Perpetual Change

Not all who wander are lost

-wrote JRR Tolkien
This is one of my last posts, about some forgotten trips with interesting stories.

Once upon a time...
...I went on a neat tour of a very old town called Chernihiv. In the church, there is a spot that if you rub your hands together, you can feel heat rising. It was weird along with bones and ghost stories, but I think I actually felt it.

...I had scrambled eggs for Christmas dinner, and the next day we pulled barbecue chicken, Korean marinated carrots and pumpkin pie; it was all delicious.

...I bought leeches at the pharmacy, which is common, and used them for a session on teaching health and first aid with a new group of volunteers. The point was to emphasize the differences and importance of cultural norms. I, however, had forgotten the word just as I walked into the pharmacy that day, and so asked if they had "something like a worm that eats blood".

...I went to a night club. It was very interesting and modern. The music was Bates Italian CD. I think I had a prostitute flirting with me at one point. And I saw someone who reminded me strongly of Jon Mace. He was also wearing a t-shirt that said in English, "I'm a catch."

...I visited the Skeli Dobush in spring (Cliffs named for Dobush). They were quite interesting. While there, I sat in the son on top, listening to a school tour guide speaking below. When the class came up, one of the girls asked me why I was sitting there. I said because the sun was nice; even after my reply, they didn't ask where I was from, but I did ask them. When I was leaving, I tried to ask the park guard when there would be a bus. He knew nothing, but there was a drunk on the bench nearby that said he was waiting for a bus that would be in a few minutes. Dumb idea to listen to him. As we waited, I saw a bus go by across the valley on the road which I had been planning to walk to. The other bus never came, I walked much further. So when I got back near my town, I was very hungry. I found a nice little cafe, where the waitress did catch my accent and asked me lots of questions, but the service was friendly. The food was good, and just what I wanted: a stew like chili and potato pancakes with mushroom sauce. The CD on was Ace of Bass.

...I was asked to do a wine tasting in autumn in the city of Uzhorod. I was told that there would be a translator. When I arrived, the translator was unsure of herself, and they all insisted that I could do it myself. I also was unsure. Wine is like poetry, but I did it, well I think. The wines and food were so good. Also, on that trip, I was taken to a national children's music competition that was held in an old mid-east style Synagogue. It was all beautiful. One rather small girl sang wonderfully. With one hand she gestured like an adult singer and with the other she held to the piano as if it was her mother’s skirt. We also visited an interesting historic architecture museum; old homes and buildings that had been collected from different parts of the countryside. The leaves were so beautiful. It was on the other side of the mountains from me; the most Western part of Ukraine, but with many international influences and I found some people couldn’t speak Ukrainian.

...my friend Drago told me a joke about Ukrainians love of land. [Editor's note: none of you may find this funny. I think it is great.] There was a Frenchman, an American and a Ukrainian standing around one day, when a man came up to them and said, "There at the edge of town is my land. I have so much, so I will let each of you ride your bike across my land and when you stop, the land you have covered will become yours. So the next morning, off the Frenchman rode. He rambled along, stopped to have a picnic lunch he had packed and called it a good day's ride early in the afternoon. He was very satisfied. The next day, the America set off a bit earlier, he had packed a lunch to eat as he rode, and he had a plan. He rode all day, and when he had reached his limit he stopped, pleased with his performance. Finally, the Ukrainian set out. He also set out early, and rode and rode and rode; he rode all through the next night; he rode till he could ride no more and then he started walking, and he walked and walked, until all he could do was crawl, and yet crawl he did, and when he couldn't possibly go any further from exhaustion, he took off his cap, and pitching it as far ahead as he could, he said, "and there I will plant my potatoes."

posted by jjs @ 9:17 AM