PART II
couch-surfing
google it if you dont know it. 'the latest trend in making connections - forget facebook'. or: 'a worldwide network for making connections between travellers and the local communities they visit'. and it's good. highly recommended. even though i had been sceptical as i'm generally tired of meeting new people all the time.
on 6 september, sabrina (on her last night), arvin and i joined the athens couch-surfers on a night out in the cute little neighbourhood of plaka followed by hours and hours of squatting on the rocks below the acropolis, playing the guitar, gazing at the illuminated city and - in my case - trying to secure myself a few couches for the coming nights. with amazing results - i secured 3 potential couches and another few phone numbers of people available for showing me around and having coffee.
for the record, all athenians, and not just couch-surfers, were incredibly generous with letting me use their mobiles to make quick phonecalls to make arrangements. this applied to random people on the street, on the tram, in cafes sipping their frappes - i always found someone, usually the first or second person i asked (!) who would, without missing a beat, hand me his/her phone to make a quick call. and no one ever accepted any money. unthinkable in london, where people would suspect i'm trying to steal their identity, make a call to tokyo, or run off with their phone to buy myself a shot of heroine.
but back to our romantic night by the acropolis. around 3 in the morning, that night eventually ended with me bidding my goodbyes, and - right before leaving - making the acquaintance of a guy who introduced himself as nektarius. and off i went and no longer thought of him.
getting lucky
and now - and here comes the story to tell my grandchildren: two days later - arvin had just left for london -, i was standing with my backpack at a metro station called megaros moussikis, fairly central, but not one of the obvious meetings points like syntagma or monastiraki. at that station, i was supposed to meet with a guy named theoharis, a big blondish teddybear type of a couch-surfer and major foreign language talent who had kindly agreed to host me for that night. and with my gaze fixed on the escalators, i waited. and after about 5 mins, my eyes met somebody else's and i recognised nektarius, the chap i had met below the acropolis. i was very surprised to have 'run into an acquaintance' in a city where i didn't know anyone. and he seemed very amused as well and half jokingly suggested i stay with him instead of with theorharis.
and well, it turned out that 1. theoharis had been waiting on the other side of the street, 2. nektarius had come to that place by pure coincidence to meet with another guy to go to a concert with, and that 3. theoharis, nektarius and the third guy all knew each other, but had no idea of each other's respective agreements.
now, for the londoners among you: athens is not exactly a village. we're talking 5 million inhabitants. now imagine not knowing anyone in london, but really no one, then meeting 10 people at an event on, say, leicester square, and then - two days later, running into one of them at the entrance of, say, edgware road tube station, and learning that another two people were on the other street-side.
so. at the end, we decided i'd first drop my stuff off at nektarius' place, half way between megaros moussikis and the concert, and then we'd all go to the concert.
and that arrangement seemed to suit everyone, and the night eventually unfolded with the four of us, soon joined by another few friends of theirs, sitting in an open air amphitheatre, listening to music by nikos ksadakis, rebetika and langourous sounds from magna grecia and relishing the velvety air of a warm summer's night.
and even luckier
and now - to make a long story short and as you may have guessed: i ended up staying at nektarius' place for more than just one night. and spent the next three days walking about athens in the mornings and sitting in his car, listening to more nikos ksadakis and going on road-trips to nearby beaches (luccia) and sightseeing spots in the afternoons and evenings.
and after three more days in and around athens, i decided that what i really needed was an island. reif fuer die insel. and suggested we go to an island together. and, without missing a beat, he said 'sure, let's go to paros for the weekend. that's where my mother and brother live. there we can stay for free and my mother will cook for us.' too good to be true.
and that's exactly what happened. i left even the next day, a week day. i literally escaped athens, which had started to stress me out bigtime with its hugeness and loudness and horrid buses. i took the ferry from piraeus, spent 3 hours relaxing on deck, and then arrived at paros, in paricchia, where nektarius' brother anthonis picked me up at the harbour and drove me to their family home. there, i was assigned a large space of my own, complete with ensuite bathroom, unlimited supply of steaming hot water, a spacious fridge and kitchenette, fresh crisp sheets on a double bed, balcony and washing line. all at 5 minutes walk from the beach, and 10 mins from the stupendous old town. and i could hardly believe my luck.
paros
but it was even to get better. two days later, nektarius joined me and we spent 2 amazing days between the old town of paricchia, where he showed me the beautiful ancient church and site of pilgrimage in the centre, and inside that church the seats with the names of two of his relatives engraved on the backs of them. also, we visited the fishermen's village of aliki where we had dinner, and, the next day, the village of naussa - a jewel of a jolly little place - with colourful houses and fishnets and little churches with lots of burning candles, glittering icons and sleeping kittens. from naussa, we took a little boat to lageri beach, a far-away and pristine spot on a peninsula, where we spent a day swimming, soaking up sunshine and wading in water as clean and low as in a bathtub and feeling like robinson crusoe.
late on sunday night, nektarius had to leave, and i stayed. well integrated into the family by now (well.. (-;) i spent the next few days discussing important issues with nektarius' mother maria, like where to buy the best kadajfi... or karpusi... or stafilji... (turkish pastries, watermelon, grapes), how to eat the kounoupidhi, whether krio or zesti or with ladhi or limuni (cauliflower, hot or cold, with oil or lemon)... how to prepare the psari (fish)... and whether, at a particular time of the day, to call nektarius sto spiti or at his dhulia (at home or at work).
other than that, she told me that until 2004, foreigners from england, germany, france and italy had come to paros in clusters - but that ever since, tourism has severely declined, which she attributed to the introduction of the euro - and, since, tourists going to turkey or egypt instead. she'd write down '1985 - 2004' on a piece of paper and under that '2005 - 2008' and then gesticulate and explain - and i'd have no trouble understand. as a matter of fact, i didn't see that many foreign tourists - at least not to the point of feeling overwhelmed by them. but then again, i was there at the end of the season. apparently, the western tourists have been replaced by rich and often rude athenians who all buy or build property and hence do not need accomodation. the result is that several times every day, when the ferries from athens arrive, clusters of 'kamaki', blokes 'pulling' tourists to their rooms, are basically falling over each other at the harbour to get their meagre share of what is left of tourists needing accomodation. and the prices are by no means particularly low. a spacious double bed room with ensuite bathroom and kitchenette like the one i was given, would have cost 70 euros a night in july and august and 45 euros in june and september.
olla dzaba
and i got all that for free. and that pretty much saved my holiday. on my fifth day, i tried to give kyria maria a 50 euro note just to cover the odd expenses, which she vehemently declined. then, when she wasn't looking, i placed it next to her telephone - just to have her knock on my door about 10 mins later, with a disgusted expression on her face, holding the 'dirty' bill wrapped in a napkin, and throwing it onto my kitchen floor. and she said 'byebye' and hurried back upstairs. after a split-second of shock, i quickly closed the door behind her and almost laughed my head off.
my next attempt at giving them something back consisted in buying the family some baklava. not just any baklava, but first rate baklava (and i like to think i'm a specialist (-;). and kyria maria, her friend angela and myself sitting upstairs on the terrace and discussing at what bakery i had bought it. megalo, magazin, fornaris, platia, kentro, banka (big, shop, bakery, square, centre, bank) - and a lot of gesticulating did the trick. and they congratulated me on my choice. and later that night, when that baklava had been washed down with copious amounts of wine and water and digested with the help of silly jokes told by ladi, anthonis' albanian mate and neighbour, maria had the grace to once again thank me for the pastries.
i was sincerely amazed by the family's kindness and the way in which they shared their kounoupidhi and psari and krasi with me - even though they were very clearly struggling. for illustration, when kyria maria once boiled a couple of eggs for me, she first placed the eggs in a small pot with water into the warm oven where the water could warm up a little, and only after about 5 minutes, she took out the pot, sized it up, decided against the stove, and instead put it onto a tiny gas cooker - all to save the odd penny of electricity.
on my last day, i finally resolved to do business with anthonis instead, and attempted handing him the 50 euro note. at first, he wouldn't accept it either, but when i - inspired by his mother - dropped it into his pocket and acted annoyed, he no longer resisted. and everyone seemed happy. and with hindsight, i am still amazed at the family's generosity - those 35 pounds really being just symbolic - for a 9-day stay.
terrace bliss
what else can i add? that kyria maria was really a primary school teacher when she was younger. and that anthonis was glued to the TV all day, half-worrying about the global stockmarket meltdown and the collapse of a major insurance company. and that i loved sitting on their terrace in the evenings when it was still warm, joining anthonis and his mates ladi and yiannis, and maria and angela, in their gossip and trying to get the gist of what they were saying - such as when angela, who cleans dhomatije (rooms) for a living, had been accused of having stolen somebody's suitcase, and ladi, laughing his head off, suggested she gets someone to 'look into the coffee' to tell her who really stole it as to exonerate herself.
at times anthonis tested his broken english on me, at times ladi showed off his bad italian, at again other times i simply understood what they were saying, and at again other times, maria or angela used her hands and feet to explain. what helped was the occasional italian word being used by the family - such as valitsia (suitcase) or coverta (blanket) - remnants of the venetian rule of the cyclades islands. and of course the odd turkish words like dzaba - for free - being the same in bosnian. later i was told that angela was really from georgia, the former soviet union - and had come to greece only about 15 years ago - which, judging from her rapid banter in impeccable greek as far as i could tell (and i did hear ladi's accent) and balkanic temperament, i would never have guessed.
beach bliss
in daytime, i rent a mountain bike for 5 euros a day (!) and explored nearby beaches like the one at agia irini, about 10 km south-west of paricchia. there i made the acquaintance of a happy threesome of greeks, consisting of a guy named thomas, born and bred on the island, and his two mates penelope and alexandra, originally from athens. it turns out many athenians have come to live on paros - buying property and moving there - just because they're tired of athens. i met thomas and co. on three consecutive days. on the third day, he dived into the water equipped with a big butcher's knife, and came out with a bag full of ahinos (urchins), a delicacy tasting of mussles and crammed with zinc and other minerals - sold for lots of money in the restaurants on the island - and we ate them on the beach.
at agia irini beach, i tried to cure my chronic sunshine deficit - catching up on three lousy london summers and probably a vitamine D insufficiency (-; - and thoroughly soaked up as much sun as i could. on my last day, i even tried to get myself a sunburn on my whitest and waxiest bits - hoping it would turn into a bit of a tan later on. and i spent as much time as i could swimming and floating in the soft and velvety, clear blue water, trying to imprint its silkyness and smoothness on my skin's 'sensory memory'...
back to athina
after 9 days altogether, i took another ferry and left the island. and made my way back to the capital.
and there i had another 4 days to go before catching my flight back to london. and - hey, i really need to wrap this up now - those last days nektarius and i spent having dinners at a place called barbayan (?) at exarhia..., driving to a most amazing couch-surfing party with overnight stay at the house of a couch-surfing member on the peninsular of evia... and, on my last night, going to a yummy and yet improvised dinner party at the home of an absolutely crazy and funny and very talented chef and couch-surfing member named stefanos.
and talking about delicious food, i can't possibly not mention that at 'barbayan' at exarhia we ate the most luscious fried aubergines with friend aubergines topped with fried aubergines... and other tantalising and orgasmic (ok, now i'm exaggerating...) 'lathera'... - my new favourite word in greek - ... veggies and other bits cooked in oil... papucaki, fasolakia, filled aubergines, green beans, stuffed wineleaves, tomatoes and so on...
