The power of study abroad

Optimismistic

We’ve had temps on the plus side, above freezing, for a couple days in
a row. Huge moounds of snow are slowly melting, sun is shining and
birds are even chirping! It’s probably not the full end of winter yet,
but a bit of relief goes a long way. I took my filthy down coat to
the dry cleaners, so it better stay non-Artic for a few days! Also
wore shoes yesterday, not boots, which was an overly optimistic move.

Spent last week in Warsaw and Bratislava. Went to the opera Wednesday
night, which was a nice break from the usual all-business all-the-time
schedule of my trips.

Off the Consulate to get pages added to my passport- neaarly filled
the sucker in just 18 months!

Politicking

We can hear the politicking outside the Central Election Committee
several blocks away at our apartment. Those poor folks living right
across the street! The faces, as Igor “gently” commented, aren’t very
intellectual. They are hanging oyt in the underpass and metro station
to get warm, smoking and spitting and trashing everything up. Don’t
even want to think where they are doing their “business”, but the odor
is already in the air. (In autumn 2008, during the last election
uproar, when tons of people were camped outside the CEC, I had the fun
of seeing a village woman, bussed in for the “demonstrations”, hike up
her skirt and squat in the grass right on the corner of Kutuzova and
Lesi Ukrainki, smack in the middle of Kyiv.)

A big stage is set up in front of the CEC, lots of people wearing
armbands that say “Yanukovych is our president”, one of his campaign
slogans.

His other slogan was “Ukraine for people”, which has an interesting
undertone from prison culture. “Lyudi”, people, are the bosses among
the criminals in jail; they don’t work and they get all the respect.
“Muzhiki”, dudes, are the “middle class” in prison culture. The lowest
class are “kozli” (goats) or “ne lyudi” (not people). They serve those
above them in the food chain.

So “Ukraine for people” is an especially interesting slogan for
someone who served time.

What next?

My Facebook status from Sunday:

Ready to observe Ukrainian presidential elections, round 2. Hard to grasp which is the better of these two evils: the sexist ass oligarch-mouthpiece or the venomous back-stabber with a serious grudge. Both campaigns consist entirely of spewing hate at each other. Most coherent reason either can come up with for why you should vote for her/him is that s/he is not the other guy.

Ivanna and I observed Round 2 in Kyiv. Nothing out of the ordinary, as far as we could tell, but then again, would we really be able to witness voter fraud in action? Our role, as I see it, is mainly to ask questions and hopefully keep people on their toes. I was intrigued this time by how the precinct election committee (PEC) chairs are selected – they themselves didn’t seem to be sure of the process. At 6 of the 7 polling stations where we asked, the PEC chair was from the Yanukovych camp. This just seemed oddly disproportionate to me, since the PECs are supposed to have 8 members representing Yanukovych and 8 representing Tymoshenko. One chair told me they were appointed by the district election committee (DEC). But at the next polling station, a PEC member told us about an elaborate system that ended up with Tymoshenko reps as chairs at even-numbered polling stations and Yanukovych reps at odd-numbered polling stations. A quick run through our notes proved that theory false, at which point the PEC member just shrugged his shoulders and went back to tallying votes.

I think it’s ridiculous to say voters are “pass(ing) judgment on the Orange Revolution“. If Yanukovych wins, it is not an “extraordinary indictment” of anyone or anything. If you recall, Yanukovych lost to Yushchenko by less than 7% in the third round of the 2004 elections, and Yushchenko received 52% of the vote in that race between 2 candidates. Not exactly what you could call a landslide victory. And considering how close the results are looking in the first post-Revolution presidential elections, I don’t think we can say whoever wins has a mandate from the electorate. Ukraine continues to be pretty split about who she is and what she wants to do with her life.

I have thought for several years now that the legacy of the Orange Revolution was not a massive change in government, it was a lasting change in the people of Ukraine. They saw that they had power, they saw that they could demand something of their government and get it. When I moved to Kyiv about a year after the Orange Revolution, people still talked about it as if it happened yesterday. As Yushchenko’s glimmer faded, they still talked about politics with zest and vigor. And they did more than just talk about the 2010 presidential elections, they got out the vote. Over 67% voter turn-out in the first round, and even higher in the second round at almost 70%. Compared to the average U.S. presidential election when about 50% of registered voters can be bothered to show up, I think we can saw Ukrainians take their democracy seriously. And just for the record, getting to the polls was not an easy task in either round – it was damn cold and streets and sidewalks were covered with snow and ice. Imagine what it could have been like if there had been an appealing candidate on the ballot!

In Tallinn, Estonia

Having a fabulous breakfast in a beautiful hotel at the edge of Old
Town Tallinn. Since most of what I see in my travels are the insides
of offices and hotels, I have collected quite a lot of observations
about what hotels offer and don’t offer. And I must say, this being my
first trip into my new expanded territory, if this is anything like
the rest of the hotels I’ll visit in my new countries- what the hell
was I was fussing about? This is the kind of increased work load I
should have been asking for.

Those of you in countries where you can safely assume things like hot
water will be available throughout your stay may not be as wowwed as I
am by the things that wow me these days. But I think even you might be
pleased, if not thoroughly impressed, by the Nordic Hotel Forum in
Tallinn.

Free wi-fi that really works and is of a speed that actually allows
connection with the internet (I’ve been in many a hotel that display
wi-fi signs at reception only to find out it’s more or less a wall
decoration). Hot water AND water pressure, simultaneously, even on the
6th floor. Clean, bright room. Beautiful swimming pool, jacuzzi (which
actually has water in it and appears to be working, unlike the jacuzzi
at my crazy expensive gym in Kyiv) and fitness room. (“It’s quite
small”, the receptionist said when I checked in. Hell, how many
treadmills do I need at oone time?)

The coup de gras, though, was the awesome breakfast, which didn’t cost
an additional 45 euros, or even 20 euros. It’s included! And this is a
breakfast that actually might have been worth paying for. I even got
my own carafe of coffee, and a large supply of coffee always make
giddy.

Another nice touch is the TV sound piped into the bathroom, so I could
comfortably listen to BBC news without waking the entire floor by
blaring the TV.

Alas, there must always be some disappointment. No robe or slippers,
which would be handy for wearing to and from the pool. I think I can
make do, though.

Ah, Schengen. We look at you with ancor, a walled community snootily
trying to keep the dirty eastern masses out. Stepping over to the
other side, I can see the grass really is greener over here.