2013 Battle of Sokolovo

Before you start scanning the photos below and thinking we ended up in trouble somewhere, please read first!

These pictures are all from a different era, an era called Spring 2013. A time when no one even had the faintest suspicion of conflict, when war was something people associated with their grandparents.

This was the 70th reenactment of the Battle of Sokolovo, the fight of a few hundred Czech / Soviet soldiers against over 2,000 German soldiers. The hero of the day- although he did not live to see the honor- was a Czech soldier named Otakar Yarosh. Yarosh was the first foreigner to receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and (last I heard) there's still a street named after him in Kharkiv.

Anyway, D didn't know all that history when some friends called up that March and issued an invitation to the reenactment. He came back at the end of the day, red-cheeked and chilled hands, with all of these photos. We had some complicated plan to share them on the blog... which never happened. So, two long years later, here they are.

I'm not sure what happened to the photos of the actual battle scenes... somehow those are missing from the file and I'm left with the meet-and-greet kind of pictures. If you're a history buff, there's news coverage of the entire event here (tank battle starts around minute 16) and more high-quality photos here. There were approximately 400 Ukrainian and Czech soldiers participating in costume that day. This took place near Sokolove, about a one-hour bus ride from Kharkiv.

Aaaaand, no more words- the rest of the photos!

Endo

It's been eight days since the surgery, eight days that have reshaped my understanding of our future and whether living abroad again soon will play any role in it. Warning: this post is going to be absurdly melodramatic and contain lots of lady-health talk. [If you're not into that stuff, just skip all the text, watch the embedded videos, and call it a day.] I know my mom will scold me for putting all this online ("it's there forever, Katherine!") but many, many women have shared their experiences with this on the internet and it was SO HELPFUL this past week. Maybe today's post will help someone else going through a similar situation.

May

It's been a quiet May so far and poised to get even quieter. After getting back from our trip, we've been making a few quick visits to see friends and family because of a small procedure (this thing again) in a few days.... hello internet-browsing bed rest ; ) Last weekend we caught the bus up to Everett, Washington for a Mother's Day / birthday picnic at the beach with D's relatives.

A Ukrainian church group set up their own picnic about 20 feet away. D's brother-in-law was busy both making our shashlik for our group and watching the church group prepare theirs. "Какой позор", he said, shaking his head, What a shame. I looked... and saw nothing out of the ordinary. He pointed at the woman standing near the shish-kebab grill. "Don't you see that? A woman! Shashlik is a man's job!" ; ) To be fair, his shashlik was quite good.

D came down with the flu recently and spent lots of time napping, so Кит and I had to keep ourselves amused somehow. Although perhaps the amusement was one-sided...

D has since recovered and is back to protect Кит from nonsensical photo shoots.

A card arrived from Kharkiv!

Sightseeing in Las Vegas

Recently I read this idea from a Semester at Sea grad: never let your age get larger than the number of countries you've been to. Awesome, awesome idea. And I feel so behind :p

Still, there's something to be said for going back to a place you visited before. Years ago, my best friend celebrated her birthday in Vegas and let me tag along with her. It was an impressive city the first time around, doubly so this time!

We kept it super-classy by staying at Super 8-

... and, of course, behaving with decorum at all times-

My 2 favorite things about Las Vegas-

Dream vacation!

Back in a long and gray February, we were dreaming of the Lands of Sun... meaning pretty much anywhere south of here. I started to pay closer attention to those "act now- big savings!" emails that always get past the spam filters and this was the result- two perfect long weeks with my favorite guy on the planet : )

Interview with a Kharkiv expat

 Meet João, a friendly Portugese expat currently living in Kharkiv, Ukraine!

João, tell us a little about yourself and your life before Ukraine.

I studied International Relations and this part of Europe got me interested, not only due to its history but also the Slavic culture. Before Ukraine I was not particularly happy with the path my life was taking so I decided to try something different and venture myself into this country. This way I practice international relations every day while learning a language that I love and experiencing this culture. And the best thing is that all this builds up to my medium to long term professional goals.

Why Kharkiv?

You can call it luck. My goal was eastern Ukraine because I wanted to become proficient in Russian language. But now that I’ve visited other Ukrainian cities I have to say I’m really glad I ended up coming to Kharkiv. I like the city a lot. It has something unique to it. It’s not too big and industrialized, it’s historic and cultural but in a different way than western Ukrainian cities I’ve visited before, it has a nice range of leisure places and I find people to be more genuine than in other touristic cities. [Editor's note: agree 100% with all of this!]


Can you remember your first impressions of the country?

My first impressions were something along the lines “Wow, this is nothing like what is portrayed by the western media”. Yes, infrastructures are in bad shape but apart from that I found Kharkiv to be quite a picturesque and cosmopolitan city. Having arrived in spring, I remember walking the neighborhoods and seeing lots of green and flowers, playgrounds everywhere with children and grandmothers watching over them, mothers taking care of their babies. Such a family oriented sight! And because the city is full of Universities, there are many youth events that make Kharkiv a city with a rich social life. As for first impressions on cultural differences, I found people here to be more reserved, yet when they have something to say they say it like they feel it. And contrary to popular belief, people are helpful and kind. Or maybe I’ve just been lucky so far.

Do you find it easy to earn a living in Ukraine?

Snapshots of American Life 3

Portland has been Portland-y this spring.