Young Life is…….Life

As we wind down our adventure, I wanted to re-introduce you to many of the incredible people that made our time in Ukraine and Russia so memorable.  All either work for Young Life as Directors or volunteer leaders.  They took time out of their busy lives and families to help Gloria and me see the real Ukraine and Russia.  Thanks to all of you!

Sergei, Young Life Coordinator for Ukraine and surrounding countries.

Vanilla, volunteer leader at Chernivtsi Young Life, last year of high school

Ala, volunteer leader at Chernivtsi Young Life, studying business at the University.

Sasha Gusokov, Young Life Director, at Hmlinski.

Alyona Mular, On staff for Young LIfe in Chernivtsi, translator, liason, our guide in Chernivtsi and L’Viv, University degree in English Literature (and adopted daughter and sister!)

Ira, Sasha, Camilla, and Valentine Utkin. Sasha is Director of Young Life in Chernvitsi.

Sasha Puza “Belly”, volunteer leader at Chernivtsi Young Life, has lived at club for last three years, is Greg’s roommate.

Vanya, volunteer leader at Chernivtsi Young Life, lives in one of the orphanages that Young Life works in.

Galya, volunteer leader at Chernivtsi Young Life, on orphanage team.

Igor, volunteer leader at Chernivtsi Young Life, second year at University, studying to be a computer programmer, Greg’s guitar buddy.

Ira, volunteer Young Life Leader in Kiev, third year at University, studying English.  Our Kiev tour guide.

Svyetya, Young Life Leader in St. Petersburg, has a university degree in Linguistics. Our guide for St. Petersburg.

Jenya Pustoshkina, Young Life Director for Russia.  Attorney, our guide for the Hermitage.

Alyona, Young Life Leader in St. Petersburg, also one of our guides.

Natasha Tsurkan, Young Life Director in Ivano-Frankisk.  University degree in Psychology, leads the orphanage team.

Natasha, volunteer leader at Chernivtsi Young Life, lives at Club, cleans for rent.

Dasha and Lina, both Senior University students studying English, our guides in Moscow.

Moscow – Second Day

Lena and Dasha couldn’t join us for the second day, so with Greg’s budding Russian and a subway map, off we went to explore the city.  We first went to the Cathedral-of-the-Christ we visited yesterday.  It wasn’t open and we wanted to return to see the inside.  An interesting history here.

It was the biggest and most opulent Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow.  When Lenin enforced Communism, he had it destroyed to build a huge outdoor swimming pool for the “workers”.  However, due to the swimming pool’s size, the amount of evaporation was so great that the humidity was effecting close-by art museums.  So he had the swimming pool torn down.  Plans were then laid to build a monument to Communism four times higher then the Cathedral, but that was never built.

So, when Communism died in 1991, a whole new Cathedral was built even better then the original.  So, rather then seeing one built 4-500 years ago, this one is only 15 years old.  No pictures were allowed inside, but the outside is stunning.

These brass castings were on all outside walls.

A detail of the massive carved wooden doors

Finally ,to end our stay in Moscow, we took the subway out to the Former Soviet Union’s Technology/Exhibition Park.  This is where the best of Communism was displayed.  Sculptures commemorating their space program, many sculptures celebrating the unification of the 14 Countries, their technology and pride.  Now it ranges somewhere between nostalgia, an embarrassment, and a laughing stock. A couple of pictures.

This the the greatest of the monuments to Communism with Lenin’s statue still in front.  Now it has little stores inside selling cheap electronics and even cheaper souvenirs.  A audio loop of a clown laughing comes from the inside.

This is a HUGE sculpture on a HUGE building commemorating the Hammer and Sickle held aloft by a man and woman. (See the people in front for a perspective)

After dark, on the way back to our apartment through Red Square.

