Observing the Ukrainian Elections: Part II

And now, Ukrainian Elections: The Thrilling Conclusion:

Peter and Darka informed me that there was a meeting for the L'viv election observers at Darka's apartment at 10 am Saturday morning. In attempting to find this apartment, I got a little lost. Took the bus to the city center with no problem, but got on the tram going the wrong direction and ended up who-knows-where. Fortunately I got off with no harm done and found the tram going the opposite direction. On the opera house square, I was met by David, a Canadian election observer. He helped me find my way back to Darka's. A lengthy meeting then commenced, during which we received our assignments and were paired into groups.

The generals, Stephan and Russell, plan strategy in the war room. Interesting tidbit: Stephan is a lawyer who actually helped to draft the Ukrainian constitution. Pretty cool huh?

By the time we'd been over all of this, it was near 2 pm. Then, Darka decided, it was time for us to go out to some polling places. There was general grumbling amongst the group at this, since many of us had other plans in the evening (Russell and I were both planning to go to a Halloween party hosted by Charitie). Nonetheless, we headed out to Horodok, one of the regions we were in charge of covering.

Before we could head out, though, we had to collect the missing members of our team, Peter and Talia. So the rest of us waited at a convenience store for over an hour while our driver went back to get them. Thus began a long and frustrating excursion to Horodok. For all the frustration, though, that driver *was* awesome. He kept buying us candy and cookies and he insisted on helping me out of the van every single time (to the point where I was forced to announce to everyone that I was not, in fact, made of glass).

Voting booths at the DEC

Ballot boxes at the DEC. This was the most patriotic room ever.

We went to the DEC, the regional polling office where all of us would ultimately be escorting our ballots at the end of election day. We also visited several other polling locations, filling out forms about whether all the protocol had been followed in terms of no campaign propaganda, ballot boxes being sealed properly, cameras placed properly, etc. etc.

For example, this "Svoboda" sign was against the rules.

Darka wanted each of us to have a turn filling out a form, which meant that this process took forever and we didn't actually get back to L'viv until after 8, by which point it was really too late to go to the Halloween party. Instead, Talia, Russell, Peter, and I went out for pizza and then returned home. We were all annoyed at the long day, knowing that tomorrow would be even longer.

David brought the car to pick me up around 5:40 the next morning. He had brought with him not only a driver, but also a translator and a friend of his. So, crammed into the back of this car with 4 strange guys, I rode to Mostyska, the town on the other side of Horodok. Now, L'viv is pretty far west in Ukraine, Horodok is west of L'viv, and Mostyska is even farther west than that. During some of our excursions we were even farther west than Mostyska, so far out we were very near the Polish border. In fact, once when we stopped to ask directions I heard David say "Gencouya" and "Dobje" instead of "Dyakuyu" and "Dobre"-- Polish instead of Ukrainian :)

Oh, that was the longest day of my life. Our driver was from the area, so he felt it was very important to take us to the smaller villages, despite the state of the roads-- they were really more pothole than road. It also began to snow, and everything was cold and wet and muddy. I was very glad that I had worn my snow boots. In all we visited 14 polling locations, opening at one, closing at another, and visiting 12 in between. We interviewed the committee leaders, observed voting, and examined the stations. At several places, the poll workers gave us coffee and tea and offered us food from their potluck meals they had brought from home. It was all delicious, and I was so full by the end. At our last polling location, we were supposed to stay after they closed and the doors were locked, and to stay until every vote was counted. At our poll this took a really long time... we didn't end until about 5 am!

We escorted the ballots back to the DEC and had to wait for them to be accepted-- a process which somehow was expedited when we showed our IDs and told the police that we were international observers and we were in a hurry. It was all like something out of a Soviet-era movie-- being ushered through a crowd of waiting people by a couple of police officers into a noisy, messy back room where votes were being read, numbers called, and ballots collected. I can't say I approved of it, but thank God it let us get out of there such that I could finally get back to the dorm by around 6 and to sleep by 7 or so.

I have never been more exhausted in my life. I had been not only awake, but working, for over 24 hours. Not to mention the 3 crappy nights of sleep before that and all the stress generated by the trip. Now, I didn't want to sleep too long because I didn't want to miss the following night of sleep. So I napped until a little after 1 pm, which gave me about 6 hours of sleep.

It was around the point that I got back to the dorm that I discovered my camera was missing. I had been using it during the elections. The memory card had been filled, so I'd put it back in my purse, and I never saw it again after that. I don't know if it was stolen or if it just fell out somewhere. Either way, I'm really mad about it. Not bad enough I'll have to replace a $100-plus camera-- but I also lost all my pictures that I took in the villages and driving through the beautifully snowy hills! Major bummer. But at this point, I was pretty much too exhausted to care.

That evening I went out with the L'viv Fulbrighters as well as a couple of the election observers and my Ukrainian friend Mariana. We went to (probably the only) Tex-Mex restaurant in L'viv, which is owned by an American guy. What an interesting time. The food wasn't all that great, though it's possible we just got the wrong dishes. In any case, the corn bread WAS really good, and I promised Mariana I'd teach her how to make it :)

I was really glad I had made the decision to stay that extra night in L'viv, because it would have been a million times more stressful if I had to leave on a train that very same day. Instead I was able to get a night's sleep before heading back to Vinnytsia.

The train ride back was the best one I've had so far. My coupé was shared by an older Ukrainian couple who were from Yalta. The woman especially was really nice, chatting with me despite my terrible Russian and offering me some of their homemade dinner-- it was so good, especially because I hadn't had time to stop and grab any food on my way out of L'viv and I wouldn't get back to Vinnytsia until after 4.

The next morning I got up to teach Tanya's class. It was Halloween, so I talked to them about this holiday and how we celebrate it in the U.S. They all know about it, of course, since they watch many of our television shows, but they really enjoyed the pictures I brought and my descriptions of carving Jack o' lanterns and so on. Then, fortuantely, I was able to relax for the rest of the day until I went over to Tanya's for dinner. She had picked some pumpkins from their garden for us to carve, and I brought The Nightmare Before Christmas to show to her and her husband. Of course I had to sing along :)

Tanya and her husband were so excited I was there to show them how to take part in this tradition :)

Yesterday Tanya and I went on a shopping trip, on which I finally bought some good boots of the kind that Ukrainians wear, and a nice gray wool coat. I am so happy with my purchases-- they were expensive, but worth every kopeck. I am sure I will get a picture sooner or later-- perhaps when I actually have a camera again.

So, tomorrow I teach the high school students again, and then Sunday I am back off to Kyiv AGAIN for the Fulbright ETA orientation. I am getting so sick of traveling!!!! It will be nice to stay in one place for a while once the orientation is over. I can't wait!