I just got back from taking a 4 day canoe trip this last weekend! I went with my friend Marina and large group of people from her "Lindy Hop" swing class. (I gonna start taking lessons in the fall) This was a sort of mini-vacation for me since I'll be working a lot this summer. Here's a lot of pictures too, to make up for my lack of blogs these past few weeks.
Here is picture of our camp the first day. We traveled 70km north of Kiev, camped for a night, and then began our trek down the river back to the city. This was kind of a scary/exciting trip for me b/c it was all in Russian (of course...we are in Ukraine). There were a few people who spoke english, but for the most part (90%) everyone spoke in Russian or Ukrainian. Needless to say, I was very quite this trip :-) Apart from the introductions the first night around the fire, I spoke very little Russian. I was too overwhelmed trying to understand everyone to really think of something to say. Very frustrating, but for the better, I think....
The guy on the left spoke english, so we talked a little. Here we are traveling down the Dnipro in our canoes. We had to assemble them the first night...they were made of aluminum supports, canvas, and rubber. We had to pack all our belongings in them underneath the waterproof top. We don't have these in America I don't think. All our canoes are wooden or plastic. These are at least 10x more portable and at least 20x more annoying...some assembly required.
I really knew that I was in Europe on this trip because of the bathing suits. All the guys wore speedos (except me in my gym shorts cause I don't have a bathing suit here). And the girls certainly didn't mind the warm weather either...what with their few strings and all. I was really taken aback by how comfortable everyone was with their bodies...it was actually quite refreshing. Ok, that sounds a little wierd, so let me explain. Unlike in America, there weren't any 'uncle rico's' out there trying to be macho by flexing the whole time they were in the sun. I did get used to all the skin and after a couple of days it just seemed normal. well....sorta. Ok, I'm lying...there was way too much man flesh for all to see for it to be really normal, but the initial shock did wear off eventually.
This is from our last day of canoeing. This was the only sunny day that we had. We covered most of the distance on the first day, so we could just take it nice and slow on the 4th. We were able to just float down the river with little paddling and just relax, stretch our legs out, and soak up the sun. It reminded me of when we used to go tubing down the Saluda river in SC. We would just lay out and let the river take us. On the third day I didn't want the day to end...it was so relaxing...awww man...
This was actually really cool. We came across an old soviet tram (which they still use today) that had been converted to a sort of River-Palace-Fortress complete with screened in porch. It was way out in the country so I have no earthly idea how they got that thing way out there. It was funny cause everytime a set of canoes would pass the inlet you could hear the "wow's" echoing down the river.
Ohh and did I mention that the Mosquitoes were absolutely killer. They were as big as crows and would attack in organized attack patterns. They usually used the 'fly-by face diversion' method to get you distracted and then would go for your the back of your legs. Oi sabaka! they were annoying. But still a small price to pay for the beauty of the Ukrainian countryside.
We often formed little flotillas of canoes as we floated downstream. It was good for me to hear all the conversations and jokes and what not...not that I really understood it all, but it's always good to be in the middle of it to help my understanding. We camped for 3 nights and 3 days. Ukrainian camping is much like American camping, but the food is one of the main differences. They cook soups and buckwheat, cream of wheat, oatmeal, kilbasa, bread, cheese, lots of ketchup, and mayonaise. We took water right from the river and then boiled it to make all of our food and tea. The day that my group cooked, the girls forgot to boil the water before we started making the cream of wheat, so there was algae and little minnows swimming around in the milk! It was hilarious. I just laughed and went along for the ride...."when in Rome..."
GOD BLESS AMERICA...i mean....UKRAINIA!...the sunsets are absolutely beautiful here! Geeeeesshhh, I love the outdoors! God made the earth awesome so we could enjoy stuff like this. Oh how he loves us!
I also saw the next major purchase I would like to make. This sucker is absolutely amazing! I freakin' love the sidecar! It didn't have a name on it, so I still have to figure that out. Simeon, I think it had an engine design like your Subaru...it had a 4 cylinder "boxer" engine that stuck out on each side. It was actually funny to look at b/c if you had to lay the bike down during a daring feat of stuntery, you would endup scraping the engine block on pavement. Ohhh, wait, no you wouldn't, there is a sidecar, duhhh. Nevermind. Now the engine design makes sense. I saw this after we landed at our destination outside of Kiev. It was in a small village and had a trailer hitch with a small boat hooked up to the back! I want to get one of these for my trip across Ukraine. This would be perfect for a couple of people and some luggage. My friends say that there are still a lot of these sickles from the 40s and 50s still around in the villages. I will make one mine one of these days...and that's a promise.
I'll leave you with this awesome picture. This is one of my favorites from the trip. All in all, this was one of the best times I have had here in Ukraine. I got to know some cool people that I'll be dancing with next fall and got to be out of the city for a nice long stretch. I even got a tan....pale winter Jared is no more. All the people I went with were very welcoming to this foreigner with horrible russian. I thank God for this wonderful opportunity. His Grace is surely upon me! Thanks for all your prayers!
Next, I think I'll blog about my previous trip to L'viv in Western Ukriane. Until the next adventure....
