Chornobyl and Churches

Ukraine is full of really beautiful things... and some tragic stories. The small but arty Chornobyl (Chernobyl) Museum is in our neighborhood, and we recently got around to seeing it. Although most of the text was in Russian and/or Ukrainian, it was very moving. You could see hundreds of pictures of what looked like plant workers, and other walls full of children's pictures. We could only imagine what all those head-shots (looking like school photos) could mean. Hundreds of names of villages that just don't exist anymore were hanging from the ceiling. Very eerie. According to wikipedia, the Chornobyl disaster "was an accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26, 1986 at 01:23 a.m., consisting of an explosion at the plant and subsequent radioactive contamination of the surrounding geographic area." The accident was not released by the Soviet government for some time, so the real effects are still unknown. Apparently, there was not systematic study of what the radiation actually did to people. We've talked with some people who were students at the time. They were in Kyiv, and while many people left, they stayed. They say they didn't suffer any ill effects except severe sore throats for months.

As an aside, we couldn't find the museum right off. I asked a guy in Russian if he knew where it was. He said he didn't know (in Russian, of course) - another older man on the street must've overheard because he said "I know" (again, in Russian, of course). At which point, I was obligated to try to understand his explanation. Luckily it wasn't hard, "Go strait, turn right, go 50 meters, and it's on the right." We found it! Damn, I'm fluent!

On other outings, we have visited some amazing churches (disclaimer: most of these pictures were taken in warmer months and all are orthodox churches). One is viewable from my university, and others are easy to walk to. The religion is Eastern Orthodox, which split from the catholic church some 1500 years ago. I've been inside some of them... lots of candles and colorful saints and holy water. If you are a woman, you're supposed to wear a head scarf. I'm not sure how they are different from Catholics - I just know that they are. One thing I noticed is that they do the 'sign of the cross' the opposite way I learned in church school. I noticed as it was always hard for me to remember: top, right, left, center (or is it left right?). Anyhow, we learned to reach first.

To my surprise American and other English speaking evangelicals have made a mark here. Many Ukrainians go to non-denominational churches headed up by Americans, Australians, and other imports. Some of the churches offer "free English classes" and "conversation practice with native speakers" (and bible classes). I have been invited 'to church' on about 4 or 5 different occasions. My first question is always, "Oh an Orthodox church? Is that what you mean?" and they say, "No it's a different kind of church... very interesting and not boring - they sing nice songs there." Personally, I have nothing against religion, but I believe it's extremely personal. Joe was talking to a teacher from the Eastern part of Ukraine. Apparently, a very conservative branch has started a following which forbids reading Newsweek or National Geographic as they are too liberal. Hmmmm... I'm just a reporter here, just observing. I have really never been overseas and seen people embrace something like this so wholeheartedly. It makes you think.
Speaking of Eastern Ukraine (closer to the Russian border), we have tickets to fly to Luhansk (Lugansk in Russian) on Sunday. I'll be giving a week's worth of seminars/workshops as it is a high priority area for the US Embassy. We have found a picture of the hotel on the Internet. Needless to say, it's somewhat industrial over there, and they speak almost exclusively.... Russian. Yay - I'll get to practice more. When we asked at the travel agency about flights to Luhansk, the agent said, "Oh it is very problem." I said, "What do you mean?" She said, "There is very small plane, and there is only one flight per day." She forgot to mention that there's also a beef about gas prices and flights have been cancelled left and right due to no gas for the planes. Good reason to cancel, I guess. But to make a long story short, Joe and I are both confirmed on a round trip flight. A 90-minute plane ride versus a 15-hour train ride. I guess it's worth it.