Ada's Site

Yay! so finally after all the talk since as Tanya Pyk was my first guest way back in 2001 I guess 6 years I've finally made it to the other side of the world! I've been having a great time. Due to a certain gentilman's wedding I haven't had the oportunity to meet many ukes yet but some great sights have been seen. Lubo's Pool, Circular Quay, Government house, opera house, a marionette factory, Mandella's art exhibit, Harold Paceway home of Chariots of Fire, Lesbioke, Yum Cha, Bundy and Coke, cook your own steak, Mojito's at Manly beach, undertow, Sydney Uni, some scary birds, a jazz fest, a latin Feista, Sydney FC game So much stuff I can't even finish it all and that's only only 5 days! I'm still here till the 8th of Oct. Aussies you can find me through my sister Olex;s phone number. I'm always up for a party, or even just drinking in a park whateves....

 

Hope I get to meet as many of you as possible.

 

ada

Well,

It's been a while since I've posted something here. Since last saturday the Pruchnicky family has had a fantastic house guest mooching off of us. Lubomyr, a crazy character from Melbourn/Sydney has done a formidable job of shaking up the regular schedule of the P's house hold. Friday night we started off with a bang by taking Lubo to a fantastic CD release party for a Uke band in Ottawa called Ukrainia. Saturday during the day Lubo went on a walk about of downtown ottawa, at Night he got invited with my sister Olex to the Plummer clan's annual silo party. (Essentially a bush bash out in rural Ottawa where the band plays in an old silo) Sunday evening The P's had a family party for Olex's 23rd Birthday YAY!!! Lubo got to meet all of the extended family, and was asked whether he new an aussie named Hugh Milliken.

During the week I'm not sure what was really done but i can re-count what happened in the evenings. Monday night i think they chilled and just hung out.

Tuesday Lubo bought a sythesiser (not gonna spoil the details) and we spent the rest of the night playing with it. later, In the evening we went to my fav pub the Swan for Boozy Coffee's and Parfaits I had Kaluha in mine Olex had Drambui and Lubo had Creme de Menthe.

Wed. I think he saw parliament? and then went to Jam with Olex's BF Adam and the Synth.In the evening we went to a gay bar for Karaoke, I sang AC/DC-Big Balls, Olex sang Ike and Tina's Proud Mary and Holding out for a Hero, and Lubo sang Born to be wild and brought the house down. we also went to see Olex's BF Adam who DJ's the top floor of a Drag queen show (the queens are in the basement and look like construction workers in heels)

Thurs (oh wait maybe this was the day he went to parliament?) there was a fiasco getting picked up because i was drinking the afternoon away with the staff from my office. Then we hung out in a Bulk food store and almost played the Karaoke machine. in the evening Lubo and I played foose ball drinking Rye and Gingers, and watched the season premiere of CSI Vegas.

Friday we made Peameal BLT's and had Lida and Mark over for a Vatra in the back Lis'

Saturday the day was packed when we discovered that we had to leave 2 hours early because of a party in toronto, still we managed the hour and 15min drive to the zoo so Lubo could see all the canadian animals including Bear, 2 kinds of wolf, Coyote, Bison (i got nuzzled by one) Various types of dear, Ibex and foxes oh yes and the Boars! I made it to the bus station with 5 minutes to spare.

Lubo you were one of the best house guest we've ever had and you're welcome to comeback anytime!!!!

Alex, Mel and Greg thanks for recommending he come stay with us. it was a great party... all week long.

Dear freinds,
 
I just found out an old freind of mine Danylo Sirsky has moved to montreal for the summer working in some kinda freaky lab creating all kinds of abominations. Besides being a cool and very stand up guy. This guy has taken his knowledge of biology and has put it to practical applications. Brewing stuff. I've personally sampled both his beers and ciders and this man is genius! Sadly, he has much personality and much beer that are seeking the company of fellow ukes.
 
If possible add Danylo some of the students club and CYM zalia mailing lists as well as any potential gatherings so he can get to experience the good times that i've had the priviledge of experiencing for so many happy occassions. 
 
his contacts are
Danylo Sirskiyj dsirskyj@hotmail.com
514-240-1966

Schoby Khuy Stoyav I Hroshi Bulo!

I heard this nasty rumour that somewhere between montreal and Qebec City there is apperently a Poutine place that lets you "customize" your poutine with lots of different types of cheeses and different gravies. Is this true? does anyone have a name to such a place? or better yet an address or how to get there? If you do please let me know by Tuesday.

ada

Dear all,

This weekend was increadible. I believe that a Mr. Spolskiy has written it perfectly. Thanks all for the great weekend.