Here is picture of our camp the first day. We traveled 70km north of Kiev, camped for a night, and then began our trek down the river back to the city. This was kind of a scary/exciting trip for me b/c it was all in Russian (of course...we are in Ukraine). There were a few people who spoke english, but for the most part (90%) everyone spoke in Russian or Ukrainian. Needless to say, I was very quite this trip :-) Apart from the introductions the first night around the fire, I spoke very little Russian. I was too overwhelmed trying to understand everyone to really think of something to say. Very frustrating, but for the better, I think....
The guy on the left spoke english, so we talked a little. Here we are traveling down the Dnipro in our canoes. We had to assemble them the first night...they were made of aluminum supports, canvas, and rubber. We had to pack all our belongings in them underneath the waterproof top. We don't have these in America I don't think. All our canoes are wooden or plastic. These are at least 10x more portable and at least 20x more annoying...some assembly required.
I really knew that I was in Europe on this trip because of the bathing suits. All the guys wore speedos (except me in my gym shorts cause I don't have a bathing suit here). And the girls certainly didn't mind the warm weather either...what with their few strings and all. I was really taken aback by how comfortable everyone was with their bodies...it was actually quite refreshing. Ok, that sounds a little wierd, so let me explain. Unlike in America, there weren't any 'uncle rico's' out there trying to be macho by flexing the whole time they were in the sun. I did get used to all the skin and after a couple of days it just seemed normal. well....sorta. Ok, I'm lying...there was way too much man flesh for all to see for it to be really normal, but the initial shock did wear off eventually.
This is from our last day of canoeing. This was the only sunny day that we had. We covered most of the distance on the first day, so we could just take it nice and slow on the 4th. We were able to just float down the river with little paddling and just relax, stretch our legs out, and soak up the sun. It reminded me of when we used to go tubing down the Saluda river in SC. We would just lay out and let the river take us. On the third day I didn't want the day to end...it was so relaxing...awww man...
This was actually really cool. We came across an old soviet tram (which they still use today) that had been converted to a sort of River-Palace-Fortress complete with screened in porch. It was way out in the country so I have no earthly idea how they got that thing way out there. It was funny cause everytime a set of canoes would pass the inlet you could hear the "wow's" echoing down the river.
Ohh and did I mention that the Mosquitoes were absolutely killer. They were as big as crows and would attack in organized attack patterns. They usually used the 'fly-by face diversion' method to get you distracted and then would go for your the back of your legs. Oi sabaka! they were annoying. But still a small price to pay for the beauty of the Ukrainian countryside.
We often formed little flotillas of canoes as we floated downstream. It was good for me to hear all the conversations and jokes and what not...not that I really understood it all, but it's always good to be in the middle of it to help my understanding. We camped for 3 nights and 3 days. Ukrainian camping is much like American camping, but the food is one of the main differences. They cook soups and buckwheat, cream of wheat, oatmeal, kilbasa, bread, cheese, lots of ketchup, and mayonaise. We took water right from the river and then boiled it to make all of our food and tea. The day that my group cooked, the girls forgot to boil the water before we started making the cream of wheat, so there was algae and little minnows swimming around in the milk! It was hilarious. I just laughed and went along for the ride...."when in Rome..."
GOD BLESS AMERICA...i mean....UKRAINIA!...the sunsets are absolutely beautiful here! Geeeeesshhh, I love the outdoors! God made the earth awesome so we could enjoy stuff like this. Oh how he loves us!
I also saw the next major purchase I would like to make. This sucker is absolutely amazing! I freakin' love the sidecar! It didn't have a name on it, so I still have to figure that out. Simeon, I think it had an engine design like your Subaru...it had a 4 cylinder "boxer" engine that stuck out on each side. It was actually funny to look at b/c if you had to lay the bike down during a daring feat of stuntery, you would endup scraping the engine block on pavement. Ohhh, wait, no you wouldn't, there is a sidecar, duhhh. Nevermind. Now the engine design makes sense. I saw this after we landed at our destination outside of Kiev. It was in a small village and had a trailer hitch with a small boat hooked up to the back! I want to get one of these for my trip across Ukraine. This would be perfect for a couple of people and some luggage. My friends say that there are still a lot of these sickles from the 40s and 50s still around in the villages. I will make one mine one of these days...and that's a promise.
I'll leave you with this awesome picture. This is one of my favorites from the trip. All in all, this was one of the best times I have had here in Ukraine. I got to know some cool people that I'll be dancing with next fall and got to be out of the city for a nice long stretch. I even got a tan....pale winter Jared is no more. All the people I went with were very welcoming to this foreigner with horrible russian. I thank God for this wonderful opportunity. His Grace is surely upon me! Thanks for all your prayers!
Next, I think I'll blog about my previous trip to L'viv in Western Ukriane. Until the next adventure....
posted by Jared at 2:10 PM
4 Comments:
When in Rome? I thought you were in Kiev? Wait... you paddled all the way to rome to eat worms in your cream of wheat. got it. good luck learning all the italian! CIAO!
jared,
great to get your email :) i deleted my myspace profile, so i'll check in with you here. glad to hear all is well...easy on the algae, big shot.
alannah
Dude! Beautiful! I love reading and looking at the stuff here. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm working on writng out more info about what's going on with the Gemstones and I'll let you know when I'm done. K...Massive blessing to you!!!!
Katieann
Jared,Awesome stuff!!You really are very funny and witty!! Your writing is refreshing...I LOVED the pink car and the side-car bike...or whatever you call it!!Glad yoyu had a great time...yes it was all beautiful....but where were the palm trees?!
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