It's the end of the year post

Hello everyone! It's hard to believe but we are living in the last days of 2019. I completely fell out of the writing spree as well as out of my photography hobby for almost 2 months. I've got a new job and now try to adjust to it and still fit in all the things I am used to doing.
I don't want to write a sum-up post because I simply don't like things like that. Maybe it's not very smart but I don't have a precise plan for each year because I don't want to expose myself to unnecessary stress. So I will say this: This year was full of different events, some were very positive others not so much. There were moments when I was extremely tired and moments of utter excitement. I worried a lot because my country is in big danger nowadays and I feel very irritated that it made into the most international news due to Trump impeachment and not due to the ongoing war with russia. Yes, the war is still in the active phase and a lot of Ukrainian soldiers got killed and wounded. Unfortunately, the mass media environment runs on scandals and everyday life is not making onto news screens and pages. It makes me very very sad but that the reality we all live in. I've heard words filled with chauvinism and words filled with support and understanding for my country. Tough year. But then it's another reminder that I love my country and will always remain the Proud Ukrainian.
So what do Ukrainians traditionally do the last days of the year? Well, big city inhabitants usually are involved in all kind of different parties that take place in their offices. The corporate party culture is pretty new to Ukraine and people really enjoy getting together with colleagues and get drunk. Sometimes they get drunk to an extent they don't remember what they did the night before. I'm not sure how it helps to work relationships but they keep doing it year after year. In smaller towns, people also get together at work and celebrate but they don't call it a "corporate party" though the results are pretty much the same. At schools, children have so-called children's matinees that have quite transformed since I was a student myself. In my childhood, we had a costume masquerade in the school sports hall that was transformed into a big celebration area with a Christmas tree in the center.  One year I was dressed as a cowboy, I had a hat, my mom added fringe to my jeans side seams, and the biggest pride was my plastic gun in a holster. I still have a photo somewhere. Nowadays these school parties are more like discotheques. Good old times...
There are two other compulsory components to New Year celebration in Ukraine. Actually, you can even say three components. The first one is shopping. I don't mean the Christmas shopping thing for presents. We usually give presents on St. Nicholas day, that is the 19th of December (because we are still on that stupid old-style calendar). Of course, I mean western Ukraine. It can differ depending on the region people live in. So shopping is mostly about preparing for the big New Year dinner that takes place on the 31st of December. And by "big" I really mean BIG. Some families, unfortunately, go overboard and female part of the family cooks for at least two days. Once I decided to have a bunch of friends over for the New Year party but it ended up me cooking a ton of stuff and when it was time to celebrate I was sooooo tired that one glass of champagne almost knocked me out. Since then I decided that I'm not running this marathon again. And.... I lied to myself because a couple of years later I danced on the same rake again, though with a smaller number of guests and dishes respectively. So people shop for food, all kind of food and sometimes very expensive food like red and black caviar, for instance. As one lady said: We buy caviar once a year to celebrate like the last New Year. I don't think she really meant the "last" thing but it does look like that sometimes. Salads, fish, meats, pastries, cakes and many many other things are on the table along with a load of different alcohol.
The second big thing is CLEANING!!! Long, tedious, exhausting, thorough, detailed, focused cleaning of all the place where you live whether it's a one-bed apartment or a mansion the size of Buckingham Palace. The next time you will clean your place even more thoroughly would be before Easter and then you will go even further because on top of cleaning there would be also some minor repair works, things like painting walls or changing all curtains and sheers. So New Year cleaning is big and important and when you live in the country where it snows in winter you will get all the carpets you have and clean them in fresh snow outside. That's the part I liked the best. The smell of carpet fibres that was brought from the cold of the outside smells better than any Febrese. And the bonus for all the fuss of the day is the decoration of the Christmas tree. We usually put the Christmas tree for the New Year since our Christmas comes after New Year, so actually, it's a New Year tree ))
Some people prefer to have big parties and invite a ton of guests, others prefer to celebrate just with family. When I was little we celebrated all New Years with our neighbours that lived in the apartment next to us.  We were very close and hanged out together quite a lot. When we, the kids, moved out, and then their parents moved from the apartment to a house, my parents came up with a new tradition. After they have some champagne at home and we exchange phone calls with greetings they take some treats and go to greet their friends that come to the town center to the main Christmas tree. A lot of Ukrainians like to stay home and watch TV for the rest of the night. The best thing about the 1st of January is that you don't need to cook. Actually, you don't need to cook on the 2nd of January as well. Some people manage to skip cooking on the 3rd as well, but that's already dangerous for their health in my opinion.
There is one more traditional thing about the New Year celebration and it is the fireworks of course. Personally, I have a problem with this part because there are a lot of people in Ukraine, I mean war veterans and people that had to resettle from the east of Ukraine, and the sound of fireworks is very traumatic for them. I would like to have this part eliminated until the war in Ukraine is over, but not all my fellow citizens are understanding enough.

