Brokedown Palace

...well I haven't quite given up on the pictures yet. They will come, oh yes, they will come... it just might be a question of when?

Well, where to start?

Kiev is really... well... it's really weird. That sounds terribly narrow minded of me, speaking of another culture as I am... but it is... to me.
Think of it like this:
Take all the pretty, made up, model/actress wannabes (we'll talk about the impromptu Ukrainian idol competition at the end of my street later...) from say, L.A., or possibly Montreal? if we want to compare closer to home, but you know what I mean; add to that the pretty boys from Queen's and Western; mix it all up with deteriorating (well, let's say, "not-yet-restored") Eastern European religious and architectural splendour; and a dash of discreetly-placed, left-over communist symbolism (read hammers, sickles (sp?), and stars lining the marble caverns of the underground, and don't you dare take pictures of it, because that's not what they're about anymore, don't forget); and just a hint of true poverty.... and what do you get?
Boys in imitation crocodile boots with pointed toes that point up slightly at the end, à la Turkish slipper. Girls who wear their cell phones on silver chains around their necks, like talismans to the techno-gods. People who still only say thank you in Russian; and people who still only speak Russian. People who short change you out of 50 kopecs (about 12 and a half cents, cdn). Workmen who are refinishing the outsides of buildings -- who work from 6 am, to 7 pm, seemingly without stopping. Gypsies holding babies and cursing you when you turn away. And a woman standing at the front of the grocery store who seals your backpack in plastic before you can begin your shopping.
I could go on... and on... It seems to me this sounds overly negative... it's not meant to. In truth it's fascinating, but overwhelming. They have a way of looking at eachother here... studying everyone around them, which in North America would make us constantly feel as though we had a sign stuck on our backs. It's unnerving, and hard for me to get used to -- paranoid as I am.
Anyway, it's all very hard to explain without visual aid. And I haven't got my camera out yet, because I'm much too nervous still. Walking around with a video camera and all the trappings will make me more the centre of attention than I already feel. But I'll work my way up to it. And then if no one objects, I'll take surreptitious close ups of they're pointy shoes and cell phones, heh. I don't think I'll make it to the Subway commie bronze though... I think I might get yelled at... and believe me, being yelled at in Ukrainian is an experience close to spiritual.

Okay... enough for now... now that I've given you all utterly the wrong impression... you have to see it to understand I think.