Izmayil
Trip number three is now complete. And it was another great experience. There were a lot of highlights for this one as well, which mostly was just an opportunity to hang out with some great people and see another area where other volunteers live.
This couple lives so far to the south and west that on the marshrutka ride there from Odessa we passed through Moldova. For all of five minutes. I was excited none the less.
Arriving we got a tour of the town before heading down to business. There was tons of excellent food and good conversations. The next day in the evening we headed over to the Danube for a swim and a shashlik, which unfortunately was rained out. We walked back in the pouring rain, getting soaked, even me with my umbrella.
The next day we again went to the beach (after I had to buy a swimsuit for the occasion--not fun), swam, and got rained out again. There then was a great big dinner for all their guests and the food was terrific. We then left for Odessa, which ended up being both good and bad. The trip was fun, because we were all together, but it was long, hot, and the train stopped every 10 minutes for about 10 minutes. It was a pain. After arrival, one of the party got his wallet stolen (and a split lip) while boarding a marshrutka. It's a common trap for theives here to work in groups of 3--2 people close a person in, while the other steals your valuables. Luckily they only took money and dropped the wallet. After figuring out what to do after that, we eventually ended up back on the beach, this time in Odessa, by the beautiful Black Sea. The sea was warm and salty (and muddy at the bottom?) but as close to the Atlantic as I'll get here.
In addition to that, I had a monkey crawl all over me and made it home safe and sound, trying to understand the "Da Vinci Code" in Russian, which was being played in the fancy marshrutka. The other good thing is that I'll see most of the folks in just a few days for the language refresher and I got to take more pictures of Odessa!
*Oh- we decided to go to Odessa instead of the Ukrainian Venice due to monetary issues. Going there would have cost 80 greevin, or about $16, per person, which is a bit steep for most volunteers. Perhaps another time later this summer or next though, as options can be looked into.
This couple lives so far to the south and west that on the marshrutka ride there from Odessa we passed through Moldova. For all of five minutes. I was excited none the less.
Arriving we got a tour of the town before heading down to business. There was tons of excellent food and good conversations. The next day in the evening we headed over to the Danube for a swim and a shashlik, which unfortunately was rained out. We walked back in the pouring rain, getting soaked, even me with my umbrella.
The next day we again went to the beach (after I had to buy a swimsuit for the occasion--not fun), swam, and got rained out again. There then was a great big dinner for all their guests and the food was terrific. We then left for Odessa, which ended up being both good and bad. The trip was fun, because we were all together, but it was long, hot, and the train stopped every 10 minutes for about 10 minutes. It was a pain. After arrival, one of the party got his wallet stolen (and a split lip) while boarding a marshrutka. It's a common trap for theives here to work in groups of 3--2 people close a person in, while the other steals your valuables. Luckily they only took money and dropped the wallet. After figuring out what to do after that, we eventually ended up back on the beach, this time in Odessa, by the beautiful Black Sea. The sea was warm and salty (and muddy at the bottom?) but as close to the Atlantic as I'll get here.
In addition to that, I had a monkey crawl all over me and made it home safe and sound, trying to understand the "Da Vinci Code" in Russian, which was being played in the fancy marshrutka. The other good thing is that I'll see most of the folks in just a few days for the language refresher and I got to take more pictures of Odessa!
*Oh- we decided to go to Odessa instead of the Ukrainian Venice due to monetary issues. Going there would have cost 80 greevin, or about $16, per person, which is a bit steep for most volunteers. Perhaps another time later this summer or next though, as options can be looked into.
posted by Molly | 3:18 AM
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