Week Ten

Dear Readers,

I think today I will share with you an aspect of Ukrainian culture which until this point hasn't really bothered me that much. But as the temperature rises, this little quirk gets more and more annoying.

You see, in Ukraine, everyone over 25 seems to be deathly afraid of wind blowing in their face. They all fear that they will get sick from it somehow. And for some reason, the belief is that women are more likely to get sick from it.

So what? I will tell you what. Imagine you are in a little bus. Remember those mini shuttle buses that used to go around Square 1 in Mississauga? This little bus can't be much bigger then those shuttle buses. Anyway, it seats 15, including the driver. Now, imagine it is full, and not only is it full, but there are 15 more people standing crammed in there enough to make living in a sardine can seem comfortable. So, there are 30 people in this little bus, some of whom haven't bathed recently. Now, imagine it is, I don't know, the middle of July. And so it is hot! It is warm enough being outside, never mind crammed with 29 other people in this little mini bus. In this little bus, the inside of the windows have all fogged up. Here's the kicker: imagine that none of the windows are open!

This was my ride to the workshop on Friday morning. There was one window at the back open, but a man closed it fearing for his life. I was standing on the other side of the marshrutka, and I opened one of the windows a little bit. Even though it was really warm outside, the wind in my face from the open window felt like a blast of winter, which by the way felt great. And that was when the marshrutka was stopped at a rail crossing! That just tells you how hot it was inside the marshrutka. A few minutes later, a young woman standing beside me tried to close it. She was having a difficult time, which made me happy, so I pretended not to notice. My uncovered arm not pressed up against anything was sweating, so you can only imagine that I was drenched pretty much everywhere else.

I mentioned that everyone over 25 seems to be afraid of wind in their face. I say that because I notice that people my age open the windows. It must have been the images of the flashy American and Western European convertables which converted them. Everyone older than them grew up in a very different world, closed off from everywhere else.

Oh Ukraine, how I will miss Thee.

In other news, this coming Wednesday there will be a group of core-members and assistants from l'Arche in Italy. And so, we will have a big get together with all of the l'Arche workshops in Lviv and the Italian l'Arche members in another city. I don't know where exactly, but it will for sure be a load of fun.

Until next time,
Michael