Lviv

I'm sitting in the computer lab at the Catholic University in Lviv. My friend Skyler and I are staying in a volunteer's apartment in the center of town. The volunteer is away at a summer camp and he left his keys with our friend Emily, so we decided to come and enjoy a few days in Lviv.

I arrived last night after a long, hot train ride from Vinnystia. The apartment that we are staying in is REALLY nice, very western, equipped with a microwave, a huge bathtub, hot water, and wood floors. It looks like something you might find in Manhattan, or San Francisco, but not Ukraine. I think we're still in a bit of shock.

This morning we had brunch at a cute little cafe that served marguaritas. It's the first time I'd seen tequilla on the menu since I've been in country, so of course, I got one. It was delicious.

Sky and I don't have any concrete plans for our stay here. We're going to walk around, probably drink some beer, window shop and maybe even catch an english language movie. I'm here until thursday night, when I'm catching an overnight train to Kiev for peace corpse training. I'll be at training for 4 days and then it's back to Bar.

Last week I spent a lot of time hanging out with Yulia and Ania, my two young, adorable Ukrainian girlfriends. We went out to the cafe and danced a few nights. It was fun. On Saturday night we went dancing at Stary Zamock. There were a lot of people there that night. The dance floor was pretty packed. At one point, some drunk guy picked up another drunk guy and started swinging him around. It was all in good fun, but I wasn't paying attention and out of the blue, I got kicked in the face. It hurt, but it didn't leave any mark and I was okay, though I was a bit wary of the dance floor after that.

Ania agreed to feed Klitchko for me while I'm away. I bought her a bottle of vodka, a couple of beers and some drinking snacks as a thank you. I wanted to pay her, but I knew she'd never take my money. Alcohol is always an acceptable form of currency here.

I know I promised to regale you with tales of 4th of July pond scum, but that story isn't all that exciting. On the 4th, I went to the "lake" (pond? reservoire? watering hole? puddle? I don't know what to call it) with Jennifer and her family. The water looked clean, as in, there were no heaps of visible trash floating in it; but when I emerged from the water after a quick dip, I looked like a hairy ape. There was all sorts of dark, floating bits on my body and I looks like a hairy beast. It was disgusting. From here on out, my new rule is that I'm only swimming in moving bodies of water.

Anyway, the weather here in Lviv is beautiful, as is the city itself. Anyone who comes to visit me will certainly be taken here. It's almost like I'm not in Ukraine anymore, like I've somehow been transported to a European city. I intend to take a lot of pictures which I probably will never be able to post here, but perhaps sometimes I'll turn them into a scrapbook.