Christmases

Christmases

We certainly had the most different Christmas we have ever had. Being an expat living in Kyiv we had two Christmases this year.  The school observed Christmas on the twenty-fifth of December but Ukraine follows the Julian calendar for Christmas and Easter, so there was then (for us) a second Christmas on the seventh of January.  The school had sixteen days of holiday in that period so we were on holiday for both Christmases. There are Christmas decorations and

Christmas carols (in English) in the stores just as at home except it goes on for longer. It was. Very unusual for us to hear 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' after New Year!

This is about two thirds of the way to the city centre from our flat. At the end of World War 11 ,
758 poplar trees were planted here in an avenue, one for each day of the occupation of Kyiv.
This is looking towards the city.

This is looking back towards our flat in the dim distance.  We have seen the poplars in summer it will be good to see them in the spring in a couple of months.

This is in the same area as the above two pictures.  One of the many churches in Kyiv. They are magnificent buildings.

So as far as the shops and local businesses were concerned the twenty-fifth of December was a regular working day.  Some churches had services in the evening of Christmas Eve but there were no services on Christmas Day. In the morning of Christmas Day we were on Skype with the family at home and that was very special. By the time we had had our little gift giving time it was not yet lunch time, so we went adventuring. A family from school had invited us for dinner on Boxing Day and we weren't sure how to get there so we decided to do a dry run.  There are many different forms of public transport here and that day we experienced a new one. There is the metro (underground), then there are regular trains, regular buses, marshrutkas (privately owned mini-buses), trolley buses, trams and fast trams. Well on Christmas Day we found we needed to use the fast trams. There is a stop about twelve minutes’ walk away.  At home, we may call them light rail.  They all have only two carriages. The way you pay is a little different.  You buy a ticket and that gives you half an hour travelling time.  So we bought two tickets each and went half an hour one way and half an hour. We found out when we came home that we had caught the wrong one for our Boxing Day trip but we then knew what to do differently the next day, so all was well. The day was still young so we decided that we would walk to the main area of the city.

The street we live on goes directly to the city centre, so all we had to was follow it. We are about six kilometres from the centre so we thought that wasn't too bad. Fortunately for us there was not a white Christmas so the footpaths were clear. If there had been ice we wouldn't have thought of it. It took us just over an hour to walk in. There was a craft shop in a large underground shopping mall that I had seen one day previously so we decided this may be an opportunity to look at it.  We found it very easily because we could see the domed roof of the mall.  So into the mall we went.  Bad idea.  We didn't come out the entrance we went in and when we came onto the surface again it was as if the Martians had come while we were down stairs and taken every landmark we knew away with them.  Nowhere could we see the domed roof any more.  Nowhere could we see the wide poplar-lined street we had followed to the city centre.  We wandered lonely as a cloud and eventually had to ask directions.  I thought it would somehow be very complicated because we had got so lost, but the man just said you go down there, we did, and there we were. We have had that happen to us before when we have come up out of the underground.  We retrace our steps, think about which direction we are facing etc, come up onto the surface - and we are lost. It is also hard at metro stations because there are numerous little stalls everywhere so it is hard to find landmarks.

This is within the inner barricade.  On the left is the stage from where the speeches etc are made.

My photographic skills leave something to be desired.  This is one of the outer barricades across the main street. It reminded me so much of a scene from the recent 'Les Miserables' film.

Anyway we found our way to the main street and decided to go to Maidan. This is where the main focus of the demonstrations are in Kyiv. At that time the demonstrators had occupied the Square (Maidan) for about a month. About four hundred metres from the square barricades have been built from earth, tyres, planks and anything else that came to hand.  They were about three metres high or a bit less. They are across the main street of Kyiv. Tents have been erected all down the centre of the main street until you reach the square itself. There, there were more barricades and a huge outdoor kitchen and a stage with sound equipment. People were very helpful and gave us some free tea. There were many people milling about and talking.  Everything was peaceful while we were there; it was like a huge school camp.  Nothing like it is now. We walked all around inside the barricaded area and listened to some of the live music that was being presented. We then went to MacDonalds for tea and afterwards walked home in the dark at four o'clock. Certainly a different Christmas Day!

This wasn't actually taken on Christmas Day but a very typical Sunday morning.  The church we were going to was about a ten to twelve minute walk from that point. You can tell it was a warmer day because I only have my light gloves and coat.  Our coldest day we have had was -22 which felt like -38.  Then we were really wrapped up!

Christmas Day mark two! This was a public holiday.  We went to a church service.  They had a special Christmas presentation. Usually they do a translation of the service into English but not that day so I just could watch and listen.  There was a lot of singing and they don't translate that at any time so that was no different. It was a very quiet day for us and it was also our last day of holidays. So with going to church and school the next day it felt like a Sunday.  This Christmas Day was a Tuesday so it meant we started back with a three day week so it was very nice to ease back into things. We enjoyed both our Christmases even though they were so different in themselves and so different from home. 

This was one of our colder days.  It is only after the photo is taken that you realise how you hunch up your shoulders and drop your chin to try and keep warm.  We live next door to the zoo so this bison is one of our near neighbours.

I only sat down long enough for the photo.  It was not the weather for idling away your afternoon on a park bench.

We have not seen any heavy snow.  The park was like this after a few days of almost constant light, small snow falling. The temperatures had been quite low before the snow fell so the ground was very cold and the snow didn't melt. After about half an hour outside it was time to warm up.