Kherson, Ukraine: Devotion and Hospitality

Greetings From Kherson Ukraine! (26 July - 1 August 2017)

Kherson Ukraine was not a place I would ever figure of visiting before this trip. I've never heard of the small harbour town and it's quite out of the way. When I was asked where else I was visiting when I was in Kiev I told the guys I was heading to Kherson next and they all asked the same thing, why?  Because the BJJ Globetrotter community was asking to come visit, that's why. I forget where I was, somewhere in Germany I think, and the new Globetrotters article came out featuring some new Matsurfing ads. I always read the articles and look at the new Matsurfing ads to see where there's an offer I could maybe take advantage of and plan out the Odyssey to head that way. As it happens I was just working out the details for eastern Europe at the time and I needed to figure out a stop between Kiev and Chisinau Moldova. Kherson was perfect. I sent off a message to Bogdan and we quickly put it together.

I left Kiev in the afternoon on an overnight train. The majority of people, both on the train and as staff in the train station, didn't speak any English so finding the train and my exact room and seat was a bit awkward. I had my ticket printed out at the hostel so I would have a paper copy to show them and help me out, this was very useful especially when I didn't know how long my phone would hold out on this trip. I got to the station, showed the first staff member I saw my paper and asked "Where's the train to Kherson?" he responded with "Ah, Kherson!" and ushered me to the track and handed me off to two other staff members, one brought me to the proper cart and gave me hand signals on how to find my room. I climbed into the train, which was boiling inside as there were no fans, and with my backpack taking up all of the narrow hallway I slowly and awkwardly made me way to find my seat was already taken.

The sleeping car I was supposed to have a bed in was full with a family of very big women that didn't speak any English. I showed them my ticket and they keep making signs to me to go to another room. I didn't understand what they were saying and tried showing them my ticket and pointing to the seat a few times, only to get a bunch of Ukrainian and shooing me away. I, in true Canadian fashion told them "I sorry" but I don't understand. While standing in hall waiting for a staff member to come by and hopefully sort this situation out I stood listening to the women make fun of me and laugh away repeating and mockingly saying "I'm sorry, oh I'm sorry!" I decided to ignore them. As it happens the room next to where I was supposed to be staying had an elderly couple in it and the husband spoke English. He explained to me that the women had their mother with them and she was supposed to be in the room with him but decided they would take over the room and my spot and that I should take her bed instead. In his opinion I was better off in the car with him and his wife rather than be around the, as he put it "special people". I agreed, not because of how they treated me while trying to figure out seating but because they were sweating away in the sweltering train and all smelling really bad, I couldn't imagine sleeping in that room with them.

The rest of the transit to Kherson was actually quite pleasant. I sat with the elderly couple, whose names I forget and I feel really badly about that, and the husband filled me in on all sorts of history facts and the trains and Ukraine and Russia. One interesting thing he was telling me was that certain old tracks in eastern Ukraine require the train to pull into a station, have the cart taken off the frame and attached to a new frame before continuing on. Apparently the train tracks in Russia are a different dimension than the rest of Europe. I found some more information about the different train track widths but I couldn't find any articles on switching the cars on to different frames. During the entire trip the train would stop at each station for a good half hour as we waited the the train coming in the opposite direction the pass since there was only one track. This meant the only cooling breeze to keep the heat down would stop and it would become a sweltering heat box again. Over night the loud speakers of the train stations would wake me up over and over making these stops really annoying. But it also gave time for the husband to tell me the history of the area, what soviet industry or military buildings used to be around back when he was a kid and what the stop used to be for back then instead of just picking up passengers now. It was quite the educational travel.

In the evening it was tea time and although I brought with me some snacks for the trip it was nothing like the rest of passengers, the elderly couple I was sharing the room with in particular. They pulled out all sorts of biscuits and fruits and other food and set themselves up a meal, of which they offered me a piece of every single thing they pulled out. The biscuits I could not escape, they would not have me declining trying them out, which happened to be half a dozen of each type, tea biscuit, wafer, some sort of wheat cracker, etc. There was a story for each of these as well, eating them as kids, or they were a local favourite or only made in Ukraine, it was a great experience taking this night train, meeting this couple and sitting and taking part in them sharing their food and telling their the histories. In the morning the man gave me a piece of newspaper with his name and number on it and told me if I ever needed any help to call him, I wish I had the thought to write it down in my book as I lost it and now I have this wonderful story of him and his wife without their names. What ever your name is, thank you for your help and stories and sharing your biscuits, it made the long uncomfortable train ride a great unforgettable one!       

