 Springtime Travel to Sevastopol By Kristina GRAY |
With the crisp but warmer breezes of April blowing into our flat, I start having the travel bug again to get on an overnight train again to ANYWHERE but Kyiv to discover more about Ukraine's people, culture and history. Fortunately, several springs ago I had a very good experience because I brought a Russian speaker with me on my first trip to Sevastopol. My Ukrainian friend, Viktoria helped me navigate my way on a 19-hour train ride. Things may have changed since I was there last but I think if you take off in this southeasterly direction early, you'll beat the usual rush to experience Crimea for yourself in May and June. The following is my memory of what we experienced thanks to the hospitality of those living in this beautiful land, rich with culture and history.
I was to give a talk at an annual teachers' conference and the administrators of the school and hosts were somehow misled that I was a "Big Cheese" from Kyiv. From start to finish they proceeded to show Vika and I "the works." Perhaps the conference coordinators had been told to treat me nice because I had brought four boxes of English books from the America House Teachers Resource Center. So Vladimir, the principal, looked like he was dressed for success (not your typical teacher type) and came to our rescue. I was thankful that he greeted us right at the train platform and took the burden of the heavy boxes into his own car.
The red carpet treatment began as soon as we left the train station. Vika and I were whisked off to the school where we were served escargot. Then we were trundled onto a bus with the other conference participants for a tour of the city. There was the Russian Orthodox St. Vladimir's church and also Greek ruins to check out. (Look on the back of a one-hryvnia note and you can see the Greek ruins for yourself.) Of course, there were the obligatory statues of Lenin and other notable men of yesteryear, mostly war and navy top brass. Later that evening we went to a French play that Vika, as a former French teacher, was able to capably translate for me. We checked into our Russian hotel that evening and apparently I was on Russian soil in this particular hotel. Why hadn't I thought to bring a Russian visa for this place? Vika was under strict orders to keep close watch over me lest I transgress some Russian rule and be forced to find a "Ukrainian" hotel. I quickly found out how deeply the hostilities run between those in Sevastopol who are loyalists to the former Russian dominated Soviet government. There were even still Muslim strongholds from Turkey.
With having so many cultures from years past in this strategic port city, evidence of different allegiances co-existed uneasily side-by-side. There was a strange combination of Crimean, Russian and Ukrainian flags all throughout Sevastopol.
Later during our weekend visit Vladimir and another administrator took us to a Tartar restaurant and then to two famous palaces close to Yalta. On our way out of Sevastopol and heading toward Yalta there were settlement areas that looked like American "suburbs." Vladimir, with a wave of his hand, said that these empty, half-finished homes were "monuments to Perestroika." People ten years ago had put all their money into huge 5-6 bedroom houses but didn't have enough for the follow-through. Lots of mistakes were made initially and they are still feeling the pinch economically.
Before we took leave of Sevastopol on our long train ride back to Kyiv, we went to the Black Sea Fleet museum. We also rode public transport a couple of times in the bay which amounted to crossing over for 15 minutes on a little, water-tight boat for only the equivalent of five cents (U.S.). It was nice to breathe the fresh air and feel the ocean breezes against our faces. Kyiv compares unfavorably to Sevastopol because there is always the fresh sea breeze to blow away any bad exhaust. Unfortunately the factories are all shut down; so many people seem to live on this thin air. If they ARE employed, they are NOT paid.
One military man from Crimea who had shared our coupe on the train going to Sevastopol lamented that he hadn't been paid as a "Special Guard" for 11 months. They had paid his colleagues in vodka but he was holding out for the paycheck instead, thus the long wait. He related that he had gone to the police academy to learn how to pull alcoholics away from brawls and to get them away from spouse abuse but this is how they rewarded the efforts of the ones who protect others from the evil vice of alcohol. The irony of it hadn't escaped him. He was also waiting to become a pensioner in three months so that he could get his pension and quit work. He was only 35 years old but had been in the air force where he had a kind of mechanic-engineer with something like F-16 jets. He had done runs over Kazakhstan where they had used nuclear weapons and that is why he had a special status. He was concerned for his wife and two children, about their future. He had dismal views about life in Ukraine and he was asking me if I knew how he and his family could get out!
As we were on our train to Kyiv, I mused about my life while looking at the long shelterbelts of lilacs lining the route back. The lilacs were glorious; their blooms were gracing the Sevastopol neighborhoods everywhere. My life as an American is so very, very different from the Ukrainians I am surrounded by. So many feel defeated and are looking for any opportunity to leave. Yet I want to stay and learn more about this wonderful Ukrainian culture. Each city I have traveled to has a war story. Yet my husband and I have optimism for this great nation. We believe that things will get better. At least in Kyiv we continue to witness on a weekly basis that things are getting better. May it be so for the rest of Ukraine!
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More in the section:
'ENVIRONMENT FOR EUROPE' is coming to Kyiv
Read also previous issue' articles:
THE EAR: Time to Stop Traffic Terror
The USSR: What was it?
Socialist Realism From One Collector's Viewpoint
Weak Laws Make Ukraine Europe's Dumping Ground
Social Entrepreneurship Expands in Ukraine
Lenin and Ukraine
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