The Quest for Democracy!

Our hero, Captain Ada, returns for his latest mission… To allow democracy to flourish in Ukrainian Elections.

Initially our hero had not contemplated taking on this latest mission due to poor timing and a lack of funds. On a lark, our hero submitted his CV to the heroes’ guild under the acronym of CANADEM.

As he prepared for his super hero training exams at the University of Quebec he was notified of his acceptance to the superhero guild CANADEM of 4000 applicants he and his super hero sibling TurboStep. Luckily he finished his training exam and was off to his mission briefing at Super Hero central “The Ottawa Congress Centre” the he quickly realized that CANADEM had managed to assemble a collection of extraordinary heroes in the same room were the Krazy Kolos duo, Pan Komendant, Iva the Invincible, Tantalizing Tanis, Zany Zaluky, The Zack, Yakin’ Yaworiwsky Adrian the Incredible and the WHORNitch. We were given a country profile update as well as taught about our rights and responsibilities as observers. We were also provided with a perdium for Canada and expense money for Ukraine. (The food perdium was about 3 times higher then what I spend on average) I used being from Ottawa Me had no need for the perdium in Canada so spent it on Christmas presents and a pair for winter boots for the trip.

The second day was marked by two moments the first was a live feed from John Turner. The importance of this was mostly the annoyance of everyone that he couldn’t even bring himself to make a personal appearance. Second, was the fiery speech given by the Ukrainian ambassador to Canada his Excellency Mr. Mimeskool. At one point his passion almost got the better of him and he looked as if he might breakout into tears. We were told that it was his personal doing that they had managed to process 400 visas in 24 hours.

Upon reaching the airport our heroes were for the first time faced by the evil organization known as T.H.E.M. and its sister organization known as T.H.E.Y. These evil organizations had agents posted in various strategic positions within the airport to make things as difficult for the heroes’ guild as possible. THEY forced the heroes to form torturous Queues and made them stand in intolerable torture for hours. Upon reaching the front of the line, THEY agents force the heroes to be dispersed throughout the plane in order to weaken their spirits. Upon riding in this plane our hero quickly made the decision that if he ever came across the person who decided on vinyl seats for an airplane he would promptly beat the person senseless. Other interesting features of the plane were the terrible food, and the extremely rude crew. Who without question must have been THEY agents.

Upon arrival our hero was floored with how organized the heroes guild was organized with Ukrainian customs. The heroes were checked through in no time flat. By following a series of signs our hero not only made it to his transport but also discovered that he had been reunited with two fantastic heroes from his past Adrian the Incredible and the Whornitch who would be defending humanity and the democratic way in Mykolaiv.
After a short bus ride our heroes were checked into the hotel Khreshchatyk. This lair in itself was nothing spectacular to behold, what made it ideal however, was it’s prime location. Located on Khreshchatyk next door to Maidan Nezalejnosty from his perch on the window our hero was able to take in the entire city and was able to see the not only the stage where the protests took place but also tent city. It was quite a sight to behold.
That evening was spent at first with family, who has a wonderful son named Andriy and then Maidan nezalejnosty ending with a friend and fellow hero from past camps HONTA. What most amazed our hero is the buzz in the city. For the first time the energy is not one of business but one of pure excitement and energy the people here not only want change but also are now genuinely ready for it. They now seem willing to take charge and actually make it happen. It was actually very overwhelming coming from a country where in the past all people did was complain and hope that the government would do something. It now seems that they have awakened and realized that if they want change they will have to make it happen themselves.

The next day I enjoyed a fantastic omelet and then spent the afternoon in meetings that evening we decided to all go to the reception where we played a game of “I dare you to eat that” the winning appetizer was definitely the deep fried coconut fish balls. Note of mention. Zany Zaluky put on a fantastic show when she smelled the coconut fish ball! I then escaped and went and visited my friends Paul Masha and Dasha. They were all fantastic. Here again were formerly a political people whom the revolution had transformed into people who were now realizing that if change is to happen then they must make it happen. We looked at pictures, caught up and generally had a great time. Around 11:30 all hell broke loose I went with Paul to Chaikovsky’s a club in the middle of town where many of the heroes guild had assembled. WOW I have never spent so much money in Ukraine in one night. There was much debauchery, many drunken makeouts and several barfers. I greatly enjoyed the Zacks argument with Yushchenko supporters on why it was important for observers to remain neutral. The greatest surprise of the evening was bumping into BARBIE, a Pruchnicky family friend Ulyana Khromiyak. This young lawyer did several internships in Canada and has been someone we make a point of visiting every time we’re in Kyiv. As usual she looked fantastic.

