS and DVDs in English – all can be checked out. They also have audio-visual equipment, a boom box, Internet access, printing and Xeroxing. They function as a meeting place, and have a nice seminar table. Although it has limited hours, it is quieter and less smoky than the Internet cafes and wireless malls. It was ironic to finally find it one morning, only to see that the “Window on America” was locked with a huge padlock. It is funded by the U.S. Embassy, in case you wanted to know where .00005 percent of your tax dollar goes.
We also now have cable television, including BBC, National Hockey League Games, and German public television. In fact, we’re not sure exactly what we have, as we need to scan the channels and see. David’s watching something about rugby or “football”(soccer).
Update, February 19: David is home in Vermont now for a few weeks. He can be reached at 802 229 1879. The best way to reach us in Ukraine is our gmail addresses: linda.b.gray@gmail.com and healy.david.j@gmail.com.
We’d love to hear from you!
Linda
Well, I taught my first class today. I had about 17 students, and two professors sat in on the class, too. We did some ice breaking exercises and a short in-class writing assignment. We discussed class expectations and academic honesty and the syllabus. The students also contributed to a discussion, so I feel we are off to a good start. My full schedule (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons) begins next week.
Mud season is here. It’s hard to believe we will get much more snow. The weather is warm-ish (25-35 or so Fahrenheit). There is garbage and litter everywhere. We haven’t figured out if there is any regular pick-up or clean up.
Yesterday I met with the history department and we had a good discussion of their system, research possibilities and obstacles, and their future plans for conferences. I have brought many books and resources which I hope will be useful to them.
I plan to travel around Ukraine on weekends – I might start this weekend as David flies home Thursday. I can visit other Fulbrighters around the country. It is a huge country, though, and some visits will take 12-24 hours by fast train!
There have been some surprising bits of information.
Most of the rural land here is owned by Ukraine. The farmers lease their land, but they cannot buy it or own it (yet). Imagine a country having that resource and wealth all tied up in land. What an opportunity! But also, how to “allow” farmers to buy their land? Apparently, they cannot get loans to do so.
Students often go to a university, then attend graduate school there, defend their dissertation there, and begin teaching as a professor in the same university. In other words, they defend their dissertation, become a professor, and are pretty automatically hired. So they know the university well when they begin teaching there. Needless to say, the faculty know them well, too.
I am teaching in the International Relations Department (among others), in International Economics. From what I can gather, it is an international business and marketing degree, although they do study economics, as well. The same department keeps track of foreigners and exchange students in the university, and acts as an arm of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (i.e., the police). I register with them, and they know my whereabouts.
We have found the “Window on America” at the local library, which has books, CDs, VHS and DVDs in English – all can be checked out. They also have audio-visual equipment, a boom box, Internet access, printing and Xeroxing. They function as a meeting place, and have a nice seminar table. Although it has limited hours, it is quieter and less smoky than the Internet cafes and wireless malls. It was ironic to finally find it one morning, only to see that the “Window on America” was locked with a huge padlock. It is funded by the U.S. Embassy, in case you wanted to know where .00005 percent of your tax dollar goes.
We also now have cable television, including BBC, National Hockey League Games, and German public television. In fact, we’re not sure exactly what we have, as we need to scan the channels and see. David’s watching something about rugby or “football”(soccer).
Update, February 19: David is home in Vermont now for a few weeks. He can be reached at 802 229 1879. The best way to reach us in Ukraine is our gmail addresses: linda.b.gray@gmail.com and healy.david.j@gmail.com.
We’d love to hear from you!
Linda
Ukraine Bulletin # 3
Ukraine Bulletin #3
February 2, 2007
Greetings from Dnipropetrovsk!
We arrived yesterday, and are now ensconced in our lovely apartment. It is spacious, and it is equipped with everything, including dishes, soap, TV, trash bags, linens, towels – far more comfort than we expected. It has a security code at the outside door, and two locks on the very solid door. So, there is a lot to get used to. We have stairwell neighbors, but we have not met them yet. There is also a backyard with trees, sheds, an assortment of vents and heating conduits, a trash heap, and plenty of room to play. This morning, a snow lady appeared in the back yard, with wild stick hair. Pigeons and crows live in the trees, and the pigeons are fond of resting on our broad window sills. They are fun to watch. I suppose they believe we are vegetarians.
It has a large kitchen/den/dining room with natural light from two large windows. The bedroom is also large, and has a large window and a balcony looking out on the street – a quiet side street just a short block off a major city road. A desk is in the bedroom…..David colonized it right away.
