Monday 10 September 2007

Odessa Nights

Greetings, been I while since I checked this space, glad to see Kivak still amuses us with his Oriental adventures of 15 years ago and pictures of him with hair. Liked the Rotten Log too, keep it coming. I know this blog is primarily devoted to Liberec and related nostalgia (plus Kivak's fits of work rage & wacky political opinions), however in this short contribution I'd like to focus on something in the present and a lot more fun. Mainly 2 weeks of studying Russian in Odessa. Flew out there right after a two week holiday in Italy, hit the 1.1 million Black Sea port in 35 degree heat and kept running for two weeks. Seamy, gritty, dirty, heaving, seedy, disfunctional, hilarious, incredibly fun: That is how I would describe Odessa. Was lucky to stay in a private house with a nice garden and hang out with mostly nice people from all over Europe (a surprising number older than me).

Russian classes in the morning, homework on the beach in the afternoon accompanied by beers or martinis a few of us would mix in plastic bottles on the beach and pass around. Sounds a little alky, but there really was no other way there. The Russian women (Odessa is a largely Russian-speaking city and region ) entertained endlessly with their taste for skimpy, blingy fashions. Here's a picture from the beach:
If you look really closely at the green bikini, you'll see the words say "Fruity & Juicy". Indeed.

Found some good restaurants too. For some funny English check out Steakhouse, http://www.steak.od.ua/ There are also pictures (more) of a tradition they have there of bikini-clad girls "washing" the plastic cow standing outside the restaurant on the city's main drag, Deribasovskaya ul. Sit on the verandah and you won't miss the show. Fridays we'd go to any number of pretentious clubs down by the beaches and just people watch and drink till dawn. Then hit the beach for a swim with the sun rising.

Kivak, you're jealous already, right? Personally it took me back a little to the Liberec years, I felt about 25 again.

Anyway, that's over (though I might go again next year) and now it's back to the fall grind.

I leave you with a sunrise over the Black Sea, taken after too many vodka tonics at the Itaka beach disco:

3 comments:

Rotten said...

Good to see tvc hasn't lost a step. My summer was much more sedate, so instead of commenting, I'm going to put up a little thing recently sent to me by an ex-F Blok bad boy who's too shy to post:


http://youtube.com/watch?v=_oVvFyBic_4

Paste it in your browser if it doesn't link up on its own.

ROTTEN OUT.

Kivak said...

Privyet tvc
Hey, they're a classy outfit those Ukrainians. And I'm sure there are plenty of Ukrainian brides disseminating that high brow culture around the globe, with some simultaneously inseminating going on as well. Remember that Belorussian 'friend' of mine some years back called Olga. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.

Some curious shots of the cow there, but a little enigmatic since you're not given a complete idea of what they're doing to the cow. And shouldn't it be a bull in any case?

Good to know you're carrying a decent digital camera around with you these days.

Kivak said...

And Rotten, that wasn't Dirty Dan by any chance who posted you that video clip?