War in Ukraine

Kiev has always been a very special place for me. It was 3 A.M. the first time I walked its streets. Hubby and I pranced around, trying to hide from rain, spending our last money on Mcdonald’s…He was coming back from Budapest, educated, full of hopes. We were re-united after years of long-distance relationship. We were naïve and happy.

A month after I got married, I had to attend a TOT right outside Kiev. We had a spare day, we spent walking around Kiev, went to the Bulgakov Museum, stayed in a hotel right on Maidan…I went to St. Sophia’s church for the Easter service, along with a new Serbian friends. I bought a traditional wooden egg. I still display this egg for Easter. It is all red and flower-covered and very Ukrainian.

Some friends showed me around that time, they took me to a park that had over 2000 blooming lilac trees. It was May and spring just came to Kiev. Tbilisi was way ahead into summer. I lived 2 springs that year.

Oh, and that time when we were flying back to Budapest for hubby’s university reunion, we stopped in Kiev for a day and stayed with my college friend who was teaching Ukrainian kids at that time. We loved its streets, we loved its coffee shops, bakeries and sushi – all that seemed so luxurious, so coveted, so European.

And, there was this other time, when hubby had to go to Kiev for work (he does that regularly, he is in Kiev approximately once every 1.5 months) and I came along and it was fall and all was yellow and I met this cool girl on a plane and she walked me to the famous monastery with the famous mummified monks and took me out to eat and led me to a modern art museum…a complete stranger giving me a tour, spending whole day with me.

God, that time when we went to Thailand in February and on our way back, we stopped in Kiev and dared to go outside! Everything was frozen, cold, we just flew from tropics into an ice kingdom. The contrast was too much for our bodies so we hid in the mall most of the day, tanned and rested, on the brisk of returning to our regular lives.

And last time I was there, for a wedding of hubby’s friends, such a beautiful little wedding, outside Kiev, in a cute country-house hotel. We spent some time in the capital afterwards, visiting our favorite places.

I’ve been in Kiev at different time in my life; I’ve seen it try on all 4 seasons. I have always loved it when I was there and I have always resented it for taking my hubby away for several days at a time. And now, that wonderful girl whose wedding I attended, the one with big fluffy cat, she’s there, at the Maidan, and I am sure most of your Ukrainian friends are there too.  Brave people.

I love Kiev, my own personal Kiev. Can you imagine how much it means for her? To have 3 people killed, violence, practically being in a war over there! Still standing at Maidan?

There’s a protest rally today in front of the old parliament building in Tbilisi. Come join. We all have friends in Kiev. It won’t change anything, but neither will sitting home and reading news.