cerealjoe | Entries tagged with rl:travel:ukraine

Alright. About three or four months after actually the pictures were taken, here is a recap of everything that deserved a pictures (and some things which didn't) but for which I was too lazy to take out my camera.

If this trend goes on, I might post pictures from this summer by Christmas time. It's not a promise though, could be much later.

Plane.

( about fifteen more pictures )

Finally we're back with some pictures from L'viv! By "we" I mean "I"... but let's disregard my need to talk about myself in the plural form.

The contrast amused me a bit, the ad says that the little girl asks her mum to take her to the museum and right next to it some people think that there is no future.

( 10 more... no long comments this time around )

I've decided that it will take me forever to fully sort through my 150+ pictures from L'viv therefore I will be posting some of them in batches of 10 or 15. For most people, those pictures cannot be interesting but for me they're little reminders of a life from long ago.

Elmo and Tchorny, of course, wanted to come with me. Alas with my small-ish handbag they didn't get to see much of the town.

( 9 more )

Current Mood: accomplished

I'm back from L'viv, took tons of pictures, met up with some nice peeps, saw my grand-parents and been to some weird airports. More of that on some other day. The airports were wicked though... as the French would say, the whole experience was "folklorique".

Current Mood: bouncy

I'm traveling to L'viv without my laptop and without my iPod Touch. I can feel the withdrawal symptoms starting to show up and I haven't left work yet. I'm really a slave to technology these days, aren't I?

Yesterday I was actually trying to talk myself into taking my iPod with me by saying that I could upload all my pictures on there and show my grandparents and all of that but I did not cave in. It might sound silly but I am really, really, really proud of myself for leaving it behind.

Current Mood: good

In the light of my long week-end next week in L'viv, I've started reading "Culture Shock! Ukraine". It's an ok book, it's made me think a bit.

In the book, the author clearly states that L'viv and western Ukraine are different from the rest of the country and I'm fine with that but I can't help but feel that he's saying in a way that this fact that it's different is bad. Like it's not normal to have a part of the country that mainly speaks Ukrainian. He talks in depth about his friends in Kharkiv, a city close to the Russian border, where they don't like it being called "Kharkiv" and would rather always use the old name and he doesn't say anything bad about that.

I'll repeat myself for saying this but I'm really tired of meeting people and answering their stupid questions about Ukraine when they actually learn that I'm from there. These days I actually state that I'm from the south of France, no mention is made of my past in Ukraine, northern France or the US. There are only so many times that I can tell people that no, Ukrainian is not the same as Russian and that no, not everyone is bilingual there and that no, the alphabets are not the same. What I love to tell them is the fact that Ukrainian and Russian are in no way alike to me, it's as if someone said that Spanish and Italian are very similar. They're not, there are roots that are the same because they're both Roman languages but that's it. I have no trouble switching to Ukrainian and coming up with lots of sentences... it takes me a lot of effort to switch to Russian. Actually I think part of the effort is to fight my inner impulse not to speak Russian.

So there, those are my daily two cents. I've said it before and I'll probably say it again but hey, it makes me feel better.

Edit: a good paragraph in the book about language:
The Ukrainian language is not a dialect of the Russian language as Soviets wanted the outside world to believe. Rather, each language penetrated and interacted with the other's syntax and vocabulary. The similarities between Ukrainian and Russian have been compared to those between German and Dutch, although there are different dialects within the Ukrainian language, especially around Galicia (called Halychyna in Ukrainian, the capital of which is Lviv) and Volhyn. These dialects are almost incomprehensible to heartland Russians.

Current Mood: exanimate

Hum... I have three deadlines on the 1st of June. I'm going away for a long week-end on the 26th of May. That means I have a week to finish those three things and all I've been doing is procrastinating.

I also hate the world today. Anyone following me on Twitter would know that and I should say that people only reading the LJ entries were spared up until today. Yes, it's a shitty day outside and I just find that people do not aim to please me. As a matter of fact, I do think I'm the queen of the universe and everyone should really bow down in front of me, dammit!

Also, I have to go shopping for presents for the family I will be visiting in a week. Fun! It's really not. I would love to buy them stuff from Marimekko and Pentik and Alvar Aalto design things but would they really appreciate their awesomeness? Probably not.

And I ordered more contact lenses, has it really been three months since I last ordered some? I also need to buy some confortable shoes to take with me to L'viv. My usual "high heeled but sturdy enough for anything" boots are at the end of their life, they've been with me everywhere... they're probably the most confortable shoes I've ever owned in my life, yes, shoes with a 2 inch heel. I blame them for the fact that these days any type of flats (and god knows I own a couple of pairs) just feel wrong.

Current Mood: indifferent

This is what my floor looked like for about a week after I came back from home after Easter. And in about three weeks I'll be heading to L'viv to visit my grand-parents. This time around I think I'll take my backpack rather than a suitcase.

Also, my phone takes pretty good pictures. So worth paying for a 3.2 megapixel camera phone! Everyone keeps on making fun of my love for Sagem but hey, I'd like to see their 90 euro phone take good pictures.

Also #2, I think I need to cut down on my travelling spending. 400 euros for a five day trip is a bit a lot... and that's not even counting the taxis and stuff I'll have to take. But hey, my happiness comes first!

Current Mood: happy

Need urgent help from the people who know a bit about Germany! Dortmund, which airlines leave from that airport? Is there a bus from that airport to some other big airport that wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg?

I found some good flights from Dortmund to L'viv and it would be a good week-end getaway to see my grand-parents... but I can't find any flights from Helsinki to Dortmund. I suppose it's a small airport and there must be nothing around.

Crisis over. In the end, my time and peace of mind won over my will to save money. I will be taking a flight (with a layover) directly from Helsinki to L'viv. 350e in total, but worth it!

Current Mood: curious

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Where is Gali(nette)?

aka The day we caught the train

Entries tagged with rl:travel:ukraine

I really do amaze myself most of the time

And so it's back.

I started sorting through pix, I am really made of win!

Because who needs computers at airports!

Blih. Blah.

Oh look, not so much sun today.

Deadlines. Shoes. Lizards.

Wheee! More travelling!

Dortmund help, plz!!!

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March 2017

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