On my third day I arose from my slumber early to go visit my kids from summer camp in Bucha a town located about 30 Km west of kyiv. Thinking that I would surprise them I didn’t bother calling. To my frustration, upon arrival I discovered that not only were there kids from another orphanage there whom I had worked with but all of them were gone to maidan nezalejnosty and would be arriving when I had to depart. After a half hour of visiting with the kids and goofing around with them I took off to try and meet the others at the train station before they left. On my walk there I got a good dose of reality from two sisters who graciously walked me to the marshrutka. They told me of the “fantastic idea” that when one of them graduates and heads off to university that the other one who is in grade 9 will quit school and join her sister while working as a waitress. This freaked me out! Although I realized that they were the only family each other had I spent the better part of our walk trying to convince them that this was a terrible idea for all parties concerned. I really hope they listened. My hope is that I’ll be able to see them again this summer and work on them a little. All I can say is with orphan kids from Ukraine in some ways they are so mature yet in others they really have no clue. In the end I made it to see kids at the station although it was only for 2 minutes. I wished them a happy new year and sent them on their way.

Upon return to the hotel we were told to pack our bags and prepare for the train. Traffic was horrid and even though we left 2 hours early we arrived with only about 20 minutes to spare. Dasha had come to see us off a pleasant surprise. While in the hotel Adrian the Incredible made a comment, which stuck in my head. “People at CIDA were really concerned about whether students could handle themselves and behave appropriately in Ukraine” As it turned out on the train the students were the only ones who did behave. The rest of our train was getting sloshed and celebrating while we were studying electoral laws. My weird feeling for that day happened around midnight when I got a text message from Turbostep that read “Merry Christmas”. It completely slipped my mind that it was Christmas Eve. There were hardly any Christmas decorations up anywhere and we had been so busy. Truly an odd feeling.

On the 25th we arrived in Mykolaiv. My first time there we had stayed in a hotel on the outskirts of town which was completely run down and in a horrid area. This time I completely changed my outlook on the city. Our guide Sasha informed us that our meetings wouldn’t start until after lunch and offered a tour for the morning. We left our hotel The Ingul, named after one of the local rivers, and headed down Vul Admiralska. Like St. Petersburg and Odessa Mykolaiv was a planned city and the layout was gorgeous. The oblast admin building had been beautifully restored as well as the main maidan. We then walked down the pedestrian street called Sovietska all of the buildings had been beautifully restored. We saw a fantastic Christmas tree as well. The odd thing about this city was that for the first time I felt like a foreigner. There are very few westerners who come to this city so as we walked down all ogled us. People whispering and giggling it was a peculiar experience.

Later in the afternoon we went to Polytechnic institute to meet out drivers and translators. Mine was named Olga she was Sasha’s older sister a kindergarten teacher with 2 children. Our drivers name was Yurij Prat he had a supped up Mazda and also acted as our bouncer. They were both fantastic people. All of the translators were students and or at least young and with the exception of one were all female. Adrian the Incredible managed to land himself a “daddies princess” a fantastic looking girl who obviously went tanning, had extremely long well manicured nails and wore white boots with stiletto heels. (Adrian referred to them as village boots). Our coordinator Nestor Woychyshyn had arranged for a training session first with Canadem and then with the trainers from the UCC both were very good although the ones from UCC were much more practical. After completing this we went to a polling station. My partner Ann Fudge and I were completely lost as to how to proceed thankfully Olga knew exactly what to do and she saved our bacon for what wouldn’t be the only occasion. The people there although surprised to see us were not at all worried and were very helpful in showing us all the documents and procedure they had followed.

Another moment of truth happened when Demian and I took two of the Canadians for dinner upon our return to the hotel. As we were passing the militzia we had to yell at them not to speak until we had passed them. When we had passed we had to explain that militzia has a tendency to hassle people for bribes in the evening. That was when to my amazement and worry we learned that neither Louis nor Deborah had brought their passports out with them. On the lighter side Demian and I had a great time ordering food for them. Louis the prairie boy almost tossed his cookies when we ate the dried calamari, however they both greatly enjoyed the damski paltzi deruny and varennyky we ordered for them.

