Ukraine Confusion

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2020-01-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Bread and Water

2012-05-20T16:00:00.000-04:00

I think it would be cool to have a post called “The Lion and the Cobra” or “The Serpent and the Rainbow” or maybe “The Dragon and the Tiger” but today’s post is merely called “Bread and Water”

Water came before bread so that’s where I’ll initiate this blog post. The water situation is a little out of the ordinary in Ukraine. I haven’t really had any tribulations in Kharkiv brushing my teeth with the tap water but I did have one bad case of Montezuma’s revenge during a trip to Odessa, (I’ll spare you the details). I use water straight from the faucet to make coffee/tea and occasionally during cooking but this has caused frowns among the locals. I have noticed the shampoo receptacles in my shower develop a white coating on them after a few weeks so I’m confident that I don’t want to be drinking this mysterious liquid, (Or even put it in my iron). So like most expats I just purchase some bottled water at the grocery store. This is a little odd for me because I never buy bottled water in the United States. I have always lived in a area where it was fine to drink the water that comes out of the public pipes. If I was going to be “out and about” especially hiking I would just put some iced tap H20 in a hard plastic reusable water container. I hate the idea of all those empty plastic bottles ending up in a landfill or the ocean. Never the less, today at the supermarket, I bought some more water for about eighty one cents apiece. Strangely enough a chilled Budweiser (a recent discovery for me in Kharkov maybe because of Euro 2012?) could be bought for the same exact price. I’m drinking some of that cold water as I’m writing. The thought that I might want to run in the morning is keeping the King of Beers at arms length. Of course, .81 cents is a lot for water so there is another option for the thrifty. From time to time a water truck will pull up to the apartment building while beeping his horn. This is a sign to bring your empty bottles down to get them refilled for about half price. The only time I think these trucks are used in America are at oil drilling sites or if the National Guard needs to distribute water due to some emergency. I only live on the third floor but still I’m not going to refill my bottles to save forty cents. Then again, that would give me more money for beer and be better for the environment. Too bad I can not use the savings to buy a Colorado Silver Bullet.

A water truck outside my apartment

When I go out to dinner with people that are new to Ukraine, I always have them try the Kvass (квас) if it is on the menu. At my favorite Ukrainian restaurant in Odessa I usually order a pitcher to start the meal. Kvass is a fermented drink that according to the modern recipe is prepared from rye bread. To me it sort of tastes like watered down apple juice. It may have a slight alcohol content and is usually flavored with fruit or herbs. Kvass has been an accepted drink in Eastern Europe (including Russian, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Belarus) for over a thousand years and has been mentioned in books like War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Some of my ancestors came from Lithuania over 100 years ago and I’m sure they were disappointed that it was hard to find in America. Maybe they made a homemade version for years until that skill was forgotten in my family. During my earliest trip to Ukraine, I was possibly the first person in my family to consume it in eighty plus years? Kvass used to be only available in the summer but now you can find bottles of it in the stores year round. A sure sign of spring is when the venders start selling it on the streets. Coca-Cola and Pepsi have their own brands of Kvass in Russia so McDonalds isn’t the only blue chip trying to vacuum up some rubles. Most of my friends appreciated the fact that I had them sample this drink. However, I told one friend about it that arrived in Ukraine to teach before me. He bought a cup from a street vender, tasted it and then promptly but the cup on the ground next to a wall. I guess it is an acquired taste?

A Kvass street vender near my metro station

Posted by John

Easter

2012-04-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

Today is Easter Sunday in Ukraine. This may seem out of the ordinary to Westerners that celebrated this holiday last week but this is a result of the difference between calendars. The West uses the Julian and the east uses the Gregorian. (Next year the days will be celebrated over a month apart but then in 2014 they will occur on the exact date.)

There are some similarities in the celebrations between the two cultures but there are also some major differences. In the Roman Catholic Church, (and also with some Protestant religions), Easter week really starts with Palm Sunday. This is the Sunday before Easter when the churches in the west will distribute palm leaves. The Friday after this is called Good Friday. The more religious may attend a performance of the “Stations of the Cross.” These are religious holidays in the US and not usually secular ones. However, strangely enough the US stock markets are closed on Good Friday and it is a holiday in twelve states. In the United States on Easter morning children will awake and try to locate their Easter baskets. The previous night they were left out empty but by this time they should be filled with jelly beans, chocolate eggs and marshmallow bunnies or chicks by the nocturnal and legendary Easter Bunny. Adults may also exchange Easter candy and the test of true love is not to bite the ears off of your sweetheart’s chocolate, (hopefully solid!), Easter rabbit. Many people will attend church on Sunday and later have a big dinner at home (usually a ham or some lamb) or at a restaurant. Easter morning sunrise services are very popular. Other events planned for the day/week may include the New York City parade, Easter egg hunts, decorating eggs, or just showing off your newest spring clothing. Even the President of the United States gets into the act by hosting the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn.

In Ukraine things are a little different. First of all Palm Sunday is Pussy Willow Sunday probably because palm leaves were hard to obtain in the east. Good Friday has a different name as well. It is known as Great Friday or Passion Friday. In the Russian Orthodox Church Easter mass is celebrated on Saturday night and it lasts ALL night. As far as I know there isn’t much of a candy exchange or egg rolls but egg decorating is very important. My understanding is that the traditional way to dye the eggs is by using the skin of an onion. The chief color for egg dyeing is red, (this symbolizes the blood of Christ); so perhaps they use red onions?

One thing that definitely is different is that the Russian people will make Easter Cakes (AKA as Easter Bread), which are called “kulich”. This cake is baked in tall tins almost like coffee cans. They usually have raisins inside and have a white icing with the letters XB on them. XB is represents the Cyrillic letters for “Christos Voskres”, Christ has risen. These are brought to church with other food such as eggs, to be blessed by the priest. Many people will bake their own but it is simple enough to buy them in the supermarket or on the street. Also there may be a competition of banging eggs (egg tapping) together to see who has the strongest. People also drink a wine called “Kagor” that they obtain from their church. The Monday after Easter is usually a non-working day. The following Sunday people will visit cemeteries for the Commemoration of the dead.

I’m not sure about a custom in Ukraine of showing off new spring clothing but as the weather got warmer I started to spot the return of the T-Shirts that girls wear that have the English message, “Say Me Yes”. When I first saw these during the summer, I thought maybe it was the name of a local band when in fact it is just bad grammar.

Let the Good Times Roll

2012-02-29T11:00:00.012-05:00

It was very interesting last week in Ukraine.

For the practicing Christian (including Catholics, Lutherans and Methodists) in America, last week saw the start of Lent. The Lenten season starts with Ash Wednesday. This is a odd religious holiday where ashes are placed in the sign of a cross on the foreheads of the observers. The ashes come from the burned palms that are used on Palm Sunday. For the uninformed this can be an unusual day because you see people walking around with what you think is common soot on their foreheads. The date of Ash Wednesday can change from year to year because it is based on when Easter is celebrated. Most people think of Lent as being from Ash Wednesday until Easter but it is actually really up to Holy Thursday (the day of the Last Supper). The days before and including Easter are part of their own mini-season rather than a component of Lent.

Mardi Gras, which is French for Fat Tuesday, is also celebrated during this week. (More precisely it occurs on the day before Ash Wednesday.) This day is also known as Shrove Tuesday and is the date when you should confess all your sins before the start of Lent. This is more of a cultural celebration prior to the fasting season of Lent. Mardi Gras can be celebrated over a few days with parades and parties that include the wearing of masks, costumes and beads. If you see a woman with a great number of beads you might ask her how they were obtained! This holiday is not traditionally observed in North America other than in ethnic French cities like Quebec and New Orleans. Of course, the worlds most famous Mardi Gras is celebrated as Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Let me get back to the wonderful week in Ukraine. First of all we are still talking about Lent but in the Eastern Orthodox religion it starts on a Monday. This Monday is called Clean Monday because on the day before, Forgiveness Sunday, you should have asked for absolution for all your sins. This period in Russia and Ukraine is called pancake or Maslenitsa week. This was originally a pagan ritual that became a Christian holiday. Be aware that we are not talking about the same pancakes that are found at IHOP. These are called bliny and except for the potential to have yeast, they are thin and similar to crepes. These can be topped with caviar, jam, sour cream, meat and butter. In fact, the word Maslenitsa comes from the Russian word for butter. In the distant past the pancakes were eaten to celebrate the passing of winter and the coming of spring. They are said to represent the sun because they are warm and round. As part of the religious celebration they are eaten to fatten up on the meat, dairy and eggs that you should not be eating during Lent. Maslenitsa is becoming a bigger and bigger holiday in cities such as Moscow. I was told by my students that something is actually supposed to be celebrated each day, such as one day where men are fed pancakes by their mother-in-laws, one day for sleigh riding and another day to visit god parents. Unfortunately, no one seemed to be able to come up with a complete list of these special days. I was surprised because I actually was given the impression that I knew more about this week than some of my students but that may not be that unusual because of the suppression of religion during Soviet times. The week ended on Sunday when a large Maslenitsa doll was burned to say goodbye to winter. Additional Maslenitsa events can also include group fist fights, performing bears, singing and fireworks. Of course there is also plenty of vodka to go around.

