Kiev Growing in Sophistication

My latest three-week visit to Kiev has led me to a refreshing conclusion: Kiev and Ukrainian cities in general are rapidly developing in line with worldwide urban trends. Moreover, Kiev is slowly regaining its rightful cultural status after the crippling collapse of the Soviet Union and ensuing brain drain. 

In today's globalized world there's no good reason why a large, densely built city with a highly educated populace wouldn't have a robust economy and a highly sophisticated cultural life with a wide variety of opportunities for people of all skills and interests. Continuing corruption and backwards governance may slow, but they cannot stop Kiev's evolution into a sophisticated modern megapolis. 

Here's what I'm seeing these days in Kiev:

Fitness has become fashionable

Colorful public playgrounds and exercise bars have popped up in every neighborhood around town and in almost every courtyard. And people of all ages use them for free. Trendy modern gyms have popped up all around town in addition to the cheaper Soviet-era basement gyms. Indoor swimming pools are becoming overcrowded as people rush to get fit.

Not only have fitness and exercise become popular, but there has also been an explosion of organized sports activities for adults. When I learned to play Ultimate Frisbee in Kiev 10 years ago, there was one team, and it was dominated by American expats and their coworkers playing at an intermediate level. Now there 4 teams with tight organization and impressive skills, almost no foreigners, and rigorous workouts. The same can be said for almost any other sport and physical activities from basketball to swing dancing. 

Sports used to be something that adults only do if they are professional athletes or ex-athletes. Now it has become a common way for adults to enrich and balance their lifestyle. 

The same sports and fitness fads that sweep through urban areas worldwide leave their mark on Kiev and other Ukrainian cities: breakdancing, bungee jumping, aikido, skateboarding, parcours, yoga, rock climbing, tango, slack lines... Any respectable progressive young Ukrainian these days should be engaging in some kind of organized physical activity. Just doing aerobics or "shaping" (for women) or working out at the gym (for men) won't surprise anyone anymore. 

While there are still plenty of public drinkers and smokers, these vices are becoming less and less visible. Ukrainians are getting used to not being allowed to smoke at bus stops and in underground passageways. Smoking indoors in clubs and restaurants is now forbidden, whereas it used to be difficult to find a place to hang out without cigarette smoke. 

Vegetarianism, veganism, and other attempts to improve one's diet are becoming increasingly popular. People are more and more concerned about what they're eating, and laws have been improved regarding the proper labelling of food products. There are restaurants serving vegetarian and even non-cooked foods. 

I see the above trends as part of a worldwide trend towards organized self-development to counterract the emerging ill effects of technology and modern living upon the human body. It is gratifying to see urban Ukrainians joining this global movement. 

Increasing "intelligentnost"

Ukrainians and Russians have always been known for reading a lot. This hasn't changed even with the advent of smartphones and tablets. While a significant portion of commuters pass the time playing games on their electronic devices, even more of them read books. Popular genres include psychology, self-development, and professional literature, as well as fiction. It's also fairly common to see people reading in foreign languages. 

In modern Ukraine, knowing a lot is increasingly rewarded socially and professionally, as it should be. During the post-collapse years this was not often the case. Normal values were flipped on their head, and those with the most influence were often brutish types with crude tastes. This has changed, especially in high-tech sectors and other industries exposed to international competition. 

The Slavic word intelligentnost does not just refer to intelligence but refers to one's general degree of cultural refinement, including manners, self-control, taste, and knowledgeability. "Intelligentnost" was once a recognized characteristic of Soviet-era Kievites, and it was commonplace in the 90s and 00s for people to bemoan the general loss of culture in Kiev and other Ukrainian urban areas. This loss was probably attributable to the massive brain drain and upside-down values mentioned above. 

What I am seeing now is that it is once more popular to be "intelligentnyy." Crudeness and brutishness are out, and braininess and self-development are in. Did you know Kiev has become a worldwide IT hub? Did you know "TEDx Kyiv" talks are held regularly? Did you know coworking and working from home are becoming popular among cutting-edge IT workers and freelancers who do sports and travel in their free time? 

