Katya's Wild Summer Part 2 Ukraine--Dubno

No trip to Ukraine is ever complete without visiting my native Dubno, my birth place. This time, we opted for a crazy... literally insanely hot elektrichka ride...that is a train with hard benches as seats, no A/C or proper toilets. It was Lyena, Aryan, Katya and I that decided on this adventurous journey. Normally we could have taken a train and be there in 2 hours, but nothing worked for our schedule to get there first thing in the morning, and we didn’t want to drive...

Surprisingly, the ride was not too horrible and we prayed hard we wouldn't get Covid with unmasked people coughing nearby. Even Aryan did such a great job! 

When we arrived, my cousin Misha and uncle Alex picked us up and took us first to the cemetary. 

We visited my dad's and my grandpa's and my grandma's graves.

My dad was so young when he passed away...not even 50 years old. Way too young. This picture on his tombstone doesn't make him look quite himself, by the way. 

When I look at these pictures, I realize how much pain I still have lingering in my mind and my heart about losing him so soon. I have so many things that I wish he could have seen, so many accomplishments he could have witnessed--mine, Robert's, kids'.... I know he still knows and is proud of us but I wish he were here. 

Afterwards, we visited Alex (Sasha) and Natalia at their apartment. This apartment is the place where my dad grew up. 

Here on the picture is Yana (Misha's wife) with their two girls, Katya, Lyena and Aryan. 

We had a nice dinner and chat and then went for a walk to the famous "sadochok" where I went to preschool/daycare when I was little.

I actually hated that place but because everyone worked, we had to stay at daycare... Katia and Olia, my cousins, did too.

Here is my aunt Natasha, she is my dad's cousin. 

Natasha never had a chance to get married and she has no kids of her own, so she loves me like I am her daughter. Her mom passed away many years ago and so did her grandma (my great grandma), and she never knew her dad. She lives in Dubno in a private house on Sadova Street where we visited all the time when I was little. We actually visited her house this time as well! But I didn't get any pictures, sadly. 

But I did get a bunch of pictures of my "Soviet era" daycare place. That's the Kurochka Riaba fairy tale character on the wall. 

On this picture you can see the fence to the daycare and also the apartment building where my Babushka Maya used to live (just across the walkway from my other grandma) and where I stayed every summer. That fence seemed SO high thirty five years ago! And we used to have a lot more trees. We also heard many stories how we just walked to the daycare on our own at like two and three years old!  

And this is the perfect way to show you the "walkway" in front of the apartment building. Everyone who got off the bus on the main road had to walk pass our building after work. So imagine, during Soviet times, lots of women and men coming home from work, very few had cars. Lots of them would be loaded with groceries for the next couple of days, or lucky finds of clothing and toys. Some would sit down on the benches lining this walkway, in the shade, to chat with other women, sometimes before going upstairs to cook dinner. Sometimes they would come downstairs after dinner, sit alone and wait till others would join them for some gossip, chat and receive therapy of its own kind. I so vividly remember that... And then they would people watch too-hahaha. If a soap opera episode was about to start, everyone would go home (like “Simply Maria” or “The rich also cry” where two most famous Mexican soap operas!). And men would get a cards game going, or a chess game. It was definitely a different kind of life back then. 

And this is the garage that used to belong to my grandpa. It seemed huge! He actually did store his car in there. I thought it always looked so nice and new compared to the ones next to it. Now it just looks...green. I can't believe that it's still there. 

Visiting Dubno always brings back a lot of childhood memories--the greatest ones and the ones I want to forget. It's my birthplace and a place connected to my earliest memories. 

Finally, here is to the new generation of the Klymyuk family! 

Yana, Misha, kids, Danilo, Natasha, Lyana, Katya, Lyena and uncle Alex (Sasha), plus Aryan. 

      The end of Dubno adventures. 

I will be back! 

Lyana’s Adventures in Ukraine-Dubno

One of the things on my agenda during the visit to Ukraine was to go to Dubno, the place where I was born. It is a two hour drive by car, but growing up we frequently took a train or a very slow train (called Elektrichka). I would have preferred to take a train this time as well, but there was nothing convenient enough for a daytrip, so I decided to rent a car. 

I was very nervous about driving in Ukraine, even after almost twenty years of driving in other countries. So I found a place that rented cars AND brought the rental car right up to our house and then picked it up after we were done. That way I didn’t have to drive through the central parts of the city to the airport and pick up the car there. So, on Thursday morning, we got the car and left around 8:30. Here is my car.

The drive was pretty uneventful besides some honking at me right as we were leaving Lviv--and it wasn’t even anything I did wrong:). I wasn’t quite sure what the speed limit was on the highway as it wasn’t really posted anywhere! I guess I was supposed to know it before driving;). I had to go really slow through all the villages because that’s where the cops were and people actually crossed streets. 

