Just a quick update, mainly for the benefit of people like Pete who want to gaze longingly into a post-Soviet landscape that they will likely never visit in person. On my (now rather short) walk to work, I decided to take a few pics of a couple of buildings near my school, on the same 'campus' if you like. They struck me when I first saw them, so I'm sure they'll be interesting to you.

Talk about Soviet simplicity. It's a monster. All solid square blocks. The blocks of flats don't look all that different, but damn, no room for European curves and arches.






And here's the building situated next to it (you can see a hint of the previous one on the left of the pic). Very similar design. I'm sure the inside is just as beautiful.






Finally, a shot of the side of the previous building. A little blurry as there's trees in the way - and a man too! Run away! He'll think I'm a Russian spy or something.

Back again. Just a quick update with pics to please Pete (and Pete, if you think calling beer less classy than a cocktail is heretical, do you really think chugging Carling looks classy? I'm not saying it tastes bad, but if I saw James Bond with a can of Carlsberg he'd go down in my estimation). I could mention that I went to a place called Fidel to celebrate a friend's engagement, which was decorated with pics of Fidel Castro and Cuban paraphenalia (the bar, not the engaged couple). Anyway, I moved into a new flat, as I mentioned last update.

As I moved into the new flat, I thought it best to grab some pics as soon as I walked into the door, before I soiled it. This is the sizeable living room, with plenty of storage place for all the stuff I don't have.





Bedroom. I didn't have a bedroom before, just a living room with a bed in it (which was about as big as my current living room on its own) so once again, more space.






The standard-looking kitchen, with old fashioned cooker and old fashioned kettle. None of your 'electric' kettles here, no sir. Basic but functional.






The charming view out of the kitchen window, towards work (north-west, for those taking note).







Incidentally, this is work. Pete wanted me to take pictures of stuff like my work, and this is it: the Kyiv Poly Institute (KPI) building in which [my school] is housed. Inspiring stuff. I always fear the big thing on the front will fall off, killing innocent students. Paranoia.





And on to the Metro. Zoloti Vorota is particularly far underground. To give you an idea of the grandeur of this, here is one of TWO escalators you need to take, from the top down.






And here's a much clearer view of the same escalator, from the bottom!







This is the view I had of Man Utd beating Derby in the League Cup, sitting in Golden Gate Pub (near Zoloti Vorota Metro). There's a table full of glory-hunting Man Utd supporters in front of me, and I was all alone for a bad day that continued to get worse... Still, 4-3 agg, can't complain too much.




And on a related note, here's the view I had of Burton Albion beating Barrow in the Blue Square Premier, sitting in O'Brien's Irish Ex-Pat Magnet. Once again, all alone, but funnily enough there were no Barrow fans to contend with - fancy that.





And when I turn round, here's what I see... such Irish heroes as Bono, Pierce Brosnan and, er, George Best (I guess Northern Ireland is good enough).






That's your lot. Go away.

It's Sunday, so time to do some blogging.

I went to a party at my friend's house last night. We all had to bring some food and drink, so while in Megamarket I saw some Chinese 'wine' which looked unusual, so I thought that'd make sense for a 'potluck night'. I also brought frozen pizzas at our host's suggestion, though they didn't get eaten as there was plenty of food from the 20-something people there.

It was a lot of fun, actually. There was food, drink, party games (pass the parcel and a 'pub' quiz), and a good time was had by all, for sure. I also had my first try at a hookah pipe - though I think I may have had a go in Berlin, but don't remember. The girls were chastising me for not doing it right, though it sure as hell felt like I was.

I also demonstrated my new-found ability to make White Russians: actually, it's not exactly new-found, but my visit to Megamarket allowed me to buy some shot glasses (for measuring) and a tumbler (I believe 'old fashioned cocktail glass' is the technical term). Finally, all the pieces were together for me to make a White Russian, my favourite cocktail. Despite the high cost of Kahlua, the low cost of vodka actually makes it a pretty cheap drink to make, though it looks a lot classier than beer.

When I woke up on their sofa this morning, I went to Arena City in the centre of Kyiv to meet up with one of the office girls and her friend. We were visiting an exhibition of several different artists: one an English one called Sam with a double-barrelled surname (don't remember it), one a small section for a Japanese guy, and a larger section with art from a number of Russian artists (21 I think). All in all it was okay, but not great. The Sam person had a few videos where people held still as a photo. Unusual, though one of them was of the Klitchko brothers, so a bit of local interest there, I guess.

The Japanese guy's was about forests and stuff, not bad but nothing amazing (hey, I never claimed to be an art critic: you want that, stop reading). The Russian ones were interesting to say the least: there were a row of cardboard boxes with little people projected inside; there was a long film with primitive CGI and strange morphing effects on photos of people to make it look like they were moving, displayed on 3 screens; there were some other, very odd videos on projectors, and much more besides.

And so to now. I have to pack soon because I'm moving to a new place tomorrow, for various reasons. I'm sure I'll miss my Dorohozhychi home, and the sight of the TV tower, but these things happen. I'm told the other flat is nicer, so I'll just have to take their word for it and see tomorrow.

