Random encounters

With just one week to go before the holidays, I decided it was time to post a few random events that have marked the last month.

November was a cold, but beautiful month. Almost immediatelyupon my return from Turkey it snowed - for about 3 weeks off and on. It was beautiful for a day, and muddy for the the rest of it. I never realised the importance of concrete in our cities, until living in a city without it. Despite the mud, slush and dirt, it was a real winter wonderland for a few weeks, and it definately helped the time pass as we geared up for our christmas holidays.

On one particularly cold night, Jen and I went for a stroll and fell upon a beautiful candle-lit memorial to honour all those who died in the Ukrainian famine (click link) of 1932-1933.






The following week was the international charity bazaar which sold all sorts of artifacts from around the world. Outside was a Ukrainian children's choir singing traditional christmas songs and performing dances! (...and I was one of the 'lucky' bystanders who was asked to come dance in the middle of the circle)




Here is a picture of our grade one's preparing for the parent's assembly. This backdrop went with our festive song about a typical Ukrainian winter!




Here are some random shots of life in the metro systems in Kiev.

Below:"Palats Ukraina" - the metro stop near my house



In just 7 days I head home to North America to celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year. I'll admit it's been a much anticipated trip, and I can already tell it will take some getting used to hearing so much english all around me.

Turkey for Thanksgiving

After a busy 9 weeks in school, we were granted a week off and given the festive time of year, decided to spend our holiday in Istanbul Turkey! The week leading up to our trip flew by with parent-teacher conferences, halloween activities/songs, International evening (40 different countries represented from our school...with food from each one!) and a presentation to the grade 1 parents. So leaving my classroom in complete dissarray on Friday was no problem, and we jump-started our vacation with a pre-celebration of Nadine's Champagne birthday (27 on the 27th!). The day we flew off we toasted her in the airport (no one at Borispol Airport looked twice at an open bottle in the plain view), and we were off with a buzz to the historical city that straddles both Asia and Europe (both which we visited in one day!)

We arrived to our swanky pension (the "Side Hotel/Pension") and were presented almost immediately with the sights, smells and sounds that distinguish central asia from any other part of the world. As we were landing, the entire horizon was dotted with mosque towers and no sooner than an hour after we arrived, we were greeted with the soon-to-be familiar 'call to prayer'. Since we've returend (a whole 4 days) I have yet to sleep an entire night as we grew so accustomed to our morning wake-up call around 5am when the 'call' was first heard. Only once was I asked to leave a shop (a cafe) so that the owners could go accross the street to the mosque for prayer. It was a bit surprising that life continued as normal when the call was happening, but as one of the hotel attendents explained...Islamic culture is not as prevelent as other parts of Turkey.

Many vendors are stationed outside the main tourist hubs...selling anything from corn on the cob to bagels to pudding!

The Blue Mosque: View from our roof-top terrace (Side Hotel/Pension)

A demonstration in the avenues near Taksim Square: Since the Taksim Massacre in 1977, demonstrations have been banned in that specific area, but not on surrounding side-streets. We arrived two days before Turkey's National Holiday (formation of the Republic).

Throughout the week we visited (click the word to learn more): the Hagia Sophia ,the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar ("Kapali Carsi", the largest covered bazaar in the world with over 4,000 shops!), the Spice Bazaar, Prince's Island, took a tour of the Bosphorous River (dividing the European and Asian side of Istanbul) and I braved a trip to a 300-year old Hamam, known as Cagaloglu Hamam (a Turkish Bath house).

Spice Bazaar and Grand Bazaar

As a travelling foursome, we met a lot of interesting locals and learned about their experiences in the army (some as recent as 4 months ago) and were introduced to some of their favourite past-times....soccer and backgammon!

Our favourite carpet salesman...Gilil (after demonstrating his 'magic carpet' trick)

Turkish carpets appeared to be one of the main businesses around town, and offerings of their famous 'apple tea' was a custom whenever we set foot in fancy carpet shops. Needless to say, after numerous cups of tea throughout the week, I think I have a better appreciation for carpets and the effort that goes into selling them.

Me running towards the Bosphorous...on the Asian side (Anadolu Hisari) with European side in view on right bank.

One of the many random highlights of the trip was definately our trip to Prince's Island, where cars are banned an the main modes of transport are bicycle or horse/buggy. After refusing to pay the $10 up/down fee (to see a monestary/former insane-asylum...which we never made it to) we managed to hitch a ride with a horse and cart that appeared to be used solely for transporting goods to the top...and possibly...manure. It wasnt exactly the safest means, but definately more exciting as the four of us sat on the edge of the rickity old wooden-frame and watched rich old tourists pass by us in their fancy horse and carriage.

