First Glimpses of Ukraine

After about 24 hours on the bus from Koeln, we halted at the Ukraine|Poland border.The bus driver matter-of-factly instructed us to give money to the heavy-set woman boarding our bus. He assured us that this would accelerate our progress through the checkpoint. Whether through bribes or prayers, we were through in 30 min.

Ukraine is like an impoverished woman bedecked with jewels. The first sign that we had left Poland behind was the jarring gait of the bus over long-neglected roads. The homes that I passed on the way into the country were run-down, with crumbling brick work and outhouses. The front yards, however, were filled with colorful blooms and the house walls are painted in bright cheerful colors. Just past a soviet-era memorial with strident looking young comrades dashing off to work, was a cemetery with blue painted crosses sprouting up like poppies. A horse drawn wagon crested over a hill. The only motorized vehicles to be seen were farm equipment and the occasional semi-trailer or bus.

Hours later, I finally reached Kiev. A couple I know through my church hadn't arrived yet, which gave me the opportunity to chat with a girl waiting for her bus back to Germany. She sat on a bench eating pieces of what appeared to several small dried fish. She turned and dropped a flesh covered bone into her purse. Intrigued, I began to stare as inconspicuously as possible. Seeing me, she invited me to look inside. I was surprised to see a cat with her newborn kittens.