Moscow – First Day

A rather lazy 8 hour train ride from St. Petersburg to Moscow.  Initially we discovered that we were in the midst of a 4 day national holiday and all flights and trains were booked solid.  With a bit of patience, Jenya found some seats on a train at the last minute.  Yesa and Lena picked us up at the train station at 10PM, bringing us to our Moscow apartment.  Again, very nice, but with WiFi!  Getting caught up on the news and emails. 

Today was Kremlin Day.  A short subway ride to Red Square.  Moscow’s subway system is unique in that after the fall of Communism the Russians converted their subway stations into world class museums!  They are spotlessly clean and full of valuable artwork.  Take that New York!

What we typically saw in the 70’s of the Kremlin was the bloated Poliburo on the top of the wall watching row after row of missiles and artillery roll by in the huge Red Square.  In actuality the Soviets used wide angle lenses.  The Red Square is really not that big, maybe half the of the plaza in front of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and on one end of the Square is St. Basil’s Church; the other end is a museum.  Not really that imposing in real life! But neither was Communism we discovered.

This the the Kremlin with Lenin’s Tomb on the left, the Kremlin (“fortress” in Russian) in one form or another has been around for 700 years.

St. Basil’s Church is the quintessential Russian Orthodox cathedral. Officially known as Cathedral of Intercession of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, Temple of Basil the Blessed.  It is actually 10 mini-cathedrals all built together during the 16th century.

The Russians too, have a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  This is during a Changing of the Guard.  This commemorates the soldiers who died fighting the Nazis during WWII.  Note: The Soviet Union lost almost 9 million military and over 13 million civilians in WWII.

Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin

In front of Lenin’s tomb in Red Square.  Our guides, Dasha and Lina, thought is odd that we wanted our picture taken here, but Gloria and I posed in front of Ho Chi Minh’s tomb in Hanoi, so we thought we would go two for two for Communist Dictators.

Gloria posing with Dasha and Lina in GUM department store on Kremlin Square.

CHERNOBYL

Many of you may remember the “Chernobyl Disaster” in 1986.  In the middle of the night, the reactor core split in the nuclear power plant and a massive fire followed.  A huge amount of radiation was released and the already teetering USSR had not only an ecological and human disaster on its hands but a political one as well. 

They were slow to release details to the world while the local authorities, fire fighters and technicians attempted to assess and contain the disaster.  Once the fire was contained, and radiation measurements taken, it was determined that  10’s of 1000’s of people needed to be relocated in the surrounding area and 80 towns and cities needed to be abandoned.  Meanwhile those who responded appropriately to the disaster were dying by the day as they succumbed to massive radiation doses.

The “Chornobyl Museum” in Kiev, is Ukraine’s attempt to explain this disaster to the world and commemorate those who were so affected by it.  Although the museum did deal with some of the “numbers” it was really intended to acknowledge those that dealt with the disaster or affected by its aftermath.  Indeed, radiation spread over northern Europe and throughout the Ukraine.   This was a nuclear reactor built by the Soviets in Ukraine, yet Ukraine was most affected by its after affects. 

This was more of a memorial then a museum.  The human toll continues to this day.  Indeed, Alyona, our dear friend and guide in Ukraine was sent to Cuba as a 7 year old to help her “recover” from the affects of the nuclear fallout.  Another of our guide’s uncle was a Russian private in the Soviet Army, he was sent into the fallout zone as a jeep driver where he took people in and out of the “hot zone” for weeks, not being told of the possible affects of the radiation.  He has been incapacitated by the radiation almost his entire life.

Hanging in the entry way to the museum are all the names of the 80 towns that were evacuated and condemned after Chernobyl.  There evacuation is permanent.  The area around Chernobyl cannot be reentered for the half-life of the released isotope , 40,000 years.

The world was fortunate that the “cold war” with the Soviets never heated up.

St. Petersburg – Second Day

Second day in  St. Petersburg was spent with Jenya, Young Life’s Russia Director.  An attorney by education, but totally committed to Young Life in her time.

