"My Brothers are Coming!" (1st half of August)

I looked forward to it for so long, I can’t believe it’s already over. I met them (Paul, his girlfriend Amanda, and Peter) at the airport and let out a few jumps of joy before taking them back to Kiev and the most luxurious accommodation we’ve ever stayed in as a family. I had gotten the apartment earlier that day and just lounged around for a bit enjoying the (temporary) feeling of wealth. We took a nap because everyone was tired from traveling, and then ventured out for a walk in the sweltering city. We had weather in the high 90s the whole trip, and in both overnight trains, only our compartment’s window didn’t open. The second time we joked that it would be funny if the one compartment window we saw unopened was ours, but it really wasn’t (funny). Ok, it kind of was. In a sweaty, miserable sort of way. The whole trip we never stopped sweating (Amanda smartly carried around a sock to wipe her face, I was just gross); the heat made us lethargic and less willing to be tourists, but we soldiered on.

Day 2 we visited the Cave Monasteries (Amanda and I had to cover our heads and shoulders with scarves, which cancelled out the cool air in the caves) and the WWII Museum (where we posed for fun photos with the Soviet realist statues), and walked over to the Hydro Park to dip our feet in the Dnipro. We also had lunch at a swanky restaurant on a boat, which made us all uncomfortable with its prices. We compensated for the extravagance with dinner at a Ukrainian-style cafeteria, where the four of us ate for $13 (we went back two more times during the trip, it was more our style). We rounded out the night in Kiev with a shot of Ukrainian vodka to fortify ourselves for the visit to Chernobyl the following morning.

After a two-hour drive, we went through passport control at the entrance to the exclusion zone and met our guide, who had a funny habit of making jokes and then saying, “It’s a joke.” We passed by the Lenin statue and a boat graveyard before monitoring radioactive moss, feeding giant catfish (seriously, over 6 feet long!) and seeing the sarcophagus of the melted reactor, covered by a complex of concrete and scaffolding. Later, we visited the ghost town where the Chernobyl workers and their families used to live. The shells of buildings remain, but inside is rubble and chaos, eerily photogenic. Books scattered thickly on the floor of the library and school forced us to desecrate their pages, there was nowhere else to step. Nature is doing the demolition work with quiet efficiency.

Back in Kiev, we dipped our feet in a fountain at Independence Square to cool off before our overnight train to Ivano. We were traveling first class with our own private coupe, but the heat made privacy irrelevant, as we left our door open for a breeze from the window in the hall and lounged around in sports bras and boxers drinking beer. After an hour bus ride, we finally arrived in Kolomiya (I had liked the B&B from G.L.O.W. so much I booked it for this trip!) The owner picked us up at the station, commenting politely that we looked like we had been on an overnight train. True story. My friend Abbey and her friend were waiting for us to hike to Shepherd’s Valley and enjoy some tasty cheese, but all we wanted to do was immerse ourselves in some form of water, so we split the ride but bailed on the hike, opting to hang out a waterfall by the base of the mountains instead. It was a good choice, sitting in the rapids and exploring along the river. We also practiced our Dima-squatting, sunflower-shelling skills—Amanda wins for finding it a painless experience.

Dinner was family style at the B&B, and then Vitaliy gave us a ride to the rock bar I asked about (my friend Sean, who lives in Kolomiya, said it was a cool place). Eventually we got the bartender to understand that we girls wanted creative cocktails and the boys would have beer (Dad, it was your birthday, we drank to you). We just asked for something new each round. A local guy put a kink in the beer and cocktails plan by inviting us over to his friends’ table to share a bottle of vodka, so the boys and Amanda got to experience that side of Ukrainian hospitality. Good times ensued, and I miraculously remembered the way home.

We woke up on time for breakfast, (I think I was the only one who ate it all, and I also got to speak French with the other guests!) and then unanimously decided—in a wordless conference—to go back bed for several hours, rather than catching an early bus to explore the biggest bazaar in Europe at our next stop. Eventually we made it to Chernivtsi, where we chatted for a bit with the slightly bizarre British owner of our hostel (he mostly just seemed lonely), before waiting out the heat a little more. Once our hunger overcame our heat-induced comas, we ventured out for a walk and late lunch. The city is beautiful and reminds me architecturally of Lviv and Budapest, since all three were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The man at the next table over kept trying to get us to share his bottle of vodka, but we were not about to do that again. The waitress brought me the wrong soup and then made a fuss when I informed her of her mistake. Customer service is an American concept. I ate the soup. We saw the strange, redbrick, Arabic-influenced university building (I kept trying to walk into places where we weren’t allowed—my philosophy is keep walking till someone makes you stop), and hoolyatied (the verb “to walk” is synonymous with “to hang out” in Ukrainian) around the hilly, leafy city, calling it an early night to avoid drinks with the crazy Finnish guy (who talked real fast and his eyes were THIS BIG) and the hostel owner.

