Health Care

Looks like this is my week of taking requests!

So, the health care system in Ukraine is, of course, a complex web.

The best hospital in Odessa is Intosana. However, there is such a severe lack of specialists, that Natalia, from my Odessa Language Studies Center told me that she was going to Kharkiv to seek an endocrinologist. Ex-pats generally wait until they return to the States or travel to Germany or England for care.

As for the general health of the country- here's a couple of statistics:

• Life Expectancy in Ukraine is about 5 years less than that of the US. It's about on par with Poland, Chile, Mexico or Hungary (which is between 70-72)

• Infant Mortality in Ukraine is about double that of the US. ie. 21 per 1000 live births.

However, there is no denying that healthcare is much more cost-effective than the US. Twenty times more cost-effective, in fact. The US spends about $20,000 per capita GDP.

Here, our friends talk about dentist-visits and minor procedures that shocked them because of the absurdly low cost.

A couple of last bits of info:

• The birth rate has been steadily surpassed by death rates; and with little migration into the country- the population of Ukraine is declining.

• Incidence of alcoholism is high in Ukraine- about 136 per 100,000. Drug abuse is also high- at about 7 per 100,000.

• It's also not surprising that the smoking prevalence in Ukraine is one of the highest in Europe at 53% (almost 3/4 of all men and 40% of women smoke)

It's not all bleak from a public health perspective- vaccinations and immunizations are high, obesity is relatively low and about 4 years ago, Ukraine opened its first School of Public Health in Kyiv.

Religion

I appreciate suggestions, and so today's topic is dedicated to Adriana! :)

Religion in Ukraine is rather fascinating. The dominant religion is Eastern Orthodox- but even this is split because there are two patriarchates: the Moscow and the Kiev. The Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church is also popular and there are also a million Roman Catholics in Ukraine!

All of this is rather surprising, since really, during Soviet times, religion was rather supressed. Based on observation, I would really say that the States is a much more conservative, religious country than Ukraine.

What is also interesting are the 'minority' religious practices in Ukraine. Protestant Christians comprise about 2% of the population and there is a Pentacostal presence as well.
There are 500,000 Muslims living in Ukraine and 100,000 Jews. In downtown Odessa, we have an Arabian Cultural Center- which really is a cover name for the large Mosque in city-center and there is also a large synagogue as well.

Finally, believe it or not, there are Hare Krishnas in Ukraine! We know, because I've run into them twice! Once in Kiev, a lady kept chanting 'hare krishna' to me, and I couldn't understand her! I finally realized what she was saying (it sounded like hiyee kchna) and noticed the fact she was wearing a sari and had jappa beads. It was rather exciting.

Here, in Odessa, Arun and I actually sought out the ISKCON temple. This was harder than you think because they recently moved from their downtown location to a distant area called Sukhiya Laiman (literal translation- dry lake.) We called the Kiev temple and asked for directions- then explained to the gypsy-taxi driver in my Russian where we wanted to go... He got us to the vicinity and then got confused so we had to call the Kiev temple and put our driver on with them. Anyway, we finally got there!

Once there, we sat, listening to the lecture on Srila Prabhupad (in Russian) and realized we should probably just pray and leave quickly. It was interesting, however, to see Ukrainians keeping the religion going! They were decked out in saris and the whole thing was pretty surreal.

I'll end the topic with some rather random bit of trivia- did you know that the in Ukraine, the tradition of painting eggs (pysanky) dates back to pre-Christianity? So the origin of Easter Eggs can certainly be considered to be in Ukraine!

Secondly- did you know that Christmas, in Ukraine is celebrated on January 7th? Yup- it's celebrated AFTER New Years!
[It's according to the Gregorian calendar]

So it's only been recently that we've seen lights and trees and santas come out! I will also venture to say that the holiday is a LOT less commercialized here.
Tis the season!

Azerbaijan: The joy

The joy of Azerbaijan wasn't the magnificent architecture nor the food nor the beautiful Caspian shoreline. It was truly, the people.

