DOUBLE EXPOSURE: What a long, strange trip it's been (08/28/05)

DOUBLE EXPOSURE

by Khristina Lew

What a long, strange trip it's been

In August 1991 when Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union, several hundred Ukrainian Americans and Ukrainian Canadians were in Wildwood, N.J., wrapping up the summer with a week at the beach. I was watching CNN at the Sea Scape when the newscaster announced that after several days of uncertainty, the Ukrainian republic had declared its independence from the USSR, effectively dissolving the Soviet empire.

I rushed out to the beach to spread the word. I came across a friend from New York. "Nick," I shouted. "Ukraine declared its independence!" He glanced up from his newspaper, hoisted his beer in the air and said, "Yeay, Ukraine." Then he went back to his paper.

Nick's response was - as was most everyone else's that day - at best, lukewarm.

This week Ukraine celebrates the 14th anniversary of its independence. A lot has changed since then.

When I traveled to Ukraine on the eve of independence back in 1990, I couldn't spend the $20 bill I had exchanged at Boryspil Airport the entire 10 days I was in the country. Today the cab fare from Boryspil to downtown Kyiv will cost you twice that.

In the early 1990s one of the few places a Westerner could eat out in Kyiv was in hotel dining rooms. But you had to lie and say you were with the U.S. Embassy, otherwise the wait staff would refuse to serve you, if not throw you out.

Today there are hundreds of restaurants, bars, pubs, cafés, pizza joints and hotel dining rooms to choose from, and the cuisine ranges from Italian to Middle Eastern to Chinese - in fact, some of the best sushi I've ever had is at a restaurant called San Tori in the Podil section of town.

In the early days of independence, people were distrustful of Americans, questioning our motives for being in Ukraine, assuming we were spies for the U.S. government. When I spoke Ukrainian in Donetsk in 1990, people asked me if I was Polish. When I spoke Ukrainian in Kyiv, people yelled "Banderovtsi!" and spit at me.

Last fall when I was in Kyiv and spoke Ukrainian, a new acquaintance apologized to me and said, in Russian, "I'm sorry, I don't speak Ukrainian very well, but I'll try." When I was in Donetsk and spoke in Ukrainian, a sales clerk looked at me curiously, but didn't question who I was or what I was doing there.

Back then, when you walked down Khreschatyk, all you saw was a sea of gray - gray overcoats, dark boots, dark scarves. Soviet wear was drab, and I left my bright clothing back in the states. Today women in Kyiv dress sharply, wearing the latest European styles, and I am definitely underdressed.

Ukraine has changed, and so have we in the West. After Ukraine declared its independence, many Ukrainians in the United States didn't know how to react. The dream of our grandparents had materialized, but what did that mean for us?

Some of us started passing along money to family in Ukraine. Some of us bought VCRs and stuffed them in suitcases so family over there could sell, barter or trade them for other things. Some of us had relatives arrive from the motherland who never left. This new reality was not what a lot of us expected.

Many Ukrainian American organizations also couldn't adjust to the new realities of an independent Ukraine, and lost their way. Some have folded, others have adapted, and a few are out of the Ukraine business completely, instead focusing on the activities of Ukrainians in America.

The Orange Revolution changed a lot of that. It rejuvenated Ukraine for many disillusioned activists in the community, and introduced Ukraine to a whole new generation of Ukrainians in America. Last month, an entire day's activities at Tabir Ptashat, a Plast day camp for 4- to 6-year-olds held at Soyuzivka, was devoted to the Orange Revolution, and all the kids wore orange.

Being Ukrainian is more than wearing orange, but for some of us that's just enough. A few of us have gotten involved in new things Ukrainian since last fall. Many of us continue our work in the Ukrainian community, be it in Plast, SUM, Ukrainian churches, museums or schools. And some of us are just content to wear the orange, and no longer having to explain that, yes, Ukraine is a free country, a part of Europe.

Whatever your thoughts on the matter this Independence Day, take heart that America lets us be what we want to be, be it Ukrainian or American or both.

Go Orange!

| Home Page |