So the lessons are over, we arrived at our last lunch by school. Our teacher amost cried her goodbye's and hopes to see us here again. Loads of pictures taken, and as a great finale of our school life here Håkan managed to get the lunch waiter (see previously posted picture) to try Swedish snuff. "Krepkij", he said.
The day we arrived several days of rain seased. Today it reappeared, with unseen intensity.
Somwhow we managed: beautiful sushi without shrimp. Maybe sushi tastes better at home anyway. :-)
We've been upgraded. Today the lunch restaurant invited u to sit in one of the tents with more luxorius chairs and benches.
Our teachers - both very skilled and they really love their work. Closest to the camera is the teacher of our group, Irina, honestly one of the best teachers I've ever had.
Altough you can look around without seeing cranes breaking up the city skyline, there is enough building projects going on to give the impression of a fast growing local economy.
Most of the new buildings seem to be of very different and much higher standard compared to the older buildings, which frequently look more like urban russian buildings, subject to traditional lack of maintainence.
The weather is really really hot today, but that apparently doesn't prevent tourists to do their favorite thing: dress up in various costumes and be photographed in tsar-like or mad-biker costumes and settings. Thease photostudious account for as much of the harbour business as the souvenir shops. Weird!
This molodoj tjelovek (young man) always lets us know our particular salad of choice is temporarily out, but he happily recommends the stolitjnaja salad - which just happends to be the most expensive salad on the menu. :-)
This must be the first time in my life I'm in a study group so eager that we by routine arrive at school 15-20 minutes before class.
"If you choose to park in a junction, always make sure other cars are able to pass"
Hardly surprising the water is warm and pleasant. Today we skipped the trip to hotel Jalta and took a bath by the harbour. The obvious flip side is less transport, but on the downside we find less good water. I suspect the bars by the beach use it as outlet for their wastewater..
Today I touched watermelons. I'm sure you people back home and some of the people at Laurids bojsensv realise why it's worth mentioning.
We found some chairs in the sun by this beach close to the town centre and started doing our homework. The hottest day so far - cant really say work is awfully concentrated. :-)
After a day at school with dative and travel verbs echat/ezzjat, we're having lunch at the usual.
If the swedish governemnts "Institute for the Peoples heath"* like the Russia dept of justice had their own troops I'd be on their hitlist by now. Au contraire to all tourist advice I had the local fast food speciality: chicken kebab. For the sake of my mothers peace of mind I spare you the details of the cooking.
How did it taste? Not much. Not much at all actually. But now you'll have a cliffhanger following my health the next few days.
Dima and Jarina. Jarina is swedish speaking and most helpful when it comes to the Jalta nightlife.
Yesterday I borrowed a kodka (washing basin) from babysjka. This morning my t-shirts smelled wonderful after outdoor drying. There's excellent service at the doormatory!
Just an hour after the previous pic and darkness is falling already. We just had dinner in the tourist intense area by the harbour. As usual in this area the payment part of the dinner offers a few surprises. According to the check I have eaten 1.5 main course which explains the generous serving, but also adds an unexpexted 20 grivn to the check - an entire meal at the equally good restaurant. We agreed we have to stop beeing robbed down here and eat elsewhere in the future. ;-)
As you noticed on the flow of postings, today has been a full day excursion. We've seen the southern coast of Crimea, from Yalta to Sevastopol, and then the tartar village of Bakhchysaray.We are now on our way home and just passing Simferopol.
On our way to Sevastopol we passed the Gorbatjev summerhouse (hidden for tourists) and we also stopped by the absolutely fascinating artwork "The defence of Sevastopol 1854-1855" by Franz Alekseevich Roubaud. The combined three dimensional painting and model constitutes an absolutely fascinating panoramic view of the batlefield of the first day of this long battle.
This entire area is of course a mecka for war historians, and as we went on to see Sevastopol and its harbour it was easy to imagine the strategic possibilities of capturing this harbour with it's belonging fleet. Around Sevastopol are great mountains combined with wide open landscapes, a terrain built for bloodshed and heroic victories.