- and i knew what i had come to greece for.
but hey, let that be the end of this - hopefully not too boring - tale.
my little greek odysee. which ended up lasting 30 days. and instead of eating up my money, allowed me to save some.
and let's hope i will have the opportunity to come back - which i'm sure will be the case.
and last, but by no means least - i almost forgot to mention that on the morning of the day i met the couch-surfers and nektarius below the acropolis, i had finally gotten my act together and looked up the athenian branch of the SGI - the buddhist organisation i belong to - and joined them for their saturday morning 'service' or meditation. maybe not a coincidence. certainly not in buddhist terms.
hugs from islington!
isabella
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Greece
PART I
escape from london
tired from my job-hunt in london and with very little money, i finally boarded my flight to athens, athina, on 26 august, which i had booked several months earlier, to make my way to nafplio, a small town on the peloponnese, where, on 30 august, two greek friends from london were to get married. i was very excited, and hoping to finally get my share of something resembling a bit of a summer. august 2008 in london had been worse than august 2007 and august 2007 had been about as bad as a summer could possibly get. with lumpy grey skies hanging low over an edgy city and depressed people walking about, putting on fake smiles, and going to the gym everyday to beat their chronic winter-blues.
so, the prospect of getting away from it all, to athina, to greece, to a mediterranean country, to another life on another planet - held a promise nothing short of salvation and deliverance. deliverance from all the shabbiness and constant frustrations of my life in london, perpetually closing doors and antagonisingly polite voices carrying messages of rejection on topics as varied as bank accounts, overdrafts, appointments at the eastman dental hospital, a deal with virgin mobile and jobs applied for through recruitment agencies. hick-ups and negativity all over the place - high time for a serious shift.
so, when on a cold and ugly 25 august i locked the door behind my tiny ground floor flat and walked out of the council estate, i felt that my 'real life' was finally dawning, and a snappy little voice inside me told me that i wouldn't be back any time soon.
petros
at gatwick airport, i was surrounded by an army of overweight red-faced and white-bossomed english people, off to their late summer holiday. and the only greek person i spotted was a handsome young fellow, standing out somehow, in his mid-or late twenties, and i decided i'd sit next to him. and that's what happended, and i spent the next 4 and a half hours (the flight was delayed) learning my first greek phrases. starting with 'then eho pai pote stin ellada' or 'i have never been to greece before' and ending with 'to megalo tondro elleniko gamo' or 'my big fat greek wedding'. and obviously - as i always do - i played my little game freaking people out with my good pronunciation and speed at which i'd pick up even lenghty phrases (which doesn't mean i'll still remember it 10 minutes later). and it worked this time like it always does.
and the guy, petros was his name, loosened up and we dived straight into a fun conversation about everything and anything and the greeks and the english and whether he preferred london over athina or the other way around. and he shared his thoughts about greek doctors taking money from greek patients even if it should be the greek NHS paying for it. and about greeks in greece being generally lazy and lacking in ambition and work ethics. and about greeks in greece being worlds apart from the greeks in london. and, about the fact that 'europe is feeding greece' and has been for a while. and, last, but not least, about greeks having huge inferiority complexes when going abroad and behaving accordingly. and i was amused. and beginning to ask myself whether petros was greek at all. needless to say that he didn't smoke or drink black coffee. and that his only distinctively greek vice was to eat souvlaki at thanassis, famous-infamous for its juicy and soft meat chops ('no one knows what they put in it')...
and i held that against something i had read on a Greek website, written by another Greek traveller, a certain Costas, who sustained that 'in greece, everything is better than in holland' - yes, he was comparing it to holland -' except for gouda and salaries'. and i felt tempted to substitute gouda with cheddar, fish 'n chips or guiness. and trade that in for better weather, food, friendships, music, sex, prices, beaches and parties. or whatever the guy had been thinking of.
no plan's land
i finally landed in athina, and to cut a long story short - because otherwise i'll still be sitting here tomorrow, telling, re-telling the ins and outs of every encounter with every greek person i met there - i will skip a few episodes, and get straight to the gist of what i'm here to tell.
when i first got to greece on 26 august, i didn't have much of an idea of what i'd be doing there. i just knew that upon my arrival i'd be staying with my old friend/acquaintance katerina for two nights. and that on thursday 28, i would move on to nafplio, where another wedding guest, renia, whom i had met at the groom's name-day party in london half a year earlier, had reserved a two-bed room for three nights for us. on saturday 30 at 6pm 'when the heat from the day is waning' - yes, greek people marry in the evenings - i knew there would be the wedding itself. and on sunday 31, i suspected we'd sleep all day.
and after that, i had no plans. and still another 7 days to go. my return flight was on 6 september. and i was worried about not getting what i wanted. that is, the real thing - the real greek experience - the real mediterranean experience, eastern mediterranean that is - with all its madness, exhilaration and crudeness. and sanity-restoring sincerity and straightforwardness. and kindness and generosity. and that different rythm to life, that rythm i knew from bosnia and serbia and italy. that heart-warming and energising way of interacting, cracking jokes and having a good time - and not just over a bucketful of pints after a certain hour, but throughout the day, as a way of life.
now, of course i had an inkling that the 'deliverance' from my woes in london and a real sense of recreation and recharging my batteries wouldn't have kicked in after only 12 days, arrival and return days included. and yet, i had no one to stay with or travel with for longer, and hence, when booking my flight, pressed '6 september', with a tear in one eye, and hoped for, against all odds, to somehow get what i wanted anyway.
and then, the day of my departure, i decided i'd have a great holiday no matter what.
and this is how things unfolded:
athina and nafplio
when i first got to athens, i was sick. temperature and a throat infection. and so i spent two days and two nights tucked up in katerina's guest bed in her flat in kifissia, a posh neighbourhood in the north of Athens, trying to get better and telling myself not to fret too much about losing 2 of my precious 12 days. the latter not being that easy.
on day 3 i eventually took the tube to piraeus where i boarded a train to korinthos, and from there a bus to nafplio, where i arrived after a 3,4 hour trip altogether. in nafplio, i found the room renia had booked at hotel athina and spent the rest of the day in bed - sweating, coughing, sneezing - not a lot of fun - and renia, who arrived shortly after me - putting up with it heroically.
the next two days were spent sleeping, visiting mykene, sleeping again, skipping epidavros, sleeping some more and, on friday 29 august, eventually joining the rest of the wedding guests from out of town on a pre-wedding night get-together on the beach... and, later that night, an attempt at checking out the local clubbing scene consisting of two or three bars altogether, one next to another, outdoors, on an elevated sidewalk leading to yet another beach - with a splendid view of a most beautiful skyline over a night-black sea and glittering lights on the horizon. no wonder they say that nafplio is one of the most beautiful towns in greece.
and i'd have plenty of occasion to convince myself of that again over the coming week. nafplio is made up of narrow streets laced with pretty little houses converted into small museums, squares made out of polished marble, shining in the morning sun and in the evening lights, with couples, parents and small children playing on them until late at night, and countless little boutiques selling crafts and jewelry at every corner, very much like in sarajevo. no wonder nafplio had been greece's first capital, and some leaflet referred to it as greece's 'most elegant city'.
my favourite spots in nafplio were the beautiful little church of agia paneia (?)where i lit many a candle, the icecream place selling home-made icecream tasting of kadajfi, and, next door, the guy making beautiful bright blue kombolois out of miniature dice, spelling out people's names.
D&G's big fat greek wedding
and then the wedding itself. well, if i was to recount it all, i'd still be here tomorrow morning. here, just a few highlights.
the 'stag' and 'hen' dos: dimitris in his underwear getting dressed by his pontiac-samothracean cousins. georgia-cinderella, surrounded by her numerous arcadian-aeginean family, trying on her satin shoes and writing her single girl-friends' names on their soles. dimitris being fed big bites of sweet round pies and having to pay money to get his second shoe. georgia riding off in a horse-drawn carriage.
the service: at the church of ai-yiannis. really beautiful. byzantine, ancient. priests in heavily adorned, embroidered robes walking around in circles, chanting, swaying incense, placing wraths on the bride and grooms' necks and shoulders, candles flickering, more chanting, more incense, the lithurgy, the rings, the vows - i felt elated. and yet almost fainted as i was shaken by another bout of temperature and other flu-like symptoms.
the feast: great location by the seaside and the sunset and the breaking waves, great food with luscious bits of baked aubergine and all sorts of other delicacies, great and crazy guests from both north-western and south-eastern europe, great dancing and live music from thrace and the peloponnese - and everyone who was there, will have taken home their own unforgettable memories.
more nafplio
and then, at some point, the beautiful big fat greek wedding was behind us and we all said goodbye. and the next day, my cold was waning (the day after the wedding - what outrageous timing) - and my friend sabrina from london had finally, very last-minute, booked her flight to athens and joined me in nafplio on sunday 31st august. and... i was delighted.
to make a long story short - sabrina and i basically spent the next 5 days lazing around nafplio, with no desire to do much else than sleep in the morning, sleep again in the afternoon, and drag ourselves to arvanitsia beach at some point in between. there we tried chatting up the occasional, unresponsive italian - one of them, a lonesome ranger archeologist whom we crossed at least twice a day -, and kept running into georgia's mother sitting at the same cafe at the same time every afternoon - once with her son, once with her husband and twice with her friend - just when we made our way back from the beach to the hotel. eventually, we were withdrawing to our daily evening meal trying out another restaurant every night - where we spent our money on wine and fish and - of course - baked aubergines and papucaki (i'm a junkie)... and discussed the 'events' of the day.
our favourite topics: 1. why the lonesome ranger italian was resisting our charm. 2. what life must be like being georgia's mother who, every day of her life, has the luxury of sitting herself down after a certain hour at a cafe facing the seafront, breathing the salt, letting her mind wander, and watching her friends and family walk by and sit down next to her. 3. what exactly the albanian waiter lendi meant when he invited us to 'join him in his house' later that first evening. 4. whether to finally take a bus to mistra or olympia the next morning or just keep lazing around in nafplio. we never made much progress on any of those subjects, which got drowned in buckets full of wine and the odd ouzo on the house, and we took them up again the next evening.
and eventually time was up and sabrina and i returned to athens, allowing her to catch her flight home and me, to change mine from the 6th to the 17th. what exactly i had in mind and how i intended to spend those remaining 10 days, i still didn't know. i just knew that my holiday had just about started now and that this was not the time to go back.
persian connection
and here begins the persian chapter of my little greek saga. on 5 september, i met up with arvin, my persian friend from london, who was staying at the flat of his designer cousin sofia in athens. sofia being absent and the flat being inhabited solely by arvin and his other cousin mamad, we divided the space up between the three of us. to my benefit - being good boys from good families, arvin and mamad gave me the only proper bed in the flat and themselves slept on couches and cushions on the ground.
the flat was near omonia. on alkiviadou street. off III septembriou, gourmeli, stournari, aristotelou, losios, marni, makedonias - all those being names of streets in the neighbourhood that i frantically typed into my mobile on my first morning, hoping to find my way back to the flat later that day. and nevertheless, for some reason, kept turning around in circles and getting lost every single day. all streets, all junctions, all houses and shops looking the same, all huge and ugly and overwhelming and noisy.
i spent the next three days getting stressed at internet cafes over a job application, and, other than that, watched persian music TV via satellite and the boys (mock-) lap-dancing in the sitting room. in the afternoons, arvin, mamad, their friends ali and ahmed and i usually took the tram at syntagma square and went down to the beach, towards glifada, but getting off at edem. now, edem was - compared to nafplio or - later - paros - hardly worth mentioning. and yet, when arriving at that beach late those afternoons, together with other athenians coming straight from work, feeling the warmth of the sea even at that time of the day and swimming into the sunset - was an experience in its own right. and on the beach the boys were cracking jokes in persian, arvin played translator and i tried my best not to mix up my newly acquired greek with my even fresher - few hours' old - 5 words of persian - and not to judge those kids for not having bothered to learn any english, let alone greek in the days or weeks they had been here.
immigrants
persians, it turns out, are quite a common sight in athens these days - with a lot of immigrants from asia and africa populating the place, including somalis, nigerians, afghans and iraqis... - most of them clustered together in the big cities of athens, thessaloniki and patras. in athens, most of them are concentrated around omonia square - precisely where i was staying. with a lot of crime going on - drugs and prostitition mainly - on the other side of the square, in the area flanking the acropolis, on geraniou and socratelis streets and theatrou square (or similar). in 'my' neighbourhood, around the flat, i saw a lot of ukrainians and arabs - one arab being the owner of 'my' internet cafe and one ukrainian the manager. and many more lingering about in and around an array of cafes - cafe sevastopol on one corner, a falafel and shisha place on another one. and the odd nigerian prostitute on a nearby sidewalk later that night.
in a conversation with a greek social worker later that week, i was told that greece has a serious immigration problem and that the greek authorities aren't doing much to support the immigrants, but rather deliberately neglect them as to signal them that they don't have a future in their country. as a result, the immigrants fall prey to organised criminals, also immigrants, who - in exchange for their services in drug or prostition deals - provide them with free accomodation and pay for their utility bills.
the ukrainians and albanians seem to yet enjoy a special status. being europeans, they tend to have learnt the language - greek - in record speed - many of them speaking greek without an accent. and many a ukrainian woman - of all ages - seems to have found herself a decent greek husband. albanians are a different category still - most of the ones i saw being men doing odd jobs from olive picking to building and painting. and it seems that they are only now - after almost two decades since they started coming - beginning to shed their bad reputation. the greeks seem to have concluded at last that albanians aren't the worst thing that has happened to them, and that many albanians are infact honest and hardworking people, and - in terms of lifestyle and mentality - very similar to the greeks themselves.
athehran
'my' persians however didn't have any ambitions of staying in the country. they were there on holiday. going west from iran - like ali who was there for just two weeks and heading straight to the army upon his return to tehran. or going south-east from london - like arvin, who clearly felt nostalgic about iran and anything resembling it. and athens, so i was told, resembled it a great deal.
we spent the next few days living on 2,5 euros a day - 1,50 euros being spent on our daily big fat ration of falafel acquired in the iraqi falafel shop on losios street - and for the rest chewing on pita bread - on the beach mainly -, hot peppers and cheap chocolate chip cookies. the main stimulation to our stomachs being not food, but ali's jokes.
