Our Ukrainian holidays began with the arrival in Kiev of our sons on Saturday, December 22. After meeting their on-time flights, we spent the afternoon and evening exploring the capital city. We arrived serendipitously at the main square just as the Christmas tree lighting ceremony was about to begin. There was a large well-lit stage set up beside a massive dark Christmas tree, and several fur-clad performers entertained with holiday songs. The main street, closed to traffic for the evening, was filled with revelers who were also warmly dressed against the freezing crisp air. After a countdown to 5:00 pm, the tree lights were illuminated, and a ten-minute fireworks show began. The tree flashed through a series of pretty multi-colored geometric diamonds, circles, and stripes, producing a holiday light show second to none. Following the ceremony we enjoyed traditional Ukrainian borsch at a nearby restaurant before heading to the train station for our overnight ride home.
Back in our home city we introduced the boys to our various groups and haunts. Our train arrived at 10:15 am Sunday, and at 1:00 that afternoon they graciously helped with our children’s English Club by leading “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” and acting out one of our favorite children’s stories, “The Paper Bag Princess.” Since paper bags are virtually unheard of here, plastic bags sufficed. Keith was charming as the princess with a plastic bag hat, and Scott was deliciously haughty as the dragon who is outsmarted by the princess, and Peter played the handsome but vacuous Prince. The kids loved it.
On Monday we had our host mom Sveta over for lunch. Tuesday, though Christmas Day at home, was a regular school day. The boys were invited to my university to lead an 8:30 am 2nd year English class. Then we were invited to lunch at our host mom’s with her and her sister-in-law, a gracious special woman whom we call “babushka.” The boys experienced the type of multi-toast, special event meal that we have come to know well, and Keith got a first-hand look at the equipment used for making samahone, the local homemade vodka. He was hoping to get a demonstration, but the timing wasn’t right.
On Wednesday night we attended an end of semester party for the university department at which Peter works. It was held at a local club, and students and teachers celebrated together. There were skits and entertainment provided by the students, followed by disco dancing until the wee hours. Keith and Scott were of great interest to the (especially female) students of English. Both decided that it was the closest they will ever come to feeling like rock stars. We oldsters left at 11:00, and the boys found their way home by 1:00.
The holidays feel compressed here. Kiev and our city’s Christmas trees were lighted on December 22. Tree lots could start to be seen around town about that time. Gifts are to be exchanged on January 1, and most families were carrying home the small cut trees a day or two before that. All in all it feels quite lovely and sane.
We will be celebrating when all five of us are together, beginning January 5 with Kristen’s arrival. In the meantime, we wish all a happy and healthy 2008!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Winter
It is snowing outside, Peter has taught his last class for the semester, and I am writing the final exams for my classes to take next week. It is definitely feeling like winter. The city looks pretty, covered in white. The streets and sidewalks are quite icy, and it’s not unusual to see folks slip or even fall as they make their way along. The women look elegant wearing fur or fur-trimmed coats and stiletto-heeled boots, and both men and women can be seen wearing those warm, boxy traditional fur hats.
Modest holiday decorations went up only this week inside major stores here. The city’s big 40-foot tree now resides in a local square, with a group of kids’ amusement rides beside it. We heard our first Christmas music in the local grocery store, familiar pop ones like “Santa Baby” and McCartney’s “Simply having a wonderful Christmas time.” Christmas isn’t celebrated here until January 7th; December 25 is just another day. And gift exchanging apparently happens on New Year’s Day, while Christmas is a holiday for enjoying a special family meal and honoring older relatives. There are two New Year’s days: new New Year, on January 1, and old New Year, on January 14, a remnant from a previous calendar, though it’s the new one that is primarily celebrated.
