Today I head out for my longest train ride. A 16-hour overnighter from Odessa - Northwest to Lviv and then Southwest to Kolomyia, a small city in Western Ukraine where I'll start my this year's visit to the beautiful Carpathian mountain countryside.
Last night I saw a great concert. I really like the conductor Hobart Earle and the Symphony here is really good. They perform in what was the former stock exchange building.
At the concert, I chatted with some nice citizens of this town. The conversation was in Russian (them) and English (me) and a little Ukrainian (me). Not exactly sure what we discussed (given the language gap) but I think it was about how we all love Odessa, where we're from and they invited me to come to the next concert with their great conductor. But alas I'm headed off to "Karpaty".
Talking in mixed languages is quite a challenge but fun and nice that people want to do it.
Like the two young (around 12) Asian boys who addressed me on the elevator riding up to the 6th-floor cafeteria, I go here for breakfast. They quickly switched to excellent English when I so responded to their Russian and told me they speak 4 languages Russian, Ukrainian, English, and Chinese. A humbling but uplifting (pun intended) experience given their spirited friendliness. A great way to start the day.
Navigating the language barrier is both challenging and fun. Like yesterday when I did my dry run to the train station to get my boarding pass printed out and was sent to 3 different counters where they supposedly spoke English but in fact only Russian.Like all the train stations here Odessa's is an architectural gem as are nearby cathedrals.
Well, that's it for now. Wish me well on the long train journey ahead.
Thanks for reading!