like this one: on a taxiride around tehran, an american asks the taxidriver about a certain building on a street corner, and the taxi driver replies 'yes, that is the soandso building - built 2000 years ago'. the american replies - 'pa, in america, we'd build that in just 2 months', and they ride on.
on another streetcorner, the american inquires about another building - the answer is, again 'that building is 500 years old' and the american says - 'pa, in america we'd build that in just 1 month'.
on a third street corner, the american asks about yet another building. and the taxi driver turns his head, looks, looks again, and suddenly says, 'i have no idea - it wasn't there 1 hour ago!'
and so on. one joke upon another. relentlessly. ali had a whole collection of them, most of them playing on ethnic themes - taking the p... out of the persians, the turks, the ... (forgot the name of that group). over and over again, in all possible fashions - some made up at the spur of the moment, some being good old classics. and it was hilarious. note that out of the three guys present in that greek tram that one afternoon, one was pars (arvin), one turk (ali) and one ... (that third group - ahmed). and all spoke persian - albeit ahmed with a funny accent. and we laughed our heads off. and thoroughly did away with every form of political correctness.
on monday 8 september, arvin flew back to london and i decided to move on, too. and embark on part II of my greek experience. which - i didn't know that yet - would cause me to change my flight again - and last for another full two weeks.
escape from london
tired from my job-hunt in london and with very little money, i finally boarded my flight to athens, athina, on 26 august, which i had booked several months earlier, to make my way to nafplio, a small town on the peloponnese, where, on 30 august, two greek friends from london were to get married. i was very excited, and hoping to finally get my share of something resembling a bit of a summer. august 2008 in london had been worse than august 2007 and august 2007 had been about as bad as a summer could possibly get. with lumpy grey skies hanging low over an edgy city and depressed people walking about, putting on fake smiles, and going to the gym everyday to beat their chronic winter-blues.
so, the prospect of getting away from it all, to athina, to greece, to a mediterranean country, to another life on another planet - held a promise nothing short of salvation and deliverance. deliverance from all the shabbiness and constant frustrations of my life in london, perpetually closing doors and antagonisingly polite voices carrying messages of rejection on topics as varied as bank accounts, overdrafts, appointments at the eastman dental hospital, a deal with virgin mobile and jobs applied for through recruitment agencies. hick-ups and negativity all over the place - high time for a serious shift.
so, when on a cold and ugly 25 august i locked the door behind my tiny ground floor flat and walked out of the council estate, i felt that my 'real life' was finally dawning, and a snappy little voice inside me told me that i wouldn't be back any time soon.
petros
at gatwick airport, i was surrounded by an army of overweight red-faced and white-bossomed english people, off to their late summer holiday. and the only greek person i spotted was a handsome young fellow, standing out somehow, in his mid-or late twenties, and i decided i'd sit next to him. and that's what happended, and i spent the next 4 and a half hours (the flight was delayed) learning my first greek phrases. starting with 'then eho pai pote stin ellada' or 'i have never been to greece before' and ending with 'to megalo tondro elleniko gamo' or 'my big fat greek wedding'. and obviously - as i always do - i played my little game freaking people out with my good pronunciation and speed at which i'd pick up even lenghty phrases (which doesn't mean i'll still remember it 10 minutes later). and it worked this time like it always does.
and the guy, petros was his name, loosened up and we dived straight into a fun conversation about everything and anything and the greeks and the english and whether he preferred london over athina or the other way around. and he shared his thoughts about greek doctors taking money from greek patients even if it should be the greek NHS paying for it. and about greeks in greece being generally lazy and lacking in ambition and work ethics. and about greeks in greece being worlds apart from the greeks in london. and, about the fact that 'europe is feeding greece' and has been for a while. and, last, but not least, about greeks having huge inferiority complexes when going abroad and behaving accordingly. and i was amused. and beginning to ask myself whether petros was greek at all. needless to say that he didn't smoke or drink black coffee. and that his only distinctively greek vice was to eat souvlaki at thanassis, famous-infamous for its juicy and soft meat chops ('no one knows what they put in it')...
and i held that against something i had read on a Greek website, written by another Greek traveller, a certain Costas, who sustained that 'in greece, everything is better than in holland' - yes, he was comparing it to holland -' except for gouda and salaries'. and i felt tempted to substitute gouda with cheddar, fish 'n chips or guiness. and trade that in for better weather, food, friendships, music, sex, prices, beaches and parties. or whatever the guy had been thinking of.
no plan's land
i finally landed in athina, and to cut a long story short - because otherwise i'll still be sitting here tomorrow, telling, re-telling the ins and outs of every encounter with every greek person i met there - i will skip a few episodes, and get straight to the gist of what i'm here to tell.
when i first got to greece on 26 august, i didn't have much of an idea of what i'd be doing there. i just knew that upon my arrival i'd be staying with my old friend/acquaintance katerina for two nights. and that on thursday 28, i would move on to nafplio, where another wedding guest, renia, whom i had met at the groom's name-day party in london half a year earlier, had reserved a two-bed room for three nights for us. on saturday 30 at 6pm 'when the heat from the day is waning' - yes, greek people marry in the evenings - i knew there would be the wedding itself. and on sunday 31, i suspected we'd sleep all day.
and after that, i had no plans. and still another 7 days to go. my return flight was on 6 september. and i was worried about not getting what i wanted. that is, the real thing - the real greek experience - the real mediterranean experience, eastern mediterranean that is - with all its madness, exhilaration and crudeness. and sanity-restoring sincerity and straightforwardness. and kindness and generosity. and that different rythm to life, that rythm i knew from bosnia and serbia and italy. that heart-warming and energising way of interacting, cracking jokes and having a good time - and not just over a bucketful of pints after a certain hour, but throughout the day, as a way of life.
now, of course i had an inkling that the 'deliverance' from my woes in london and a real sense of recreation and recharging my batteries wouldn't have kicked in after only 12 days, arrival and return days included. and yet, i had no one to stay with or travel with for longer, and hence, when booking my flight, pressed '6 september', with a tear in one eye, and hoped for, against all odds, to somehow get what i wanted anyway.
and then, the day of my departure, i decided i'd have a great holiday no matter what.
and this is how things unfolded:
athina and nafplio
when i first got to athens, i was sick. temperature and a throat infection. and so i spent two days and two nights tucked up in katerina's guest bed in her flat in kifissia, a posh neighbourhood in the north of Athens, trying to get better and telling myself not to fret too much about losing 2 of my precious 12 days. the latter not being that easy.
on day 3 i eventually took the tube to piraeus where i boarded a train to korinthos, and from there a bus to nafplio, where i arrived after a 3,4 hour trip altogether. in nafplio, i found the room renia had booked at hotel athina and spent the rest of the day in bed - sweating, coughing, sneezing - not a lot of fun - and renia, who arrived shortly after me - putting up with it heroically.
the next two days were spent sleeping, visiting mykene, sleeping again, skipping epidavros, sleeping some more and, on friday 29 august, eventually joining the rest of the wedding guests from out of town on a pre-wedding night get-together on the beach... and, later that night, an attempt at checking out the local clubbing scene consisting of two or three bars altogether, one next to another, outdoors, on an elevated sidewalk leading to yet another beach - with a splendid view of a most beautiful skyline over a night-black sea and glittering lights on the horizon. no wonder they say that nafplio is one of the most beautiful towns in greece.
and i'd have plenty of occasion to convince myself of that again over the coming week. nafplio is made up of narrow streets laced with pretty little houses converted into small museums, squares made out of polished marble, shining in the morning sun and in the evening lights, with couples, parents and small children playing on them until late at night, and countless little boutiques selling crafts and jewelry at every corner, very much like in sarajevo. no wonder nafplio had been greece's first capital, and some leaflet referred to it as greece's 'most elegant city'.
my favourite spots in nafplio were the beautiful little church of agia paneia (?)where i lit many a candle, the icecream place selling home-made icecream tasting of kadajfi, and, next door, the guy making beautiful bright blue kombolois out of miniature dice, spelling out people's names.
D&G's big fat greek wedding
and then the wedding itself. well, if i was to recount it all, i'd still be here tomorrow morning. here, just a few highlights.
the 'stag' and 'hen' dos: dimitris in his underwear getting dressed by his pontiac-samothracean cousins. georgia-cinderella, surrounded by her numerous arcadian-aeginean family, trying on her satin shoes and writing her single girl-friends' names on their soles. dimitris being fed big bites of sweet round pies and having to pay money to get his second shoe. georgia riding off in a horse-drawn carriage.
the service: at the church of ai-yiannis. really beautiful. byzantine, ancient. priests in heavily adorned, embroidered robes walking around in circles, chanting, swaying incense, placing wraths on the bride and grooms' necks and shoulders, candles flickering, more chanting, more incense, the lithurgy, the rings, the vows - i felt elated. and yet almost fainted as i was shaken by another bout of temperature and other flu-like symptoms.
the feast: great location by the seaside and the sunset and the breaking waves, great food with luscious bits of baked aubergine and all sorts of other delicacies, great and crazy guests from both north-western and south-eastern europe, great dancing and live music from thrace and the peloponnese - and everyone who was there, will have taken home their own unforgettable memories.
more nafplio
and then, at some point, the beautiful big fat greek wedding was behind us and we all said goodbye. and the next day, my cold was waning (the day after the wedding - what outrageous timing) - and my friend sabrina from london had finally, very last-minute, booked her flight to athens and joined me in nafplio on sunday 31st august. and... i was delighted.
to make a long story short - sabrina and i basically spent the next 5 days lazing around nafplio, with no desire to do much else than sleep in the morning, sleep again in the afternoon, and drag ourselves to arvanitsia beach at some point in between. there we tried chatting up the occasional, unresponsive italian - one of them, a lonesome ranger archeologist whom we crossed at least twice a day -, and kept running into georgia's mother sitting at the same cafe at the same time every afternoon - once with her son, once with her husband and twice with her friend - just when we made our way back from the beach to the hotel. eventually, we were withdrawing to our daily evening meal trying out another restaurant every night - where we spent our money on wine and fish and - of course - baked aubergines and papucaki (i'm a junkie)... and discussed the 'events' of the day.
our favourite topics: 1. why the lonesome ranger italian was resisting our charm. 2. what life must be like being georgia's mother who, every day of her life, has the luxury of sitting herself down after a certain hour at a cafe facing the seafront, breathing the salt, letting her mind wander, and watching her friends and family walk by and sit down next to her. 3. what exactly the albanian waiter lendi meant when he invited us to 'join him in his house' later that first evening. 4. whether to finally take a bus to mistra or olympia the next morning or just keep lazing around in nafplio. we never made much progress on any of those subjects, which got drowned in buckets full of wine and the odd ouzo on the house, and we took them up again the next evening.
and eventually time was up and sabrina and i returned to athens, allowing her to catch her flight home and me, to change mine from the 6th to the 17th. what exactly i had in mind and how i intended to spend those remaining 10 days, i still didn't know. i just knew that my holiday had just about started now and that this was not the time to go back.
persian connection
and here begins the persian chapter of my little greek saga. on 5 september, i met up with arvin, my persian friend from london, who was staying at the flat of his designer cousin sofia in athens. sofia being absent and the flat being inhabited solely by arvin and his other cousin mamad, we divided the space up between the three of us. to my benefit - being good boys from good families, arvin and mamad gave me the only proper bed in the flat and themselves slept on couches and cushions on the ground.
the flat was near omonia. on alkiviadou street. off III septembriou, gourmeli, stournari, aristotelou, losios, marni, makedonias - all those being names of streets in the neighbourhood that i frantically typed into my mobile on my first morning, hoping to find my way back to the flat later that day. and nevertheless, for some reason, kept turning around in circles and getting lost every single day. all streets, all junctions, all houses and shops looking the same, all huge and ugly and overwhelming and noisy.
i spent the next three days getting stressed at internet cafes over a job application, and, other than that, watched persian music TV via satellite and the boys (mock-) lap-dancing in the sitting room. in the afternoons, arvin, mamad, their friends ali and ahmed and i usually took the tram at syntagma square and went down to the beach, towards glifada, but getting off at edem. now, edem was - compared to nafplio or - later - paros - hardly worth mentioning. and yet, when arriving at that beach late those afternoons, together with other athenians coming straight from work, feeling the warmth of the sea even at that time of the day and swimming into the sunset - was an experience in its own right. and on the beach the boys were cracking jokes in persian, arvin played translator and i tried my best not to mix up my newly acquired greek with my even fresher - few hours' old - 5 words of persian - and not to judge those kids for not having bothered to learn any english, let alone greek in the days or weeks they had been here.
