Quirks

I thought I'd mention two random quirks about Arun and myself.

#1: Arun is deathly afraid of plugging in our two-pronged 110V plugs into the adapters. He'll call me to plug in his phone charger- to plug in the dvd player- to plug in ...anything! Admittedly, there are sometimes a few sparks that are emitted, but this irrational fear is especially hilarious because he's an ELECTRICAL engineer! I mean- c'mon!

#2: This one's about me. I can NOT seem to keep the plants in our apartment alive. Now, this isn't exactly just a Ukrainian phenomenon. I can't keep plants alive in America either. I don't know... some people are really just NOT born with green thumbs! And I'm one of them! We have three house plants in our apartment, and try as I might to water them, move them around to get them away from the heaters, put them in the window sills to get light... nothing! The leaves just keep browning and falling off! It's hopeless!

Nevada in Ukraine?

There's one really weird thing that is on every corner in Odessa- Nevada's!
There are these small casinos that have bright lights at the entrance, and somehow they are ALL called Nevada.

Most of this winter, they have been closed. And I'm really not sure how packed they get in the summer either. I haven't really heard from anyone that the Ukrainian national pastime is gambling; so I really don't know why there are so many of them!

Perhaps, Arun's theory is right- they're a front for money-laundering!

Arun and I did walk into a casino in Yalta during our visit. It was attached to our hotel, and was STARK empty! The dealers just stared at us intently, hoping we would sit down at their table; but we had just gone in to look.

I did a bit of research on the regulations of gambling in Ukraine, and they are rather interesting as well:

• Apparently, there are strict restrictions about advertising gambling. No advertising is permitted on radio, television, billboards, cars, or magazines/periodicals. ($50,000 penalty!) Therefore, the only advertisement they DO have are the bright lights at the entrance. At least THAT is explained!

• Ukraine is also trying to control the number of casinos (and prevent money laundering.) Thus there is a huge barrier to entry- a registration fee of 1 million Euros.

• There are many Ukrainians who are proponents of prohibiting gambling all together. In fact, there are a few bills that are trying to accomplish just that.

• Online gambling regulations are being hotly debated. Many politicians want stricter controls, and others are trying to do away with it altogether!

Pet Peeves

There are a few things that irk us in Ukraine. Annoyances, mostly-nothing serious. But the other day, when Arun and I were discussing them- I realized it would probably make a good blog entry. Afterall, Arun's been here for 4 months, and I've just crossed my 3-month mark! So here they are- our list of top 5 Pet Peeves:

Inconsistent credit card acceptance (Honestly, it's very hit-or-miss with credit cards here. Even though all the grocery stores seem to accept credit cards, we'll run into resistance at random up-scale restaurants, or boutique stores. Sometimes they HAVE a machine- but it's 'broken.' OR, better yet, the salesperson hasn't been trained to use it. Either way- it is generally quite the cash-economy.)

Lack of smoke-free restaurants (There are smoking sections right next to "non-smoking" sections. So there's really no barrier, and the non-smoking section gets filled up with smoke regardless. OR, there's a non-smoking table, and they'll just remove the sign and convert it to a smoking-table depending on which patron walks in! We are just so tired of coming home with that nasty smell on our clothes!)

Restaurants and grocery stores inconsistently stocking items (Countless times, Arun and I will decide on our orders at a restaurant, only to be told that they don't have that item available. It's hard enough to choose items without meat, and then to be told it's not there! Argh! And it's the same at grocery stores. We'll pick up an item one week, and the chances of that same item being stocked the next week is a complete lottery! (Not basics- but things like peanut butter or lavash or a favorite sauce.)

Lack of Quality control (You may walk into a Nike store- but there's no guarantee that what you're getting isn't a knock-off from China. You might order food at a restaurant and get who-knows-how-old products with no qualms (Arun's friends get sick here all the time.) And you have to REALLY check the expiration dates on grocery items. It's not maliciousness on the part of store owners- it's just that as a consumer, you have to watch out for yourself!)