We queued up at 9:30AM for the 10:AM opening of the Hermitage.  This museum, along with the New York Metropolitan, and the  Louvre in Paris comprise the three greatest museums in the world. The Hermitage began as the Winter Palace for Peter the Great in the mid-18th Century.  It contains 2.7 million items.  If you spent only 10 seconds viewing each item, it would take you over 3 1/2 years to see everything.

Not only is the art incredible, but the building itself is difficult to image.  All the floors are inlayed wood; gold, crystal and marble are everywhere.  Quality and quantity of art are evident.  Two rooms of Picasso, 26 pieces by Rembrandt.  Rubens, Monet, Matisse, the list goes on and on.  Truly overwhelming.

All the floors, everywhere were inlayed like this.  Stunning.

 

I had to include this picture. A couple of years ago, in this gallery, someone threw acid on a Rembrandt.  This gal is security, she had a very mean looking baton, handcuffs and she is armed, but, she is in heals!

In the gallery with all the “Knights in Shining Armor”

St. Petersburg – First Day

Briefly, getting to St. Petersburg from Kiev was a challenge.  Our ticketed flight left 2 hours before we got to the airport.  They didn’t bother to let us know!  So….a lot of phone calls later, (glad Greg knows a fair amount of Russian, has Ukrainian friends and a local cell phone) and a very helpful Aeroflot agent, we got booked on the last flight to Moscow, then the last flight to St. Petersburg.  Not a direct flight to St. Petersburg, but nonetheless a flight to St. Petersburg.  We pulled in at 2AM.

St. Petersburg was the capital of Russia during the Czarist period until the Revolution of 1917.  They really enjoyed themselves during this time in history!  Although neglected during the Revolution, abused during Socialism, partially destroyed during the 900 day German Siege of WWII and only used functionally during Communism, the heart of St. Petersburg has emerged as one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Also, fortunately, our apartment reserved for us was within walking distance of everything we needed/wanted to see!  First on our list is the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, also known as Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

 

This was built to commemorate the death of a saint, hence the “spilled blood”.  It was financed by commoners and the inside is decorated exclusively with mosaics.  Phenomenal.

Next, the Kazan Cathedral, inspired by St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Another stunner on the inside.  Note: During Soviet times they renamed this The Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism.  Right.

Our host today is Svyetya, one of the leaders for Young Life in St. Petersburg.  Excellent English doesn’t surprise us, she has a degree in Linguistics and has lived off and on in the US.  Great gal, lots of fun to be with.

Eating In and Eating Out In Ukraine

Sergei, area director for Young Life, invited us to his house for a farewell dinner.  He prepared his specialty: fish with vegetables.  But before the main course, another Ukrainian tradition:  bread with sala (pork fat), a clove of garlic and borscht.  Great people, great meal.

 

We stayed in Sasha Utkin’s house.  He is the director of Young Life in Chernivsti.  His house, like many, is in a continual state of construction.  He and his family moved into it this year, after living for two years at Club.  First floor are three apartments, soon to be finished, for future couples to live and be mentored by the Utkins.  2nd floor are bedrooms, kitchen, and living room.  3rd floor is Sasha’s extensive library and an open room for people to come over and socialize.  He is building the entire home to accommodate Young life activities.

So, breakfast every day at the Utkin’s.  Coffee or tea, cold cereal, eggs, salt cheese, sausage and bread.  Very nice.

Eating out was always an adventure.  Small restaurants, large restaurants.  But, all very inexpensive.  Usually with soup, salad, main course, desert and a drink, it was rarely more than $20 total for four!

Translated this says “The Family Sausage”, we didn’t eat here. 

We bought bread in this bakery, the baker was delivering the bread  on wooden pallets.  The smell was incredible!

Never a bad meal.

One of the many types of tea available.  Pronounced “Chai” in Russian, it goes with everything all day and half the night.  Conversation is never complete without tea.  Tea is never complete without conversation.

On our last day in Ukraine, we have our final bowl of borscht.  How appropriate that the dollop of sour cream ended up in the shape of a heart!