The ride we should have taken ....and the one we did.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and somehow despite our busy schedule I managed to find enough time to relax and rejuvinate and finally update this blog. As for news in Ukraine...I was an official observer during the September 30th Elections, where I visited the suburbs of Kiev and got some real insight on the political scams of the past, and potentially present, election processes; we attended a Halloween Party at the Canadian Embassy (and built - from scratch - a giant "Timbits Box" for Rob's costume)...I went as an iPod commercial...of course everyone at the embassy travels so much that no one knew what an iPod commercial from North America looks like (...one boy asked if I was dressed as a 'black person'...). SO next year I will have to dress as something more recognizable, and more Canadian. any suggestions are welcome.

As co-"coach" of the Camping Club (along with my roomate Heather) we hosted two campouts...one at the school, and one on a Dutch Farm, about 2.5 hours outside Kiev. It was quite a trip to drive outside the city and fall back a few centuries. Along the highway were horse-drawn carts, and ancient-looking tools were used for farming. Many babushkas have set up shop along the highway with signs for 'market' ("Rinak" in Russian) and offer anything from dried fish to hot water and "Nescafe" (little packets of instant coffee). Our bus driver (who is Russian and came from the school) joined us on the camping trip and while we snacked on weiners and marshmallows over a fire...he brought along his own coleman stove and cooked up some borsch! If only we allowed the kids to use new-age camping gear...

Our next campout is scheduled for 2 weeks from now, but given that yesterday was our first snowfall I have a feeling it will be cancelled.

On that note, the weather is beautiful and crisp (for a former-Montrealer)....and I am looking forward to a quick 6 weeks until a much anticipated trip home at Xmas! Until then.....i'll keep practicing my Russian.

The 'Light Store district' in Taksim (Istanbul)

First trip to the Opera...

The arts scene in Kiev is unbelievable. Going to the opera or ballet is cheaper than going to the movies! For my first EVER opera experience a friend and I decided last minute to show up and pick up balcony tickets for Verdi's "La Traviata" (see link). It was quite a remarkable experience to show up 5 minutes before the show started, buy tickets and sit down to a live performace! Since this first show I've seen 2 more...all of them ranging between $2 to $8 USD! The most expensive tickets (a whole $8) were box seats, so it was worth the extra fee.

Below: First Act of Verdi's "La Traviata"

...close-up of the first Act...

Below: Ballet at the Opera House: Rimsky-Korsakov "Scheherazade" (click to find out more)

Old soviet trolly-bus





...at the market (again!): pre-soviet and Soviet-era memorabilia




Stairs leading down to the metro: This is a popular area for many street vendors trying to rid the last of their produce before winter strikes. Underground there are lots of mini-shops and tables set up for more vendors to see anything from t-shirts, toys, fresh flowers and produce.





Typical Rush-Hour traffic jam (near school):


I forgot to mention one of the most unique and sometimes dangerous features of Ukraine (Kiev in particular), it is legal to drive on sidewalks, and often a wiser choice than trying to drive in a jam. Below you can see several cars and marchutkas making their way amidst the crowd of people, because taking over the roads isn't enough they have to jam up the sidewalks too. I've become a much more conscientious pedestrian since i came here. You never know when a car will sneak up behind you and honk for you to get out of its way.



With less than a week till the parliamentary elections, billboards and bus stops have been dominated by the various parties campaigning posters. Here is an example of the blue "Party of the Regions" ad (which is the definately most common sign seen around the city)

And it's 'rival', the orange "Our Ukraine" poster



Campaiging: Every weekend on Kreshatyk (main street) the streets are closed off and there is some event blasting music and advertising it's purpose. The past few weekends (leading up to the elections) the streets have been dominated by blue flags and kiosks, clowns on stilts handing out balloons (with the party's name on it) and various activities for youth (see basketball game below).

BOAT CRUISE on the Dnipro








A lowly fisherman...





mid-river industrial site




the mid-river industrial site was also someone's home









lots more fishermen



After cruising the river for about an hour, our boat docked away from the buildings and various industrial sites lining the shores, and we had over an hour to kick back, relax, eat some Shashlik and explore the beautiful sand dunes.



Giddy on an island:-)



Carrying the barbeque for some Shashlik (click link to find out what this is)
At the boat dock:
"M" for Metro ... Ukraine has the deepest metro system in the world!


MmmmmcDonalds! (ad for "Big Tasty") luckily, comfort food is easy to find here.



Metro Ride


Another example of election campaiging (Blue=Party of the Regions)


Beautiful Podil