So at this point the only thing left is to wish all of us a Happy New Year and to hope that it will be better than 2019. And of course, BEHAVE!

Instead of a Christmas tree, my parents buy compositions like this. This wreath is made of spikelets that symbolize prosperity and health, and the wreath shape corresponds to the oldest and most important deity of all - the Sun called in ancient Slavic tradition Dazhboh meaning The God that gives. 

As we say in Ukraine 2

Hello everyone! I hope you all are doing great, enjoying the cooling down and colors change all around you. I miss fall a lot, you start appreciating seasons when you are deprived of them. My friends and acquaintances say that they envy me that I have summer all year round, but I do miss fall. The yellow leaves, fogs, cold rains when you can sit in a cafe, sip something warm and watch people rush by. At the same time, fall is the season of results that can look like a basket of apples from your garden or something more abstract. In Ukraine, we say that even a sparrow is rich in fall. There is a whole bunch of other proverbs about fall and most of them are result-oriented. For example, count chickens in fall, quite good advice for those who jump into conclusions right away or want quick results. I like proverbs and sayings a lot since they help to express complicated ideas in an eloquent and concise way. That's why I decided to dedicate one more text to As we say in Ukraine.
Today I will describe to you TOP-5 of my favourite sayings. Unfortunately, I can't use them in English because they will sound weird in translation, but I will translate them for you and the concepts that stand behind them.
So #5 is a pig-related one: A granny had no worries and so she bought a piglet. If you never lived on a farm you need to know that to have a couple of chickens and a pig is a very time-consuming thing. You need to feed them on a regular basis, you need to make sure that the chicken coup and the barn are relatively clean and if you live in a four-season area you need to make sure that they are warm in winter. My grandpa very often lives on his chickens' schedule )) So this saying is really true!

#4 Send a fool to pray to god, he will break open his forehead. Persistence is a great thing and can bring really great results, however, there are people that can turn pretty much anything into a catastrophe. I bet you have observed in your life stupid people striving to get something with a ridiculous degree of persistence. I have to admit that sometimes I even envy them because they have this endless amount of energy and blind faith that whatever they do will make them happy or change their life. When you are smart and persistent it's still a different story. The grain of doubt sits tightly in your mind and maybe because of it, you don't go for certain things in your life. This saying is pretty popular with older people in Ukraine when they try to characterise the younger generation.

#3 has an equivalent in English but it sounds very logical while its Ukrainian counterpart underlines all absurdity of the situation. So the Ukrainian version of the saying is "An elder tree in the garden and an uncle in Kyiv". Makes no sense, right? So you would use this saying in Ukrainian if the person you are talking to tells you something that makes no sense. "That is something utterly irrelevant" that's how you would say it in English. It's funny that sometimes you don't need to say the whole phrase to the person, you just say "An elder tree in the garden" and they understand that they are talking nonsense.

#2 This one is incredibly philosophical. Sometimes I even take it as a compliment though it isn't considered to be a saying with positive meaning, especially if an older person characterises you like that: You can talk to the mountain but the mountain will remain to be a mountain. S-T-U-B-B-O-R-N-N-E-S-S!!! This saying describes stubborn people and I take it as a compliment because this feature of mine has helped me move ahead in my life even when others doubted my choices. That's why sometimes I can be a mountain ))) For some reason this saying associates in my head with Japanese mountain Fuji. It's always there, just like any big idea that sits in my head.

My number 1 is a very interesting saying for a couple of reasons. Most of all I like that historic aspect of it. But firstly, I will tell you how it would sound in English and then explain how it appeared. So, To jump out like a Pylyp (Philip) from hemp bushes. This saying will be used in a variety of cases. For instance, you would use it when somebody does something unexpected or even literally jumps out at you. At the same time, you can use it when somebody says something unexpected, something that hardly fits the situation. So the historical aspect of this saying has two constituents: the first one is the name "Philip" used in the saying. I will open you a secret, name Pylyp (Philip) was used in old times to call hares, it was a kind of nickname for them. Along with that, this saying describes a very important fact about my country. The hare in the proverb jumps out from the field of hemp. HEMP! Not rye, wheat, barley or any other kind of field. I'm not hinting on my ancestors to smoke weed or getting high every single day. Of course, they did it, because tobacco was brought to Ukraine at the beginning of the 17th century and I do know for sure that my ancestors were smoking pipes a long time before it. And whatever they were putting in those pipes did have some effect similar to trance since some of the herbal mixes were smoked strictly before important battles by well-known Ukrainian Cossacks. Hemp was one of the components and t people also knew about the anaesthetic effect of hemp seeds and they would make a different kind of teas for people that were in a lot of pain. Moreover, hemp was not a plant that you would have to go and look for somewhere, we grew hemp just like any other cropper because its stems were used to make cloth. The cloth was used to make clothing and other textile goods one needed at home. The great thing about hemp cloth is that it's hyper allergic and very durable. Nowadays, there is a bunch of small productions in Ukraine that manufacture clothing and shoes out of hemp. Now you can see why I like this saying so much. It literally uncovers a huge layer of Ukrainian history and a simple hare that jumps out of the bushes of hemp can tell you the whole story. 
I hope I didn't bore you with this long historical explanation but I find it cool when things like this can take you centuries back and tell you something more than just an outer shell.
With everything said and done I wish you a wonderful time of the day and BEHAVE!

