Leaving Istanbul, Monday in Kyiv

This AM, I woke up even before the 5AM call to prayer. It was great to hear it one last time. The shuttle driver was scheduled to drive us to the airport at 6:15. WHen I walked out of the hotel adn looked to my left, I saw this:

Sunrise over the Bosphorus, which made the mosques and the boats on the Bosphorus hazy, golden, and beautiful. Wish I coudl have spend hours capturing that sunset on camera, but I knew I couldn't, so instead I took this one pciture and will hope that the memory of driving along the Bosphorus, watching the sunrise and looking at all teh ships below in teh distance will be seared into my memory for a very long time. Aboslutely magical.

When we took off from Ataturk Airport, I had a great view of the windy Bosphorus (I can see why it is so difficult to navigate), and saw where teh Bosphorus opens into teh Black Sea. So cool to see the southernmost point of the Black Sea, having just seen one of its northernmost points in Odessa. I had some beautiful views of the sun shining off the sea, and then we disappeared into the clouds.

An hour and a half later, we emerged from the clouds and I looked down and experienced momentary disblief. We began descending, broke through the clouds, and there it was. The tundra. Hadn't changed one bit from this perspective. Snow, snow and more snow. Everything was white, as far as the eye could see. I really thought much of this would be gone. I was told the snow would disappear in March. UGH.

For the first time, we landed at KBP and Yuriy did not pick us up. I had learned the words for train station and several other words that would be helpful, so I was optimistic I could get us on a shuttle or city bus downtown. It worked! I read the sign for voksul in Cyrillic and we boarded the bus to the train station and arrived there about 35 minutes later. Perfect.

Then, we had to figure out hwo to get train tickets back to Chernivtsi for that night. Hm. Not easy. Train station ticket booth attendants speak not a lick of English.

Successful.

We went to the Fulbright Office to leave our bags there. We talked with Natalia and Myron a bit and arranged for Eddie to take us all to the train station that night, bc Myron needed to go as well.

Becuse we sent so much time talking and were taking advantage of an earlier ride to the train station, we didn't have much time for lunch. So, our choices were very limited, and eff knew what he wanted:

McDonalds. So, I broke my streak. I have this thing about never eating at American restaurants while overseas. Oh well. The streak last for a long time...9 years. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, bc I did. I even spent 50 kopecks on a little thing of ketchup. It was the first time I have had ketchup in over a month and it was good.

We bought some train snacks at the grocery market and went back to Fulbright Office where Eddie took Myron, Jeff, and me to the train station. We arrived early and walked around what is really a beautiful train station to kill time. While walking around one very large waiting area of the station, we noticed something very unusual going on about 15 feet from us. I don't think I'll ever forget what I saw.

There was a man on the ground, with 2 ambulance workers and an older woman (presumably his wife)hovering over him. His legs were limp and turned out, so that the sides of his feet with his little toes were lying on the floor of the train station. The medical responders were giving this man incredibly vigorous CPR. They must have started and restarted this process about 6 times. Jeff and I joined the people in the area who were praying for this man and I tried not to watch as best I could. We couldn't leave bc they were between us and the door, and we had several pieces of luggage and didn't want to block the doors in the event that they put the man on the stretcher to take him out of those doors. It was so sad to watch the EMS guys go through round after round of CPR without any success. I felt so horrible for that woman, that she was ecperiencing what was undoubtedly among the worst moments of her life in such a public space. While there were people praying close by, there were so many more that were walking in and out of this room, glancing over but continuing on with their business. The sounds of train station continued in the background even as this was occurring. Some people were concerned, like us, but many more just continued on with ther business.

It was an ugly reminder that life can end at any moment, even in the waiting room of a train station. I wondered if they had just returned from a trip, or if they had been excited about where they were going, or if they were there simply to pick someone up.

I continue to pray for that woman, and for the health and safety of all whom I love. It is a reminder to always make the most of the moments we have with the people we love.