When a group of my team went on a skii trip to the Carpathian Alps, we stayed in a village near Lvov Oblast (the name of which escapes me) arriving at night when the train from Kamianets-Podilskyi arrived at Lvov. Our driver took us to the local village where we were to stay for the next 3 days and my partners had to share a cabin that had no electricity no heat whatsoever besides the log and furnace. To our surprise, when we arrived to the cabin, it was lit and warm inside, prepared by a local family (Ivanov was their last name) and prepared for us a decent meal to satiate our hunger from our 8 hours journey. We slept that night warmed by each other's body heat and the modest fire in the fireplace.
When I woke up at 6 am, I saw the beautiful Ukrainian sunrise, and was awakened by the chill of the morning in this region of the country. It was June but felt like it was winter in February! I managed to wake up the rest of the group and we all had a simple breakfast: Goat cheese, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, old bread, and cow milk (fresh).
That morning we all went to the village and got settled, took pictures of the local church and tried our basic Ukrainian skills with the local people. I made my way to the local general store and purchased some drinks and chocolates. I was greeted by a very loud, yet warm "Zdraste Wvijdye!" The store owner was quite elderly, I'm guessing he was probably in his mid 70s, but still retained a rather large build and towered at 6'2. His bright blue eyes looked at me with smiling lips as if surprised and intrigued to have seen a Filipino man in his village, no doubt. I replied him and managed to try out my basic Ukrainian and we talked about the skii lodge by yonder. In our conversation he broke out some english (he knew it), so for the rest of our conversation, it was carried in English. He was a veteran of the Soviet Red Army, and his brothers were killed during the Great Patriotic War (the war against Germany)--it was amazing how forward he was in sharing this information to me, a simple stranger, and a foreigner to his land. I was touched. Before I left he asked me, "where are you from?". I answered him, "The Philippines."
He replied back, "Manila!" hahaha. I replied back, "Splasebo! Tak!" He laughed back and we both parted ways.
My impression on the Ukrainian people is a heartful, very humble, yet very deep-rooted bunch of people. I have never seen such humility in a European country as I've seen in the villages of Ukraine. The rest of the tour in the village, I could not help at notice the beauty of the Ukrainian women. I have never seen so many beautiful women in one village. I asked my friends if they were movie actors. Alexiy, a Ukranian Law Student and a friend explained to me, "Women in the villages are all natural. They are very simple minded, and family oriented. No actors here, Al. These are just the examples of Ukrainian beauty!"
I smiled.
Beauty, indeed.
I toured around with Alexiy and a friend I met there, Anastasiya.
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Topic: The Villages of Ukraine (Read 1396 times)