Friday, October 23, 1998

Edward wakes me up at the ungodly hour of 4: 00 am with his usual turning on my light and his lilting, “Hallooooo, Michael? ” I rise, get dressed, skip my bath, and sit down for our last breakfast together. I have hot milk and honey, left over meat dumplings, and tomatoes.

Bench Soil

Then, finally, it is time to go. Edward’s dad arrives on the dot. I give Valentina a last hug, even though I know it is a no-no in Ukraine to initiate with women. (Actually, they all got used to this crazy friendly American, and came to expect it from me in the end.) I kissed her on the cheek, and said my last goodbye, complete with tears from both of us.

As I cross to the Jeep parked in the darkness, I put my bags down and go back to Valentina’s favorite park bench, the bench on which I took her and Edward’s picture seemingly years ago. I bend down in the darkness, probe the muddy soil with my fingers, and poke around until I find some moist but softer dirt. I scoop up several small handfuls and place them in a small plastic bag. I had wanted Valentina’s garden soil, but was never able to make it back. Actually, this will be even better reminder of Valentina and Edward.

I climb into the tall front seat of the Jeep. His dad starts the engine without the lights, and we lurch our way down the pot-holed road to the main highway in the dark so as not to wake anyone up. He turns on the lights, and we turn left. We cross the bridge near where the MIG jet fighter perches on its pedestal like one of my old model jets I put together when I was a boy.

Ride to the Depot

The streets are virtually deserted at this early hour. We pass through the center of town and all the places I had walked and rode – the central circle, the factory, the fortress, the bell tower, and schools #1 and #9. Somewhere out there in the pre-dawn night the River Sluch continues its relentless flow.

We finally reach the bus stop. A few buses sit expectantly in the growing dawn light. Edward’s dad talks to the bus driver. He gets his hand crank tool, opens up the lower compartment on the driver’s side of the bus, and we push my bags in. Edward only carries his ever-present shoulder bag, lightly packed. It’s finally time to board, and we say good bye to Ilgam. I thank him for being my cabbie so many times. Before we move down the aisle, Edward asks a lady sitting alone on the right side if she is willing to move so we can sit together at the front. She graciously complies.

This Is It

We settle into our seats, the bus driver hand cranks the engine, and it rumbles to life. The door closes, the bus backs up, and as it swings its headlights to turn forward, it beams Ilgam, who puts his two hands together over his head in a farewell salute. I do the same through the window, but doubt he can see me. My eyes mist as I realize this is it. I am actually leaving Novograd-Volynsky! Edward is coming back to his home here, but I am on my way back to my own home half way round the world. We are on exact opposite paths tonight – such a strange setting, such a momentous fact to consider.

And so we travel back along landscapes I first glimpsed through the rain on my incoming trip. Now in dawn’s early light, I silently hail and bid farewell to the River Sluch, the clinic, the marsh, School #11, and all those who made my visit so memorable. Finally we are past the outskirts of the town, and are on our way to Kyiv at last.

Moving Landscape Scenes

Sitting in the front seat, I have a bird’s eye view of what I missed on the night I first arrived. I see the vast Ukrainian landscape rolling under tree lots and thick shelter belt tree stands planted to manipulate the effects of strong snowy winds. These shelter belts were planted in the Soviet 1930s to trap snow moisture on fields and protect highway and rail lines. We pass village after village with their menagerie of geese, ducks, horses, dairy cows, and goats. It makes me smile to see rather shabby looking houses and huts painted with bright splashes of Ukrainian blue and traditional geometric designs. Always the hope for something better! We pass men sawing huge trees by hand, and couples huddled together in small horse drawn wagons. One younger couple steals a kiss. Small fires, both field and chimney, burn here and there, the smoke drifting lazily through trees now almost totally devoid of all foliage. An occasional stalwart stubbornly stands, holding onto its last remaining leaves.

Passenger Economics

We arrive at the regional center, Zhytomyr. I begin to notice a pattern of passenger loading I had not paid attention to before. Edward explains to me. We are all ticketed passengers, and in Soviet days, this was the only way to ride the state run buses. Now, however, in this wide open and broken economy, drivers stop and pick up and drop off for cash, which they pocket, or keep as a favor, or as part of a barter arrangement.

These short haul city and village riders thus utilize the main Kyiv bus line to go short distances along the main highway without having to buy a ticket at the depots. These “extra” riders benefit not only themselves in this manner, but also the bus drivers, who create extra income for themselves – revenue that the bus company never sees or even knew existed.

It is this nationwide barter system of survival that is rampant and is costing the government untold millions of dollars in lost revenue and taxes. But it seems that this is the way it is right now, and until the current government gets things turned around, will likely remain for the near future. Maybe the experts are not exaggerating when they state that 70-80% of the nation’s economy has gone underground!

Yikes, our bus has just cut across two lanes going 60k/hour and cut off three cars just to pick up one passenger waving on the side of the road! Additionally, picking up these extra riders means considerable delay for any scheduled trip. I suppose a normal two hour trip could easily double.

