my motherland

Oh what a week! Kiev exceeded my expectations with experiences I never could have imagined.

To be fair, I must start from the beginning and talk about Moscow. Since the Moscow part of the trip was organized by my program we did the obligatory Kremlin/Red Square tour. Luckily the sun decided to grace us with its presence, so the sites were extra magnificent. When we had some free time (which was unfortunately very limited) my friends and I went to a couple of art museums. One museum, made up entirely of the artist Ilya Glazunov’s work was very impressive. He is a very prolific contemporary artist who mostly paints portraitures of famous Russian figures, fictional and real. One room had four gigantic mural/paintings on the subject of Russia, where we spent at least a half hour just sitting and taking them in. They are hard to explain, so I suggest you google Ilya Glazunov Eternal Russia if you want a better idea.

On a whole I didn’t particularly enjoy Moscow but feel I need to go back in order to get a better grasp of it. Although I was a little disappointed, it made me realize that Petersburg was the right city for me to study abroad in, which is a nice feeling to have.

We arrived in Kiev on Sunday and spent the first half of the day at the famous Kievskaya Sophia Cathedral and bell tower, which offered a really nice view with sunny clear weather. The second half of the day was spent wandering around, where we found a really amazing hill overlooking the city. We ended up numbering our scenic views as a joke, and got to about ten by the end of the trip.

The rest of the week we covered the most important sights of Kiev, including their impressive World War II Museum and monuments, Chernobyl Museum and the Pecharskaya Monastery, where there are really cool caves (and apparently very holy—the women had to cover our heads and everyone had to carry candles) with catacombs of famous saints.

Unfortunately we weren’t the only Americans in town. Our very own president was in Kiev on Tuesday, and we got to witness some surprisingly peaceful Communist protests against Bush’s visit and support of Ukraine joining NATO. Seeing the main square in Kiev covered in red flags and “F-ck Bush F-ck NATO” banners was a little unsettling, but very indicative of how the world views our foreign policy. Bush’s support for Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO at this point in time seems to be a feeble minded last ditch PR effort for an administration that has essentially ruined most US foreign policy. Not surprisingly, the bid was rejected because it is premature and unsupported, not only giving Russia even more reasons to laugh at the US but also backtracking Ukraine and Georgia’s eventual path to joining. When I talked to my parents on the phone they told me that Bush said Putin “explains himself very well and always shakes my hand when he’s done.” All I can really say at this point is that next January can’t come soon enough.

Our final day in Ukraine was spent at Chernobyl, in the exclusion zone. On April 26, 1986 a reactor meltdown caused history’s worst nuclear disaster, and the entire surrounding area is closed off without permission. We were able to secure visas, sign waivers after being briefed by the state department and enter the zone. Once we were through two checkpoints, we visited the actual sarcophagus of the reactor. People still work at the plant despite the known toxic levels of radiation, and are only paid double the normal amount. By 2012, a new covering over the exploded reactor should be complete. Ukraine has four nuclear power plants, including the largest in the world.

The reactor was certainly disturbing, but we then continued on to the town of Pripyat, where 50,000 residents were given 36 hours to evacuate. It is a ghost town, a monument to how the human race can be its own worst enemy. Where there should have been a bustling city full of life stood huge cavities of hotels, apartment complexes, fair grounds, restaurants and schools. It was like walking through a nightmare. The life had been sucked out and all that was left were contaminated belongings in crumbling buildings. The worst part by far was an abandoned kindergarten classroom, where you could still see the cribs, shoes and building blocks of the children. To know that their lives were changed irrevocably by a disaster that was highly preventable and man-made is sickening. To make matters even worse, during our visit to the Chernobyl Museum in Kiev we learned that not only did the Soviet Union try to keep Chernobyl a secret, but also outright lied to the crews in charge of cleaning up. The individuals were exposed to levels of radiation that are inhumane, and were told that it wasn’t lethal.

Visiting Chernobyl was a once in a lifetime experience, and I do realize the danger we put ourselves in visiting the site. However, I feel it is crucial to visit such places, acknowledge them and tell others about it. For me, Chernobyl is no longer a page from a history book, it is a place engrained permanently in my mind. We were exposed to radiation, but only about the same amount as an x-ray. The only difference is the type of radiation we were exposed to, which isn’t dangerous unless you are exposed to it repeatedly. It was my first experience at such a place and as much as it made me disgusted with the cruelty of man, it made me realize when such a disaster happens, it should never be forgotten. And Chernobyl seems all too forgotten. There is no sense of justice for the victims of Chernobyl and that is something that is entirely inexcusable. Monuments and museums are crucial but do not change the fact that Ukraine and Russia continue to build and develop nuclear energy, even at the Chernobyl site. The cruelty of such actions is hard to comprehend.

I will leave my experiences at this, since this entry is very long. As always, here are some photos from my trip:

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