P.S. Just a couple of photos of clothing and shoes made out of hemp. All photos were taken from the Internet.

What do Ukrainians eat?

Hello People of the Planet Earth! Howdie? Had your breakfast already? Coffee? Starbucks? Dunkin Donut? I have never thought that there can be stereotypes about breakfasts. What comes to your mind when you think about breakfast? It's very interesting that when you have breakfast in a Ukrainian hotel (I mean in a good Ukrainian hotel because we still have some remnants from soviet times) most likely you will have a buffet breakfast where you'll be offered fried and boiled eggs, meat, cheese platter, and vegetable platters, cereal, milk, yoghurts, porridge, bread, rolls, juices, water, teas and coffee. Breakfasts are usually included in the price of your room. It was pretty weird for me while travelling the US not stay for breakfast in a hotel. But then I quickly learnt that those breakfasts are usually not worth the time and a Dunkin Donut breakfast is a much better thing. The question is: Do Ukrainians have similar breakfasts at home too? And the answer would be yes and no. The thing is that we all are very different and have different habits just like anyone else anywhere in the world. But we don't have any kind of prejudice when it comes to breakfast. I mean if I decide that I want a steak for breakfast I can have a steak. And since most of us in Ukraine have breakfasts at home, we eat pretty much anything we feel like eating. So if there is a piece of pizza from yesterday or a couple of chicken patties in bread crumbs I will eat them. Unless I feel like having something "lighter" for breakfast or if I know that I'm going to have a lunch in a canteen or restaurant. We are not very picky with our breakfasts mostly because we don't often eat out, so when I know I'll have a long day and maybe no chance to snack I will have more substantial breakfast than just yoghurt and coffee. Of course, there are people that are extremely conscious of healthy eating since healthy lifestyle trends came to Ukraine as well. I personally knew a couple of ladies that are very slim but would like to be able to enter any room through a keyhole in the door. They usually have for breakfast dew collected from flowers and coffee with morning clouds instead of cream. Personally, I don't have all this prejudice about food, though I try to eat healthily, that's why I cook from scratch. But it was pretty funny when my American mother-in-law saw me eating chicken nuggets for breakfast. She asked whether I want her to cook me some scrambled eggs.
So how about other meals during the day? What is popular in Ukraine? At first a little bit of mythology. I don't know where it came from but most older people believe that without a soup any decent lunch is impossible. You will hear it from a lot of people that you MUST have soup, broth or any other type of so-called "first dish". I guess that one of the reasons why Ukrainian cuisine has such a great variety of them. The world-famous BORSCHT, red beetroot soup, is one of the best soups in the world. It contains all possible veggies and is served with sour cream. In my family, every lunch, especially in my grandfather's house starts with a soup of some kind. Unfortunately, the World Health Organization didn't find a confirmation that eating soup every single day is something that will improve your health. So as it turned out, eating soup is more a tradition than an element of healthy eating. Among other soups that are on my favourite list are tomato soup (unlike gaspacho it is served warm and has more ingredients), chicken broth with vermicelli (but I mean HOME chicken) and green soup which is, I guess, the most unusual one for any foreigner and is made out of sorrel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorrel). My dad cooks the best soup in the world and it usually consists of anything he can find in the fridge. Traditionally he cooks it the day before my mom comes back from visiting my grandpa.
Second-course dishes usually consist of some meat and potatoes or boiled cereals (not Cheerios or Frosted Flakes, but I mean real cereals like rice, buckwheat, cracked wheat, millet, barley). We might have some fresh salad like tomato and cucumbers mix with a little bit of onion and vegetable oil or some pickled veggies. Unfortunately, a lot of Ukrainians don't eat very healthily and consume a lot of carbohydrates and sugars, I mean that they like eating different pasta, for example, because it's relatively cheap and quick to cook and they use a ton of mayonnaise when they make salads. Some of those habits are because of low incomes, some of them are from our soviet past since national cuisines were simplified or even neglected. In addition, during soviet times we had practically no food variety in the stores so making a rucola salad with feta, cherry tomatoes and quail eggs was impossible.
When it gets to the celebratory table Ukrainians will cook a lot and pretty much half of any recipe book. And when the table is served and there are one or two empty spots, any lady of the house will be in a panic because guests might leave her home hungry. That's why if you are invited to a Ukrainian house for a dinner I recommend you to prepare really well - don't eat at least for one whole day )) If you are a foreigner and you are invited to a Ukrainian home for dinner, don't just eat for one whole day but also get ready to be offered a lot of traditional dishes.
We are very proud of our cuisine and every time I read somewhere that Slavic cuisines are "heavy" I get a bit annoyed. Of course we have heartier food! We are not Mediterranian countries and don't rely on Frutti de mare (seafood), we have a continental climate and it means we have cold winters, rough springs and chilly falls, so it all reflects in our food: a lot of dough used for different kinds of dumplings, thick soups that consist of a lot of veggies, potato is a centrepiece because it's starchy and keeps you full for a long time. On the other hand, a lot of elaborate and even exquisite recipes were lost when soviet authorities decided that the difference between the nations in the Soviet Union should be erased. However, due to enthusiasts and patriots, we start having restaurants that revive old recipes and introduce them back. On top of that, we have a great variety of food festivals where you can taste a lot of different dishes in the same place, some are very authentic, others are with some chef's twist. Anyways, you won't starve in Ukraine.
What I like the most about big cities in Ukraine (and now small towns also catch up with the trend) you can get good quality coffee, pastries and hotdogs/sandwiches pretty much anywhere and choose the price range that is the most suitable for you. For instance, a cup of good quality coffee is available at $1 from any mobile coffee place in Kyiv. By mobile, I mean guys that have brewing machines at the back of their vans or any other vehicle that was turned into a small coffee shop. As well as really cool looking small stands with hipster-looking young people that can change a trivial hot-dog into a masterpiece.
Anyways, the best way to learn the country is to try its food. Welcome to Ukraine and don't forget to have dumplings with cherries and a bowl of borscht!
With all said, BEHAVE AND BON APPETITE!

