Mountains - Krasiya Ski Resort

We transfered from our cars to some off-road vehicles which took us up the ski slopes to the cabin.

 Cabin is nice modern cabin built in log cabin style; can sleep 8-10 people, and has a "bannya" or sauna. We cooked "shashlick" on grill over hardwood fire. (shashlick = marinated pork from one of Marta's pigs), also "Krumpli" cooked in coals and then covered with salo and grilled onions. ("krumpli" is another of the po-Dravetski words for "potato"; po-russki "kartofli" and po-ukrainski" is"bandurki"). We also had salads, bread, and chicken soup.

We went hunting for mushrooms, but Pavlo was the only one who found any. Sitting and talking with Marta and Klara I learned that for most old people, life was better in Soviet times, under communism. They said everyone worked, there was free world-class education for everyone, free health care. They said there wasn't much to buy in stores, but that didn't matter because they were able to grow everything they needed. Now old people are on tiny pensions (about US $120 a month; people with gardens and animals to raise are able to get by, but people living in apartments in cities can't afford to eat. By law, health care is supposed to be free in Ukraine today, but it is what they call "Ukrainian Free", meaning "you have to pay for it!" Doctors won't treat you unless you pay under the table. The school system is declining, too, because educated people are emigrating to other countries for a better living. Pavlo was asking me if it would be possible for his daughter Anna to go to college in America some day.

The way people purchase homes and autos is different, also. Interest rates are very, very high (20 - 30 -even 40%), so instead of getting a mortgage, people save up and build their homes over time. It might take 5 or more years to get their home built. You see quite a few shells of homes, waiting to be finished. Home construction is much sturdier that in America, too. Everything I saw being built was cinder block and brick construction - no wood stud and sheathing. Even the interior walls are masonry. Pavlo is building a home now; the shell is up, and he is working on the interior. Misha Maximovich has built a really beautiful home in Dravtsi, with a large basement, two kitchens, several bathrooms, living room and dens, dining rooms, very much like a modern American home, except that in his home Misha has a banya, and a small indoor pool or basin to jump in after a steam bath.

We all slept really well that night; fresh mountain air was nice! It rained during the night, and in the morning there was a lot of fog.

Pavlo, Natalka, and Anna left for home during the night, because Pavlo and Natalka had to work. Natalya cooked us a breakfast of eggs scrambled with sausage, mushrooms, and onions. We also had shashlick and krumpli, bread, fresh cucumbers. Because Pavlo went home, we would have to walk down the mountain. We were prepared for an extreme adventure, because the mountain was steep, the dirt road was muddy and filled with deep ruts (from vehicles), some 2 feet deep. It started raining again, so Misha fashioned raincoats for us out of some sheets of bubble wrap, but just as we started down the mountain, a local villager came along with an old Soviet Army truck, and he took Klara and I down the mountain. We went down slopes steeper than a lot of slopes at Holiday Valley!

The Carpathian mountains are also different from mountains in PA. The land before the mountains (like where Dravtsi is) is fairly flat, not even hills. As you near the mountains, there is no gradual change, but the mountains just spring up in front of you. The slopes are a lot steeper, and the trees much older and bigger than the trees you would see in PA.

We got to Marta's house, and Marta served us chicken soup, more shashlik and potatoes, salads, and kasha. I had heard of kasha before, but never seen it. Kasha is a cereal made with buckwheat. Misha showed me the raw buckwheat - they're little tiny hard seeds. They're soaked and boiled, and served topped with a pork gravy.

After we ate and rested, Misha and Misha took me into Uzhgorod, so that I could purchase a Wi-Fi stick and internet service for my laptop. We also picked up Natalka from work, then picked up Anna and little Misha from pre-school. I learned from Natalka that it cost about US $5 a month for a little child to go to pre-school.

Misha M. took me to his home to show me around. His car, ( a 7 year old Chevy) might be a little old and worn, but his home is beautiful! Most Americans would be envious! I found out also that Misha had broken his ribs when he was driving me from the Budapest airport. His car had been leaking water, so we had to keep stopping and refilling his cooling system. At one place we stopped, Misha fell through the cover which was on top of the well. I saw that he had a large bruise on his leg, but he never said anything about breaking his ribs; Klara had to tell me about it.

Misha's son Sasha helped me with my computer; I had him install a driver so I could record some singing. While he was setting me up, my brother Michael called on Skype, and he got to meet and talk to Misha's family. Misha's wife Miroslava is the daughter of the priest; she has a brother and a sister, also. Miroslava has her own wedding planning/decorating business. She showed me photos of some of the weddings she had done. They were fantastic. Everything was really elegant and beautifully designed. One wedding she called the "apple wedding". Green apples were the central theme, with white clothe draped everywhere, and other greenery used in centerpieces and bouquets to compliment the apples. I can't really know how to describe it, and don't really know all involved in decorating for wedding, but I would imagine that if she had her business in America, it would be in very much demand, and get a high price. The weddings photos she showed me looked like they were out of an American fashion magazine.

And, naturally, Miroslava had to feed me. We had fried pork steaks from Ivan's pigs, soups, salad, rice with pork gravy, fresh strawberries, home-made donuts (like my mother made when I was little) and also a cake Miroslava baked with fresh fruit from their garden.

I forgot to mention that while Misha was showing me his garden, his neighbor Vasyl Rusyn called us over to have a little wine with him. He showed me around his beautiful home; his driveway is made of different coloured bricks which he set in a mosaic-like pattern himself. Vasyl told me one of his sons is a prominent dentist, and was getting ready to leave for Paris, where he was giving a presentation to a convention of dentists from around the world. Another of Vasyls sons is an OBGYN.

Miroslava's brother Lyubomir studied art (esp stained glass and mosaic), and Miroslava showed me some of his stained glass artwork Misha built into the ceiling of several rooms, kind of like a skylight, illuminated by electric light from behind.

Misha's car was being repaired, so he walked me to Klara's. As we started out, a big rainstorm hit, and we got soaked. We stopped at a mini-mart to get out of the rain, and to have a bottle of "Baltica" beer, brewed in Ukraine.