FROM KIEV, UKRAINE

Click on the image below to see a detailed Ukraine region map

Ukraine Facing Globalization's Allure and Consequences  

KIEV, Nov 30, 2006 - It's been a while since I was in a real third world country. So going through my initial experiences in Ukraine was a bit of a culture shock.  You forget what it's like.  My Russian hosts did not prepare me for this.  I was thrown off balance for a while until my "old brain" kicked in.  It has had lots of such sweetly painful memories during my travels through the Balkan war zones, for example, in the 1990s.  Suddenly, "all troubles melted like lemon drops," as in "Over the Rainbow."  All it took was lowering one's expectations.

Take a look at the "best hotel in town," for example.  It sure doesn't look like any Grand Hyatt or a Ritz Carlton, does it?  "No problem," my "old third world brain" shrugged.

That the hotel clerk at the "best hotel in town" said "no way," once she saw my American Express credit card, suddenly seemed quite understandable.  The fact that neither my Mastercard nor Visa worked at the hotel credit card machine, either, was equally predictable.  As for the hotel ATM, some of the places I have been in third world countries would have been happy to have had a working bank, let alone a non-working ATM (at least not with my credit cards).  

The hotel clerk wanted all of the room rate money (in cash) in advance.  And then also asked for the money for incidentals "because it's the end of the month."  Why not?  They could have also asked for a surcharge because it is Thursday.  But didn't.  Lucky me. 

In my "typical American" frame of mind, I would have gotten angry at such ridiculous business practices.  But my "old third world brain" shrugged and laughed.   In these circumstances, you always look for a silver lining and try to find humor in the most ridiculous of situations.  And such an environment usually provides ample opportunities for it.

This morning, for example, I took a call from the hotel receptionist.  "There are two girls for you here in the lobby."

"Hm..." I wondered.  "Who could that be?"  Figuring they were probably some people from my host company, I replied, "okay, I'll be right there."  

Along the way, I did think it was kind of strange that my host company staff would not have called first to let me know they are sending someone to see me.  "Whatever," I figured.  "I'll find out in a minute."  Nothing should be too surprising in third world settings.

Once in the lobby, I spotted two young, pretty women sitting on a sofa.  One blonde; one brunette.  Since they were the only ones there, I easily surmised those had to be my "two girls."

"Hello, I am Bob Djurdjevic," I said with a friendly smile.

"Hello," the brunette replied with an equally friendly smile.

We shook hands.

"So who are you?" I said.  "What can I do for you?"

"We are here to give you a massage?"

"What," I said, this time really stunned.  "A massage?"

I looked toward the receptionist who I suspected had called me.  "Were you the one who called me a minute ago?"

"Yes, Sir.  I am sorry.  It was a mistake."

"Sorry," I also said smiling at the two girls.  "Wish I had time for a massage.  But I have some meetings to go to.  Good luck!"

They smiled back.  

Instead of being embarrassed, which would have been a likely reaction in similar circumstances in the U.S., all of us highly amused and humored by a Mollieresque twist of mistaken identity.

As is so often the case in third world countries, what they lack in technology, they more than make up in sweetness.  Nearly all Ukrainian people I have met so far are just wonderful.  

Since I did have some time before my first meetings, I took myself for a walking tour of the city.  Feel free to join me, if you wish...

The city center of Kiev is quite hilly.  And my hotel is quite close to the top of the hill.  Right around the corner from it, I encountered this vista, with a mini "St. Louis" arch in the distance.  I have no idea what this modern contraption was doing amid mostly older buildings.  The one on the right, for example, was the home of the Kiev Philharmonic.

As I walked toward where I was told was the city center, most of the buildings looked pretty drab.  But every once in a while, you see a cute one.  Like this one with a pink facade, for example.

My first reaction to taking in this view of the portion of the city center was, "oh, my God, how gaudy!"  McDonald's arches on communist-style buildings.

Here's the view of the other end of the main city square.  Same story, sans the arches.

