Saturday, October 10, 1998

ACCELS Tour of the Historic District

I hurriedly take a sit-down shower with a wand. Hot water is back on! I dress quickly and grab my skeleton key and head down to the lobby and find the breakfast gathering. Food is already on plates on a large table – glasses of orange juice, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, various sliced meats, small rolls of bread, hard boiled eggs, and yogurt cups.

I gulp my food because I know I am late. Then Marina states we have ten minutes to check out! I hurry double time, and when I get down to the lobby, two more host teachers, Ivan and Constantin, are there, but still not Edward. I am told he will not arrive by bus from Novograd-Volynsky until around noon. We all hug greetings with each other, take lots of pictures, and put our luggage on the waiting bus.

We ride to the ACCELS headquarters, and there we meet Natalia and Dmitry. It is cold in the building because the electricity is off. This large building is a former university campus from Czarist times. Kyiv is famous as a historical intellectual center. In fact, Ukraine had the highest literacy rate of any region in the Russian Empire, and Ukrainians held most government and administrative positions. Taras Shevchenko is their most famous poet, and I look forward to seeing his famous statue soon.

From here we ride the bus to the historical center of the city. Our first photo stop is to take pictures of the statue of Bohdan Khmelnitsky, the Ukrainian leader who led an uprising in the 1600s that united Ukraine with Russia. He is now seen with disfavor for this accomplishment that took Ukraine 300 years to undo.

We walk perhaps three miles and see many other impressive sites. Among them is St. Michael the Archangel Square’s statute to Princess Olga, St. Michael’s Cathedral (1100s), Kontraktova Square, and St. Andrew’s Descent. The Descent is a long winding narrow street near St. Andrews Church (1700s) that drops from the higher sections above the Dnieper River to the land nearer the river. The street is lined with vendors hawking army goods, matryoschka dolls, art work, watches, etc. Our Ukrainian guides keep us moving along and warn us that prices are too high here, and to wait until we get to our local towns.

Olena gives us the historical tour as we walk. She explains everything from royal marriages, invasions, and the Soviet period. She tells us about the ancient Scythian stele that dates back to that ancient BC culture.

At the bottom of the street, we board our waiting bus, and proceed to visit the “near” and “far” cathedrals of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra complex from the 1100s. It is a monastery site that monks started on the river bluff with churches on top of caves dug by them. The complex is entirely surrounded by a wall and the famous Gateway Church at the main gate. We enter through the gate and visit the Belfry Tower, the Refectory, and other buildings dating back centuries. At the end of the compound we have a stunning view of the Dnieper River and places in the morning mist across from it – the giant statue of the woman with the sword and Soviet-style apartment towers above the scene.

Edward’s Arrival!

We finally leave, and there is Edward! He has had a five hour bus ride we will repeat later in the day. It is sure good to see him!

Our guides take us to a nearby restaurant for lunch. It has recently opened to cater to the fledgling tourism trade to the cathedrals. It is designed inside and out to look like an old historic Ukrainian village. Even the ceiling and walls give the feel of sunset in a village. We pass an ox, a Cossack sipping vodka through a straw, and a water wheel. Our long lunch table is laid out with platters of meat, bread, meat, cheese, and vegetables, followed by red borscht soup, and rolls with cabbage, meat, rice, and a tasty crepe dessert. We stuff ourselves on the good food. I fortify myself with hot tea as a fall storm begins to brew outside.

We depart the restaurant and race the approaching cold rain back to ACCELS headquarters. Since I am first to leave with Edward, we say our hasty goodbyes with our colleagues and hail a taxi. I pry myself and my three bags into the back seat of a tiny taxi, and off we speed to the bus station. Edward tells the driver to step on it, because the bus leaves in 25 minutes and we have about 15 miles to go! He takes corners sharply, punches the gas, and we make it just in time.

Bus Ride in a Rainy Night

A hard driving cold rain has begun, which adds to the dank smell of a bus packed with riders. I take my seat next to a fogged-over window. I am damp myself with hardening sweat beneath my coat.

So off we go. It is 5: 00 pm and Edward says it will take about five hours to reach his town of Novograd-Volynsky. We chat occasionally about his work and his town. I discover he is 35, single, and lives with her retired mother, Valentina, age 59. He says she once worked as a plasterer and painter of apartment buildings during the Soviet era. He tells me he has no car or bicycle and walks pretty much everywhere. He says he teaches mostly English and German to grades 5-11.

About 6: 15 pm I cannot keep my eyes open any longer and tell Edward I need to sleep a little. I am still feeling the effects of jet lag and long nights. I put my head back, and am out within seconds.

I wake around 7: 15 pm when the bus stops to let off and pick up people along the route. I still cannot get over the pungent smell of the closely packed bus. Is it the damp clothes, diet, hygiene? I am unable to tell for sure - probably a combination. Edward leaves the bus for a smoke. It is still raining and everywhere mud puddles twinkle with raindrops. We get back on the road, now two lanes instead of four. The bus has a top speed around 50 mph. It is old, maybe 1950s, and labors mightily in the increasingly hilly terrain.

Then, there is the smell of burning oil, and the engine cuts out around 8: 15 pm. The two men in operation of the bus get out, open the engine housing, fiddle with it for several minutes, and finally get it running again.