There was a bonus holiday during this week in 2012. The week of Maslenitsa like Ash Wednesday can change from year to year but The Motherland Defender Day is always on February 23^rd which fell on Thursday of last week. Some people like to call this former Soviet Army Day as “Men’s Day” but other than some presents from women or maybe some special activities at work it can not be compared to International Women’s Day that falls on March 8^th.

Posted by John

This is the End!

2012-01-15T10:00:00.003-05:00

The Holidays are finally over in Ukraine. This may seem odd to Americans because they were concluded two weeks ago in the USA. So maybe I should give a little more detail.

While Christmas is celebrated in America on December 25^th, this is almost a non-event in Ukraine for two main reasons. Ukrainians have a tendency to be aware of the American Xmas but sometimes they are uncertain of the exact date. (I was given some Christmas wishes and or presents by some of my students.) Americans celebrate Christmas based on the calendar introduced by Pope Gregory in 1582. The Gregorian calendar replaced the old Julian calendar because of an eleven minute error that causes a three day difference every four centuries. A handful of countries adopted the new calendar at first and ultimately the rest of the world accepted it as well. The United Kingdom, including the American colonies, agreed to the change in 1752. At that time, 11 days had to be eliminated because of the accumulated difference. Russia and Greece were two of the countries that held out until the 20^th century. They eventually had to drop 13 days from their calendar. So the first reason that December 25^th is just another day on their calendar is because the church decided to still use the Julian calendar for Christmas which is about two weeks after the American one.

New Years is on the opposite end of the spectrum. The Russian Empire followed the Orthodox Church which was part of the Roman Catholic Church until it split into the western and eastern versions. However, after the revolution, the secular communist government wanted to eliminate religion from the country. Because of this, the population was unable to celebrate Christmas openly so New Years became the big Holiday of the Year. Ukrainians celebrate New Years with fireworks, exchanging presents, parties, champagne and lots of vodka. It is like Christmas, New Years and the Fourth of July wrapped into one night. It is strange because this season I saw Christmas tree lots established after December 25^th. But they were not selling Christmas trees; they were New Year trees!

On January 7^th Christmas is celebrated as a lower key event because it was suppressed under the Soviets. Many of the religious aspects are the same as in the west because they have the same origins.

The last (actually not true because Epiphany is on 1/19) holiday of the season is Old New Year on January 14^th which as you may have guessed is the New Year Holiday following the Julian calendar. They do have one odd tradition on this day. For the last two years I have had someone knock on my door and when I answered it there were two young boys. They come in and sing or chant in Ukrainian and then toss cracked wheat on the floor. I think this is called the Posevaniya ritual? I’m not sure what they are singing but the wheat must mean that I will have a good harvest in 2012. Since I’m not raising crops maybe this means I will have a child? Last year I gave the boys some candy but this year I provided them with a little money. I vacuumed the carpet before they came over and now I trying to figure out an acceptable time to sweep up the wheat.

Posted by John

A girl called by any other name is an angry girl

2011-12-09T10:00:00.007-05:00

I guess, half of the dogs in Kharkov during the 90s bore the proud name of “Dick”, which might have appeared here in some way under the influence of American movies but nobody really managed to look it up in a dictionary.

So, I think, name confusion is caused by three reasons: first – the lack of knowledge, the second – names’ traveling from one culture to another, and the third – pronunciation.

Johann Bach, Sebastian Bach or Johann Sebastian? – That is the question. There is no such thing as a middle name in Ukraine or either in Russia , we only have the patrimony. Written in passport after the last name, it is used in formal communication. Somebody who is lower in status than you or much younger will use a full (not shortened) first name and a patronymic, talking to you. For example, you wouldn’t call your boss or teacher by first name without patronymic (at least in public). That’s why middle names are so confusing for Ukrainians: we don’t know whether we can take them out or not while writing or speaking and shouldn’t we leave out the first name calling a person by his/her middle one. For example I have learned once that I can’t shorten Austrian and German names by its middle. You may say “Amadeus Mozart” (instead of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), but “Wolfgang Mozart” is unacceptable. The same happens with Bach.

Since some cultures (like America) have a different policy about middle names, that makes it more convoluted to figure out what you should do, especially if you work on the border or in a bank and have to pretend you are a “know-it-all” person. In this position asking somebody which way their names should be written might seem too humiliating. That’s why John has so many different versions of his own name, and now it’s almost impossible to keep track of him with all his new aliases in Ukraine.

“WE, Nicolas the second”. Definitely nobody uses a “family” name in Ukraine, because there is a superstition about giving a person the name of a dead relative. And nobody would say “Helen the third” of “the fifth” because in the history only the kings and queens ever had an order number added to their names.

Russian names and aliens. But the most awkward thing for me is when other nationalities use Russian names for their children, which don’t match them (from my point of view) at all. Surprisingly, I found out that Korean boys and girls prefer to call them by Russian names which are randomly picked by them or their parents. At first I thought parents do that to simplify communication with Russian-speaking teachers, but recently I have realized they dislike their native names and don’t like me using them. Well, I don’t really think it has much to do with the fascination of Russian names, but maybe there is some sort of racial thing. I need some more time to figure this out.

Pronunciation. I’m not sure about all Russian names, but my name seems to be quite difficult to pronounce it right. I have heard miscellaneous “Elaine”, “Elena”, “Yeleina” and many others instead of my real name. That’s why I prefer Helen to Елена if I talk to English-speaking person.

Posted by Helen

A Rose by any other name is still a Rose.

2011-12-09T09:00:00.008-05:00

In America, people have a propensity to work during the week and then buy stuff to clutter up their homes on the weekend. Being a poor English teacher in Ukraine I don’t have the disposable income to buy more crap from China. However, since the currency exchange laws were changed I have started to accumulate the “Exchange of Unspent Hryvnias for Foreign Currency” certificates. Since Russians don’t really understand the format of American names; none of them have my name listed the same way. According to the form, it should be surname followed by the given name. On one I can’t even understand what is written. Another is almost correct but it seems to have my given name as “Jon” plus it has my middle name. An additional document just has my two given names (first + middle) but is missing my last name. This name mystification seemed like a good topic for this humble blog about life in Ukraine.

Generally, in America when a couple gets married the women will take the man’s last name. Some famous women will keep there last name and other women may also do it for professional reasons. Some will even take a hyphenated name. For example, If Miss Jones marries Mr. Smith she may take the name Mrs. Smith-Jones.

These days it seems like people are always trying to come up with unique boutique names for their children. In the past, things were much simpler. For example during the 1960’s the top boy’s names were:

Michael
David
John
James
Robert
Mark
William
Richard
Thomas
Jeffrey

There are four boys in my family and not only are all our first names on this list but so are half of our middle names. Obviously, my parents were not that original. They just followed cultural norms. Sometimes children are given first or middle names that were used by their relatives. For example, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s middle name came from his mother’s maiden name. Russians do not have middle names. What seems like a middle name is actually the patronymic name. This is a version of the father’s name that means some thing like “daughter of” or “son of.” I guess this is like the Bible; Jesus was begot of Joseph (well that is probably what the neighbors thought anyway?) who was begot of Heli and so on and so on until Adam and Eve were begot of God.

Of course, it is also common to give the first son the same name as his father. The father would be John Smith Senior (Sr.) and the son would be John Smith junior (Jr.). If this tradition continued in future generations then you would have John III (the third), John IV, John V and John VI. Of course, if you had a really awesome name like say George Foreman for example then you could name all five of your sons George and have George Sr. thru George VI all running around the same house. I’m not quite sure what would happen if someone called and asked for George.

I had a little trouble keeping up with all the Russian nicknames. Natalya = Natahia. Aleksandra = Sasha etc. The one that seems most amusing to Americans is Anastasiya = Nastya . Of course we also have our John = Jack, Edward = Ted, Richard = Dick and William = Bill.

Americans seem to have a picture or idea pop into their head for some Russian names. If they hear Boris & Natasha older Americans will think of an animated cartoon from the 1960s. Anastasia will invoke the image of the last Russian Royal Family and just do an image search on Google to see what they would think of for the name “Igor”. Of course, many of the Russian names are mispronounced by English speakers. Igor for example doesn’t sound the way Americans think.

