The cab ride was interesting, to say the least. Tara suggested I not pay attention to the driving and focus on looking at what I could see on the roads as we went by...and that was fine with me! Tara instructed me that a cultural thing in Ukraine is not to speak in public transportation, so I didn't. She spoke to the cab driver and he had a Bible on the dashboard. We learned he was seventh-day adventist and she and he discussed theology until we got to the Uzviv. It was Tara's idea to go Sunday because she thought the next day would be busy...as many people as were there Sunday I can't imagine what "busy" would look like! Also, she had the wonderful idea that this way I could get most of my souvenier shopping done the first day.
My first impression of the Uzviz was just the massive amount of people. I quickly learned what Tara meant when she told me that the Ukrainians have no sense of personal space whatsoever. They crowd you and run into you and keep on going and that's just the way it is. They also have different ideas of modesty. At a "booth" where embroidered Ukrainian shirts were being sold, one lady flipped off her shirt and tried the one for sale on right there! I guess we should be thankful she had an undergarment on!
I was fascinated by all the things for sale. I'm so glad Tara knew what was good quality and what to ask the merchants. I knew going into my trip that I wanted to get the nesting dolls (Metrushka) for my 3 year old niece, and we found a nice set of those. We saw so many different kinds of Metrushka dolls. One set, as you can see in the third picture below, was of the US presidents! :)
We found some beautiful hand-painted little boxes (no special name and I can't type the Ukrainian name for them because I don't think I have cyrillic as a font on my computer). :) I picked out several of these for my sisters-in-law, friends, and Mom. I found a beautiful piece of artwork of St. Sofia's for myself and a small one for my Mom. Got picture books for my brothers and Dad.
Here is me in the metro (train) station....more about that below. (Can't get Blogger to keep my pics in the right order!)
Here's the set of US Presidents Metrushka dolls!
This is a bandurist; the instrument is native Ukrainian, I believe.
If you look closely you can see the embroidered clothing booth were the lady ripped off her top to try another one on!
Historical pieces for sale
We rode the metro (train) back to the house after our shopping. Due to not being able to get Blogger to put my pics in the right order, the first picture above is me standing waiting for the metro. The metro was CRAZY crowded, again with the no sense of personal space thing. And they do not, on average, believe in deodorant. Some of Tara's Ukrainian friends talked about discovering deordorant and they were in a quandry as to whether to put it on before they smelled or after, and they chose after! Needless to say, my sweaty self and I fit right in!I will post about the rest of Sunday, seeing St. Michael's, in the next post.
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