Everyone we met was so kind and hospitable that both Arun and I were deeply saddened to leave the country. Our driver who took us to Qobustan insisted that we keep his cellphone number for our next visit to Baki. He chatted with us for the entire 4 hours we spent on our roadtrip. He was so eager to show off his country, and was very excited to talk about old Indian films with us.

(Incidently, for pictures of Qobustan and our extended photo album: Go to http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=frzy7ll.71q1c0hl&x=0&y=-y5f2ge&localeid=en_US )

When we changed from the Sheridan to another hotel (Saturday was on our own buck!) the hotel owner was so apologetic about the fumes from his newly varnished hardwood floors that he immediately booked us another hotel. He even escorted us over and carried our luggage! He also insisted that the next time we visit Baki, that we stay at Noah's Ark Hotel, and you know what? We totally will!

Most of all, we absolutely adore our friends. Idamir hooked us up with an amazing guide at the museums he took us to. He also took us to an AMAZING Azeri restaurant and kept the food and drinks flowing all night! We had appetizers-galore: yougurt, cheese, pomegranate, bread... and a whole bunch of other stuff that I loved and Arun didn't want to 'fill-up' on. Then of course came the traditional 'Sadz' which is grilled eggplants, tomatos, chillis and chicken and lamb on a huge platter. It comes with lavash and it was GOOD!

We ordered an extra round of fish kabobs and chicken kabobs and ate till we were stuffed silly. And again- the best part was the company! We had such great conversation with Kevin and Derrick and Idamir that HOURS flitted away.

And, of course, we had Anoosh; whose recommendations Arun completely ignored. If Anoosh told Arun to stay away from a restaurant- well, Arun was sure to go and say it was the BEST meal ever. It was all good ribbing and we had an absolute blast with him at a Lebanese restaurant that served 22 courses (ridiculous! and good!) and at a great Georgian restaurant.

Not enough can be said about Anoosh and all our friends in Baki! We had an absolute blast!

Azerbajan: Baki Sights

Arun and I had most of Friday to take in the sights of Baki and so we did a whirlwind tour of the city. Arun and I really enjoyed the National History Museum and the mansion/residence of Taghiyev who was an oil baron in the late 19th and early 20th century. He is considered the Father of the Nation because of his immense contributions to the country- the first to build a water pipeline, open a women's college, donate his own property for the construction of a theater and he funded horticulture research.
When the Bolsheviks came into power, they seized his property and 'allowed' him to live in his summer home. After his death, his summer home was seized and his wife and children died in poverty in the streets of Soviet Azerbaijan. It's a source of quite a bit of National indignation and our friend Idamir (remember him!?) filled us in on a lot of the sad history.

I did see a wonderful art museum that was the State Museum of Azerbaijan. There were some beautiful miniature paintings and some illustrated manuscripts. I also took in a carpet museum that had exhibits of khilims and rugs from all the different regions in the country.

Of course, we had to go up the Maiden Tower. One of the legends regarding the Maiden Tower is that it is so named for the young woman who threw herself off the tower to resist the advances of the King (her father!).

And we saw the Shirvanshah Palace which is an ancient 15th century structure that is a UNESCO heritate site. This was during the Persian rule of Baki and we toured the divankhana (public meeting area) the palace mosque, the private bath house (hamam) and the mausoleum of the Shah's family. There was beautifully-cut stonework lattices and intricate porticos.

One of the questions I have received about Baki is the place of religion in the country. Yes, it is primarily Islamic (almost 94% of the population, with the vast majority being Shia.) During Soviet rule, the property of the Jewish population was seized and the country was largely secular. Due to this, most citizens can not read the Koran in Arabic, and it is rare to see head-coverings or burquas. The country has had a revived sense of religion since Independence. The current administration has encouraged the restoration of synagogues and locals told us that people are embracing Islam slowly. However, the Soviet history still lingers, and drinking is commonplace and eating pork is not rare. I'll end this 'edition' with a couple of last pictures from the Old City.

Azerbaijan: Baki At Night

There is something absolutely magical about Baki in the evening.