On a final note, I have heard of something called “Name Day”. I think I first learned of this from a guide book. There are a number of days of the year noted as the day for a certain name. One name might have four of so days. Some of the days originate from when a Saint was born. Apparently, someone would take the first such day after their birthday for another special day. While I have heard of this tradition; I have never heard it mentioned once while I have been in Ukraine. It may have been more popular before the Revolution. There are a number of literary references including being mentioned in War & Peace.

Posted by John

“As you name the boat, so shall it float”

2011-12-01T10:00:00.015-05:00

(This is a response to the previous post by John)

I.T. is a very popular and in-demand professional sphere in Ukraine at the moment, so it is no wonder that it gave birth to some sort of vogue. It is not surprising that on this prevailing wave a place such as the IT-café appeared in Kharkov. I think this is all about the moniker “IT-café” which definitely helps this establishment gain some status. Most likely it sounds more official, serious and less informal if you schedule an appointment with someone at a enterprise like this instead of the “Potato House” for example. ‘I have spent last night at IT café’ – seems like a person was involved in some important activity, while ‘I went to the Potato House’ doesn’t make you feel the same respect.
I have visited the IT-café on Universitet only once, so I’m not really a competent judge, but I have made up my mind by its first “appearance”.
I definitely disagree with John. I don’t think that the atmosphere is that good considering the slow service and small tables which are hardly spacious enough to put both your computer and a drink. Imagine if there are more than two people at the table and they are trying to have dinner and use the internet at the same time.
The IT-café is good for you though, if you have extra time to seek internet access in a café while traveling through the city, and some excessive money to spend. Of course you can’t go there only to use the internet without ordering food, drinks or renting a computer, which are not that inexpensive as John said. Anything you ask for (even a beer) will cost you more than daily internet access, as compared to Kharkov internet providers who charge approximately 2-3 hryvna per day (about 30-50 cents). Needless to say, a dinner sometimes will cost you more than your monthly home internet bill.
So the IT-café is a bad choice for those who only need to jump on the information super highway. You would be better off by setting it up at home and saving your time (time = money). You might as well drink beer at home spending only 5 hryvna instead of 15.
On the other hand, the IT-café definitely will do in case of emergency if your home internet goes down when you have to make a Skype call or something else urgent.
But if you’re planning only a “get together” with your friends I think you can find a superior location for it. Of course I mean a normal night out with friendly conversation, not the one when you all sit at the same table but everybody is only staring at their laptops screens.

Posted by Helen

IT Cafe

2011-11-27T09:00:00.010-05:00

A friend turned me on to a new place in Kharkov,

Ukraine

. He has an apartment near the Universytet metro station in the center. The place where he is living is a Western Style residence that for some unaccountable reason does not have internet access. This hardship caused him to search for a suitable spot where he could do some business online as well as chat with friends. He decided the best choice in the area was the I.T. Café (http://itcafe.ua/) which is right to the left of the glass exit for the metro. It is directly above the Potato House.

There are a few good benefits of this eatery. First of all the Wi-Fi has a strong signal. (In a pinch you can access the internet at the weaker Potato House as well) They rent computers including the I-Pad for Apple aficionados. (They also have a counter that sells electronics such as computers and phones.) The food is pretty good and they have an English menu. While traveling around town I have been known to stop at McDonalds or Coffee Life (the Starbucks clone) to check e-mail or update my blog. Both of these are OK but I like the atmosphere at the IT café better and the fact that smoking is not allowed is a BIG plus for me. The meals are served ala carte so while they are appetizing and inexpensive, you are not going to get a meal with a soup/salad starter or even a side dish unless you order those as well. The drink prices are low also with a Carlsberg draft costing just 15 hyrvnia (under $2). I actually have given English lessons on Skype here but I was sure not to do that on the nights when they have a band or Tuesday when they have Salsa lessons.

This place is really catering to the business market. They have presentation equipment on hand, as well as printing and scanning services. They even have consultation by an IT specialist available. If you do plan to visit occasionally then you should sign up for their discount card. The basic one gives a 3% discount and allows table reservations plus they will permit you to get some of their other amenities at a discount or even free.

Posted by John

New Currency Exchange Rules

2011-11-13T09:00:00.007-05:00

The last seven weeks have been very confusing to those that exchange currencies in Ukraine. On September 23 the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) enacted new Currency Exchange Rules. They required that people who exchange foreign currency must present an ID and the business that tenders the trade would be obligated to make copies of the paperwork. This has been bewildering for Ukrainians, foreigners and the banks themselves. This could also create a massive nightmare for those attending EURO 2012 football games. Some of the kiosks that exchange money just closed because they didn’t want to deal with the bureaucracy. The Ukrainians didn’t like the idea of their personal info floating around while the expats and foreign tourists were S.O.L. because most of the banks would not exchange any money at all unless the person showed a Ukrainian Passport.

The official reason for this rule change was that it was a new tool to fight money laundering and the underground economy. Supposedly, there is $70 Billion in foreign currency in Ukraine that is hard to track. However, it seems more likely that they are doing it to stop people from selling the Hryvnia which causes it to weaken against foreign currencies. The NBU announced a series of gold investment coins that they hope people will buy instead of speculating in hard currencies. These come in bars ranging in size from 1 gram to 1,000 grams.

There were many complaints from embassy employees about their inability to exchange money. After some time, the banks did start to allow exchanges by foreigners from hard currencies into the Hryvnia. And finally the NBU relaxed the rules on October 28 so that an ID must be shown when up to the value of 150,000 Hryvnia is purchased but a copy of the ID does not have to be made. Of course, this is for a purchase into Hryvnias. People who are buying foreign currencies must still leave a copy and foreigners must show a receipt from the original purchase to exchange the leftover funds back into their currency.

These rule changes do not affect me too much because I rarely exchange currencies. If I need some extra cash I just use a bankomat (ATM). The last time I exchanged some money was during August when I got rid of some extra Euros that I had acquired. I just handed the money to someone at the exchange window and received Hryvnia and a simple receipt that had the details of the transaction.

During the past week I tried to swap some money to see how the process had changed since my last transaction. (This time it would be some leftover rubles.) I went to a bank and when I approached the exchange window they sent me back to one of the tellers. She asked for my passport and the amount of money that I was going to exchange. She then checked a list that she had on her desk. I have no idea what was on the list. She also made a phone call but I wasn’t sure if it was for my transaction or regarding the person who was ahead of me but was now standing to the side. She gave me 3 copies of a sheet of paper that had the particulars of the exchange including my name (but not my passport number). She put an official stamp on each one. I then took these back to the currency exchange window where my passport was checked again. I received my Hryvnias, a copy of the stamped transaction details plus a certificate that could be used for the “exchange of unspent Hryvnias for foreign currency”. One of my friends said he exchanged some dollars at a kiosk this week and he just handed over dollars for Hryvnia. No extra paperwork was involved. Seems like this is easier but it would be a big mistake if you have a larger amount of money remaining at the end of your trip and were unable to convert it back.

The relaxation of the rules is temporary. They are set to become stricter after the end of the Euro 2012 games. I guess it is possible that this may reduce the demand for hard currencies but I think it is a little scary that the rules will be more severe than most of the other places in the world. I will not even talk about the current restrictions of 1,000 Hryvnia per person that is a rule that is not really enforced at border crossings. I personally do not take restrictions on the free market of currency exchange lightly. Actually these new rules and regulations are making me think of some of the other events that have happened in the past around the world.

· The Weimar Republic in 1922 forced its citizens to exchange their foreign currencies into German marks. Government officials actually would search customers at restaurants and other business and seize currencies that were not turned in. Eventually, Hyperinflation destroyed the savings and pensions of the entire country.

· The Roosevelt Gold Confiscation of 1933 required that all privately held gold in the United States be sold to the government. After this was completed, the dollar was devalued against the price of gold and the US made large profits on their seizures.

· During the Argentine Economic Crisis of 1999-02 many people tried to convert their money into dollars and get their money out of the country. This caused a run on the banks and the government froze all of the accounts except for minor withdrawals. All dollar denominated accounts were forcibly converted into pesos at the official rate by the government. The resulting hyperinflation wiped out the savings of the middle class.

· After the Ukrainian Hyperinflation of the early 1990’s the Hryvnia was set at 1.76 to the dollar. By 2008 it had fallen to 4.8 to the dollar. Then in about three months in late 2008 it fell to 7.9 to the dollar. At this time anyone who had loans payable in dollars had to pay 65% more. The Hryvnia since has been pegged at an 8-1 ratio to the dollar. But how much longer can this last?