Movies being dubbed over in Russian (We have not been able to go to the movie theaters to watch the latest releases because they're all dubbed over in Russian! The same goes for dvd's and of course, everything that is on network tv. We're going to have a lot of catching up to do when we return to the States! It's a good thing for youtube!)

My grandfather

Yesterday was a very sad day in my life. My grandfather passed away.
I decided that I would dedicate today's entry to him, because I want to share him with all of you. There is a lot to learn from the life he lived, and so I'll share some of my favorite stories.

One of the things I remember the most about dadu was his incredible energy. There were a few traditions at my Mamar Bari whenever my family went to visit. A stock of Bisleri mineral water at the kitchen table, a maxi lounging gown for my mother and me and hawai choti or flip flops for the entire family. One visit, they had forgotten to buy the flip flops in advance. My grandfather decided to head out to buy them immediately, with me in tow. He barreled down the streets at such a speed that I could scarcely keep up. I finally caught up to him at the store, but before I had a chance to catch my breath, he was off to another store! By the time we got back home, I was wiped.... by an individual 60 years my senior! That was my grandfather.

He had so much energy, in fact, that after retiring from civil service, he was so bored that he went BACK to work... for another 8 years. My aunt used to joke that he was the type of person that always needed to do SOMETHING.... so it may have been worth giving him a plate of rice grains mixed with lentils and ask him to separate them all day- just to keep him occupied.

Another thing dadu is famous for is his sense of adventure. One day while my parents and I were living in Bangalore, we had gone out for our days' errands. When we returned, our landlord called to me and said, "Your grandfather is here." "That can't be!" I replied. But when we went to their apartment, sure enough, there he was. Sitting happily and talking to their whole family. "Surprise!" he said- and boy, was it! He had literally decided on a whim to visit us with nothing but our address in hand.
"How did you do it, dadu?"
"Well, I landed at the train station, and I told the auto-rickshaw driver that I needed to get to BHCS layout on Bennarghata Road."
"But there are two Bennarghata Roads!"
"I know! I went to the other one too! But once I got there, I realized it was not right because you told me there was a big Ganesh Temple nearby. So then the auto-wallah was nice enough to bring me to this one. And when I saw you were not home, I came to this flat to wait."

That was also the epitome of my grandfather. He could go anywhere- befriend anyone- and not think anything of it. He has traveled the world, and his intellectual curiosity was never satiated. He never felt the need to prove that he was well-traveled for that was my grandfather's trait- humility. It's something most people strive towards, but was innate to him.

One of the things my mother used to tell me about my grandfather was how incredibly modern and forward-thinking he was. During my mother's generation, it was quite common for all women to wear saris. When salwar-kameezs first hit the fashion scene, it was thought of as something quite scandalous. But my grandfather never blinked an eye and told my mother that he didn't have a problem with it- that salwars were actually more modest clothing than saris. My grandfather also never hesitated to bless the marriage between my parents- even though my father was living in Montreal at the time; and it would mean sending his only daughter thousands of miles away. He was independent, and wanted to make something of himself- for himself, not resting on the laurels of his ancestors. And so he was also the first of his seven brothers to break away from 'boro bari' or the large ancestral home and build his own house adjacent to the family property.

The final story will hopefully relate to you all the greatest trait of my grandfather. And that was his generosity. It is rather easy to be proud of one's accomplishments- it is not rare for Indian families to constantly toot their horns about the "status" of their family. But you would never hear any of that from my grandparents. Rather, his legacy remains in all the people he's helped, and all the lives he's touched. He put many nieces and nephews through school, insisting on delivering the fees to them instantly on the first day of the semester. He simply couldn't bear the thought of anyone having to actually ask for the money; never wanting anyone to feel that they were being helped. He payed for the weddings of the daughters of our servants. It is probably why their family has been with our family for generations, now.

