Personal Development Blog

This is the village where my great-grandmother and great-grandfather lived. In 40s of the last century this was a place of war against fascists, and my grandfather was hiding in a small cellar in a shed at the courtyard of our house. My mother once found a lot of live cartridges in the soil. My parents build a cozy 2-storey building near the old house. Now we go there from time to time (being lazy I go there no more than 2-4 times a year).

Potato Digging

Formerly this was our family tradition (as was the tradition of many other families as well) to go to village to dig potatoes. Even though it was not financially sound as the gasoline and time spent by highly qualified relatives of mine were by far more expensive than the result of our work - a few dozens of kgs of potatoes, the tradition was kept year after year.

Say Hello to Everybody

That custom I enjoyed today as I rambled on the village streets. All the people, old and young, say “Hello!” to everybody, they greet me. I am not accustomed to this in the city, and it brings a sense of joy and unity with other people.

Having No Cash

I know that some old people who do not have well-to-do relatives in the city hardly see any cash at all. They live a natural life, and exchange goods produced by their household like milk, chicken or grains and vegetables. A few dollars can be a lot of money to them.

Village Millionaires

Those are land moguls. As land prices are booming across-the-board, some village people got really rich. To buy a piece of land near Kiev in 10 km from the border costs up to 10K USD for 1 “sotka” (100 sq m).

My Day in the Village

We came here at 11 am, after about 45 km ride from Kiev. I spent almost all my day reading books on personal growth (FIRST THINGS FIRST by Stephen Covey), studying English and writing. I went on a stroll for an hour in the evening. Though it was very windy from the morning, now the weather calmed and the birds are singing. I made a few shots in the forest that I would like to share with you, along with some village shots. I expected to make pictures of a cow or a horse which are popular here but was not lucky to spot one.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 22nd, 2007 at 11:21 am and is filed under Travel/Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.