immigrants
persians, it turns out, are quite a common sight in athens these days - with a lot of immigrants from asia and africa populating the place, including somalis, nigerians, afghans and iraqis... - most of them clustered together in the big cities of athens, thessaloniki and patras. in athens, most of them are concentrated around omonia square - precisely where i was staying. with a lot of crime going on - drugs and prostitition mainly - on the other side of the square, in the area flanking the acropolis, on geraniou and socratelis streets and theatrou square (or similar). in 'my' neighbourhood, around the flat, i saw a lot of ukrainians and arabs - one arab being the owner of 'my' internet cafe and one ukrainian the manager. and many more lingering about in and around an array of cafes - cafe sevastopol on one corner, a falafel and shisha place on another one. and the odd nigerian prostitute on a nearby sidewalk later that night.
in a conversation with a greek social worker later that week, i was told that greece has a serious immigration problem and that the greek authorities aren't doing much to support the immigrants, but rather deliberately neglect them as to signal them that they don't have a future in their country. as a result, the immigrants fall prey to organised criminals, also immigrants, who - in exchange for their services in drug or prostition deals - provide them with free accomodation and pay for their utility bills.
the ukrainians and albanians seem to yet enjoy a special status. being europeans, they tend to have learnt the language - greek - in record speed - many of them speaking greek without an accent. and many a ukrainian woman - of all ages - seems to have found herself a decent greek husband. albanians are a different category still - most of the ones i saw being men doing odd jobs from olive picking to building and painting. and it seems that they are only now - after almost two decades since they started coming - beginning to shed their bad reputation. the greeks seem to have concluded at last that albanians aren't the worst thing that has happened to them, and that many albanians are infact honest and hardworking people, and - in terms of lifestyle and mentality - very similar to the greeks themselves.
athehran
'my' persians however didn't have any ambitions of staying in the country. they were there on holiday. going west from iran - like ali who was there for just two weeks and heading straight to the army upon his return to tehran. or going south-east from london - like arvin, who clearly felt nostalgic about iran and anything resembling it. and athens, so i was told, resembled it a great deal.
we spent the next few days living on 2,5 euros a day - 1,50 euros being spent on our daily big fat ration of falafel acquired in the iraqi falafel shop on losios street - and for the rest chewing on pita bread - on the beach mainly -, hot peppers and cheap chocolate chip cookies. the main stimulation to our stomachs being not food, but ali's jokes.
like this one: on a taxiride around tehran, an american asks the taxidriver about a certain building on a street corner, and the taxi driver replies 'yes, that is the soandso building - built 2000 years ago'. the american replies - 'pa, in america, we'd build that in just 2 months', and they ride on.
on another streetcorner, the american inquires about another building - the answer is, again 'that building is 500 years old' and the american says - 'pa, in america we'd build that in just 1 month'.
on a third street corner, the american asks about yet another building. and the taxi driver turns his head, looks, looks again, and suddenly says, 'i have no idea - it wasn't there 1 hour ago!'
and so on. one joke upon another. relentlessly. ali had a whole collection of them, most of them playing on ethnic themes - taking the p... out of the persians, the turks, the ... (forgot the name of that group). over and over again, in all possible fashions - some made up at the spur of the moment, some being good old classics. and it was hilarious. note that out of the three guys present in that greek tram that one afternoon, one was pars (arvin), one turk (ali) and one ... (that third group - ahmed). and all spoke persian - albeit ahmed with a funny accent. and we laughed our heads off. and thoroughly did away with every form of political correctness.
on monday 8 september, arvin flew back to london and i decided to move on, too. and embark on part II of my greek experience. which - i didn't know that yet - would cause me to change my flight again - and last for another full two weeks.
Little Greek Odysee
1 October 2008
Dear friends,
Just thought I'd let you know what I've been up to over the past 5 weeks...
Enjoy the read!
And while I'm at it - let me also wish you:
SHANA TOVA (which was three days ago),
Bajram Barihulah, Sherif Mubarek Olsun or Happy Eid (funny those two should almost be on the same day this year!),
And to the Buddhists among you: Lots of Nams!
And to the rest of you: Keep doing what you're doing to keep those good vibes coming and good things flowing into your lives!!
Much love and have a great October 2008!
Isabella
Dear friends,
Just thought I'd let you know what I've been up to over the past 5 weeks...
Enjoy the read!
And while I'm at it - let me also wish you:
SHANA TOVA (which was three days ago),
Bajram Barihulah, Sherif Mubarek Olsun or Happy Eid (funny those two should almost be on the same day this year!),
And to the Buddhists among you: Lots of Nams!
And to the rest of you: Keep doing what you're doing to keep those good vibes coming and good things flowing into your lives!!
Much love and have a great October 2008!
Isabella
Ukraina 8 dio: Krim
3. 10. 2003
ciaooooooooo,
evo vam poslednji dio price o ukraini...
i ovaj put cu vas odvesti na poluotok krim... kao sto znate, krim se nalazi na sjevernom obalu crnog mora, preko puta turske i nedaleko od grusije... poznat je po svojim divnim plazama i ljetovalistu jalti u kojem je u 19. stoljecu ljetovala ruska aristokratija i carska porodica... i u koje je, 1945 godine, stalin pozvao churchill i roosevelt kako bi tamo odlucili o daljnoj sudbini evrope nakon 2. svjetskog rata.
a ja krenula krima da usvojim biciklom. uputila se iz odese prema istoku, autobusom preko mikolayev-a (gdje sam prespavala i odmah osjetila razliku u mentalitetu ljudi - mnogo su ljubazniji nego u odesi) i cherson-a gdje sam se vratila na biciklijadu.
iz cherson-a sam prvog poslijepodneva u jednom dahu, u samo 3 sata, odradila punih 35 km, i jasno osjecala kako mi se kondicija uveliko popravila. navecer stigla u neko selo gdje sam prespavala kod nekih jako prostih ljudi. glava porodice je citavo vrijeme samo psovao, a zena je bila jako fina - inace tamo i ne bi ostala. bas se vidjelo kako ona sve sama radi a on, od kad je ostao bez posla, samo pije, jede i spava. 18-godisnji sin i obozavatelj britney spears-a ("ima dobre sise"...) nazalost je bio sav na oca, u glavnom ljencario i samo jednom mjesecno krave iz sela vodio na pasu.
lijepo su se ovi seljaci dogovorili. razmjenjuju se. jedan dan ih jedno vodi, drugi dan njihov komsija, treci dan sljedeci... i postoji tacan plan po kojim se krave vodi na pasu i svak tacno zna kad je ko na redu. inace svako jutro u selo stize kola koja pokupljuje svjeze mljeko i ga odvede u fabriku. taj je sistem izgleda jos preostalo od komunizma i dalje lijepo funcionise mada su prihodi jako bijedni. kcerka ove porodice, cura u 19. godini, je nedavno pocela raditi kao konobarica u susjednom gradicu gdje mjesecno zaradjuje 60 eura od kojih 50 daje za "kvartir" odnosno sobu. pitala sam majku da li se kcerki to isplati i rekla je da kcerka nesto mora raditi i da su 10 eura bolje nego nista.
sutradan sam stigla u gradic armijansk gdje sam konacno presla "liniju razgranicenja" i znaci zvanicno usla u autonomnu teritoriju krima. stanovnici krima imaju, na razliku ostalih stanovnika drzave ukraine, odredjena posebna prava i neku autonomiju od centralen vlade u kijevu. oni se ne osjecaju kao ukrainci i cvrsto odbijaju da govore ukrainski. govore iskljucivo ruski a tatarsko dio stanovnistva uz to zna jos i tatarski, slicno turskog. krim je ranije pripala republici rusije i zapalo ukraini tek u 70etim godinama (correct me if i'm wrong), na inicijativu ruskog predjsednika chrushtchov-a, koji je porijeklom bio ukrainac.
armijansk mi je jako impresioniralo... gradic je super mjesto... nekako svjeze, osjeti se miris mora i neki vjetric... i sve djeluje svjetlo i plavo, srebreno-sivo, tirkizno... a mozda je to samo moja masta.
grad je gradjen na tiny stripe of earth, komadic zemlje od najvise 4-5 km sirine, koji povezuje otok sa ostatkom drzave i cini ga poluotokom... i osjeti se drugu klimu i, medju ljudima, neko veselje i optimizam. grad inace nije nimalo lijepo, sve novogradnja, stari centar uopste ne postoji... al nekako jako je dinamicno.
rano ujutro sam izasla na dorucak (toga u hotelu nije bilo) i zatekla pola muskog stanovnistva kako se guralo u 5-6 autobusa. ti autobusi su ih odveli u susjednu fabriku gdje su svi radili, neka hemijska industrija, "titan" ili slicno. a svi nesto veseli, bratstva i jedinstva, drugovi...
i zene su im, na stolovima kod autobusne stanice, prodale raznoraznu ukusnu hranu... i slatkog i slanog..... od domacih torti na komadu do vrucih pelmeni-a, kafe i caja iz termos-boci, i "salotke v shubi", domaceg specijaliteta od dimljene ribe pokrivene sa cveklama, kuhanog krompira i debelog sloja majoneze. "shuba" inace znaci "bunda", znaci "riba u bundi"... i evo, osjetila sam pravu rusiju... ((-:
ja sam bila mrtva gladna pa sam doruckovala prvo borsht, pa pelmeni pa salotku v shubi.... i nikad mi je vise prijalo!! u hotelu mi je cekala "fatima", jedna od dvije receptioniste, tatarka, koja je, po meni, jako licila na iranku ili turkinju. bas je bila specificnog izgleda i tek tad sam imala osjecaj da sam se zaista udaljila od centralne evrope. pricala mi je o svojoj djeci, elvira i rifat, i svome muzu cije sam ime zaboravila.
inace me armijansk impresioniralo i po velikom broju kineza... na vecer kad sam tek bila stigla sam ih zatekla 30 u jednom baru gdje su, pomjesani sa "bjelcima" slavili neciji rodjendan. svi su plesali, i starci i majke sa djecom, i kinezi i ukrainci... disko-muzika i karaoke.... svi nesto veseli.... a sutradan mi je fatima objasnila da to uopste nisu bili kinezi. ne, rece ona, to su bili korejci. "iz sovjetske koreje, ne iz one druge". za nju je sjeverna koreja znaci bila dio USSR-a... sto fakticno mozda i jeste... i bilo mi je zanimljivo. inace je jos rekla da su se ovu ljudi ovamo preselili negdje pocetkom osamdesetih godina.
sutradan sam opet odradila nekih 60 km. bas sam bila popravila kondiciju i jako sam bila zadovoljna. kasno stigla kod nekih staraca koji su me smjestili u sobu njihove udate kcerke. i navecer i ujutro sam dobila divno isprzeni krompir... onako masno, pun ulja, i jos neke riblje frikadelice. naravno su me tjerali i da nesto popijem... i evo, popili smo par casa domace rakije... "do konca"... (sa naglaskom na drugom slovu)... ((-:
a dan poslije se naglo promjenilo vrijeme i nastao je jak vjetar. inace sam imala strasno srece sa vremenom. od kraja augusta sve do sada (vec je bilo oko 4. 10og) ni jednom nije pala kisa al sad je od jednom postalo tesko. uzivala sam jako u vozniji kroz stepe... evo prvi put da sam se bas "immerged" u stepu... satima i satima nista se nije vidjelo osim ove zutkaste "pustinske" trave. a bilo bi jos puno ljepse da se nisam morala tako strasno boriti protiv vjetra i za svaki kilometar. negdje nakon 20 km, koji su mi izgledali kao 60, sam se taj dan predala i pocela autostopirati.
imala sam strasno srece. dvaput sam dobila vozniju, obadva puta sa strane tatara... i opet su me potsjetili na irance ili turce. u autu su bili i rusi i cinilo mi se da ovdje rusi i tatari lijepo zive zajedno i da diskriminacije ili netrpeljivosti u glavnom nema.
drugi vozac je bio sav odusevljen kad je cuo o mojim njemackom korjenama i pozvao me kod njega u kucu da se upoznajem sa njegovom zenom, andjelom, koja je, tako rece, "isto njemica". ja se nesto zacudila a poslije shvatila da je andjelin otac fakat bio njemac, jedan od njemaca sa krima, manjinske grupe koja se u rusiju prebacila iz njemacke jos u 19. stoljecu. andjela nazalost njemacki nije govorila al zato ucila malo tatarskog kako bi razumijela i muzevu porodicu. muz je bio trener karate-a i ucitelj na fizickom fakultetu, zvao se siran i bio jako simpatican, i jako smo se svi mi lijepo druzili... andjela, siran, majka ljuba i mala njihova kcerkica zejra. poslijepodne su zene muzle koze... i kasnije su me otpratili na autobusnu stanicu. iskreno receno sam bila presretna sto sam za taj dan izbjegla daljne bicikliranje i nakon sat vremena voznije preko grada jefpatorije, stigla u mali gradic saki.
