I lived in Ukraine from 2017 to 2018. I posted on my blog about training with professional dance ensembles, the Ukrainian lifestyle, and places I visited. My one year in Ukraine has provided me with a lifetime of stories — and then some.
Since returning to Canada, I continue to post on my blog about my experience in Ukraine and about the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada. Feel free to sign up for my newsletter to get the posts straight to your inbox.
Dance festival season is upon us.
It’s a time of year that has dancers practising their combos under their desks at school, costume coordinators working day in and day out making their volunteer position feel more like a full-time job, and instructors and choreographers feeling excited and nervous and stressed and proud and tired and energized — just so many feelings.
Read MoreI’ve tried starting this post about five different ways.
My idea was to start with the most exciting and most interesting part, mid-story, then go back to the start. Except the thing was, there were many “most exciting” parts — me, sitting on the bus, full of anticipation and curiosity and wonder and mild confusion, on my way out to my family’s village; the car ride to my family’s house when the guy next to me, a friend of my cousin’s, kept sniffing my armpit; driving (OK, speeding) into town with my cousin and his friends when all of a sudden one of them pulls a bottle of horilka (vodka) from under the seat and passes it around for a shot; the bathroom experience at the gas station (the punchline: there was no toilet); having a final (couple) drink(s) in the car outside my family’s home at who-knows-what-time AM.
Instead, why don’t I just start at the beginning?
Read MoreSince October, I've been writing for What's On Kyiv, an English magazine about Ukraine based in Kyiv. Since this was only my second time in Ukraine, the idea for my WO column was to give a Canadian's take on the Ukrainian lifestyle.
Click the headlines in the post to read the full stories.
Read MorePeople jump up at a willow tree in a public square, grabbing low hanging branches to be blessed in church.
A boy laughs and runs around his grandma, trying to hit his dad with pussy willows.
Hundreds of people gather, ladies with their heads covered in scarves, waiting for their turn to go into church.
These are just a few scenes from Easter in Ukraine. I saw some Easter celebrations in Lutsk, like Palm Sunday and a large pysanky display, but I went to Lviv for Orthodox Easter weekend (April 7 to 9). Cobblestone Freeway Tours had a couple things planned for us girls, and my parents joined too.
Read MoreI think I found the winter wonderland everyone keeps singing about.
It's Lviv.
As I write this, giant snowflakes fall from the sky — the ones that are just fluffy enough that they're not too wet that they soak your clothes and not too dry that they hurt your eyes.
Read MoreHappy St. Nicholas Day! (Or happy belated St. Nicholas Day to all those back home in the west who celebrate it on Dec. 9.)
Lviv is alive with the holiday spirit. The snow here may come and go (last week it was 4 C and rainy just about every day, but this week we're back to the minuses), but that doesn't mean the feeling of Christmas and New Years isn't here. The streets are decorated, the Christmas markets are full of gifts, and the skating rink in Rynok Square is open.
I've heard stories of how special it is to spend the holidays in Ukraine — Lviv in particular — and I'm so thankful to experience it for myself. Last week, I took part in folk celebrations on the eve of St. Andrews Day, a day full of jokes, games, and fortune telling.
Read MoreI was supposed to tour Ukraine with my dance group, Troyanda Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, in 2014, but because of the Euromaidan Revolution, the tour was cancelled. Visiting Ukraine has been on our minds since, and this year we made the trip happen. And conveniently, our tour ended just days before the yearlong program started.
I wrote about the 15-day tour at troyanda.com/blog, so check that out for more details of what we did and what we saw, but below are some photo highlights from the trip. We stayed in Lviv, the Carpathian Mountains, Zhytomyr, Chernivtsi, and Kyiv but also made stops in other cities and villages, including Kolomyia and Mamaivtsi.
Read MoreПривіт!
What makes a science student turned journalism student move to Ukraine to study dance for nearly a year?
Well, if you think of a good reason, let me know and I'll pass it along to my parents.
Actually, it's not so out of the blue. I've been a Ukrainian dancer for 19 years, starting out with Rossdale Ukrainian Dance School then Troyanda Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, a group I joined seven years ago.
In 2014, Troyanda travelled through Croatia, Hungary, and Austria, and after our trip, I went with my mom and her cousin to Ukraine for a few days to meet our relatives. Our connection to them is my mom's baba (grandmother) who moved to Canada in the early 1900s.
I've been interested in Ukrainian culture for a while, dance sparking my interest. Through dance, I've learned about folklore, traditions, and history, but I never made studying Ukrainian culture my focus — until now.
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