Lviv Lvaugh Lvov
This post is long overdue, but I still thought it was interesting enough to post two months too late.
I had an opportunity to see the gorgeous city of Lvov (or Lviv, if you want to be all nationalistic). Today, Lvov Oblast is viewed as the most nationalist region of Ukraine. Almost every store/restaurant you walk in to will speak Ukrainian, as opposed to in Odessa, where everyone speaks Russian. This nationalism favors European culture and is politically aligned with Viktor Yushenko, Ukraine’s third president. Click here for more detailed information on him and his policies.
Fun fact that I just learned about this city- its the last place that my parents traveled to together before my mom left for America with her parents in 1979. They didn’t know if they would ever see each other again, and Lvov was where they said their goodbyes. My dad had to travel on the 12 hour train back to Odessa alone.
Here is a photo of the train that I took to Lvov. The corridors are so narrow, a small rolling carryon barely fits through. There is absolutely no ventilation, making it a less than comfortable experience. The “Kupe” which is a higher class sleeper car, is equipped with several “train seat/rooms” with two bunkbeds each, both of which are about half a cot size.
The best part of this 12 hour ride was one of the many 15 minute smoke break stops along the countryside, where old Babushkas walk up and down the tracks trying to sell whatever they’ve cooked that day. Meal options varied from dried fish, dumplings and cognac. Anya and I were really excited by the idea of some homecooked potato vareniky, and found a lady who would help us out.
The exchange felt natural, and 25 hryvna (about $1) bought us a bag of hot fresh dumplings, kneaded and pressed together by this lovely woman. Needless to say, we dined like queens.
My journey to Lvov was quite strenuous, as my coworker Anya and I were chaperoning 8 teens from Odessa for a pre-Szarvas camp seminar. My concluding role as a JDC fellow is to be a madricha and multi-week coordinator for Szarvas International Summer camp. Every summer, around 1500 Jewish campers from over 20 countries attend Camp Szarvas, which is sponsored by the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
In Lvov, I joined 8 other Ukrainian madrichim who will be working with me in Szarvas this summer. Most of it was like an intensive 3 day madrichim school, full of long, meaningful peulot designed for us to critically think about how we lead, and can enable our chanichim to be leaders. We were simultaneously running programs for 4 groups of teens from around Ukraine who were there to prepare for a summer at Szarvas. We opened the summer theme of “Jewish Time,” and got the kids pretty excited about all the fun that awaits them at Szarvas. There will be some photos and videos at the bottom of this post which can show some of the cool things we did together at the seminar, and other photos of the city :)
It was really inspiring to be in an environment that provides a holistic experience of learning and action. We were in sessions with other madrichim for the first half of the day, and the next we were leading sessions for our teens. In the evenings, after all the programming was finished, we sat together with the madrichim and gave feedback about our day. We spoke about what issues arose for us throughout the day, what programs worked well, which kids to give extra attention to, and how we can use all of this when we are in camp over the summer.
It reminded me of how much of my life has been spent doing this type of work.. from my 6 summers as a madricha at Camp Galil, and two summers working in Sohnut camps in Russia and Ukraine. Regardless of my experiences, I am still learning every day from the madrichim here, and from the kids as well.
Until next time!