More sightseeing in Kyiv

Well, I had another interesting weekend of sightseeing in Kyiv! My first stop was the Chernobyl Museum, located in the quaint mercantile quarter of Podil:

The museum did a great job of presenting its collection of historical artifacts (ID cards, newspaper articles, even a gilded church alter that was salvaged from an evacuated village) in a symbolic and very dramatic way. For example, in the exhibit below, you can see an apple tree (the museum’s symbol for the Chernobyl disaster) growing through a cradle. Surrounding the cradle on the floor are photographs of Chernobyl evacuees. Very moving.

Above is a picture of my English-language tour guide pointing out the boundaries of the Exclusion Zone. I was surprised to learn that such a small museum offered an English-language tour, until I realized that the majority of it patrons seemed to be American tourists. My theory is that this is because the museum is prominently featured in Lonely Planet’s guidebook on Ukraine, which is pretty much the only English-language travel guide available about the country. Turns out, most Ukrainians haven’t even heard about the Chernobyl museum (including the doctors at RCRM, who treat Chernobyl victims on a daily basis…).

Above, another dramatic exhibit.

After visiting the museum, my Ukrainian friend insisted I try some real Ukrainian fast food:

The name of the restaurant, “Smacha Kartoplia,” means “Tasty Potato” in English. To order, you pick two salads from a display, which are then plopped into the middle of a twice-baked cheesy potato. We got crab salad and mushroom salad in ours. (Note: In Ukraine, the word “salad” by no means denotes a healthy bed of mixed greens – as you can see, it’s always some combination of meat, pickles, and mayonnaise.)

After gorging on tasty potatoes, we worked it all off by climbing Andriyivsky uzviz, or Andrew’s descent, to St. Andrew’s Church:

The bronze people I am clutching above are characters from an old film called Za Dvoma Zaytsamty. The title means “chasing two hares” and comes from an ancient Ukrainian proverb. In the movie, a poor Ukrainian barber in late-19th-century Kyiv puts on airs to woo two wealthy women but is exposed for his duplicity.

Above, statue of Cossack hero Bohdan Khmelnytsky.

Since it was Saturday, the brides were out in droves again. Here is a young couple posing for a photo in front of some statues of great Slavs. I think they represented Princess Olha, St. Cyril and St. Methodius (the founders of the Slavic alphabet), and Apostle Andriy.

We took the “funicular,” or cable car, down the steep hillside back to Podil.

I love this city! Next post – as promised – my take on the situation of the liquidators.

So, would you like to work on the Ark?

Check out that Ukrainian sky...

Reproduced below is a list of the risks faced by personnel who are working on the Ark:

Potential radiation risks of the "Shelter" personnel are the following:

• Job activities inside the 'hot cell' (the "open" plutonium area);
• External exposure;
• High risk of radionucleotide inhalation;
• High risk of radionucleotide absorption through cuts and/or wounds;
• High risk of a combination of severe injuries and intensive contamination of open tissues or inhalation of radioactive materials;
• Influence of high temperatures, hypoxia, and heat stress; and
  
• Synergism of radiological risk within general industrial risks.

The additional hazardous factors are as follows:

• Aggressive chemical aerosols, including welding aerosols;
• High humidity and uncomfortable temperatures at any time of the year;
• Absence of a forced exchange ventilation system inside the Object Shelter;
• Insufficient and artificial illumination;
• Presence of "confined spaces" in most of Object Shelter's rooms;
• Work at heights;
• Presence of debris and difficult access to workplaces in elevated ionizing radiation fields;
• Influence of personal protective equipment; and
• Probable synergistic effect of numerous hazardous factors.

Also, personnel will be exposed to factors stipulated by a shift type mode of work in the Exclusion Zone - shift in dietary regimen and type, accommodation in hotels, regime-stipulated restrictions in the Exclusion Zone, etc.

Not the most pleasant job, eh? In my interviews, I've been asking ICARR scientists what they thinks motivates the Ark workers to seek jobs in Chernobyl. So far, the answer has always been, "They can't find a job anywhere else."
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This week I will be interviewing Chernobyl liquidators. These people were drafted to the Chernobyl site immediately after the disaster and helped to clean up the plant premises and the surrounding area. Generally, they were men aged 20 to 45. They were mostly plant employees, Ukrainian firefighters, plus many soldiers and miners from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and other parts of the then Soviet Union.

The exact number of liquidators is unknown as no completely accurate records were kept of the people involved in the clean-up. However, more than 700,000 people who were involved (both on- and off-site) in tackling the accident’s aftermath were eventually granted the status of liquidator, and were provided special government benefits.

