Ukraine: Part 1

Maidan, Independence Square Kyiv.

I didn't know what to expect as the bus crossed the river Tisza from Hungarian Záhony to Ukrainian Solomonovo at 04.00 in the morning, but it was easy. All other foreigners had to leave the bus at one point for extra questions by border patrol, except me. I only needed to show my passport to military men 3 times instead of 4. I guess that is the power of the Swedish passport.

As the bus rolled through the western Ukrainian lowlands toward Lviv I was looking for signs of war, even though the front line is very far away. But there were several signs to be seen. Strategic junctions, chokepoints, railway crossings, are all donned up with makeshift security measures. Cement blocks and sand bags are stapled at these places like Lego bricks, and draped with olive green camouflage nets. All fitted with holes big enough for heavy machine guns. Just in case they are needed to be protected at short notice.

At some gas stations young soldiers hopped on or off, while I ate some terrible chicken nuggets and fries.

The rain was pouring down when we finally arrived in Kyiv, so I happily paid a taxi driver with one glass eye 3 times as much money as is reasonable, just to get me to the hotel.

At this point I had been completely sober for 34 days, which is a new personal best in my adult life. But something about all of this trip made me decide to search for a party. I found a bar and stayed for an afterparty, made my way back home on empty streets (the curfew is at 11pm, but they insisted that no police would be around, and they were right), and the next day I woke up with the first hangover in more than a month.

It was a fun night, but in the big scheme of things I think I prefer complete sobriety instead of getting fucked up. I am pretty sure that I will chose sobriety eventually. It isn't as boring as I thought it would be, and it is a 1000 times more rewarding in many different aspects than being drunk or high.

All of the next day I spent walking through the city center of Kyiv. The main goal was to visit Maidan, the Independence Square, which has been engrained in my mind since seeing "Winter on fire" on Netflix a couple of years ago. If you read this and have Netflix, please dedicate 1:38 hours of your life to watch this documentary. You won't be dissapointed!

I also went to see the governmental buildings and the president's office, but most of these streets were cordoned off, for obvious reasons.

This morning I went out to the shelter for the first time. Elena, the manager, welcomed me with open arms and put me in the cat room (with 40 cats) while she attended some other things.

I am normally afraid of cats, but that dissapeared extremely quickly as I was immediately attacked from all sides by cats who demanded scritches. I was left in this room where two cats jumped on my neck, two other cats climbed my legs, and when I found a chair to sit on the rest of them jumped me. I had no less than 8 or 10 cats walking, scratching, sitting or meowing at me at any second, and I just couldn't stop laughing.

When Elena was done we filled up a big bucket of treats, so I could feed all the 200 dogs of the shelter with a piece each. I think it will take some time to get the trust of all of them, but I instantly fell in love with them all. Cats are amazing, but I think my main purpose here is to help the dogs.

This is gonna be good. I can't wait for tomorrow, when a big bunch of people will come to the shelter for socializing class.

First snowfall outside of the hotel.