Strawberries

Just because I can. Just because they were delicious.

Appearance isn't everything

One fine morning my cousin and I heard my grandmother shout from the bathroom, "WHY IS THERE SOUR CREAM IN THE SHOWER?" 
"Grandma, that's a hair mask, not sour cream!" my cousin replied.

Indeed it was a hair mask in the oddest packaging I have ever seen. 

Complete with an aluminium seal and transparent lid. I wouldn't want to eat this cream.

The most addictive thing you'll ever eat

..are corn sticks. Sweet, puffed, corn sticks.I know they look like packing foam but trust me when I say, they are delicious, deliciously addictive.

They melt in your mouth instantly. No matter how many hand-fulls you attempt to shove in your mouth, they'll melt into almost nothing. Without noticing, in just a couple of minutes you'll find yourself with an empty bag. These bags are pretty large as well. Eat them on their own or as cereal but once you start, it'll take enormous will power to pull away. You have been warned.

Dnepropetrovsk

Last weekend we went to Dnepropetrovsk, the place where my auntie and her family lives. The city isn't too far away from Karsnoarmiisk, you can get there in just over two hours by car or three and a half hours by train. We decided on the latter option because we don't have any other form of transport available to us.

Let this be a lesson learnt, bring your own air conditioner or at least fan. It's hot on the train, very, very hot. With a temperature of 37 degrees outside and no air conditioners inside, you might as well be sitting in a sauna. On the return trip we decided to take the speed train they specifically built in time for Euro 2012. Not only will it  get you home in 2 hours but you also get to sit in nicely air conditioned train. Definitely worth the extra money.

Now, back to Dnepropetrovsk. Named after the river that flows through the city, The Dnepr, it is the fourth largest city in Ukraine. The roads are still terrible but there's a lot more site seeing here.

On our first day we walked through the main shopping area, only now did I notice the bride and groom in the picture.

In Ukraine, you can buy your very own Nimbus 2000

And you can also go swimming right in the middle of the city.

This is a fountain located right in the middle of the lake. It was operating several years back but now it serves as an attraction for swimmers, diving underneath the tubes reach the center. 

People diving off the rocks

On the bridge across the Dnepr river you'll find hundreds, upon hundreds of love locks.

Sunset on the Dnepr

Statues of Chupa Chups (I think)

A church we walked past

Aaaand my favourite dress from when I was 5 years old.

Flash back

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for the lack of updates. My time in Ukraine is coming to an end, in exactly one week I'll be home and I haven't had time to sit and write up entries. Secondly, my camera broke so not many photos have been taken. I speculate it might have been sand or dirt from when we were in Dnepropetrvosk. 

Today's post features some street photos of Krasnoarmiisk, more specifically the place my mother grew up, and I lived for the first 5 years of my life.

The playground outside the apartments.

Majority of the population live in apartments. Although the exterior looks very old and run down, many people carry out renovations inside.

A funny photo of a cat I accidentally took. It had my cousin and I literally rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter.

Sweet Tooth

How could I not write a post about all the delicious food Krasnoarmiisk has to offer? The town itself may not be rich but the food certainly is. So many delicious, delicious cakes and chocolates. Australia doesn't even come close in the cake department.

I may have been laughed at several times for taking photos of my food but it was all for the sake of the blog. Okay, maybe it was mostly for my sake.

I don't know how many cakes we've gone through since our arrival in Krasnoarmiisk.

This cake is made to resemble Ukraine's most famous cake, Kievskiy Tort (Kyiev cake) which is named after the capital city of Ukraine. The photo is a little messy because we ended up shoveling spoon-fulls of cake into our mouths.

Truffle cake

Chocolates

Swimming

It's hot. It's really hot. One of the good things about Australia is that as an island, it's surrounded by water so swimming is not a problem. On the other hand Ukraine is not therefore we must settle for lakes and rivers.

The day started off with a water fight in the street with my two cousins. Armed with water bottles we ran around for an hour spraying each other with the cold water from the well. No photos were taken since my two cousins were merciless, we came home soaking wet.
Later during the day we decided to go swimming. The lake is a 20 minute, crazy car ride from my grandparents house. The photo below isn't of the lake we swam in, but a lake that's adjacent to it. It acts as a water reserve for the main Krasnoarmiisk coal mine.

Here's the lake we swam in. It's quite small but the water was warm and relatively clean. Being able to see your stomach in the water is considered clean as far as lakes go.

Although small, the lake is quite deep, there is only a very small shallow area. To the right of the photo is a little pier which people can comfortably dive off. 

The view from the other side. A sea of sunflowers.

My cousin somersaulting into the water.

The day has left me with so many unforgettable memories that the thought of me having to leave this all behind soon breaks my heart. It's strange but my life back home seems like just a distant dream I had many years ago.

Shopping

And here I present to you Krasnoarmiisk's famous shopping centre. Just kidding, there is no shopping centre.

Although there aren't any multistory buildings with fancy stores, there is a large market place where you kind find almost anything your heart desires. 

Anyone can set up a table outside on the street but inside the market place, you have assigned places for your stall.

Clothes are sold in little tents. There are no changing rooms, only makeshift curtains made from blankets hanging from wires to shield you from prying eyes. Ukrainian's are a relaxed bunch when it comes to changing in public.

After the rain

Saved this little guy from the rain, looks like a tiger butterfly.

In the backyard again.

The loyal guard dog. This is common in Ukraine for homes to have guard dogs. Although you may not get much sleep, you'll certainly hear if someone is snooping around at night.

Krasnoarmiisk, Ukraine

Phew, I'm up to date with all my posts, now that I have a stable internet collection. I've been in Ukraine for exactly 8 days now in my hometown Krasnoarmiisk.

It's a very small town with a population of about 70,000. It's old, falling apart and no one wants to invest any money into it. The roads are riddled with pot holes, no one wears seat belts (note the reoccurring theme here) and there is dust and dirt everywhere. Things like this make me appreciate just how clean and tidy Australia is.

Krasnoarmiisk is a coal mining town, part of the Donets Basin region (also known as Donbas). Because of this there is dirt everywhere. Concrete roads are almost non existent, the city is mostly lined with stones and gravel. No one wears white here, the instant you go outside, your feet will be black and your clean clothes will be clean no more. It sounds horrible doesn't it?

To some extent it is quite bad but these people are used to it, they know no other life. My grandparents, their family has lived in the same house for 3 generations. Everyone knows the family name. Everyone lives next door to each other, the kids all come out and play once the heat has subsided, it's all very friendly here. You're never bored, if you're a kid that is.

Some of the good things that I'd like to highlight about this town is just how green everything is. Everything is thriving. A lot of families rely on the vegetables and fruit that's grown in their fields for their main source of food. I've been taking advantage of this by sneaking out constantly and picking all the raspberries.

Here's the view from my grandparent's backyard

Picking raspberries.I can never get enough of them.

Outside, in the street. Gravel roads everywhere.

Outside on the street again, later during the day

The hills of Kransoarmiisk are all man made from the remains of a coal mining plant. They're everywhere you go.