The above mentioned trend towards increasing self-improvement opportunities for adults also extends into the cultural and intellectual realm. There are now more and more activities for adults to participate in simply for the sake of self-development:

improvizational theater classes, song writing courses, free public lectures on stimulating topics, etc. etc. The industry of self-development used to be dominated by corporate training (e.g. team building or time management seminars), professional skill development courses, and ideologically oriented groups offering classes in Zen meditation, gestalt therapy, tantric yoga, etc. It is refreshing to see more and more courses and organizations specializing in skill development without an ideological component, as well as more and more self-organized groups doing fun and interesting activities together. 

City pride instead of national pride

Anyone who's spent much time in Ukraine knows that Ukrainians aren't particularly patriotic, to put it mildly. This hasn't changed, but what I am seeing in Kiev is an increasing sense of pride in one's city. After all, Kiev — not the abstract "country of Ukraine" — is the actually physical place where Kievites spend 99% of their time. I believe there is a global trend towards the increasing role of cities and their management and a relative drop in the importance of national governments. 

In the Soviet Union, central management dominated over individual initiative, and the fall of the USSR left people unprepared to take responsibility for anything beyond themselves, their families, and friends. Little by little, a sense of community and collective responsibility is emerging in Kiev. One sees this in many ways, but perhaps most noticeable is the grassroots effort to beautify public spaces around the city. 

Today one sees people planting flower gardens and even edible plants around their high-rise apartment blocks, building and painting short fences around them to keep people and dogs from trampling them. Whimsical sculptures are popping up on the city streets, and people love to take pictures next to them. Near Adreevskiy Spusk there is a massive Gaudi-esque playground featuring scary animals plated in colorful tiles. Needless to say, the place is packed with people having fun. Clever graffiti artists are having their fun around Kiev, too, just as in other metropolises worldwide. 

The street performers that show up on Kreschatik on the weekends (when it is closed to traffic) are getting better year by year. One used to see only amateurs and the occasional destitute conservatory graduate. More and more, one sees professional artists and musicians and organized performances. 

Kievites are showing their growing sense of creative freedom in other ways as well. Concept cafes are popping up around town where you can not only have a coffee, but have a unique aesthetic experience as well. Younger Kievites now expect novelty and an element of fun in their daily city experience. 

In short, there are more and more reasons for Kievites to go out and be impressed with what other people are doing in their city. This reflects a general rise in individualism and sense of collective responsibility. 

As Kiev and other cities around Ukraine become more and more interesting and sophisticated places to live, I think we will see Ukrainians becoming less and less tolerant of bureaucratic hassle, inefficient governance, and mistreatment by government officials. I see some signs that this is happening already, but that will have to be the subject of another article. 

Two Months in Sevastopol, Crimea

In a recent post I mentioned that I had just moved to Sevastopol. Here's a report on my two months there.

1. House

Several thousand dollars was spent on completing basic construction of the house, making it liveable for year-round use. Almost all this money went to a work brigade that we have been very satisfied with. The workers don't drink and do their job well, and the foreman accounts for all money spent and comes around periodically to take a look, give instructions to the workers, and collect money.

Conditions in the house are still very spartan, but there is now a functional kitchen (small water tank, sink with drain into bucket, electric stove, samovar, fridge, countertop) and shower/bath (80 liter washbin behind a curtain where you can pour water over yourself). One does have to carry water around a lot, but the inconvenience is relatively minor. It's liveable. There are two electrical heaters that provide adequate heating for winter.

It is refreshing to live on your own land after being in the city for so long. And it's not decorative landscaping like modern suburban dwellings, but an actual plot of land with natural soil where useful things grow or can be grown. It's nice to walk out at night and see the pitch black sky, to sleep in total silence, and to wake up in the morning and walk around the lot to see what's going on.

2. City

Transportation to the city from the dacha turned out to be adequate and even somewhat better than expected. On the way into town you can just hail down a car and get in for the same price as a bus. On average it takes about 35 minutes to get to the center. This is better than most places around Kiev. Buses are not as full and I almost always get a seat. Buses run from 6:30 to 20:30 and have a semi-predictable schedule. Many evenings I end up returning on the last bus, which is convenient because it leaves at a set time. On rare instances I have taken a taxi to get home.