About 12 years ago, dadu started a tradition of going to the lake. During the early years, he would walk to the lake, jog along the trails and then sit down to talk to his friends. As the years progressed, he would be driven the the lake to meet his friends to talk. He became so beloved, that one day, a news reporter looking for a story came upon the group. The next month, there was an article printed in the paper about dadu. It was no surprise- he loved and was loved instantaneously. My grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary and shortly afterwards, my grandmother died. Dadu was never really the same after that, and yet he continued to bring joy to the rest of us. Giving of himself, constantly.

He used to call me 'mani'- and tell me that when I was young I never left his arms. When he went to the restroom, I would sit by the door, waiting for him to come out. He would tell me with a chuckle, that I loved to play the 'tabla' drums on this bald head.

I can't imagine Mamar Bari without dadu. I will miss him greatly. But I will strive to be the way he was- energetic, positive, adventurous and above all generous and humble. That is his legacy.

Ukraine in the Headlines

So I've had a few questions and comments about the gas-standoff between Russia and Ukraine, and it would be quite the oversight to not address a situation that is putting Ukraine in all the headlines: (if you're curious or haven't heard anything about the situation, here's some reading-)

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/07/gas-ukraine


• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7806616.stm


• http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/11/europe/gazprom.php

I guess the problem (lack thereof) is that it hasn't really affected us in the least! Arun and I still hang around the apartment in tanks and tees and our heat has been working just fine. Maybe these are the moments we should be grateful for our over-priced apartment's independent heating system?

I haven't noticed much difference in the outside world, either! The grocery stores have heat. The buses have heat. I suppose the airport and the train station wasn't quite so toasty, but it certainly wasn't cold! Our work places have been so warm, that we open the window to let in some air now and then!

So I'm not really sure if this is because Ukraine is indeed siphoning gas away from the rest of Europe....or whether we're currently using reserve gas, and the worst is yet to come.... or perhaps, this is a lot of media-hype and political posturing? No clue. If I had to guess- my bets would be on siphoning.

Either way, as selfish as this sounds- I'm just glad I haven't personally faced any heating issues. You'll be the first to know if it gets shut off! But until then- I'm snug as a bug!

(by the way- picture from the Ukrainian Observer)

Our First Visitor!

We were lucky enough to get a visit from one of my blog's biggest fans- my father-in-law!

It was definitely a much-too-short weekend filled with food, food, and more food. Arun made sure he showed off all his favorite restaurants: Hong Kong (his favorite Chinese place), Devarana (his favorite Thai restaurant) and a great Ukrainian restaurant in downtown (you can't leave here without trying some borsch!)

Unfortunately, this is definitely a VERY cold time of year and so our 'sight-seeing' primarily consisted of walking around for a few minutes before ducking into cafes for some cocoa or lattes! Arun and I have become more acclimated to the climate, but my father-in-law had just arrived from India and Dubai and so by the second day, he had a cold! Of course, this might have a lot to do with the fact that Arun insisted on taking the bus at least once.... and would bargain with taxis rather than hop in the first warm vehicle that passed by!

Arun was extra-happy to get all kinds of great Bengali sweets, fresh from India! And we were also able to stock-up on spices and other items that we have difficulty getting in Odessa.

One of the funniest stories occured on the first night. I asked Arun to pull-out the sofa-bed. Of course, with one quick swoop, he managed to derail the whole thing. His immediate reaction was panic. He thought he had broken it! Then the two engineers proceeded to try to figure out how to fix it.... to no avail. Finally, I stepped in to examine the mechanism. Within a few minutes, I had the bed back in the railing! That's what happens when you have too many engineering-minds! You need a healthcare brain to fix a mechanical problem! At least we know the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree!

Our Neighborhood Video Store

Arun and I discovered a little neighborhood video store. It's cheap, it's close.... and Arun says it smells vaguely of BO. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to concur. We both think it emanates from the video-store clerk. He's incredibly nice and helpful and even speaks English quite well. We're just not sure how he manages to work up such a sweat playing video games in the store all day!