Staying With Bogdan

Bogdan was waiting for me when the train got into the station and after meeting each other we were off to catch a bus back to his place. I was his first guest, after all I did send him a message only 2 days after the Matsurfing post was out, and although they have had other guests to the club I would be the first being hosted by him. Bogdan's English was pretty good and although he's a bit quiet, maybe even shy, he was a great host and we talked about all sorts of things the whole time. He would ask about how I promote my trip online and how to better promote the club since it's still relatively new, or how I was able to sort out being able to travel as I do. As Ukraine was in a heat wave when I showed up we hung out inside quite a bit, both being pale skinned people that burn easily, so we had a lot of time to chat about all sorts of topics. On the few times it was safe enough to go outside and not catch fire he showed me around the town, parks and waterfront. It was a great experience being in Kherson, even on the days we did little else but sit on our computers and talk. I was away from the city, away from all the tourists and tourist hot spots. When we did walk around town is was the real Ukraine I was seeing, with old soviet era buildings, not dressed up to sell to tourists. The people were different too. For one very few of them spoke English so I was grateful to have Bogdan around to help me, and the attitude was different too, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It was one of the few spots I've been to that I felt I really got to experience living there.

One day Igor made me homemade Borscht to welcome me to Kherson, just another example of the hospitality.

One day Bogdan and friends of his and I took the train out of town to an area that apparently used to be a desert is is now a huge forest. After walking for half an hour or more we came to these lakes that the locals believe have magically properties. the train ride itself was an interesting adventure. It's an hour or so to get out to this field and throughout the train ride women laden with baskets full of fruits and vegetables and random trinkets they were selling would be walking up and down the train cars. At some point we saw one woman walk by arms full with bushels of vegetables then come back 15 minutes later now with jars of honey she had recently acquired. We could only guessed she traded the vegetables for the honey she was now trying to sell. It was an interesting market culture to see and made the long boring train ride a lot more entertaining. It was a grey day when we got to lakes, with the sun poking out from behind rain clouds all day, but it was nice enough to go have a refreshing swim in the salt lakes and cover ourselves in the mud. The lakes are said to have healing powers and truth be known I had a planters wart starting on my foot that miraculously vanished after this swim!

Left over Varenyky from Granny, I'm pretty sure Bogdan brought 2 plates worth home from her place.  

Another day Bogdan brought me over to 'granny's house' for supper. Supper was, as I was told, going to be Varenyky, Ukrainian dumplings (he Ukrainian version of pirogi) homemade by Granny herself. Supper actually ended up being three courses of so much food I had to bring some back to Bogdan's because I couldn't eat it all. A salad to get things started then fried ground chicken patties and sliced potatoes which in itself was meal, then finally the Verenyky which was piled high on a plate for me. After all this Bogdan asked if I wanted pancakes, pancakes?! It ends up there are many typos of pancakes and in Ukraine they make them as a dessert. I had to pass on them I was so full, which meant he brought a bunch home with us. I like to eat as much as the next Panda but trust me, you will never have an appetite big enough to take on a Ukrainian grandmother's cooking, she will tap you out every time. It was great meeting Bogdan, thank you for taking me in and showing me around and having Granny feed me, until we meet again my friend!

I should also note that all the photos I used of the club training and of us at the lakes were taken by Bodgan who's let me use them for this article, thanks for the awesome pics dude!

The Sights

As I said Kherson is a small town so I have limited pictures but here's some of us walking around through the park and seeing the monuments.

The harbourfront.

In the park they had all kinds of inflatable castles and electric toy cars. They were only for kids though...

An old Soviet communications tower, forget what it's for now, probably cell phones.

Bogdan took shots of his friend and I covered in the miracle mud at the lakes. locals would come put the mud on their joints and other areas that were bugging them convinced it would fix them, they would even fill up jar with the water and bring it home to use.

The magic lakes.

Covering myself in magic mud to make myself stronger!

As always you and can over to see my Flickr Account where I have more photos from this and all my other visits.

