Another Revolution?

This is a political rally about the recent dissolution of parlament in the center of Kiev this weekend. The state department told me not to go because of the danger of politcal turmoil and civil unrest...


...but I showed them. It turned out to be about as dangerous as this bucking, metal lion...


So this past weekend my 3 friends from Britain came to visit me here in Kiev. (front to back: Jared, Matt, Lucie, Liz) Liz and Lucie came from England and my friend Matt is working in a small russian town called Armavir. I met these guys last year when I was doing some training in Oxford and it was a pretty sweet time.

Anyway, while they were here we got to walk around the city and do some touristy stuff. All this in the middle of town where there was a political rally for the pro-Russian, Regions Party. We walked in and out of the crowds that were gathered on the main square as well as throughout the underground mall underneath the square.



The people in these pictures are mostly old women and working men from the East of Ukraine, where the pro-Russian sentiment is strong. I didn't know this at the time, but just about all the people at this rally were paid like $20-$30 per day to stand out here. The pro-Western party also pays it's "protestors", but only along the lines of $10 a day. This is pretty good money here in Ukraine...especially for not having to do anything but listen to music...

They have some small tent cities set up and a large stage where there was Ukrainian hip/hop, Elvis impersonations, and myriads of dancing girls clad spandex. I mean, nothing says "I love Russia" like Western inspired hip-hop, Elvis and scantily clad women....Daaaahhhhh.

I took some video of our days around town and I'll get them up here as soon as I have a chance to edit them. Probably this coming weekend.
From Left to Right: Me, Lucie, Amberly, Matthew, Liz


Anyway, I was really blessed by having "the brits" come to visit. We talked about a lot of stuff while there were here. From personal catch up to major spiritual issues, theology, philosophy...why Americans are better than Brits...I mean, you name it we talked about it. We also worshiped together adn and prayed a good bit. It was friggin' awesome to have that many people crammed into our apt. Joel, Amberly (American missionaries here) and I really got reenergized by these peppy people. It was a really sweet time for me to catch up with friends and act like a loud, obnoxious tourist for once :-)


I do enjoy the brit sense of humor...

Anyway, there are some warnings about violence and whatnot, but really life is just going on here as normal. Except for a few rallies and a few more Easterners...life is pretty much the same.

It's wierd when your government can be in a state of upheaval but life can still continue on as normal... I guess Ukrainians are just used to it...



I'll end this blog with a sad but true snapshot of Kievian life...

If you are a foreigner, and you want to get married to a Ukrainian girl...just walk the main street. Sad but true...