Monday-Tuesday
July 23-24
Sorry I have not posted until now, but after
the unrelenting activity of the previous days, Monday was “recovery day.” I am
so happy I stayed these extra days – it has truly been a bonus week, plus.
Hectic at times, yes. But, so very worthwhile. As I said, on Monday, I mostly
rested, but also spent some time out walking and shopping in the market/bazaar
places a few blocks away from the church. It’s a fascinating cross-cultural
experience to be in the open air fresh meat market, also surrounded by mounds
of fresh fruit (I bought Ecuadorian bananas), and little alcove supermarkets
full of breads and sweet bakery items, dried and canned goods, refrigerated
cheeses and cured meats! In many of these places, they are still using an abacus
for calculating prices – handy that business can continue even without power!
Some have battery-run calculators, but even those were rare where I was
shopping. My wandering around the Podil neighborhood and part of town where I
am staying has really paid off in making me feel at home. I enjoyed sticking my
head into little Orthodox churches new and old (they all look incredibly old,
and there’s at least 10 in this neighborhood), with my camera in hand – being
Mr. American Tourist, but also trying to fit in as much as possible for a bald,
pudgy Amerikanski.
After heading back to the church, I lay down
to rest for just a bit, and ended up taking “the mother of all naps” – you
know, one of those that when you wake up, you really don’t have a sense of how
much time has elapsed or what time it is. Well-deserved and much appreciated,
but also a little disorienting. I think during that nap, I dreamt that someone
was knocking on my door. Shortly after, I heard a knock at my door and it was
Serhiy, reminding me of the evening Youth Choir rehearsal in the lower “Café”
level of the church. They would be preparing songs for the August conference in
L’viv. It was mostly familiar music, some of which Heather, Steve and I had
brought with us when we were here back in May 2011 – the Ukrainian Alleluia and hymn arrangements by Craig Courtney, If My People, and others. But, there
were also some real Slavic gems which were new to me – a beautiful Otche Nash by Leontovich, a piece called
Soli Deo Gloria which I also liked a
lot, and you could tell they did too. (I showed them my tattoos of SDG…couldn’t
resist, with a song by the same title. Hope I have not started anything I will
regret!)
After the Youth Choir had finished around 9pm,
of course it was time for dinner! I was to be a guest of the House of Ryabiy, a large and
growing family who live out in the suburbs, the best way I can describe it. I
was driven there in style - in an S-Class Mercedes with A/C by our dear friend
and newlywed Masha, Her new husband Victor or “Vitya” as he is called, her
younger sister Anya, and her older brother “Tall” Sasha Ryabiy and his wife Ira and
their little son (who just turned 2 years old) also live in this home. It is a
lovely home, and in typical Ukrainian style, the extended family all live in
the same building, which grows to accommodate the changes in marital status and
the arrival of children. The last time I was here, Sasha and Ira were busy
building and renovating their part of the “nest.” Masha and Vitya are building
on their addition right now, and I got to see it in process. They hope to move
into it in September. We shared a lovely meal well into the night (another
Ukrainian custom – eating late!) which consisted of grilled meat, boiled
potatoes with dill, a vinegary salad with cucumber, tomato and dill, grilled
vegetables, fresh fruit, bread (white and brown), toast with orange fish eggs
(couldn’t do it), cold Coca Cola, Sasha’s American-style lemonade (it was
good!), hot tea and two kinds of cake, and a round of cherry and licquer-filled
dark chocolates. Just an ordinary Monday night special Ukrainian dinner! Vitaliy
drove me back to the church, and I fell into bed full of wonderful Ukrainian
food, and memories of laughter around a table where most of the conversation
was spoken in a language I did not know, but somehow I understood. Such a
mystery!
Tuesday was fun. A strategic planning day,
and then also some strategic sightseeing. It was a picture perfect weather day
– clear blue skies and 70’s. Great weather makes everything so much easier when
navigating a foreign place! The four of us - Sasha Kreschuk, Serhiy Bilokin,
Vitaliy Bolgar and I met at our beloved Puzata Hata – dreaming of what could be,
planning with calendars and schedules. That excited me. This was followed with
a few hours of seeing places in Kyiv I had not spent much time seeing (or ever)
in the past: checking out new hotels for future group travel to Ukraine, and
exploring some new landmarks. Sasha drove and Sasha Jr. (Sashko, my new buddy)
also joined us. He’s a cute kid, and remarkably patient for a 7-year-old. He
was reading “A Horse and His Boy” by C. S. Lewis, in Russian.