The restaurant square footage in our city has shrunk by more than half since the summer. When we arrived here in late spring there were dozens of “beer tents”, either stand-alone or extensions of regular cafes and restaurants, that provided shade from the intense sunlight, breezes through the open-air sides, and always at least a cold local beer or soft drink and some kind of snack, if not a whole meal. We enjoyed exploring our town – beer tent to beer tent. It was well into fall before we ate inside a restaurant. All of those restaurant extensions have now been taken down and put away. We had the initial impression that there were not many smokers in Ukraine. Now we think there are lots, because any venture into a café or restaurant leaves one reeking of cigarette smoke. The change in perception is due to all being forced inside.
We’re excited to welcome our sons here this week for their vacations from school. Our daughter will arrive two weeks later, just in time for Ukrainian Christmas, which will be our family’s official holiday. While they’re here we’ll introduce them to our city and local friends, and do some exploring within Ukraine. The boys have been invited to visit English classes at my university, and will also join our English Clubs at the libraries.
We send our heartfelt wishes to all for Happy Holidays!
Modest holiday decorations went up only this week inside major stores here. The city’s big 40-foot tree now resides in a local square, with a group of kids’ amusement rides beside it. We heard our first Christmas music in the local grocery store, familiar pop ones like “Santa Baby” and McCartney’s “Simply having a wonderful Christmas time.” Christmas isn’t celebrated here until January 7th; December 25 is just another day. And gift exchanging apparently happens on New Year’s Day, while Christmas is a holiday for enjoying a special family meal and honoring older relatives. There are two New Year’s days: new New Year, on January 1, and old New Year, on January 14, a remnant from a previous calendar, though it’s the new one that is primarily celebrated.
The restaurant square footage in our city has shrunk by more than half since the summer. When we arrived here in late spring there were dozens of “beer tents”, either stand-alone or extensions of regular cafes and restaurants, that provided shade from the intense sunlight, breezes through the open-air sides, and always at least a cold local beer or soft drink and some kind of snack, if not a whole meal. We enjoyed exploring our town – beer tent to beer tent. It was well into fall before we ate inside a restaurant. All of those restaurant extensions have now been taken down and put away. We had the initial impression that there were not many smokers in Ukraine. Now we think there are lots, because any venture into a café or restaurant leaves one reeking of cigarette smoke. The change in perception is due to all being forced inside.
We’re excited to welcome our sons here this week for their vacations from school. Our daughter will arrive two weeks later, just in time for Ukrainian Christmas, which will be our family’s official holiday. While they’re here we’ll introduce them to our city and local friends, and do some exploring within Ukraine. The boys have been invited to visit English classes at my university, and will also join our English Clubs at the libraries.
We send our heartfelt wishes to all for Happy Holidays!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Culture and History
The heat came on in our apartment this week. In each of our three rooms there is a radiator, and each radiator is now warm to the touch instead of ice cold. We’re not being blasted by the heat, but it’s enough to keep the apartment warm, with only occasional supplementation by our electric heaters. Don’t get the impression that we have ever been anything but comfortable. Even before the heat came on, with snow falling outside, an additional sweater or the electric heater was all that was needed to keep us cozy.
In our city there are two movie theaters plus one theater for dramatic and musical productions. We have seen a movie at each of the “kinoteatres,” and decided to check out the other one this week. When perusing the posters and information posted at the theater, we learned that there are different types of productions, which change each night. (Perhaps they travel from other nearby, larger cities?) We were pleased to see that the next night’s performance was an evening of Edith Piaf songs, and bought tickets for $4 each, which got us seats in the fifth row.
So this past Sunday we were treated to a wonderful evening of familiar music, sung half in French and half in Russian by a tiny woman with a powerful voice, just like Ms. Piaf. The staging was stark but clever – they managed to suggest an Eiffel Tower with only a few metal bars – plus there were nine modern/ballet dancers behind the singer who added a very French feel to the production. It was a real treat, and we left with “La Vie en Rose” playing in our heads.