Posted by John

How to waste your time and learn to start hating English

2011-11-10T10:00:00.029-05:00

The test of English as a foreign language (TOEFL) is a necessity for applicants of international exchange programs in both US and Canadian universities and may also be required for some jobs abroad. The current test consists of four sections: Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. The results of the test have to demonstrate that you’re capable of comprehending information on academic topics and have tolerable skills of expressing your thoughts in oral and written forms.

I decided that I needed to get more organized in my preparation process and attend a decent school for a short time. I have been poking around for a while trying to find an appropriate one and there it was: the school that offered a free trial lesson. Let’s call it “IH”.

So I went there…The very first thing that raised a red flag was when I noticed that the students didn’t talk much among themselves in English before class (only about the class payment), neither did they after entering the class room. But I was only a newcomer, so I thought that it might just be my first impression that they weren’t really interested in what they were doing.

In the very beginning of the class the teacher for some reason started giving notes about one girl’s essay that was written at home. He devoted 5 minutes to this issue, while the others’ essays didn’t deserve his attention at all. Maybe this was the only essay that was turned in?

After the teacher finally decided to give his attention to the whole group, we were given a whole bunch of papers, among which he picked a vocabulary one for the next part of the lesson. The teacher really didn’t give us a chance to explain all the words. But surprisingly for me the students really didn’t seem eager to explain the meanings of the words either. He felt satisfied, told us to fill the gaps (blanks) in the text below with those words and…left the class. As we were reading the text he gave corrections, without discussion about problems that we could come across trying to find the correct matches.

The second and the most boring part of class was right in the middle. The teacher put an old cassette in his stereo and…left for more than 30 minutes. That was an old version of the listening comprehension test that used to be provided in 90s, but doesn’t exist anymore. I expected from him the discussion of our results, but, again he just read the correct answers. I forgot for a couple of minutes that we live in the 21st century and could download as many audio files as we want from the net. I could have easily done this listening part at home and checked everything by myself.

I really was hoping that the speaking or writing part would shake me up just a bit and wake me from this prostration. Yes, he gave us an essay topic, but it was assigned as homework. This was a big mistake. Essays during the test should be written in 30 minutes without using a dictionary. There is no way; you would be doing this correctly at home! Instead you will spend a couple of hours working on your composition until it looked immaculate, but during the test everything is about timing and concentration, and there is only a slight chance that your home writing assignments will help you. The speaking part was reduced to discussing papers that described our strange dreams. We had to talk to each other while he pretended to be interested in our pronunciation. “No Russian in class” – he hushed me one time, but he didn’t really listen to what I was saying in English anyway….We didn’t have to use out thoughts or really express ourselves. Not unexpectedly, while we were reading these “dream texts” the teacher was absent from class, this time smoking.

At the end of class I felt pity for all the students in attendance. I thought they were supposed to hate English so far studying like this since September. Regarding my question “Is it always that boring?”, addressed to one girl, I got the answer “It can be worse. Today we had a lot of talking comparing to some previous classes”.

So the role of the teacher in class was very limited (well, he was absent for 45 minutes so no wonder), the tempo ˗ very slow, the explanations –weak, the forms of class work were picked according to what the teacher thought would be the simplest for him, the materials were old, the methodic was obscure. I wouldn’t say anything if the results of their studying was perfect, but the group didn’t not seem to make great progress, or to be really interested in what they were doing. Maybe I got too spoiled studying at different places, being a lecturer myself and having observed a lot of good teachers. But I really like the language and I just would hate classes like this. However, I don’t think that trial lesson was a complete waste of my time. I would attend this course…for free. But there is no way I would pay for this.

Posted by Helen.

It’s Five O’clock Somewhere

2011-10-29T09:00:00.004-04:00

I keep a clock on my computer with the current local times in New York, (the same time zone as most of my family), Denver, Kharkiv, (my current location) and Moscow. It is seems easy enough to recall the differences in my head but that all will change next week because of the return to standard time.

Daylight savings time (also called Summer time in Europe) was originally used in the United States in 1918. A few European countries actually started using it a few years earlier during World War 1. The basic idea is that you turn your clock forward in the spring so the afternoons have more daylight and the mornings have less. This is thought to save electricity but there are some skeptics. In autumn you would turn your clock back to the previous time. In the United States we remember this by the idea of “Spring Forward, Fall Back”. This would traditionally be done on a Saturday night (actually early Sunday morning) and back in the days when the gin joints in the United States always closed at 1:30 A.M. it was nice for them to be open for an extra hour once a year.

This weekend Ukraine returns to standard time. I’m hoping my computers auto adjust but I will have to manually change my clock and my passel of watches. That seems simple enough but the United States does not make this modification until the following week. That will be a little confusing but it is exacerbated by the fact that Russia no longer observes daylight savings time so there will be no change in their clocks. It might not seem a big deal but I give lessons to a handful of students in Russia via Skype and they probably expect me to call them at the correct time. My head already hurts!

Posted by John

Poor Tchaikovsky, poor Tatyana

2011-10-02T12:00:00.010-04:00

The “Russian soul is a mystery” (for other cultures). What a stereotype! But sometimes listening to foreign singers performing vocals for Russian chamber music or operas; I think that not only the soul, but Russian music as well is a mystery to them.

That thought hit me yesterday evening at the opening of International classic music festival, “Kharkov assembly” (http://www.city.kharkov.ua/en/news/festival-harkivski-asambleyi-startuye-30-veresnya-9804.html ) which is celebrating its 20^th anniversary this year. It took place it the small hall of the Kharkov Opera and Ballet Theatre. The status of “international” requires inviting guests from abroad, who come here right before the festival and perform with the local orchestra. It’s usually a great risk because they have a couple (or even less) rehearsals with a new conductor or singer, or both a new conductor and singer which is worse, and right after have to go on stage. They basically have no time to become perfectly coordinated and arrange some necessary “teamwork”. This is a good excuse for all the weak parts in the concert program, but sometimes even this doesn’t work. I want to tell only about one piece, which made me unenthusiastic about the musicians.

So, there were three foreigners in: one in the orchestra, the conductor from UK, and the soprano from UK (let’s do without naming names). Also, there was the scene of Tatyana’s letter from “Eugene Onegin” (Yevgeniy Onegin) by Tchaikovsky, of course, based on Pushkin’s “novel in verse”.

It went wrong almost from the beginning. The orchestra started properly, in active tempo, but the heavy voice of the soprano wasn’t able to handle it. Apparently, it’s either a weariness of 30 years on the stage or too much experience that made itself manifest. She didn’t even sound close to the “18 year old Tatyana” experiencing her first strong emotions (I know it’s not tactful to mention a female performer's age in a review, beg my pardon).

So conductor got all confused and slowed the instrumentalists down. The first part of the scene of Tatyana’s letter is the fastest and consequently tempo started getting slower and slower and finally reached the point where it was almost unbearable and you could hear all motives of each instrument of orchestra and all their roughness (affected by the lack of rehearsing) which would have been unnoticeable if they had played livelier. Once the soprano finished, the conductor let the instrumentalists play the coda in normal tempo which couldn’t be considered normal anymore because the plan for the whole scene got messed up.

Usually the audience complains about the horrible accent of foreign performers singing in Russian, but it appeared to be the less significant of the problems in this situation.

Sighs of relief and loud applause appeared after this short, but what seemed quite longer disaster. If I were a good girl, instead of all these words I would say: “We heard a new interpretation of the image of Tatyana performed by English singer, marked by deep thoughtful work on intonation, original tempo and dramaturgical plan”. And I will very much likely write it soon but in a different place, in a different language.

Posted by Helen

Irish pubs. Beer confusion

2011-10-02T09:00:00.001-04:00

I remember the first time I went to an Irish Pub. The key purpose of my visit was to taste authentic Irish beer. And I never actually accomplished this. That makes me think that there is something wrong with either me or with Irish Pubs. My entire experience is limited to the two places I’ve been to; as a result I won’t try to make a judgment about all of Ukraine.

So, my first attempt at trying Irish beer had taken place in Kharkov in a “beer restaurant” with the quite unpretentious name of “Irish Pub” (46 Mironositskaya st.). It has an obvious lack of space which is worsened by heavy wooden tables and chairs and loud football fans staring at the TVs. There are only three screens in the entire place and approximately 8 tables inside not counting the bar area which includes some stools. The very first thing I intended to order was the Guinness stout which appeared to be the only Irish brew on the menu, but the waitress with a casual intonation told me they were out of it and I ended up drinking Belgium Hoegaarden instead. It was fine, but the Irish appeal that I initially connected with this place had immediately disappeared.