Bus School Talk

Edward and I resume our earlier conversation, this time about how his school and mine compare. I find out his school has grades 1-12, with one principal and four assistant principals. Each assistant is responsible for curricula, competitions, grade level transfers, and general operations. He states his school has no real discipline problems. He can pick up the phone to call his children’s apartments nearby, and they often call him. He states that most of the people in his town are out of work, or only working 1-2 days a week because of the deep recession, but still deeply care about education and their schools. Students always do their homework, and no one forgets a textbook at home, he says. The expectation is that there is cooperation with his parents and students, and the school gets it.

I also discover that his School #11 is a fairly new red brick building built in the last five years by Germany and Bulgaria. He explains that this was compensation for relocating Soviet troops after 1989’s re-unification of Germany. His town has a long military history, and the Soviets are just the latest chapter, he states matter-of-factly.

Edward’s Flat in Novograd-Volynsky

About 10: 30 pm on a still rainy night, we enter Novograd-Volynsky. We get dropped off by the side of the main road. I stand in the dark with my three bags in the mud and rain, wondering what the next two weeks will bring. It is very dark. As a matter of fact, our entire bus trip was a rather dark one when compared with one in the United States. We drove through thick stands of birch and mixed hardwood forests, and a seemingly sparsely populated rural countryside. Edward told me that the small towns and villages hidden in the dark along the route were using very little electricity to conserve energy resources in such hard times.

Edward helps me carry my luggage through and around a thousand mud puddles. We trudge up a slight incline toward his apartment complex. His building seems to be more modern than any of the others I have already seen. Turns out, his was built in the 1980s, while most of the others were constructed in 1960s-1970s. His mother was able to buy their flat in 1993 when Ukraine let apartments become private after independence from the Soviet Union. He tells me that her monthly mortgage payment is around $60 US/month and is a pensioner with an income around $150 US/month.

We go up two flights of dark stairs to apartment #5. His mother is waiting for us. Valentina knows no English, so Edward acts as go-between for us. She greets me warmly, and then gets busy in the kitchen to feed us a very late dinner. I am not hungry, but do not want to be rude. We take our shoes off, put on house slippers (a rule here), and I am shown to my room. It is actually Valentina’s room, who moved to Edward’s small room to accommodate me, and Edward will sleep in the kitchen on a cot. I am overwhelmed with their generosity to make me feel so at home.

Interior Spaces

Valentina’s room has a couch on one wall that is already folded out with a comforter on it. It is my bed. Another wall has built-in glass-doored cabinets holding books and crystal. A third wall has an outside window and two chairs. The last wall has two tables, two chairs, and next to the entry door a small refrigerator sits next to the bed. Beautiful rugs cover some of the walls.

The small hallway leading to this room also has a tiny broom closet for storage space. The other side of the main hallway has a door to another small room acting as a den for Edward and a bedroom for his mom for the duration of my stay with them.

The kitchen is off the main entrance hall. It consists of a small table and a refrigerator on one wall, an outside window with a ledge full of bottles, pans, and food kept cold by the night air. The other wall has a gas stove, sink, some cabinets, and counter tops.

Also just to the right of the entry door and off the entry hallway, are two small rooms that together serve as toilet facilities. The toilet sits in its own water closet with a pull chain water tank high on the wall. The other room has a tub and sink, with a water spout that is long enough to swing between both.

Edward tells me that the heat for the flat will not be turned on by the town government until after October 15. He states that hot water is only available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday after 6: 00 am and is turned off after 10: 00 pm. During the week, there is no hot water at all!

I think to myself, “This is just great! When I was in Russia in 1996, I had no hot water at all for three weeks running, but at least the outside temperature was in the 80s F during the summer.” Today it is around 50F with a raw cold wind with fall weather coming on strong, and the apartment temperature inside does not feel much higher. Compounding the water situation is the fact that all water is turned off at 10: 00 pm, so Edward has to collect water in buckets for our conservative use.

First dinner

By now Valentina has dinner ready on the table. We have ground up onion, carrot, and parsley, mashed potatoes, meat jello (a kind of clear hardened meat fat gelatin), tomatoes covered with sour cream, rye bread slices with no butter, and fried squash patties with sour cream. Edward makes a homemade vodka toast (his mom made it with yeast, sugar, cloves, vanilla, and bay leaves, and is ready in about three weeks – she promises me she will give me bottle to take home to America.) We toast to a good beginning, our families, and good health, and toss the vodka shot down. It tastes very good, and I feel its warmth all the way down!

His mom watches me intently as I eat. I am not hungry from my huge lunch, and I eat about half the speed of Edward. But I eat everything in due time. I like it all fairly well, but the meat jello is my least favorite. We also drink cream soda from a bottle, and eat some store-bought cake for dessert. Topping off the dinner, Edward serves us thick strong coffee in a small cup with coffee mud on the bottom.

Sunday Plans

Before retiring, we discuss our Sunday plans. If the weather is nice, we will go to the Sunday only morning market. If it is still raining, we will walk to mass at the Holy Spirit Polish Catholic Church. Later in the evening, Edward says he will take me to a free traditional cultural dance and song concert at the Palace of Culture, built in 1972 in typically bland Soviet-style architecture. The troupe, many of whom work at or attend Edward’s school, was formed in the 1960s and is famous across Ukraine, Edward says. It sounds like a full and exciting day is planned!

We say our goodnights, and I curl up under the chilly comforter, exhausted. The next thing I know Edward is waking me up at 6: 00 am and states my bath has been drawn with hot water heated on the stove. I sleepily rise and make my way drowsily to the tub. Oh, did that hot water feel great!