In and Around the Lake

     There was also lots of sky. Unfortunately no mountains. Wait, you might say. What are you talking about, Brian? First, I'm referencing this song. But I'm also using that weirdness as a stepping off point to talk about my Saturday. The Saturday of "rest."

     After five days of double-lessons, heat and kid craziness, the plan was for us to have a relaxing day in a village not to far from Oleksandriya. The pastor's father-in-law lives there. What I thought would be a relaxing day away from the city turned into a day away from the city. I've had to postpone my relaxing until Monday.
     We went to a village named Protopopivka. It sits next to the Inhulets "river." The river is more like a sea of cattails in the middle of a shallow valley. At one time it may have looked like a real river. But those days are long in the past. Mostly it looks like a series of interconnected ponds. It has cut its own path deep rather than wide.

     The group finally arrived, by two taxis, around 1PM at the village. We basically had enough time to drop our things off in a safe place before starting the trek to the lake. I wore my swimming suit in the thought that I might swim. But by the time I arrived at the lake, I knew I would swim. It was only a few degrees cooler on Saturday than the days of the previous week. But the 40-minute walk meant that I needed the chance to cool off. It was a good walk though. I got to see a lot of Ukraine that I normally don't get to see. Houses, animals, nature, beautiful scenery. Similar what I'm seeing outside my window now (on the train back to Kiev), there really isn't enough of the natural world in my daily life.

     As an aside, I saw a real хата (hata). That's the name for a Ukrainian house with the thatched roof. Most houses in villages have moved to more modern roofing materials, usually a corrugated plastic or something similar.

     The lake is actually the leftovers from a pit mine. Years ago, it was a source of minerals (I don't remember what kind). In the time since then, it filled up with water and someone added sand in places to make it more comfortable to walk in. I found out while walking there that there is another smaller lake (a pond actually) which the locals like for the health benefits. There are hundreds of small fish that like to pick at your feet and legs when you stand still for long enough. If you've never done it before, it's a weird feeling. The best way I can describe it is as the equivalent of water-mosquitoes. They pick at your leg hairs (if you have them) and whatever dead skin is hanging off your extremities. They're only looking for anything loose that they can munch on. I don't understand why Grant Imahara from Mythbusters doesn't like it. It's not uncomfortable, just weird feeling. For the fowl-minded among you, think of when you feed chickens from your hand. That pecking feeling is a lot like what the fish are doing. Just on a smaller scale.

     The other part about the smaller lake that locals like is the "rah-DON." Or, as I figured out later, RADON! Yes, that radon. Obviously that meant we couldn't stay long there. I was told we only had about twenty minutes of safety. Never mind that people were camping out near the lakes for days. Never mind that other people were in the water for much longer than we were. Oh well, I survived a walk through the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The only effect I felt from the day at the lake was sunburn and not getting enough chance to sit and relax.
     But the time spent there was long enough to get some video of the fish and to have a few laughs at the feeling of their nibbling. In a surprising bit of irony, the tables were turned. I was the bait and the fish were going "humaning."

     The bigger lake was apparently safer. I spent most of my aquatic time there. I swam across it twice (out and back) and paddled around in a quieter area for a bit. I'll say now that since this is Europe. Therefore, I'll avoid too many photos with people in them. I don't want to insult my American reader's sensibilities. Also I don't want to share something that requires eye bleach. For those that don't understand, swimming fashion is very different here. To put it lightly, there is a lot less swimsuit material on a European beach than an American beach.

The teaching crew finally getting a chance to do something other than teaching.

     So despite the eye-assaulting images, I enjoyed it there. The water was the perfect temperature compared to the air. There was a great breeze. I only got a slight sunburn. I was glad to go.
     After another long walk, I thought then I could rest. But nope. Not a chance. There were three kids that I needed to play with. Three kids that in the course of the week seem to have formed an attachment to me. David, Tima and Vanya are the pastor's kids. David and Tima wanted to throw the frisbee and Vanya wanted to do anything he could get his hands on. Including getting in the middle of the frisbee toss saying "Мені! Мені!" (To me! To me!)
     Eventually, we sat down to eat dinner. In typical Ukrainian fashion, it was a tasty, well-supplied meal of shashlik, fresh veggies, potatoes, chicken legs and various other traditional food items. There was even home-made kvass!
     In the past weeks, I've really taken a liking to kvass. After a rocky start during the trip in 2014, I'm really liking it now. A friend recently reintroduced me to the "white" variety. During this past week, I bought at least three, one-liter bottles of it to have with my dinner. On Saturday, I got to have almost as much of it as I wanted. Then Sunday I had another half-liter cup of it during an afternoon walk with the pastor. The pastor's wife said something this week about me becoming a real Ukrainian man now that I drink it.
     After dinner, I still wanted to sit and relax. I did for a few minutes. But not before playing more frisbee with the kids. Eventually I tore myself away and sat down. We got the call to leave about ten minutes later. The last bus of the night was going to leave the village in about fifteen minutes. We made our quick goodbyes and started walking.
     It was an interesting ride back to Oleksandriya. The inter-town marshrutkas have the same driving style of most drivers here. Except they're driving a van which is often heavily loaded. I had to stand in a narrow aisle while the driver swerved around potholes, corners and other cars. I finally made it back to my hotel room around 22:00 and was in bed by midnight or so.
     So about that rest that I never really got to do. I started it on the train ride back to Kiev on Sunday night. About three and a half hours of sitting in a window seat went a good way toward starting my rest. Monday finished off the rest of the rest. Air conditioning and a playlist of Youtube videos were my main plan. And it was gooooooooood. I even got my stuff unpacked and washed up my gross, dirty clothes.
      Now I've got to start thinking about the coming week. It looks like my schedule will go back to normal. Look for my thoughts on the camp later in the week. I'm still thinking about that list. I'll save the Sunday rundown for then too. But I'll leave you with some more photos from Saturday.