The next day we saw two castles! For the first, we packed a picnic lunch and grabbed a cab (it was $1.25). Its exterior was impressively well preserved, and we had fun clambering around and exploring every crevice that didn’t say “Life Danger.” We picnicked in the shadow of the castle; Amanda finally got to try beer cheese (it lived up to her expectations) and I made everyone try halva (which they decided looked like gray poop, but tasted pretty good). We explored the next castle just as thoroughly as the first, using photo flash exploration for the dark and scary bits. I was outvoted for swimming in the gorge afterwards (the castle is set dramatically on a river bend across from the old city), so we sat in the shade of some trees overlooking the river and the castle and worked on our bag of sunflower seeds before finding a place for dinner.

The overnight train rolled in to Kozyatyn at 4:30 in the morning, so we stumbled back to my apartment and crashed for a few more hours, until the sun made it uncomfortable to sleep. Then we field-tripped to the bazaar to test our sour cream on the backs of our hands and choose our favorite fresh cheese, along with everything else on our shopping list. My favorite part of the trip was hanging out in my apartment and making borscht and holubtsi for dinner, doing the Yaworsky side proud. We took a little walk in the evening to see the island, and then played a sampling of drinking games and watched Friends in Ukrainian just for fun.

The next day we went with Kamilia to another local place to swim, but it started to rain and there was trash everywhere so we didn’t stay long. On the ride home, Amanda and I formed a plan. We would all buy the most ridiculous Ukrainian outfit we could find for less than 100 UAH, and then go out our last night in Kiev. To that end, we scoured the second-hand shops in my town, coming up with a fancy number for her and a lacy see-through shirt for me.

Our last night in K-town we had a shashlik celebration at the rehab center for Andrei’s birthday (it was a couple other guys’ birthdays as well, so it was quite the spread). Kamilia and her son and Sasha from English club were also there (along with Slava, Pasha, Marina, and Andrei), so Amanda and the boys got to meet most of my friends (we also ran into Anya buying a watermelon the day before—she was getting ready to visit the U.S. with Matt!) It was even more fun than I could have hope for: Peter ended up speaking Spanish to some guy who learned it in prison, and Paul and Amanda were having an animated conversation with Pasha and Marina, so I turned back and forth and enjoyed both events.

On our last full day, we rode the electrishka to Bilky to visit Olha. There they finally got the full taste of Ukrainian hospitality, filling up on homemade borscht before potatoes and meat cutlets and fish and tomatoes and cucumbers and bread and crepes filled with sweet cheese and doused in sour cream…and then watermelon and apples and pears. Paul tried his hand at toasting, and Peter kept our glasses full, so they were good male guests. Her garden is amazing. She offered us use of the summer shower (the water is heated in a barrel by the sun), but we knew we would just keep sweating, so we opted for a brief cuddle (the boys on the couch in the living room and me and Amanda in my old bed) before heading back to Kiev.

Once there, we got another apartment from the same lady (this one with air conditioning and a fancy shower!!!) and set out to find the boys some proper clothes. It was late for shopping, but we actually had good luck in one of the stores in the underground mall beneath Independence Square (near our apartment). Peter got a rainbow striped, faded tee, and Paul bought one three sizes too small, rolling up his jeans to make man’pris. We had a fake dance party photo session in the living room, then went out to look for a club, but gave up and went to Potato House instead.

The last morning was filled with souvenir shopping (buying four bottles of vodka before 9 am), with McDonalds and Olha’s leftovers for breakfast back at the apartment, plus one more chance to snuggle with the boys before sending them off on a bus to the airport. I’m excited for all of them to begin new chapters in their lives: Paul and Amanda in their new apartment starting grad school at Binghamton (they’re getting a cat!), and Peter as a first year at Bowdoin!

I was really sad to see them go though, and just wanted to get out of Kiev. That was complicated by the fact that I had to transport three massive suitcases with me: the spoils of America. I combined the two duffels into one, but each step was arduous and the result painful. The escalator at the train station was broken. The station is also located uphill from the Peace Corps office. It was a million degrees outside, and the bags weighted the same as the atmosphere. I slowly dragged each suitcase up the stairs. Then I realized that my train was leaving from the local train station, to the right of the main Vokzal. I carried those blasted things up the stairs for no reason! I kept looking imploringly at strong men until one offered to help me carry the million pound duffle. He carried it all the way to the gate and asked for 5 hyrven, I happily obliged. A few more steps and I got it on the train. Two-and-a-half hours to Kozyatyn. Off the train. Into a taxi. Up three flights of stairs. Collapse. I have bruises on my arms, and my shoulders have been sore for three days, even after two sessions of yoga. But I got 5 lbs. of licorice and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!

I’ve been recovering ever since. The candy helps. So do episodes of Glee. Best is when the two are combined. I leave tomorrow for four days of In-Service Training in Kiev, and then nine days of vacation in Crimea. School starts two days later. I’m exhausted, but summer was great.