How about Ukranian? Neither do we. This has been the most difficult part about being in Ukraine. A lot of countries in Europe speak a lot of English and it's not that Ukranianians don't, but they are less apt to. Additionally, the alphabet is cyrillic, not Roman. This means that I can't read any of the signs. If you have ever wondered what it feels like to be illiterate, come to a country that doesn't use the same alphabet as we do in English, German, French, Spanish...just to name a few. So once I look at a sign, I must change to letters to their roman letter counter parts and not all the letters have a single letter equivelent. Then, I might be able to read the sign and sort of pronounce it, but since I don't have a Russian vocabulary, I can't understand it anyway. It's a sad sad state of affairs. Regardless... drast va tu! Hello!
We spent today and yesterday touring Kiev on foot mostly. The city is very spread out, but different parts of the city are accessible by subway and Kiev's subway is pretty good. We attended a reformed Christian church yesterday. It is Presbyterian. Most Ukranians are Christian, but are Ukranian or Russian Orthodox. Pictures of some of these churches to come. They are quite fasinating if you have never seen one. In so parts of the country are Roman catholic pockets. Kiev has a little bit of every religion I suspect since the population is 5 million people. (Yes, and most people live in apartment buildings built of cement) These past 2 days we have visited 3 churches and will visit the Lavra tomorrow, which is a monestary. Some of the churches date to the 11th century. They are so different from churches that I have seen in the states and western Europe. Gilded. That is my one word for them.
We visited the city square yesterday, where the Orange Revolution took place. Passed by huge government buildings. Strolled through the city's center square park. Took in some Ukranian live music. It was a fun way to pass a Sunday. Of course, Sarah topped it off with a roast chicken with carrots and potatoes. I can 99% guarantee that there were no antibiotics or hormones in that bird. It was delicious.
Today we visited the Chernobyl museum. It obviously is a newer museum since the tragedy occurred only 23 years ago. It was and is a tragedy. There still exists an exclusion zone. I was hoping to see recent info about the area, but the museum mostly focused on the 6 months after the tragedy, understandably.
Before coming to Ukraine, I knew basically nothing about the country and it's people. Considering all we have learned about their history, these people have my respect. Most people we have met are kind, gracious, and friendly really. If you ask for help (well when Sarah asks for help since she speaks Russian), they often take you right where you need to go but at the very least will point you on your way.
