It’s been a whirlwind of a trip so far. Hard to believe I’ve been in Novograd-Volynski for two full days already and that I’m on day 3. (side note, it’s also interesting reading back on all this and trying to decipher what I was scribbling in a notebook four years ago. Aye! Fun times!)
Once again I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to discover more of the town. Whereas the past couple days were chock full of chores around the house, today was to be a busy day shopping and getting Vitalik ready for the first day of school. My early morning routine was the same as usual, simply waking up and wasting time as I could while waiting for the clock to tick by and get ready for Vitalik to show up at the hotel. Another quick seat on the bench taking it all in until he showed up. When he got there I saw the giant smile on his face as he was carrying the football (American football that is) that I gave to hime the day before. As was true from yesterday, Vit decided he’d rather take the bus than walk. However, after a bit of time waiting, we got tired of doing nothing so we decided to make our stroll back toward his side of town. Of course by now the temperature had gone up a little and we turned around to go back to my hotel so I could change my clothes into something cooler.
After changing we made our way back to meet up with Larisa. This wasn’t my first long stroll through town and I still felt fairly safe. Again, I really had no idea what to think as I was visiting a country so very foreign to me. Looking back, I can imagine I’d feel safer walking around alone there than I would in other more popular tourist destinations such as Paris or Rome. It did strike me as interesting how quickly people walked around though. There was no leisurely strolling, not even a moderate pace. Everyone seemed like they had a mission to accomplish and thusly so their walking was very quick paced and the walked with no smiles on their faces. Another particular item that was quite memorable to me to this day is looking at various buildings that had the bolted on ladders going up the chimney…from the ground all the way to the roof. You’d never see that kind of thing in the U.S. sadly enough. It’s rather annoying that we have to protect people from themselves (i.e., don’t climb something you’re not supposed to, fall down, and then sue someone).
Vit and I arrived at the bus stop where we were supposed to meet up with Larisa and we sat down waiting. Interestingly enough, this was when I felt most nervous on my trip. I was very conscious of the many looks I got as the clear foreigner that was sitting around waiting. I made sure not to get in anyone’s way as they actually waited for a bus while we just sat waiting for Larisa. It wasn’t scary…it was just a wee-bit uncomfortable because I couldn’t tell if I was getting glares or if I was just getting “who are you” looks. After about half an hour Larisa finally showed up and we dashed to the local convenience store so she could fill her phone with more minutes. That in itself was pretty neat to me as I was used to paying a set fee every month for my cell phone service whereas she would buy 30 minutes here and buy another 30 minutes later when she was running low.
The three of us grabbed a bunch of laundry and took it on over to Grandma’s house. Just a few days in and I already plenty of laundry to do. My shorts were dirty from the trip and my jeans were grass-stained from playing football with Vitalik before. Note on the “football”…I find it interesting that I was already calling the sport of soccer in America football. Look how worldly I’ve become!
As we continued on with our walk to Grandma’s, Vitalik and I played catch with the American football nearly the entire way there. I have to say that I was pretty damn impressed how well he was getting at throwing the ball. I mean, it’s not the easiest thing for someone not accustomed to holding or throwing to do but he learned quite quickly. That kid’s got talent!
After the general chores (saying hi, putting laundry in the washer, etc) we all ate some leftovers from last night’s meal and chit-chatted a bit. Even though I was a stranger in a strange land, speaking a language that only one person in the house understood, I still felt so amazingly comfortable and at home. The smiles, the laughter, the translated questions and stores back and forth…it was nice. I had some coffee while the laundry and dishes were being done and then played a few games with Vitalik. Finally…it was time to head into town…and this I was looking forward to.
We took another one of those old buses into town and started on our adventure of looking for a suit for Vitalik to wear to school along with other clothes to replace the ones he’d outgrown already. All boys wear suits to school so this was a necessity. It was also a bit of a pain because there was no mall, no suit store, nothing to make the shopping as easy as it would be in America. Store after store we went into, first asking if they even had suits (many didn’t), then checking to see if there were any in the correct size and then to see if they were worth buying (style and quality). Not the easiest thing when a majority of the stores didn’t even have suits or suits that fit. Oh my…after at least half a dozen stores I could tell that this “adventure” would be a rather arduous exercise. I was still a bit tired from the trip and shopping is by far not my most liked activity, but I persevered and also wandered off here and there to look at things that caught my eye.
