Leaving Chernivtsi

The journey home has begun.

After two weeks of packing, I am on the train. It took 6 people carrying stuff out of the flat and 4 people putting it on the train. I have a lot of stuff... too much stuff, even after giving much of what I brought with me away.

Today was a good day. I had my favorite yogurt Activia muesli this morning. Anna came over around 11 to pick up some magazines and clothes. She brought me 2 Chernivtsi magnets. Then I wrote some emails and went to Ace to workout.

I enjoyed my last workout at Ace and took the time on the treadmill just to think about the past 4 and one- half months here. That gym became an integral, and I would argue, essential aspect of my life here. It gave me something to do everyday, it kept my endorphins up, and in the midst of winter when every step I took had to be done with the greatest care, it provided a place where I could run freely and without worry. It made me feel good and provided a sense of accomplishment every day. Working out prompted me to set goals, work towards them, and achieve them. It became a little game I played here and provided an additional sense of purpose. Looking back on my time here, having Ace was a real blessing. I even became a little sad saying bye to Sasha at Ace. I didn’t think I would, but when I was leaving I said, “Avia USA…dopobochenya” and used my arms to mimic the wings of an airplane to let him know I was leaving.  Sasha, who doesn’t know much English at all, smiled kindly and, in my language, responded with “bye-bye.”

That is my treadmill on the left!

I walked home in the rain, drank some coffee, lit the fire, waited for the water to heat, showered and continued packing. After I felt I had sufficiently done everything I could until some of the clothes dried some more, I went to Potato Hut for a late lunch. On the walk back I took one last picture in front of City Hall.

I walked back and Lilliana was in the flat waiting. She gave me a small pillow with the university on it. Boy, am I glad that I had gifts for all the people prepared. I took care of all the notes and gifts several days ago. I am Linda T’s daughter, you know. Lilliana left to run an errand and returned about one hour after. I took some quick notes on Fast Food Nation bc I needed to give it back to Mykola. Andriy and Veronica came upstairs, also bearing gifts and a sweet card. Thankfully, they took a ton of my stuff (including my zebra blanket and hairdryer, below), and whatever they won’t be able to use they will give either to the Red Cross or to some villagers they know.

I also had to say goodbye to my Nike's. They have been used well beyond the point of what is healthy for my feet!

Mykola arrived a few minutes before 6 and it was nice having people in the apartment. I had never had so many people in this place at one time.
Andriy, bless him, and Mykola began carrying bags downstairs while I had a next to last run though of the flat. Then Veronica and Lilliana and I also carried some things down.  I went upstairs for a final walk through of the flat. It was nice to have my final moments in there alone. Unbeknownst to me, Lilliana started crying outside bc she was sad to see me leave. I think she is probably more sad to see the end of rent paid by an American!

Andriy and Veronica had planned to go to the train station with me and thank goodness they did. They had to all get a cab bc they couldn’t fit in Mykola’s car bc of all the bags. I started to get a bit concerned about the time, but it turned out it was just 6:10. We got to the train station at 6:24.

Then there was a bit of confusion about which train was going to Kyiv. Mykola had a meeting a 7 and so he went ahead and said be on the train tracks. His gift was 3 600th anniversary (of Chernivtsi) bottles of horilka and a bottle of Ukrainian champagne. Very sweet.
Andriy and Veronica helped load all the bags on the train, which was quite a feat. Thanks goodness today was a bit chilly and overcast bc dong this in any kind of heat would have been yucky. I actually had my leather jacket on doing all this. We had a few minutes to sit in the compartment together and then the conductor said the train was about to leave.

They went outside the window and I took some pics of them. They danced to the train music (which sounds like a WWII patriotic song) and when the train began to move, they started running alongside my train car! Those two are adorable. Andriy got to a point where he ran out of pavement and was booking it on gravel. Precious, and my eyes swelled with a few tears although I was also laughing and waving goodbye.

They have been very good friends and went way above and beyond by coming to the station and helping. I have learned much about hospitality and warmth from the Ukrainian people. So kind.

I became sad saying bye to them and to Chernivtsi as the train starting chugging along the tracks. What an experience this has been.
My last shots of Chernivtsi.

Bye, Chernivtsi!