We went shopping on our way “home” from the airport, so we have enough food to make simple meals, tea, coffee. Lyuda (“Luda”) kindly supplied us with good fresh bread. David is out to the market now, exercising his bargain hunting skills.
Winter is here, finally. After a very warm winter (or, as a new acquaintance, Olga, told us, “a never-ending autumn”), Ukraine got cold weather and snow for the last week. Today it is about 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit, with a biting wind gusting up to about 40 miles per hour. The airport had six inches of snow, and winds about 35 miles per hour. Not much plowing there, and none in the city at all. We felt right at home, brown slush, slick walkways, treacherously icy sidewalks, snow falling so thickly you couldn’t see anything, low cloud cover. Lyuda and her friend, Vladimir, met us and drove us home. Later Vladimir’s son, Dmitri, came with the landlord’s son (also Dmitri), to tell us about the washing machine, heat, and so on.
So, we are wearing all the winter gear we have, and can layer with more fleeces if we need to. And the “old lady’s” crampons I brought will come in handy! Olga, an English professor at the university, came today at noon and we walked downtown. We had lunch, and then rode back in a jitney bus – very cosy and convenient. The city has trams and busses, too, and, of course, is on a major rail line, so David is in public transit heaven.
On our way here, we stopped for three nights in Paris, and three nights in Vienna. Each city was exhilarating and enjoyable, but in totally different ways. We stayed with my French sister Cathie and her husband, son, and dog in Chaville, just outside Paris. We had a warm weekend of catching up, solving problems, chatting, and, of course, wonderful meals. Their living room has both a fireplace and an organ (her husband, Jean Paul, plays organ beautifully) so each evening was a fire, some organ music and white wine … we felt very spoiled.
In Vienna, we stayed in Hotel Regina, and walked all over the city, taking the occasional tram so David could get his transit addiction fix. We spent several hours in the incredible Kunst Historische museum. We devoted our time to the paintings, although, if we had weeks, we could not have seen everything in the museum. Vienna has 180 museums (can this be true?), including one of carriages, one of globes, one of Jewish life in Vienna, and one of Sigmund Freud’s house. Our visit coincided with Vienna’s ball season – 300 balls over a six-week period. There are several per night, and they occur on weekends and on weekdays! We also took a bus tour to the emperor’s summer palace – 1,400 rooms, an enormous cobbled yard, ornate buildings, spectacular gardens. Think Versailles. It includes also a zoo and several other attractions. It is a monument to the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s opulence and glory. The rooms are on an enormous scale, with gilt everywhere. We went to the Volksoper (to see “Carmen”) the Statsoper (“Falstaff”) and to see an ice festival on the front lawn of the city hall. Colored lights, open air bars, restaurants where skaters entered with their skates on, ice rinks, a competitive curling match (complete with a beer hall), a skating path through the trees, music. Everyone was having a dandy time, and all ages were there. The festival continues night and day, so there are many kids there during the day, as well, learning to skate by leaning on a penguin who has handles coming out of his head where his “ears” should be.
I had a good time working on both French and German during these visits, and found my German was actually adequate for most situations. I read the Vienna newspapers! David improved in both languages, too. Now we are both adding Russian to the mix. Our first tutoring session is Sunday.
We don’t have high speed Internet at the apartment. There are nearby Internet cafes and clubs. We are exploring these. Our Vonage phone is not in service yet. These are all challenges that David is taking on. He hopes to solve them by mid-February. For now, we can be reached by telephone at our apartment (011 380 056 744 3001 – please don’t call after 2 p.m., Eastern Standard Time) or by e-mail at our regular e-mail address.
Thursday, February 8 we go to Kiev for a Fulbright orientation. We will also have little tours around the city and the US embassy there. Four heavy boxes of books have been shipped from Calais to the embassy. So we will check on the status of those boxes next weekend. We are not overly optimistic, however. We shipped a box by air and one by sea in late December (US postal service) and neither has arrived yet. I must say that we feel perfectly at home here – we are unpacked and all settled in. We are quickly figuring out the obvious things. The more subtle things may take a while to learn.
Hope you all are well.
Best,
Linda
February 2, 2007
Greetings from Dnipropetrovsk!
We arrived yesterday, and are now ensconced in our lovely apartment. It is spacious, and it is equipped with everything, including dishes, soap, TV, trash bags, linens, towels – far more comfort than we expected. It has a security code at the outside door, and two locks on the very solid door. So, there is a lot to get used to. We have stairwell neighbors, but we have not met them yet. There is also a backyard with trees, sheds, an assortment of vents and heating conduits, a trash heap, and plenty of room to play. This morning, a snow lady appeared in the back yard, with wild stick hair. Pigeons and crows live in the trees, and the pigeons are fond of resting on our broad window sills. They are fun to watch. I suppose they believe we are vegetarians.