For now, I'll leave you with a couple of pics.

This, for those who can't read Ukrainian (and aren't Ukrainian) is the Ukrainian national anthem. It's displayed in a glass case (notice the reflections) in KPI, the uni building our school is housed in. Wikipedia will help you with translations. And the tune.





And finally... Chicken Kiev, anyone?

Okay, it's photo time again. I'll try to keep the text somewhat short, and let the pics do the talking. First things first, a few pics from before and just after Christmas.

I went to Maidan Nezalezhnosti shortly before leaving for England, because they were having a big Christmas celebration, and turning on the Christmas lights on their tree. As you can see, the tree is pretty damn big. I sadly didn't get a picture of the tree after the lights went on, but it looked very nice, with lots of motion lights and stuff. No expense spared.



This was also rather nice: it's the tall monument to Berehynia, but for the occasion they used lights to illuminate it in the colours of the Ukrainian flag (blue sky on top, yellow fields below). The effect was quite striking, as it looked like it had luminescent lights inside the column, rather than lights shining on it. The camera sort of picks up on that here. Below it, Kyiv TV films the celebrations - and a vareniki-eating contest. Hmm.


Many people came to watch, as you see in this 180-degree turned around shot. Don't think they were there just to watch men and women eating dumplings very quickly.






Never mind that. Here we are back in Ukraine after my Christmas break. Pete encouraged me to take pictures of everyday mundane things, so I thought I'd do just that. Coming from an England where, as cold as it seemed, not a drop of snow had fallen, seeing this outside my block of flats (in the background) was certainly rather nice. Didn't feel terribly cold, either. I mean, it was, and still is, but it's not so bad. And the snow really stays, as you'll see later.


For the sake of completeness, here's the TV tower near my flat. I can see it as clear as this from my kitchen window, though if the weather's really bad then it disappears. Go on Google Earth or elsewhere for much better pictures of it. Once they lit it up at night, I wish they'd do that more often.




Now here's the interesting bit. The day before I got back to work - Orthodox Christmas Day - I decided in the morning to go for a little walk around the park right outside my flat, which up to now I'd never been to. It's name is Babyn Yar (or Babi Yar, though I think that's Russian), and it is famous as the site where 33,771 Jews were massacred over the course of September 29th and 30th, 1941 (my birthday, nice...).


Wikipedia considers it "the largest single massacre in the history of the Holocaust", so it's pretty significant around here. Around 100,000 people were killed in total, but the largest amount was over those two days. This is a statue next to the Dorohozhychi Metro station, a monument to children killed at Babyn Yar. I took it from two different angles, just because it's a circular statue, with different kids around it. You can see the 'M' for Metro on the left of the second photo.

As I walked through the forest, I was struck by how beautiful it looked in the snow. There was a very light amount of snow falling around me, and everything was, obviously, covered in snow, as you can see. Very nice.





This was the road I followed for most of the way through the forest. It's nice that at least the walkway isn't snowed up, but still. There were some dogs up ahead who paid me a bit of attention, and I took a video of them. Not sure how to upload video on here as I've never done it before.




Some people had put a bunch of little Christmas trees in the middle of the park, so I took a snap of the nicest-looking one.







I think the football's off...








This is just another path that led off towards the north of the park. I didn't follow it, but it looked nice so I took a snap.







Here we have another monument, shaped like a menorah, commemorating the 50th anniversary since the initial massacre. The Soviet administration decided to not mention the Jew aspect of the massacre, choosing to just say that 'Soviet citizens' were killed. A month after Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union, this monument was erected. Whether the timing is coincidence, I don't know, but as you'll see, this clearly shows the fact that the victims were almost entirely Jewish.

Looks like things have been added to it, this in 2004. It's in English, so it's pretty self-explanatory.







This has a bible (torah) quote: "My pain is continually before me." Psalms 38:18.







The Soviets decided to erect a different kind of monument, though to 'Soviet citizens', as I said. It's a monstrous thing, and the ravine here is really big and steep: the blanket of snow makes it a little difficult to make out, but trust me, it's big and steep. When I arrived, several kids were sliding down the ravine on sledges.




Sadly the white balance messed up on this one, but this is another monument to the massacre. I believe it says "[remember]: for the future", or so Google Translate tells me. I'm not 100% sure what it's for exactly.





Here's an out-of-focus picture of a tablet at the front of the big Soviet monument. The big letters read "one hundred thousand", presumably a reference to the amount of people killed at Babyn Yar in total.





A closer look at the reverse side of the Soviet monument. They did like big monuments, didn't they? Also, I love that snow falling on the photo. At least this one was in focus.






That's all I've got from my trip to Babyn Yar, lots to see, though! Anyhow, now I'll skip forward to yesterday, as I went for a trip to an outdoor museum of Ukrainian architecture. Not many pictures, but I went with some buddies who took more, so they'll be available on Facebook (though some of you won't be able to see that). I met them at Lybidska Metro station, so I took a snap of the interior while I waited.


