Happy family freezing

Rare occasion of getting together with my sister in Kyiv, in ЦУМ (Central Universal Magazine)

New Obolon, New Vodka

I want to be fair, not everything on Obolon is Soviet and crumbling. New capitalist Obolon with McDonalds and shiny advertisements is prospering next to the Old Obolon.

There is an amazing array of tasteful vodka bottles available everywhere.

New Kyiv

There are plenty of glitzy places in Kyiv now. Arena City is one of the top destinations.

Book covers

My sister visited Kyiv last week, she was a moderator for a literary evening on the topic of erotica and pornography in the Ukrainian literature. It was very interesting that these issues are raised and that people care enough to express their opinions. I felt it was a bit unfair to frame the debate as one side who is for erotica and the other side who is against erotica in literature. The main issue was about taste, that sex scenes became gratuitous in the novels, to stimulate book sale. I feel that regulations will not work and that it is a passing trend: at some point Ukrainian literature (and mainly publishing houses and the audience) will mature to want something else. I think the taste needs time to develop.

My sister is an author herself, she published a book "36 Songs of Life" which was very well received by the reviewers and the audience.

My first impression of the book cover was that it was a bit risqué. This was before I saw the "companion" book cover, published by the same publishers, at the same time. Hers is in pink, the" companion" book is in blue. I find this very funny.

Carpet cleaning technology

I forgot how people cleaned carpets in my country: with fresh snow in bitter cold. It was reassuring to see that the tradition continues.

Meeting the students

Meeting the students….

The first day I went to Kyiv Mohyla Academy (UKMA) Faculty of Informatics, the dean Mykola Mykolayevych told me of their crisis. Two professors in the department got suddenly seriously ill, so he asked me to teach two courses to substitute one of the professors. He gave me complete freedom of what to teach, with only condition that the teaching must be in English and start next day. This was an ideal opportunity for me to teach what I want: so we are having two courses on Social Aspects of Technology (Social Informatics) with the focus on international issues of intellectual property and piracy.

I really like the students and the opportunity to get to know them. They are 3^rd and 5^th year of the University. In their age they are very close to the age my daughter would've been. Who knows, maybe she would've studied in Kyiv Mohyla.

They are the first generation growing up in the post-Soviet, post-Chornobyl period. I want to see who they are, what they think, what their opinions are. UKMA is the top university of Ukraine, aiming to be in the the world's top 50 universities in the next 10 years. The university pride itself on being free of corruption and bribes, and being truly meritocratic in their admissions policies. Competition is intense for each student spot, entrance exams are difficult. Only the best students gain the privilege to study in this University. Most of the students are coming from cities other than Kyiv, so for me it is also interesting to meet new generation of Ukrainians from all over Ukraine.

Did I mention that I really like the students? They are very smart and articulate, and have a very interesting perspectives. During the first class I was asking them what they want to do in the future, many of them already have their own companies or work as programmers and web designers. My favorite answer was though: "I want to be a Cosmonaut". Who does not?

Tom was laughing at me that I had an urge to invite the students to our nice apartment only to remember that our nice apartment is in MILWAUKEE and we and, therefore, students are in KYIV... It is a pity...

Kyiv tour with the Fulbright delegation

Fulbright office organized a tour of Kyiv for this year Fulbright recipients staying in Ukraine. It was quite cold, yet impressive. I have not visited these place for a long time. Vydubyzcky Monastery, St.Mykhaila church... Beautiful artifacts of the Honchar Museum...