I spent part of the time traversing Shevchenko
Street, checking out the Hotel Ibis (loved it) and Hotel Express (didn’t) and
measuring the walk from Ibis to the rehearsal hall. Those cross-unders are
handy on a busy street like Shevchenko! The real gem of discovery today was St.
Katherine’s Lutheran Church, a small but pristine German Lutheran congregation
whose building was built in 1847. It was just up the hill from the Kreschatyk
Street McDonalds (AKA The American Embassy), near the Presidential Palace and
Residence. Somehow, in all my trips here I had missed seeing this. We were
blessed that the pastor, a German man named Ralf was there to talk to us, and
we shared some of our ideas with him. The conversation took place
simultaneously in English, German and Russian, in which all three of us
participated in pieces of each language. I wish I had a videotape of it. It was
fascinating, but also tremendously exciting to imagine what could be.
Following some time taking photos of the
Palace and Residence with it’s quirky rooftop gargoyles and chimeras and interesting
architecture, the three of us then actually visited “The American Embassy” on
Kreschatyk Street for some A/C, WiFi, cold Coke, fries and ice cream cones!
The two Sashas continued on together for some
dad/son bonding time, and I ventured into the underground Globus Mall under
Independence Square for a little “retail therapy.” That was not very successful,
so I headed back to the church via the Metro (on which I feel like a pro now!)
with a bit more random shopping as I went. It’s great not to have any more deadlines!
Back at the church, I took another nap (that’s a theme and variations) and
about 7:30pm, Sasha picked me up to drive me out to Irpin for dinner at their
house. On our drive to Irpin, we picked up Nikolai, daughter Diana’s fiancé.
Then, we picked up daughter Alina from work. Then, we drove past the gleaming
new United States Embassy (and this time I don’t mean McDonalds) on Sikorsky
Street. It was cool, and impressive. I took photos of it. The American passport
in my pocket kind of glowed in the dark. I also felt just a twinge of
homesickness for the U.S. of A.!
Irpin has grown exponentially since I was
last there in 2009. The new 4-lane lighted highway, new homes and apartments,
stores and shops amazed me. When we were at the Baptist Union’s retreat center
back in 2007, it was still quite new and a bit rustic, a work in progress. Now,
the large new church is almost completed, another set of new dorms are nearly
finished, a new soccer field with artificial turf is in place, and new
landscaping and other additions have combined to make this a first-rate retreat
center. I hope we can do a summer music camp there sometime soon – maybe even
next summer!
Dinner at the Kreschuk home was delightful
and thoroughly Ukrainian. Sasha’s wife Ira is a great cook. The meal consisted
of breaded and fried chicken, boiled potatoes with dill, a vinegary salad of cucumbers,
tomatoes, peppers and dill (theme and variations), zucchini with mayonnaise,
garlic and dill (didn’t try it), corn on the cob, followed by hot tea and two
kinds of cakes, and fresh melon and peaches. Just another light dinner at 10:00
at night! Truly delicious.
Just after we finished dessert, I had opened
my computer to download some of Sasha’s pictures, and connect to his Wifi, when
Heidi’s name popped up on my Skype application, and there she and Emily were,
on my computer screen! (Sorry to miss you, Erika) What an amazing thing, that
our two families could be united instantaneously via my computer, when just a
few years ago, a phone line was so expensive that WiFi would not even have been
possible! And, now it is. I was able to introduce my family to the members of
the Kreschuk family who were there (Sofia and Vika are in Sweden at a music
camp) and also to give them a virtual tour of the Kreschuk home’s first floor.
This was followed by a mini recital of 4-year old EllaVera playing several notes
on her new 1/16 violin, and Sasha Jr. singing “Ode to Joy” in Ukrainian. Then,
the new kitten named “Notes” made her recital appearance by walking on the
piano keys (I was thinking The Monk and
His Cat by Samuel Barber). It was magic. Since it was quite late, I was
whisked back to the church (there was vitually no traffic at midnight) by Sasha
with Ira and the two young ones in the back seat. I fell into bed, happy,
exhausted, but filled with so many good things. Thank you
for refreshing me, dear Ukrainian friends. May God in return refresh you. Your
generosity Is deeply appreciated and I know it will be repaid by the Lord on my
behalf!
Proverbs 11:25
A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes
others will be refreshed.
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