After coming in Friday night and having a wonderful Ukranian dinner with everyone in John's hostel, Saturday I got to sleep in a little bit and then we took the bus to the commercial center for a little shopping for the hostel. Then we headed to the market to try all sorts of interesting cheese and cherry juice. Masha Johna and I walked around and saw everything one can see and buy in a market.
Saturday John took me to a park near the beach in a wooded area where we barbequed- well Rob, John's American friend who speaks Russian very well cooked a bunch and meat and some veggies for me. All the hostel goers- a dutch couple, some french guys, John, Rob, a German man and I saw the beach and at some good food!
Saturday night Masha sang at the jazz club on the second story of an old building in the town center by the park. All her friends including Slava and Nastia the russians on their honeymoon, Alex the Ukranian dentist, and the dutch couple and some other friends came to support and we sipped campagne while listening to beautiful songs in French, Spanish, and English- all the classics!
Sunday we walked around the flea market with John's friend Deema. It was like one big garage sale. We started from his hostel and saw a good part of the city stopping in a little grocery store to get some iced tea since it was crazy hot! Then saw all this old soviet influenced parafanalia including old coins, clothes, guns (out of commission no worries!) and all sorts of crazy cool things. My Aunt Kit and Grandmother Mary would have loved looking through everything. I bought some pins and an old kids book in Russian. That little market on the broken sidewalks and next to the cracked painted buildings was so neat to see.
From there the flea market turned into people selling animals in cages and in the trunks of their cars. It was somehow not cruel but normal for them. To see kittens next to their siblings being purchased right there on the road lined on each side with all sorts of animals- though categorized according to animal type. So after the blood hounds and german shepards in the old car trunks came the kittens, then the chickens and rats! I saw the biggest water rats of my life that were bigger than the fattest cat I knew.
Then John and Masha and I walked all around. He took me to see the Ptumpkin steps and the bouncing bridge with love locks on it, the town hall, the main square and water fountain with art being sold around it. We stopped in at this French patisserie for tea (very common in the Ukraine) and desserts. We met John's friend Katya who met him in an english speaking group I think John facilitated. She was adorable and by this type the harsh Russian accent in english turned into an adorable accent easily understood on any occasion. We had strawberry cheescake and chocolate round puff thing and just picked it all out. Mind you John was paying for everything practically this whole trip and wouldn't once let me take out my wallet (until sushi!). Then the 4 of us walked around some more and I saw the Mexican restaurant where John bartended when he first arrived- very funny, especially since no one in the place speaks better spanish than john and when john came to visit me in spain I almost had to translate everything for him! That night we went to the Opera on a whim and very much enjoyed though got a little bored and left at intermission. But since Masha loves singing and music, she had been there a hundred times, but wanted me to see it. The opera house was beautiful and we had our own private balcony with red seats and could see the whole place from our view. I listened to a song in Russian and thought it was so beautiful.
From there the weather started to get muggy and birds were flying all around signaling the supposed rain that was upon us. We walked through town and ended up at a sushi restaurant John and Masha never go to because its expensive, though not compared to crazy American standards. So I treated them to a nice sushi dinner which left us stuffed! It was really good though. Then we ended up in Arcadia on my last night. We went to a bar beforehand though and someone conned me into doing a flaming shot...I have no idea but I guess that is what they do in the Ukraine. Then we took a cab to Arcadia, which was new for me for a couple reasons. Many people who have cars in Odessa pick random people up on the road who want rides to get somewhere and you may a couple dollars and that is that. People do this because petrol is so expensive and its a good way to compensate in a nice friendly city! So Arcadia is an interesting place- like a theme park for adults, but not that big. There are places to dance and bars with all different themes. We came with a bunch of people from Johns Hostel and his friends but ended up leaving them to have pizza with just Masha, John and myself- it was sooo good!
After meeting Masha and being with john for a couple days, it was hard to leave. Masha was adorable and cried a little- she doesnt like goodbyes. But I am sooo glad I went and will hopefully be back soon!
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