Neither did I reach my goal in Odessa’s Mick O’Neill’s Pub (www.ipub.com.ua). But at that time the reason was entirely different. They have a nice complete beer menu, including Ukrainian sorts of beer which is wrong, because all of them are much cheaper than the foreign ones. Needless to say, the entire crowd of us turned out to be drinking Ukrainian Chernigivs’ke (http://www.chernigivske.ua/en/) which was no fun for me but I didn’t want to seem snobbish by ordering a different one that was three times more expensive. At least I tasted the Irish breakfast and liked it which may be the only excuse for not carrying out the main purpose of visiting the Irish pub. Of course I’m not counting shots of the distinct Irish whisky “Jameson” brought by someone from home. In general, Mick O’Neill’s is a nice place (except damn Chernigivs’ke) with a perfect location in the middle of Deribasovskaya street, an Irish green interior, checkered blankets, nice guards who are always ready to kick out gypsies, salesmen and beggars (sometimes all of them in one person) trying to sneak under the canopies and a pleasant smiling wait staff (they are still smiling even if you want them to take photo of you).

So here is my conclusion: Irish Pubs and I don’t mix well. And after two fruitless attempts I decided to change my goal for the future. I won’t have any grand expectations and only hope not to end up eating pizza and drinking Cola next time I visit an Irish Pub (by the way someone intended to order pizza in Odessa).

Posted by Helen

Odessa, Z to A, --- Mick O'Neills Irish Pub

2011-09-25T09:00:00.021-04:00

It seems odd to me that whenever an individual from North America wants to get together with friends in a unfamiliar location (in Ukraine) they will always say "let’s meet at McDonalds", (If there is one in that district). This is sort of recognized as well known landmark that is easily located. You can’t really do this in the

U.S.

because sometimes there is more than one Mickey Ds in the vicinity.

Recently, on a night train to Odessa one of my fellow travelers suggested that we have breakfast at McDonalds. After a rough night on the train, McDonalds was not my first choice for breakfast. In Odessa, I usually like to have the full Irish breakfast at Mick O’Neill’s Irish Pub. It is more expensive than McDonalds but I prefer their breakfast over a simple sandwich, hash browns and juice from McDonalds. The full Irish breakfast includes eggs, sausage, grilled onion, potato, ham, toast, tomato and cold beans.

I tend to use this pub as my meeting place when I’m in Одесса. Countless times; I have suggested that friends assemble there. Why would I do this? It is a good spot to people watch; there are cheap local beers and the outdoor patio is open 24 hours. This bar is not in the main area of vul Derybasivska because it is a good distance east of the CityGarden. However, I also like it because it always seems to have a fine mix of expatriates vs. natives. If you do not have a preference for the Ukrainian beers, you can consume the more upscale Irish brews or even the firewater that is Jameson. I don’t usually recommend the food here except for the breakfast. I feel that you can get portions that are more affordable, tastier and bigger at other places just up the street. Amenities include WI-FI, some snooker tables and a currency exchange booth inside.

I feel so comfortable asking friends to meet me at this setting that it gives the impression that it is my base camp in Odessa. But perhaps some Irish men are saying “I don’t want to meet at the Irish Pub, let’s meet at McDonalds"?

Posted by John

Live In Concert-Whitesnake-Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Kiev & Odessa

2011-09-24T09:00:00.008-04:00

The English band, Whitesnake, has five upcoming shows planned in Ukraine. These are supporting their latest album, Forevermore which was realized in March. The band was founded in the 1970’s after lead vocalist, David Coverdale left Deep Purple. They originally had a similar sound but they soon developed their own heavy metal voice. I think they peaked with their self titled Whitesnake album in 1987. This hit #2 in the U.S. and contained two of their biggest hits which were, Here I go Again and Is this Love.

They started their Forevermore World Tour in New York City during May of this year and they are planning 96 shows on four continents. Coverdale is the only original band member that will be on this tour. The other members were added in either 2002 or in the last couple of years.

They will start November with a show in Singapore and then before heading to Sweden, they will have the following shows in Ukraine:

· Kharkov November 8^th

· Zaporozhye November 10th

· Dnepropetrovsk November 11^th

· Kiev November 13^th

· Odessa November 15^th

Tickets can be purchased here:

http://www.konstantind.com/Concert.aspx?id=31

Poltava: From the Glory to the Dumpling

2011-09-11T11:30:00.001-04:00

Heading to a different city or country I usually try to forget about everything that I had read or heard about them as much as possible to free myself from prejudices. I probably perceive cities irrationally. I like places where I can feel as if I am at home, even though conditions (including climate) may be very different, and I dislike those which remain foreign to me no matter how much they are similar to the place where I live and how much time I spent there. I don’t pay a lot of attention to historical places; I don’t have a penchant for battlefields. The key goal for me is to catch the mood of the city and decide whether it’s feels comfortable to me or remains foreign and also whether I would like to live there or not.

It’s difficult for me to judge cities smaller than the one I live in. I feel uncomfortable, because they seem empty to me because they lack movement and noise. This is exactly what I was thinking about Poltava.

Like Donetsk, Poltava also has a long direct main street which leads you through the entire city and to all of the main sites. The only way to get lost is if you turn somewhere unaware that you may simply go in a straight line. That’s exactly what happened to me over there and as a result I found myself buying a city map, which appeared to be quite useful, except the “restaurants” noted referred to outdated information. Walking along the Oktyabr’skaya (in Russian) or Zhovtneva st. (in Ukrainian), you can see an extraordinary mix of cultural artifacts. Some of them came from the 19th century, (mainly devoted to Poltava battle), some from Soviet times while others are contemporary. For example, at the beginning of the street there is a monument to a Soviet officer, whom I’ve never heard about before, then a building with firebirds and interesting architecture, which used to be a bank, but now belongs to regional police. Across the main street from the firebird “palace” if you look towards the central square there is a creepy back street with an overgrown building that is painted only on the side that faces the street. We have a lot of these beautiful spots in Kharkov, so I think it’s worthwhile to make a photographic record of them some time in the future.

The central so-called Round Square in the Corpusny garden will be your next discovery. It is marked by The Glory monument, (or the Iron Column of the Glory). It is not only a historical symbol, but the object that already has its own history, specifically the gilded eagle on its top, which is frequently the object of theft attempts. This is a way people express remarkable interest in cultural artifacts and also convey a sharp sense of humor: the last time it happened was on April, 1st, 2011, International Fool’s Day.

The same craze happened to the dumpling monument (read about it further), which is strange because its material isn’t of any great value. On the morning after it’s unveiling, it was missing one dumpling which was found 50 meters from the monument. Apparently, the plan of bringing it home failed because it weights 250 kilograms.

After you have passed the Corpusny Park, you should head to the Local history museum, (you’ve got to turn a bit on the right towards Lenina st. to the park if you walk straight along the Oktyabr’skaya), you will see an interesting building. I have no idea what was inside of it, but outside it has a candy-like architecture and mosaics that reminded me of something imperceptibly eastern.

The final point of your destination is Ivanova gora or Ivanova mountain (you don’t have to climb though), actually it’s a hill, where you can see the Uspensky cathedral, The monument to the dumpling, the White Rotunda and the Ivan Kotlyarvesky museum. That last one is too small to be called a museum. It’s a “nationally” stylized house surrounded by a lath fence, sunflowers, bushes and shadoof well with a stork in the garden.

A view of Uspensky cathedral from Kotlyarevsky garden

The huge plate with stones, devoted to dumpling of galushka, which somehow was considered to be a symbol of Poltava and has gained general acceptance. It attracts attention, but looks really dumb and makes me think: what are these people proud of? Two centuries ago it was the Poltava battle…Today they couldn’t find anything better than galushka?

Here is a slogan. “Dumpling. Swollen with pride.”

Well, at least I haven’t seen the monument to the PIG (!) of 2003 with an inscription “to centuries-old breadwinner, (I would say bacon-bringer!), of the Ukrainian nation”. Is it really a sign of culture or it just a caricature of it? This is difficult to say. Wow, I just found out there are SIX monuments of Pigs in the Poltava region, so it’s definitely part of the culture. I can accept it with humor, but it seems to be too serious of a case to laugh.

International friendship rotunda or simply White Rotunda it’s a good spot for observing a view of the city, Krestovizdvizhensky monastery and the river Vorskla, and a popular place for wedding photos.

White Rotunda. This view reminded me souvenir magnets I saw: stick figures of a bride and groom with the statement “Game over”.

Somewhere I read about rudeness of Poltava people and suggestions for foreigners not to use public transport (http://www.poltavatravel.com/articles/meet-locals-poltava.html), but compared to Kharkov, I found the locals quite nice and willing to help, even though they don’t know street names very well. Public transport is quite good as well because it’s approximately 50 % cheaper than Kharkov’s and allows you to reach the suburbs (like a half an hour trip to Poltava battlefield) for 1.5 UAH.