Interestingly, Sevastopol is the only place I know in Ukraine where they say "topik" instead of "marshrutka" (minibus) and passengers pay the fare as they exit. In fact, people often get off through the back door and walk up to the front door to pass fare to the driver as they leave.

Sevastopol has a lot less going on than Kiev, but I have met a number of interesting people and am looking forward to meeting more. Our Spanish club has also been successful, with 5 regulars.

3. Other benefits

How about fresh goat's milk and homemade dairy products? Some berries can be collected in the vicinity. For the first time in a long time I've been eating quite a bit of local produce.

4. Beach

The local beach is awesome. Predictably, I ended up not getting out there as often as predicted — only about once a week. But still... The water is now quite cold (10 C), but there are people who swim in it year-round, which supposedly boosts the immune system and provides other benefits. The 170-meter drop down to the beach provides an excellent workout.

There is also an archaeological dig 10 minutes away that I still haven't gotten around to looking at.

5. Hiking

With the "5th Kilometer" bus station nearby, there are a lot of options for getting into the hills and doing some hiking. I've been on 4 day hikes in 2 months, which isn't much, but I was tied down by the ongoing construction for much of the period. Here are some pictures.

Moving to Sevastopol

Who would've thought that after 9 years in Kiev I would move to another city in Ukraine? I like Kiev and have a myriad of activities, friends, and contacts there to keep my busy. But for the past several years I have felt that Kiev is not a place I would like to settle long term. It is too big, too polluted, too far from any mountains or other areas of outstanding natural beauty, and the real estate is too costly for me to realistically buy anything decent in the foreseeable future.

The realization that I would not be able to stay in Ukraine long-term anyway because of the immigration restrictions led me to begin thinking about spending more time elsewhere. Just a week later, I began planning my move to Sevastopol, Crimea. Here I will also be subject to the 90/180 rule, but there are big advantages here for me. I can live at my own dacha, carefully chosen in a convenient location just outside the city.

Dacha plots are not available for purchase by foreign citizens unless they have been privatized. Privatized plots cost quite a bit more. 6 or 7 years ago a Ukrainian friend and I bought an unprivatized plot together on her name and began the privatization process, which is standard and can be arranged for a set fee so that the owners just pay and forget about it. A year or so later, the process was completed.

I am a geographer (by nature, if not yet by profession), and I understand that location is everything. Here are the criteria we considered when choosing the plot:

• close to bus stops where city buses run
• walking distance to an awesome beach (arguably the most scenic in the region)
• at least a few neighbors live at their dacha year-round
• some investment in construction is taking place in the vicinity
• electricity and water
• not too close to the water that seaspray would suppress plant growth

Furthermore, because Crimean cities are small, it is realistic to live at a dacha just outside the city and enjoy the benefits of city life while living in a more tranquil location. In Kiev this is basically impossible due to the large size of the city.

Crimea has tons of scenic variety — sea, mountains, cities, historical sites, etc. — plus great numbers of tourists from all over Ukraine and the former USSR. Many places in Crimea attract interesting types of people — artists, scientists, wanderers, adherents of various teachings, etc.

I have long felt that this might be the best place for me within Ukraine in terms of lifestyle. Until a few years ago I was basically tied down to Kiev because of work, but now I can work from anywhere if I have Internet.

In the past year a modest house has been built on the dacha plot, and at the moment some relatives of my friend are installing the electrical wiring. Within a month this place will be quite liveable, albeit with primitive "facilities."

Now I am beginning to establish a social life in Sevastopol and Crimea. I already have some acquaintances here, and I've established a Spanish conversation club in town. All Spanish speakers are invited, particularly natives. My daily routine includes a hike down to the spectacular "Jasper Beach," with nearly 800 steps leading down a 170 m high slope to the secluded beach below (see some photos here). It's just a short bus ride away to a kind of avtovokzal (bus station) where one can take buses to destinations in the hills to the east where all the good hiking begins. From the dacha to the center of Sevastopol it's typically about a 40 minute trip, which is average for living in Kiev. But here I breathe fresh air and live in my own house.

The plot cost $4500 USD, as much as $12-15k will be invested total in the house and landscaping, the rent is nonexistent, and utilities amount to about $10 a month.

