Let's Do the Metro: Kiev, Ukraine

Public transport has its own special romance. Something about the masses of strangers flung together for a moment. Something about the frenetic pace, the element of danger, the sights and sounds. I love the metro. I love it best when I've arrived at my destination safe and sound.

Care to join me on a recent trip? And there's a special treat at the end - the Sumptuous Moscow Metro. It was Stalin or maybe Kruzchev who said the metro is the palace of the people. See why in this great video at the very end.


A mother with children on a September weekday. The girl is either going late to coming home early from school.



Looking right. Those television monitors certainly help pass the time. Also they announce the upcoming metro station. That helps.



View left: all eyes on the monitor. (Good! That makes it easier to snap a quick picture.)



Whew! A little less crowded, lots of people have gotten off. So yippee, let's grab a seat.



A good place to catch up on reading. It's neat to see what people are reading.


Metro can be a great place to catch up on sleep. Thanks to YouTube for this.



Whew! Okay, we're at our connection. Now hurrying from one train line to the next. This is okay when a person knows where she's going and how to get there. In a new city, that person isn't me.

Above, Kiev, rushing past poster of downtown Kiev. Note the famous statue (it does have an official name) and the Ukrainian flag.



Metro at peak times is absolutely nuts - I mean to say - it's an intense experience. Thanks to YouTube for this real life journey through that tin of sardines. Oh my stomach tightens up just watching this. If there were sound, it would be deafening.


So now we're queued up for the escalator. A certain amount of pushing and shoving. Hey watch it buddy, I'm trying to take a picture!


Attention gymnasts: Today there will be no headstands on the escalator. Maybe tomorrow.


Escalator. A time to rest up a bit, get ones bearings and enjoy the passing scenery: Ads galore.


A look back. Some of these escalators go on infinitum. Call it escalator to the stars.


She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes. Let's see, how would that go in Russian...


Oopsie, that happened way too fast to get a good picture of driver. Good news: our train has arrived and what a colorful one it is.


Magnificent Moscow Metro



Dear Blog Readers, welcome to our destination! We have arrived and now we want to hear about your metro experiences! Anything fun, funny, interesting, exotic, even dangerous to share?

PS: Subway Sleep
Whatever you're doing, whether you think you have time or not, do yourself a favor and click on this link to English Russia and the video there. This video is a winner. Oh my oh my oh my!

VBS Action in Kiev

Last week in Kiev was the annual Vacation Bible School for the Vinogradar congregation here. I got to help before, during and after. What a treat for me. Following are a few photos. I have hundreds more. Thousands, in fact. But you get the idea.

Witness to a Public Beating

Last week here in Kiev, I was outside helping with children’s games for our vacation Bible school when I heard a whacking sound. The dull thud continued at length. There were no screams. What on earth?

Mercy me, a rug beating was in progress just over the knoll. I had heard about this rug-cleaning strategy of throwing a rug over a crossbar and clobbering it clean. But here was a public demonstration and – lucky me, lucky you – trusty little Olympus 4040z was right there handy.

Looks as though this guy has his work cut out for him. He’ll be there beating for a while. And the beat goes on. . . and the beat goes on. . .



Speaking of rug cleaning, now that I think about it, this has been a bit of an issue, not that I’ve lost sleep over it. But at one time, I had a small rug in the bathroom and on cleaning day, seemed like a good idea to lean out over the balcony and shake it clean.

Problem is, that doesn’t win points with the neighbors below because the rug stuff flies into their balconies. Oopsie. So then I started taking the elevator down to the back stoop and shaking the rug onto the back alley. Soon realized that passersby found this behavior amusingly odd. Because – imagine, shaking dirt from ones own place onto the street and then people have to walk through that.

So then how to clean a small rug?

Shake it out in the stairwell

Surely you jest.

Or vacuum it.

Vacuum a throw rug?

Fortunately that problem solved itself. Moved to a smaller apartment where there's no space for a bathroom rug. No worries about a public beating. Now that's a relief.

Beslan Remembers School Hostage Crisis: 2004

You might remember the tragic first day of school in Beslan, Russia four years ago. Terrorists held school children and staff hostage in a gymnasium for three days and in the end, more than 300 children were killed.




Beslan is an overnight train trip south of Rostov and several children came to Rostov for medical treatment. While in Rostov, we were able to connect with several children and their parents and to offer help and support. All four years ago already.

As this video shows, school opening is delayed in Beslan to allow families time to grieve on the anniversary of the tragedy.

The Home Brewers Cult: Thriving in Kiev

I’ve been sharing an apartment here in Kiev with dear Elena from Donetsk and her teenage daughter Lena. They’re really into homebrew. Never would've guessed it from looking at them. . .

You may remember kvas, the cola of communism, the Russian homebrew typically made from dark bread. Kvas tastes much like cider and has a negligible alcohol content.

Elena’s kvas is light colored, almost clear but milky. It tastes a bit like 7-Up, zippy and tangy. Elena showed me the starter -- rice, she called it. The starter does resemble rice but it’s tiny mushrooms from Tibet, of all places.

So the ingredients are water, exotic Tibetan mushrooms and a handful of raisins. The equipment is several large jars and strainers. The raisins alternatively float and sink giving off little bubbles. That’s probably the chemistry going in those jars. Either that or quantum physics.

After several days of fermenting and bubbles and such, Elena takes plastic bottles of her potion to church to share with friends. She has given up on getting me to drink it much. Still, the aficionado group of kvas-from-Tibetan-mushroom-drinkers seems to be growing. Almost like a cult. They gather ‘round and discuss temperatures, starter and such. They take it home and spread the good news of this kvas, its benefits to kidneys.

Over the weekend, a certain Vladimir moved in to this apartment, and now he’s showing an interest in this particular homebrew. So now he's into the cult too. Yesterday Elena and daughter returned to Donetsk, but before she headed for the train, Elena bequeathed Vladimir a set of jars and starter so apparently the tradition will continue. Oh yippee.