I'm BACK!!!

So, the adventure in Ukraine continues as the days till “the real world” count down. By this I mean that I will actually begin teaching full time this coming Monday!! My schedule will be a little strange, with one class at 7:30am, one class at 2:30pm and 1-2 classes between 5-7pm, because they are adding on English classes to give the students more practice. So here I am sitting in my host-families apartment (which I will be sadly living in about a week and a half and moving into my own apartment) and thinking that I am rather tired and glad that I am not outside right now, as it is -18F out, with no snow.
I am also thinking that I should now try to describe how truly amazing my last 8 days were. Most of you know that I was able to go on an excursion (as they like to call them) with 15 of my students and my vice-principal to the Carpathian mountains, which are located in the far western part of Ukraine on the boarder with Romania. To truly explain what western-Ukraine is like (and those living in Eastern Ukraine really can’t get a picture of this until they go there) I would like to take some quotes from Lonely Planet Ukraine (a famous guidebook) since they put it much more eloquently than I ever could.
“The west is a special case in Ukraine. It likes to think of itself more quintessentially Ukrainian than the rest of the country; at the same time it considers itself more European. Thanks to its different history, it manages to be both. Having kept the nationalist home fires burning during centuries of Polish, Lithuanian and Austrian rule, it still shows greater pride in Ukrainian traditions and language than elsewhere. Yet overseas visitors will find this one of the most familiar feeling and friendly regions of Ukraine- poorer than, but not so different from, neighboring Hungary, Poland or Slovakia. Here where Moscow rules for only 50 years, there’s less of that surely ‘no-can-do’ Soviet bureaucracy that still permeates Eastern Regions.” (Lonely Planet Ukraine) I would like also to use the Carpathian mountains quote, which states “Those who know Ukraine regard the Carpathian mountains as a byword for hiking and skiing; they also call them a land that time forgot. Here horse-drawn carts clip-clop along potholed roads as weather-beaten folk till the neighboring fields, and babushkas (grandmothers) herd their geese home or take their solitary cow to be milked.” (Lonely Planet Ukraine)

I hope these descriptions can give you at least some sense of the wonder and beauty that the Carpathians hold. After a 28 hour train ride (dad, mom, and Morley, I am not jealous of your 40 hour adventure to Istanbul) my group arrived in Lyviv (the sort of capital of the west) and took a 3 hour marshutka (mini-bus) to Yaremcha (2 hours south of Ivano-Frankivsk on the map). Yaremcha is basically the Steamboat springs or Vail of Ukraine. Not quite as flashy, but still the entire town seems to base its survival on tourism. Only 40 min. from Bukovel, which is the best skiing in Ukraine, and right next to an amazing white-water river, it is definitely a place I would have liked to live for 2 years. (oh well, can’t have it all) The first day we were in Yaremcha (January 4th) our group walked around the city, climbed large hills that reminded me exactly of western-Austria, and saw some ‘wild’ elk and boars. (as wild as you can call something in a large gated pen, but it was still cool to see Ukrainian elk, I forgot the Russian word for them at the moment.) That night all of the students wanted to go to the local cultural palace, where they hold a disco every weekend. Lets just say that as the young teacher of the group, I was elected to go and show off my American moves. It’s a little strange to know that you are least 6 years older than a majority of the other people in a discothèque, but that didn’t stop me from dancing to a few Russian songs and to all the English songs I knew.
Saturday we went to a ski hill close by. It definitely reminded me of Spirit Mountain (at least in size anyways). I had rented skis for the day in Yaremcha for 10 dollars, and then went to the ‘ski’ hill, which had one ‘run’ which was basically glaze ice with rocks sticking up everywhere, and you paid 5 griven (1$) for a ride up the chair-lift. Most of my students had rented skis and snowboards, but as most of them had never tried either, didn’t do a whole lot of what you would call skiing. I went down a curvy glaze iced pathway and then thought it would be a good idea to walk back up the hill instead of paying to take the chairlift. (I didn’t make that mistake again, I fell about 5 times trying to a walk up a stair case with ski boots on) The 2nd time down I skirted a little fence and immediately saw movement to my left. (A little side-note before I go on: I love dogs, most people know that, but I have to put a little asterisks next to that, I love dogs: in America; dogs in Ukraine are… just downright mean. They would rather bite you then lick you. Dakota and Canoe would not exactly fit in here.) so here I am trying to stay in control on glaze ice going down this hill knowing that there are 2 dogs coming very quickly after me, so I basically just start bombing the hill, a little out of control but realize that one of the dogs is still gaining on me, so I take off one of my poles to give him a good wack in the face. I took a swing when he got a little to close and he immediately stopped. (I think he had had this experience before). So my adrenaline was a little high, but I couldn’t quite explain in my limited Russian or with my student’s limited English what had happened. It was good times…
On Sunday we went for a long hike the in the woods nearby Yaremcha, which are famous for having great caves, high cliffs, and beautiful trees. It was an amazing place, and as we were about 10-20 km from Ukraine’s highest mountain, definitely a good workout. (sorry, but another side-note. Not sure how many of you have traveled to eastern-Europe, well actually this is probably true in Europe as a whole, but in Ukraine women, especially young women do not dress… whats the word… practically. They wear tight pants and heels when they know they know they are going to be hiking up hills in snow, so a good part of the 3 hour journey was spent in trying to make sure my students and other teachers didn’t fall on their faces as they slid up and down the very hilly terrain.)
Anyways, I would highly recommend this area to anyone with future travel plans to the Carpathians. Sunday night was Christmas eve. and we spent it singing Russian songs and playing games. It was a nice way to celebrate the holiday.
On Monday we were able to go to another ski place, Bukovel, which I guess is where all the “New Ukrainians” (a term for all those who became rich and famous after the collapse of the Soviet Union) go. Anyways, it was a real mountain, and while fairly expensive (80 griven for ski rental and 20 griven per ski lift up) was definitely worth it. It reminded me very much of Steamboat Springs in CO. My students were not yet willingly to test their skills on a real mountain so I was the only one who ventured out. I was able to ski down the mountain with all my students cheering and clapping, very interesting. Later that day, on our way back to Yaremcha, we turned off onto a dirt road, and I kept hearing the President of Ukraine’s (Viktor Yushchenko) name, and as we approached a huge log-cabin mansion I realized that we were about 30 meters from his home. (somehow I don’t think you could get those close to Bush’s house in a large mini-bus full of student’s with cameras) But we continued down the dead-end road till we came to a gorgeous water-fall that was all frozen over. It reminded me exactly of Minnesota. While I have missed home at times, I was the most and least homesick right then. Most cause I missed the smell of pine trees and the water and snow that Lugansk seems to lack, but least cause I know it will still be there when I get back.
Tuesday we woke up at 3:30am to take the 7 hour Electrichka (electric train) back to Lyviv where we spent the day walking around, seeing a very famous graveyard which many famous Polish and Ukrainians are buried and looking around of the Lyviv McDonalds (luckily we never found it). We stopped in a couple amazingly beautiful churches (which I later learned where Catholic, not eastern Orthodox like a thought, I really need to learn the difference in architecture) and in one very beautiful church where a small mass was going on I lit some candles, for Uncle Tom, Aunt Cindy, and everyone else I love who has passed on.
Tuesday night at 1am we got back on the train and headed back to the other side of “the Tinfoil curtain.” It was an awesome experience, and know that if anyone wants to find a northern-Minnesota in Europe, (besides Slovakia, which I have also heard is beautiful) head to the Carpathians. Hope everyone’s New Years was wonderful and are living the winter up. Miss you, sorry this was so long.
Love,
Seth