Election day we were up and about by 5:30 am and were out the door by 6:30 Ann and I were to go outside of the city and checkout the polling stations in a small city of 8000 called Bashtan. We covered 11 polling stations in that day and with the exception of 1 they were all very similar. So with the exception of that one it’s easier for me just to give some generalities. For the most part the people there were very apprehensive to begin with. Many times we had to introduce ourselves and register with the polling station. The major ice breaking took place when speaking to the other observers. It made things easier speaking with the Yanukovich supporters first. Usually after we finished with the formal discussions they would all join in and ask me questions some about politics but mostly about Canada and my personal life. In general, the people although very interested in us were not pleased with the reason of our visit and in general almost took it as a challenge to show us that they not only knew what a free election was, but they also knew how to run one. For the most part they with great pride would show us around the station and show us the books and lists we asked for. The general opinion was just that they wanted the elections to be over. In the area we were scrutinizing there were 180 yushchenko observers from Ternopil as well as others. We were told that although there were problems in Bashtan that even in the second round these had been minor compared to other areas and their Territory had been the only one in the oblast to vote in favor of Yushchenko. The largest problems on the whole were people wearing either Yushchenko or Yanukovich paraphernalia which is illegal, in one case they had a car draped with a yanukovich flag infront of the station

The exceptions…. The bad, polling station number 6 in district 132 was the only one that gave us any major hassles. The head of the station was accused of many problems in the last round and in this one had already created several violations. They hadn’t sealed the ballot boxes properly to start and the worst violation was that the lady would not let me look at the voter lists. It was our prime target to revisit however in the end we decided against it because the yushchenko observers had a video camera, and the head observer was a lawyer who new the letter of the law. The head was annoyed with him because he had been keeping a close eye on the situation all the way through. The positive was in this small town outside of Bashtan. When we entered we were pleased to see that everything was well taken cared of. To our great pleasure our head was lawyer who had studied in England. She was so fluent that Ann didn’t even use the translator to ask the questions. The line she said which sticks out in my mind the most was when she said in English “I’ll be damned if something goes wrong at my polling station” with that we were off.

One last interesting point about Bashtan was how we were treated. As soon as we entered the City limits we were under surveillance by the militzia they never interfered or troubled us in any way but they always knew where we were. Yura said that the first time we went into a polling station in the city limits the militzionair ran to the car and quickly raced off. The other interesting thing that occurred more then once was, as we would leave the poling station there would be several yanukovich supporters student aged men waiting for us. They would never harass us or even look at us but they were there nonetheless.

After a good dinner we went to the one of the poling station and waited for the station to close. Everything went relatively smoothly with the exception that they didn’t know the proper procedure on counting ballots (Olga to the rescue) and that they had miscounted 2 ballots after all had been sealed. Olga worked so hard all day that at midnight she lost the ability to speak English I was so proud of all the hard work she had done all day. What a great woman. We went to the Territorial Electoral Commission and witnessed the entire procedures take place I saw several Canadian friends Ruslana Wresnewsky, Myxailo and Danylo Derewych. One of the people on the committee was out to disqualify the head of our poling station by saying she wasn’t a Ukrainian citizen luckily the decision was over ruled.

We returned to the hotel at about 4:30 am and I spent an hour unwinding with Adrian eating kovbasa and cheese.

On the twenty 27th, my last day in Mykolaiv, I went to the internat “Mykolaiv Shkola Internat No. 5” to visit some of the orphan kids I work with during the summer. The director got one of the kids to take me to my girls. I was lucky that not only did I get to see one but three of them. Katya, Masha and Olya. I got permission from their guardians to take them out into the city for a couple of hours we walked and talked. When they found out that I was an observer the first question they asked me was if it was true that if Yushchenko won the election that the USA would turn them all into slaves. I was floored. I assured them this would not happen and told them in the future to think about what people tell them because not all is always as it seems.

