Socialist Realism

The trip to Luhansk, where the 8th Annual Amercian Studies Institute was held, was great. I got back last night after a week-long training that hosted teachers from throughout Ukraine. I saw many familiar faces among the participants as active teachers tend to apply for as many programs as they can. Luhansk looked much different than it did in February, and the weather was wonderfully warm. I took long walks every morning before the seminars started and took lots of pictures of the "Socialist Realism" that is so much a part of this area.

Socialist Realism was the style of art approved by the Soviet Union to "futher the goals of socialism and communisim" according to Wikipedia. It is prevalent in Luhansk and most statues of old-style "heroes" such as Lenin are stil standing. It may be because the area was very active in WWII and maybe people are proud of their history. The people are pretty friendly and I, surprisingly, found a few strangers who spoke English. One girl, who sold me a phone card, helped me put the minutes on the phone and explained how I can do it myself in the future!

The street food in Luhansk is yummy. They have little huts around town called "Blinok" where you can get crepes filled with anything from chicken and cheese to strawberries and chocolate. They also have "Cheburek" and "Pirozhki" which are fried bread-like snacks filled with cheese, sausage, potatoes, or liver. I didn't try the liver one, but the cheese ones are delicious (if you are sure not to get the sweet cheese, but the "sirom").

The plane we took was much bigger and better than the tiny one we took back in February. The difference was that we flew into Donetsk, another city in the east, and then hired a car to drive us to Luhansk. It was much quicker than taking the train, and the plane inspired much more confidence; also, the flight schedule was much more reasonable. On the way back to Donetsk after the institute, we took a detour to one of the famous monsasteries. The tour was very quick, but the location was so picturesque with the church situated on a cliff overlooking the river.

Now, I'm back in Kyiv, happy to see Joe again, and ready to fly out again next weekend to Crimea to co-teach a week-long Academic Writing Institute. Did I mention that Crimea is on the Black Sea and our classes finish by 1pm? Splash!