Dog Days of Summer?

It may not be summer yet, but this heat wave has got everyone out in force with very few clothes on. Yesterday I went to the "island" which lies directly across the river from our apartment. You can get there on foot by crossing a footbridge which spans the river. On the other side is a beach... yes, a beach! I have heard some say that it is far too dirty to swim, but I saw quite a few bathing in the water. Someone told us today that they use the "frog test". If you see a live frog, then it's safe to go in the water. We saw both a live and a dead one. I spent time on the island with a Ukainian friend sketching foresty things. Inland from the "beach" are lots of trees and benches where one can have a picnic. It was charming to look at, but the weather was muggy and hot. This heat wave brought the temperature up to 95 degrees today! Most people don't think of high temperatures when they think of Kyiv. We have finally gotten rid of the mosquitoes by getting a fan allowing us to close the windows at night. Joe says he "is in heaven" (relatively speaking, of course).

The dogs are out too. Kyiv happens to have the healthiest stray population I have ever seen. Most of them are pretty fit looking and not afraid of humans. I think people treat them better than in most countries. I have never seen them be aggressive either. However, recently there was an article in the Kyiv post that says that animal control is not organized or even existant here. When we got home today from an outing, one guy (this time I mean a dog - although in the past it has been a wino) was sprawled on the concrete first-floor level of the stairwell. He looked up from the darkness blinking as we climbed up to our second-floor flat. They are pretty-darned cute, smart, and full of personality. We have even seen packs that regulary hang out together. Cesar Millan was right!

Dnipropetrovsk: Secret City

OK, Let's talk about the "secret city" that foreigners were not allowed anywhere near until 1989... this is where the Soviet Space Center was located which was very closely guarded. Now, in the same building, the Ukrainians are working on a project called "Sea Launch" ("A project not for war, but for peace," one of the teachers told us.) Dnipropetrovsk (Duh-NEE-pro-pe-TROVSK), the main city of the oblast of the same name and third biggest city in Ukraine, has a history of industry and manufacturing. The banks of the Dnipro River - a more southern part of the same river we live near - provide for a striking night view with lights and factories on the other side.

I presented at "Secondary School #22", which includes K-12 here; the term "primary school" doesn't exist for some reason. I guess its because all school kids are in the same building. Well the teachers that attended my workshops were not only from that school, but from schools up to an hour away. They were a great audience and did all the "interaction" in a very warm room without a complaint. In fact, it got up to almost 90 degrees fahrenheit that day! In Kyiv right now it is in the 80's. Talk about a heat wave . . . we have no A/C in our apartment.

The 300-mile train trip was pleasant and allowed us to see the landscape and farmland southeast of Kyiv. Dnipropetrovsk still maintains a strong Russian influence with everyone speaking Russian, Soviet monuments still prominantly displayed, and tanks and military equipment in the parks. I caught a few youths conversing on a "mortar". They had started to move away after I said (in good Russian) "Mozhna Fotagrafiravat?". Then, they lit up when I garbled (in bad Russian) that I wanted to take a picture of 'them', not the 'mortar'. An unusually striking site in Dnipropetrovsk was a collection of 11th century statues that had been unearthed in different parts of Ukraine and brought to a kind of small park near the National History Museum. It felt very special there even though it was right in the center of town; people didn't seem to know if this "monument" even had a name or not... The figures looked very 'proud' and 'happy' to be on display. I really liked that place and haven't seen anything like it anywhere else.

Now, back in Kyiv, we are sweating. The heat wave is supposed to break on Thursday. Hope so. The sun comes up at 5am and sets at 8:40pm (remember back in December when it set around 4pm?). I guess our latitude causes the days to get really long and really short depending on the season.

Cigarettes and the Red Army

Hmmm... cigarettes. No I don't smoke and neither does Joe, but we'll get to that. Now, safely back in Ukraine, I can mention that, while in Poland we did partake of the holy creme cake (pronounced kremkova). I've added a picture at the end of my previous blog entry of the famed "Pope's favorite bakery."

Also, on our trip we witnessed a cigarette smuggling scheme that was pretty crazy. I failed to mention earlier that while walking (quickly) across the Ukrainian-Polish border, we saw hundreds of abandoned cartons of L&M cigarettes. In addition, we saw young men taping cigarette packs to their legs, around their stomachs, up their sleeves, and in their crotches (well, I'm not sure if they used tape there). Anyhow, it was pretty obvious, and we hustled past the hustlers who were literally "gearing up" in the outdoor passage way from the Ukrainian check point to the Polish one. You can legally take one carton through. So, each one of the "guys" dutifully carried their "allowed" carton openly. When we got to the Polish checkpoint, they were asked how many cartons they had. They said, "one"; that was it! I guess it would be too much trouble to shake down each and every one of these guys. Appparently, Ukrainian cigs are way cheaper than the Polish ones.