u saki-u sam, kad sam pitala za hotel, na ulici upoznala dvojica mladica iz kijeva, glavnog grada ukraine. oni su iz kijeva putovali 12 sati za jedan weekend na krimu... (-: super su bili momci, isto kao mi na balkanu, prilicno "westernized", barem po izgledu i ponasanju, i super smo se "urajili." a to mada nisu htjeli govoriti engleski... "iz politickih razloga" kako rece jedan, na pola u zezi, na pola ozbiljno... i fakat nismo uopste koristili nijedan zapadni jezik... inace su obadvojica bili zavrsili psihologiju a jedan od njih je radio kao neka vrsta prodavaca ili servisera u prodavnicu mobitela u kijevu a drugi, isto u kijevu, u glavnoj kancelariji israelskog "ups"-a (brza posta). navecer smo izasli u neki kafic i grickali neke grusinske specijalitete... stravicno jeftine, kao neka brza hrana... pun bijelog przenog tjesta, jaja, ulja, putera i sira... najvise su mi se svidjela egzoticka imena: "hurule" i "ardjansk" ... (-:
i sutradan su me vodili u susjednu "novu feodosivku", gradic na moru, nekada "zabranjena zona" i training place za USSR- avijaciju. al od toga se vise nista nije vidjelo. jedino cinjenica sto i danas tamo nema turizma je odalo uzbudjljivu proslost. i bacili smo se u okean... tako je bar izgledalo... voda sva tirkizne boje... a talasi snazni, srebreni, pjenasti... i opet sam ja bila u raju... a znala sam da mi se ovaj odmor nazalost priblizio kraju.
sutradan sam autobusom odjurila u grad simferopol. vjetar je bio prejak za daljne bicikliranje. u simferopolu sam, jos u hotelu, i to sat vremena nakon moga dolaska, nasla kupca za bicikl.... koji sam prodala za pola cijene, tj. 100 maraka... (-: kupac je bio radnik hotela, jedan sasha, koji ga je htjeo za svoju kcerku anastasiju. a ja njega naravno ubijedila da je moji bicikl fakat najbezbjednije i najbolje za 10-godisnji "rebjonak" (djete)... ((-: (sto je i bila istina). i on se sutradam jos jednom vratio, sav odusevljen, i ja sam mu uz to jos poklonila i bisage. i tu sam ja onda ostala sa hrpom ljetnih krpica, prljavog vesa i ofucanim bermudama... i sva presretna sto je doslo jesen... i sa time nove avanture... ((-:
i naredna tri dana sam provela u gradu i najvise vremena provela na pijaci i u zanatskom centru... priustila se dvije ogromne putne torbe, nove farmerke, dvije suknije, majcu i tuniku... kako bi imala nesto za obuci... jedno vecer sam otisla u "kinoteatr simferopol" da gledam "a maid in manhattan"... jennifer lopez i ralph fiennes na ruskom... i jednom sam se priustila pedikiru i,..... da, da, da...., ofarbala kosu... ((-: vidjecete kad me budite vidjeli... prilicno je velika promjena.... ((-: plan je inace bio da se sa troleybusom jos i spustim preko krimskih planina na 150 km udaljenu jaltu... i na juznu obalu... a to nazalost vise nisam stigla. mada mislim da bi to mozda bilo najzanimljivije. al "aufgeschoben ist nicht aufgehoben", kako bi njemci rekli... odnosno "bice valjda druga prilika" odnosno: ovako cu se morati vratiti... (-:
i onda sam se 10. 10og sva sretna i ispunjena sa novom frizurom (ej da, mi zene..) i flashy red putnim torbama uputila prema zeljeznickoj stanici. vrijedi to vidjeti... citav teren oko stanice je vise licio na pijacu gdje svi svasta prodaju sta bi neko mogao trebati za put. od slatkisa i voca do slanih jela, sve ti upakuju za put. a ja kupila lavande i neki jastuk punjen sa travom, kao za laku noc... i onda 26 punih sata (da, dobro ste citali!!) provela u jednom vozu. nikad u zivotu se toliko nisam vozila. presli smo citavu ukrainu i sve sam to pratila na mapi. bio je to nocni voz i nekada sam onda zaspala. suputnik mi je bio neki "eldar asanov", tatar i, ko sto rece, bivsi evropski sampijon za wrestling, jako fin jedan lik i djelili smo ono sta smo imali od hrane... ja sa pijace a on iz svoje baste.
i sutradan negdje oko 15:30 sam konacno stigla u lviv. sva sretna sto sam se vratila na pocetak ove avanture. i tamo cekala sljedeci voz, opet nocni, za budimpestu. taj je voz krenuo tek oko 21:00 navecer tako da sam imala cijelo poslijepodne da se jos malo odmorim. pridruzio mi se jedan ukrainac, jos iz voza, dobro vaspitani lik iz dobre porodice, i puno mi je pomogao oko torbi. pricao mi je kako studira u bratislavi i kako razumije sve slavenske jezike... ((-: i zaista je on razumijo "nas" jezik i odlicno smo se sporazumijeli. inace sam po gradu opet morala presaltati sa "ocin haroso" ("vrlo dobro", ruski) na "duze dobre" (ukrainski) i sa "pozalosta" (ruski) na "budj laska" (ukrainski)... i bilo je fino razgovarati na srpsko-hrvatskom. na kraju smo jos, kao za oprostaj od ukraine, svratili na borsht i deruny u becki "kaffeehaus"...
i odande sam uzela taksi na stanicu i uhvatila voz za budimpestu... i tako se ova lijepa prica zavrsila.
isabella ukrainka!!! (-:
ciaooooooooo,
evo vam poslednji dio price o ukraini...
i ovaj put cu vas odvesti na poluotok krim... kao sto znate, krim se nalazi na sjevernom obalu crnog mora, preko puta turske i nedaleko od grusije... poznat je po svojim divnim plazama i ljetovalistu jalti u kojem je u 19. stoljecu ljetovala ruska aristokratija i carska porodica... i u koje je, 1945 godine, stalin pozvao churchill i roosevelt kako bi tamo odlucili o daljnoj sudbini evrope nakon 2. svjetskog rata.
a ja krenula krima da usvojim biciklom. uputila se iz odese prema istoku, autobusom preko mikolayev-a (gdje sam prespavala i odmah osjetila razliku u mentalitetu ljudi - mnogo su ljubazniji nego u odesi) i cherson-a gdje sam se vratila na biciklijadu.
iz cherson-a sam prvog poslijepodneva u jednom dahu, u samo 3 sata, odradila punih 35 km, i jasno osjecala kako mi se kondicija uveliko popravila. navecer stigla u neko selo gdje sam prespavala kod nekih jako prostih ljudi. glava porodice je citavo vrijeme samo psovao, a zena je bila jako fina - inace tamo i ne bi ostala. bas se vidjelo kako ona sve sama radi a on, od kad je ostao bez posla, samo pije, jede i spava. 18-godisnji sin i obozavatelj britney spears-a ("ima dobre sise"...) nazalost je bio sav na oca, u glavnom ljencario i samo jednom mjesecno krave iz sela vodio na pasu.
lijepo su se ovi seljaci dogovorili. razmjenjuju se. jedan dan ih jedno vodi, drugi dan njihov komsija, treci dan sljedeci... i postoji tacan plan po kojim se krave vodi na pasu i svak tacno zna kad je ko na redu. inace svako jutro u selo stize kola koja pokupljuje svjeze mljeko i ga odvede u fabriku. taj je sistem izgleda jos preostalo od komunizma i dalje lijepo funcionise mada su prihodi jako bijedni. kcerka ove porodice, cura u 19. godini, je nedavno pocela raditi kao konobarica u susjednom gradicu gdje mjesecno zaradjuje 60 eura od kojih 50 daje za "kvartir" odnosno sobu. pitala sam majku da li se kcerki to isplati i rekla je da kcerka nesto mora raditi i da su 10 eura bolje nego nista.
sutradan sam stigla u gradic armijansk gdje sam konacno presla "liniju razgranicenja" i znaci zvanicno usla u autonomnu teritoriju krima. stanovnici krima imaju, na razliku ostalih stanovnika drzave ukraine, odredjena posebna prava i neku autonomiju od centralen vlade u kijevu. oni se ne osjecaju kao ukrainci i cvrsto odbijaju da govore ukrainski. govore iskljucivo ruski a tatarsko dio stanovnistva uz to zna jos i tatarski, slicno turskog. krim je ranije pripala republici rusije i zapalo ukraini tek u 70etim godinama (correct me if i'm wrong), na inicijativu ruskog predjsednika chrushtchov-a, koji je porijeklom bio ukrainac.
armijansk mi je jako impresioniralo... gradic je super mjesto... nekako svjeze, osjeti se miris mora i neki vjetric... i sve djeluje svjetlo i plavo, srebreno-sivo, tirkizno... a mozda je to samo moja masta.
grad je gradjen na tiny stripe of earth, komadic zemlje od najvise 4-5 km sirine, koji povezuje otok sa ostatkom drzave i cini ga poluotokom... i osjeti se drugu klimu i, medju ljudima, neko veselje i optimizam. grad inace nije nimalo lijepo, sve novogradnja, stari centar uopste ne postoji... al nekako jako je dinamicno.
rano ujutro sam izasla na dorucak (toga u hotelu nije bilo) i zatekla pola muskog stanovnistva kako se guralo u 5-6 autobusa. ti autobusi su ih odveli u susjednu fabriku gdje su svi radili, neka hemijska industrija, "titan" ili slicno. a svi nesto veseli, bratstva i jedinstva, drugovi...
i zene su im, na stolovima kod autobusne stanice, prodale raznoraznu ukusnu hranu... i slatkog i slanog..... od domacih torti na komadu do vrucih pelmeni-a, kafe i caja iz termos-boci, i "salotke v shubi", domaceg specijaliteta od dimljene ribe pokrivene sa cveklama, kuhanog krompira i debelog sloja majoneze. "shuba" inace znaci "bunda", znaci "riba u bundi"... i evo, osjetila sam pravu rusiju... ((-:
ja sam bila mrtva gladna pa sam doruckovala prvo borsht, pa pelmeni pa salotku v shubi.... i nikad mi je vise prijalo!! u hotelu mi je cekala "fatima", jedna od dvije receptioniste, tatarka, koja je, po meni, jako licila na iranku ili turkinju. bas je bila specificnog izgleda i tek tad sam imala osjecaj da sam se zaista udaljila od centralne evrope. pricala mi je o svojoj djeci, elvira i rifat, i svome muzu cije sam ime zaboravila.
inace me armijansk impresioniralo i po velikom broju kineza... na vecer kad sam tek bila stigla sam ih zatekla 30 u jednom baru gdje su, pomjesani sa "bjelcima" slavili neciji rodjendan. svi su plesali, i starci i majke sa djecom, i kinezi i ukrainci... disko-muzika i karaoke.... svi nesto veseli.... a sutradan mi je fatima objasnila da to uopste nisu bili kinezi. ne, rece ona, to su bili korejci. "iz sovjetske koreje, ne iz one druge". za nju je sjeverna koreja znaci bila dio USSR-a... sto fakticno mozda i jeste... i bilo mi je zanimljivo. inace je jos rekla da su se ovu ljudi ovamo preselili negdje pocetkom osamdesetih godina.
sutradan sam opet odradila nekih 60 km. bas sam bila popravila kondiciju i jako sam bila zadovoljna. kasno stigla kod nekih staraca koji su me smjestili u sobu njihove udate kcerke. i navecer i ujutro sam dobila divno isprzeni krompir... onako masno, pun ulja, i jos neke riblje frikadelice. naravno su me tjerali i da nesto popijem... i evo, popili smo par casa domace rakije... "do konca"... (sa naglaskom na drugom slovu)... ((-:
a dan poslije se naglo promjenilo vrijeme i nastao je jak vjetar. inace sam imala strasno srece sa vremenom. od kraja augusta sve do sada (vec je bilo oko 4. 10og) ni jednom nije pala kisa al sad je od jednom postalo tesko. uzivala sam jako u vozniji kroz stepe... evo prvi put da sam se bas "immerged" u stepu... satima i satima nista se nije vidjelo osim ove zutkaste "pustinske" trave. a bilo bi jos puno ljepse da se nisam morala tako strasno boriti protiv vjetra i za svaki kilometar. negdje nakon 20 km, koji su mi izgledali kao 60, sam se taj dan predala i pocela autostopirati.
imala sam strasno srece. dvaput sam dobila vozniju, obadva puta sa strane tatara... i opet su me potsjetili na irance ili turce. u autu su bili i rusi i cinilo mi se da ovdje rusi i tatari lijepo zive zajedno i da diskriminacije ili netrpeljivosti u glavnom nema.
