"A year in the life of Ukraine" a Kiev Travel Page by xxgirasolexx

Area: 603,700 sq km
Population: 48.05 million
Capital City: Kiev (pop 2.6 million)
People: Ukrainian 73%, Russian 22%, Jewish 1%
Language: Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian
Religion: Ukrainian Orthodox, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic, Protestant, Jewish
Government: republic
Head of State: President Viktor A. Yushchenko

From 1999-2000, I had the fabulous opportunity of living in Ukraine. My university arranged for me to spend one year teaching conversational English in Kiev. As a result, I got to know the city as my own, develop wonderful friendships with beautiful people, see the sites, learn how to cook, and found my Ukrainian family and home.

Abandoning an alien country,
You sought your distant native land;
How could I stop the tears at parting
When sorrow was beyond command?
With hands that momentary grew colder
I tried to hold you wordlessly
I begged that our farewells, our anguish,
Might be prolonged eternally.

But from the bitter lips and clinging
You tore away your lips; and from
The lonely land of exile
To a new land bade me come.
You said: when we are united,
Beneath a sky of endless blue
In the soft shadows of the olives,
Then, lip to lip, I’ll solace you.

But yonder, where the blue is radiant,
And where the olives from the shore
Cast tender shadows on the waters,
You fell asleep to wake no more,
The funeral urn, alas, is holding
The beauty and your sorrow now,
But the sweet kiss of our reunion
I wait - - - - I hold you to your vow.