It has a large kitchen/den/dining room with natural light from two large windows. The bedroom is also large, and has a large window and a balcony looking out on the street – a quiet side street just a short block off a major city road. A desk is in the bedroom…..David colonized it right away.
We went shopping on our way “home” from the airport, so we have enough food to make simple meals, tea, coffee. Lyuda (“Luda”) kindly supplied us with good fresh bread. David is out to the market now, exercising his bargain hunting skills.
Winter is here, finally. After a very warm winter (or, as a new acquaintance, Olga, told us, “a never-ending autumn”), Ukraine got cold weather and snow for the last week. Today it is about 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit, with a biting wind gusting up to about 40 miles per hour. The airport had six inches of snow, and winds about 35 miles per hour. Not much plowing there, and none in the city at all. We felt right at home, brown slush, slick walkways, treacherously icy sidewalks, snow falling so thickly you couldn’t see anything, low cloud cover. Lyuda and her friend, Vladimir, met us and drove us home. Later Vladimir’s son, Dmitri, came with the landlord’s son (also Dmitri), to tell us about the washing machine, heat, and so on.
So, we are wearing all the winter gear we have, and can layer with more fleeces if we need to. And the “old lady’s” crampons I brought will come in handy! Olga, an English professor at the university, came today at noon and we walked downtown. We had lunch, and then rode back in a jitney bus – very cosy and convenient. The city has trams and busses, too, and, of course, is on a major rail line, so David is in public transit heaven.
On our way here, we stopped for three nights in Paris, and three nights in Vienna. Each city was exhilarating and enjoyable, but in totally different ways. We stayed with my French sister Cathie and her husband, son, and dog in Chaville, just outside Paris. We had a warm weekend of catching up, solving problems, chatting, and, of course, wonderful meals. Their living room has both a fireplace and an organ (her husband, Jean Paul, plays organ beautifully) so each evening was a fire, some organ music and white wine … we felt very spoiled.
In Vienna, we stayed in Hotel Regina, and walked all over the city, taking the occasional tram so David could get his transit addiction fix. We spent several hours in the incredible Kunst Historische museum. We devoted our time to the paintings, although, if we had weeks, we could not have seen everything in the museum. Vienna has 180 museums (can this be true?), including one of carriages, one of globes, one of Jewish life in Vienna, and one of Sigmund Freud’s house. Our visit coincided with Vienna’s ball season – 300 balls over a six-week period. There are several per night, and they occur on weekends and on weekdays! We also took a bus tour to the emperor’s summer palace – 1,400 rooms, an enormous cobbled yard, ornate buildings, spectacular gardens. Think Versailles. It includes also a zoo and several other attractions. It is a monument to the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s opulence and glory. The rooms are on an enormous scale, with gilt everywhere. We went to the Volksoper (to see “Carmen”) the Statsoper (“Falstaff”) and to see an ice festival on the front lawn of the city hall. Colored lights, open air bars, restaurants where skaters entered with their skates on, ice rinks, a competitive curling match (complete with a beer hall), a skating path through the trees, music. Everyone was having a dandy time, and all ages were there. The festival continues night and day, so there are many kids there during the day, as well, learning to skate by leaning on a penguin who has handles coming out of his head where his “ears” should be.
I had a good time working on both French and German during these visits, and found my German was actually adequate for most situations. I read the Vienna newspapers! David improved in both languages, too. Now we are both adding Russian to the mix. Our first tutoring session is Sunday.
We don’t have high speed Internet at the apartment. There are nearby Internet cafes and clubs. We are exploring these. Our Vonage phone is not in service yet. These are all challenges that David is taking on. He hopes to solve them by mid-February. For now, we can be reached by telephone at our apartment (011 380 056 744 3001 – please don’t call after 2 p.m., Eastern Standard Time) or by e-mail at our regular e-mail address.
Thursday, February 8 we go to Kiev for a Fulbright orientation. We will also have little tours around the city and the US embassy there. Four heavy boxes of books have been shipped from Calais to the embassy. So we will check on the status of those boxes next weekend. We are not overly optimistic, however. We shipped a box by air and one by sea in late December (US postal service) and neither has arrived yet. I must say that we feel perfectly at home here – we are unpacked and all settled in. We are quickly figuring out the obvious things. The more subtle things may take a while to learn.
Hope you all are well.
Best,
Linda
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