This weekend we will be heading out on our first official sightseeing adventure since we’ve arrived in Kyiv. Although there are a plethora of churches, war memorials and other such historical sites we’ve decided to experience a place of more recent historical significance, which I believe can only be found on earth here in the Ukraine, and that is Chernobyl. Where in April of 1986 this incidents effect on the plant was that of thirty to forty times more fallout released than had been by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now that’s some serious historical man-made shit happening and in my lifetime, funny how I barely remember hearing about it. I guess I must’ve have been busy that day and didn’t catch the news or maybe it wasn’t hyped so much because it happened so far away from the U.S. and terrorism, to the degree it is now, wasn’t a possibility of the cause. Anywhoo, here’s the wiki link to brush up on it if you so choose http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_accident.
You might be wondering what type of precautions we will be required to take while wondering the site, we were notified that you are now required, by the governmental body responsible for the area, to wear shoes or sneakers (no sandals), long pants or skirt (no shorts) and possibly gloves, all which we have to provide ourselves. A few things I know about radiation is of course from the movies where people wear big condom like suits and respirators to protect themselves or they just cough up blood and die when exposed unprotected to it. Also, you only know it’s there if the ticking gets faster on the thingy-ma-giggy because you can’t smell it or see it but you can feel heat if it’s really bad. I’m comfortable in the fact I know just what I want to know about it and after all “they” say it’s safe and it can’t be any worse then the “safe nerve gas emissions” I lived down wind of in Salt Lake.
BTW, I found out today that I could possibly be starting work as soon as this Monday. If that indeed becomes a reality it will be the fastest I have ever gotten employment during our gigs overseas, not to mention the best paying job I’ve ever had. Basically I’ll be supervising mail and doing some computer stuff. More later…
Still love the city, so quite, clean and relatively pain free for day to day life needs. To us it’s a more European for Eastern Europe then Moscow and just plain heaven compared to Hanoi. All is good. We are shooting for this fall to make a visit back to the states.
Peace out.