This week Ukraine is marking the 75th anniversary of its “Holodomor.” We’re chagrined to have known nothing about this horrific episode in Ukraine’s history prior to arriving here. Holodomor means the Great Starvation, and it refers to the 1932-33 period when between 3 and 10 million Ukrainians died in a man-made famine. (The actual number is unknown, and scholars disagree.) Stalin responded to Ukrainians’ resistance to forced collectivization of their farms by instituting severe policies. A few quotes from Ukraine’s President Yushchenko:
Holodomor “was a state-organized program of mass starvation that in 1932-33 killed an estimated seven million to 10 million Ukrainians, including up to a third of the nation's children. With grotesque understatement the Soviet authorities dismissed this event as a "bad harvest."
“Stalin's cruel methods included the allocation of astronomic grain requisition quotas that were impossible to meet and which left nothing for the local population to eat. When the quotas were missed, armed units were sent in. Toward the end of 1932, entire villages and regions were turned into a system of isolated starvation ghettos called "black boards." Throughout this period, the Soviet Union continued to export grain to the West and even used grain to produce alcohol. By early 1933, the Soviet leadership decided to radically reinforce the blockade of Ukrainian villages. Eventually, the whole territory of Ukraine was surrounded by armed forces, turning the entire country into a vast death camp.”
”During the long decades of Soviet rule it was dangerous for Ukrainians to discuss their greatest national trauma. To talk of the Holodomor was a crime against the state, while the memoirs of eyewitnesses and the accounts of historians like Robert Conquest and the late James Mace were banned as anti-Soviet propaganda. Yet each Ukrainian family knew from bitter personal memory the enormity of what had happened.”
In our city there are two movie theaters plus one theater for dramatic and musical productions. We have seen a movie at each of the “kinoteatres,” and decided to check out the other one this week. When perusing the posters and information posted at the theater, we learned that there are different types of productions, which change each night. (Perhaps they travel from other nearby, larger cities?) We were pleased to see that the next night’s performance was an evening of Edith Piaf songs, and bought tickets for $4 each, which got us seats in the fifth row.
So this past Sunday we were treated to a wonderful evening of familiar music, sung half in French and half in Russian by a tiny woman with a powerful voice, just like Ms. Piaf. The staging was stark but clever – they managed to suggest an Eiffel Tower with only a few metal bars – plus there were nine modern/ballet dancers behind the singer who added a very French feel to the production. It was a real treat, and we left with “La Vie en Rose” playing in our heads.
This week Ukraine is marking the 75th anniversary of its “Holodomor.” We’re chagrined to have known nothing about this horrific episode in Ukraine’s history prior to arriving here. Holodomor means the Great Starvation, and it refers to the 1932-33 period when between 3 and 10 million Ukrainians died in a man-made famine. (The actual number is unknown, and scholars disagree.) Stalin responded to Ukrainians’ resistance to forced collectivization of their farms by instituting severe policies. A few quotes from Ukraine’s President Yushchenko:
Holodomor “was a state-organized program of mass starvation that in 1932-33 killed an estimated seven million to 10 million Ukrainians, including up to a third of the nation's children. With grotesque understatement the Soviet authorities dismissed this event as a "bad harvest."
“Stalin's cruel methods included the allocation of astronomic grain requisition quotas that were impossible to meet and which left nothing for the local population to eat. When the quotas were missed, armed units were sent in. Toward the end of 1932, entire villages and regions were turned into a system of isolated starvation ghettos called "black boards." Throughout this period, the Soviet Union continued to export grain to the West and even used grain to produce alcohol. By early 1933, the Soviet leadership decided to radically reinforce the blockade of Ukrainian villages. Eventually, the whole territory of Ukraine was surrounded by armed forces, turning the entire country into a vast death camp.”
”During the long decades of Soviet rule it was dangerous for Ukrainians to discuss their greatest national trauma. To talk of the Holodomor was a crime against the state, while the memoirs of eyewitnesses and the accounts of historians like Robert Conquest and the late James Mace were banned as anti-Soviet propaganda. Yet each Ukrainian family knew from bitter personal memory the enormity of what had happened.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)