The time between May 9th and June 14th was spent cramming as much Ukrainian culture into our last few weeks here as possible. It started with a train ride to visit Natasha's parents in their village. We left early on a Saturday morning and arrived just in time to watch part of the Ukrainian Memorial Day service at a nearby monument. It was a beautiful day weather-wise, so we spent a lot of time strolling through the downtown area before going back to the house for a late lunch/early dinner. Natasha's mom and sister-in-law prepared a lovely table covered with more food than the 9 of us could eat in three days let alone one afternoon! Everything was delicious, but the fellowship was absolutely the best part of the day. It was certainly a "memorable" weekend for us.
Arriving at the train station
An old Russian Orthodox church in the village
An old flour mill along the river
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Great people!
It was like going back in time. This guy just happened to be going by the train station as we were leaving, so we hitched a ride for a minute to get a few pictures.
Castle Radomysl
Our school social committee organized a Saturday bus trip to visit this renovated castle about 100km west of Kiev.
Making paper the old-fashioned way
Lunch at the castle: Salo, garlic cream, cabbage, and bread
After touring the inside and having lunch, we had time to walk around the grounds before it was time to leave.
Souvenirs
A Dynamo (pronounced Dee na' mo) Game
"Football Club Dynamo Kiev" is a professional soccer team in Ukraine. In my opinion, sports are always more fun to watch when you're in the stadium watching the game (and the other fans) live and in action. It was a fun evening! AND Dynamo won, 1 to nothing!
No worries, it's just the fans setting off fireworks in the stands...only in Ukraine...
Vyshyvanka Day
On 21 May 2015, Ukrainians celebrated Vyshyvanka Day. This is a day when people in Ukraine wear Ukrainian traditional embroidered shirts, or vyshyvankas. Most Ukrainians today have at least one of these main elements of national wear, embroidered with standardized designs.
Dinner on the Dnieper River, Kiev
...with the Paugh Family
Odessa
From the time I finally got myself geographically oriented on the location of Ukraine and its surrounding borders, I had been saying to Jay (and anyone else who would listen) that I wanted to go to the Black Sea. I'm always looking for a reason to take a beach vacation! When some of our colleagues told us about the great time they had during Spring Break at a resort in Odessa, Ukraine, we decided to take a weekend to check it out.
The Nemo Hotel and Resort on The Black Sea
The dolphin pool and therapy center was right next to the people pool
From the rooftop it felt like we were on a cruise ship
My dinner, fresh from the Black Sea
Me, coming out of the sea after a very quick dip. It was really cold and not very clean.
Overlooking the resort pool and the sea at dusk
The Odessa Airport (yes, that's the whole thing)
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