Not to mention that coming back to Ukraine involves a long layover at the border . . . while we waited, what looked like a workman climbed over our train seats (I thought he was replacing a burned out light), opened overhead compartments and heating? vents shoving some kind of cartons into them. Now wait... this time we were headed for Ukraine... where the cigarettes are cheaper, right? Well, the next step involved the train actually being checked by Polish "officials" who didn't find anything. Then we took off. A woman in front of us hurriedly dismantled her "table" and must have pulled out some ciggie cartons. The climbing man hurried back and pulled the cartons out of the ducts... then everyone proceeded to quickly put them into plastic bags and throw them off the train where other young men were waiting in the weeds. The only thing we can figure is that the cigs came into Poland on the train then stayed on the train until the "operatives" could board and rid the train of the "goods" before reaching Ukraine. I had never heard of "Ma Barker", but after Joe explained why he was calling the lady in front of us that, I thought it was perfect! Before reaching the actually border checkpoint in Ukraine, "Ma" had dutifully reassembled her train "table" with the screw driver and duct tape she had brought along. While officials were checking her passport, she was cool as a cucumber.

Now onto the Red Army in Kyiv ... Wednesday was "Victory Day" when Ukraine celebrates the Red Army's participation in the end of World War II. They were the first to get to Auschwitz and officially liberate the prisoners there. On the tour we took in Poland, we learned that at that point, most of the prisoners were so weak that they had to be kept at the "death camps" while medical aid was sent in to help them get healthy enough to leave.

We walked around town looking for parades ... any kind of ceremony. It was a rainy day and we didn't find much but a few veterans carrying flowers and visiting war memorials. While in the park in central Kyiv, we also saw where the demonstrators hang out in hundreds of little tents. Each political party has its own area and surrounding posters and representive flags. The area with the "red flags" has members of the party that has recently formed a coalition with Viktor-East, hence the poster of Julia and Viktor-West carving up Ukraine (into East and West). "Why can't we all just be one happy county under communism?" is what I think they're trying to say.

Pilgrimage to Poland

We are in Poland right now - Krakow to be exact - where we are spending our May Day holidays. The trip here has truly been a pilgrimage of sorts: We started in Kyiv on Friday where we caught a train out to Lviv in western Ukraine. We spent the night. The next morning we spent about 2.5 hours taking a "mashrutka" ride out to the Ukrainian border at which time we had to walk across the border to Poland. Sounds easy, eh? My only 'border walking' experience having been between El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico, I was not prepared for what we saw. No less than 350 people were waiting in a long long crowd-like line to pass through the customs checkpoint. Our hearts sank. The Lady was waiting ... who is The Lady you ask?

Well a little over a year ago, I finished a copy of DaVinci's Lady with Ermine. It had been an assignment to copy an old master for a painting class; I came to be obsessed with the painting spending many many hours staring at it and trying to get a good likeness (see photo). When we moved to this part of the world, one of our goals was to go see the original which just happens to be in ... Krakow!

I marched to the front of the "border" line where a guard told me to go to the back of the huge crowd. I asked him if I could just go to the front for a "minutechku"... Joe waited behind. I went straight through a door where I saw a tall official-looking Ukrainian customs guy in a blue military-style suit. I said, "I need to go to Poland." He said, "Passport?" I said, "OK, here" (in my best American accent while waving to Joe to come forth and join me!). The official said, "Oh, America." Then escorted me and Joe to the front of the line - talk about queue-jumping! It was truly divine intervention that had pushed me to pull that stunt and get away with it. Needless to say, we will take the train back across the border the next time through.

So, during our first day in Krakow, we saw the amazing original version of the painting. It was captivating drawing commentary and long gazes from each tourist that entered the room in which it stands alone. The museum itself was very good, but it was hard to concentrate after seeing The Lady. The funniest thing was that I felt some incredible sense of attachment to it, like it was really mine or something. Like I wanted to tell the people around me, "I did a pretty good job, didn't I?" It was surreal.

Krakow is really a fun city with a great old town, amazing architecture, and a very tourist-friendly atmosphere. Almost everyone speaks some English... because tourism is rather new here, no one seems jaded or bothered by the throngs of foreigners visiting. We have been enjoying the coffee shops, flea markets, and reasonably-priced Polish cuisine.

We spend the whole day yesterday at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the site where up to 1.5 million people were killed during WWII. I hadn't originally wanted to go thinking that it would be so depressing. However, we decided to go, and we are glad we went. The two sites, Auschwitz and Birkenau, are well-organized for tourists and we took a 3 1/2 hour English speaking tour. I have heard about this site my whole life, especially while in junior high school. The tour was very professional, and the most astounding thing was the magnitude of how many people were put to death by the Nazis in such an innocent-looking area with green grass and big trees. The dormitory buildings at Auschwitz now house museum-like displays, or rooms rather, full of prisoners' shoes, shaving brushes, clothing, and other personal items. It was very sad, but it was done in a way that seemed respectful of those who died. Tourists are not allowed to take pictures inside most of the dormitories and the gas chambers - which we were actually able to enter and see the adjoining crematoriums. Joe took an eerie photograph of the gate at the entrance to the Auschwitz camp, reading "Arbeit Macht Frei", which means "Work Brings Freedom" - truly ironic considering no matter how hard people worked in the camps, they usually lived no more than 2 or 3 months.

Tomorrow we are headed for a small village outside Krakow which just happens to be the birthplace of John Paul II, the pope who recently died. Maybe we will be able to wade through the pilgrims to get a piece of JP's favorite cream cake, served at a local bakery there.