Day 7--May 19--Thursday: Singing in the Rain (Puddle-jumping in L’viv, Concert included)

Neither one of us slept well on the train, and each of us would say we didn't sleep at all. But both of us claimed to have heard the other one snoring, and we each got up at one time or another without the other knowing it, so we must have dozed off, at least.

We got up about an hour before arrival time, and although it was time for the sun to come up, we couldn't have pointed out which direction to look for it. Sometime during the night we had left the land of cloudless skies and entered into a new day that looked cold and dreary.

We were met at the station by Dima and Yuriy. Dima is the son of Volodya, the Ukrainian brother I traveled with two years ago. He and his friend Yuriy lived and worked in Madeira for four years until March or April. They decided it was time to go back home and do something besides work two jobs. They worked in the kitchen at the Casino, and they each had another day job. After a couple of months in Ukraine, they were still unemployed, but they weren’t worried about it. Dima is hoping to start some kind of business, probably a small shop selling sports clothes. We were informed by different merchants in the bazaars that they got their merchandise from Poland. Abbie bought some lotions made from Dead Sea minerals at about 1/6 the price she would have to pay here. The products were packaged in and for Poland. Not surprising, since this western area of Ukraine was part of Poland in the past, and the Polish influence is seen in the language and culture.

Dima and Yuriy had gotten a friend who had a car to come get us. It took us about 20 min. to get to the house. Coming back through the city quickly revealed the difference between L’viv and Kiev. L’viv is a very old city and it has preserved its streets much as they were of old. They are still narrow and paved with cobblestones, and traffic jams are not uncommon. Kiev, however, is much, much larger, yet we never saw one traffic jam, because the streets and avenues there are wide and the ratio of cars per thousand inhabitants must be low. There was never any sign of problems with the traffic. Can't say the same for Lisbon, or Funchal either, for that matter, and I think Kiev would be like Lisbon, if the cars/inhabitant ratio were similar to that in Portugal.

Little seemed changed at or in Volodya’s house (left)since I was here two years ago. What had changed was the completed overpass across the railroad tracks. It had been started in the early 90's, but the collapse of the USSR left the project hanging, literally, in mid-air. The approach to the house completely changed in 2 years.
(Right)Two years ago cars had to wait at the crossing for the trains to go by. Work on the overpass was put on hold for about a decade.


We were hungry and were glad to accept the offer of something to eat and a chance to rest before facing the day. We slept for a couple of hours... after-effects of the night on the train.
(Right)Fresh chicken soup! Tonya, Volodya's wife, kept the chicks in a pan overnight so they would stay warm. By the end of the day, we were looking for any way to stay warm that we could find.

Dima said he wasn't free to go into town with us, but Yuriy would go. I had a couple of places in mind from my previous visit that I wanted to show Abbie, and I still had the city map I used then. I had made notes on the map so I didn't have to rely solely on memory.

I remembered where the bookstores were, and I bought the Rus-Ukr / Ukr-Rus dictionaries I had made up my mind to buy a long time ago. The price was right: $26 for the two hard-bound volumes of over 1000 pages each. The other shop I had in mind was even less expensive. For a couple of dollars I came away with an assortment of cookies with chocolate, peanuts and coconut in various sizes, shapes and combinations. They were just as good as I remember them being two years ago. They were so good then that I didn't bother to mark the location on my map. I knew I wouldn't forget how to get there.

We also spent some time looking for an Internet cafe so I could check e-mail. A couple of places said they were closed (no explanations given) and we were about to give up, when we did find one. I was glad to be able to check the mail, but the connection was so dreadfully slow that I only opened 2 e-mails and had no desire at all to attempt browsing the web.

Otherwise, how was the visit to town? Wet! Not a heavy rain, but a steady drizzle that little by little soaked through everything. Our shoes and socks were wet through and through; it wasn't freezing cold, but we were uncomfortable all the time we were outside.

The surprise of the day (and there always seems to be one) was a recital at the school of music where Yuriy's parents teach. His sister, Alexandra (16), and another student sang excerpts from operas and classical songs. Yuriy's father is the director of the school, and he made a point of announcing the presence of honored guests, the American consul from Madeira Island and wife. For his part, Yuriy was glad when it was over. He has attended several of his sister's performances, but he says he shares none of the musical tastes and talents of his parents and sister.

That night, back at the house, Yulia, Volodya’s 13-yr. old daughter, turned on the water heater for us so we could get a bath. Something went wrong…we turned the water off, because we had enough water in the tub, but the water heater is old and not automatic so the gas flame didn’t go off. The bathroom is right in the middle of the house, and there are no windows. Before we figured out how to turn off the flame, we almost burned the house down, probably. What we did burn out was the heater, I guess. We never got another hot bath while we were there.

(Left, from top) Yuriy's sister in recital, with Ukraine's national emblem, the blue-and-yellow trident, in the background.
Furnace in the corner of Yuriy's father's office. It's May, and I wish it was on; what must it be like in February?!
Yuriy fixing tea for us. An alternate way to get warm. Ukrainians drink a lot more tea than coffee. They must drink as much tea as the English.
My feet were cold, but they only look frost-bitten. Dye from my shoes and socks stained my feet, and we were barely able to get a bath that night.