From Friday to Wednesday

There are a few oddly-assorted pics at the bottom.  Also, earlier, I added a wedding picture to my last Thursday post.

We left Nikolaev at 6 and arrived at the airport in Odessa just before nine.  We had to stop along the way at an Azerbaijani gas station to get some coffee.  Andrii dropped us at the airport and Marisia, Joel and I went right to the coffee shop to get another coffee - a very bad coffee it turned out to be.  We visited for an hour until it was time to check in to the flight to Kiev.  An uneventful flight.   Marisia and I shared a cab from the airport since we live in the same neighborhood.  They dropped me on the corner and I walked to the apartment.  I puttered around, showered, changed and walked up to Glossary to see Jenia and have a meal.  When I told Jenia that there was nothing on the menu that appealed to me, he asked me what I would eat if I could have anything.   Half-jokingly, I replied "borsch".   He went and spoke to the chef and the chef said that if I had a few hours to hang out and wait, he would make me borsch.  I did and he did.  It was wonderful.

On Saturday, I knew that the opening ceremony for Kiev Pride would be held.  The location was still a secret.  I checked with Zoryan around noon and he had not heard the location yet, but he called me shortly after that to say he had the location of opening ceremony so we met near Red University and took a take to the southwestern edge of the city to a resort hotel.  The ceremony was supposed to begin at 1 but it really took until 2:30 to get people registered and gathered.  There were representatives from the Dutch, German, and Spanish Embassies.  I was quite disappointed that there was no official representation from the US Embassy.  Bishop Vladimir came in full clerical robes.  I was proud of him for that.

The whole thing was extremely poorly organized.  There were too many speeches.  The sound system was poor.  We were promised that we would be informed about the location of the Pride march on Sunday shortly before gathering time.

There were going to be workshops in late afternoon after a poetry reading.  I didn't want to stay and Zoryan agreed.  We decided to go in search of a late lunch which we did at a Georgian restaurant that had really good ethnic back ground music.  We stayed over lunch for a long time.  We had eggplant roll-ups, filled with a ground walnut/cumin paste.  It was a very different taste and I liked it.  We then had a big plate of greens: green onions, cilantro sprigs, dill sprigs, tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet red pepper wedges.  We also had shaslik  which is shish-kebabs.  We got beef and pork.  The meat was wonderfully marinated and was served with a savory pomegranate syrup.  We topped the meal off with a cappuccino and took a taxi to my place where Zoryan dropped me off and went on to meet his boyfriend.  It was the largest meal I had eaten since arriving.

We had decided not to have liturgy on Sunday morning because we knew we had to be available to go to the Pride March when we got notice.  There were bands of homophobic bigots spread out all over the city keeping watch for us.  Notice went out that anything obviously "gay" should not be worn because of danger.  We were also advised to avoid the center of the city.  We heard that there were as many as 6000 well-organized homophobes just looking to cause violence and disrupt anything we wanted to do.  Ultimately, the march was canceled and three of the leaders were beaten, one badly.   As of today (Wednesday) he is fine, thank God.  There has been extensive press coverage all over the region and the European Parliament will certainly discuss the matter and issue a statement when they meet.  It's not necessarily a bad thing that we couldn't march.  And Kyiv is not generally a dangerous place at all.  Bigots are everywhere.

Around 17:00, Zoryan texted asking if I'd like to meet him and his boyfriend, Timur, in the center at McDonald's.   Of course I agreed.  We spent about an hour together.  This is the third boyfriend of Zoryan I have met.  I've liked them all.  He has really good taste in men.  I always wonder if "this" is the one he'll end up with.

Monday was a beautiful day.  It was about 80 with a soft cool breeze.  Kostya texted and asked if I'd like to spend some hours together.  We met and had coffee at an outside restaurant and ultimately walked to a local Ukrainian fast food place called Puzata Khata (which doesn't translate well but I would translate it "Comfort Food")  They have just about all the typical home cooking one could want, obviously not as good as home made but great for people who want to have home cooking fast and cheap.   I had compote which is really the liquid left behind when you boil fruit, red borsch, and two kinds of varenyky, potato and cabbage.  It was exactly what I wanted.  We then walked up to a park near a theater and sat enjoying the temperature and the breeze.