Life at a Park in Kiev

Ever visit a city park in a typical American suburb? Chances are you'd find a vast field of crisply cut grass with a few widely spaced trees and a state-of-the-art playground set visited occasionally by a few Hispanic mothers and their kids whose income bracket is so low that they can't afford more prestigious pastimes such as computer and video games.

If the park contains a lake, chances are it's surrounded by more sterile lawns and smooth cement footpaths, as well as a sizeable parking lot so that people can drive there to take a walk. Once a week the parks are mowed by machinery so loud that everyone else in town must mow their own lawns to drown out the noise. Thus, Americans spend more time rapturously mowing their lawns than visiting and enjoying parks and outdoor areas.

Not so in Ukraine. Here parks are used intensively by all but the wealthy who can't risk being seen in public without their shiny black Mercedes-Benz.

During the summer, our lakeside park has an average of 100 visitors at a time in the mornings, several hundred during the day, and 100-200 in the evenings. Even in colder months its waters and shores are populated by Homo Sapiens.

Here you will see young mothers or grandmas with young children playing in the sand and shallow water, wizened fishermen harvesting the lake's remaining fish, old people standing around in their undies talking about health problems, politics, and grocery prices, and a few lone joggers struggling valiantly to defy the obesity epidemic.

The main community of elderly folks congregates daily by the deck chairs. Today I overheard, "And how did Akhmetov make his millions? Because he's a clever scoundrel, and we're all fools." Yesterday the conversation was about the olden days: "In the Soviet Union we may have lived modestly, but we were all brothers. There was no envy and divisions among people like today."

Solitary hobos wearing suits from the 70s are also known to frequent the lake. They like to find secluded spots among the reeds to wash their haggard bodies and shave their puffy faces. They try to keep away from the critical gaze of respectable citizens who give them the cold shoulder.

For a while a band of gypsies would walk past the lake several times a day, clearly camped somewhere in the vicinity. "You guys must be gypsies, right?" -- an old man callously asked one of the swarthy young girls. She didn't answer. Roma speak amongst themselves in their own language and tend not to mix much with other groups.

Sunbathing in Ukraine is a national pastime. But don't get your hopes up: you'll probably see far more heavy old women in bras unabashedly taking in the sun in forest clearings than svelte young supermodels. Apparently the supermodels are all busy toiling away in cubicles as managers of auxiliary corporation administration implementation. However, by midday some bikini-clad beauties do sneak out to the lake to damage their skin during peak UV hours.

Not surprisingly considering Ukrainians' conspicuous lack of prudishness, nudism here flourishes. During early morning hours people (mostly middle-aged and old) strip down to take a swim in the lake. This continues year-round; in winter the hardiest followers of Porfiriy Ivanov break a path through the ice to take their daily dip. This usually involves dunking oneself three times in the water and raising one's arms to the sky between each submersion.

The lake is not without its rules. For one, "bathing prohibited" signs line the shore. Along with other swimmers, I usually take my dips next to one of them -- after all, no one said swimming was not allowed (купаться запрещено, но плавать можно). Other signs warn visitors that walking dogs here is prohibited. So the local dogs run free, unhindered by leashes and owners.

Towards the late afternoon life at the lake enters a new phase. Groups of teenagers and adults young and old come here with their beer and cigarettes and create work for the lake's custodians by littering their bottles and myriad forms of plastic garbage. Clean-up ensues the following morning and typically lasts several hours, helping to ensure job security for the custodians.

Booze and open water are a hazardous mix. Not too long ago I saw some drunken youths drag the blue body of their drunken friend out of the water. Paramedics pronounced him dead on the scene some minutes later. The "friends," fearing repercussions once the police arrived, pretended not to know who the guy was, what he had been doing in the water, or how long he had been submerged.

Later in the evening, swallows and then erratically flying bats come out to feast on insects hovering over the water, muskrats criss-cross the lake, and a thunderous chorus of frogs commences. You see, our lake is no artificial reservoir, but a living aquatic ecosystem that, while strained by overfishing and shoreline erosion, continues to support a diverse food chain.

Quite a bit more interesting than your average American park, eh?

Photos