Fast forward several hours later…It is 10:17 PM. I have been working on my presentations for the Crimea conference but am about to pack the laptop for the night. This is a pretty smooth train so hopefully I will get a decent night’s sleep. I am tired.

Last Full Day in Chernivtsi

Today I slept until about 10, because I stayed up past 3. My sleeping is all out of whack. Having to get up early for conference stuff is going to hurt. Why fix it though, bc it is about to change again?


I packed some, and then it started pouring rain. I had to put away my bear. You can see that I have enjoyed it.

I called Anna to see when she would like to come over to pick up some magazines, etc. I waited until the rain subsided a bit to go to Ace. I had a thorough workout at Ace, just in case I am not able to get there tomorrow. 4 miles in 32:30. I am hoping to go tomorrow but we’ll have to see.

I talked a bit after my workout with my friend Tetiana, the tennis instructor. I finally found out the guy’s name in the gym. It is Sasha.

Afterwards, even though it was raining, I decided to walk around town to see some things one last time and to find some beetroot salad. The first stolovy didn’t have it. I went to Kolas. They didn’t have it, but the lady motioned for me to go across the street. Finally, I found it. I had some beetroot sald and some holubsee. The holubsee wasn’t great. I also picked up some fried green tomato looking things and a cheese blyny/pancake. Living in a country in which one barely speaks the language develops flexibility; I rarely feel like I really have a grasp on situations here, and eating out or going to the market is always a gamble.

I walked home on Vul Ruska and just enjoyed walking around, even though I was getting soaking wet from the rain.

Beetroot salad and holubsee:

I will miss this place. It is a great little city with a fascinating history, and has been a very liveable place as well. And while I established some very good (and healthy) routines here, I will miss the feeling of adventure associated with always seeing something new, and not quite knowing exactly what is going on, what I am doing, what I am eating, and where I am going half the time. You learn to surrender any expectations about control when you travel in a country in which you don’t read the alphabet, much less speak the language. People keep asking me when I will come back, and many just assume I am going home for the summer and then returning in the fall. Everyone seems surprised when I tell them I don’t have any of these answers. It is somewhat sad. 

This afternoon I did some blogging and more packing. As I look at my computer clock, I realize that 24 hours from now, we will be packing the car to go to the train station and leave Chernivtsi.

Tonight, I went to Pizza Park with Andriy and Veronica. It was so good to spend time with them. Their dissertation topics are really interesting (Andriy with political ethics, Veronica with international election overseeing). They do some much for their community, and I enjoyed hearing about Andriy's plans to run for city council in the fall. He is really passionate about political reform and improving life in Ukraine. I like people who are go-getters, and these two definitely are.

Afterwards Andriy suggested we walk to this place about half an hour away. We ended up walking to an overlook near the swamp with a view of Chernivtsi. It was pretty, but dark and muddy and thus we didn’t get to see the view from atop the cliff bc it was really too slippery and dark to get up there.

They came back to the flat and helped translate some things. Evidently my yogurt is cottage cheese (they weren't sure) and muesli, and Mishka Pompushki sings a song about a bear coming to dinner. At first Veronica confused the pronunciation and told me the song is about beer and dinner, mishka meaning beer. So, beer, beer, beer is how the song starts. Then Andriy said, “Not beer, bear!” We had a good laugh about that one and Veronica was, as always, a good sport. So my bear sings about coming to dinner. Nice.

Now I am packing some more. I will be glad when this process is complete!

My last full day here was a good one. I was happy to spend it with some good friends.

Monday and Tuesday

Monday


Woke up and went to Ace. Walked the long way up there, and down Vul Virmenska back. I stopped in to a market to try to find my favorite yogurt, Activia with muesli and nuts. Or at least I think that is what it says on the container. 

Came back, worked on my speech, emailed, and accompanied went to Soho. I bought a case for my painting. I cooked Asian food later in the day.

Tuesday

Woke up, submitted my grades to Mykola and went to Ace. Returned, packed, and got ready to go to the Post Office and to Koleso.