Once I reached this point I realized I have reached my word limit, because it’s John’s prerogative to write long posts, so I might talk about the battlefield in a future post.

Posted by Helen

Poltava

2011-09-11T09:00:00.008-04:00

Being a student of European History, I have wanted to visit Poltava for quite a while. In the United States, I have visited many famous battlefields such as Gettysburg, Pearl Harbor and Little Big Horn. A lot of Americans may be unfamiliar with the battle that took place in Poltava in 1709. The victory by Peter the Great started Russia’s rise as a great power and also began the decline of Sweden’s supremacy in the Baltic. I was a little naïve when I first learned of this clash and its place in Ukrainian History. I thought that if the battle was lost by the Russians that perhaps Swedish would be spoken in Ukraine today rather than Russian (and Ukrainian). However, this battle put the idea of Ukrainian Independence on hold for nearly another 300 years. Actually, if Sweden won the battle then there may not have been Russian Speakers in Ukraine simply because the universal language would have been Ukrainian in an independent Ukraine.

We began our trip by taking the Kiev train from Kharkov to Poltava. All the trains on the Kiev to Kharkov route go right thru Poltava. We got an early start by catching the train at 7:00. It took about 2 hours to get to Poltava. When we arrived, we noticed the train station was small in comparison to Kiev, Odessa or Kharkov. The town isn’t that big, (about 300,000 souls) so we started walking. This was easy for me because I didn’t even have to ask for directions. I just played “Follow the Native Speaker”. This is one of my favorite games! We did find an online reference to Poltava http://www.traveltoukraine.org/pdf/Poltava_Ukraine_guidebook.pdf) that would have been extremely helpful if our printer was not malfunctioning.

I really didn’t have any major “must visit” spots except for the battlefield. However, later I learned about a local delicacy of unfilled dumplings called halushky. You might think that after eating the unfilled dumplings that I would go shopping at the store that provided the Emperor’s new clothes? In that case you might have a point but it is my understanding that the dumplings are special because of the amazing toppings that are put on them not for the non-existent fillings.

Anyway, we found our way to the Korpusy Park and saw the Iron Column of Glory. This was built for the 100^th anniversary of the battle. It was a very pleasant summer day so we sort of wandered around for a while. We did find the Regional Museum but unfortunately it was closed on the day of the week (Wednesday) that we visited. After that, we made our way to the Friendship Rotunda which seemed like another favorite spot for wedding parties to be photographed. One strange object in this location was a sculpture of the abovementioned unfilled dumplings. We also visited the Kotlyarevsky Museum/House. He is a famous Ukrainian writer. Along the way we saw the usual allotment of churches and Monasteries.

We were sort of hungry at this point so we set out on a lunch quest. I really don’t want to go over the particulars but we didn’t do very well on our search. Somehow we ended up at eating at Palazzo, (in the Palazzo Hotel). It was my understanding that they had the best Italian food in town. This was actually my choice for dinner but we were standing right of front of it and hungry at noon (or so) so it became our destination for our midday meal. I didn’t think the selection of Italian food was that good. I actually ended up ordering Beef Stroganoff after starting with a Minestrone soup. The soup was different to what I was used to in the United States. It consisted of bacon, mushrooms, bell pepper, celery, broccoli and haricot (navy) beans. I love Beef Stroganoff and I wasn’t disappointed but I should have read the menu a little more closely because I wasn’t expecting it to come in a mashed potato pastry basket. I also had the benefit of a Stella while eating. The bill was rather large for a place in Ukraine. We spent almost $50 with tip. Of course in the United States, a restaurant would usually have a cheaper lunch menu but that was not the case here. I should not have been disappointed because I knew what the prices were in advance but this would have been a better dinner choice.

After lunch we took a bus to the battlefield which was about 7km away. Compared to Gettysburg, as far as battlefields go, this was a let down. I did like the Battle Museum. (Only 8 UAH <$1> for entrance) I thought it had a nice mix of genuine artifacts to reproductions. I was amused by a mortar than was being used as a wishing well. At the time I could have filled my pockets with coins by doing a simple transfer. I also liked the fact that so many of the displays were in English. Even though it was midweek I was surprised that we were the only visitors to the building. After all, it was the middle of summer.

We walked around the grounds outside of the museum after checking out the statue of Peter the Great that was directly in front of the building. Helen surprised me when she mentioned that the statue seemed small. I’m not sure if she was kidding but it was a life-sized figure of the 6 ft 8 in (200 cm) czar. Maybe she was more impressed with the Bronze Horseman monument in St Petersburg? In retrospect, we probably would have seen more if we had some transportation. I realized this after looking at the battlefield website (http://www.battle-poltava.org/eng/). It seems there were a lot of Monuments that we overlooked. We did see Spasskaya Church and the Memorial Rotunda. We were glad there was a café here that had a primitive (by U.S. standards) restroom/WC. I didn’t notice it at the time but the café was called Redoubt in reference to the defensive fortifications built by the Russians.

Later we returned to the center of Poltava. At the time, we were sort of all worn out (I think our most obvious clue about being tired was when we practically took a nap on top of the Russian Warriors Bed of Honor) so we just headed back to the train station. Helen bought us some cheap food there to balance our expensive lunch. She is such a good provider. We crashed there for while and then headed home. Somewhere in our day’s travels we acquired a city map of Poltava. It had a lot of pictures of the different sites to see and we saw almost everyone so all in all I would say it was a good excursion.

Posted by John

PS: I’m not going to give a history lesson about all the details of the battle but if you want to learn more go to: http://www.theartofbattle.com/battle-of-poltava-1709.htm

Live In Concert-Scorpions-Donetsk

2011-09-07T09:00:00.004-04:00

Since we love live music; we decided we would provide information about some of the Western Bands (and maybe some Ukrainian?) that have performances planned in Ukraine. This may be interesting to Expats who might not be aware of these events or to Ukrainians that like Western Pop/Rock music. This is the first in a series…

The German heavy metal band Scorpions have been around since the 1960’s. Their top hits include Wind of Change, Rock You Like a Hurricane and No One Like You. Last year they announced that they will retire after touring to support their latest release, Sting in the Tail.

Following the show-business “send off” concept, in 2010 they gave concerts in Kiev and Odessa in the frames of the so-called “farewell tour” which was supposed to last for 2 years. Pretty long for a farewell, but nobody minds “Scorpions” to be on the stage for a longer period of time. This fall they are coming to Ukraine again on September 30^th, making a strange city choice: Donetsk, but it’s understandable considering the fact they’ve said farewell to Kiev and Odessa and remembering the overhauled Donetsk football stadium, where they were invited. Tickets are available online, but you have to book, and buy them before September 11^th. You are able to purchase a coupon, which works like a 50% discount (but really it is a 50% pre-payment) and can be exchanged for a ticket through (in the concert ticket office in Donetsk only) www.superdeal.com.ua/, where you are supposed to choose the city «Донецк» on the top to find the “Scorpions” concert among upcoming events. A count down to the concert is shown here: http://www.kult-revolution.com.ua/

It is our understanding that they will also headline the Wacken Open Air Festival (http://www.wacken.com/) in Germany next August and this goodbye tour might not actually end until 2013! Maybe we will try to catch them but tickets for Beethoven’s Farewell tour might be in the cards instead.

Posted by our Music Editor

Some Swans in Odessa

2011-09-04T10:00:00.026-04:00

(This is a response to the previous post by John)

Visiting the Odessa Opera House was a total surprise for me. First of all, I was astonished because it was John’s idea and he had never before expressed the slightest interest in opera or ballet. Actually I remember hearing him say something in the past about disliking opera but the lack of evidence doesn’t allow me to prove this.

Secondly, I have never seen the Kharkov Opera theatre as crowded as I saw Odessa’s Opera House, especially during the summer months which are considered to be the “dead season” to all those who perform at, help run or attend the theatre. Surprisingly, there was no scene with celebrities from abroad, no scandalous director, and no innovations. It was a strict classic hackneyed performance of Tchaikovsky’s ballet. I would never have expected tickets to be completely sold out. It was absolutely fascinating to see all those people trying to get access to the ticket box after it was closed or looking for some different ways to get into the theatre.

The performance itself could have been better considering the agitation that was displayed outside. This could be mainly regarded to the orchestra, which wasn’t massive enough to drown the sound of dancing. It was passable during single dances and even pas de trois, but not during the corps de ballet collective dances. Some giggling went through the audience when we were hearing the heavy sound of “little swans” feet. In my opinion they decided to cut down on expenses and sent most of the musicians on vacation. This was very smart, because people go to ballet not to listen but mainly to see, so who cares about music and aesthetics of performance?