Skif BJJ 

The club Bogdan trains at, Skif BJJ, is one of the most devoted clubs I have met, not because they train all the time or are huge competitors, quite the opposite in fact. It's because despite being in such a secluded place without anyone to teach them they decided to start a BJJ club and learn mainly as those back in Canada first started, by watching videos and drilling what they see. The power of YouTube is what created this club and the power of the BJJ Community have helped them continue, but it's their devotion as all white belts to come together and start training and learning the slow and hard way and work together to keep the gym going. One night they asked that I teach them some things, as this was one of my first classes I taught I was still a bit at a lost for putting together a full set of techniques to show them so I was more just winging it and showing how I do certain things that they were asking about, like and Q & A session. We had a great time training together, the club isn't big enough to have separate classes from kids and adults so everyone trains together in the same class which means one minute I'll be manhandled by a huge guy and then next I'll be a climbing toy to one of the kids as he tries to get on my back and attack me with an RNC.

The club trains out of an old community center that they have a room in the top floor of, it's an old building and when I was there there were a lot of renovations being done but the club had to fix up the room they use themselves. Although I have been in more dive clubs than Skif BJJ they are far from the mural painted flashy gyms you see in the big cities boasting their affiliations or black belt professors, they are a humble club with a humble beginning. They are a group not about flash but technique and although I'm sure they will one day have their gym complete with all new mats and equipment they don't show up to take selfies and look good, they show up to train Jiu-Jitsu. Added to the fact they accept all visitors and are eager to learn from everyone they are a great place to visit for no nonsense, no ego training. Thank you guys for letting me come train with you, I look forward to watching the club evolve.

Igor and Bogdan

After class one day I managed to make an interview with Bogdan and Igor, talking about how the club got started, how long they've been training together and how they keep it going. Igor does everything he can to make ends meet and keep the club open, and it's the dedication of the rest of the club helping out that makes this club so special and able to run without any senior belts around. Bogdan is new to the sport, only a few months of training and already hooked on Jiu-Jitsu. As he says in the interview, he was a shy person until he got into BJJ and now he's offering strangers like me to come stay at his place to train with the club. It's amazing what Jiu-Jitsu has done to these guys in Kherson and a prime example of the interesting people I meet on this amazing odyssey. Thank you both for having me over into your house, gym and Jiu-Jitsu family.

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After an awesome time seeing 'true' Ukraine in Kherson away from the big city of Kiev it was time to take a bus off to Moldova where I would be visiting the city of Chisinau.

Until next time,
see you on the mats!
OSSS!!

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA'S ODYSSEY!
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Kiev Ukraine: Training, Sights & Food

Greetings From Kiev Ukraine! (20-26 July 2017)

My flight to Kiev from Moscow was interesting. As I mentioned in a previous post I had originally planned to visit Belarus for a few days (Canadians are included in the group eligible for the new tourist tourist Visa where you don’t need a Visa for stays less than a week in Belarus) but later saw that anyone flying from Russia, no matter their nationality would require a Visa to visit. So with that I changed my plans and headed to Kiev Ukraine instead. Here’s the thing, I had to land and catch my connecting flight in Minsk anyways, I pretty much cancelled my ticket only to re-buy it with the added connection to Kiev on it, and with landing there I had to go through their customs security check. As I get to the front of the line the officer asked me “How long are you staying here?” to which I told l her I am only connecting to a flight to Kiev. She then asks me “How much money do you have on you? Do you have enough to Stay in Minsk?” I try explaining to her that I’m not staying in Belarus, I’m not visiting Minsk, I’m connecting to another flight. This then brings up the question of a Visa, and for a second I thought she was not going to allow me to connect to my flight all because of a problem with the language barrier. She talked to another security officer and then uneasily and looking confused let me through to my connecting flight. It was a very bizarre transaction, luckily I caught my last flight without problem.

Once I landed in Kiev, or Kyiv as it’s properly spelled, I had to make my way to the hostel, this was easy enough although I did take the long way as I later found out. There is a subway system in Kyiv that works rather well, and it must be new, or at least the stop at the airport must be, as it didn’t come up on Google Maps when mapping my way from to the airport to the hostel. Instead a bus route came up that I would catch done the road from the airport. The buses in Ukraine, and a lot of the world as I have discovered on this Odyssey, aren’t as professional looking as back in Canada. Most the buses are at least painted the same but figuring out the number it is to find out where it’s going is different matter, some had it on a piece of paper taped to the upper corner of the windshield, some on a side window, some had different numbers in different colours, which I believe each meant something else. It was a bit of a learning curve but I had half an hour to wait for my bus and figured out the code looking at passing buses in time to find my route. Paying the driver was another different ordeal. There was no pay stand like in North America or Europe, with the fare written on the side and you insert the proper change and on you went, and there was no attendant walking around selling tickets like in Russia. Instead you just gave the driver a bill, I had given him too large a bill at first and he asked for a smaller one, tell him how many fares and he would count out your change and give it back to you. While driving the bus and navigating through traffic. Depending on the traffic depended on how fast or long it would take to get your fare back. I somehow managed to make it into town and got off at the proper stop, just a block away from the hostel. Once I found out about the subway train system I decided not to use the buses again during this visit though.