Arrival Back in Kyiv

We finally enter the outskirts of Kyiv with its ubiquitous apartment complexes from the 1960s and 1970s. These mazes of rectangle towers never cease to amaze me. I saw the same ugly landscape around Moscow, Russia in 1996. They look like a giant space port from a far distant future. In fact, they are sardine boxes of one and two room flats stacked on top of each other. (Communists taught Ukrainians British English, not American English, thus “flat” instead of apartment and “lift” instead of elevator. They mostly used old text books from the British Communist Party. I am the first person speaking American English most of the people I have come in contact with have ever heard, and they do notice a big difference!)

We reach the center of the city and the main bus terminal where my adventure first began about two weeks ago. It is a strange feeling to step off the bus onto the same spot that I left back then. I have to pay to pee – I cannot wait any longer from the long drive! Edward buys his return ticket while I look for the toilet. He regrets he will miss the ACCELS reception.

Up the Descent

Edward negotiates for a taxi, we pile in, and off we speed to the fairly new Hotel Andrewskaya, near St. Andrews Church along the Descent road. The cabbie has trouble finding it, or so he says, but it is on the same Descent road I had walked before.

We reach the lobby, and there is no English spoken here. Edward helps me check into Room 205B. I discover I am the last of the American teachers to arrive today. For once I am hungry, and can’t wait for the reception, so we eat some of Edward’s cheese and sausage sandwiches he brought along just in case.

We decide to do a little exploring before he has to leave. We go up St. Andrew’s descent –UGH! I look at a few of the vendor stands, but Edward is in hurry to keep moving. I still am looking for amber for Kathy, but don’t see any today. I finally buy an Oktober Revolution watch with the Kremlin on the back for a professor friend of mine in Arizona. Edward thinks it is a silly purchase, until I tell him I am doing a favor for Professor Comeaux.

By now we have climbed the Descent road to the elevation of the church itself. It is a remarkable building! It has green and gold cupolas, and is a real sparkling jewel sitting atop the hill above the river valley. It dominates the entire area. I take several pictures in the glum and fading light.

It is obvious that we have no time for me to see the cave monasteries. It will have to wait until I return to Kyiv again. We continue to the top of the hill, and cross over to the historic central district containing St. Michael’s and the famous Sophia Tower from the 1100s. We are basically retracing that first morning city tour I had, only in reverse this time.

Walking the City

We walk through the famous Sophia Tower gate and it is here that we run into Constantin and James! We chat awhile. They are leaving Sophia, as we are going in. I did not realize until later that night that Constantin would not be at the reception either, otherwise I would have given him a more proper farewell. We also bump into another ACCELS teacher couple – Dixie from USA and her host teacher Valentina.

We leave Sophia when Edward says he needs to go to ACCELS headquarters to get his vouchers paid for. It is about a two mile walk, mainly uphill. UGH! We pass the Opera House, and the old thick medieval wall and gate of old Russia Kiev. We finally reach the university site where ACCELS is located. The building is striking because of its deep burnt red paint color with black adornments: red and black – Ukraine’s two major colors. Red = love, and black = sadness. I think of all the sadness of Ukraine’s past and turbulent present. Galina once told me that there is far more red than black in their decorations, so love always wins over sadness. This thought gives me hope for Ukraine’s future.

We go inside and meet Marina and Natalia. They are very glad to see us, and ask how our visit went in Novograd-Volynsky. So we catch them up in a general sort of way.

Market Place Comparisons

Then we leave because Edward wants to see the nearest large market place before he goes back home. We walk awhile, and then take the subway for one exit so I can see how Kviv’s subway system compares to Moscow’s when I was there two years before. It reminds me of Moscow’s outer system of stations, not the cathedral-like inner circle that Stalin constructed in the 1930s. Kyiv’s subway is more like the 1960s style of subway, nice by not pretentious.

We exit the subway and walk a short distance to the marketplace. It is down three stories of stairs as the hill gives way to our approach. There are 100s of metal roofed stalls selling the important basics of life, each stall specializing in a specific product: toilet paper, cat food, laundry soap, cigarettes, cleanser, and so on. Edward tells me prices have jumped again since his last visit in early September. He buys a carton of cigarettes that has doubled in price since last June with soaring inflation. The market is mobbed, and Edward says that prices are still lower here than on the streets, bus stops, or village markets.

Some of the shoppers here have come to buy in bulk, and then in turn, sell with raised prices on the street or back in the village to make a small profit. So again, here’s another example that a large part of Ukraine’s revenue goes uncontrolled and untaxed. It’s no wonder that school hallways go dark, hot water goes missing for weeks, and salaries go unpaid for months at a time. It appears that the government is just about broke. When will it recover?

We check out price increases on other items. We discover that the matryoschka doll set (Clinton, Monica, and his other alleged dalliances) has jumped from $15 to $40 US in one week due to tourist demand. I saw no such tourist items in all my time I in Novograd-Volynsky or Lviv.