I took a down day on Tuesday.  I lazed around, didn't shower, didn't go out and just read books.  It was great.  I'm a the end of my clean clothes.  The washer broke down on Sunday and the repairman didn't come until today.  Fortunately it was a simple repair - it needed a new belt.  I will do a load of wash right now and at 17:30 or 18:00 will meet my friend, Sergei.  I haven't seen him since I arrived.  Actually I was supposed to meet with a different Sergei but that will have to wait.

My time is going too darned fast.  Why, oh why, did I schedule myself so poorly.  I will certainly not be ready to leave Kyiv on 5 June, although I will be happy to see friends in Bucharest for a week.  Here are a few pics:

Zoryan clowning around at the opening of Pride on Saturday:

Sheremet, after he was beaten and had pepper spray in his eyes on Sunday:

While violence was going on elsewhere, here are two people who look like statues dressed in traditional cossack costumes, except for the bronze paint!

Nikolaev - Thursday evening

As I write this it's already Monday morning and I have to catch up.  On Thursday at 18:00 we gathered in the small conference room.  On the table in front were colorful Ukrainian cloths, a huge fancy loaf of Easter bread at least 2 feet across and a carafe of wine.  We were going to celebrate a wedding of two women: Julia and Svitlana.  Edwin was in his full police uniform but Ellie was going to be delayed because she was being interviewed.  They were going to be honor guards for the couple.  We had 50 or 60 people in attendance.

I had sent the text of the ceremony to Andrii who would serve as my translator.  He and I have a really good working relationship and we can work together without being very formal.  I regret to say that I, as yet, have no pictures of the ceremony but I will post them when I get some. (EDITED Wedneday - here's a pic:)

It was a beautiful ceremony including the exchange of rings.  When it came time for the vows, Edwin stood beside the couple as a witness.  Did I mention a few times how hot he looked in his uniform?

After the wedding was finished.  I spoke to the gathered folks about church and about communion and told them that I understood that many of them were estranged from the church because of the church's institutionalized homophobia.  I explained what communion was, not the theology of it but rather the meaning of it.  I then asked them if they wanted me to celebrate communion with them.  They were kind of shocked to be asked.  A young red-haired woman with whom I had had a great conversation the night before stood and said clearly "yes, we want this."  There was general agreement that they wanted this.  When I issued the invitation to communion, I spoke of how Jesus and his friends used to eat a little bread and drink a little wine together because that's what friends do.  I invited them to eat a little bread and drink a little wine with me.  About a third came to receive communion.  I received after they did.  Imagine my shock when I drank the cup and found that it was not wine but grape juice.  The general joke of the evening was that I had performed a reverse miracle and change wine into grape juice.

After the ceremony, we signed certificates for the couple just married as well as for the two couples from last year.  Edwin and Ellie signed as “official” witnesses for all the certificates.  We then went back to the office for a little party for the international guests.  There were platters of various kinds of varenyky.  Awesome.  After we ate, we celebrated the 10 years together of Oleg and Andrii and again we signed a certificate for their renewal of vows.  I finally could take off my stole and be unofficial.
Friday morning, I got up at 5 and got ready to leave at six.  Marisia, Joel and I were driven to the airport (two hours by car) and then Marisia and I flew to Kiev while Joel waited for a much later flight to Brussels.

Nikolaev - Thursday middle of the day

When we returned to the conference hotel, Edwin and Ellie had to go their rooms to put on their full uniforms.  They are members of Pink and Blue, a police unit of gay and lesbian officers in Amsterdam who not only are on call 24/day for calls about "incidents" but also do training for new police officers and help officers who are investigating gay-related incidents.  They and some Ukrainian police officers were part of a round table discussion.  There was also a representative of the Ukrainian regional government.  We heard national and international reports on police mishandling of gay-related incidents and the abuse that gays have to endure often at the hands of the Ukrainian police.  The Ukrainian officers and officials were uncomfortable hearing the data and reports.  There were quite a few reports and fact and figures and charts.  It was academic and dry.  And then Ellie got up to report on the Netherlands and the development of the gay and lesbian unit Pink and Blue.  She was engaging and funny and beautiful in her uniform. the audience absolutely loved her and gave her the best applause so far.  She's a champion.  Edwin gave occasional facts and mostly looked very handsome in his uniform.  He's a great guy.  The two of them and their unit have done such an outstanding job in Amsterdam that their model will be used for national implementation in Amsterdam and they are beginning to be available for trainings internationally as well. Here's a picture of Edwin and Ellie in their uniforms - ooh la la:

After the presentation, it was mid-afternoon and they went off with the Ukrainian police to fraternize and view the police base.   Joel and I sat in the lobby to take advantage of internet access and then went to get something to eat at the hotel restaurant.  I had solyanka, a meat soup and mlintsi with apricot jam (mlintsi are crepes).  I had to leave to get ready for my part of the program which would start at 18:00.