The Sights

There is a lot to see in Kyiv and with the hostel near central city I mostly just walked around to see everything instead of using any transit, picking different areas of the city to explore each day. Usually I would see a place on Google Maps that I wanted to go photograph, like a park or monument, and end up finding other interesting buildings on the way or around the area while exploring

The is a walkway worth finding and checking out called Landscape Alley where they have built all sorts of weird and wonderful sculptures, playground equipment and benches into all sorts of fairy-tale-like animals.

One day I ventured out to see the statue, The Motherland Monument, and surrounding park. Little did I know about The Ukrainian State Museum of the Great Patriotic War, a war museum which includes a huge area of military vehicles laid out around the park, was there as well and a quick walk to the park turned into an entire afternoon and exploring and taking photos.

The Motherland Monument.

 

As I have some Ukrainian friends, and friends who just love Ukrainian food, I took photos of almost every meal I had to update my friends interested in seeing the real thing. So here’s some of the awesome Ukrainian food I had.

Varenyky - The Ukrainian version of perogies.

Chicken Kiev, seemed only I have while actually visiting Kiev.

Medovik - honey cake with expresso and sour cream sauce.

The Lion's Club

The Lion's Club Kyiv was another club I was alerted to when looking into possible destinations and asking around in the BJJ Globetrotter community. After talking online with Rashid, the head of the club and purple belt (just got his brown now, congrats!) we set up a time for me to make it out for a class. As it happens we could only meet up the one time, as seems to be the case with a lot places I visit. I took the train to the other side of town and used the directions Rashid gave me to find the club, which was in the basement of a building with a mural of Bruce Lee by the door. The club wasn’t very big, it was almost a full class with the half dozen of us on the mats. We had a good warm up and then Rashid started working sweeps with us, from De La Riva. The students, all white belts, seemed shy to open up to me but Rashid kept coming over and asking all sorts of questions about traveling and places I’ve been to, like his home of Morocco, or places I plan to visit. He is a big fan of meeting travelers as it’s really difficult to get out from Ukraine and travel right now, and with the issue with Russia it doesn’t make Ukraine for a desired place for a lot of tourists (I don’t know why the place is beautiful, the people are welcoming, food the is amazing and it’s cheap!). Rashid is a great coach as he makes sure everyone has a handle of the the technique and made sure to even help me adjust a few things for my own body size, since I don’t have the required long legs to pull off an awesome open guard game. After drilling we had some rolls, the big strong quiet white belt I had been drilling with at this point became another man once we pumped fists and grabbed me in a headlock, threw me down into scarf and put me in a muscled armbar. In maybe 30 seconds from start to end and I tapped. “Well that just happened “ I thought to myself as we re-started, I was a bit more cautious of his grip and bit more aggressive with him the second time around.

Thanks for everything Rachid!

After class we were taking pictures together and one of the guys, Yuriy, comes up asks for a photo with me. “I never thought I would meet you” he says during the photo, as it happens he had been reading about my adventures on Reddit all this time. It was pretty cool and meet up with a fan of my blog and I hope he’s still reading, thanks for following me Yuriy!` After class, Rachid and a few of the guys brought me out for food. We talked all about Jiu-Jitsu and traveling and I was asked a million questions about how I liked Ukraine and Kyiv or how it compared to the rest of Europe. I was also given a few dishes of Ukrainian food to eat, but I passed up on the Salo, or cured pig fat.

Yuriy the fan, thanks for following my adventures man!

It was a great hang out and I wish I had more time to hang with everyone but before I knew it my time had come to head off to Kherson, a small city in Ukraine with a very devoted BJJ club.

Until next time,
see you on the mats!
OSSS!!

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA'S ODYSSEY!
Sign up to the Panda's Odyssey Patreon Account.
Buy Panda's Odyssey Patches at The Gi Hive.
Buy a shirt at Panda's Jiu-Jitsu Store.
Follow me and other traveling Jiu-Jitsueros at the BJJ Globetrotters blog section.
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel.
Check out my full photo albums for each article at my Flickr account.
Add me and follow along on most social media @pandasodyssey