Today, or last night, I began my trip south to Crimea. Crimea is the southern most part of Ukraine and usually known as one of the most popular vacation destinations for Ukrainians and Russians during the summer season. I stayed mostly in the central and northern inland regions of Crimea during this trip, but much of Crimea has a sub topical climate along the Black Sea.
My stop of a couple of days with Anne Jasperson. Anne and I became great friends in Oregon before we left and have continued that friendship in Ukraine. She is wonderful. She lives in a small village of 8000 in the north western area of Crimea. It was pretty cool to see her happily integrated into her community and stopped many times on the street with holiday greetings from the locals.
She met me in Djankoi, the closest train stop to her. And after some pizza and tea, we hopped a bus to her town about 80 minutes away.
It is so great to have a partner in crime in Ukraine and Anne is always up for something fun.
We passed this guy in Djankoi putting the sections of the New Years tree in city square together. What you can’t see is the three guys to the left of us supervising him and getting a kick out of us taking a picture.
First task upon arrival was to ‘help’, really I was on the internet, Anne make shortbread cookies with chocolate for a birthday party we were attending later that evening.
This is Igor, the birthday boy and husband of Anne’s tutor, Lena. He was quite funny. Lena had no idea what to expect and shortly after we arrived in he walked with his brother and many plates of food and gifts. Turns out Igor has been recently promoted to Chief of Police for a larger town about an hour away and there were many celebrations for his birthday at the office.
Anne, Lena and Mila. Adorable, right! Mila is actually Milana. Ukrainians are just beginning to step outside the cultural norms for naming babies and Milana is a fabulous name. Kuddos to them for creativity!
Mila with her babushka, Igor’s mom.
The food was incredible and flowed from every corner of the room. It was amazing and all very excellent!
Igor came home with these platters of food. It was an amazing spread for such a simple concept, a birthday dinner at home with the family.
I am hardly one to resist a great photo opportunity. And this picture does not disappoint. Igor and Lena’s dads were in great spirits and happy to indulge in the need for a fun photo.
It was nice of Igor to turn 35 upon my arrival into Petvomaisk’ye. Happy Birthday, Igor!
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