It's been Arun's misfortune that they stock Indian movies and songs- but they're all dubbed into Russian.

Nonetheless, we have been able to catch up on all kinds of old and semi-old Hollywood releases- Enigma, Burn After Reading.... and a bunch of crappy Martin Lawrence movies that Arun watched by himself.

It only costs us 10 hr... so for about a buck-fifty, we get to rent the movie for up to a month. Pretty good deal! So it's about 2-3 times a week that Arun and I head over to the "BO Store" and scan all the movies for one that says 'Angliski' on the back and then pray that there is indeed an English option when we get back home (we're batting about a .500 on this). You would think it would be easier to add in Russian subtitles to these movies- but no, they dub over each and every one of them! Oh well!

Another part of life in Odessa!

Arun's Office Party

Arun’s Office Party was an experience like none-other. Let’s just say that there would be NO way it would have passed any kind of HR policy-book in the US!

The event was held at a restaurant along the coast- and we had the entire second floor booked for the party. The banquet tables were covered with food: amazing seafood items- sushi, salmon, cerviche, seafood salads. Plates and plates! What we didn’t realize is that those were just the appetizers. We ate our fill from about 7-8pm … only to realize that main courses were eventually served at 10:30. Sirloins, salmon, and other hot-foods were served until about midnight. That’s when desserts hit the table. It was basically a 5 hour feast!

And the entertainment was interspersed with the meal. This was no American-style dinner we were used to…. you know… the table is set with iced tea, water, and a salad (dessert already sitting at the table)… then the main course arrives on hot plates all the while the speeches and entertainment unfold. Then everything is wrapped up neatly- process-oriented- efficient.

This was something else entirely! There were fireworks displays, a singer, a gymnastics routine… and there were interactive trivia games, hamster races (yeah, PETA would have a fit!) and THEN… a painting-competition! Only- it was body-painting…. On two bikini-clad women! They were instructed to paint on them, and then the crowd had to cheer for the individual who was the most creative.
Now, don’t you worry. It was equal opportunity. Because about a half-hour later, there was another event! Peeling stickers off of a speedo-clad muscle man! They had to make a picture with these stickers, and once again- the crowd was instructed to cheer for the winner. I have a feeling most of the women were cheering for the body-builder!

The DJ would play songs in segments throughout the night. So basically the evening went something like this:

Eat...Speech....Nibble....Dance..........Fireworks....Eat ....Trivia Game....Eat....Hamster Race....Dance ...Nibble...... Paint Bikini-clad Women....Eat....Dance......Magician...Eat..... Speedo-Man....Dance......Eat Dinner.... dance......Dessert....

And finally, we hopped into the hired-limos to head back home!

Whew! What an evening!!

Arun's Antics

Arun's developed quite a random new hobby. He gets random Russian words stuck in his head, and he spends the day repeating them.

Last week, he was stuck on the word "nyetho." And all day long, he kept saying, "nyetho" in a funny high-pitched voice and shrugging his shoulders. "Nyetho!"....over and over. Finally, I broke down and asked him- "Do you even know what that means?"

"No!" he said happily.... "Nyetho!"

He just thinks the words are amusing!

The other day, he started saying, "Null...Chitiri...Voseem...Null." He must have gotten the last four digits of a phone number from a radio advertisement stuck in his head!

Sometimes I actually translate for him and tell him what the words mean. But I've realized he doesn't really care, and he just likes saying the words.

All this is coming from a guy who makes fun of Ukrainians for listening to American music without understanding English! At least music has a beat you can enjoy!

New Year's Resolution

I generally have plenty of goals for myself. And of course, the New Year is a great chance to introspect and start afresh! This year, I decided on:

Learn Something New Every Day and Perform an Act of Kindness Every Day

So one of the things I have been learning, is of course, Russian. Can't share too much of that. But I can share the other passion of mine- photography.