drugi vozac je bio sav odusevljen kad je cuo o mojim njemackom korjenama i pozvao me kod njega u kucu da se upoznajem sa njegovom zenom, andjelom, koja je, tako rece, "isto njemica". ja se nesto zacudila a poslije shvatila da je andjelin otac fakat bio njemac, jedan od njemaca sa krima, manjinske grupe koja se u rusiju prebacila iz njemacke jos u 19. stoljecu. andjela nazalost njemacki nije govorila al zato ucila malo tatarskog kako bi razumijela i muzevu porodicu. muz je bio trener karate-a i ucitelj na fizickom fakultetu, zvao se siran i bio jako simpatican, i jako smo se svi mi lijepo druzili... andjela, siran, majka ljuba i mala njihova kcerkica zejra. poslijepodne su zene muzle koze... i kasnije su me otpratili na autobusnu stanicu. iskreno receno sam bila presretna sto sam za taj dan izbjegla daljne bicikliranje i nakon sat vremena voznije preko grada jefpatorije, stigla u mali gradic saki.
u saki-u sam, kad sam pitala za hotel, na ulici upoznala dvojica mladica iz kijeva, glavnog grada ukraine. oni su iz kijeva putovali 12 sati za jedan weekend na krimu... (-: super su bili momci, isto kao mi na balkanu, prilicno "westernized", barem po izgledu i ponasanju, i super smo se "urajili." a to mada nisu htjeli govoriti engleski... "iz politickih razloga" kako rece jedan, na pola u zezi, na pola ozbiljno... i fakat nismo uopste koristili nijedan zapadni jezik... inace su obadvojica bili zavrsili psihologiju a jedan od njih je radio kao neka vrsta prodavaca ili servisera u prodavnicu mobitela u kijevu a drugi, isto u kijevu, u glavnoj kancelariji israelskog "ups"-a (brza posta). navecer smo izasli u neki kafic i grickali neke grusinske specijalitete... stravicno jeftine, kao neka brza hrana... pun bijelog przenog tjesta, jaja, ulja, putera i sira... najvise su mi se svidjela egzoticka imena: "hurule" i "ardjansk" ... (-:
i sutradan su me vodili u susjednu "novu feodosivku", gradic na moru, nekada "zabranjena zona" i training place za USSR- avijaciju. al od toga se vise nista nije vidjelo. jedino cinjenica sto i danas tamo nema turizma je odalo uzbudjljivu proslost. i bacili smo se u okean... tako je bar izgledalo... voda sva tirkizne boje... a talasi snazni, srebreni, pjenasti... i opet sam ja bila u raju... a znala sam da mi se ovaj odmor nazalost priblizio kraju.
sutradan sam autobusom odjurila u grad simferopol. vjetar je bio prejak za daljne bicikliranje. u simferopolu sam, jos u hotelu, i to sat vremena nakon moga dolaska, nasla kupca za bicikl.... koji sam prodala za pola cijene, tj. 100 maraka... (-: kupac je bio radnik hotela, jedan sasha, koji ga je htjeo za svoju kcerku anastasiju. a ja njega naravno ubijedila da je moji bicikl fakat najbezbjednije i najbolje za 10-godisnji "rebjonak" (djete)... ((-: (sto je i bila istina). i on se sutradam jos jednom vratio, sav odusevljen, i ja sam mu uz to jos poklonila i bisage. i tu sam ja onda ostala sa hrpom ljetnih krpica, prljavog vesa i ofucanim bermudama... i sva presretna sto je doslo jesen... i sa time nove avanture... ((-:
i naredna tri dana sam provela u gradu i najvise vremena provela na pijaci i u zanatskom centru... priustila se dvije ogromne putne torbe, nove farmerke, dvije suknije, majcu i tuniku... kako bi imala nesto za obuci... jedno vecer sam otisla u "kinoteatr simferopol" da gledam "a maid in manhattan"... jennifer lopez i ralph fiennes na ruskom... i jednom sam se priustila pedikiru i,..... da, da, da...., ofarbala kosu... ((-: vidjecete kad me budite vidjeli... prilicno je velika promjena.... ((-: plan je inace bio da se sa troleybusom jos i spustim preko krimskih planina na 150 km udaljenu jaltu... i na juznu obalu... a to nazalost vise nisam stigla. mada mislim da bi to mozda bilo najzanimljivije. al "aufgeschoben ist nicht aufgehoben", kako bi njemci rekli... odnosno "bice valjda druga prilika" odnosno: ovako cu se morati vratiti... (-:
i onda sam se 10. 10og sva sretna i ispunjena sa novom frizurom (ej da, mi zene..) i flashy red putnim torbama uputila prema zeljeznickoj stanici. vrijedi to vidjeti... citav teren oko stanice je vise licio na pijacu gdje svi svasta prodaju sta bi neko mogao trebati za put. od slatkisa i voca do slanih jela, sve ti upakuju za put. a ja kupila lavande i neki jastuk punjen sa travom, kao za laku noc... i onda 26 punih sata (da, dobro ste citali!!) provela u jednom vozu. nikad u zivotu se toliko nisam vozila. presli smo citavu ukrainu i sve sam to pratila na mapi. bio je to nocni voz i nekada sam onda zaspala. suputnik mi je bio neki "eldar asanov", tatar i, ko sto rece, bivsi evropski sampijon za wrestling, jako fin jedan lik i djelili smo ono sta smo imali od hrane... ja sa pijace a on iz svoje baste.
i sutradan negdje oko 15:30 sam konacno stigla u lviv. sva sretna sto sam se vratila na pocetak ove avanture. i tamo cekala sljedeci voz, opet nocni, za budimpestu. taj je voz krenuo tek oko 21:00 navecer tako da sam imala cijelo poslijepodne da se jos malo odmorim. pridruzio mi se jedan ukrainac, jos iz voza, dobro vaspitani lik iz dobre porodice, i puno mi je pomogao oko torbi. pricao mi je kako studira u bratislavi i kako razumije sve slavenske jezike... ((-: i zaista je on razumijo "nas" jezik i odlicno smo se sporazumijeli. inace sam po gradu opet morala presaltati sa "ocin haroso" ("vrlo dobro", ruski) na "duze dobre" (ukrainski) i sa "pozalosta" (ruski) na "budj laska" (ukrainski)... i bilo je fino razgovarati na srpsko-hrvatskom. na kraju smo jos, kao za oprostaj od ukraine, svratili na borsht i deruny u becki "kaffeehaus"...
i odande sam uzela taksi na stanicu i uhvatila voz za budimpestu... i tako se ova lijepa prica zavrsila.
isabella ukrainka!!! (-:
Ukraina 7 dio: Odessa
24. 9. 2003
odessa....
glamurozna odessa....
velika luka na crnom moru, grad konstruisan u 18. stoljecu po naredbi ekaterine velike, koncipiran od najvecih arhitekta tadasnje evrope, i nazvan po grckoj odiseji... na lokaciji danasnije odese je tada postojalo vec grcko naselje... i u novo izgradjeni grad su se brzo uselili dodatni grci, jermenci, grusinci, rusi, njemci i jevreji... i kroz godine je grad zadrzao sarm juznjacke luke pun trgovaca i mornara i robe iz turske, arabije i drugiih dalekih krajeva.
u odessi su u 19. stoljecu odsjedali bogatasi iz moskve i carske porodice i samo jalta na krimu je imao famu jos eskluzivnijeg mjesta.
a ja stigla u odessi na zeljeznickoj stanici. i ugrabila mi je jedna od tih zena koji cijeli dan stoji na stanicama da ulove turistkinje kako bi im nasle neki smjestaj trece klase, po mogucnosti jako daleko od centra. znaci ja upala u mrezu takve zene... i zajedno sa biciklom, zavrsila u nekom predgradskom naselju, tipa alipasino polje odnosno novi beograd - udaljeno jos vise od novog beograda. putovali smo troleybusom skoro 45 minuta i mjesto se nesto zvao kao "luzerivka" i pomislila sam "da, kod luzera". a onda sam upoznala svoje gazde i bilo mi je jako zao...
vrata je otvorila 74-godisnja baka, koja je ustvari bila prabaka 13-godisnje tanje, pomale ruzne i jako uredne, strebersko raspolozene mrsavice, koja je medjutim ispala izuzetno prijatna. cura i prabaka su tu zivjele zajedno u jednosobnom stanu sa malom kuhinicom i kupatilom a u taj sitan stan su znaci primali jos i "kvartirante", znaci goste. po nocu su se stara i mala sklonile, sa posteljnom i dekama, ispod stola u kuhinju... i nisam mogla vjerovati. i tako mi je bilo neprijatno da sam malu zvala natrag u svoju sobu.
objasnila mi je stara da su joj kcerka i unuka, znaci tanjina baka i majka, obije umrle, i da su ona i pra-unuka jedine ostale zive. tanjina majka i otac su ubijeni prije nekih 10 godina kad su nekom izdali neki stan a taj ih je pokrao i nakon toga pobio. bar tako sam ja shvatila. i slike tanjinih poznanika i prijatelja sve pokazuju neke "kvartirante".... znaci ljude kojima su izdali sobu. to umjesto rodjene porodice... bas tuzno...
sto se love tice, ma katastrofa. baka mi je sto puta ponovila kako je "u starom sistemu" sve bilo puno bolje, kako se drzava pobrinula o njima i kako su cijene tada bile puno nize. danas, kaze ona, se jedva mogu priustiti hljeb. sa parama koje sam joj ja dala, otrcala je na zelenu pijacu i kupila 10 kila krompira kako ne bi gladovala preko zime....
navecer mi je tanja pokazala kako svira neki njihov tradicijonalni instrument i objasnila kako 3 puta sedmicno ide u neki orhestar. a stara je kuhala borsht (ova njihova juha od povrca) i zajedno smo vecerale i mislila sam kako je siromasnim ljudima u gradu jos puno gore nego po selima...
iskreno, ja tamo nisam izdrzala vise od jedne noci. tako mi je sve ovo "bacilo u sevdah..." i sutradan sam biciklom pobjegla u centar grada, pa ravno na glamuroznu "arkadiju" blizu plaze, i tamo potrazila neki hotel (evo me, gadna kapitalistkinja...)... (-:
nasla sam relativno povoljni "hotel junest" ("mladost"), sve u socijalistickom stilu, i dogovorila cijenu za dvokrevetnu sobu na 9. spratu (jednokrevetnih nije bilo) sa shared bathroom sa ljudima iz susjedne sobe i bozanstvenim pogled na more. cijena je bila 20 eura dnevno i ostala sam 9 dana. da, cijene u odessi, - dobro je rekla stara baba - fakat nisu bile nimalo niske... i ja bih brzo ostala bez para da tu nije bilo western union... i to bukvalno na svakom cosku... prvog dana, trazeci arkadiju, sam na ulici upoznala supersimpa slovenku (evo, i ona ovo cita...) ((-: i preko nje onda jos jednu (isto supersimpa... ((-: i ona ovo cita)... i bas smo se super druzile i provele do kraja moga i njihovog boravka.
one su u odessi isle na kurs ruskog jezika, a ja sam preko dana u glavnom ljencarila ili samoj sebi "organizovala" svoj improvizovani i bezplatni "kurs"... u glavnom sa nekim konobaricama po kaficima ili ljudima koje sam tamo upoznala. i na taj nacin ispitivala rijeci i zapisala u neku svesku... kako se ono kaze, kako se ovo kaze, zasto me zena cudno pogleda kad ovako kazem a ne onako? zasto se ovo kaze drugacije od onog mada je isti predmet... itd itd... i bas sam se lijepo zabavljala... to je inace, mogu vam reci, bas cool naci za upoznavanje ljudi. svi su bili odusevljeni sto sam sa takvom entuziazmom htjela nauciti njihov jezik. tu sam i tek svatila da (vise od?) pola stanovnika ukrainske drzave uopste ne govori ukrainski nego iskljucivo ruski jezik. i posebno u odessi ljudi ne zele pricati ukrainski mada im to centralna vlada u kijevu pokusava nameci.
odessiti se inace shvacaju kao nesto posebno i drugacije od ostalih ukrainaca.