Mozzarella balls 

Latte

Bagels in Kyiv

Hot dog with cherry tomatoes and mozzarella

My favorite - poppy seed strudel with glaze and coffee, of course ))

Pumpkin soup

Collection of beer bottles at the entrance to the Lithuanian Pub.

Schooling in Ukraine

How are you doing today while sitting on the surface of the planet whirling through the boundless Universe? How often do you think about the boundless Universe that surrounds us from every possible direction like a giant ocean? When I studied at school I was impatiently waiting for astronomy classes to start because I wanted to know more about the planets and stars and everything else out there. We didn't ger astronomy till the 10th grade and when finally we got it our teacher literally killed the subject and our lessons were boring to the umpteenth degree. I thought that all our educational system was boring and that somewhere out there in the world there should be a country with a great educational system. Now I'm a grown-up person and I have very little illusion left to find that perfect school where children are happy and each lesson is a breathtaking adventure. However, when I talk to people around me (no matter which country I'm in) they usually tell me that they are impressed with the variety and range of knowledge I have. A lot of those things that I carry in my head come from a couple of sources, and my school, actually, is one of them. I was quite surprised to learn how different is the quality and quantity of subjects students go through in each particular country. That's why I decided to tell my story of getting the level of education I have and explain how schooling in Ukraine looks like. 
So everything started with a kindergarten and back then when I was little enough to go to a kindergarten, they were extremely poorly supported by the government and didn't resemble modern preschool where kids start learning their first foreign language, have dance classes and make a ton of different crafts. We had a quite limited amount of old toys, and the main task of our nursery teacher was to make sure that we didn't fight over those toys. We were supposed to take a midday nap and we had 3 or 4 meals during the day. I don't remember much about my preschool since very soon my parents got me a nanny. Maybe having a nanny contributed to my introvert personality that developed with time. As far as I know from my peers that went kindergartens regularly there were some educational programs according to which the kids were taught there. They had some small events for parents where children were singing, dancing and reciting short poems. But all these events omitted me. My parents and grandparents were educating me at home. 
When Ukrainian children turn six or seven years old they go to the first grade. It's up to parents to decide when the child should go to school. Sometimes they send kids to school as early as five years old. I went to school in September and in October I turned 7 years old. At that point, I was a very avid reader and went through most of the books in my own library. So when our teacher would run out of the tasks for us, she would ask if anyone wanted to tell a story to the rest of the class. Well, I was always that "anyone" since I read so many fairy tales and was always ready to retell them to my classmates. Our classroom didn't look like a primary school room in any American or British school. We had small desks and two of us sat at each of them. There were three rows of desks with at least 5-6 of them in each row. There were about 30-32 kids studying with me. No carpets, no round tables, no colourful paper, crayons, paints or any other school equipment. Our parents were supposed to equip us with everything we might need for the lessons. Since it was 1988, the soviet union was dying, the stores were empty, the quantity and quality of school supplies were very limited. This way I went through 4 grades of primary school. Our lessons lasted 45 minutes, we had from 3 to 5 lessons each day. The subjects were reading, arithmetics, nature, writing, art, physical education. When I got to middle school things got more complicated and we changed our class mom (a teacher that was in charge of our particular group of students). Our schedule contained mathematics, foreign language (in my case it was English), history, geography music, arts, ancient literature, Ukrainian language, Ukrainian literature. I also studied the Russian language, because it was still a transition period and though Ukraine was already independent we still studies according to the old soviet system. None of the subjects we could choose, all of them were compulsory and nowadays the system is the same. We don't pick