Anyway, the Opera House has its special “artistic” atmosphere, with its luxurious décor and interior, which at once reminded me of all the world’s best-looking theaters such as La Scala, Prague, Dresden, Vienna Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. But of course I have only seen them in movies and pictures.

Swan Lake in Odessa Opera House, 2011, July, 6th

Defining the style of the Opera House, John somehow came up with Italian baroque, but I’ve read only about its referring to Viennese baroque (all building) and French rococo (audience hall interior).

Some more interior photos. Odessa Opera House, 2011, July, 6th

It’s a pity for me, but I would never think about a style mixture like this looking at Kharkov Opera and Ballet Theatre, which gained a folk title of “Fantômas castle”, because of its horrendous and somehow hilarious, heavy, soviet-type architecture. To add fuel to the fire, the project of this building, made by Soviet architerctor Mirgorodskiy was planned for both Kiev and Kharkov but was rejected by the first one.

Posted by Helen

Odessa, Z to A, --- The Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater

2011-08-28T09:00:00.008-04:00

The most recent time I returned from America it seemed to me that I take pleasure in torturing myself. I had arrived in Kiev but I did not even allow myself the luxury of spending a night in a hotel. I crashed briefly at a hostel so I could shower and pull myself together before hoping on the night train to Kharkiv. The next day I dropped off my luggage in my apartment and then I got on another overnight train to Odessa. Somehow during this time I did meet someone at the hostel that said he (Let us call this person Mr. C.) was planning on going to Odessa. I explained how I was also going there but that my journey would be in a roundabout way. I suggested he look me up when he arrived. This fellowship ended up being very useful to me during the Odessa trip. I really like crashing at (the lowly) hostels when I travel alone because it is so easy to make friends. If I do this in a city that I’m familiar with, afterward I’m sure to share my experience. I have taken my new friends out to some of my favorite restaurants/clubs numerous times. Once, my brothers and I reserved a 4 bed compartment for the three of us to travel to Kiev. One of my friends told me that he needed to go to Kiev but the train was sold out. After speaking to my brothers we agreed to sell the extra ticket to my friend. He was lucky that he had taken the time to make friends in low places.

Let me return to Odessa…. While I had been there many times, I had only seen the Opera House (http://www.opera-ballet.tm.odessa.ua ) from the outside. The facade is an Italian Baroque style. I think of its location as being at one end of the “tourist strip” of Deribasovskaya Street. (The opposite end would be near the City Garden.)The “pedestrian only” part is a little father west. This area is open to cars and seems to attract bridal limos whose occupants are looking for a photo opportunity.

I did meet up with Mr. C in Odessa. A few of us met for drinks at a small place in Arcadia (more on the Acadia later). I expressed an interest in going to the Opera House to see a performance. It was our understanding that the season’s final show was coming up. One of Mr. C’s friends that had accompanied him told us that he had a lot of contacts at the Opera House and he could help us get tickets. Later in the week we met him there. There was a bit of a crowd that queued up on that rainy night to see a performance of Swan Lake. We found out that the tickets were sold out. However, our new friend told us that his associate would let us in the door if we paid a small bribe. After doing so we were then informed that another comrade would allow us to enter a box for another little bribe.

We were escorted into a small extremely dim room and were given seats. I couldn’t see anything because it was pitch dark. I actually felt like standing so I just leaned against the wall. After awhile my night vision noticed that there were about 10 other people in the room. In a little while the usher let another couple in. They were given the last two chairs. However, since I wasn’t sitting in my seat it was given to a young woman. That was the last seat in the booth. Somehow even though I decided to stand, now I seemed to desire that seat since I could no longer have it. When the house lights were turned up a little we could see much more of the Opera and Ballet Theater. The inside was quite ornate. It had a Louis XVI design with gilded figures. I recently watched the movie Dangerous Liaisons and I felt that the Odessa Opera House could have easily been used for the theater scenes for that film which was set in 18^th century France. The ballet was quite good (of course I’m not a ballet aficionado so take my recommendation with a grain of salt) and I remembered that the last ballet I saw was in fact The Nutcracker (during a Holiday Season). That was another one that was scored by Tchaikovsky.

The Odessa Opera House was rebuilt in 1887 after the original was destroyed by fire in 1873. It is similar in design to Dresden’s Semperoper. While that theater was completely destroyed during WWII; the Odessa Opera house had only one corner damaged. It seats 1,636 and has 24 exits to prevent the loss of life in case of a fire. Strangely enough, the night I was there it appeared to me that everyone entered and exited thru the main entrance; even those sans tickets. I would like to return to see another performance. Maybe next time I will be proactive enough to buy tickets in advance.

Posted by John

Odessa with a P: Port, Portal and 2 smoking cannons.

2011-08-21T19:00:00.019-04:00

(This is a response to the previous post by John)

The fact that I will start a discussion about something that I have never seen before is all John’s fault. I‘m talking about the Eiffel Tower which he compared to the Potyomkin Stairs, which would definitely lose out in terms of height, size and the ability to observe a good view. According to these mentioned parameters, the new title of Eiffel Tower should rather be given to the glass & steel hotel “Odessa” in the center of the sea port: sky-blue, sky-high (both in height and prices).

Sea port, “Odessa” hotel

I bet somebody would find it exiting that in front of the building there is a cannon pointed at the entrance like a symbol of perishable life. This is typical for Odessa with its specific sense of humor that is known all over Ukraine.

Seaport, a cannon right in front of the “Odessa” hotel

The Hotel’s location is very poor though if you’re a tourist without your own yacht or jet because all the beaches are very far away.

Various yachts could be an attraction for unpretentious port visitors like me, who associate them with a “sweet life”

Even though you’re more interested in downtown activities, every time you want to go to there you’ve got to climb up the much talked-about stairs.

View of the hotel and port from Potyomkin stairs

I don’t like the transliteration John suggested, even though Microsoft Word thinks that I’m wrong. It should be pronounced “Potyomkin”, not “PotEmkin”, but you can find it both ways in the information sources.
What are the stairs of my dreams that are perfect as a tourist-attraction? At first, I would consider it fascinating if they offered a nice panoramic view during observing which causes you to try to catch your breath and have butterflies in your stomach. And secondly, they might give you adrenalin of stones rolling from feet into the precipice, because the stairs are high, old and have been there since, for example, times of the Roman Empire. Furthermore, there is some heroic feeling of getting through obstacles in the face of 1000 steps or so. This all is definitely not about the Potyomkin stairs. They do not seem marvelous at any point of view except for some historical associations, so I don’t know what all the people are making a fuss about.
Primorsky Boulevard, situated perpendicularly to Potyomkin steps, a place for lazy ice-cream eaters and souvenir sellers during the hottest hours of the day, is more amusing than stairs and represented by mixture of culture artifacts partly mentioned by John. There are monuments of different times and significance, one more cannon, P.D.A. on benches, a pillar which shows the distance to any city you would like to know or rather never wanted to know (this is the best spot for ridiculous photos), remains of an ancient settlement covered with glass cupola what makes it look like a cage of hidden or escaped dangerous animals etc. I especially liked the “Lonely girl” portal (walk on the right if you you’re standing back to stairs), white pillars of which nowadays are disfigured by profound writings.
According to the legend, the wife of a seaman was waiting looking for him from this hill. And every year they would add one more pillar to the “portal.” Modern inscriptions may explain who the guy she was expecting to come back was:

Primorsky park. Lonely portal. Poor example, but the funniest things, of course, were written in Russian

The situation of anticipating, the quintessence of all sea port cities’ mood, is also expressed in the statue of a girl with a “baggage” in the port which looks strange with the view of urban scenery behind:

Seaport: Sailor’s Wife monument

As opposed to compromising the romance of the “Lonely girl” portal by political, musical and not very polite discussions written on its pillars, the Mother-in-law bridge, which is next to it, at the right end of boulevard if you stand back to the sea, has somehow turned into a romantic place with a large amount of locks hung there in the symbol of eternal love.

Mother in-law-bridge under the burden of “love” locks

Posted by Helen

Odessa, Z to A, --- That is “Potemkin” with a “T”.

2011-08-21T09:00:00.016-04:00

The Potemkin Steps are to Odessa what the Eiffel tower is to Paris. They became famous because of the horrific scene shot there that was part of the 1925 silent movie, The Battleship Potemkin. Of course, the bloodshed on the steps was actually some motion picture make-believe. The killings happened in different locations.

Actually, maybe I should start off with the correct name of this attraction. Last year my brother made a slideshow of our trip through Eastern Europe. He titled one of the slides “The Potemkin Stairs”. I corrected him and said it was actually the “Potemkin Steps”. He followed with a link that supported his version of the name. At this point, I was confused but actually things got worse. I did a little research and found out that essentially we were both sort of right. Or wrong if you are a half empty sort of person.