Holubsee and beetroot salad at Koleso:

I talked with Natalia to make sure everything is set for transportation next week, etc. Returned from Koleso and took a nap. Woke up, worked on blog, cooked the rest of the pesto and Arriabata sauce, and cooked cherry and poppy seed varynky to celebrate my last dinner in the flat in Chernivtsi. Drank the rest of the Crimea wine. Worked on blog late. Tomorrow is my last full day in Chernivtsi. Sad.

OMG! The TV is on and I just saw Andriy!!! Evidently a university student was recently beaten to death by some policemen in Kyiv and students throughout Ukraine are protesting. Andriy told us last night there might be a protest in Chernivtsi this morning. I didn’t hear anything about one. They showed Andriy in the same room where we had our press conference for the election. He was just on again! Evidently he organized a roundtable discussion about what happened bc he couldn’t get the officials to sign a form that he needed in order to have a demonstration. Impressed with his activism! Students throughout Ukraine are concerned that justice will not be sought in the killing of this student, and are pretty outraged about it.

The Blessing of the Sheep

Where do I begin?

At 7:21AM we were waiting outside the green building at Sobornna Square. We had decided to go on an “excursion” as they are called around here, to the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathian Mountains are not far from Chernivtsi and everyone here has told me I can’t leave without seeing them. I had planned to hike Mt. Hoverla, Ukraine’s highest peak, but after reading more about that and learning that there is still snow at the top of the mountain, with temps hovering around freezing even in the middle of the summer, I axed that idea. No way I am getting anywhere close to snow. In fact, there was a really interesting oral history conference in Finland that I received a call for about one month ago. The deadline was a few days ago. I had planned to apply for it. Then, after giving it some more thought, I realized that Finland in December = snow. I didn’t apply.

So going on this excursion was a nice way to see the mountains and take care of another goal, which is to learn about Hutsul (pronounced Hootsool) culture.

The Hutsuls are the people who live in the Carpathian mountains. They are considered a distinct ethnic group, composed of 3 main tribes: the Boiki, Lemi, and Pokuttian. They have customs and foodways (mushrooms, brynza, mammaliga,berries) that are a bit distinct from the rest of Ukraine. They are known as sheep herders. They used to communicate from village to village through a trembita, a long, alone horn, but nowadays they use cell phones. Even today, their dialect is often undecipherable to other Ukrainians. This particular festival that we were going to was the 50th annual Blessing of the Sheep. Maybe you’ve been to one before; I had not!

The bus was supposed to leave at 7:30. At 7:27, I called the coordinator. She said she would be there in 15 minutes. Weren’t we supposed to leave at 7:30? We looked around and saw no one, so I sat on a bench in the square and watched all the nice people walking to the cathedral for mass. There was beautiful music emanating from the cathedral.

At 8, I noticed some people gathering near the green building. That has to be the crew. It was. The bus was late, and we ended up leaving Chernivtsi around 8:30. That extra hour of sleep would have been nice.

The drive to Potylla was very interesting. We passed village after village with cows roaming freely on the roads. At certain points we had to brake bc of cows crossing the road. We saw lots of people walking their cows on leashes as well.  There's nothing like taking your cow out for a walk on an early Sunday morning!

There was a horse and buggy at the service station where we stopped. This was the second time I have seen a  horse and buggy at a service station in Ukraine. It doesn't seem to make sense. I got a cup of kava at the gas station, and when the lady handed it to me, she said, "Nosteroyvna." Given that I had someone who speaks English with me (I had heard this lots before), I asked what it meant. For your health, was the reply. I like that. You give someone coffee and say, "For your health!"


When I saw this it made me miss my grandmother's house. This area reminded me a bit of upcountry SC.
We passed goats, chicken, and sheep. We saw lots of churches, and some pretty scenery. Tina Karol's hit Chinchilla played on the radio.


Last night in my book, Anna Reid’s Borderlands (a history of Ukraine written by this former correspondent for The Economist), Reid mentioned that the only time that Chernivtsi made the national news when she lived here was when one of the roads here disappeared into the Prut River. I didn’t realize just how close I would come about 10 hours later to a very similar situation.

Two hours later we arrived. We walked a long way, to get to the festival. Hutsuls like to do fancy and creative things with brynza/cheese. See?
Then we found some seats inside the stadium. I changed into my traditional Ukrainian shirt. Many dignitaries, including the Chernivtsi mayor and city council, spoke. Like politicians everywhere, these people like to hear themselves talk.


