Last Days
All good things come to an end, or least that's what they say. And such was the case with this extended stay in Odesa. But the most was definitely made of the last days in the city - which also included Ukrainian independence day on 24 August.
Vegan Hunting Season
Time flies so quickly these days. Can't believe that it's almost vegan hunting season! Or at least that's the most logical conclusion one can draw from these stencils that are dotted around the city.
In any case, soy boys, grain girls, tofu tramps, seitan worshippers, et al might wanna give Odesa Oblast wide berth over the coming weeks, just in case. Better safe than sorry and all that....
#1 Choice of Cosmonauts
Sure, Google Translate could easily decipher all the words on this advert, but it seems pretty obvious that it's just explaining how Velo is the #1 choice of cosmonauts when it comes to snuff.
Which makes perfect sense, because 'velo' means 'bike' in most Slavic languages and cosmonauts probably all rode bikes at some point....
Beach Reading
These book quote posts almost never get any reach or engagement, but not caring about such things is one of the benefits of running a page solely for one's own personal amusement....
"By ‘nationalism’ I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labelled ‘good’ or ‘bad’. But secondly - and this is much more important - I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognising no other duty than that of advancing its interests.
Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism. Both words normally used in so vague a way that any definition is liable to be challenged, but one must draw a distinction between them, since two different and even opposing ideas are involved. By ‘patriotism’ I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force upon other people.
Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality."
- George Orwell, Notes on Nationalism
Giddyup?
Is there an aquatic equivalent of 'Giddyup'? Asking for an Odesan jewellery store window mermaid....
Capital of Crocs™
Almost two months of daily amateur anthropological field work has led to the conclusion that nowhere in the world are Crocs™, or Crocs™ style knockoffs, more popular than Ukraine - especially here in Odesa. Even the inanimate objects lacking feet are getting in on the action.
In general, Slavs have a well-earned reputation for dressing for comfort, and if you're going to be under constant psychological stress, at least your feet can be happy. Combine that with summer on the Black Sea coast and you've got yourself the perfect storm for a thriving, robust Crocs™ habitat!
Or at least that's the working hypothesis. More research is obviously still needed. So here's hoping that that EU grant funding comes through....
Ukrainian Coffee
Spotted outside a small cafe in a random residential district....
NB: While this is just a late capitalism gimmick to sell more coffee, they do seem to have a pretty good café and craft coffee scene here in Odesa. Little kiosks all over the place, and loads of 'super cool' hipster spots that look like all the other super cool hipster spots in every city around the world. At least here you can still get an espresso for like €0.50, or around €1 at the hipster places.
Happy Birthday Ukraine!
Happy birthday to Ukraine, which turns 33 years young today! Here's hoping your Jesus Year is a good one - or at least better than the original....
NB: If you like photos of Ukrainian flags painted on buildings, you're gonna be in for a real treat, because there's quite the collection waiting to be posted at some point.
Life's a beach
Just after midnight here, so officially another successful Ukrainian Independence Day in the books. Helps if you spend the entire morning, and then some, lounging at the beach with approximately half of Odesa.
Would also like to think that this family who set themselves down right in front of us were making a political statement with their umbrella, but it's admittedly more likely that they just like watermelon....
Sunday morning traffic on Nizhyns'ka Street....
Uzbek Delights
In this episode of 'Better Late Than Never': Samsas, where have you been all my life? In Central Asia, apparently. And also at a hole in the wall Uzbek place in Odesa's Starokinny market, which is where the photo of this delicious lamb samsa was taken earlier today....
From our friends at Wikipedia:
"Samsa (Kazakh: самса, Kyrgyz: самса, Uyghur: سامسا, Uzbek: сомса, somsa, Turkmen: somsa, Turkish: Sambusek, Tajik: самбӯса, romanized: sambüsa, Persian: سمبوسه) is a savoury pastry in Central Asian cuisines. It represents a bun stuffed with meat and sometimes with vegetables.
In the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey and Iran, as well as in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, samsas are almost always baked. In contrast to South Asian samosas they are rarely fried. The traditional samsa is often baked in the tandoor, which is a special clay oven.
The dough can be a simple bread dough or a layered pastry dough. The most common filling for traditional samsa is a mixture of minced lamb and onions, but chicken, minced beef and cheese varieties are also quite common from street vendors. Samsas with other fillings, such as potato or pumpkin (usually only when in season), can also be found."
Originally Boring or Boringly Original?
Gotta love the literal graffiti. Although ironically being posted now, when there are countrywide power outages due to all kinds of Monday morning missile strikes....
Odesa Central Post Office
A little postcard and patriotic stamp shopping at the historic central post office this afternoon....
Retroactively Ultimate
Yesterday's penultimate morning at the beach retroactively became the ultimate, thanks to some unforecasted thunderstorms today. But it was thoroughly enjoyable while it lasted.
FYI, a dip in the Black Sea is a great way to start the day - during the summer months at least....
287 Days
When you haven't had a single drink in 287 days, but it's Ukrainian Independence Day and 287 is an aesthetically pleasing number to have permanently etched in the personal record books....
Borges
Meet Borges, son of Alice, a munchkin cat who also arrived in Odesa from Vladivostok by way of Minsk more than a decade ago.
He's of course named after famed Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance, if not the widespread literary acclaim. Not yet at least....
Postcard Day
There might not be many tourists these days, but Odesa's postcard scene has arguably never been stronger - running the gamut from the usual artsy hipster design ones and cute cats to war themed black comedy.
And these don't even include the many vintage ones purchased at the flea market - none of which were sent, as almost all include some reference to the old CCCP or similar on them.
Will any arrive at their intended destinations? Only time will tell. Until then, godspeed little rectangles of paper with pithy, barely legible words scrawled on your backs, godspeed....
На побачення, Одеса
Finally having to say goodbye to Odesa (and Ukraine) yesterday was bittersweet, even after the originally planned one-week stay in the city ended up lasting more than six weeks. Or more exactly 45 days, which is an inflation rate of 643% - excessive even by current inflation standards.
Similarly, the scheduled 3hr and 50min journey time for the bus to trundle the 200km or so to Chișinău ended up lasting nearly 7hrs, but included the usual more or less nonstop fascinating sights, sounds and anthropological absurdities (especially at the border), so passed quite quickly despite the spotty AC and bumpy roads....