Susan Wunderink reviews a book called Innocents Abroad and shares some of her own insights.
Cultures will clash, but they have clashed in different ways over the centuries. Her comment at the end makes it worth reading the not-so-long review . . .
You can read more about it here: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5grKmzcVCt8L0-UfHxPGan5N5VStwD8S9BTO00
I wanted to go back and dig out the video clip I'd taken on Easter morning as we worshipped with the Nazarene congregation in the park overlooking the Dnipro River. Unlike last year, which was overcast, this year gave us a bright, beautiful sunrise! Okay...well, it's not a video, it's a still photo captured from the video (the video was less than impressive) :)
Something else I needed to share was our Easter spread. My roommate's mom and dad came over and we all cooked together. I can't say these are all traditional Ukrainian dishes, because Tanya's mom is really creative and has a multi-national cooking background, but they were definitely tasty!
From left: green bean salad with chili peppers, sweet red peppers, garlic, walnuts; tomatoes 'Rivne-style'--mayo, garlic, cheese; next, just a plate of cucumbers laid out real pretty - also with a little garlic, dill, salt, arranged on leaf lettuce; in the front is the main course: pork cooked in red wine with carrots and celery root (I'm pretty sure there was garlic in there too)...
Hello everyone! I'm a bit behind - this is old news - a week or so ago I got to attend two of the five nights of music at the Philharmonic performed by the students of the Lysenko Music School. This is the special grade school for gifted music students where I hold a weekly English club.
Their performances were amazing.
I'll try to include a video clip - more for the purposes of the audio than the video, which I was trying to take around a big column from the second floor balcony level :)
They were performing Mozart's Requiem with professional soloists. Reminded me of my RWC Chorale days - only this choir was a bit younger!
this great blog has stories of two little girls - one American and one Russian - who started building bridges between the Cold War countries in the 80s... Same site also has REALLY interesting clips of our old Cold War films.
Hello friends! I've been wanting to do a post like this for a long time. People usually ask what my days are like, what's different about life in Ukraine... Often I have a hard time answering because it's such a mix of similarity and difference... 
I'm never sure what's gonna surprise someone more!
That said, I want to take you on a pictorial (pictoral? pictured?) tour of my usual walk to go get groceries. When I first moved to Ukraine, the best place for food was the open market. In fact, the only place was the open market! I got to buy pork and veal in a big butcher barn type place in the center of the city -- if only I could have taken pictures for you then! :-)
But today, we're going to 'Velika Kishenya' (translated from Ukrainian it means 'the Big Pocket' - kinda cute, eh?) It's about a half mile (I really have no idea - I'm terrible with distances) out back from our apartment building.
When the weather's milder, you might see a mom watching her kids slide down this slide...
We start our walk, shuffling through the snow, and then carefully walking down uneven cement stairs (just beyond these cars), covered in uneven snow and ice...
And we're off! What you can't see under the snow is a walkway. Some of it is paved, some of it just packed dirt, and now it's very slippery packed snow!
.... a shot taken back in the direction of my building...it's a slope over which people pick their way to find the best spot to avoid a fall!
Here's a milk stand (but you should already know that, because it clearly says 'moloko' on the front!) :) As I walk by, I often see people buying milk, sour cream, and other staples. I almost got a picture of one of my 'neighbors' but I chickened out, if I recall. Always afraid I'm going to make someone think I'm a spy or something!
Inside this little metal shack-looking thing are two greasy guys who repair shoes. Shoe repair is big business--there's a repair shop on every corner almost. I've gone to these guys a few times in the past couple years living in Kiev. They figured out I was American (go figure) and were really surprised I'd go for shoe repair, since all they hear is that we throw out perfectly good stuff all the time!
Kids find ways to go sled riding, even in a cement jungle neighborhood! There's a great, tiny, steep hill right behind the post office/bank building (peaking out on the left). The last few days there have been parents and children there all the time! :)
More and more cars are found on these little drives that wrap around the buildings and stores. You can see the post office and bank back to the left and the new shopping plaza/building in the right foreground. The blue sign running up and down the middle building says 'Jeans' in Ukrainian letters!
And a nice, newish Electronics store, just meters from where you can find a woman at a table selling smoked fish (outdoors all day in this cold), or random cleaning supplies, or any of the other fare found at the market
The front of the "Big Pocket" itself rises above the local outdoor market.
Here you can buy almost any convenience you'd find at your local supermarket - minus a few things (and plus a few things - like large amounts of smoked herring, and a huge vodka aisle)
Must be warm for roosting on the windowsill :)
WELL, you've made it! We've trudged our way down the hill. Once you maneuver through the grocery store, get everything you need, wait in line and the check out (bagging your own groceries of course - almost no one bags for you anywhere in Europe & Eurasia), then it's back up the snowy/icy hill with all your bags!
Thankfully, this time I had a light load! :)
Thanks for coming - hope you enjoyed the tour!
Last night I went to a special Ukrainian folk party held inside the great hall of the folk museum in Pecherska Lavra (the Cave Monastery). We were supposed to get embroidered shirts in order to attend this party, so I purchased my first 'sorochka.' You'll see what these shirts usually look like in the clip here. Mine was not so traditional - but close enough.
What a fun evening of traditional music, arts and crafts, and just people-watching. Some of the men there apparently take seriously the call to look truly Ukrainian, and have traditional Cossack hair styles (shaved around except for one part where you grow a pony tail that you can braid) and bushy, long moustaches.
Something about the music of ancient and rural Ukraine always gets me. The 'wide-voiced' singing as it's called - very forward, out of the face. But so natural, as if shouting across the steppe . . .
Unfortunately, although people sang and danced and recited Spring in, it hasn't won its battle with winter yet. We walked out and back to the metro through a winter wonderland.
But as I looked at the street lights reflecting white snow, ancient buildings, the expanse of memorial parks and paths waiting for spring greenness--I thought to myself, this is one of those 'Kiev is beautiful' nights.