popodne i navecer smo "mi bivse jugoslovenke" (da ne kazem "slovenke i vanzemaljka") znale otici u prekrasnu odessijsku operu, napravljenu po modelu beckog burg-teatra, i gledale neki balet ili operu... i bile smo odusevljene, tako je sve bilo lijepo, al opet nevjerovatno jeftino, bas za svakoga. drugim danima smo se prosetale parkom tarasa sevcenka od centra i luke 5 km do "arkadije", prekrasnog djela grada sa plazom i divnom pogledom na more... ili otisle na shopping.... sto se u odessi moglo savrseno raditi... a tu sam se ja malo uzdrzala... i trosenje prepustila njima ((-; ... i fakat su se one vratile sa pijace sa koferom pun garderobe... od prekrasne (ne tako ekoloske...) bunde (na ruskom "shuba")... do crnih stikli sa 15 cm visokim petama.... kao sto ih nose samo ukrainke ili slovenke na costume party... ((-:
u odessi ima svega. "svega onoga sto bi se turisti po drugim krajevima drzave mogli pozeljeti", kaze lonely planet, "od stranih novina i casopisa do kvalitetnih restorana i kafica" i fakat nisu obecali previse. kafici i restorani, jazz clubs i drugi originalni barovi su im fakat prva liga... i lijepo smo se najele svakakvih i domacih i stranih specijaliteta tipa "deruni" (slani, przeni "kolacici" od krompira sa kiselom pavlakom, iz bijelorusije), "vareniki" (objasnila sam vam, tipa tortellini sa raznom filom, smetanom i sampinjonima, ukraina), "pelmeni" (tortellini sa mesom, rusija), "kvas-a" (pice) ili pune boce krimskog sampanjca (((-: nema cega nije bilo.... od grusinske kuhinje, italo-american cuisine, mc donalds, baskin robbins (sladoled...), esclusive espresso-bars and a really nice aircondioned, but over-priced japanese sushi-place... i tu su bili i sve clothes stores... mango, mexx, sisley, benetton i ostali.... na pitanju ko to kupuje, nisam dobila dobar odgovor... (sto me podsjetilo na situaciju kod nas na balkanu...) a mozda nije samo mafija u pitanju, nego ovi jermenski biznizmeni koji, u debelim BMW-ima, kruze po odessijsiskim ulicama... (-:
hajde jos da vam pricam o matrimonial agencies... evo, to je u odessi velika tema. ovdje, izgleda dolaze svakakvi muskarci kako bi pronasli zenu njihovih zivota. ako u bangkoku traze zene za jednu noc, onda u odessi traze zenu za zivot. u internet cafe-u sam upoznala jedan primjerak: celavi i brkoviti amerikanac iz alaske, razveden, in his late forties, prilicno simpatican i zaposlen u nekoj firmi povezanom sa oil-pipelines. samo zena mu jos fali za srecu. i tu zenu je vec i pronasao, preko interneta, jos u alaski... "irrrrra" is her name, rece... koristeci onaj amerrrrricki "r"... i dodajuci da ira irina ima 32 godina, nikad nije bila udata, i u odessi radi u nekoj firmi. "when we get married, rece, "we'll open up a "bed and breakfast" so that irrrra will have something to do in alaska, but will also frequently return to odessa, so that she doesn't get homesick." evo, zelim im puno srece!
iz drugog izvora sam cula o jednom tipu iz belgije... navodno ima tek oko 29 ili 30 godina, relativno je zgodan, i, ocajan, vec 3. put dolazi u odessu. svaki put sa cvrstom namjerom da se u belgiju vrati sa zenom svoga zivota. "on voli nase zene," objasnila mi je njegova gazdarica odessitka i dodase da on vise ne trazi preko agencija nego da sve ide "privatno". a to znaci da ona zove svoje drugarice i njega namjesti sa njihovim kcerkama. "sve u svemu", kaze ona, "on je sad izlazio sa vec nekih 12 djevojaka, sve plavuse jer on voli plavuse, a sad treba da se odluci"...(ostala sam bez rijeci...)
a najoriginalniji lik kojeg sam upoznala u odessi je ipak bio jedan kanadjanin... vrlo zgodno stvorenje, izgledao je kao alain delon, sa malo duzem kosom, u 34oj godini i fotograf po zanimanju. on je, tako rece, u kanadi, "bacio strijelac" (threw a dart) na veliku mapu citavog svijeta i tako odredio gdje ce na odmor. "ja to radim svake godine," rece, i prosle godine je zavrsio na kubi. ove godine je strijelac sletio blizu malog gradica mikolayev, nedaleko od odesse, i sutradan je tip bukirao let u ukrainu. pricali smo o svemu i svacemu i sav je nesto bio za "sudbinu" i "znamenja", paola coelha i kalila gibrana ("the prophet") i na kraju mi je pricao o svome poslu i kako licno poznaje rezisera michael moore (reziser super-dokumentarca "bowling to colombine!!) i kako ga je michael cak i dvaput zagrlio (he hugged me).... ((-:
i sve je bilo jako prijatno dok mu nisam, u sali naravno, rekla "hajde upoznaj me sa njim" (starom michael moore-om) a on pomalo zacudjeno odgovorio: "pa on je ozenjen". i od tada se vise nije skidao sa teme ko se svidja kome, ko je ozenjen i ko nije... i potencijalnih njegovih buducih zena... i htjeo da ga upoznajem sa odessijskim curama i da mu pomognem oko jezika (ja, koja savrseno govori ruski...hehehe ((-:)
his motto was "let me see if i can find a wife here. but i only have one hour". i prisle smo curama (u glavnom u dvadesetima) i pitali hoce li se udati za njega. ja sam to shvatila kao pomalo otkacenu al simpaticnu igru (tipa "skrivena kamera") i malo izigrala match-makericu odnosno dobrocudni zenski posrednik... al onda mi je dosadilo.
i onda je on brzo presao na drugu igru - ovaj put sa mnom kao "test-osobom".... (i malo me uplasio...). i ta je igra imala dva djela. prvo je bilo pitanje jesu li mi "sexual preferences men or women?" (citaj: "da nisi mozda lezbijka??") a drugi dio (ako je odgovor na prvo pitanje bio A): "i think, if you and i were to have sex, it would be really magical"... ((-:
ja se valjala od smjeha... i rekla mu da je promasio zanimanje i da bi trebao biti glumac. i bilo mi je malo krivo kako se jadni decko sam vratio u svoj hotel, bez buduce supruge kamoli neceg drugog... slicno nesto mi se dogodilo jos u lviv-u kad mi je zgodni holandzanin povjerio da je "surprised that no one wants to marry me..." ((-:
i toliko o likovima koji hodaju ukrainskim, posebno odessijskim ulicama.... da zaokruzim ovu pricu: posljednje subote u odessi mi se pokazalo nezaboravni spektakl... 15 svadbe, mlade, mladozenje, sve puta 15 za isto vrijeme na istom mjestu....i skuzila sam da se ljudi u odessi subotom u septembru masovno vjencaju.... i nakon toga slikaju, u prilicno neukusnim (i bezobraznim) pozama, na odredjenim "kult"-mjestima koje su trenutno u trendu. sve u neposrednoj blizini jednoga do drugoga. tako sam se i ja malo zabavljala sa fotokamerom uhvateci 3 ili 4 parova na jednoj slici.... izgleda kao katalog za vjencanice....i svi su strasno mladi... u glavnom pocetkom dvadesetih (zbog cega se cesto i razvedu... upoznala sam vise mladih razvedenih zena, sve u ranim tridesetima...).
zavrsna moja primjedba o odesi bi bilo sljedeca: grad jeste prepun atrakcija i mentalitet jeste opustena.... dobro je rekla jedna od slovenki kad je odesu nazvala "beogradom na moru".... i vise puta istekla kako bi u odesi htjela zivjeti... sa druge strane, treba i vidjeti da su ljudi zaista neljubazni i da je servis u javnim mjestima cesto jednostavno katastrofa (tipa hotel bukovina, samo jos gore... - citajte ukraina 5. dio...)
vrhunac je bilo kad su mi na kraju u hotelu junest, taman kad sam bila regulisala sve racune i htjela otputovati na autobusnu stanicu, silom htjeli zaustaviti u lobby-u, zahtjevajuci da im platim 8 eura jer sam, navodno, ukrala jedan peskir. dezurna "sefica sprata", mrtva ozbiljna i glasna, trcala je za mnom, sve dole do recepcije, i na kraju zvala direktoricu hotela, neku "galinu petrovsku". ja sam zaista ostala bez rijeci. priznajem da ja jedan put u zivotu jesam ukrala hotelski peskir, jedan lijepi ruzicasti, ali to je bilo 1991e godine u israelu... i ovaj put zaista nisam bila kriva. i zacudila se njenom upornoscu. i opet niko zivo nije znao ni engleski ni njemacki mada je to bilo jedan od najvecih pristojinih hotela arkadije (recimo druge klase). a ja jadna se nesto namucila na pola ruskom, ukrainskom sa dosta "naskog" i bijesna im ponudila da mi slobodno potresu putne torbe ('bisage') i nek same provjeru. a vrijeme mi je isteklo i autobus ne bi cekao.
na kraju su se nesto kao povukle i ja jednostavno jurila vani, 6 km velikom brzinom, vozila do autobusne stanice, kao da me prati vrag... konacno sam, ne znam kako, nasla svog autobusa, taman da mi kaze vozac da bicikl ne smije na autobus. ja pokusala sa nesto para al nije pomoglo. covijek je odbio iz inata, cisto da se vidi da nesto prosto ne moze. i tad mi se od ovoga grada zaista zgadilo....(taj mi se osjecaj opet malo ublazilo...)
na kraju se na "sceni zlocina" pojavila jedna mlada zena koja mi je rijecima "if you don't let me help you, you will walk" ponudila svoju pomoc. ja se predala i ona preuzela. dugacko sa divljem gestikulacijom i dosta psovaka (toliko sam razumijela) ubijedila vozaca da jadnoj strankiniji ipak valja doci u susret... i ja usla u autobus!!
kasnije navecer, negdje na putu, taj se autobus pokvario, i 30 ljudi, ja medju njima, zavrsili na ulici, zmrzavajuci se i strpljivo cekajuci sljedeceg. ja sam nekako, prvi put taj dan, imala srece i nasla mjesto u jednoj "marsrutki", nekom kombi-u... koji me onda odveo do ulaza hotela u susjednom gradu.
evo vam dosta o odesi... bilo mi je drago kad sam iz nje pobjegla....
vuklo mi je poluotok krim sa svojom tropskom klimom, visokim temperaturama i tatarskom (citaj: muslimanskom) stanovnistvu... a o tome u 8. djelu...
((-: isabella odessitka...
odessa....
glamurozna odessa....
velika luka na crnom moru, grad konstruisan u 18. stoljecu po naredbi ekaterine velike, koncipiran od najvecih arhitekta tadasnje evrope, i nazvan po grckoj odiseji... na lokaciji danasnije odese je tada postojalo vec grcko naselje... i u novo izgradjeni grad su se brzo uselili dodatni grci, jermenci, grusinci, rusi, njemci i jevreji... i kroz godine je grad zadrzao sarm juznjacke luke pun trgovaca i mornara i robe iz turske, arabije i drugiih dalekih krajeva.
u odessi su u 19. stoljecu odsjedali bogatasi iz moskve i carske porodice i samo jalta na krimu je imao famu jos eskluzivnijeg mjesta.
a ja stigla u odessi na zeljeznickoj stanici. i ugrabila mi je jedna od tih zena koji cijeli dan stoji na stanicama da ulove turistkinje kako bi im nasle neki smjestaj trece klase, po mogucnosti jako daleko od centra. znaci ja upala u mrezu takve zene... i zajedno sa biciklom, zavrsila u nekom predgradskom naselju, tipa alipasino polje odnosno novi beograd - udaljeno jos vise od novog beograda. putovali smo troleybusom skoro 45 minuta i mjesto se nesto zvao kao "luzerivka" i pomislila sam "da, kod luzera". a onda sam upoznala svoje gazde i bilo mi je jako zao...
vrata je otvorila 74-godisnja baka, koja je ustvari bila prabaka 13-godisnje tanje, pomale ruzne i jako uredne, strebersko raspolozene mrsavice, koja je medjutim ispala izuzetno prijatna. cura i prabaka su tu zivjele zajedno u jednosobnom stanu sa malom kuhinicom i kupatilom a u taj sitan stan su znaci primali jos i "kvartirante", znaci goste. po nocu su se stara i mala sklonile, sa posteljnom i dekama, ispod stola u kuhinju... i nisam mogla vjerovati. i tako mi je bilo neprijatno da sam malu zvala natrag u svoju sobu.
objasnila mi je stara da su joj kcerka i unuka, znaci tanjina baka i majka, obije umrle, i da su ona i pra-unuka jedine ostale zive. tanjina majka i otac su ubijeni prije nekih 10 godina kad su nekom izdali neki stan a taj ih je pokrao i nakon toga pobio. bar tako sam ja shvatila. i slike tanjinih poznanika i prijatelja sve pokazuju neke "kvartirante".... znaci ljude kojima su izdali sobu. to umjesto rodjene porodice... bas tuzno...
sto se love tice, ma katastrofa. baka mi je sto puta ponovila kako je "u starom sistemu" sve bilo puno bolje, kako se drzava pobrinula o njima i kako su cijene tada bile puno nize. danas, kaze ona, se jedva mogu priustiti hljeb. sa parama koje sam joj ja dala, otrcala je na zelenu pijacu i kupila 10 kila krompira kako ne bi gladovala preko zime....
navecer mi je tanja pokazala kako svira neki njihov tradicijonalni instrument i objasnila kako 3 puta sedmicno ide u neki orhestar. a stara je kuhala borsht (ova njihova juha od povrca) i zajedno smo vecerale i mislila sam kako je siromasnim ljudima u gradu jos puno gore nego po selima...