I think the gorgeous lighting brought out the beauty of the architecture and I had a great time capturing the city in the evening. It did take some patience to get the right exposure and I really wish I had a tripod, but I think these photos do a bit of justice.

The picture up top is the Nizami Museum of Literature, which much to my dismay, was under construction so I was not able to see it :( You can see the mosaic tilework and the the statues of Azerbaijani writers. The namesake of the museum- Nizami was the poet who authored Leila and Majnun (a Persian romantic tale to rival Romeo and Juliet.)

To the left is some intricate stone lattice-work of a government building. This type of work is found all over the city for railings and windows or partitions and is usually made of either marble or sandstone. The government of Azerbaijan has made quite an investment in its downtown. The cobblestoned walkways and the lights on all the buildings shows an eagerness to entice tourists!

To the right is a mosque that Arun just HAD to stop by the roadside to see. It was neat to capture the moon by the minaret.

The city definitely quieted down in the evenings. It's a conservative country, afterall. You really did not see a lot of people milling about late at night (except for drunk Brits singing loudly as they exited pubs.)

However, the downtown was entirely safe, and Arun was pretty happy because there weren't any stray cats or dogs! I'll end this entry with a couple more night-shots.

Azerbaijan

Arun needed to be in Azerbaijan for work, and it turned into a great opportunity to see an incredibly unique country. The flight we took was miserable since it arrived into Baki at 5:30 in the morning. By the time we got to the hotel we were exhausted (and Arun was supposed to be at work that very day.) The one great thing, however, is that early morning lighting is a photographer's dream and I was able to take some great shots from our hotel window. You can see the Caspian Sea and the gorgeous scenary.

We learned a lot about the unique history in Azerbaijan. They have had so many influences- at one point under Alexander the Great... then briefly Mongolian rule... then came the Turks followed by the Iranians and of course most recently Soviet rule until their Independence in 1991. The architecture, the people, the language and the food all reflect these myriad influences. For instance- their language used to be written in Arabic script but Azeri words. Now their language is most similar to Turkish and they utilize Latin script.

The food we found there was Turkish-Arabic-Georgian-and pretty much everything in between. Their entire economy seems to be based off of the abundance of oil and natural gas in the country and BP has an enormous presence. This means an enormous number of British ex-pats and so, of course, we found great Indian food as well! (Arun's eating some GREAT chicken pakoras and lassi.)

One of the more shocking things we learned is that the Azeri Monat is worth more than the US dollar. It was surprisingly expensive in Azerbaijan, and it made me appreciate how affordable Ukraine is relatively speaking!

Of the 4 million people in the country, 2 million live in Baki and there has been a large influx from the countryside into Baki for livelihood opportunities.

The first thing to see in Baki is the Old City. It is surrounded by walls that date back to the 12th Century and one of the most important landmarks of the city is the Maiden Tower. I got to do a lot more sightseeing than Arun who was hard at work, but I tried not to make him too jealous!

That's it for now, I will be adding more blog entries about Azerbaijan, and for those of you who have been missing my Kodakgallery editions, I'll be sending a link out soon (and I'll post it here as well!)

Working Out

Every evening, after Arun gets off work, we walk to the Arcadia Plaza to work out. It's a gorgeous complex that comprises a luxury hotel, swimming pools, tennis courts... and of course a fitness center.
You should check it out- it's pretty nice-

http://arcadia-plaza.od.ua/english/about/

We 'shopped' around for gyms for awhile. Turns out that Ukraine offers free health club access to its citizens, but generally they are not maintained well, and most locals don't use them. They're really vestigial institutions from the Soviet era. There are definitely no LA-Fitness or 24-Hour Fitness facilities here. Instead, either you go to the free health clubs- or you choose an exclusive fitness center. Ours was the cheapest we could find at about $140 a month. Which, when you consider Ukrainian incomes, is ridiculous! Most of the time, we're the only ones working out.

Arun just HAD to join, even though we get plenty of exercise walking around everywhere. What can I say? He is definitely a man of routine! We are able to do weights, though, so it's worth it. We usually watch Russian MTV while we're doing cardio and crack ourselves up. So that's another glimpse into our lives in Odessa!