Author: jeffinukraine2016

 

What a fun and long day it was today in Odesa!  I spent the early morning just walking down Deribasovskaya Street, watching the shop owners hosing down the pavement.  The smell of the morning made me think of the song from Guys & Dolls that goes “My time of day is the dark times….when the street belongs to the cop…and the janitor with a mop…” it was so quiet and peaceful.  This led me to discover an entire park that did not exist when I lived here!  And it was HUGE!!!  A giant gazebo…lots of attractions…there are a bunch of pictures here to show it better than I can describe with words.

I then came back to the hotel for breakfast where I ran into Tom.  Tom was supposed to leave this morning for some other city, but had seen so little of Odesa and loved it so much, that he decided to stay and keep me company throughout the day.  After breakfast, we went to the Smuggler’s Museum, which is sort of like a “Cold War Spy” museum.  The man working the counter shooed us away the first time, saying that the tours were only in Russian, and that they weren’t open then anyways.   We went to a cool café and had some great lemon aide, then returned.  This time he sighed, shook his head, and said “If you insist but tour is only in Russian language.”  He really did not want us going into that museum!  When I responded “Japinimayo Pangliski oche hresho, (I understand Russian very well),” he just stood there dumbfounded and let us through.  Tom didn’t understand a word of the tour, but it was still fascinating.

I also filmed what I hope will be a series of random videos of me doing really dangerous and stupid things (like walking down dark alleyways I haven’t previously investigated).   And we found the local ward building for attending church on Sunday (after some ingenious detective work).

And in what other city is there a cat who runs their own wine booth?  I’m curious if anyone has a response to that one!

We did SO much more today…this only accounts up till about lunch time.  But this blog will only let me post so many pictures and write so much…so it will have to wait until tomorrow.  This is honestly my favorite place on Earth.  Until it starts to snow.  Or is bombed. But for now, I’m literally having the time of my life.

Jeff.  Aug 19th:  2016

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

My first day back in Ukraine….well, half day.  I should probably account for just how difficult it actually is to get here in the first pace.  I left Wed at 4am, to be dropped off at the San Francisco airport at 5:30am.  My five hour long flight to Washington DC left at 7:30.  Arriving in DC at 1:30 EST, I ran for my gate and found it just in time to board another outbound flight for Munich, Germany.  This flight was 8 hours long, and spanned the night.  I did not really sleep.  However, so far so good.  It was now the next day (Thursday), I was in Germany,. and only had one more short flight to go.  It was at that point that I saw the prop plane I would be flying in for the next two hours.  However, I arrived in Odessa on Thursday at around 3pm, alive and well.

To my surprise, there was a note waiting for me at the hotel reception.  It was from my friend Tom!  Tom had arrived two days early and was staying at my hotel!  We soon met up and I had my first real meal in almost two days, at an Irish pub called “Mick’s Irish Pub,” which is conveniently located in the hotel we’re staying at.  I had a burger that was either exceptional, or I had been starved (perhaps it was both).

We briefly walked around Deribasovskaya street (the main hub of action in the city), but Tom was anxious to see the Potemkin Stairs, so we walked over to that end of town.  On the way, we stumbled onto a street fair of some sort (which are what most of these pictures are from).  It was so crowded, that we couldn’t get any good pictures of the stairs….they were so full of people!

It was at this point that I realized I had been awake for almost 48 hours…so I said goodnight and somehow found my bed.  Only to wake up 2 hours later, wide away.  I hear a Simon & Garfunkel parody coming my way….”Hello Jetlag my old friend….I’ve come to cope with you again….”

Jeff:  Aug 19th:  2016

 

Hi everyone!  This will be my last entry to this blog from the US. I leave tomorrow to drive 3 hours to Santa Cruz, and give my cat to a friend’s loving care.  It wasn’t my first plan, or 3rd plan…but I know it is the best plan.  And Miurrkee will be well taken care of, and it will be good to see and say goodbye to friends in Santa Cruz before I head out.  My friends in Santa Cruz…they are family.

Before I leave, I just wanted to talk about fear.  It’s on my mind, because I’m enraptured with it at the moment.  My biggest fear in life is flying in an airplane.  I once had a root canal, and as I sat back in the chair I had the thought “…it could be worse.  I could be on an airplane right now.”

It wasn’t always that way.  I’ve been on so many airplane flights in my short time on Earth, that I’ve experienced a lot of issues.  I’ve been on a plane that flipped sideways.  I’ve been on a flight that dropped out of the sky for 20 seconds (think of the Tower of Terror ride at Disneyland…times 5).  I’ve flown through an electrical storm.  I’ve flown through a hurricane.  The list goes on and on.

All of these experiences have made me so scared of flying…I can’t even describe what it does to my body.  For me, so much of my trip to Ukraine is about waging war against my own personal fear.  Landing in Odesa is my dessert.

We should all try our best to face our fears.  I quote Steve Martin’s character “Lucky Day” from the film “The Three Amigos:” “In a way, all of us has an El Guapo to face. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous man who wants to kill us. But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santa Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo, who also happens to be the actual El Guapo!”

I encourage everyone to face their fears.

And…I’ll see you all on the other side of the shadow!

Jeff:  Aug 15, 2016.

I’m less than 1 week away from my trip to Ukraine.  There has been so much preparation for this trip, it’s like a full time job.  I hope it’s worth it.

Since I used to live in Odesa, my challenge has been to find places and attractions that I have not seen before.  I have found several museums that look really cool.  The smuggler’s museum (about secret gadgets from the cold war that spies used) looks very interesting (the “James Bond” in me is hyperventilating).  There are several art museums, and one dedicated to Ukrainians who fought against the Nazi’s in WWII (Odessa was occupied by Germany for much of the war).  So that has been a lot of fun research.

My main mental dilemma is trying to figure out why I love Ukraine so much.  Is it an obsessive fad like “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries” (I once tried to get a job on the show—willing to move to Australia in the process….the interview didn’t go well), or Avril Lavigne (I followed her concerts around the US and loved her early albums).  Or is this more than that?  I honestly do not think I will have the answer until I am sitting at the airport in Odessa, waiting to fly back, and either think “I’m so glad to go home,” or “I can’t believe I am leaving my home.”  I honestly don’t know which it is.  We will see.

There are a million last minute little things to prepare and get ready for.  But my friend Tom is already there and I hear he is enjoying himself.  I will spend 3 days in Odesa (meeting up with Tom then), then head to Kyiv for the Independence Day parades and seeing the capitol for 4 days (I’ve never really been there before, apart from the airport and train station), and then back to Odesa to spend 3 days on the seashore just enjoying myself with a good book (hopefully in Ukrainian).

I just want to leave already!!!  But there are a million little things to be done.  I want everyone to know how excited I am though!

Jeff:  Aug 12, 2016.