UKRAINE

Florin dropped us off at the border and we went to... UKRAINE!!! We had really wanted to go to the Ukraine because we had Hannah with us who could speak Russian and understand Ukrainian, but with last Thursday being called “Bloody Thursday” in Kiev, we knew it wasn't safe for us. Besides, President Yanokovych was impeached the day before. We mentioned to Florin that we had wanted to go, and he said, “Well, it is only one kilometer away from the bus station. I could drop you off there and you would walk across the border. All you need is a passport.” Alrighty! Good enough for us! 

Romania and Ukraine are separated by a river, so before we walked across the bridge, we got our “leaving Romania” passport stamps, and we took a picture on the bridge right in the middle of Ukraine and Romania, and then got more passport stamps on our way into the Ukraine.  

The security personel thought it was funny we were American. They probably haven't ever had 5 young American girls walk across the border from one small Romanian village to an even poorer Ukranian village just to “check it out”. If Americans to go Ukraine, they usually go to Kiev, and the only people that usually use that border are old grandmas who to go Ukraine to get more materials for their crafts or men who want to buy super cheap cigarettes in the Ukraine. They even asked us if we had cigarettes on the way in/out, but we just said not and luckily we didn't get a pat-down. Maybe we looked ignorant enough to not even know that cigarettes were cheaper there. They asked us, “Do you smoke?” “No.” “Why?” “For our religion.” “... Have a nice day.” They also didn't think we looked American, because we weren't fat. Hannah translated from Russian to English for us.

As soon as we got onto the Ukranian side of the river, the first thing I noticed was all the trash along the bank. The village was so dirty- huge piles of garbage everywhere, so so run-down. I imagine poor villages in Africa being poorer than this, but cleaner than this and less run-down. You can have a mud shack, but it can be a nice mud-shack. In Ukraine, there are buildings that you can tell used to be beautiful 100-200 years ago, and they were just never ever kept up. Everything is falling apart. 

If you zoom in, you'll see that the sign in front of this metal shack says it's an insurance company. I'm not so sure I'd want insurance from a metal shack.....

In the 40 minutes we were in Ukraine and were wondering if it were safe to come at all, we did succeed in seeing an 2 explosions and some kids playing with a gun. :) Explosion number one- Carley and I were waiting outside for Hannah and Chloe to look inside a gas station for Hannah's favorite Ukrainian cookies. I pointed out to Carley the huge stacks of trash in a ditch below us. Suddenly we heard what sounded like a gunshot. We both kind of jumped, and looked around and saw a little boy running away from another pile of garbage- this one was burning. It had been burning for a while. The boy's dad popped hishead out of the window of the house, and then decided everything was okay and said something to the boy and the boy went back over to the burning fire, but stayed further away this time. I think it might have been a trashy aerosol can or something that exploded in the fire. Either way, it made Carley and I on edge. Carley smiled and said, “Yeah, when we get back to Romania, I bet we'll think this was one of the greatest and coolest ideas ever- coming to the Ukraine- but right now, I'm not so sure it was one of our brightest moments.” :)

Walking down the main street, we saw two young boys- they looked twelve, pointing what looked like a gun at a corner store. I thought, “Uh- is that a gun? Oh my goodness, it is a gun! And we're walking straight ahead and soon we will be in between those kids and their target!” And then they shot it and “Pyoo!” a little bb ball shot out and rickishayed off the building. Phyoof. A bb gun.

The last explosion didn't sound quite like a gunshot as the first one did. This was just a tire explosion- that popped right as the car drove past us. Poor guy. 

We walked up to the school- where the town finally started looking nicer, but the roads were horribly kept up- the entire street was just puddles and puddles in pothole after pothole. :) Right in front of a huge statue at the school- so this was the “nice” part of town. Crazy. There were some old ladies sitting on benches, and little boys running around. Other than that, the town was pretty quiet. Maybe because it was Sunday. We saw a synagogue too.

The day we went to the Ukraine was the day after Yanokovych was impeached as president of Ukraine, and he fled to Russia. I walked past a lady and thought, “What is that lady thinking? Her president got impeached yesterday?” Hannah said she probably lives in such a small village with such little support from the government anyway- she probably just takes care of herself- that she probably doesn't care.

Luckily on our way out we bought Super Snickers- like two huge snickers bars in one- and a bunch of those cookies Hannah liked. She apologized to the man at the gas station for not knowing Ukrainian, and he told her it was ok- no one needs to know Ukranian. :)

Needless to say, we were glad to get back to Romania, where we felt safer. :)

 It's a good thing we went. Little did we know within a week, Putin would have 150,000 troops lined up on the Russian-Ukranian border, ready to invade. It makes me sad. Ukraine isn't just another country to me anymore. For a moment, even though it was just one hour- I saw Ukrainian people. They are real. They have lives just like we Americans do. Except- they will be probably be invaded soon. And me- I'll go back to my nice cushy American hometown or college town where life will probably wonderful as it always has been.

I guess it kind of makes your heart ask questions.