subjects at school, there can be only some additional lessons that our parents can ask the school to introduce but it all depends on whether a school will be able to find a teacher to teach that subject. So over 11 years spent at school, I had the following subjects: English, German, chemistry (both non-organic and organic), astronomy, algebra, geometry, world literature, Ukrainian language and literature, physics, history of Ukraine, world history, physical education, arts, biology, zoology, anatomy, basis of science of law, music, dance, health and safety, maybe I missed something, but you have general idea. At the end of the 11 grade, I took graduation exams, there 5 of them: mathematics, Ukrainian language, English, history of Ukraine, and geography. I could pick only one exam, it was geography. The other ones were compulsory.
When I finished school I went through entrance exams in order to get to the University. I was lucky to go through only one exam, that consisted of two parts - a written and oral one. The exam lasted more than 4 hours and the most nervous part was to learn whether you passed or not which we learned later that day. Well, I did pass )) I spent 5 years in one university and then I entered another one to get my Master's degree. I had to do so because while I was studying in my first University there was introduced a reform in our higher education system and if I didn't go for Master's I could roll back to Bachelor's degree even though I studied for 5 years. My major was English language and literature. I will not bore you describing all 6 years of my education at university I will just put here the list of subjects I went through over 6 years. So here they are the history of Ukraine, phonetics of English, English grammar, English theoretical grammar, the literature of ancient Greece, politology, sociology, psychology, economics, history of English language, country studies (this subject covered all English speaking countries), German, history of the German language, basics of linguistics, literature studies, religions of the world, French, physical education, English literature, phraseology, basic medical education, English phonetics, computer studies, teaching methodology, methodology of teaching English, philosophy, basics of translation studies, and quite possible I have missed something, but you do have a general idea how much fun we had at University. Unfortunately, since I was not able to pick my subjects I had no chance to start working. So I literally wasted 5 years on just education and when I graduated I didn't have much practical experience. I lucked out when I studied for my Master's degree because during that year I started teaching a bit in the same university a couple of groups of third-year students. After graduation I started working for a private language school in Odesa and that's how I learnt that I actually like teaching )))

A lot of things have changed in Ukraine since then. I know that now children are taught differently at schools and universities and colleges also have implemented some changes. A lot of youth have the opportunity to study abroad. I have thought a lot about my education and not once I thought that I would change a lot about it, especially now from the perspective of my current life experience. Would I choose English as my major? Definitely not. If you are not planning a career in the field of linguistics, don't waste your time learning one particular language at university. This world is run by managers of all possible ranks and levels. That's definitely something worth attention. Especially if you are not into creating software or launching rockets. What I definitely appreciate about my education is the skill of research and self-education. 

But what's most important about any education was summed up by Confucius very long time ago: Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

Having written all that, I wish you to have a great day and BEHAVE!

My parents and I, 1989. I just finished the first grade.

Chernivtsi National University. I studied here for 5 years. Very beautiful building, but its beauty I could appreciate only after graduation )))

Odesa National University, not a very nice looking building, but the place of my first teaching experience. 

American Ukrainians

Hello World! How is it going? If you feel like celebrating something today but don't have a real reason to celebrate, I will provide you with one! Happy Birthday, Andy Warhol! Now you have a reason for celebration and drinking a shot or two )) In case you don't know who Andy Warhol is, here's his photo

If this guy still looks unfamiliar to you, here are a couple of his works. I bet you have seen them before.

