Faces of Ukraine's Future

In a few hours I will leave Ukraine.  I am homesick but it is always difficult to leave a place where you’ve felt at home.  Ukraine is so rich in history and its people are so proud of their heritage.  Today, bombs were detonated in a town called Dnipropetrovsk.  Reports say 27 people were injured including children.  Who set the bombs is uncertain.  Also today, a rally was held in Kyiv (where I am at this moment) to protest the incarceration of Julia Tymoshenko.  Over 2000 people marched in this protest.  This is Ukraine today.  Who knows how the Ukraine of tomorrow will look.

Ukraine is a country in flux.  It is young when you consider its independence but old when you realize that Kyiv Rus, the beginnings of Ukraine, was established in the 9^th century by Vikings!

I will continue to post blogs because I have so much more to say and so many more photographs to share.  Today I leave you with photos of the children of Ukraine. In them lies the heart and the future of their country.  

NOVOUKRAINKA

After several days, I finally have internet access!  We are well, very busy, and though homesick, we will be sad to leave Novoukrainka tomorrow.

Novoukrainka is a village of 18,000 divided into several neighborhoods (Sugar Factory, Moldavka, Hospital, Piatihatky…or 5 houses).  Though the town covers a wide area, much of this space is filled with kitchen gardens and wheat and sunflower fields.

The sidewalks are often muddy paths and the main street, Lenin Street (all towns at one time incorporated the name of Lenin as their many thoroughfare), has no stop signs, stop lights, or lane separations.  It often feels as if I’ve been dropped into a town that stopped marking time several decades ago! 

This entry is about Novoukrainka; the streets, houses, people, and abandoned sites.

I love this place and am so happy to have received this assignment though life here can be difficult.  Enjoy the photos and captions.

The road to Novoukrainka!

One of the ubiquitous wells

Outside the hotel (it does not have a name)

Russian Lada

Lenin Street, the main street in Novoukrainka

Memorial to Lenin

Memorial to the millions starved by Stalin

Bird's eye view of the village

Angela's apartment...front of building on the top floor left.  Angela is the Peace Corps volunteer who has been indispensable to us!

Ornate door in Angela's apartment

Decorative ceiling in Angela's apartment

The view from Angela's porch

Angela preparing tea and coffee

THE PEOPLE OF NOVOUKRAINKA

Luida, Cira, and Sveta...friends of Angela's

Sveta, Angela, and me

Animated shop lady

The women who sold me candy

Me, Oleg, and Luidmyla in their home

In my first Novoukrainka classroom

Meeting the mayor of Novoukrainka.  There isn't anyone Luidmyla doesn't know!

The market

Fresh fish that floundered as we walked by

Sugar Factory

To paraphrase Everything Is Illuminated..."what happened here?"...."Independence!"

Trip to Odessa

This weekend Bob, Luidmyla, and a Peace Corps volunteer, Angela, traveled by overnight train to Odessa.  The train itself was quite an experience and we were glad to have a native speaker to help us!  The train cars have an aisle with two bunks on one side of the aisle and four bunks facing each other on the other side.  No curtains or doors separate the bunks so in essence I had a slumber party with 50 of my closest strangers!  No photos as I did not want to wake anyone with the flash!  We boarded the train at 2:40 a.m.!


Odessa is an amazing port city and I added The Black Sea to my list of bodies of water that I've seen!  I am not going to write much but will add captions to the photos.  We left at 10 p.m. and arrived back in Novoukrainka very tired and filled with more Ukrainian adventures and stories.


A side note:  we very nearly caused an international incident when our hotel proprietor was told we left in the middle of the night in a strange car and were not available for breakfast!  He called Luidmyla to report our absence!  

Various Odessa architecture, gardens, and statuary.

A Ukrainian biology institute

Look who we ran into!  First Mercy student to respond in a comment and tell me who this is will receive a really cool souvenir!

Pushkin

An incline at the port

The Potemkin Steps.  What movie would we watch to see these famous steps?

A beautiful statue at the port.  Mercy students, respond in a comment with what you think this represents. The first 2 students to respond with a well-thought analysis will receive a gift!

Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia.  This statue is controversial as Catherine is considered a heroine to the Russian community and is despised by others for the persecution suffered during her reign ( late 1700's)

The Port of Odesa

Luidmyla, Bob and Sharon outside the Odessa Opera House where we saw an opera "Katerina" based on a poem by national poet Shevchenko

The beautiful Odessa Opera House