After about 2 hours, we finally saw the monument of the plane--a sure sign that Dubno is right there. 

And then the sign that says “Dubno”.

As soon as we entered Dubno, we stopped at the place where my grandpa used to work as the principal. It is a arts and culture college nowadays and actually was a very decent place to study even thirty-forty years ago. 

Wow, look what I found! A picture of my mom from 1986 or so in approximately the same spot:)

We had to use the restroom but the lady at the front was at first very hesitant to let us in until my mom mentioned that Vasyl Hornostai was her dad and my grandpa. The lady softened right away and let us through. 

On the way to the restroom, I noticed a lot of new and old posters and pictures. Like this one, their historic record of the college that lists my grandpa, his accomplishments for the college and his story. 

And here, on the top, sort of right, where the three imposing men are pictured, you can recognize my grandpa too. A very Soviet looking picture, but still history. 

The thing is that when we actually got to the bathroom, I chose not to go:) It was a bit disgusting and smelly. At least they had doors though;).

We drove closer to the center of Dubno shortly after. 

My mom and I picked out some flowers to take to the cemetery as we were visiting my dad’s, my grandma’s and my grandpa’s graves. I am sure we made this lady very happy. 

 

This is the very center of Dubno with a monument to Taras Bulba, a famous kozak and a character in Gogol’s novel “Taras Bulba”. I remember when they had no monument and the building on the far right was called the Palace of the Pioneers (Palatz Pioneriv, the Soviet youth). Things were very different back then. 

 

And this is the music school where babushka Maya worked when they lived in Dubno. We spent countless hours in that building as well while waiting for her to be done with her students, practicing our musical instruments, or just hanging out and playing games. 

 

And this is the place where my mom and my dad registered their marriage. 

Afterwards, we drove to the cemetery by Dubno bus station (Avtovokzal). We had a little trouble finding it as we didn’t really have the address, just my mom’s memory:) We had to stop and ask someone to figure out how to enter the cemetery by car. 

I still think this picture on my dad’s tombstone doesn't look like him. Even as I am writing this, my eyes get teary as I just have this big sadness in my heart about all the things that he is missing out on...

Shortly, after we also visited my grandparents’ graves nearby, we drove to Sadova Street where my dad’s cousin, Natasha lives. She lives on her own, takes care of her nice little house and a beautiful vegetable garden. I have always held a special place in her heart as she doesn’t have kids of her own:) And I remember her always being so kind to me, loving when I would come to visit. 

 

I remember some really fun and crazy memories from when my cousins and I would just take the bus from our babushka Maya’s house to Sadova str and then run (you had to walk for probably half a mile) to aunt Natasha’s house. One day it started simply pouring when we got off the bus and we were absolutely soaked when we ran into her house. There was always something yummy for us to eat there:) And another thing I remember is the apricot tree that she had next to her house, so we would collect buckets of apricots and then eat some and make jam with the rest. Heaven!

After a nice meal with a lot of yummy Ukrainian food we took Natasha and my uncle Sasha (Alexander) and my cousin Danil to the neighborhood where babushka Maya lived. The crazy thing is that BOTH of my grandmas lived just a playground away from each other (they both lived in apartment buildings) so I could run from one babushka to another. 

Not much has changed:) People still dry their laundry outside, kids still bike and play cards right there while others play football (being careful with the clean laundry).

And somewhere around here is where my mom and my dad met when they were both sixteen years old. Of course, the benches are not the same old benches, but the location is quite certain. 

I have pictures in this same place from my 2011 visit. This is the entrance to babushka Maya’s apartment building. Lots of memories right here:)

And here is the side where babushka maya’s windows were--third floor, the balcony, the window to the left and one on this wall were ours. This doesn’t look like it did before at all (especially with this addition on the first floor and the satellites). 

And this is the entrance to my Sadochok (daycare), our dreaded place-hahaha- and the place where we spent so many days at:) I still have glimpses from my time there although I know I must have been really little then--three, four and five. 

And of course, here are the people I came to visit! Natalia (my aunt), Natasha (my dad’s cousin), Sasha (my dad’s brother), then I and Misha (my cousin), Yana (his wife) and their two little girls. 

We had a great visit! 

Here is a picture next to babushka Valia’s (my dad’s mom) apartment building. We have lots of pictures here too:) 

Look at that! 

Same spot:) This must be 1985-86?

And here are the men on my dad’s side of the family:) Misha, my cousin, reminds me a lot of Alex:)

Well, I am so happy I went to Dubno even for such a short day. I was very relieved when we finally arrived at my mom’s place in Lviv in one piece:) I am very proud of myself for being brave and safe to drive to Dubno, and I might do it again someday. 

I had to get some sleep now as my following day was going to be a very looong fun day.

Lyana. 

Dubno—The Place Where I Was Born.