iskreno, ja tamo nisam izdrzala vise od jedne noci. tako mi je sve ovo "bacilo u sevdah..." i sutradan sam biciklom pobjegla u centar grada, pa ravno na glamuroznu "arkadiju" blizu plaze, i tamo potrazila neki hotel (evo me, gadna kapitalistkinja...)... (-:
nasla sam relativno povoljni "hotel junest" ("mladost"), sve u socijalistickom stilu, i dogovorila cijenu za dvokrevetnu sobu na 9. spratu (jednokrevetnih nije bilo) sa shared bathroom sa ljudima iz susjedne sobe i bozanstvenim pogled na more. cijena je bila 20 eura dnevno i ostala sam 9 dana. da, cijene u odessi, - dobro je rekla stara baba - fakat nisu bile nimalo niske... i ja bih brzo ostala bez para da tu nije bilo western union... i to bukvalno na svakom cosku... prvog dana, trazeci arkadiju, sam na ulici upoznala supersimpa slovenku (evo, i ona ovo cita...) ((-: i preko nje onda jos jednu (isto supersimpa... ((-: i ona ovo cita)... i bas smo se super druzile i provele do kraja moga i njihovog boravka.
one su u odessi isle na kurs ruskog jezika, a ja sam preko dana u glavnom ljencarila ili samoj sebi "organizovala" svoj improvizovani i bezplatni "kurs"... u glavnom sa nekim konobaricama po kaficima ili ljudima koje sam tamo upoznala. i na taj nacin ispitivala rijeci i zapisala u neku svesku... kako se ono kaze, kako se ovo kaze, zasto me zena cudno pogleda kad ovako kazem a ne onako? zasto se ovo kaze drugacije od onog mada je isti predmet... itd itd... i bas sam se lijepo zabavljala... to je inace, mogu vam reci, bas cool naci za upoznavanje ljudi. svi su bili odusevljeni sto sam sa takvom entuziazmom htjela nauciti njihov jezik. tu sam i tek svatila da (vise od?) pola stanovnika ukrainske drzave uopste ne govori ukrainski nego iskljucivo ruski jezik. i posebno u odessi ljudi ne zele pricati ukrainski mada im to centralna vlada u kijevu pokusava nameci.
odessiti se inace shvacaju kao nesto posebno i drugacije od ostalih ukrainaca.
popodne i navecer smo "mi bivse jugoslovenke" (da ne kazem "slovenke i vanzemaljka") znale otici u prekrasnu odessijsku operu, napravljenu po modelu beckog burg-teatra, i gledale neki balet ili operu... i bile smo odusevljene, tako je sve bilo lijepo, al opet nevjerovatno jeftino, bas za svakoga. drugim danima smo se prosetale parkom tarasa sevcenka od centra i luke 5 km do "arkadije", prekrasnog djela grada sa plazom i divnom pogledom na more... ili otisle na shopping.... sto se u odessi moglo savrseno raditi... a tu sam se ja malo uzdrzala... i trosenje prepustila njima ((-; ... i fakat su se one vratile sa pijace sa koferom pun garderobe... od prekrasne (ne tako ekoloske...) bunde (na ruskom "shuba")... do crnih stikli sa 15 cm visokim petama.... kao sto ih nose samo ukrainke ili slovenke na costume party... ((-:
u odessi ima svega. "svega onoga sto bi se turisti po drugim krajevima drzave mogli pozeljeti", kaze lonely planet, "od stranih novina i casopisa do kvalitetnih restorana i kafica" i fakat nisu obecali previse. kafici i restorani, jazz clubs i drugi originalni barovi su im fakat prva liga... i lijepo smo se najele svakakvih i domacih i stranih specijaliteta tipa "deruni" (slani, przeni "kolacici" od krompira sa kiselom pavlakom, iz bijelorusije), "vareniki" (objasnila sam vam, tipa tortellini sa raznom filom, smetanom i sampinjonima, ukraina), "pelmeni" (tortellini sa mesom, rusija), "kvas-a" (pice) ili pune boce krimskog sampanjca (((-: nema cega nije bilo.... od grusinske kuhinje, italo-american cuisine, mc donalds, baskin robbins (sladoled...), esclusive espresso-bars and a really nice aircondioned, but over-priced japanese sushi-place... i tu su bili i sve clothes stores... mango, mexx, sisley, benetton i ostali.... na pitanju ko to kupuje, nisam dobila dobar odgovor... (sto me podsjetilo na situaciju kod nas na balkanu...) a mozda nije samo mafija u pitanju, nego ovi jermenski biznizmeni koji, u debelim BMW-ima, kruze po odessijsiskim ulicama... (-:
hajde jos da vam pricam o matrimonial agencies... evo, to je u odessi velika tema. ovdje, izgleda dolaze svakakvi muskarci kako bi pronasli zenu njihovih zivota. ako u bangkoku traze zene za jednu noc, onda u odessi traze zenu za zivot. u internet cafe-u sam upoznala jedan primjerak: celavi i brkoviti amerikanac iz alaske, razveden, in his late forties, prilicno simpatican i zaposlen u nekoj firmi povezanom sa oil-pipelines. samo zena mu jos fali za srecu. i tu zenu je vec i pronasao, preko interneta, jos u alaski... "irrrrra" is her name, rece... koristeci onaj amerrrrricki "r"... i dodajuci da ira irina ima 32 godina, nikad nije bila udata, i u odessi radi u nekoj firmi. "when we get married, rece, "we'll open up a "bed and breakfast" so that irrrra will have something to do in alaska, but will also frequently return to odessa, so that she doesn't get homesick." evo, zelim im puno srece!
iz drugog izvora sam cula o jednom tipu iz belgije... navodno ima tek oko 29 ili 30 godina, relativno je zgodan, i, ocajan, vec 3. put dolazi u odessu. svaki put sa cvrstom namjerom da se u belgiju vrati sa zenom svoga zivota. "on voli nase zene," objasnila mi je njegova gazdarica odessitka i dodase da on vise ne trazi preko agencija nego da sve ide "privatno". a to znaci da ona zove svoje drugarice i njega namjesti sa njihovim kcerkama. "sve u svemu", kaze ona, "on je sad izlazio sa vec nekih 12 djevojaka, sve plavuse jer on voli plavuse, a sad treba da se odluci"...(ostala sam bez rijeci...)
a najoriginalniji lik kojeg sam upoznala u odessi je ipak bio jedan kanadjanin... vrlo zgodno stvorenje, izgledao je kao alain delon, sa malo duzem kosom, u 34oj godini i fotograf po zanimanju. on je, tako rece, u kanadi, "bacio strijelac" (threw a dart) na veliku mapu citavog svijeta i tako odredio gdje ce na odmor. "ja to radim svake godine," rece, i prosle godine je zavrsio na kubi. ove godine je strijelac sletio blizu malog gradica mikolayev, nedaleko od odesse, i sutradan je tip bukirao let u ukrainu. pricali smo o svemu i svacemu i sav je nesto bio za "sudbinu" i "znamenja", paola coelha i kalila gibrana ("the prophet") i na kraju mi je pricao o svome poslu i kako licno poznaje rezisera michael moore (reziser super-dokumentarca "bowling to colombine!!) i kako ga je michael cak i dvaput zagrlio (he hugged me).... ((-:
i sve je bilo jako prijatno dok mu nisam, u sali naravno, rekla "hajde upoznaj me sa njim" (starom michael moore-om) a on pomalo zacudjeno odgovorio: "pa on je ozenjen". i od tada se vise nije skidao sa teme ko se svidja kome, ko je ozenjen i ko nije... i potencijalnih njegovih buducih zena... i htjeo da ga upoznajem sa odessijskim curama i da mu pomognem oko jezika (ja, koja savrseno govori ruski...hehehe ((-:)
his motto was "let me see if i can find a wife here. but i only have one hour". i prisle smo curama (u glavnom u dvadesetima) i pitali hoce li se udati za njega. ja sam to shvatila kao pomalo otkacenu al simpaticnu igru (tipa "skrivena kamera") i malo izigrala match-makericu odnosno dobrocudni zenski posrednik... al onda mi je dosadilo.
i onda je on brzo presao na drugu igru - ovaj put sa mnom kao "test-osobom".... (i malo me uplasio...). i ta je igra imala dva djela. prvo je bilo pitanje jesu li mi "sexual preferences men or women?" (citaj: "da nisi mozda lezbijka??") a drugi dio (ako je odgovor na prvo pitanje bio A): "i think, if you and i were to have sex, it would be really magical"... ((-:
ja se valjala od smjeha... i rekla mu da je promasio zanimanje i da bi trebao biti glumac. i bilo mi je malo krivo kako se jadni decko sam vratio u svoj hotel, bez buduce supruge kamoli neceg drugog... slicno nesto mi se dogodilo jos u lviv-u kad mi je zgodni holandzanin povjerio da je "surprised that no one wants to marry me..." ((-:
i toliko o likovima koji hodaju ukrainskim, posebno odessijskim ulicama.... da zaokruzim ovu pricu: posljednje subote u odessi mi se pokazalo nezaboravni spektakl... 15 svadbe, mlade, mladozenje, sve puta 15 za isto vrijeme na istom mjestu....i skuzila sam da se ljudi u odessi subotom u septembru masovno vjencaju.... i nakon toga slikaju, u prilicno neukusnim (i bezobraznim) pozama, na odredjenim "kult"-mjestima koje su trenutno u trendu. sve u neposrednoj blizini jednoga do drugoga. tako sam se i ja malo zabavljala sa fotokamerom uhvateci 3 ili 4 parova na jednoj slici.... izgleda kao katalog za vjencanice....i svi su strasno mladi... u glavnom pocetkom dvadesetih (zbog cega se cesto i razvedu... upoznala sam vise mladih razvedenih zena, sve u ranim tridesetima...).
zavrsna moja primjedba o odesi bi bilo sljedeca: grad jeste prepun atrakcija i mentalitet jeste opustena.... dobro je rekla jedna od slovenki kad je odesu nazvala "beogradom na moru".... i vise puta istekla kako bi u odesi htjela zivjeti... sa druge strane, treba i vidjeti da su ljudi zaista neljubazni i da je servis u javnim mjestima cesto jednostavno katastrofa (tipa hotel bukovina, samo jos gore... - citajte ukraina 5. dio...)
vrhunac je bilo kad su mi na kraju u hotelu junest, taman kad sam bila regulisala sve racune i htjela otputovati na autobusnu stanicu, silom htjeli zaustaviti u lobby-u, zahtjevajuci da im platim 8 eura jer sam, navodno, ukrala jedan peskir. dezurna "sefica sprata", mrtva ozbiljna i glasna, trcala je za mnom, sve dole do recepcije, i na kraju zvala direktoricu hotela, neku "galinu petrovsku". ja sam zaista ostala bez rijeci. priznajem da ja jedan put u zivotu jesam ukrala hotelski peskir, jedan lijepi ruzicasti, ali to je bilo 1991e godine u israelu... i ovaj put zaista nisam bila kriva. i zacudila se njenom upornoscu. i opet niko zivo nije znao ni engleski ni njemacki mada je to bilo jedan od najvecih pristojinih hotela arkadije (recimo druge klase). a ja jadna se nesto namucila na pola ruskom, ukrainskom sa dosta "naskog" i bijesna im ponudila da mi slobodno potresu putne torbe ('bisage') i nek same provjeru. a vrijeme mi je isteklo i autobus ne bi cekao.
na kraju su se nesto kao povukle i ja jednostavno jurila vani, 6 km velikom brzinom, vozila do autobusne stanice, kao da me prati vrag... konacno sam, ne znam kako, nasla svog autobusa, taman da mi kaze vozac da bicikl ne smije na autobus. ja pokusala sa nesto para al nije pomoglo. covijek je odbio iz inata, cisto da se vidi da nesto prosto ne moze. i tad mi se od ovoga grada zaista zgadilo....(taj mi se osjecaj opet malo ublazilo...)
na kraju se na "sceni zlocina" pojavila jedna mlada zena koja mi je rijecima "if you don't let me help you, you will walk" ponudila svoju pomoc. ja se predala i ona preuzela. dugacko sa divljem gestikulacijom i dosta psovaka (toliko sam razumijela) ubijedila vozaca da jadnoj strankiniji ipak valja doci u susret... i ja usla u autobus!!
kasnije navecer, negdje na putu, taj se autobus pokvario, i 30 ljudi, ja medju njima, zavrsili na ulici, zmrzavajuci se i strpljivo cekajuci sljedeceg. ja sam nekako, prvi put taj dan, imala srece i nasla mjesto u jednoj "marsrutki", nekom kombi-u... koji me onda odveo do ulaza hotela u susjednom gradu.
evo vam dosta o odesi... bilo mi je drago kad sam iz nje pobjegla....
vuklo mi je poluotok krim sa svojom tropskom klimom, visokim temperaturama i tatarskom (citaj: muslimanskom) stanovnistvu... a o tome u 8. djelu...
((-: isabella odessitka...
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