Apart from the violent history of the area it is also culturally and religiously interesting and should be a relevant example in xurrent swedish debate. Christians and muslims are living together in (at least seemingly) peaceful coexistance. This is more than just religion, the russians and the tartars are clearly two different peoples with different culture and traditions, but at the moment thease two groups, of christians and muslims respectivily, manage to handle their differencies in parliament. When I say peaceful, I should however remind the reader that historically it has not always been this way. In fact, the question of Crimeas bonds to Russia is open to public debate and we have spoken to Ukrainians here who feel quite strongly about the issue in different ways.
Anyway, after the warsights in Sevastopol we went to Bakhchysaray to visit the palace if the Khan.This wouldn't have been half as interesting without fresh memories of chineese architechture. I'd describe it as a miniature version of the forbidden city in Being, but with arabic scriptures on the walls and with minaretes and a small mosque integrated into the buildings.
And - to perfect this day of many cultures and moods - we saw the Uspensy monastry - a russian orthodox church which has climbed far up the hills. So did we, and made it just in time for service. We stayed for a few minutes, but I can guaratee I understood nothing of the ceremony apart from the fact that there was a lot of reading of the scriptures going on.
After this final attraction of the day, the afternoon was concluded by a tartar dinner (cheese-pie, or omelet) and (just now) a short walk in Sinferopol. I am sure the lot of us will sleep tight tonight.
This little fellow came up to me on the hill of the Uspensky Monastary. It was quite windy and the kitten sat down between me feet to find shelter. It liked being scratched the wrong way (like Walter), and had I lived here I am sure I'd brought this orphan home.
(Yes - I lnow you are not supposedto scratch unknown cats, let alone bringing them home, but I am a grow up with licence to bend my rules. :-))
Unfortunately (:-)), due to brilliant weather with loads of sun, mobile camera conditions are poor.
By the scene of the battle of the. white brigade we came across a collectuon of Ww2 tanks and guns. Here is the T-34. I know one of you will be inerested so I shot loads of other pictures of tanks and artillery too.
Aparently Upplandslokatrafik are offering an extended service no. 700 to Sevastopol. Get on the bus and join me here Uppsalabor!
Arrived at Sevastopol harbour. Russians are still quite present here. If you are interested in military history you should probably plan a few days stop in Sevastopol. :-)
Now passing the fields of the Crimean battle on our way south to Sevastopol. Here's where the germans of stripped of lives and resources on their way to the defeat in Stalingrad, all according to our guide. I'm sure the gothenburgian footballer will add a comment explaining the essentials of Sevastopol and southern Crimea during WW2?
Today we had falukorv and a special kkind of crop they eat here a lot. I think it's wheat and that it is typically Ukrainian, but that's all hearsay from fellow Swedish students Jan and Johan. They serve it warm and soft, seemingly without fat, so I guess it's boiled.
Surrounded by helpful people this pic from earlier today is as much an illustration as a funny sign. Right now I am eating in a restaurant where the waiter, who speaks no english, happily provides me with russian words explained by gestures.
This afternoon Ive been managing on my own, since I cancelled trying wine in Massandra because of my cold. Everywhere I meet smiles and helpful attitude. I don't mean to be rude to russians other people, but Jalta is by no means eastern europe as I know it. Is it because it's Ukraine? Because it's Krim? Because it is a city built on tourism? You tell me!
Weekdays and weekends are alike in the tourist week of Jalta according to our guide Jarina. Here at least is the city of Jalta by six today, as shops were closing and in the harbour, where this pic is from, nightlife is preparing to wake up. Weather is, as you can see, otjlitjnij - excellent.
This trip delivers more than it's required share of pleasure so far! The climate is just wonderful, the scenery is great, people are nice and food is good and avaliable at reasonable rates. Standard is overall good despite the short anekdotes I tell you about our living here at sovietnij dom. (Did l mention my bed is killing me? Different story.)
