We Know We've Been Slacking

Yes, we know we’ve been slacking on our blog posts…but we’ve been busy busy busy!

Last weekend was a flurry of activity. On Friday night, the shorter (and better-looking) one of us went to the Virsky concert. Because his second-best friend didn’t join him, he shall now write a bit in the first-person narrative.

Andrijko: Virsky, as I expected, was magical. There’s just something about seeing top-level Ukrainian dancing in Ukraine that makes your heart glow. Most of the dances I didn’t recognize, so it was nice to see a different repertoire, rather than the same one I saw last year in Winnipeg. Except for the Russian dance and some random “Great Patriotic War” propaganda dance, I thoroughly enjoyed the show from start to finish. What I enjoyed just as much, or perhaps even more, was the live orchestra with three (count ‘em – THREE!) accordion players. I offered my services. No dice. Two random thoughts from the Virsky show:

-Ukrainian women are the most beautiful on the planet. You can take that one to the bank.

-Mikhas Chabluk—you are good enough to dance in Virsky. Zenon Ciz, you are not.

(Back to both of us writing…)

Saturday night, we went to Docker’s pub to watch the match and see Mad Heads, one of Ukraine’s most popular bands. There were about twenty-five of us - all CYMivtsi (from Canada, USA, and England). We even let some Plastuny join us as well. :) It was an entertaining and very high-energy show. Docker’s is a pretty small place, so the intimacy of the concert was what we really enjoyed. Mad Heads did two full sets of about an hour each, and we were right in the front row clapping, dancing, and drinking water. Best song of the night? П-п-п-Повний Aвтобус - Буратін! What the heck is an Avtobus Buratin? Anybody know?

Sunday was game day #3 for us. We had tickets to the Italy vs. England quarter-final. Lots of people we knew had tickets to the game, and we ourselves went with Roxy Luciw and Yuri “George Herbert Broadman” Broda. For the second time, we were in the very last row of the upper deck. Still decent seats though, and it’s better to be higher up to watch the beautiful game. Luckily, the penalty kicks that decided the winner were shot into the net on our side, so we had a perfect view. In front of us sat two men cheering for Italy, waving an English flag, wearing Ukraine jerseys, and speaking Russian. Globalization at its finest.

We also hit the beach a few times over the weekend. Good thing, because our friend Volodymyr told us that it’s a sin to come to Kyiv and not swim in the Dnipro. Nice sand, hot day, big group of Ukrainians from a few different countries. Perfect beach days! Sorry to all the locals that may have been struck by our Frisbee. Also, we don’t think people here know what Frisbees are. We already get weird looks for our accents and the way we dress, and now we get stares whilst tossing around a piece of plastic. “Silly diaspora Ukrainians,” the locals must be thinking.

Since then, we’ve had a full week of sightseeing and socializing, and watching the matches when they were on. Almost everybody we know who is in Ukraina has descended upon Kyiv. We’re usually in a big, fun, rowdy group of no less than twenty. Fun fun fun! Yesterday was Constitution Day in Ukraine (a national holiday), so we took in a concert at the fanzone with four of our favourite bands from Ukraine – Kozak System, T.i.K., Mad Heads, and Oleh Skrypka. The first three were great, but we were disappointed with Skrypka. We love VV (his band), so we expected to hear those hits. But, instead, he sang mostly in English, performing rockier versions of jazzy standards like “Fly me to the Moon.” Weird. He had a big-band type group backing him though, so that was neat. Andrijko spent the afternoon with the boys from Kozak System (formerly of Haydamaky), going to their sound check with them and then for drinks after their performance. No big deal. Andrijko also met a lady who was with them, who writes adult novels in Ukrainian. Yaryna Karpa is her name. Apparently she’s pretty famous! After the concert and game last night, we all went back to good old Art Club 44. That place never disappoints…we’ll leave it at that.

And that’s been our week! We’ll post some pictures with the next blog post. We have a lot to go through and choose from, many of which we’ll have to censor so our mamas don’t see them.

Elton John and Queen tomorrow…should be a heck of show!

Comment and let us know what’s going on in Canada :)

One last thing: today is game day in Canada. Go Bombers Go!