Another Long-Awaited Update!

(The following post was written many days ago, we just never got around to posting it. Sorry folks. Enjoy!)

We bid goodbye to the capital city Monday, July 2, the day after the EURO 2012 final where Spain pummeled Italy and beat them 4-0.

Saturday night, June 30, Elton John and Queen (with Adam Lambert of American Idol fame) took the stage at the fan zone for an anti-AIDS concert, and what a show it was! From the rock-cello opening, to Sir Elton setting those piano keys on fire, to the final too-high-for-human-ears note from Adam Lambert, the crowd thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Though many of these people don’t speak much English, they still know the words to many songs…think, “Vee are zee champions, my friennnndd…” etc. Andrijko used a certain piece of false identification to get past three rows of militisya to sneak into the premium zone for the concert. Oops. We thought the concert would be maybe two hours long, but it lasted closer to four, as each artist played their own full concert, and sobering AIDS awareness videos played before each part of the show. Well done, UEFA!

Best song of the night came from Sir Elton. (to the tune of Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”), “Зупинимо Cнід Разом!”

As you all might have expected, the day of the final was pretty crazy in the city. Everyone came out for the whole day to take in all the festivities one final time. Spanish fans were ubiquitous, but Italian fans…not so much. Though we saw countless people from Spain who came out to support their squad, it seems that only local Ukrainians who own something made by Dolce and Gabbana were supporting the Italians. We ended up watching the final in the basement of a small sports pub on Tarasa Shevchenka. The ten or so guys that gathered together to watch destroyed gallons of beer and a few meat platters. It was a nice change from the 100,000 + people in the fan zone. The bar was packed and all the locals were really into the game, so that added to our fun. With the final whistle, EURO 2012 came to a close, and a brilliant firework display illuminated Kreshchatyk before everybody went off into the night for one final party.

We ourselves ended up at Vodka Bar…after Zenon led us to a night club that no longer existed. Vodka Bar makes us hurt. We blame Eddie and the endless bottles. Just kidding Eddie, you ‘da man!

And that was it for Kyiv! After a sad goodbye with Baba Vera, we took the fast train to Lviv on Monday evening. It felt more like we were escaping Kyiv rather than simply leaving it. We left a few pounds heavier and a few dollars poorer (or many dollars poorer, either way), but we made countless memories with the best people in the world, which will stick with us for the rest of our lives.

And after all that action, football, sightseeing, touring, socializing, drinking, partying, dancing, participating, cheering, laughing, smiling, eating, and living to the max in Kyiv, that’s only month one of our journey. Two more months to go!

From the second we stepped off the train in Lviv, we sensed we were in a place much, much different from Kyiv. We already knew this, as do many of you, but we suppose that EURO amplified everything about Kyiv, to the extent that it makes us appreciate Lviv that much more. We noticed everyone at the train station speaking Ukrainian...finally. No more Russian. No more Surzhyk. No more funny looks from people when we speak Ukrainian.

Our apartment in Lviv is massive! We have two huge rooms (living room and bedroom), a nice long hallway, a big kitchen, clean bathroom, and two balconies. There is even a vanity in the bedroom where Zenon does his makeup. We have internet via Ethernet cable. We also have a TV whose volume doesn’t work and whose picture is an hourglass shape, and a fridge that leaks. We have two “fridge towels” which we change every day or two. The hot water is spotty at best…which isn’t TOO bad because every day it’s over 35 C. But its home!

We’ve taken full advantage of the kitchen, enjoying some nice homemade meals of Kraft Dinner and sandwiches. We have also attempted to do laundry. Why “attempted”? Well…

First of all, our washing machine is completely in Italian. We like to think we’re pretty smart guys, but one of the areas in which our knowledge is severely lacking is Italian. We figured it couldn’t be too difficult…just put in the clothes, put in some detergent, turn it on, and away you go! Well, all of that was true….but we didn’t realize that you have to manually drain the water out when it’s finished. When we opened up the washer, all the soapy water began to spill out. Eventually, we found the water-draining button, but before that we thought it would just be wise to open the door ever-so-slowly, and hold a bucket underneath to try and catch the water, while using a plastic bag to channel the water into said bucket. Geniuses.

Also, remember how we don’t have much hot water? Well, when trying to get the water heater going, we managed to turn on every single radiator in the apartment so that they were all incredibly hot…meanwhile it’s 35 Celsius outside and, even without radiators spewing heat, we are in a perma-sweat state in this joint. Again—geniuses.

Sweating and lack of housekeeping ability aside, it’s been a busy week for us here in Lviv. On day one, we climbed Vysokyj Zamok, and went to the Lviv history museum where there is a display about CYM. Cool! The museum attendant stuck out her hand, indicating that she wanted to see our entry tickets. Andrijko gave her a high-five instead. She was not impressed.

On day two, Wednesday, the Dackos came to visit us. We went to the Pharmacy museum, a Harry-Potter-themed restaurant, took a bus tour, went to Kryivka, did some shopping, and ended up at Metro Night Club, a favourite of those who were here a year ago.

On Thursday, we went to the AquaPark, an indoor waterpark filled with waterslides, a lazy river, and something called a “foot peeler.” We have no idea what a foot peeler is, but it’s basically a small wading pool where you stand on rocks. Thrilling. The water slides, however, were the scariest we have ever been on in our entire lives. One slide is basically a giant half-pipe, were you swear you’re going to fall off the side at any given moment. Another is a giant inverse cone, which spins you around and around until you fall out the bottom. There is a rock-climbing wall in the pool as well. The top is about ten feet above the water, and the water below it, if you fall off or jump off, is at a whopping depth of four feet. Here’s one for safety!

And since then it’s been much the same….sightseeing, Kryivka, some shopping, etc. The rest of the Ciz family has arrived, so we are now one happy family! This week is “family week,” with each of us visiting our respective families for a few days. We’re both sure to experience some separation anxiety, as we have not been more than 50 feet apart for the better part of the last six weeks.

That’s all for now, folks! Wish us well as we continue on with part two of our journey. We’re off soon to the rest of Europe, starting with Italy on Saturday!

Comment and leave us some love!