Another Embarrassing News

Regretfully bad press about Ukraine does not stop.
Now Ukrainian Olympic official sells "50 to 100 leftover tickets" for cash - on BBC. Interesting investigative reporting of just over 4 minutes at below link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18232275

Such a shame that yet another greedy official provides such national embarrassment.

Heated Language Debate

Last Thursday, on May 25th members of the Ukraine Parliament saw some serious action. BBC dubbed it "Rumble in Rada".
NYtimes has a short article on the event: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/26/world/europe/ukraine-parliament-debate-over-language-escalates-into-a-brawl.html
BBC coverage is on youtube:



In Ukraine MPs are richest and most powerful people in the country and not everyday one can see millionaires fighting about the language.

Victory Day

On May 9th most ex-Soviet states celebrate the Victory Day - the capitulation of the Nazi Germany.  In Europe - including Croatia Victory Day was on May 8th.  But as surrender document was signed late evening on May 8th - due to time difference this was May 9th in Russia.
This year in Kiev the Victory day was a low key affair. No parade. No big concerts. But people still brought flowers to WWII monuments. I like how the tank in front of the military academy was covered by flowers. More pics how the holiday was celebrated at:  

Celebration of Cola Light

Back in Kiev cafes and shops are well stock with Cola Light. Peter and Faye celebrate and proudly show  their favourite drink in front of Soviet monument of friendship.

Ivano Frankivsk

Peter's parents are from a small place close to Ivano Frankivsk (IF) so we decided to go there.

IF is about 130 km from Lviv. The landscape we passed from Liviv to IF is as nice as the road is terrible. I tried my best to perform kind of potholes slalom with the car. Still we experienced an extreme kidney massage.
On the way to IF we passed Rogatyn - the birth place of Roxolana. She is a daughter of an orthodox priest and as young girl was captured by Tatars and taken as a slave to Constantinople where she was chosen to join the Sultan's harem. She was a swift operator in many areas. She quickly became Sultan's - Suleyman the Magnificent - favourite in the harem. Than she was freed from slavery (in harem) and became the legal Sultan's wife. In this new position she also doubled as the Sultan's foreign affairs adviser and for some time secured Ottoman-Polish peace. Her son Selim inherited the Ottoman Empire. For more about her see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxelana

In Rogatyn we found Cola Light.

IF is small, charming city. As experienced tourists our first stop was a tourist center. There we met Elena who offered to be our guide. It's always nice to have a local guide so we warmly accepted her offer. Soon we realized Elena is very popular with the locals. She new many people we passed. She told us she knows all the night clubs in IF. We understood she knows almost all foreigners in the town. She also briefed us on local practices (cheating in marriage seems to be a local sport; one can easily buy exams at the IF schools and university). Elena's mother works in Italy. Once Elena graduates at the university (tourism) she wants to go to US.
Elena wanted to shows us the lake close to IF but I prefered to slalom road potholes in the daylight so we left shortly after lunch.
Pity about the lake but it's always good to leave something for the next visit.

Faye and Peter in Lviv

Peter's parents are from the western Ukraine and we decided to visit Lviv. Personally I consider Lviv the most beautiful city in Ukraine. It's 540 km from Kiev and I drove there.  Last Xmas I drove to Zhitomir (130 km from Kiev) which is on the way to Lviv.  This 130km of the road was under construction in Dec and driving was a challenge. I expected that in four months the road will be finished. I was wrong. Four months later I have not seen much progress on the road since last December. Fortunately we drove when the traffic was (kind of ) light. From Zhitomir the road to Lviv is best one in Ukraine. It would be a pleasure to drive if the road would not be so crowded by horse carts, bicycle riders, people walking and crossing the road. It is unclear what is the speed limit on the road and I did not want to waste my time by negotiating a fee for over speeding with the road police. Thus I drove with moderation (some can call it slow). With few stops along the road we made to Lviv in 7 hours. I am sure some would drive faster. But I put a safety first.
The road was flanked by charming storks nests and these gracious birds were adoring almost each nest. Guess they brought a lot of babies along the road.

Lviv is wonderful. Cozy. With typical European cafe culture. We took a small "Thomas-like" train for a tour around the city. Walked around. Checked all the tourist spots. Had great meals - but still rated Yulia's food much higher. Tops.
We visited the tourist center to inquire about possible trips outside Lviv. A friendly young lady gave us names of all interesting towns in the region. She was really nice and excited to be both helpful and speak to us in English. She asked Peter and Faye what is the difference between a travel and a journey. She got an excellent explanation that a journey has an element of adventure, something unknown and unexpected. She told us she want to hitch-hike through the Europe. Three of us looked at each other and silently agreed not to be patronizing and destroy her dream. But three of us truly hope she will never hitch-hike to Europe. She is way too nice.

The major problem for us in Lviv was absence of Coca-Cola light. This is Faye's and Peter's most favourite beverage. In all Lviv's cafes, restaurants, kiosk and shops we found only three bottles of Coca-cola light (0.5l) in a very small local shop. Faye cherished them during our Lviv visit.
Not being able to order Cola light Faye was drinking a local sparkling water with lemon. When lemon was served without a strainer Faye wondered were it is. I tried to explain that a strainer served with lemon does not fit the profile of the country at the frontier of emerging markets.
We stayed in an excellent hotel. With the buffet breakfast included. The omelet station was handled by a big women with sour, angry face expression. Her expression was so intimidating Faye and I skipped an omelet the first morning. We later relaxed a bit after we reached a conclusion "the angry face" is possibly her strategy to avoid being too busy making omelets. Our wish to show her this (possible) strategy does not work with us gave us courage. We called a women "the Angry Face". On our last morning in Lviv when we arrived for a breakfast - the omelet station was empty. A waiter approached and asked "tea or coffee?". We answered and than Peter asked him "The angry face does not work today?" The waiter smiled and replied "Oh no. She will be in a minute". True to his words the "angry face" took our omelets orders few minuets later. It was good to see we are so easily understood.

