Ukraine, final destination

Hey everyone,
We're now in Ukraine. This is our final destination, where we'lll be living for a month at a camp in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains. We're teaching English to Ukrainian Catholic University students. It's been exciting so far to meet the other faculty of the program and some alumni of the english summer school. The Ukrainians have all been friendly fun people. Poland was cheap, but Ukraine is even cheaper. You can buy a 4 course meal for less than 10 american dollars. it's ridiculous. A liter of Ukrainian vodka is 2.50. a block of cheese is about .25. Need i go on? anyway, we've visited some nice sites in Lviv, where we're staying right now before going out to the camp. There are many beautiful churches, and yesterday we hiked up to a pinnacle where you could see the whole city and the surrounding countryside.
Currently we're staying in a house with two other male teachers and a few students of the university. There is no hot water, and Bob complained this morning of brain-freeze as he was washing his hair. lol. Today was the first official day of orientation, and we heard a few lectures on teaching methodology and eastern christianity.
This is probably where our Blog ends. I might have an opportunity or two to write when we travel into the city on weekend outings, but I'm not positive. So if you don't hear from me again, thanks to all of you who have been checking out this Blog. Keep in touch, and God bless you.
-Isaac

To Poland... and Beyond!!!

So everyone,
I left off the last blog with some words about hiking JPII's favorite hiking spot. Lots of time has gone by since then and now we're heading off to Ukraine tomorrow. Sorry I've been so bad with the posts. Actually, blame Bob. He hasn't posted at all. To his credit, it's kinda hard to find the time to sit down and devote half an hour to a Blog entry.
Brief run-through of Poland trip:
Days 1-6-- Krakow
Krakow is an amazing city! It was left unmarred by the Nazi and Soviet oppresions and stands proud as the cultural hub of Poland today. It's actually a very quaint city, filled with cafes and bookstores, small shops and little street vendor stands where you can buy the Polish equivalent of pretzels for 30 cents a piece! Everything in Poland is cheaper than in the US, except for gas, but that didn't affect us. The exchange rate is about 3 zloty per american dollar. as you can imagine, when a beer costs 5 zloty at a nice pub, you get pretty excited. We actually didn't spend that much time sight-seeing. We got hooked on the cool cafes, jazz bars, and incredible people we met. Our hostel was right in the heart of Old-town Krakow (which is the coolest part of the city in my opinion). Everyone was friendly and we spent our last night listening to live big band jazz with about 10 friends we had made.

Day 7- Czestochowa
Czestochowa is called the spiritual hub of Poland. However, when you arrive at the main train station and walk around, you feel like you're walking through a place that's really felt the heavy hand of Soviet oppression. Large, ugly, gray concrete buildings are a common sight, some still in use, some dilapidated. The streets are dirty, and the people are not beaming with joy. We got more of a taste of the poverty of Poland here, since Krakow didn't display it as much. Once you walk past all the ugliness and get close to the Jasna Gora Monastery, Czestochowa doesn't look so bad. Streets are being repaved and plant life is prevalent. Once you set foot on the shrine grounds, you're in a haven set apart from the city. There are lots of trees, with nice paths running through them. The shrine buildings number quite a few, and stand like a city on a hill above the commercial district. Inside the shrine, you really feel in touch with Polish history. The floors in the chapels are uneven, having been worn away by the feet of millions of pilgrims. Alot of dark woods are used to decorate the chapels. The main attraction is itself a rather dark image- the Black Madonna icon, which supposedly dates back to apostolic times, hangs above an altar in a side chapel. It's a beautiful painting, decorated with an incredibly ornate frame. It's very serious, though. Mary's face has been slashed, and I'm not sure if that was the painter's doing. But anyway, you get an image of a Blessed Mother who has really felt the suffering of this world in an extreme way. I can understand why this image is so precious to the Polish people, including JPII. It represents hope in the midst of pain and violence. I've seen the image before, but never really understood it's significance and beauty until I began to understand Poland's history. I've pasted it above.

Day 8-9 Warsaw
Everyone we've spoken to, except one person, has complained that Warsaw is a dead city. After being here for 2 days, I wouldn't call it dead, but I'd hesitate to call it fully alive. It seems to be in a sort of limbo. It's not as culturally interesting as Krakow. Most of the city was completely destroyed by the Soviets back in the 50s (?). They've made some attempts to rebuild the city the way it was back then to revive cultural roots; however, the rest of the city is rather bland. I'm not going to say much about it. I have to tell you at the very least about the small underground museum that our friends showed us in front of the palace of arts and sciences. The palace of arts and sciences is the tallest building in Warsaw. It's a huge, stately looking building with a clock at the top- kind of like a Big Ben. Anyway, immediately in front of it, there's and unmarked entrance into an underground area. As you walk down the stairs to this strange place, you feel like you're entering the lair of some serial killer. There's a security guard sitting in a small room at the foot of the stairs. Then you come to two exhibition rooms. You are now beholding the Georgian Hunters Museum exhibit! In one of the rooms, which is about 10ft by 10ft, a graphic wallpaper displays taxidermed animals and animal skins. Water leeks through the wall and forms a big puddle. That's all you'll see in that room. In the next room, which cannot be entered because of a glass barrier, you'll behold the stuffed corpus of a baby deer standing in the corner. The rest of the room is white and completely empty. You've just seen the exhibition of photographs and taxidermed baby deer from the Georgian Hunters Museum. Enjoy your stay in Warsaw!
I'm as confused as you are.

