Snowy Chicago

Also in January: I took a little trip to Chicago to see my dear friend Caroline, who was going to be in town to see her cousin in a musical, as well as my brother and Lila. It was pretty much the perfect weekend getaway. Except for the driving-through-the-blizzard part. Also, a flashback to my fall trip to Chicago/Champaign, because I never actually posted about it.

Some time in November, I received an email from Caroline: she would be in Chicago in January and would I want to meet her? I gave her a tentative yes, as January is generally a good time to take a weekend off to do nothing; classes have kicked in, but one’s not plagued by papers, writing, and figuring out the end of a semester. The weekend before her proposed dates, I was driving around Ann Arbor getting stuff for my (Old) New Year’s party, when suddenly I remembered I had tentatively promised to be in Chicago the next weekend. And thinking through my schedule, I decided it was going to happen. As soon as I got out of class on Friday, I was off on I-94, crossing Michigan in a persistent but pleasant snow, off to meet a friend in Evanston for dinner ahead of meeting up with Caroline and her mother for a play that her cousin was starring in. Things got progressively worse, however, as I neared the Michigan-Indiana border. I had averaged just over 70 across most of Michigan, but soon I had slowed down to 50… then 40… and then 35. As I inched my way past Illinois border, I called my brother in Hyde Park (on the South Side, basically the first place you hit when you drive in from Michigan), with whom I was planning to stay that night after this play in Evanston (north, involving crossing the city). Yeah, Evanston was not going to happen and I would be at his place in time for a late dinner.

Meet the new boss…

…same as the old boss.

Incidentally, this picture was from a month or so ago. The new suckers have almost 100 miles on them already. When I started them out, this is what my miles had looked like:

First of all, I didn’t actually miss two whole weeks in January, but the first day of the month counted as it’s own week. Also, the “three” weeks with zero miles: all in Ukraine. Definitely total correlation.

Ringing in the (Old) New Year!

(Old) New Year’s: Russian Style. Fact: we Russianists (approximately) take our vodka seriously.

Basically, last January, I wanted an excuse for a Russian/Slavic themed party. I had wanted to screen the classic Soviet New Year’s movie, The Irony of Fate, but this got quickly vetoed upon the arrival of guests, as goodness knows most people don’t enjoy sitting around a small TV in order to watch a three hour subtitled movie. But anyway, since the movie is a classic feature of the Russian New Year’s celebrations, I thought it would be best done as a welcome back. And as luck would have it, Old New Year’s (the Julian/Orthodox calendar was clearly a big theme this year) just so happened to fall on a Saturday. And with that, we were set. Old New Year’s it was.

Fact: in an alternate universe, I'd have made a great Russian/Slavic housewife.

Now, when I do dinner parties, I tend to go all out, and this was certainly going to be no exception. So I got to work on Friday evening, dedicating a few hours to making potato varenyky.

Only in Ukraine…

Presenting, “Jewish Standard Vodka,” prepared, you guessed it, with matzoh. Complete with stereotypes on the label. So painful. Oh Ukraine! I so wish you were better than this. But that doesn’t mean I’m not amused (please read: horrified).

Last Day in Lviv

The end of the January travels. All of a week before I’m on the road again.

View onto Lviv from St. George's Church after Christmas Mass. Blue skies!

Our lovely Christmas Eve was followed on Saturday (January 7) by a lovely, very filling Christmas breakfast, after which we were driven to town for Christmas mass at St. George’s (Jura’s) Cathedral.

St. George's Cathedral on Christmas morning.

And from there, we headed back to wander in the city, with no particular goals in mind. The very best kind of wandering. 

Sviat Vechir, or Christmas Eve II

SO MUCH FISH!

The table, laden with food.

Naturally, one of the highlights of going to Ukraine for almost two weeks immediately after Christmas is the fact that you then get Christmas not once, but twice. And this year, I had a very proper Ukrainian Christmas. The main meal, served on Christmas Eve, comes complete officially with 12 dishes, although how you count them changes from region to region (and from house to house). As far as I could tell, there were basically four things: the borscht/mushroom dumplings, fish times 100 (ok… at least five kinds of fish were on that table), varenyky of many kinds (potato, cabbage, cherry), and kutia, a wheatberry/poppy seed/honey concoction. To that, uzvar to drink, bread to eat, and so much more. All dishes are essentially vegan+fish, which is a little disappointing when you eat those homemade cherry varenyky, sans the sour cream.

Carp, of the cold variety; kutia; borscht with mushroom dumplings (amazing!).

I did my best to follow along, but as the first dinner started with a series of prayers and ended with a series of Christmas carols with no printed versions, I pretty much got to play the role of observer. But hey, at least I looked the part.

Lviv’s Lychakivs’kyi Tsvyntar

Cemeteries are wonderfully picturesque. I took so many pictures at the one we went to in Lviv. First, here’s me with the cemetery’s most illustrious personage.

Oh hi, Ivan Franko!

And here’s the bigger collection. Still only a small number of the total pictures I took.

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A Return to Europe

Part I of the time in Lviv, a city that, in contrast to most of the rest of the country, serves as a fine reminder that Ukraine is, actually, in Europe.

Oh hi there, Taras!

After a pleasant but uneventful stay in Kyiv, it was time to move on. And so, with a full day train ahead of us (10 hours, 11am-9pm), we stopped in to the grocery store to pick up the necessities. Reading a page out of my past life as a student/post-Soviet train traveler, I of course had to insist on a couple of basics. Namely, fake mashed potatoes and noodles. Both of which can be handily prepared with the on-hand boiling water, conveniently available near the conductor’s compartment. To which, we added bread, smoked cheese, and other assorted goodies. True story: it made me super nostalgic for living in Russia.

A Kyiv New Year’s!

Kyiv on New Year's Eve.

After our crazy jaunt through Kharkiv, it was back to Kyiv. As mentioned, we arrived in Kyiv’s second airport, without the slightest clue of where we were. So, we did the logical thing, and hopped a bus to some metro stop. And when we got off, we realized that we had managed to land right by the memorial for Babyn Yar. While not exactly what I had in mind for a return to Kyiv, we stopped to see the memorial.

Lunch

Am I in Ukraine? Or Ann Arbor? (Or Russia, I guess...) At any rate, delicious.