Nikolaev - Thursday

After a short night's sleep, we met early to drive to the LIGA office (LIGA is a very successful LGBT advocacy group in Nikolaev - this was their 4th Pride and they are really good at it.  Their executive director, Oleg is a wonderfully funny guy.  I first met him in 2009 in Timisoara, Romania at a conference for activists.  He's the one who started calling me "Jimmi").  We waited until everyone was there and began walking towards our target site, a monument, where we would have a flashmob for IDAHO (international day against homophobia).  After a brief speech, white balloons were released and then we disbanded back to the office.  The balloons stayed clustered far far up into the sky.  It was beautiful.  The international observers sat apart from the activists to make sure there was no problem with authorities or anti-gay groups.  There was no problem.  Here are various Flashmob pictures:

These are some of the international observers.  from left to right Edwin, Dutch Police Officer, Marisia, 1st Secretary of Embassy of Netherlands, Yury, UNDP, Tim, Dutch documentarian 

Jochem, Tim and Nikolas, all Dutch.

The flashmob group walking towards our site:

Oleg, director of LIGA at monument

The flashmob group approaching the monument:

Getting the balloons ready.

The international observers from left to right: Joel, Edwin, Ellie, Marisia, Yury

The front side of Joel this time, Edwin and Ellie

the speech about combatting homophobia has begun:

Preparing to release the balloons.

I missed the balloons flying because I wanted a picture of Ellie taking a picture of the balloons flying.

And after the Flashmob, we went back to the office and then to the conference hotel.

like the butcher who backed into the meat grinder...

I got a little behind in my work.  Get it?

I'm sorry I'm days behind.  It's been intense and I didn't always have great internet in Nikolaev.  First of all, here's what I thought of this morning and acted on my thought:

On Wednesday, my driver picked me up at 06:20 to take me to the airport for an 08:25 flight to Odessa.  Andrii had come to meet me.  It was about 9:30 - short flight.  He told me we had to stay 4 hours at airport because three Dutch participants would come from Vienna and one French participant from Warsaw.  We had a good chance to visit and catch up on news.  Our colleagues all arrived on time.  Edwin and Ellie are from an elite police section called Pink and Blue from Amsterdam.  Of course they are police officers.  Jochim is a diplomat of sorts.  Joel is from ILGA-Europe and is Senior Policy and Programs Officer.  A very congenial group.  We had a nice time on the two hour drive to Nikolaev.  I was excited that I would see Ellie and Edwin in their Police uniforms!  maybe a small fetish...  The First Secretary of the Netherlands Embassy would arrive later from Moldova by train.

Opening ceremonies were in the evening at a nightclub upstairs in a private room.  Of course we had speeches and welcomes and we international observers had to sit in the front row.  I was sitting near Joel who's a really nice guy.  His face, in repose, always has a slight smile and he has a very welcoming manner.  Part of the entertainment was an entertainer.  I suppose he was a kind of drag queen but I really don't know what to call him.  In the course of the entertainment in which he boistrously sang Russian pop songs, he plopped himself in Joel's lap.  Joel was a good sport about it and I didn't envy him.   but shortly the performer decided that if one lap was good, two were better and plopped into my lap as well.  It was a really fun performance and really engaged the crowd.  Here he is.  Sorry for the quality, the lighting was odd.

We ate after that.  It was my first meal of the day at 9pm (21:00).  After eating there was dancing and we went back to the hotel about 10:30.  It was a really nice hotel but no elevator.  I was on the third floor.  It was a challenge every time although I'm starting to feel more strength and less ache in my legs.  In the course of this first day, Ellie and I became fast friends.  She is so awesome.  I will try to keep her.  I will pick this up later.