Coming closer to the other end, one could see a mixture of old, communist, and contemporary architectures.  "Yuk, how eclectic," I thought. 

A close up of this detail confirmed the same mixtures of old, communist and contemporary.  The tall building in the background is Hotel Ukraine, a foreboding Soviet-style hotel.  I had already learned that there are no American-style hotels in Kiev, so this came as no surprise to me.

And now, a view from this end of the main square to the opposite end where I had entered it.  Not a bad size square for a city of three million, I thought.

A close up of another communist-style building in the area.  I learned later on that most of them were built right after WW II.  The city center was almost completely destroyed in the fighting between the German and the Red Army.  So they had to start from scratch.  And this is what they scratched out.

I watched the faces and fashions of the people of Kiev.  The former (faces) were mostly earthy, peasant-like, such as with these two women, for example.  As for the latter (fashions), well, the pictures are worth a thousand words.

I noticed in the distance some gleaming golden church steeples, so I walked toward them to see what that's about.  I figured there had to have been something left from the old Kiev.  After all, until about 860 years ago, this was the capital of Russia (before it was moved to Moscow).

The steep climb was worth it.  For, ahead lay a whole new city square; much bigger...

... and prettier than the communist version I had left behind.

At one end was this pretty St. Sophia monastery.

As I walked around its grounds, I came across this monument dating back to 1039.  "Aha.  Now that's old," I said to myself.

I then took a few more shots of St. Sophia from inside the monastery.

I remembered from my visits to Sergeyev Possad (the former Russian patriarchate seat) that the visibility in winder months is better because there are no leaves to obstruct the view.

As walked on toward the other end of the old city square, I saw that "Yanks are coming."  

A brand new big modern Grand Hyatt was evidently close to being completed, right next to some pretty old buildings.  I am pretty sure that the Hyatt won't have the problem of accepting American Express or any other credit cards.  So my little "best hotel in town" will have to look for greener pastures, or at least lower its rates compared to new "king of the hill."  Enter globalization.

It is more than a little ironic that globalization is being ushered into the third world by old Soviet trucks, such as this one exiting the Grand Hyatt construction site, just as I was walking by.

Another reminder of the Soviet era walked by me.  Even in Russia you rarely see anymore those huge Soviet-style officer caps.  But a young man walking by in this new western conquest in Eastern Europe was wearing one as big as they come.  

Looming in the distance, were onion domes of some more pretty churches.  I hurried toward them.

This a large square in front of St. Michael's cathedral, which is also the seat of the Kiev Patriarchate.  I asked a young man what all those candles (on the ground) were about.  He said it was to commemorate the victims of communist pogroms in the 1930s.

Indeed, to one side of the St. Michael's entrance, one can see this shrine to them, "so we don't forget."  The story on the wall that those people are reading talks about a genocide by famine in the 1932-1933, orchestrated by the Soviet authorities, in which millions of people died.  The map of Ukraine at the top of this report also comes from that wall.

One cannot help but feel the outrage toward such acts of inhumanity.  Yet something I learned later on today gave me a pause.  The population of Ukraine today is 46 million.  About 10 years ago, it was 52 million.  What happened to the seven million?  

"Life is hard," a young professional woman explained.  "It's expensive to have kids.  Many people cannot afford them.  And more and more women want to have professional careers."

So communist famine extinguished two-to-three million lives.  Globalism and modernism prevented seven million+ from being born.  The former is considered genocide and a crime against humanity.  The latter is a form of "population control" in third world countries that some think is progressive.  "Is it?" I wondered.  The question would make for an interesting debate in a social sciences or legal course.

The above photo is an aerial view of St. Michael's Patriarchate campus.

And this is the view of the church from inside the compound.  Whatever the outcome of a  debate on communist vs. globalist forms of genocide, there is no doubt about the artistic beauty of ancient structures like this one.

As I left St. Michael's and headed back to my hotel, I took in this view of the old city square from the opposite direction, with the St. Sophia cathedral in the distant background.

And that's all she wrote from Kiev.

CLICK HERE to go to Kiev, Part 2

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