Faye and Peter in Kiev

Over May holidays I had a visit from Faye and Peter - my friends from Dubai. Three of us were excited about the visit and for weeks looked forward to catch up. Last time we were together was in 2009.  For Faye this was the first visit to the frontier of emerging markets. I was delighted to have a chance to show them my home country for last four years. There was a special moment at the airport when Faye and I experienced slight disbelief that our wishes to meet and plans for this visit are finally  for real.
Peter's parents are Ukrainian and he speaks the language. He spent few days in Kiev in early 90ties. But the city changed since than.
The first day we had some rain. Coming from Dubai Faye and Peter enjoyed sounds of rain and the show provided by lightning and thunder. But Faye always brings sunshine and for the rest of their visit we enjoyed sunny, hot, summer weather.
Yulia - knowing my friends will arrive prepared a mountain of local delicious food - blini, vareniki, julien,  golubtsi, poppy cake.
But on the lodging front things were challenging. Iggy was delighted to get a nice new toy and delicious presents. Initially he showed his mellow side. But after few hours his territorial alpha male character took over. We had to put band aid on Peter's ankle. Yulia came to rescue and took Iggy for few days. The first evening the building block had no hot water. Some "avaria" in the neighbourhood. There is a small boiler for such cases in my flat. But each time the boiler is in use (hot water is used in the bathroom or the kitchen) it starts to produce some high pitch music. Kind of repetitive Philip Glass stuff. One can probably appreciate the boiler doubles as a music box, but its compositions are truly an acquired taste. Nothing close to Glass.
The second day the guest toilet refused to flush. This was a surprise as few weeks ago a plumber came and  fixed it. Possibly I have not made sufficiently clear to the plumber that I do not need to see him every few weeks. Fortunately Peter is very handy with such technical house problems and easily fixed the toilet.
One day we also found out we are without internet. The landlord went on his May holidays and forgot about the bills.
From the internet provider I learned I can pay the bill at the special type of ATMs which are located at supermarkets and metro stations. The call center of the internet company could not specify which supermarkets and metro stations so three of us went for a search. First evening Faye and I checked two metro stations around my house. We found ATMs for mobile phones and all other internet providers - except for mine. Next morning with Peter we were more lucky - and found the right ATM, paid the bill and had the internet connection restored within two hours. I was impressed with such efficiency.

Thanks to Peter I also have DVD working and can download movies. Now I can catch up with my education in visual arts (area I sadly neglected last few years).

It's possible Faye and Peter were slumming it in my flat. But we spent a lot of time outside and Kiev in the spring is the most charming. We enjoyed walking its streets and parks, visiting churches and relaxing in cafes. As evidence of a good time here are the photos:

Dutch Ad "Keep them home"

The funny Dutch ad angered Ukraine's people in power. The Ukraine Ambasador requested ad to be removed from the TV program. Dutch response is cool and saying Ukraine government is "over reacting". The whole incident made a lot of people to watch the ad.

The other Chelsea - A Story from Donetsk

I received an excellent movie recommendation from a friend in Kiev. It's a heartwarming, thought provoking documentary about Shakhter - a football club in Donetsk, Donetsk city elite and hard working people.
The movie is made in 2009/2010 when Shakhter won UEFA Cup by a german director Jakob Preuss.
In the movie the Head of the City Assembly (young 28 year old )  and a rising start in Party of Regions gives folloiwng statment:
"If you are member of the oposition in Ukraine, you have mainly to beware of the judiciary. In your Europe the judiciary protects both goverment and opposition. Here the judiciary only protects the people in power. If you lose the elections you go to prison".
How very true and very prophetic.
Many thanks to Vjeceslav for recommending it. I can highly recommended too. The link is  www.theotherchelsea.com  and the trailer for the movie is:
   

Local TV Gun Show

I recently saw a gun show on the local TV. Not the program I expected to see. I am not used to watch guns show. Made few photos and than turned to BBC.

Spring Arrived

Limo Date

 It's very common to see limo's in Kiev. And not unusual to see a limo date.

Good Fit

It is not surprising to see erotic show club in Kiev. What caught my eye is that next to the erotic show there is a clinic. Given overall level of STD locally the show is well strategically pointed.

Antwerp

Waiting for spring

So good to see I am not alone in impatiantly waiting for spring.
The winter was long enough.

Ray of optimism

For various reasons blogging was off. One of the reasons was that for some time I have not been well. Fortunately two years ago I was lucky enough to find an excellent doctor - Mikhail Nikolaevich. Following a treatment at his small clinic for two years I was good. Two years ago when I visited his clinic it was in the run down building. One could see repair works but the look of the place might put some people off. When I arrived to the clinic for the appointment few weeks ago I was amazed. New elevator took me straight to the clinic reception. Shiny floors. Fresh painted walls. Large TV in the waiting room. Friendly, helpful and highly professional staff. Modern equipment around. It was so good to see such a progress and I shared this with the doctor. He founded the clinic with few other doctors few years back. Every year they continue to make some improvements. More upgrades are planed for this summer. My treatment took few weeks. Every time the staff was  highly professional, friendly and warm. I feel almost like A+ now and while I wish not to visit the clinic soon (again) it was good to see and experience a big improvement has been achieved in just over two years. This small clinic filled me with optimism about the country.