Berlin to Odessa Day 11, L'viv (Львів)
Today we made it to a new country with new currency, new language, new time zone, new passport stamps, and new people.
But first we had some time in Przemysl with our host, Aneta, who gave us a fabulous tour of her elementary/middle school where she is a math teacher. We got to see the inner workings of a Polish public school and even gave a presentation about our bike tour to 3 of the classes - all of the students, ages 10-14 had a pretty solid grip on English (they start at age 8) and I don't think they had any problems understanding us. They enjoyed our stories about biking, and the different Polish towns we got to go through, as well as hearing us try to pronounce the different foods.
As a teacher, Aneta thought this would be a good experience for the students as well - besides the geography lesson which it didn't seem like they needed - she said it was good for them to experience other cultures, people from other countries, and some concrete examples of people who do not speak Polish, which gives them a good reason to use their English. She really goes above and beyond being a standard teacher and anyone would be lucky to be able to learn in such an environment. She showed us pictures of a lock-in that teachers do with students before the exams where students stay in the school all night with the teachers to help them study different subjects, and even watch some movies from the books they have read - and then they all sleep in the gymnasium.
We said some goodbyes, sad that we couldn't stay for longer, but the road was calling us and it just means that one day we will have to return.
We did, however, stop by the center of town to check it out a little bit, eat a Zapiekanka and test what Aneta referred to as "the best ice cream in Poland." It is an Italian themed ice cream parlor called Fiore. I don't know if I could take ice cream favorites by calling it the best, let's leave it at "some call it the best." In any case, it was freaking delicious.
And it was just the kick of sugar that we needed to bike 100 kilometers to our next destination.
We arrived at the pedestrian passport control and I got stamped and passed with no problem.
Graham, on the other hand, got the once-over from the guard who inspected every page of his passport with a blacklight and magnifying glass while demanding other forms of ID. Apparently Irish people are threatening to the Ukraine?
The road was very nice, apparently newly renovated. We did pass one construction point where the guard waved us trough and we suddenly found ourselves biking head on with a steamroller because there was traffic coming in the opposite lane. We avoided this hazard and I guess putting some hot asphalt on our tires can only strengthen them.
When we arrived in L'viv, our first task was to call our host with whom we had not had contact in about a week. I went into what I thought was a shop that would sell phone cards and found myself standing across a table where 6 very drunk Ukrainians were staring me down. I went to the cash register which was located above a freezer case filled only with vodka bottles and sausages:
Ok, I guess they have credit, only because I saw the sign outside. But nobody came to help me so I walked around a bit, staring down the other people until I was assisted. I took the SIM card from my phone and tried what I thought in my head was Ukranian but was probably more akin to mangled Polish - and even with that it probably was closer to incomprehensible English than anything else. "Dobry Den" (which I think I picked up from some Czech rap, in real Ukranian, hello is "Pre veet," so yeah, bad start). "Karte, telefon? Sto?" Which I was guessing is Russian for "here" but my knowledge of rap in these languages only goes so far. She said something very swiftly in Ukrainian which caused my eyes to pop out of my head and I'm pretty sure I just managed to mouth the word "wow," as in (wow, I have absolutely no clue what you just said, but I probably should have asked for one of these vodka bottles to have any chance of understanding it). She pointed to a machine behind me which apparently would vend SIM cards. But the machine was more complicated than the language itself and after studying it for about 5 minutes I just started hitting buttons and pressing random numbers under the watchful eyes of the drunk people to my left. To no avail, nobody came to my aid, and an failed to buy a SIM card.
I went to another shop further down the road with much better success. Except that once the guy realized I did not speak Ukrainian (took a while for some reason) the only other language we could converse in was Spanish. Fortunately I managed to squeak out my calling plan preferences and purchase a card for 15 Grimna (about $1.75).
We then were collected by our wonderful host, Marta who whisked us away to her home and gave us a brief history lesson about L'Viv, Ukraine, as well as her current situation managing two of her family-owned pharmacies (including stories of her being shaken down by auditors for money!). She is a free enterprise manager in a system that seems to reflect a blend of communism and socialism in some strange kind of balance. She is an extremely hard worker yet still has the time to welcome us into her home.
Tomorrow she has arranged for one of her friends to guide us around the city and we will meet up after she closes up shop to see some more of the nooks and crannies that L'viv has to offer.