Campbell's Soup Cans (1962)

Marilyn Diptych (1962)

Andy Warhol is an American artist, producer and director also known as a leading figure in pop art. He shaped and defined the visual art movement for many years to come and remains one of the most famous artists of all times. You can like his art or not, but you were definitely influenced by it at some point even if you are not aware of it. The thing is that Warhol was so significant that he influenced a great number of young artists all over the world and keeps doing it even today. So why do you think I decided to greet him with his birthday? I was writing about baking and pickling in Ukraine, about shopping and weather in Ukraine. And out of sudden I write about Andy Warhol. Weird, right? Well, the real name of Andy Warhol is Andriy Warhola and he was of Ukrainian descent. He was born in Pittsburg in a family of Ukrainian immigrants Yuliia and Ondrey Warhola in 1928. 

It is an amazing thing how the United States became a native land to people from all over the world. Ukrainians are no exception. As you know, Ukraine is located on the crossroads of Europe and for centuries suffered from different military conflicts and big wars. World War I triggered a big wave of immigration from Ukrainian lands. People were seeking peace and a better life for themselves and their children. Another big wave happened during World War II. Being part of the Soviet Union and living behind the Iron Curtain definitely slowed down the immigration, but didn't eliminate it completely. The United States is a real melting pot and the land of opportunities for many of my fellow citizens. And today I would like to mention a couple of other names that you might have heard of. Some of them don't sound Ukrainian at all, but it's just because some of those people are not the first generation of immigrants, but either were born in the States or changed their names significantly. 

I'm 100% sure that you do know this name - Steven Spielberg. I am not kidding, the greatest director of all times is of Jewish-Ukrainian descent. Of course, he was born in the States, just like his parents. But his grandparents on both sides come from Ukraine and immigrated to the US at the beginning of the 20th century. 

I bet you also know this gal - Milla Jovovich. Yup, and unlike Spielberg, she was born in Ukraine, in our capital city Kyiv. Her family immigrated in 1980 first to London and then to the US when she was 5 years old. I do remember hearing her singing a Ukrainian folk song, which is really cool. It's hard to maintain a good spoken level of your native language when you are immersed as a child into a different language environment. I'm not sure whether she would be able to have a conversation in Ukrainian or Russian (since we are bilingual in Ukraine), but she is one of my favourite actresses and I like re-watching The Fifth Element with her a lot. 

Another person I would like to mention definitely affected your life! I would even say, he affected your life on the very early stages. Drum roll, please! Pleaaaaase, give your applauses toooooooooooo Bill Tytla! Don't tell me you don't know this guy! Have you seen Snow White and Seven Dwarfs by Disney??? Or Pinocchio? Dumbo? Of course, you did! Find me an adult that didn't watch Disney cartoons as a child. So Mr Tylta is a Ukrainian American animator that worked with Disney, Paramount Studios and Terrytoons. It's so wonderful to know that somebody of Ukrainian descent created such beautiful things that admired millions and millions of people all over the world! This guy definitely rocks! Here you can check on YouTube his talented works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOUCwq78HpQ

and another on Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/5670492

I want to mention one more guy that sports fans will recognize - Ruslan Fedotenko, a two-time Stanley Cup champion and also my neighbour (I just figured out that he resides in Tampa Bay area). He played for such well-known teams as Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers. How cool is that? He really makes me feel proud to be a Ukrainian! 

As you can see Ukrainians are pretty talented people and you can find people of Ukrainian descent in all spheres of life all over the world. I'm not trying to diminish what the United States did for all those people, on the contrary, I am very grateful that they were accepted and provided with opportunities to uncover and develop their talent. I also hope that those people remember or remembered about their roots, because, as you know, without knowing our past we can't create our future. 

Hope you enjoyed my short list of names and till the next story! Behave!

Mysterious Places of Ukraine

Hello World! I have a story! Do you like spooky stories? Do you watch horror movies late at night and then you get scared to walk from your bedroom to the bathroom? Well, that's me! Sometimes I stay up and watch something scary and then I would jump in bed and wake my husband up ))
When I was a little girl we didn't have horror movies on TV, neither did we celebrate Halloween. When I tell somebody in the States that Halloween is a very recent thing for Ukraine they look at me with big eyes. In western Ukraine on the 1st of November, we have a commemoration of all departed which is called in Catholic church All Saints Day. There is no costumes, vampires or trick-or-treats on this day. But it doesn't mean that Ukrainians don't have scary stories or mysterious places with grim legends. My grandmother used to tell me a blood-chilling story that happened nearby the village she lived with her parents. During midnight Easter service in the church, the whole building with parishioners and priest fell underground. Nobody got saved. A couple of days later people found golden incense burner from that church in the stream that was coming out of local hills. Near the hole that formed on the place of the church, people could hear distant voices of prayers and church singing. But nobody was ever found. I remembered this story for my entire life and if the village where all this story took place was an easy trip to make I would definitely do it. Unfortunately, today this place is on the territory of Poland and most of the people that could remember that story or know where the church stood were resettled a long time ago. My grandma as a real teacher explained to me that most likely there was nothing superstitious about the church collapse. She believed that it simply stood in the place with very active underground waters and that in some point during the spring flood period they got very high and washed out too much soil underneath the building. She also thought that people were adding lies to their stories and most likely the church was empty. Otherwise, that would be too big of a tragedy for surrounding villages and there would definitely be more uproar. True or not this story is something I will always remember.
Since I used to travel a bit all around Ukraine and lived in a couple of different places, I always tried to learn more about their history. And believe me, each place had some interesting spooky stories. When I studied and lived in Chernivtsi I was mesmerized by a church not far from my apartment.

