Jeff - Day 3 - Sunday, October 18

10/18 – Kyiv

Of course it was a challenging night. After being unable to sleep on the plane as usual, I was completely wiped. I napped for a few minutes while my loving wife made a nice dinner (shuka?) and then headed for bed after dinner. So after getting to bed pretty early on Saturday (OK - so I passed out at 9PM), what else could possibly happen but I end up wide awake at 3 AM. I read for a couple of hours, and fell asleep again to the white noise (not really) of the clock. Sue had been concerned about not starting until 11 – she is a die-hard tourist. Of course we didn’t even wake up until 9:30 moving slowly. Breakfast was a few cups of coffee and some fruit and yogurt. We tried three different methods for coffee – the Starbucks instant (yup – I got some just for the trip), the espresso maker (water goes in the bottom, then coffee, then the pot screws on top – put it on the stove and “steam” coffee is brewed), and Susie finally tried holding a filter over the cups and just pouring water through the coffee and filter. Probably best, but it took us a while.

Finally out and about with our interpreter/guide. We really had a tourist day: Volodymyr Church, the Golden Gate, St Sophia’s Church, St Michael’s Church, Independence Square, and European Square. These were the spots that our interpreter said were obligatory tourist spots. Pictures posted in the slideshow next to this blog. The churches were all fantastic.

The first one was still a working church . We went in to a packed church with the choirs and priests singing and people very actively moving about, praying to the reliquaries, lighting votive candles and walking out of the church backwards while genuflecting (I think – isn’t that what you call the act of making the cross?). It was a very elaborate exit. The church was an Orthodox church with many Ikons and frescoes. The part of this visit that I liked the most was the singing. There were actually at least two different choirs in two separate parts of the church, so the origin and the resonance changed completely when the choir singing would change. Coming from the type of church that we do, it was also interesting to see people praying to the reliquaries - kissing the glass and wiping it with the kerchief left there.

At St. Sophia’s, the women working there – not guides, not guards, but something in between, somehow got the idea that I was going to take pictures, which was not allowed. I did make an adjustment to the camera while we were inside, and I swear she came out of nowhere! I got told in not uncertain terms that I was not to take pictures – and then there was never a point through the rest of our visit where I was out of sight of one of the women. Every time I would turn a corner, another one would come walking around a different corner. Some of them were coincidence – that’s where they were stationed. But I just know that word got ahead of me so that they made sure they had an eye on the American tourist with the camera! One of the women took pity on us (me) and did explain the meaning of the six wings on the Seraphim.

Our interpreter was really fun to have along. She was greatly amused by our feeble skills trying to go-var-you pa-russki (speak Russian). That’s OK – we’re going to keep trying. Thank you, Pimsluer! I know enough to be able to tell people that my Russian skills are weak. I cannot get “hello” accurately – sheesh!

Finally, back to the apartment, and Susie used a quarter of our Chernobyl-sized cabbage to make a great stir-fry to go with our beef. Tomorrow we take care of the financial stuff (9 AM!) and then we have our first appointment at the SDA. Report to follow!

To my son: Spasiba! I love getting the text updates. Congrats on sweeps! (his marching band took top honors in the competition on Saturday). Wish we could have seen it – thank you for your patience with this process. Paka.

Time for bed – we’re only going to get 9 hours of sleep tonight! Spa-ky-ne noche!