A very satisfying Sunday

It was downright chilly Sunday morning and I ran around closing windows when I woke up.  After a week of constant sleep, I decided that I needed to make a rising time and stick to it for the most part.  So I chose 07:00.  I got up and showered and picked up the house.  Bishop Vladimir arrived around 10:30 and we did preparation for liturgy.  Fr. Melkizedech came in followed by Boris and Ivan.  We expected others but they were no show.  That was fine.  Boris had made the bread for communion (prosphora).  I didn't bring an Orthodox stole but had my riasa, outer cassock which was made for me in 1967 to use in Baghdad.  It's still in perfect condition after all these years.  We celebrated Divine Liturgy together in a reverent yet relaxed way.  Volodya (nickname for Vladimir) gave a sermon on the scriptures which were the Samaritan woman at the well and Jesus walking on water.  I have several photos taken during and after the liturgy.  This is such a wonderfully comfortable group!  Melchizedek wanted to try on the rainbow stole so we all posed and laughed acted a bit silly.  I'm sorry some of the photos are out of focus but I think some of the fun shows through anyway.  After we broke our fast, Boris and Melkizedech decided to make borsch so Ivan and Boris went shopping.  They took over the kitchen and the smells of onion and garlic wafted through the house.  Finally it was done.  And it was worth the wait.  Home made borsch has to be one of the best foods ever.  Ivan had to make a market run because we realized we didn't have any of the essential ingredient smetana - sour cream for the soup.  I spent a quiet evening.  Volodya came back around 22:00 because he had forgotten his house keys.  I was up reading anyway so no problem.  I had hoped to get up to Glossary for a cappuccino but never made it.  I had borsch for breakfast and as a bedtime snack at midnight.  I've got about two servings left which I'll finish before I leave Wednesday to Nikolaev. 

Here are the pics:

Bishop Vladimir communion for the priests

Our dear Volodya does love to pose!

Melkizedech wanted to try the rainbow stole.

Some of the comments started getting funny right about here.

And then we lost control.  Melkizedech has a wonderful big laugh.

Some of the expression on Volodya's face are priceless.

Imagine this

Imagine walking down a wide boulevard.  The temperature is perfect at 78, the humidity is low, there's a soft breeze, the air is filled with sweet scents from the flowering trees and bushes, and it seems like a warm snowfall with the millions of fluffy cottonwood seeds blowing everywhere.  I can't imagine a more  beautiful early evening.

Today is the first day since Monday that I feel well.  The walk to Glossary was not an ordeal and it was a welcome walk stretching muscles with a sense of healing rather than pain and weakness.  I was not nearly as short-winded as even yesterday.  I've been careful not to overdo.  Kate texted this morning to see if I needed her to do any shopping for me.  Jenia texted from work to hope he'd see me today.  It's funny how some foods don't tire me, like the cabbage salad that everyone makes fun of me for.  We just don't have tender young cabbage at home as they do here.  Something smelled good so I asked what it was and found that it was the chicken meatballs in a spicy oniony garlicky tomato sauce served with steamed whole buckwheat grains.  Normally a cookie is served with cappuccino and a pot of turbinado sugar with cappuccino.  Early in the week, I asked Jenia to not bring sugar or cookies since I was trying to get my blood sugar down. Instead of bringing nothing, today he brought two perfectly ripe strawberries with my before-meal coffee and a slice of a kind of white melon I've never had before that tasted like honey with my after-meal coffee.

Friday night was a repeat of last Friday night.  Bishop Volodya, Fr. Melkizedech, Boris, Ivan, and Igor came over and hung out with me till 11:30 when, once again, they had to scurry for the last metro.  Lots of planning and laughter.  Melkizedech is a young priest (32 on Monday) who is very bright and very large and very jolly.  He has a great laugh.  While they were there, Volodya got a call from another priest friend in another part of county who is a Facebook friend.  He and I had a chance to hear each others' voices for the first time.  We decided that we will make a united religious presence in the Pride parade.  They are a little afraid, but I told them I will walk with them so they shouldn't be too afraid.  Hopefully we won't see stones or eggs thrown at us.

Early this afternoon, Volodya and Boris came to drop off the items we'll need for divine liturgy tomorrow which will be at my apartment at 11am.   It will be the first time I have liturgy with them as an Orthodox priest.  It is also the first time I will see several of my friends since I arrived.

It's been a good day.  For the next days I will walk more and more to build up my strength.  I will enjoy my friends and thank God for life and health and family.  Oh, here are some photos from today.

This is an adventitious chive.  Don't know how it got here but it's a survivor:

And here are the colorful buildings along my boulevard.  The yellow one is part of the library of the National University system and the red one is the Red University you saw in one of the photos I posted the other day.  The late afternoon sun makes the colors incredibly vibrant.

And finally the national opera house, also on my street.  I pass all these things daily on my walks.  I never get tired of their beauty.  There are always people, young and old, lined up to buy tickets or to attend a performance.