And here's a field that I saw when we arrived. I just had to take a snap of this, for the folks back home. Neverending snow! We had to walk through that to get to the main part of the museum. Basically, the museum consisted of houses and buildings that we could go inside, with traditional Ukrainian architecture and whatnot. Plus souvenirs to buy, too. Very touristy: the guides even spoke a bit of English!


Apropos of nothing, I saw some ice with what looks like a small frog frozen underneath. So I took a picture.







Here's the only other picture I took at the museum: lovely windmills. I didn't take pictures of the buildings, the spinning sledge that I played on, the snowmen people had built, and the restaurant with traditional Ukrainian food, and some guys in costumes singing a Ukrainian ballad at the top of their lungs. Seriously.



Going home, I got on the Metro at Universytet, which is one of the nicer ones due to its busts. Here's one of them.







Here's a more general snap, which looks awful as the focus on my phone camera is temperamental. So, there's your lot. Hope Pete's happy with this bumper post, and I'm sure I can take more pictures for him in future, such as the route I take to work! Woohoo! Catch you later.

Hey there, I'm back! And I've bought a brand new Advent 4213 netbook on which to type up my blog. It's very small but has all the trimmings and, for a PC of this size, is pretty damn fast, too. If I can find a nice little coffee shop with free Wi-Fi, that'd be very nice.

But enough rambling. I, again, haven't updated in too long (though I think only Pete really cares, as it's a nice way for him to avoid working). There's been a few interesting things to note on since my last update. Obviously, Christmas is a clear one. Before leaving for Christmas, however, there was the little matter of parties and such - work-related ones, mainly. We had a student party, which entailed renting out a place called 112, a nightclub, which was quite fun, especially as us teachers wore badges with our names on them, and got in for free. It's in a huge complex called Arena, which I must have a look round soon as there's restaurants and stuff in the place too. And shops.

The following week, with the pavements ridiculously icy - so much so that people constantly were falling over, including myself - we went to an Indian restaurant called the New Bombay Palace. No idea where it is, as we took a minibus from school to get there. It was a strange experience, mainly because I'm so familiar with Indian restaurants in England that this one was clearly a novelty to the locals, but pretty standard to me. The other thing that made it strange was that nearly everyone involved with the Kyiv schools - not just mine, [removed], but others too - was at the place, and they rented out the large back room for the evening. There was plenty to drink, so much so that when the 'mains' arrived (the starters were there when we got there) most people were too drunk to sit down and eat, so everyone was just dancing in the middle of the room. Not quite what I expected from a work dinner, as I've had a couple with office jobs, and they're much more formal. TEFL is nice and fun.

A couple of days later, I headed on home to England. Not quite sure what to tell anyone here (my majority readership live there anyway) but I spent Christmas day with the family, spent a couple of nights with my pals, and spent New Year's Eve in a (usually) popular pub called The Dog with Pete and his mate. Pete was rather displeased that there was breathing room in the pub: it was busy by Friday night standards, but certainly not New Year's standards. Credit crunch? Maybe. Weather? Nah, it's always cold on New Year's. The fact that I had to pay £3 just to come inside (it's a pub, not a club, so this is a once-a-year oddity that doesn't really hold up given how empty it was) was the icing on a disappointing New Year's cake. Don't think they make New Year's cakes. Maybe in Ukraine...

After a few days of biding my time and watching the FA Cup, I flew back home. I wasn't exactly given a warm welcome back by my adopted country, as a policeman saw me inside a metro station as I entered and decided it'd be fun to interrogate me. Fun it was not, for me that is. I barely understood a word he said, something he seemed incapable of assisting. I know I'm a TEFL teacher so I have training and experience of communicating with people who don't speak much of my language, but common sense must dictate that not changing your approach when the person in front of you keeps saying "what? I don't understand" isn't going to help you. He had a rummage around my bag for kicks, too. When he pulled out a plastic bag of suspicious-looking drug-like stuff, I had to blurt in Russian "that's tea!", as it was. My mum thought it'd be a good idea to put lots of tea bags in a plastic bag and not tell me she'd put them there. Imagine my face if he found them and I'd never seen them before! Yeah, thanks Mum...

After realising he was getting nowhere (and he checked my passport with visa - though he kept saying "what?" while looking at it, as if he'd never seen a visa before...) he bade me farewell. I was a bit annoyed by the encounter, as it's the first time I've ever been stopped by police, anywhere. For future reference: once you get your baggage at the airport, remove the ID strip from it, it's a dead giveaway. Why else would he decide to pick on me? I did have two bags, a backpack and a very heavy sports bag, so maybe he thought I was a bootlegger off to sell something, I don't know.

Anyway, since coming back, I've been a complete recluse: my sleep patterns are messed up, so I've been getting up late, sleeping early, whatever. It's around 1pm and I feel like I want to sleep, so that gives you an idea. All I've done since coming back is some food shopping, though an hour or so ago I decided to finally explore Babyn Yar, as it's right over the road from my flat, but for some reason I'd never been around it before. I took lots of pictures of it, but that's another story for another day. Pete was bugging me to take lots of pictures of this strange and mystical land of Ukraine, so I'll oblige. Just not today: this post is plenty long enough already.