The official name of the church is St. Nicholas Church, but due to its twisted towers it has a nickname A Drunk Church. My mom told me that according to the legend the architect that built it walled up his disobedient daughters into the towers and while the mortar was still fresh, they were trying to release themselves and that's how the towers got twisted like that. Of course, it's just a legend and according to my father, who happens to be an architect, the towers are built "normally" and the twist is just an optical illusion. But the story is pretty cool as well as the church itself.

Another place that I always admired and almost believed the legends about it is a medieval castle not far from Chernivtsi, located in a small town Khotyn.

The fortress itself is simply amazing. It has a gorgeous inside yard, underground passages and back in the times it was under reconstruction I was lucky to get into a couple of towers. The views are breathtaking. But every time I would come to the fortress, whether it was in summer, spring or fall I would see one and the same thing on the side of it.

This big wet spot is always there. It never dried out no matter what season it is. During one of the excursions, I heard a legend from the guide that explained its origin. Guess what! Another crazy architect walled up his disobedient daughter that fell in love with some peasant with no money or name and wanter to marry him. So instead of a wedding, she ended up being walled up and keeps crying till today making one of the walls wet. Don't start thinking that Ukraine is someplace of unhappy women that at any occasion get walled up! It's not true!!! I promise! However, strangely enough, the archaeologists couldn't figure out the reason why that wall is constantly wet. They had a theory about an underground spring but never could find it or were afraid to damage the fortress walls in the search of the answer.

Another stop we will make in Kyiv. I lived in this city for over 5 years and I can tell you it has a lot of interesting and mysterious places. Like any old city that went through a lot of turmoil, it collected everything it could from each epoch. Unfortunately, you will not find a big gorgeous castle in Kyiv. I believe many fortifications built there at different times were mostly wooden and therefore didn't survive till nowadays. However, in the 17th century when Ukraine, unfortunately, was part of the Russian Empire, it was decided to construct a gigantic fortress in Kyiv. By "gigantic" I mean huge, humongous, gigantesque!!!! And... they succeeded! If I'm not mistaken it still remains the biggest earth-and-rock fortress in Europe. 

This is a computer reconstruction of the fortress I found on the boundless Internet prairies. From my personal experience, the buildings of the old fortress are scattered all over Kyiv. And if you don't know much about its history you might just walk past them and not pay much attention. I was lucky to be shown the Fortress by my good friend that was gracious enough not to laugh at my face when I said that Kyiv is boring and doesn't even have a castle or a fortress. So he walked me through some labyrinths of streets and eventually we ended up next to mighty walls of the fortress. That's what I saw. 

(photo was taken from https://rest.guru.ua/ua/kiev/places/447-kievskaya_krepost_/) 

Of course, it doesn't look as impressive as the Khotyn Fortress but there are definitely very interesting things to learn about it. For instance, the Fortress stretches all way to the Dnipro river and to stabilize its steep hills, there were built tall walls and tunnels that allegedly lead up to the main buildings of the Fortress. Of course, with time the tunnels got ruined and in some places, they are simply blocked. But it doesn't mean that there are no dark, creepy legends about them. One of the places I want to dwell on nowadays is called Green Theatre. On this photo taken at the beginning of the 20th century, you can see a big wall in the hill.

In Soviet times that wall was used to build an open-air theatre. Here is its photo.

