From Kiev to Kyiv

When I was little and came back from a month-long stay at a summer camp, I would walk around the apartment looking for things that changed and would be disappointed when there weren't that many. Well, coming back to Kiev after a 16.5-year break I suffered no similar disappointment! So much has changed -- some old Soviet buildings gone and replaced by gleaming skyscrapers, Lenin replaced by an underground mall and a Ukraine statue, and all sorts of rule-breaking allowed in museums and theaters for paying customers. It's the rule-breaking I find so disheartening. The new buildings are usually better than what they replace (or at least bigger), so if we leave out the possibly illegal zoning, that's fine. But the sanctioned rule-breaking for money is an indicator of larger issues with the country as a whole.

So many impressions! I'll have to split them up since there's too much.