Impressions of Kiev

Well I got back to England on Saturday after a whirlwind of time in Ukraine. It was such an amazing time and place and it's difficult to decide what to post without writing a huge tome that would probably crash everyone's computers!

It was so amazing to be hosted by the Deaf community--I felt like I got such a sense of what life was like for Ukranians. So I missed a lot of the usual tourist spots, or just drove by them--like Independence Square, where the orange revolution took place...but I wouldn't have changed it for the world!

The Ukranians were so generous and hospitable--with food, drink, gifts, and just with their time and energy. Everwhere we went we were given gifts--traditional crafts, chocolates, vodka--the list goes on. And the food! Now granted, a lot of it was very different than what I'm used to--lots of pickled and smoked things. Poor Deb, my friend and colleague, who's a vegetarian, had to deal with unusual looking slabs of meat being put on her plate at every meal. One of the specialities there is salo, which is smoked pig fat...I ate a slab on a piece of rye bread, which impressed our host. I couldn't really chew it that well so I kind of swallowed it whole, where it landed in my stomach and made an impression for the rest of the afternoon. (I am sure I have thoroughly disgusted the vegetarian readers at this point.)

We visited several schools for Deaf children, who put on concerts for us--one of the pictures above is of Deaf girls doing a dance called "Little Kittens"--they were great! The loaf of bread, that looks like a cake, was presented to us and all of the visitors took a piece, dipped it in salt and ate it, as a welcome. They have amazing bread there!

The picture of the group of people is in a sewing factory. When Ukraine became independent, Deaf people were given the buildings and factories they had been placed in under the communist regime, and they very wisely maintained these--so they have 40 factories around Ukraine, and this is one of them. How incredible for Deaf people to work in a place where communication with everyone is so easy.

There are so many amazing beautiful buildings, mostly churches, with all the gold domes and beautiful colours. We went into one and got to kiss some saints relics (entombed with a plastic cover, luckily) and then went underground to see the caves where ascetic monks had lived, shut off from human contact. It was kinda creepy actually.

Ukraine also has a lot of apartment blocks built during Stalinist days, which are kind of grim looking (pictured above). Power supply can be erratic. We visited one and there were no lights at all at the entrance and lobby so I kind of stumbled my way up the stairs. Housing is really expensive in Kiev...people live outside the city limits, while the wealthy few live in quite fancy places.

I loved seeing all the hats the women wore--lots of fur! The younger women dress up--flamboyantly red dyed hair is in vogue, lots of make-up, high heeled boots, and fashionable dresses--I felt very plain in comparison. The older women look like they've had a hard life...hard work, and deprivation. Still the spirit is incredible.

I could go on and on but maybe will close with just one observation comparing English and Ukrainian norms. In England, queueing, or lining up, is VERY important--even if one person is standing alone at the bus stop, they look like they are the start of a line, not just standing idly. I heard a mother say to her toddler, who had run ahead of the line when the bus arrived, no no Hilary, we must never EVER run ahead of people who came here first, that is VERY rude!

Meanwhile, at the airport in London, in some mysterious way all the Ukrainians knew to stand up and head to the gate, which wasn't yet open...then some agent came over the loudspeaker, saying the flight was ready for boarding, and we would be boarding by row number. She said "we will start with Rows 14 - 19. If you are not in Rows 14-19, please SIT DOWN"...at which point she was completely ignored, the door opened and everyone crowded on, and she then said "or just do what you want". The only people left in the departure lounge were me, an American and a few Brits. :-)

Mary and I didn't meet in London, just seemed like too much...and I'm really glad I came back here because I got some kind of stomach bug so have been laid low for a few days and Mary is taking great care of me. She went to Birmingham last Wednesday for a meeting of people who do similar work to hers, and they have asked her to teach a workshop in the new year. She also had a dinner party with one of her classmates, who is Thai, preparing the food--she said it was fabulous!

The rains have set in, the days are short...but at least there's no snow!

Hope all are well and look forward to hearing from you

Karen