Chernovtsy, Ukraine

The second week in the Ukraine (following a HOT overnight train ride) was interesting, as far as my camera was concerned.  I had to edit out a portion of pictures because - this time by my own choice - I wanted to limit the posting of the faces of the people we were ministering to.  They don't really know me and I don't really know them, so, you know.

As an aside, God love Flickr.  For the last two months, I've let my WoW subscription lapse, what with not EVER being at my computer (yes, I'm a dork) so I gave in and went Pro-account for my photos.  I want my travels to be available to all!  And I want to learn to photograph better.

I was where now?  Chernovtsy.  South-west Ukraine.

Day one was spent at an orphanage for TB+ children (the girl in the above picture is not one of them, that I know of).  We sang and played with the kids, who are housed and educated in rehabilitated buildings on a former grand estate in Chernovtsy.

Day two, we visited the homes of three different families with children who suffer from cerebral palsy (or similar).  We saw serious signs of poverty vs wealth, but also the power of love and prayer among these families.  I think day two may have been the hardest for many of us during this week.

Day three we visited a nursing home, where we handed out cookies (that was the job of the little girl pictured above) and participated in a worship service.  None of these ministries were purely United Methodist, but the Chernovtsy UMC had a strong and active involvement in the community - and a surprisingly large congregation with which to be involved.

Anyway, I just think the above picture is adorable - she was hiding from the bee, and he decided to take a picture of it.  Taken outside the nursing home.

The church that was hosting us also took us (and a portion of their congregation) on a picnic into the Capatians.  The feel of the area was astoundingly familiar to me - it was the Balkans all over again.

Interesting Factoid: this region is only (relatively) recently Ukrainian.  Originally, it was Romanian.  In the early 1940s, it declared its independence, but it was shortly thereafter absorbed by the Soviets and "deemed" part of the Ukraine.  To give you a reference, if you're a geography buff: Romania is south and south-west of Chernovtsy while Moldova is to the south-east.

Gorgeous.  Insane sunburn, but well worth it.  Sadly, this was also the week a number of people first came down with our Ukrainian plague (something respiratory is all I know), and this day specifically was when I first started getting it.  Oy!

Lest I forget: sight-seeing!  The town square of Chernovtsy had a LARGE monument-thingy celebrating 601 years of existence as a town.  This statue is celebrating Taras Shevchenko, a famous Ukrainian probably best known for his poetry.  Also, the word that looks like "YEPHIBUI" (if you can see it in the background) is the cyrillic spelling of Chernovtsy.

While there, we visited both a Catholic church and an Orthodox church.  Chernovtsy, being further west, has a much larger population (historically) of Catholics than other parts of the Ukraine.  Additionally, they also today have a larger percentage of "anti-Russia" feeling, following the fall of the Soviet Union.

Chernovtsy was once under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and many parts of the city consequently reminded me of Innsbruck, Austria.  If you're familiar with Western Europe, Chernovtsy would feel much more like home.  To my eyes, the interior parts of the city survived Soviet rule better than many other areas we saw, though the outskirts were made up of predominantly Soviet architecture.

I'm showing my two favorite views of the city in the above picture, and then here, but for the photos including the two pictures, go to my Flickr photostream on Chernovtsy!

On our last day, before we caught the train out, we "broke in" to a living-museum type place.  In many of the formerly-Soviet countries, holidays are designed to fall on Mondays, so often places like museums are closed on Sundays and Mondays, instead of Saturdays.  The pastor of the host church "chatted" with the groundskeeper/caretaker, however (money talks well), and we were given a walk-through of the area, which included this 600 (400? ack, memory!) year old church.  In all seriousness, it's not something we would usually do in America, but it didn't seem to be a "big deal" there, and the caretaker was extremely nice.

Speaking of money - about 50 UAH exchanged hands (if I remember right), which is the equivalent of perhaps $6.50, but it was "plenty."  The exchange rate was 7.9UAH for $1, but that didn't tell the whole story.  I was able to buy a personal pan pizza, a bottle of Pepsi, a small sundae, and a glass of juice for the equivalent of about $2.50.  Everywhere we went in the Ukraine, things were like that.