Edward and I Say Farewell

Then Edward decides we should walk back to ACCELS. By now, I am soaked under my coat again, thirsty, and tired – after all, I am still recovering from my extended illness. We make it back to ACCELS, and chat with Natalia a little. Then Edward announces it is time for him to return to Novograd-Volynsky in order to make the bus on time.

I stand to bid him farewell, but he beats me to it. He takes my hand in a half shake position, shakes my other hand, looks me in the eyes with mist in his, and says, “Goodbye, good luck. It was good that you came to visit.” It is Edward’s style. My eyes mist over as well, and I say, “Thanks for everything you did to make my stay so very memorable.” We give each other a quick hug, and then he turns and leaves the room. I don’t think he hears my trailing “”Farewell.” He disappears almost before I can process the thought that our time together has run its course.

I sit, physically and emotionally drained. I take off my sport coat too, and my shirt is soaked! I sit there for fifteen minutes by myself while staff people come and go. I finally ask where the restroom is. On my way back, I see Dmitry. We chat and regret that we will not be able to make good on our pledge to eat at the Arizona restaurant. It is good to speak “regular” American style English again. I am very thirsty, and I ask him if he has something cold to drink. He leaves, and hands me a room temperature Pepsi from the lobby, but it is wet and cold enough to suit me.

Off to the ACCELS Reception

Then Marina comes into the room, and tells me that it is time to go to the hotel and meet the others. The three of us hail a taxi, but it can only drive to the top of the Descent. So we walk downhill, and it dawns on me that this is my last chance to buy some souvenirs for home. Marina and Dmitry are tolerant, and let me look quickly at the stalls as we make our way down past all the vendors. They warn me about cost and quality. I finally buy two items – an amber brooch for Kathy and a numbered pencil-ink drawing of St. Andrews and the Descent.

We finally reach the little side street where our hotel is, and join Olena, Kathryn, Martha, Ivan Ostapets, James, Gerry, Natalia, and Valentina in the lobby. They are the other Ukraine and US teacher-couples. I quickly put my gifts in my room, and off we go again – this time all the way down the rest of the Descent to our reception location. Ivan announces he has to leave, so that now makes him, Edward, and Constantin already gone.

Natalia leads us through the lower section of the city down by the river. It has a lot of nice older buildings. I look upward and see the beautiful spires of St. Andrews on the hill screened by thin branches of dense trees on the hillside below. I know my time to leave Ukraine is fast approaching like the dusk, and I am savoring and locking away each visual memory I can.

We reach the famous Kyiv tram that crawls uphill. Dixie, Valentina, and Dmitry decide to take this form of unique transportation and leave the rest of us behind. Dixie wants to accompany Valentina to the train station – it is now Valentina’s turn to leave. The numbers for the reception are diminishing quickly.

We reach a Metro station and ride four stops, get out, and walk a short stretch to Ivanna’s flat for the reception. The decor is an interesting combination of art across all the continents with a blonde color palette throughout. The kitchen table is laden with caviar breads, cheeses and appetizers of all kinds. We are offered wine, juice, cognac, and vodka. Most of us take the juice, and I only eat two caviar breads – much too salty for my taste.

We chat over dinner in a large conversation circle. James begins to stimulate the discussion as is his style, and gets into a pointed discussion about socio-economic politics of Ukraine that gets a little heated. I decide to leave the circle, as do Marina, Natalia, and Olena, and we get more drinks. The circle breaks up. I also seek out American teachers Martha (stayed in a tiny village of 7000), and Kathryn (stayed in Kyiv) to see how their visits compared to my own experience in a mid-sized town. Olena joins us. Of all the Ukraine women I met, she is the most “American-like” I think, and easiest to engage in conversation.

Last Night in Kyiv

The reception winds down at this point. Natalia gives us all the high sign it’s time to leave, and we say more final goodbyes. I think I am “goodbyed" out! We Metro back a few stops, and now it is Olena’s turn to leave the rest of us. She was the one who asked more down-to-earth questions about the US than anyone, and there is talk that she will apply for a Fulbright scholarship to America. I tell her that if she ever makes it the US, to contact me.

We walk the final mile to our hotel retracing our path along the lower route beneath St. Andrews. It is dark now, and it is flood lit like some diamonded jewel in front of the frigid night sky. It mesmerizes me! It looks amazingly like a princess tiara at a fairy tale ball. It is a breathtaking moment; I am so glad I bought the pencil-ink numbered print now. I vow that it will be framed and hung at home in a special place.

Now it’s time for more goodbyes at the hotel. Just before Natalia leaves, I remember the gift bag is still in my room for all the ACCELS folks – UA pens, state flags, and some silver coins! I run up to my room, and bring the bag down, but by then everyone else has retired. So I explain about the gifts to Natalia, and we hug a final goodbye – more teary eyes. What a wonderful ACCELS hostess she was to all of us!

I go back to my room and regroup my luggage. I fall into bed around 11: 00 pm, exhausted. What an amazing day, as all of them have been. I hope Gerry remembers to wake me up at 4: 00 am by pounding on my door as we planned. My last thought before sleep overtakes me – have Edward and his mom discovered my envelope yet?