I have been learning some great software tricks. For example: exposing colors in an otherwise B&W picture. This picture is from our trip to China. This was at the Bell Tower in Xian.
Another trick is using the color-exposure to display a subject. In this case, showing off the Napa landscape through my wine glass.


Most recently, I've learned to create a watercolor canvas effect. These are some horses I caught from our trip to Cairns in Australia.


There's the: now-you-see-it.... now-you-don't edit. I hated the park bench in this picture from Cusco in Peru.



I have some macro-photography (butterflies in Tucson, Arisona) while also working on some depth of field (blurring everything but the subject)


These two photographs are a couple of my favorites: Camels in Cairo and a B&W from New Orleans. They combine a few different techniques of photo-editing.



And finally- the time machine technique on a picture of myself dancing.

So what do you think? I would love to hear critiques, suggestions and feedback :) Like I said- I want to keep learning!

Work

I've been wanting to post some pictures of our work locations, but thought it would be rather drab and boring.... luckily, both Arun and I have had some office parties and so the pictures are now much more interesting!

Arun's work is just a five minute walk from our apartment. It's one of the reasons he chose this building. (That way, he can roll out of bed with 15 minutes to spare and get to work by 9 am.... yes- the workday starts at 9 here!)

His building complex is really modern and nice: it's called the Business Center. There's a cafe and restaurant downstairs.

There's a salon upstairs (the one we use!). There's round-the-clock security and an actual parking lot (so that people don't just plug their cars on the sidewalk wherever there's space like in the rest of the city.)

Arun's on the 2nd floor (and he tells me he takes the stairs most of the time... most... geez.)

I took out my camera to get a picture of Arun working at his desk. As soon as he noticed me, he grabbed the phone. Because good engineering involves phonecalls? Either way, don't let him fool you- that's a fake call! (Sorry Arun, I told!)

As for the work environment- here are some tidbits:

The Ukrainian local nationals are rather formal. Everyone greeted me, shook my hand, stood up when I entered a room. Didn't I say that chivalry exists in Ukraine? It's all rather nice!

Dress, is of course, fairly casual. No one's wearing tie and coat or business suits. I'm told that only happens for important client or customer meetings.

The Ukrainian workday is technically from 9am to 6pm.

Most local nationals bring their lunches from home and eat at their desk. The American ex-pats head downstairs and eat at the restaurant (prices out of reach for locals.) There are no such things as 'lunch specials' in Ukraine. The prices are constant throughout the day- whether you come in for lunch or dinner!

Anyway- I'll end with a couple of shots from my office Christmas Party. It was quite the spread, and a lot of fun. At one point, there was a lot of toasting, which I'm told is quite customary in Ukraine. Toast- drink- Toast- drink...

Arun's work party is on Saturday- so I'll post them soon!

Christmas Eve in Ukraine

Well, the strangest thing just happened to me.

The doorbell rang, and upon peering through the peep-hole, I saw a group of young girls.

I opened the door and suddenly, they burst into song! It sounded like a cheerful rhyme.

Then, they started throwing seeds into my house!!

I was baffled!

I just stared at them. They stared back. Then they started another song and threw more grain.

"Thank you!" I said, and shut the door quickly.

What the heck??!

So I hopped on google:

"Ukraine throw seeds".... nothing. Maybe it's Russian?

"Russia throwing grain songs"... still nothing.

All of a sudden, I realized it was Christmas Eve! So I typed in:

"Christmas Ukraine seeds tradition" SCORE!

Apparently, I've commited quite the social guffaw.

This is the Ukrainian equivalent of Halloween!

Apparently, during Christmas time, children go around their neighbor's houses (sometimes with fireworks, sometimes dressed up) and sing songs wishing people good health and 'abundant harvest' (hence the grain). I'm supposed to give them coins or treats in return.

They sing songs called 'Koliadky' :

"Radujsia zemle, radujsia. Syn Bozhyj narodyvsia." -- Joy, Earth, Joy. The Son of God was born.