As I was leaving I got a call from Adrian W telling me that 3 of the interpreters from the previous day had asked us out for drinks. I had a most pleasant afternoon drinking and talking about Ukraine with Olya (village boots) Yuliana a girl who studied English in a small town between Rochester and Buffalo, and Luba a blond track star who can apparently run the 100m in around 10seconds. They told us about their impressions of Canadians and of men in general and about their lives and ambitions in Ukraine. They were such typical Ukrainians they wouldn’t toast we had to pour so on and so forth. I had a great time with them and was really disappointed I met them only at the end of my trip to Mykolaiv.
We arrived in Kyiv the morning of the 28th and after a breakfast shower and nap I was already to make my final day an unforgettable one. I started it off with an appetizer at Rostyk’s Chicken then met Darko and Andriy Fedchun for lunch at Kartoplyana Xata. In the afternoon I bought a mess of CD’s and scarves we then went to visit Vita, Tom and Sonja not even a year old and 17.5 Kg sweet kid, was smiling, sitting on my lap and playing with my phone the entire time we were there. Tom and Vita’s apartment is gorgeous 105 m square. The lighting and everything is beautiful! After a terrible debrief with John Turner, Step Adrian, Hornich, Zack and myself all went for salo deruny and other uke eats. In the evening Stepan and I experienced a full rally on Maidan. WOW!!!! We heard Yushchenko and Tymoshenko speak. The crowd forced the other speakers to speed up their speeches so that Yulia would speak. As she walked to the Microphone the crowd chanted her name. Yushchenko promised to his son that he would turn the country into something his son and all Ukrainians could be proud of. The speech was followed by an incredible fireworks display. We accidentally bumped into the lovely Liliya Pustovit with Adrian Walraven Step and Demian. Step and myself went to Coffee with them and met Masha Krolyk and some boys from L'viv for tea. I said bye to Lilia and decided to head off to meet friends at 111. When we got there we had to go through face control. As usual the hookers were out in force within 15 minutes I had my “bathing suit area” touched a good 5 times. Step and Demian got pretty fed up with the situation because no one was there and were threatening to leave. With some convincing they called and everything was cleared up. We played drinking games such as who gets noticed first by the bartender and so on. I had a great talk with Adria about first time experiences in Ukraine and was privileged enough to see my former friend Yulia Batiuk, who after a rough patch seems to be getting her life back in order. At 5am Ivanka Sly and I walked back to the hotel stopping for mister snack and to wave goodbye to a very drunk Demian Hornich who was on the bus.

My last day in Kyiv was spent with a bad hangover. I woke up at noon had some Mc Dicks with Stepan and then went on the hunt for Yushchenko Flags. We ended up at his Shtab in podil but no flags. Seeing as we were so close to Alla we stopped in for coffee and a visit. It was great to see her. We ended our stay in Ukraina drinking at the airport bar and waiting for the plane, which was an hour late to arrive.

My final thoughts of this trip are that the people of Ukraine seem to have finally awoken and realized that if they want change they will have to make it and nobody else. The people I know I still love and the new people I met have not disappointed me in the idea that Ukrainians are some the best in the world.

Just remember that just because Yushchenko was elected, things won’t instantly change. The best way to describe this election is probably as a step in the right direction on the road to change….

What a week it's been! Ukraine is in protest. I've been doing little other then listening to radio lux and reading BBC.

It's amazing what is going on! i know many people there and i can't believe all of this that's going on. there's my canadian freind who never would even discuss politics and would change the subject. This freind is now asking his canadian freinds to donate money so that he can help purchase stuff for the protestors.

There is my other Ukrainian freind who barely speaks ukrainian and would poo poo anyone who spoke politics. She has opened her apartment to protestors so that they can come in and warm up charge their phones.

the good is just oozing out of this city it is increadible!

Here in ottawa i had the priviledge to participate in thursdays protest. Wow we heard from a member of almost every political party in front of parliament. Then at the embassy the staff even came out of the building to see what was going on. there were i think 8 busses from toronto and 2 from montreal. this unlike other countries, is truely turning into a world phenomenon! you hear government after government denounce the election. And more and more are trying to help mediate to make sure that there is a peaceful resolution.

I pray that all this ends for the best and peacefully!

Slava Ukraini!!!!!

First off thank you Adrian! Not a bad way to experience live football for the first time!

So i missed all the parties this week because of stupid school. I even worked on my paper for 13 hours straight on saturday to make sure it was done.

Sunday i had dinner, a beer and a rye and coke then took the shuttle service to the game!

WOW it was really cool and so many people. I went to the alouettes party, had a couple of cheap ceasars and listened to a beasty boys tribute band. after that i hit the seats. I was on the south side on the 50 yard line at the top. Great seats! I had a couple of beers and then another couple. on my way to the bathroom after half time. in my drinking wobbles i stumbled on the stairs grabbed someone to steady myself and fell. that was it! they escorted me out. all there was left to do was wait for my ride.

fantastic time! what a memory

i hate this shit.... but i'll probably write something dumb in it every once in a while