However, the theatre didn't operate for a long time because of the devastating fire that broke out there after a lightning stroke it. They say there were a couple of attempts to restore that place but every time something would happen and it would stay closed for a long time. At some point, a legend started circulating the city that a tall man in a long dark coat with a hood on his head was seen on the half-ruined stage of the Green Theatre. People started calling him the Master believing that it was the Devil himself. If you didn't want to get into any trouble walking the slopes of Dnipro near the Green Theatre you were supposed to say to yourself "I greet you, Master". You can believe it or not, but once my friend and I went for a walk down those slopes. It was pretty late and very dark, we didn't have any pocket light or even a box of matches. At some point on one of the serpent-like paths, we bumped into a big wooden cross standing in between the trees. I don't know who put it there or why, but it was quite a spooky find. At some point, a guy on a bicycle went past us. Now when I think back I find it very strange because it was pitch dark and I don't quite understand how he navigated in the darkness with no light on him. After walking downwards for a while we reached a big round area which turned out to be a dead-end. So we had to turn around and head back. The funny thing is that back then I knew nothing about the Master legend or any other story about the Dnipro slopes that hosted an old cemetery of suiciders and stillborn babies, or a legend about a nunnery that got cursed. I learned all these spooky stories later on and now I wouldn't agree for a walk like that in the middle of the night )) 

There are a lot more places that carry the memory of strange and sometimes tragic events, but they will be a subject of my other stories. Right now I will finish writing and will go to watch something spooky since I can hear a storm coming and watching something scary to the sounds of a thunder is the best thing!

Have a great time of the day and BEHAVE!

Sincerely yours!

What do Ukrainians pickle and what do they marinade?

Let it be an International Cuisine Day today and not just Wednesday, ok? Do you agree? In case you agree (and it's not like you have much choice) I will tell you about preserves, the jars with some tasty stuff inside. Amazingly, countries can differ in so many ways, sometimes it's even mindblowing. You live in your country a lifetime, do things a certain way, do your shopping a certain way, celebrate Christmas and Easter a certain way, cook things a certain way. And then one day - BOOM! You come to a different country and understand that you understand nothing! I don't mean language-wise, but rather everyday-life-wise. Even such simple things as shopping (easy as long as you have money) can turn into a quest before you will get used to a different type of goods and even the layout of the stores. For some time you will be occupied by learning all those things and when you finally do it, you will start looking for goods that you used to buy back at home. It's great if you are lucky to find some of the substitutes. However, a lot of things you still will be missing. I'm pretty serious about it, I mean if you moved to a different country for an extended time as a kid it's not such a big thing, because kids adapt much faster than adults. But if you did it as an adult, it gets more complicated, because, unfortunately, nobody figured out how to fight homesickness completely and your eating habits are a pretty big part of it. I can't say for everyone 100% but it did occur to me. The other day I understood that the department with canned food and preserves I don't see jars with pickled tomatoes! There are all kinds of cucumbers, relishes, peppers, olives, garlic, onions and some other things I've never tried or even heard of, but not a single jar of TOMATOES!!!! By the way, have you ever had pickled tomatoes??? Well, in Ukraine we say that if you can't buy something, you can make it. That's my approach in life almost in all cases unless it requires much time and resources. So I bought two boxes of Campari tomatoes, you know those small ones, but not the smallest ones, found a quick recipe for pickling and did it. Here's my result: 

Hopefully, the taste will be just the way I like it. I plan to check them this weekend so fingers crossed. 
So what else do Ukrainians pickle or marinade? And what's the difference between pickling and marinading? 
Firstly about the difference. In Ukraine when we pickle it means that we put some vegetable into extremely salty water or add a lot of salt and keep the vegetable like that for a long time. For example, I bet you do know the sour kraut. So sour krout is made with the help of salt that you add to shredded cabbage and keep that cabbage in a jar for some time till juice starts to appear. With other veggies that usually are not shredded, we use very salty cooked water. For instance, this way we make pickled cucumbers. They differ taste-wise from the cucumbers you usually buy for sandwiches. They are crunchier and saltier and never sweet. The perfect match for a pickled cucumber is mashed or fried potatoes. Jars with pickled veggies are usually sealed for winter in a special way that involves boiling water processing of the jars with their contents. Marinading presupposes adding vinegar to the pickle-water. We usually marinade veggies and mushrooms that we plan to eat very soon. If we want to eat them later on in winter then they also have to go through boiling water processing and have a special air-tight lid. You can believe it or not but every Ukrainian knows all this technique and gets those skills on genetic level ))) The thing is that food shortage during soviet times made us thrifty and every summer we would get ready for the winter making jars and jars of different preserves. So what else do we pickle or marinade? We pickle cauliflower, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, green tomatoes, aubergines, eggplants, mushrooms, and the craziest of us pickle watermelons. Don't ask me what's the taste of pickled watermelon is, there is no way to make me try it. It's simply sick. But some people like it. 
Of course, according to all the doctors in the world eating a lot of pickled food is not good because of the high contents of sodium. But I can tell you that once in a while a crunchy cucumber will not kill you. And if you had a chance to try my mom's marinaded Romanian pepper you would dream about it for the rest of your life! 
With all the above said and written I will leave you to ponder about the menu for your dinner! 
Bon appetite! Eat healthily and behave!

Sincerely yours!

The shelves with preserves in Ukrainian supermarkets. Photos taken from the Internet.