Stand in the Shadow of the Georges

My brother Phil is traveling with me around Eastern Europe this month. First I picked him up in Kyiv two weeks ago. We spent the weekend with my Peace Corps friends and sitting at a cafe down on the main drag, maidon Nazelezshnosti, drinking beers. It was really humid and rainy so there was thunder and lightning so loud and so powerful is set off several car alarms as Phil and I jumped out of our seats.
The next day Phil and I went to Ternopil, we met up again with my Peace Corps friends, walked the city and Phil got to meet the Ukrainian version of himself my host brother Arsen. Now I don't just say that Arsen in the Ukrainian version of Phil because they are both my brothers. I say this because they are exactly alike. They even have similar looks, they are both very athletic and lift weights so their builds are similar. And they are both very personable, social and intelligent. and the best of all they both tell these rambling and funny stories about their many friends who are less competent than themselves. It was a blast so sit by the lake in Ternopil and talk with both of them.
Then Phil got to visit my village, he went to school, answered a million questions, played soccer everyday with the boys in the park, hung with the host fam and went to the Last Bell Ceremony where I spent most of the time translating things like: " the best flower arranger in the district for the seventh grade is Olga Bily, the second best graphic artist in the Oblast for the ninth form is Inessa Covalchuk..." etc. But all the kids wore there traditional embroidered costumes and it was fun. Phil of course was invited to may peoples house and upon walking in the outside yard of my Coordinator Halya's house her aged great-aunt-in-law who fought against the Russians in the Ukrainian Liberation Army came over to the house to "bless my union" as she saw me with a man and assumed I was getting married...oh Ukraine you are such a card.
The random adventures keep on coming... Phil and I went back to Ternopil to catch a train to Budapest last week. We had to get on the train at 2:30am so we hung out with some of my friends and stumbled across a concert in the square in Ternopil, there were all kinds of local acts including a great Ukrainian rock band called Vin Znaye (He knows) and I officially have a crush on the lead singer it was great lyrics and a great beat. Then the best of all, there was a elementary school rap group complete with girls in halter tops dancing on stage, rapping quite well I might add, the classic "Baby if I give it to You" by a 90s group whose name I can't now remember. At this concert the sun was waning and getting in every ones eyes, so Mandi stood on the opposite side of me and Paul next to Phil so our massive, collective height would block them from the sun.
Then we took three different trains to go to Budapest. The best part about Budapest is the Thermal baths. The city is a top a kind of crack in the earths surface that allows sulfur water with healing properties to bubble up. They are all over the city, some decades and even centuries old, tiled with mosaics and complete works of art in themselves. I know they are legit because it turned my silver ring, gold, then bronze, then almost red. But over the course of twenty-four hours it went back to silver, I wish I had taken chemistry sometime in my 22 years of school so I would know what process is going on.
Now we are in Krakow. I am loving this city for its genuine and preserved two square, street musicians and art. I am finding the more European-ized part of eastern Europe a perfect fit for me. Last night the two times customs agents came on the train (at the Slovak border and the polish border) when the customs agents woke us up to check our passports they all thought it was great that I spoke polish, because Ukrainian is so close to polish I am able to fake it. Hungarian is a very isolated language linguistically and I couldn't identify a single word of it. But here in Poland I actually gave someone directions today and no one has to know I am one of the throngs of foreigners descended upon the city.
My friend Paul, also known as Pasha, from Peace corps Ukraine is joining us later today for a couple days of site seeing and enjoying polish culture.