Dubno is a town of about 35000 in population, about two and a half hour drive from Lviv.  It is the place where both of my grandparents used to live when I was little.   It is also the place where my parents met and got married, and where I was born. After we moved to Lviv, when I was almost four, we went to visit Dubno many-many times, by car, by train, or by a very-very slow train, called “elektrichka”.   I wanted to show our children this town during our trip, but it was hard to figure out what was the best way to get there and make it a daytrip.  I still have family living there, so we wanted to see them as well. After much thought, we decided to rent a big minivan and hire a driver to drive us there and back.  It turned out to be an excellent idea, and for almost the same amount as it would cost us to just rent a car and drive ourselves we had a personal chauffer for the day who actually knew how to drive in Ukraine.

Dubno is a very old town.  It was first mentioned in a chronicle from the 11st century.  It became a city in 1400s and played an important role through all the many invasions and change of rule over the next five hundred years.  Dubno was also the place where a very important WWII battle was fought, called the Battle of Brody.  We still have an old WWII tank meeting you at the entrance to the city to remind us of its historical significance.

The drive from Lviv to Dubno is pretty easy, and rather picturesque, especially during harvest time.  Since it was November when we were there, it was not so green or even yellow any more.  We still passed this famous Olesko Castle. 

And a Soviet monument that “hangs” over the road.

It looked like in preparation for Euro 2012 earlier this year, new signs with English translation of town names were installed, making it much easier for foreigners to navigate.

As we arrived to Dubno and were passing the main streets of the city, I was engrossed in the memories of my childhood.  A mental picture of how everything used to be and how simple life seemed back then overwhelmed me.  It was wonderful to see some improvements and sad to see some places that did not survive the commercial revolution of the last twenty years.

Some apartments on the right—people always try to make more room by installing windows on their balconies.

This part looks very different from what it used to be.  It says “supermarket” on the yellow store.

And some things never changed.  Robert was taking these pictures and he was still fascinated with these trucks.

This car model on the left was considered to be a luxury kind of car in Soviet times.  It’s a Volga, a bigger kind of vehicle, that mostly only rich people could buy.

The first stop was at the cemetery, to visit my papa’s grave.  He was buried next to his dad, so our kids had an opportunity to see the place where he is resting as well.

Secondly, we went to visit my Aunt Natasha.  She is technically not my Aunt, since she is my dad’s cousin, but she’s always been really close to me and my family.  I cannot remember how many times I came to visit her!  My favorite memories of her house were when I’d come during the summer months to pick strawberries and apricots.  Yum! It’s just such a unique, close to nature experience being there.  She grows most everything in her back garden!  And only maybe five years ago she finally installed an inside toilet.  I remember staying at her house when there was no inside plumbing….always an adventure.

I snapped this picture of Mark in front of the “fire place” which is really a warm radiator wall, so to speak, and the lamp.  The lamp has been in the house as long as I remember the house. 

And of course, who comes to a Ukrainian home and leaves without food?  Okay, it was more of a feast once again. Lots of good fresh food.  Robert had too  much too eat.  Again.

This is the place we always take pictures with my aunt.  I remember when I was visiting in 2001 we took pictures in this exact spot.

Our final stop was at my dad’s mom’s house, maybe ten minute drive from my aunt’s house.  This is the apartment building where my dad lived when he was young.

My grandma Valia (aka babushka Valia), my Russian grandma.  She was born in a city called Yekaterinburg, behind the Ural mountains.  The same year she was born, her dad was killed in a battle by Leningrad (St. Petersburg now) during WWII, so she never knew him. Her mom lived till she was a very old woman in her 90s.  My grandma came to Ukraine for work when she was around sixteen (one of her older sisters was married and living near Dubno).  She met and married my grandpa and then had two boys.  Her whole life she worked as a post woman, walking (never driving) for miles and miles each day. Slowly she learned to speak Ukrainian and forgave me for cutting her head scarf with scissors(something I did when I was three…).

My uncle Alex lives in the same apartment as my grandma. He has a wife and one of the kids still at home.  Mark, Alex and Danilo (technically, Danilo is ther uncle) played so nicely!

And more yummy food:)!

This is all of us—Robert, babushka Valia, me, Alex (my dad’s brother), Natalia (his wife), and all our kids.

We took a short walk from there house towards the place where I went to a preschool type school when I was really little.

That’s how we, as kids, used to sit on this fence.  Mark did not like this idea, he was barely hanging on.

It’s always necessary to let them run around and play a bit on our trips.  It was very touching for me to bring them all to the place where I played when I was their age.

So glad we made it happen.  I think it is important for them to see the place that their mom comes from.  It’s so fun to think about the town where Robert grew up and contrast it with this.  Such different upbringings

All right, I won’t get all philosophical.  Just wanted to  make sure to journal this part of the trip for children to read someday.  It was a lovely trip.

Cheers!