"Dobryj vechir, Sviaty vechir. Dobrym liudiam na zdorovja." -- Good evening, Holy evening. To good people for good health.

Wow. Talk about culture shock!

(by the way- you may be able to spot the little grains on the floor by the door in the picture!)

Skiing in Bukovel

The Bukovel Resort was a DREAM destination for our first day of 2009.

Getting there from Lviv and traveling back to Odessa was a nightmare, but the location was absolutely, superbly, surreal. The reason traveling was terrible is because the resort is so incredibly remote, that public transportation takes hours. Of course, this doesn't really affect the uber-wealthy patrons of Bukovel who mostly rolled up in expensive four-wheel drive vehicles and jumped out in their designer ski-apparel and paid for exclusive chalets with piles of cash....

Alas, for us... it was a rough 7 hour journey from Lviv in buses and trains with little to no heating.

Once we got there, it was easy to put the journey behind us and settle into our cabin.

The minute we walked into the cabin, the smell of citrus-mint wafted through the air. It was so warm and cozy, it made you want to settle into the luxurious bedding and read Dickens or Frost or something. The bathroom literally had strawberry-scented toilet paper. I'm serious.

Of course, the first thing on Arun's agenda was to try out 3 of the 4 places to dine. (All in one evening, of course.) So we visited the two Ukrainian restaurants and a Pizzeria and stuffed ourselves silly.

The next morning, Arun awoke with dread. I insisted on an early-morning start to our ski-day. We were the first ones in line for breakfast, and we hired a ski-instructor. After renting our gear- we were off!

We learned some basic terminology and were instructed to get our bindings on... Arun was a quick study and I struggled! However, once Arun got his skis on, he immediately began to glide....backwards.
Panic washed over his face, and he soon found himself planted face-first in the snow. Unfortunately, this pretty much set the tone for Arun's skiing.

Luckily, all he REALLY wanted to do was get some great shots, and doesn't he look great with the gear on this shoulders? So confident! (and relieved that the skis were in his hands and not strapped to his feet!)

Now, I actually managed to stay upright the entire duration of our ski-lesson.... however, the minute our instructor left, all her teachings seemed to evaporate and I simply could not make the graceful turns down the slope that I had JUST learned. So I used my prefered method of slowing down- falling.

But as you can see- I DID enjoy myself! Arun had already turned in his equipment at this point, because he was DONE!

There were a couple of noteworthy moments with our ski-instructor. At one point, she planted Arun at the side of the mountain and instructed him to wait while she taught me some basic turns. After some success, she looked up and saw Arun gliding backwards into the woods. "Be Careful!" she shouted "...there are woods!" Arun just kept gliding and our instructor turned to me and entreated me to get him to stop. When we looked back up, we saw Arun sitting on the snow. Our instructor looked at me, shook her head, and with a tiny hint of despair sighed, "He has fell." And then she strode back up the slopes to save him. Poor Arun!

Arun later confided in me that our ski-instructor had told him that the disparity in our performance was due to the fact that I actually wanted to learn to ski more than him. I was also happy to hear that she asked him if I was a 'sportswoman' :) If only she saw my slowing-down-by-falling methodology later. I'll have to confess that I was very impressed by Arun's eagerness to try out skiing. This stuff is just NOT his thing, and he was an incredibly good-sport about it all. Here's to a year of trying new things!

Happy 2009!

Lviv on NYE

On New Year’s Eve, we had a very eventful day in Lviv.
We had a tour guide walk us through the city and we had a chance to learn the significance of many of the monuments, churches and historical sites of the city.

There's one thing we quickly picked up on- Lviv people are the Texans of Ukraine. They are VERY proud and nationalistic. As we talked to people, we kept hearing certain refrains:

"REAL Ukrainians are from Lviv."
"We speak only Ukrainian- not Russian like in Odessa or Kiev."
"Everything east of Lviv are a bunch of Russians." etc.

These are some proud folks!