Then there was some singing and dancing. Then people began to form a circle around a wood stack. The main shepherd lit the bonfire and everyone ran around it. The bigger the fire, the better the cattle and harvest will be. They told the crowd that the fire was to purify these mountains and to purify our bodies.

 The Merry Grannies sang, and a prayer was offerred to St. George to protect the cattle from evil.Now this takes the Ukrainian faux handbag craze a bit too far. This is a regular plastic bag!
Afterwards, horses ran around the stadium. They were decorated in bright colors. I only saw one sheep during the festival. Evidently a festival that blesses sheep doesn't actually have to include the sheep. They showed off wedding customs: Law enforcement did some exercises with a police canine. The dog searched bags and found a gun. Then, I was told that the dog would get the illegal immigrants. What? This man in a black suit and a uniformed policemen pretended to get into it, a firecracker went off, and then the man in black started running across the field. Then another policeman unleashed the German Shepherd and he took off after the man and tackled him. Several more policemen tore the dog off the illegal immigrant. Whew. Glad we are here legally.After the ceremony we walked around to look at all the stalls selling traditional Ukrainian stuff. We even saw the lady from whom I bought my shirt at Obnova.

Trembita:
With Valentina:

At 1:45 we met to walk to the restaurant where we had reservations and a special room reserved upstairs for our group. On the way we passed Yuriy Fedkovych’s home. He is he man for whom Chernivtsi Nat’l Uni is named, so they really wanted me to go in. The guide’s brother lives in the US and he was eager to give me a tour. One of Valentina’s students was eager to try out her translating skills, so we took the tour and everyone got pictures. Fedkovych is known for translated many important works into Ukrainians, and for his astrological studies. Hm. He was in the Bukovina regiment of the Austrian guard.

Then we went to the restaurant. Lunch, comprised of traditional Ukrainian food, was good. This place was a meat place which served lots of lamb shaslyk so I ate a lot of mammaliga, which is actually a Hutsul dish.

I had been told that we would be back in Chernivtsi by 4 or 5, and that we were leaving to go back after lunch. With lunch starting a few minutes after 2, we were right on schedule. Perfect. I needed to get home to do some packing, etc.

That is not what happened. Over the many toasts at lunch people became a little loopy and there were many opportunities for horse riding and dancing nearby. This was fun for the 2 hours. Then, the crew started telling jokes about Jews. I did not laugh and became very uncomfortable. I decided it was high time to go to the bathroom. When I returned I figured we would probably be packing to go. I was told another hour. An hour went by and when I asked when we would be leaving, I was jokingly told 2 more hours. Uh, this is not what I signed up for.

I kept talking to some people, including some students who are doing a work study in the US this summer, working at the McDonalds in Times Square. That will not be an easy job. Lots of people wanted to come talk with the American to practice English.

We read the books we brought, watched some fish in the pond, watched as horse cart after horse cart went up the hill across the river , carrying people heading home for the day. I asked about alternate ways to get home; there were none.

At 6:20, we finally left the restaurant. Whew. I thought I would have been home 2 hours earlier. Oh, well.
Parts of the day had been fun and interesting. I was told that we were going to stop by to get some free beer (am I back in college?) for 10-15 minutes and then we would head back to Chernivtsi. What do you think happened? That 10-15 minutes turned into an hour and a half, with beer, horilka, lots more meat coming off the grill, singing, violins playing, horses cantoring all around us, and more mammaligia. The best part was that all this took place in a lumber yard with a bunch of stray dogs.
Fiiiiiinally, we got back in the van to head back. Then the singing began. The scenery was nice heading home. Cemeteries here are very colorful. There is a cemetery just across the border in Romania that claims to be the most visitied cemetery in the world. It is supposed to be very colorful. More cows: I was told there is an expression in Ukraine, which translates into, "The mountains are smoking."
We finally arrived in Chernivtsi at 10:30PM. Unreal. Needless to say, it was a really, really long day. I met some nice people who were very eager to make sure we had a good time, saw some interesting things, and learned about Hutsul culture, but wish the day had been about 5 hours shorter. I headed straight to light the shower when I walked in the door. Very, very, very glad to be back.