15 August 2011

CRF: Ukraine

"CRF" is not a crime show you've never heard of, it stands for "Cutting Room Floor." Below are some of our favorite pics that never made the blog. We figured we'd reminisce a little while we're home for a visit. (Back in Europe August 16th).
We were in Ukraine during the frustrating throes of springtime. The weather was warmer than it had been in the countries before, but not by much. The skies were bluer occasionally, but still threatening. We drove on muddy, washed out backroads in the Carpathians, up into deep snowpack and back down to the dry plains of the east. It was a beautiful and vast country, with scuffed edges and flashes of brilliant color.
The Ukrainian flag has two fields - a strip of gold beneath another of blue. It is said to be based on the colors of wheat under a cloudless sky, the simplicity evoking the great flatlands at the country's heart.
Near the fortress of Khotyn we had cups of bitter coffee in this cafe (and home). It was unheated, so we sat in our bundling layers and held our cups in mittened hands. The woman who sold us the coffee had a few blankets and embroidered shirts for sale. Her cat sat on our table and watched us.
A kind of shabby elegance mixed with soviet functionality gave Ukraine a beautiful aesthetic. Layers of history seemed to have decayed into a uniform state where ancient and new seemed equally rusty and appealing.
It felt like the broken and fertile landscape of spring, with chimneys and old antennae rising up from chipped paint like last fall's brown stalks from a bed of dead leaves. We felt that all of the country had just been released from winter's snow and was set to begin blooming.
In Ivano-Frankivsk, a city we liked quite a bit, we poked our cameras through the fence that surrounded this almost barren market. Dark figures moved amongst the flapping tarps of the stands, carrying things from place to place.
In the lower folds of the Carpathians, houses (and churches) were decorated with elaborate tinwork. It seemed that the style and pattern changed from valley to valley.
A book market in Lviv, were the vendors splayed their wares out beneath a statue of a man holding a huge tome. It was too cold to leaf through any of the books (or bother struggling with the cyrillic).
In the Carpathians we stayed at a ski area, but didn't ski. In a nearby town, another ski area was set up - people rented equipment out of the back of old army trucks.
We laughed when we saw this picture because we remembered laughing at the time - the chocolate bars arranged along the bottom of this display were bootleg versions of popular brands, their wrappers just slightly different from the real thing. It struck us as funny at the time; Ukraine is a country so committed to thriftiness and practicality that even the price of a bar of chocolate is worth undercutting.

5 comments:

  1. NOW LIFE IS WORTH LIVING WITH THE HELP OF EDWARD JONES FINANCE {Jonesloanfinance@yahoo.com}

    Hello Every One, My Name is Trevor Cohen live in Texas and life is worth living comfortably for me and my family now. I really have never seen goodness shown to me this much in my life as i am a struggling Dad with three kids and i have been going through a serious problem as my son encountered a terrible accident last week, and the doctors states that he needs to undergo a delicate surgery for him to be able to walk again, and i could not afford the bill for his surgery then i went to the bank for a loan and they turn me down stating that credit score was bad, from there i run to my father and some of my freinds but they could not help, then when i was surfing through the net i came across a loan lender EDWARD JONES who provides loans at an affordable interest rate of 2% and i have been hearing about so many scams on the internet but at this time, in my desperate situation i had no choice than to give it a try and surprisingly it was all like a dream, i received a loan of $85,000.00 and i payed for my son surgery and thank GOD today he is okay and can walk. I could in turn start something profitable with the remaining amount and i said to my self that i will shout loud to the world of the wonders of GOD to me through this GOD fearing lender EDWARD JONES and i will advise anyone in genuine and serious need of loan to contact this GOD fearing Company via: Jonesloanfinance@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. My name is Mrs Aisha Mohamed, am a Citizen Of Qatar.Have you been looking for a loan?Do you need an urgent personal loan or business loan?contact Dr James Eric Finance Home he help me with a loan of $42,000 some days ago after been scammed of $2,800 from a woman claiming to been a loan lender but i thank God today that i got my loan worth $42,000.Feel free to contact the company for a genuine financial service. Email:(financialserviceoffer876@gmail.com) call/whats-App Contact Number +918929509036

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Sir/Madam,

    Do you need a quick long or short term Loan with a relatively low interest rate as low as 3%? We offer business Loan, personal Loan, home Loan, auto Loan,student Loan, debt consolidation Loan e.t.c. no matter your credit score.

    * Personal Loans (Secure and Unsecured)
    * Business Loans (Secure and Unsecured)
    * Consolidation Loan and many more.

    Contact US for more information about Loan offer and we will solve your
    financial problem. contact us via email: markthomasfinanceltd@gmail.com

    Whats-App no +919667837169
    Company Name Ronnie Finance Ltd
    Dr. Mark Thomas

    ReplyDelete
  4. Do you need Finance? Are you looking for Finance? Are you looking for finance to enlarge your business? We help individuals and companies to obtain finance for business expanding and to setup a new business ranging any amount. Get finance at affordable interest rate of 3%, Do you need this finance for business and to clear your bills? Then send us an email now for more information contact us now via (financialserviceoffer876@gmail.com) whats-App +918929509036 Dr James Eric Finance Pvt Ltd Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  5. My name is Samuel, I was in love with my wife and we were married for eight years with a son his is Liam,I loved my wife so much she had access to all my bank account and even my cash app which my accountant agreed to and said it was a great idea, then it took my wife and my accountant two month to get hold of all my properties,all accounts but I had a cash app which they knew nothing about,I was thrown out of my own house was sleeping in a hotel for weeks she also took possession of my son could only see him once a week then I found out she was in love with my accountant all these while so I went online and I came across a Russian private investigator who help me get all my properties and my accounts back even my company back how he did these I don’t know but I gave all the information he asked for and followed all his instructions and now I’m happy my life’s better now.
    Thanks to premiumhackservices@gmail.com
    I just said I should share my own story here
    Thank you

    ReplyDelete