Anyway - with the language too I'm ready seing progress. It is really true that "living the language" is a great method. There's no room for being cowardish - and except for excellent teatchings at school reality keeps playing it's tricks on us: How do I by shampoo and nostril spray? Where can I get hot water? What's the woman telling us when we lost our guide in the crowd?
And obviously we are making some progress. Today at the tartar market I told a salesperson "Ne panimaio - ja ne govorjy po russkij" in quite high pace (I dont understand - I don't speak russian). The man looked slightly confused for a few moments while I speeded on along the street.Then I heard him calling behind me, still in russian, "You do. You do. Mister!"
So I guess he's right then? I do?
This afternoon we have seen everything from churchills bedroom in the palace of the Jalta conference to this beatiful viiew of the southern coast of Cromea seen from the top of the mountains. Weather is on top (it's hot!) and the sights are beautiful!
We get good food at the soviet style student home. This morning - sausage, rice, bread and tea with loooads of sugar. Now it's time for class. This is day number three and this morning I managed to communicate with the housekeeper. "Is there hot water in the shower today?" This apparently turned out good enough to make babysjka decide that I now spoke russian, and she rewarded me with 10 long sentences in russian. Unfortunately the reward didn't include hot water.
It appears our school isn't quite the university, but the elementary school pictured above. We're all in all 5 swedish guys being the students. (Iventus also hsots 9 other people. "The tourists.")
I'm glad to be on the right side of that line. It's worse at school. We are three in my group, we're the B-group. On the other hand we have a great, nice teacher. She works at the university and seems to be genuinely interested in teaching.
Anyhow, next lesson is tomorrow - right now we're having a beer before the beach.
Finest quality of spare parts - this is the bottom screw of our doorknob in the student home. This is a bit like timetravel - there are two women with huge fake blonde haircuts watching the entrance and wanting to keep our keys. When our guide saw the bathrooms he said - 'ooo! Eto sovjetskij tyalet.'
It is the east. l'm not complaining, I am just letting you know.
The luggage system isn't quite uorking so a group of 50 americans got their luggage piled up on trollies
Finally I am by the gate. Four passport checks, the most serious one by police after the transit area. Not anyone is allowed to leave the EU?
So long!
Never would've thought Aerosvit to have the longest que except for the Americas!
One of the questions my mother often asks me when travelling is the question "What does the money look like?". Rather than being a sign of greed (she is the least greedy person I know) I believe this to be an expression of a pecuilar interest in cash, that is, the physical representation of money.
Anyway, this time I can answer the question before I leave, since I just spread Гривень (Greeven) all over my kitchen table. I have some different versions but the ones on the pictures seem to be newest versions. (Or it is the fake? Brightly colored, the monopoly version??. Click on the picture for larger versios.
100 Ukrainian Hryvnia (UAH) = 151 Swedish Crona (SEK) = 16,4€. (All according to Oanda.com.)
I have always thought recieving tourists was the economic upside of tourism. Seing my own behaviour over the last few weeks, I tend to believe that the city that sends tourists away gets the big bucks. At least when it comes to pharmacies. Look at this drugstore robbery! And this is without counting what I spend on vaccines for hepatitis and colera.
On the other hand - who wants to buy sunscreen chemicals in the country that harbours Chernobyl?
The last supper before Ukraine (or the first restaurant supper during this vaccation, if you feel like being less dramatic) became a pizza and some red wine at rest. Primo by Odenplan. Did more shopping today, this time maybe the most important part: a neck pouch for ny passport, and a waterproof hardcased contaier which is able to carry a few bills, a key and (hopefully) a passport copy. Now I'm going home to find out how many suitcases I'll need to bring. :-)
Here are to pix from a warm and sunny Stockholm. The pic that looks like a stripe in the sky is actually a flag in absence.of every kind of breeze!
Here is an ugly pic of my tv screen - this post was done 100 percent by phone!
Edit:The solution is Flickr and it's e-mail posting features.