Another observation in differences between where I was from and where I was now. Stores were jam packed with stuff. Owners crammed as much as they could in every square foot of that place. Oftentimes I had to walk sideways between racks because they were spaced so closely together. I had also noticed the whole difference in personal space. It was not uncommon for someone to be standing right over you or reaching past you to grab something in front of you. At first I thought it was a bit off-putting but then I realized it was just a difference in cultures and I got used to it.
We continued on shopping for a bit. We stopped a couple times to get pastries that I found to be rather tasty. We continued upon our quest to find a suit that we could get and added shoes to our shopping list when we realized we had better start looking for everything we needed at once as the stores seemed to be picked clean of a lot of stuff with school quickly approaching. The first day of school was two days away so that last minute rush was in effect. Yes, two days from now is Saturday. In Ukraine, school starts on September 1 no matter what day of the week it falls on.
We stopped at a table on the sidewalk in town that had a bunch of school supplies. What ho! A little notebook that I can start taking notes in! You had better believe I snapped one up rather quickly so I could do a brain dump of everything I had seen and felt over the past few days. I just hope I could remember everything! After snagging a few school supplies for Vitalik it was time for us to head back to Grandma’s and get ready for dinner. We hopped on a bus and made our way back. Good googly…this bus was packed to the gills. Larisa had warned me a couple times to keep an eye on my wallet or anything in my pocket because it was a prime spot for people to steal stuff. After hopping off the bus we grabbed a mellon and some grapes and finished our journey to Grandma’s house with a walk through the woods and down some trails to her cluster of houses.
We had dinner (hm, I wonder what it was. I didn’t take notes so I don’t know the specifics but I do recall there were a lot of meals that involved potatoes, some sort of meat, tomatoes, etc) and then the family gathered in the living room to play some games. This would soon become a tradition for the rest of that trip and on my next trip over. The lot of us sitting around in a circle on the floor playing Uno. Thanks to this I was able to practice learning my colors. Hurray! It was a very enjoyable time…more laughter, getting competitive yet silly with each other. Once again I felt like part of the family and once again I smile as I write and share this with you. After a bit it was time for us to wrap up and start gathering our laundry and other things and get ready to head back. The taxi was called and we decided to play another quick game or two of Uno while waiting. Whoops! We almost missed the taxi thanks to our Uno addiction. Luckily we didn’t miss it and we proceeded back with the same routine as before. Larisa makes the deal for the price and directions and I just sit there like a mute. So very odd and out of character for me. It’s not like he couldn’t tell I wasn’t Ukrainian just by looking at me. Aye!
Back in my hotel room I got my trusty new notebook out and started frantically writing every details that I could muster up from my trip. Everything that struck me as funny, cute, different, odd, smile-invoking…whatever it was I was jotting everything down at a feverish pace. Going back and reading a few days of notes has actually proven to be a challenge now and then as I tried to recall what certain short-hand notes meant…or what the scribbled word actually was. I’ll make sure to write in this thing each night now before bed to make sure I don’t miss any good details! Whew!
As I lay there in bed scribbling the last few things into my notebook I remembered how I had told Larisa how in the U.S. people will generally smile at each other as we pass them on the streets in a polite way. Granted, it’s different in different cities but it happens a lot more in every U.S. city I’ve been than it has happened so far in my travels here.
My throat had been sore since my arrival. I guess my body wasn’t used to the long flight and lack of sleep. It reached up to my ears too so after a good scrubbing I felt a little better and hoped that it would all be gone the next day so I could walk around with a little more vigor.
So much more of a utilitarian feel here than there is back home in the States. Much less creature comforts and less opulence. I didn’t find this off-putting in any way. I actually found it a bit refreshing. It’s already got me thinking about how I want to simplify my life once I get home so I can deal with less fluff and have more substance.