NO, I DO NOT WANT TO SAY AT ALL THAT THE HOSPITAL HOSPITABLE UKRAINE IS ASSOCIATED AT ME EXCLUSIVELY WITH FOOD, AND THE 13th CONGRESS OF WARP IS REMEMBERED BY ME ONLY ON THE TABLES. BUT FEATURES, AND OTHERWISE THESE CANNOT BE NAME WHICH THE RECEIVING PARTIES HAVE ARRANGED FOR JOURNALISTS WERE SO SO IMPRESSIVE THAT I DECIDED WITH THEM TO START.
To Congress as a holiday
Everything is in the Emirates - sometimes I think, until I miss the juicy home-made dumplings with cherries, my favorite childhood dish. Dumplings can still be done, but here the cherries here in the afternoon with fire can not be found, neither fresh nor canned. Therefore, I was traveling to the homeland of this dish in anticipation ... In Kiev, all the time I was distracted by serious meetings with speeches by President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and the head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Sergey Naryshkin, then a rich excursion program with a visit to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, where I had already been several times earlier, but with great pleasure went down into the caves again. However, after the first part of the official business program, the excellent mood already rose even higher, before the festive season - the next three days should have passed like in the song: "Summer, sea, sun, beach!"
From the capital of Ukraine, our entire international team, consisting of more than 300 journalists from around the world, went by bus to Odessa. The long 8-hour journey was brightened up by landscapes of green fields, “milk rivers and jelly banks”, songs of especially active media workers reminiscent of a pioneer childhood, and, of course, a stop for lunch at the roadside restaurant Salo. Bread and salt, as well as other goodies, were met by Mikhail Mikhailovich Poplavsky, a famous restaurateur, who is also the "singing rector" of Kiev National University of Culture.
A sumptuous Ukrainian dinner was held to the songs of the welcoming owner of the establishment, whose CDs were presented to us as a keepsake. Some musicians preferred his signature drinks - Hrenovuhu and Nettle - a 60-degree moonshine infused with nettles, which we had a chance to taste at the table. Apparently, thanks to such a road “snack”, despite a rather tedious long drive, we arrived in Odessa in a benevolent mood.
It was getting dark ... Odessa met us with an unusually beautiful lunar eclipse. Suddenly imbued with romance, our entire team from the Hotel "Joy of the Black Sea" looked at the sky, counting the minutes. Enough enjoying the astronomical beauty, tired and satisfied journalists went to the clean comfortable rooms of the coastal hotel ...
How many good girls ...
It’s good to wake up in the early morning, in five minutes to reach the still deserted beach with rare vacationers, plunge into the cool sea and catch it in time for breakfast, where you can determine by the faces of colleagues who went to bed on time yesterday and who stayed to celebrate with pen comrades arriving in the capital humor.
After breakfast, waiting for the sightseeing bus, we, like old women on a bench, drinking some water, discussed people passing us by the sea. Girls, as a match: all slim, beautiful, tanned - and that was just the beginning! Living a long time abroad, many of us have already forgotten that such a concentration of beauty in one city is possible. Therefore, having arrived at the opening of the second part of the congress at the Odessa University of Law National University, the men of the group with admiration, and the women with slight envy, watched every student. After a short time, the sharpness of perception was finally lost, and again, with a business spirit, we were able to discuss issues of popularizing the Russian language in different countries of the world. According to Odessa mayor Alexei Kostusev, the study of the Ukrainian language as the state language remains mandatory in the city, but he is confident that without the Russian language, the city "will lose its identity and cease to be Odessa.
Our great inhabitants of Odessa, great writers, we know all their names, they wrote, wrote in Russian. "President of the Odessa Law Academy, deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Sergey Kivalov said that representatives of the Administration of the ex-president of the country, Viktor Yushchenko, demanded a translation of the training into Ukrainian , but the university has maintained its traditions of teaching the Russian language, along with the introduction of official Ukrainian, leaving students the choice.
After the official part, we moved on to the cultural program: a boat trip and, of course, banquets. Nobody expected such a magnificent reception! No, of course, we know that Odessa is rich in seafood and talents, but the tables from the city hall simply burst with culinary delights, and the performances of artists - students and graduates of the Academy - made such indelible impressions that no one was indifferent, singing and dancing right at the tables.
In blooming acacia city
Well, here is the farewell evening - the closing of the congress and the birthday of Irina Gorbunova from ITAR-TASS. We celebrate these two events in one of the restaurants in the resort area of Arcadia. And, actually, which of the districts of Odessa is not a resort?
Walking the next day with my Odessa friends around the city, breathing in the seaside air saturated with the aroma of acacia, smiling at oncoming passers-by, I thought it would be great to be born here! To come here to your relatives more often or to invite foreign guests - to acquaint them with the national cuisine and local, such tolerant and cheerful residents. Arrange tours with Boris Burda, immersed in the history of every street, every building and even dishes! Enjoy the unique charisma of this unique city, which, as the famous "expert" says, "knows how to preserve the best features of the capital and the province, while being free from the shortcomings of both."
... Of course, here we are "not local people", but it is so nice to dream that once you will be able to become an integral part of such a different and such a unique "Odessa-mother" ... At the Black Sea.