Ukraine spends about five percent of its annual budget on benefits for Chernobyl liquidators, which include a housing subsidy and free public transportation use. They come to RCRM for health care.

I'd like to know just how informed they were about risk when they went to work at the Chernobyl site... Also, why did they decide to go there? (or did they even have a choice?) Here are some of the questions I plan to ask them:

1. Where were you when you first heard about the Chernobyl disaster?
2. What was your reaction to it? Did you think it was serious, not serious?
3. Who asked you to be a liquidator?
   
4. Why did you agree?
5. Did you want to go to Chernobyl?
6. Did you have a choice about going there?
7. Were you aware of the risks of working in Chernobyl? Did anyone tell you about the dangers? (If no: Would you have agreed to be a liquidator if you had known about the risks?)
8. Were you scared about going there?
9. What did you do as a liquidator?
   

Etc, etc. I think the liquidator interviews will be very relevant to my project because I should be able to draw parallels between their situation and the situation of the Ark workers today.

Unfortunately, since the men won't speak English, I'm sure the language barrier will be an issue. (It's even an issue with the scientists who speak decent English.) I will have a translator with me - probably one of the RCRM people - but I've noticed that some questions just don't translate well. Here's to hoping the big ideas get through, at least.
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On a lighter note - I did some more sightseeing this weekend:

Statue at the Dnipro metro station.


Incredible Chimera building, now used as a presidential administrative office.


A close-up of one of the chimera.


Friendship of Nations Monument, celebrating the 1654 "unification" of Russia and Ukraine.


At the Pyrohovo Museum of Folk Architecture & Everyday Life. It's an open-air, living history museum (think Williamsburg, VA) that is divided into seven "villages" representing different regional areas of Ukraine.


There were lots of windmills on the property.


This was taken in the Carpathian village, I think.

If you'd like to see more pictures, I've posted the links to my online photo albums on the bar to the right.

Sightseeing weekend - Rodina Mat and the Caves Monastery

This weekend, a friend from RTI took me around some of the major sights in Kyiv. Everything I saw was surprisingly beautiful and awe-inspiring.

The statue above is Rodina Mat (literally Nation's Mother, but formally called the Defense of the Motherland Monument). She's 62 m tall, bears a soviet seal on her shield, and is highly visible from many parts of the city.

Notice how her sword is blunt? According to my friend, the original builders were forced to cut off the tip because it had made Rodina Mat taller than the tallest of the nearby Orthodox churches, which was not allowed.

I told her that we have a similar rule at Duke: no building can be taller than the Duke Chapel. In fact, the only one that comes close to its height is the Schwartz-Butters Building, at the top of which is Coach K's office. (That tells you something about how Duke students view the relationship between basketball and God.)

This is a picture of me in the Kyiv-Pecherska Lavra, where tourists and Orthodox pilgrims alike flock. A lavra is a senior monastery, while pecherska means "of the caves." This is holy ground - the holiest in the country. My guidebook says that its the single most fascinating and extensive tourist sight in Kyiv, and I believe it. The Lavra's tight cluster of gold-domed churches was a absolute feast for my eyes:

Near the monk's living quarters.

At the entrance. Supposedly there are also underground labyrinths filled with mummified monks, but we were too late to enter. Since they are a must see, I will probably come back sometime and take the English-language tour of the lower Lavra.

Me, with Dnipro River. I am posting this picture primarily because of the woman in the background. Ukrainian women dress to kill, and nothing is off limits style wise here. See-through shirts, crop tops, and high heels (often 4 inches high or more!) are all common dress.

My friend, who is a girl about my age, explains the phenomenon this way: there are fewer men than women in Kyiv (and Ukraine in general), so the girls have to dress sexy for reproductive survival. Unless a girl wants to be alone for the rest of her life, she must concentrate all the time on attracting a mate. As a result of all of this, she says, many Ukrainian men have started to a little act cocky, because they know they are in such high demand. My friend considers this a real problem for girls like her herself, who are more traditional and expect boyfriends to be gentlemen. :)

Near Slava (Glory) Park. It is traditional for newly-wed Ukrainian couples to have their picture taken near famous local monuments and sights. I must have seen at least 10 brides in this square alone.

At another WWII monument near Rodina Mat. It is located in a tunnel under an elevated walkway. There were many other incredible sculptural bas-reliefs like this, all in the Socialist Realist style.
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That's all for now. I'm off to the beach this afternoon. We'll see how the banks of the Dnipro compare to the Chesapeake Bay.