Gather 'round now

There are many different reasons that we get into groups and congregate around something. Sometimes we gather because there is strength in numbers, sometimes we like to share an experience with other people, and other times we have no idea why we get into groups with other people.

Recently the government has increased the tax on a few things related to transportation here. Besides raising the cost of parking to what I've heard is an obscene amount of money, they've also almost doubled the cost of using the public bus system. Today there was a protest in town about this. (Or atleast, I think it was about this. Maybe the bus drivers just decided they collectively wanted to stop right in front of the protest because they knew everyone would have to leave at some point?) The police were lined up around the front of the building as people waved flags and chanted. Later I passed through again and there was a band playing - they eventually stopped as someone did something that elicited a lot of cheering.

I also came across another group of people gathered around. There were just as many people taking pictures, news crews, and people pointing and looking. This time it wasn't for any type of social cause, but for a piece of art. Perhaps over night, or just while nobody was looking in the middle of the day, someone came and installed a statue of sorts on a bench at the central square in town. It looked like it was the offspring of a streetlight and a lamp post. You can see it partially behind the reporter on the left.



Tomorrow I'll be gathering with some people I've never met, and yet it is a gathering of comfort. I'll be meeting with some alums of the MBAEC program that I am currently in. Hopefully I'll be able to see a little more of the Kiev nightlife than I have seen already, and I won't have to worry about the fact that I don't speak Russian either.

Another area of gathering that occurs all throughout the city is on the sidewalks. I'll write more about this later when I take some pictures, but needless to say, if you don't pay attention you will get run over by a car when walking on the sidewalks. They double as parking lots, and most of the people here seem to have an attitude that because they are driving a Mercedes or Porsche you should get the heck out of their way as they try to park or get back to the street. This goes back to the increases in taxes and parking fees related to road transportation. Apparently if you can get 2 wheels on the sidewalk you are legally parked.