While in Chernovtsy, we stayed with host families.  Holly and I stayed with a four person family (though we never saw the eldest son).  This was the mother - a wonderfully nice and caring woman - who spoke almost no English!  She understood some, and the younger son spoke it well enough when he was around.  Leana (spelling?) and her husband took us out to dinner one night for a traditional Ukrainian meal on a lake...  Which ended up being Coke, deep-fried lake fish, and cheese grits!  For myself, the only yankee in a family of southerners, and Holly, who IS a southerner, it felt like home!

Proof that I was actually there!  I don't usually like pictures of myself, but this one is tolerable, anyway.

Holly and I were the only two to actually stay in an old Soviet-style apartment building.  The apartment had clearly been updated and renovated, and the two balconies converted to walled in sunporches (where this photo was taken), but it was still interesting to see.  In this case, the family of four shared three rooms, each designed to convert between a bedroom and living-room, as well as a kitchen and bathroom.  Many families would have had (and might still have) a similar or smaller apartment for a larger number of people.

Week 3 should be up soon!

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Kiev, Ukraine

I have a good excuse for disappearing this time!  I spent three weeks in the Ukraine and Russia with a group from BU's School of Theology and Moscow's United Methodist Seminary, exploring how the Methodist Church is expanding its ministry in that region of the world...

So...  PICTURES!  I have over 300 of them, so obviously I'm only showing you the best of the best, but enjoy :)

Week 1 was spent in the Ukraine, in Kiev.  Our ministry focus was at St. Luke's UMC and Community Center, where a missionary Elder and his wife work with local families and street kids, helping them to improve their lives, gain job skills, etc.  Unfortunately, I can't show many pictures from here because there's a problem with prostitution - no posting these kids faces, in other words.

This is a statue of Yaroslav the Wise, "presenting" the city of Kiev, in front of Kiev's famed Golden Gate (which I sadly did not get a good picture of).  This gate used to separate the upper city from the lower city, which essentially also separated the upper classes from the lower classes.  The class distinctions in this part of the world are still striking; the middle class is growing, yes, but it's still predominantly lower class, with a very small, very RICH minority.

 Near where we stayed, there were a little chapel and a sculpture (again, no great pictures of the latter), both devoted to the memory of Chernobyl.  Strange, and sobering, to realize that relatively speaking, we were so close to where that disaster happened.

Speaking of sobering...  This little girl was part of a memorial devoted two the Soviet-enforced famines of 1921-1922 and 1932-1933.  The Ukraine was essentially the bread-basket of the Soviet Union, and millions of people died (particularly in the later one).

There was also a WWII memorial in this same park, dedicated to the many who lost their lives when Kiev stood as Soviet front lines.

This bell tower marks the entrance to St. Sophia's cathedral, an Orthodox complex allegedly modeled off of the famed Hagia Sophia.

It was originally built in 1100, and served as a burial site for Ukrainian Tsars at one point.

The inside of the church was amazing to me from an anthropological standpoint (the architecture! the art! the status symbols! the people touring!), but spiritually, sitting on the grounds - quiet, alone with my thoughts, but also with my new friends near me - was the most peaceful part of Kiev.

The Pechersk Lavra, or Monastery of the Caves, is a still active Russian Orthodox monastery.  The complex today is mostly above ground, but with proper respect (e.g. head scarf and skirt for women), one can walk through the caves and churches.

Places such as this one prompted much discussion between the Americans and the Russians regarding Icons and the relation they have to Idol-worship.  I fount myself removed enough from the situation to respect the Icons as art, but nor can I imagine being in a situation where they are prayed to for intervention.  The notion of needing a priest, or a patriarch/pope, or a saint to connect me to God is not one that resonates.  It's not one that resonated with our Russian seminary counterparts, either, but because of their close connection to it, they expressed far more violent (verbal) opposition to it.

On a lighter note, at the Lavra, we saw this giant ball of hand-painted Ukrainian eggs.  When you think of Russia and souvenirs, you probably think of Nesting Dolls.  Well, now when I think of the Ukraine, I think of these amazing hand-painted eggs.

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