Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Tanya, L'viv, Amazing hospitality

Tanya, the woman whom picked up Cliff, Viera and I from Vinnystia and gave us a lift all the way to L'viv, was quite simply an awesome person. She spoke a good amount of English, and wanted to practice with us. She had just been having a vacation in Crimea for a week, and was on her way home. When she heard that we were planning on camping outside of L'viv, she invited the three of us into her home to spend the night, wash our clothes, and relax. She had two daughters, both whom were attending university, and therefore had two spare bedrooms. When we arrived, we made some tea, ate some of my pasta, and crashed. Well, Cliff and Tanya did anyway. Viera and I split a bed, and immediately a deep conversation degraded into a wrestling match. Viera is a LOT stronger than she looks, and it took a good amount of my normal strength, plus some wrestling moves, to stop her from tickling and poking me. Eventually we were both tired out and crashed like cement logs.
The next morning, we woke to a wonderful breakfast being prepared. We were also informed that Ola, Tanya's 19-year-old daughter would be showing up. We washed out clothes (FINALLY in my case, it had been almost two weeks...), and when Ola arrived we all went out for coffee, picking up one her friends from the street on the way. After coffee, Tanya had some errands/work to do, so Ola and her friend took Cliff, Viera and I around the city, seeing the center, some churches, and ending at a small amusement park, where I treated everyone to a few rides (around $0.75/ride). The rain started as we were walking back to the apartment, and so we abandoned a trip to Ola's university and went directly home. That night, we all went to the supermarket (Ola driving, BLASTING some pretty cool Russian rap music) to pick up supplies for Cliff's personally prepared meal. Unfortunately Coconut milk is unheard of in Ukraine, so the taste of the chicken curry was not up to spec (according to Cliff; the rest of us loved it). I crashed before Ola got back from walking around/partying with her friends, and when I awoke, it was morning.
The next morning, after a light breakfast and some packing, Tanya gave the three of us a lift to a petrol station just outside of the ring road around L'viv, a perfect spot for hitching. We had some coffee, took pictures, and said our goodbyes...

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