Journals from the week ending April 18, 1997
Odessa
Alexander Belanger, 4/16/97, aboard ship...Odessa is a wonderful city. It was my favorite. I had so much fun. The magic of this place makes me think of old Quebec City. Ukrainians are so nice. They are passing through a rough economic period since the break up of the Soviet Union. It was quite interesting speaking of this subject since my own country has similar problems. The Ukrainians are extremely generous with what they have. I met a Ukrainian sea cadet who traded me his whole uniform for a piece of my clothing. It is the greatest souvenir I have yet. I went to the opera twice. The experience was incredible. I was flowing with the dancers, the actors, the singers and the great music. I especially liked the second opera which featured pieces of Strauss .I made many friends in this great country. I am already dreaming of coming back.
Free Time in Odessa
Karen May, 4/16/97, aboard ship...Today was our first day of shore leave in Odessa. My port group was Amy, Angela, Trina, Josh , Marty, Sebastien, and Alex. Basically, all we did all day was wonder around town. As we walked around we met a man named George. He talked to us and took us to a huge market. The market sold meat, cheese, bread and all sorts of vegetables. Josh bought a live chicken and gave it to George for his family when we parted. As we began to wonder again, we decided to go inside a church. The church was beautiful and very cold inside. It felt as if it was haunted, especially while I walking up dark, old creaky stairs. We ate lunch at a little restaurant and were there for a long time. It was nice to stay warm and chat with everyone. Then we wondered and came across a mall. It was funny because when we went to buy something the cashier would talk in Russian and we understood nothing. Late in the afternoon we met a woman who told us where we could phone home. It was 15 minutes away. It took us about 2 hours to get there, however, because we seemed to get very side tracked going into other stores. Many of us finally phoned home. For dinner we ate in a restaurant which looked very modern and the portions were very small. My first day in Ukraine was very fun. I enjoyed being on land after 16 days at sea.