Back in Chernivtsi!

Tuesday AM I returned to a sunny, much warmer Chernivtsi and I was thrilled. Before leaving in February, I had dared myself to think that the snow and icicles would be gone when I returned. The icicles are gone, and the snow is certainly not all gone but has melted significantly and many of the sidewalks are snow and ice free, which is AWESOME.

I had not even realized that I had a view of the drunken church from my balcony.

I went to the supermarket after unpacking all the loot I picked up in Istanbul (it is next to impossible not to shop when in Istanbul). I bought about half a dozen bags of frozen veggies and lots of other fresh fruit and veggies. I feel like I have been eating grease heavy and carb heavy food and just want to eat apples, bananas, and brocooli for a week. Tom Paker-Bowles (the name may be familiar!) is a restaurant reviewer in London and he describes Ukrainian food as the "sort of food you eat before venturing out into the snow to wrestle a bear." Big time comfort food. Turkish food was awesome and employs more fresh fruits and veggies, which was great, but "Turkish Delight" was everywhere (baklava. ... which I thought was Greek but evidently not! Wikipedia has it's place of origin as Turkey / Ottoman Empire, specifically in the Topkapi Palace, which I visited last weekend).

I don't even like sweets or pastries but found myself eating it bc it is everywhere. So in the sense that I feel like I need to go through a food detox it is good to be home.

Yesterday afternoon and evening I spent some time preparing for my classes and was excited about the possibility of wearing something other than snowboots for the first time in Chernivtsi. I pulled out a suit to wear and enjoyed thinking about what shoes to wear.

Then, I woke up Wednesday AM. HUGE snowflakes were falling. I knew it would happen.
RRRRGGGHH. Mykola said there is a big celebration on March 15th when winter is officially over. That is a celebration in which I definitely want to participate!

So back to the black snowboots and my suit. Walking to work was far easier today, even with my face getting wet from all the snow hitting me, because the fresh powder had fallen on pavement and not on ice. So I actually kind of enjoyed the snow!

Today I finished discussing the American Revolution and then got into the Louisiana Purchase, War of 1812, Abolitionism, and Developing Sectionalism. We only meet once per week so we have to cover a LOT of ground each time. Plus, I was supposed to meet with my 4th year students tomorrow to hold class again but evidently they have conflicts. Not quite sure why this just came up today, but oh well. We'll pick up again next week.

After teaching I worked online in Mykola's office bc the university's internet connection is lightening fast compared to my Kyivstar. Then I decided to just take a long walk around town, which was so fun. I saw this beautiful old church steeple and so I walked there and discovered a totally locked up, dilapidated church. It was in bad shape, but I could see how it was beautiful at one time.

I thought some of you may want to see some of the cars around here ...

Then I kept walking bc I noticed a lot of activity to my right. Lo and behold, I discovered a little market! Then, I noticed that it wasn't so little ... I saw row after row of veggies, fruits, bread, kitchen and bath supplies, and myriad other items. Chernivtsi has it's own fresh market! Excellent!

I told my Uncle Jerry I would photograph all the fresh fish for him ... you can imagine that some of the places don't smell so hot!

I LOVE markets. I just love walking around, even if I don't buy anything. Waking up on Saturday AM in Gvegas and heading downtown to the Saturday AM Market on Main Street is one of my favorite things to do in Gvegas. I get a coffee and just stroll (and ususally buy organic soap ... those of you who know me well know I really love organic soap and nice socks ... an unusual combo, I know). The Chernivtsi market made me very happy. I got some kava, walked around, checked out the kaleidoscopic display of fruits and veggies, and bought a banana and a red pepper to cook with dinner tonight.

Without the snow (the snow from this AM melted fairly quickly), I am noticing so much more about this city. It is like an entirely different city. In fact, when walking home today I walked right pass my building bc I was so wrapped up in what was around me and didn't recognize the street bc everything just looks so different when not covered up in brown snow. This place really feels like a different city now, one I am super excited to get to know better.

I realized today that the house in which one of Ukrain'e most famous authors, Paul Celan, lived in is right around the corner from my flat. Celan was born here in 1920, when Chernivtsi (then Cernauti) was part of a region known as Bukovina that was part of Romania. Two years before, however, it had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (which was dismantled after WWI) and thus Celan grew up in Cernauti, Romania as a German speaking Jew. This place is multiethnic, but not nearly as much as it used to be. One of these days I'll explain. Suffice to say for now that bc of this one will see Chernivtsi spelled in multiple ways. Ukrainian: Chernivtsi; Polish: Czerniowce; German: Czernowitz; Romanian: Cernăuţi; Russian: Chernivtsi. e's most famous authors, Paul Celan, lived in is right around the corner from my flat.

Celan was born here in 1920, when Chernivtsi (then Cernauti) was part of a region known as Bukovina that was part of Romania. Two years before, however, it had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (which was dismantled after WWI) and thus Celan grew up in Cernauti, Romania as German speaking Jew. This place is highly multiethnic. One of these days I'll explain. Suffice to say for now that bc of this one will see Chernivtsi spelled in multiple ways. Ukrainian: Chernivtsi; Polish: Czerniowce; German: Czernowitz; Romanian: Cernăuţi; Russian: Chernivtsi.

During WWII, the Romanians sided with the Germans. Within days after the Romanians came back in (Chernivtsi had been Soviet for about one year only), Jewish leaders were murdered and the great synagogue was burned. At the order of Romanian military leader Antonescu, many of Chernivtsi's Jews (the city was 47% percent Jewish at the time) were rounded up and placed in the Jewish ghetto (which was near Chernivtsi's train station and which held 50,000 Jews from this region) and than transported into concentration camps. This is what happened to Celan's parents (Celan later wrote the commentary when the famous film ofthe Holocaust, Night and Fog, was released and shown in West German schools in 1955). It is amazing to think about people being taken from a home that is just around the corner from me and eventually being sent to a concentration camp. My building is old and it makes me ponder who was living in my flat. Demographic stats from this time tell me that there is a 47% chance that the people who were living here were Jewish. I'm sure there is an interesting and possible very sad story there.

The burning of that great synagogue and the facts that some its walls remain, in addition to the heritage here, is why Chernivtsi is a place of pilgrimmage for many Jews around the world. Here is an image of that synagogue, which served as one of the main places of worship for the 50,000 or so Jews living here in the turn of the century.

Now, there are hardly any Jews left in Chernivtsi. When the USSR crumbled in 1991, evidently the remaining Jews left and most headed to Israel or the US. It is sad that so much of this city's religious and cultural heritage is gone.

This is why I love being a historian. Can you believe I actually get paid to learn this stuff?

Today/Wednesday, I also arranged (with some help from Mykola) to take Ukrainian language lessons. I decided that as long as I am here I should dive in head first, so here we go. My first class starts tomorrow (Thursday).

I started reading Constantinople by Pierre Loti tonght and am really enjoying it. Night!