Off to Ukraine tomorrow! I might try to post one more time before we head out to the mountains, but if I don't, I hope I see most of you when I return!
Adios!
-Isaac

Rome

Our next stop after London was Rome. There's much that could be said about this city, which was at one time time the heart of a vast political empire, and is the heart of the Western church to this day. Because of its history, the city manages to juxtapose the ancient, the medieval, the Renaissance-ian (?), and the modern in a strange way. As you walk through central Rome, you'll see the Coliseum, the Pallatine Hill, and the Pantheon, and then you'll see contemporary apartment buildings and restaurants, interspersed with myriads of ornate churches. As I walked through the streets, I had a similar feeling to browsing a large, unorganized antique store. The lack of cleanliness only augmented this sense. Rome feels like the collection of some imperial pack-rat.
I know this sounds like a pretty drab view of one of the most popular cities in the world. Rome is still an amazing place- don't get me wrong. We got a very cool tour of the Coliseum and the Pallatine Hill, the site of the ancient imperial palaces and the supposed birthplace of Rome where Romulus started the first colony. The Coliseum was an impressive sight, but it paled in comparison to the Pallatine Hill. Even though most of the hill's palaces are in ruins, you can use your imagination to fill in the gaps. These palaces were immense, not only in length and breadth but also height. At one point there stilll stands intact a section of the first-floor wall. It stands as high as the tall trees that surround it. There would have been two other floors of the same height on top of this first floor. It's really amazing to think about. The picture above is Pallatine Hill.
These were the two pieces of ancient Rome that we spent the most time on.
Near the Pantheon there is a popular plaza called Piazza Navona. It's known for its tratorrias, which are a type of Italian restaurant. We went there for dinner twice. The side streets leading into it have good Italian food for good unemployed college graduate prices. Margherita pizzas are the way to go if you're buying on a budget. It's a thin-crust pizza with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. One is enough to fill you up.
I will add more to this post later. It's 5:44 AM right now. I'm using a free computer in our hostel in Krakow, Poland. In two hours we're getting on a bus to zakopane, John Paul II's favorite hiking spot. Farewell!

Ah.. London...

London.. what a great city. I've never been to a city that feels this old.
We did so much in London in the three days we were there. There's no way i can write about everything here. I'm actually in Rome right now, typing away on a computer inside a laundromat. Yesterday the bottle of red wine that was in my backpack mysteriously opened and drenched the bag and some of its contents. The wine was also seeping through the bag onto my shirt, so the back of my yellow shirt looks tie-dye red. Hence the laundromat. Anyway... back to london.

The tower of london was really cool. It's called the tower of london but it's actually a complex of towers and buildings and fortifying walls. We got a tour that gave us a brief glance at the history of the complex, which has its roots in the 13th century. Eventually it became famous for the executions that took place there. High profile criminals, such as Thomas More, would be brought there and tortured. We got to see some of the torture devices and the rooms where the prisoners were kept. It was gruesome. On a more pleasant note, the Tower of London has been the secure holding place for the Royal Jewels of British Monarchy. The jewels are still there, and you can see them when you visit. They are by far the most ornate pieces of jewelry I've ever seen. Of particular brilliance were the royal crowns, which are arrayed in gold and hundreds, if not thousands of precious stones, including diamonds. There was also a large, gilded punch bowl that looked more like a bathtub than a punchbowl. There were also sorts of figures along its sides. It might have been the most decadent party item that I've ever seen.
okay, i was just told that my time has run out... i must go.. but i will return again soon
-Isaac

the new blog...

Hey everyone, welcome to our new blog- the Isaac and Bob European Blog. We promised a bunch of people we'd be making this, so here it is for all to see. We hope you enjoy it.
Just a brief overview of what we're doing: Our travels began on Monday, June 11, when we flew out to London from Newark, NJ. After three days in London, we fly to Rome. Five days will be spent in Rome, and then we fly out on Thursday, the 21st, to Krakow, Poland. Then our Poland trek begins, as we steadily move north to Warsaw, seeing Krakow, Czestochowa, and finally Warsaw (with places in between). On June 30 we fly into Lviv, Ukraine, where we'll be meeting people from the teaching program.
We're officially teaching at the English Summer School of the Ukrainian Catholic University. It is a month-long program set in a resort in the Carpathian Mountains, the range that lines western Ukraine. We teach for 6 hours a day with prayer and other activities interspersed throughout. The program ends July 25, at which point it is common for teachers to tour through Ukraine with students. Hence, we will stay for an extra 5 days. We finally leave July 31st, flying first to Warsaw, then to London, then to Newark, NJ.
That's the overview! God bless you all.