Anyway- back to the tour.
As I mentioned, there are certainly some amazing churches in Lviv. We were told by Olya, that there are Eastern Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Roman Catholic and Armenian Churches. There were frescoes and murals, and sculptures galore! Olya provided information with such fine detail, that Arun later confessed to me that there were a few times his mind wandered....hee...

We then walked within the Old City. There were houses where people wrote gossip on the walls... there was a building where a restaurant exists in such secrecy that to this day- you have to knock on the door to be allowed in to dine... there were buildings that housed the first department store in Lviv...

Olya showed us the monumnet dedicated to the Virgin Mary. There is a cut-out halo behind her head so that no matter the weather in Lviv, she will always be lit. The sculptures on the base of the monument depict the struggles of the Ukrainian people against the Russians and the sacrifices of the people to gain Independence.

We went to the Pharmacy Museum, which still functions as an Apteka (pharmacy) even today! And we ended with a visit to the Ethnographic/Folk Museum.

After our tour, we headed back to the hotel. Lest, I do too much advertising for this hotel, let me provide a bit of a caveat. There is no doubt that it's a great hotel...but the staff? They were a different story. Don't get me wrong- they were very smooth, very polished, very professional. They were also lazy and would rather lie than work on customer-service. When we asked if there were any shows at the opera house, tha manager assured us that there wasn't anything playing since it was New Year's Eve. Arun went to the opera house anyway (it was 50 m away from the hotel) and sure enough- there was an opera playing! It's a good thing Arun didn't trust him!

We stood in line for tickets and unfortunately my Russian did not get us anywhere. However, for whatever reason, Lviv natives speak more english than we've found in Odessa, so with the help of some people in line- we purchased 25 gryvna tickets for the 6 o'clock show. We tried to figure out what the show was, but for $3 tickets, we decided it really didn't matter.

Our dinner program at the hotel started at 10pm, so we thought this would be a great way to spend the evening. Sure enough, it was a gorgeous interior and we had a ton of fun taking pictures. When we got to our seats, we were thrilled because for the first 30 minutes, the orchestra played some beautiful Schubert. Then... the opera started. And it turned out it was a Ukrainian operetta. So about 30 minutes in, we decided to head out.

Luckily, there was plenty of action around the main square, so we had fun walking around.

Then we had an evening of music and song and managed to meet some Ukrainian-Americans. Within the hour, they had moved to our table, and we were having a BLAST!

The most interesting part of the night, however, was when the hotel staff interrupted our singer to put on the annual Presidential Address. Yes- the president makes a speech just prior to midnight, which seems almost anti-climactic. I mean, it's nothing like a political speech to blow the energy out of a room! But I did have to take a picture of the screen- so here he is- Yashenko doing his thing in Kiev. [And yes- he spoke in Ukrainian.] We asked our new friends: Olek and Oksana what he said, and they retorted that there wasn't enough 'substantial content' worth translating. Hee.

He stopped speaking about 2 minutes prior to midnight. We watched the countdown and then lit some fireworks at our table (this would NEVER pass firecodes in the US!!) and continued partying. At about 1pm, our friends decided it would be fun to take some champagne out to the middle of the square and continue celebrating there.

So off we went- to the middle of the square and watched the ridiculous partying. Fireworks EVERYwhere... bottles of champagne.... you name it. By this time- it was already 3 in the morning and we were planning on getting an early morning start to head to the Carpathians [by the way- this did NOT happen.] Anyway, we headed in, but stopped at our friends' suite first. They were VERY helpful (unlike our hotel staff) and so they called and told us where to get the bus service to Bukovel (turns out- you have to transfer at Ivano-Frankovsk) but this was definitely a better option than our hotel manager who suggested we hire a taxi to take us the 250 or so km at a cost of "only $250 or so."

Suffice to say- we had a FANTASTIC New Year's and I'll end on our favorite pictures from Lviv. The first is Arun's favorite ("The Police are talking to Santa!! Take a picture !! Santa was NAUGHTY!") and mine (the B&W)