Today they are officially known as the Primorsky Stairs but they were originally called the Boulevard Steps. The name was changed first in Soviet times and then changed again when Ukraine received her independence. Today most people in Odessa use the former Soviet name, the Petemkin Stairs but my Ukrainian guide book calls them the Potemkin Steps. I will not even bring up the Russian or Ukrainian spellings.

Anyway the “Odessa Steps” originally had 200 steps but over time they were reduced by eight. Supposedly, if you count the steps and they do not add up to 192 then these are the number of sins that you have recently committed. I will not tell you how many steps that Helen counted but I think it would be a good time for her to go to confession. The steps/stairs have a couple of cool optical allusions. One of them is that looking down it is possible to only see the 10 landings and looking up from the bottom you might only see the steps. There is a cable railway to one side of the steps. This was originally built in 1906. It was replaced by an escalator in 1970 and then a funicular returned in 2004.

At the top of the steps, you have a wonderful view of the port and the Odessa Hotel. At one time this was the principal port for the largest country in the world. It was possible to board a ship to any destination across the globe. Also here is a bronze statue of Duc de Richelieo. He was the person, who designed the city under Catherine the Great and served as the first governor, (1803-1814). He was a royalist that escaped from France during the French Revolution but who returned home in 1814. The statue was erected in 1828. If you think of a “T” with the stem going down the stairs then there are interesting items at both ends of the top line. On the left side you would walk along the bul (boulevard ) Prymorsky until you reach the City Hall which was built around 1830. (I believe in my guided walking tours I actually called this the Mayor’s house. Please don’t tell my brothers about my error!) There is also a monument to Alexander Pushkin here as well as a cannon that was captured from the French ship, “Tiger” during the Crimean War. (At this point you are just down a hill from a large fountain which is next to the Opera House but we will talk about that in the next post of this series.)

Going in the other direction would bring you to the unrestored Vorontsov Palace which was built in 1826. There is also a foot bridge here known as the Mother in Law’s bridge. This was built in the 1950s by a communist official. It is said that it was built so it would be easier for his mother in law to visit by some people but the opposing view is that it was constructed so it was less likely she would have to spend the night. Naturally, this bridge is covered by love-locks that have swept Europe since the early part of this century. This custom is thought to have started in China. Couples attach locks and throw away the key to symbolize their never ending love. I have never seen this in America.

To finish off my “T” let me talk about the statue of Catherine the Great. This is directly up the street (toward the city center) from the steps. There was a statue to honor the sailors of the battleship Potemkin here but it was replaced with the one of the Empress in 2007. Catherine brought this region of Ukraine into the Russian Empire so the Russians seem to like the current statue. However, the Ukrainians, the Tatars and Cossacks who were oppressed during her reign seem to favor the former one. It is said to be in storage so it may find a new home somewhere else in the city sometime in the future.

Posted by John

Women seem wicked when you're unwanted.

2011-08-14T19:00:00.010-04:00

(This is a response to the previous post by Helen)

I have many friends in

Ukraine

and overall I have found most people ready to lend a helping hand. However, nearly everyone I interact with (this is mainly students, other English teachers and travelers) speaks English. On the other hand, I have walked into an internet café and the person refused to assist me because I didn’t speak Russian. Another time, the clerk at the train station sent me to the “foreign ticket window” when she could have just as easily sold me the ticket. I have also had people ask me for money and then act very rudely (they do seem to know how to say, “Yankee go home”) when I said “No”. This included one person who stopped me while I was walking down the street in Odessa. He must have recognized me as a Westerner because I was carrying a day pack. He offered his services as a translator but I said that I didn’t need one because it was toward the end of my trip. He then asked for $40 and when I refused, he asked why I wouldn’t just give it to him! Once I even saw an American that was taking pictures outside of his hotel being told that he must pay for the privilege by some unknown person who probably did not even work for the hotel. It seems to me that people in clothing stores, restaurants and the people who have their own business at a market are the most helpful. When I’m eating out, I always like to tip extra when a member of the wait staff speaks English.

I’m not really acquainted with “the evil spreading from the West” but I know my brothers thought that one way to judge who won the Cold War was the fact that there is a McDonalds directly across from Red Square in Moscow. I can understand someone’s confusion about why Westerners move to

Ukraine

. I got this question all the time in my classroom. I got so tired of answering it that I wrote a rationalization note on my Vkontakte page.

Kharkov is very excited about being one of the hosts for 2012 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2012) during June and July of next year. I think a lot of the current infrastructure maintenance in the city is to put on a better face for this event.

It is a mystery why so many Asians come to the Universities in Kharkiv. I guess the education is a better value here or the teaching is just that much better? I am aware of this first hand because I have taught many foreigners in my classroom as well. I’m sure the universities/schools have enjoyed the extra inflow of money from these students. My university in the

United States

had many international students but it was nowhere near 50%. I always thought of this as a good thing. If someone traveled that far for an education then maybe I made a wise choice myself. In some of our states there are many illegal immigrants. This may cause schools to be filled with non-English speaking children. Towns that are not growing may welcome the additional students but sometimes it can also be a burden; if new bi-lingual teachers are required or if there is overcrowding. It may be a surprise to Ukrainians but even if these children are the offspring of illegal immigrants they are guaranteed an education by the

U.S.

government.

Some things are hard for me to comment on. It is understandable how the oldest citizens in our city might not like hearing the German language because of the Nazi occupation during WW II and the four battles that took place for control of the city but it is unlikely that I would ever be conscious of this because these opinions will not be directed toward me especially in a language that I understand. Alternatively, I do know that the Russian saying “we will show you where a crayfish spent winter” means “to give a person a piece of one's mind” or to punish.

It is interesting to hear the Ukrainian view about the placement of Russian gangsters in American Movies. I can recall them in the movie Eastern Promises and also The Boondock Saints. I don’t really want to talk about taxis right now. I’ll keep the option open to write a whole post about them in the future.

Posted by John

People are Strange: Part II. Those foreigners!

2011-08-14T09:00:00.004-04:00

Ukrainians have an equal attitude to all non-Russian/Ukrainian speaking visitors. It doesn’t matter where you are from or how wide the smile is on your face because most people just HATE you. Initially, I think in some minds there is a Soviet mentality of evil spreading from the West. Others will detest you because they don’t know how to communicate beyond their own language. A less rational reason for hatred is that they do not quite understand what in hell brought you to the UA from your well-ordered perfect US/Canada/Germany/Sweden etc. Did you get so bored with everything being perfect at home that you decided to try your luck in a place which some people think of as the Third World? If this is true then we will show you “where a crayfish spent winter”! Also if people do not understand what you are doing here, you will instinctively be considered dangerous. Furthermore everything we are afraid of, we hate, since it reveals our own weakness.

In other words, most Ukrainians aren’t open-minded, so you should expect bumping into a lot of “walls” before you find a common language. However, there are some types of people, mainly translators/interpreters, travelers, students, who would talk to you with pleasure and with whom communication will be easier. The younger generation is curious and doesn’t mind foreigners mingling in their narrow world. It is the exact opposite with people over 30 who also don’t belong to aforementioned categories. If you try, you will meet a strong resistance, people walking away quickly, or pretending that you don’t even exist. This could be proven by one volunteer action I took part in this summer, the main idea of which was to find out whether or not the citizens of Kharkiv are ready to meet foreigners during Euro 2012. As part of our training, we did some role-playing. We pretended like we couldn’t speak Russian and that we needed some help to get around the city. We tried to receive some information from the unsuspecting people of Kharkov. The reactions were not all the same, but the general statistics were rather upsetting. Even a policeman, quite young, promised to find somebody who could help us in English (he didn’t speak it by himself) and then he disappeared. Poor foreigners! They could have waited for help until Euro 2120!

Kharkov, being a city of students, might be the municipality with the most foreigners in Ukraine. This makes our town more liberal. But I have to admit that I don’t like that the Chinese represent almost half (and the amount is increasing) of the students in my University. Although, I have gotten used to Koreans who have been running their businesses in the Kharkov market for years. The older people would rather not hear German for well-known reasons. Giving foreigners a cold reception in Ukraine may have its consequences. As a result, in Hollywood the worst drug dealers and Mafiosi in movies seem to be Ukrainians or RussiansJ.

The picture I painted here might seem creepy, but I’ve tried to think about the dreadful occurrences which usually happen to foreigners (not because of their own mistakes), and the only one I know for sure is overcharging in taxis. Once the driver realizes you don’t speak Russian he will ask for twice the usual price. So, find a Ukrainian friend who will order you a cab and have some fun!

Posted by Helen