But first we had some time in Przemysl with our host, Aneta, who gave us a fabulous tour of her elementary/middle school where she is a math teacher. We got to see the inner workings of a Polish public school and even gave a presentation about our bike tour to 3 of the classes - all of the students, ages 10-14 had a pretty solid grip on English (they start at age 8) and I don't think they had any problems understanding us. They enjoyed our stories about biking, and the different Polish towns we got to go through, as well as hearing us try to pronounce the different foods.
As a teacher, Aneta thought this would be a good experience for the students as well - besides the geography lesson which it didn't seem like they needed - she said it was good for them to experience other cultures, people from other countries, and some concrete examples of people who do not speak Polish, which gives them a good reason to use their English. She really goes above and beyond being a standard teacher and anyone would be lucky to be able to learn in such an environment. She showed us pictures of a lock-in that teachers do with students before the exams where students stay in the school all night with the teachers to help them study different subjects, and even watch some movies from the books they have read - and then they all sleep in the gymnasium.
We said some goodbyes, sad that we couldn't stay for longer, but the road was calling us and it just means that one day we will have to return.
We did, however, stop by the center of town to check it out a little bit, eat a Zapiekanka and test what Aneta referred to as "the best ice cream in Poland." It is an Italian themed ice cream parlor called Fiore. I don't know if I could take ice cream favorites by calling it the best, let's leave it at "some call it the best." In any case, it was freaking delicious.
And it was just the kick of sugar that we needed to bike 100 kilometers to our next destination.
We arrived at the pedestrian passport control and I got stamped and passed with no problem.
Graham, on the other hand, got the once-over from the guard who inspected every page of his passport with a blacklight and magnifying glass while demanding other forms of ID. Apparently Irish people are threatening to the Ukraine?
The road was very nice, apparently newly renovated. We did pass one construction point where the guard waved us trough and we suddenly found ourselves biking head on with a steamroller because there was traffic coming in the opposite lane. We avoided this hazard and I guess putting some hot asphalt on our tires can only strengthen them.
When we arrived in L'viv, our first task was to call our host with whom we had not had contact in about a week. I went into what I thought was a shop that would sell phone cards and found myself standing across a table where 6 very drunk Ukrainians were staring me down. I went to the cash register which was located above a freezer case filled only with vodka bottles and sausages:
Ok, I guess they have credit, only because I saw the sign outside. But nobody came to help me so I walked around a bit, staring down the other people until I was assisted. I took the SIM card from my phone and tried what I thought in my head was Ukranian but was probably more akin to mangled Polish - and even with that it probably was closer to incomprehensible English than anything else. "Dobry Den" (which I think I picked up from some Czech rap, in real Ukranian, hello is "Pre veet," so yeah, bad start). "Karte, telefon? Sto?" Which I was guessing is Russian for "here" but my knowledge of rap in these languages only goes so far. She said something very swiftly in Ukrainian which caused my eyes to pop out of my head and I'm pretty sure I just managed to mouth the word "wow," as in (wow, I have absolutely no clue what you just said, but I probably should have asked for one of these vodka bottles to have any chance of understanding it). She pointed to a machine behind me which apparently would vend SIM cards. But the machine was more complicated than the language itself and after studying it for about 5 minutes I just started hitting buttons and pressing random numbers under the watchful eyes of the drunk people to my left. To no avail, nobody came to my aid, and an failed to buy a SIM card.
I went to another shop further down the road with much better success. Except that once the guy realized I did not speak Ukrainian (took a while for some reason) the only other language we could converse in was Spanish. Fortunately I managed to squeak out my calling plan preferences and purchase a card for 15 Grimna (about $1.75).
We then were collected by our wonderful host, Marta who whisked us away to her home and gave us a brief history lesson about L'Viv, Ukraine, as well as her current situation managing two of her family-owned pharmacies (including stories of her being shaken down by auditors for money!). She is a free enterprise manager in a system that seems to reflect a blend of communism and socialism in some strange kind of balance. She is an extremely hard worker yet still has the time to welcome us into her home.
Tomorrow she has arranged for one of her friends to guide us around the city and we will meet up after she closes up shop to see some more of the nooks and crannies that L'viv has to offer.
Position:вул. Коперника,Lemberg,Ukraine
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