Photos from Berlin

Finally organized and captioned:
http://picasaweb.google.com/shea.wills/Berlin2009#

Those are from my April trip.

Blog Update: New Photo Sharing Website

I have nearly ran out of room with Picassa so I switched to Flickr. I have it set up slide show style. If you click "Show Info" you can see the captions of the pictures. I can change the format if anyone doesn't like it. You can also change the speed of the slides.

So, Odessa is up. I hope to have Kyiv up in the next few days.

4/18/09- Yaremche

A marshrutka piloted by an insane or suicidal driver took us up into the Carpathian foothills. We passed villages that were either picturesque or something out of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Like everything in Ukraine, they were one of two extremes.

We roasted the entire way since the old women in the marshrutka would shiver if we even cracked a window. Alexander told me they always do this, even in the heat of summer. He also told me his name for these old women: hamsters. In an odd way, they do resemble a hamster. They are all bundled up (despite the temperature) and they have bags in both hands which adds to their round, hamster-like profile. Try as I might, I can't get the comparison out of my head.

We survived our trip to Yaremche, and went about exploring the town. Soviet monuments were everywhere. The Ukrainians are very ambivalent about their past. In some places they've done their best to eradicate their Soviet past, in others it's still on display; either as a point of pride or due to apathy and practicality.

Behind this Soviet solider is a cross. Surely an unintended irony.


A block down the road was a memorial to the victims of the Soviets and the Nazis.


We walked up to the emerald-green Prut River.

This waterfall was once bigger, but the Soviets tried to destroy it with dynamite.

4/18/09- Ivano-Frankivsk and the Carpathians

The train ride alone has made this trip totally worth while. I can't even begin to describe the beauty of the countryside. There's farmland, there's marshes, there's valleys all with silver and gold- topped Orthodox churches dotting the landscape. I tried to take pictures out of the train window, but most didn't turn out. I also caught my first glimpse of the Carpathian mountains. Mountains I've wanted to see since reading Dracula for the first time.

I met Klaudia at the train station, and after dropping my things at her flat we went to the Ukrainian market.

Rabbits with fur only on one foot (to prove they were rabbits? to show they were healthy?), chickens that were beginning to mummify, and quartered pig heads were all on display.

After the market we wandered around the downtown area before boarding the bus to Yaremche.

Home and Well

I'm back from Ukraine and catching up with posts from my last trip before starting posts of my new trip. I have so many pictures, it'll be awhile before they are all organized and up for viewing.

I've been manually adding comments when you reply to my posts via email. Please let me know if you'd prefer me not to add yours.

I'll update as I'm able. Hopefully I'll get these stories out before my next trip! I know I'm so slow updating.

4/17/08- The People of Lviv

A giggling girl took a photo of me while I was taking a photo of the cathedral. I've gotten many odd stares or people pointing at me since coming to Ukraine. There's nothing malicious or condescending in their stares or laughs, I apparently just amuse them. The people here really are fantastic, I do like it here.

I met two Americans, a Canadian and a Ukrainian for dinner. We ended up dining in the same place I had my lunch. Tyler, one of the Americans, had come from Krakow where he'd been teaching English. He was on holiday before packing up and moving somewhere new. Tracy, the Canadian, was a real sweetie. She'll be staying with my host in Kyiv the day after I leave. Nataliya, the Ukrainian, was incredible and super-intelligent.

Then there was Max, the other American. Max.... I don't know quite what to say about him. He was a total embarrassment to me as a fellow countryman. He claims to like Ukraine, but has nothing good to say about the country. He has nothing good to say about any of the Slavic countries, just that they recently "stopped eating rocks", and Ukraine would never go anywhere as long as "chess was a spectator sport." He insulted Nataliya's choice of degrees, saying that one of the problems with Ukraine is people are over-educated in worthless subjects. The night was a whole bunch of me burying my face in my hands and trying to steer the conversation into an area that Max couldn't insult.

I did pull a "John" a couple of times and snuck in a few questions I knew would betray his ignorance without him realizing it. I knew it would be pointless to argue with him, he'd only end up saying more things that would make me want to crawl under the table and start talking in an affected accent ("I'm really not American, I swear"). The next day I wrote an email to Nataliya apologizing for Max's appalling behaviour, assuring her that her degree was a good one, not all Americans are like that, and Max is an idiot.

My wish to disappear was partially granted when the power went out for about 30 mintues. Everyoe in the restaurant cheered when this happened. No one came to explain or apologize, the waitresses just brought candles to light the staircase and business went on as ususal. Welcome to Ukraine. As Klaudia says, "don't worry."

Salo

Salo is raw pork fat. Lonely Planet alleges that salo is a Ukrainian favorite. According to the Ukrainians I met, it's not, it's only sold to gullible tourists. Unfortunately, I didn't find this out until after I'd eaten it. This salo was frozen and covered in chocolate. It tasted like chocolate- covered bacon and was the consistency of stringy, frozen butter.

Three bites into it my stomach protested and threatened a full systems reverse if I continued eating.