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I like people. I really do, and I’m always looking to meet new folks and make new friends. Perhaps this is why I’ve been having the time of my life at Hotel Bursa in Kviv over the last nine months. As my Ukrainian ‘family’ would say, I’ve truly been living my best life, and that’s involved a lot of hugging.

Admittedly, I’m naturally a huggy person – I like to greet and say goodbye with a hug. To me a hug is a simple gesture of shared humanity. Like a handshake but perhaps more authentic. I realize not everyone likes hugs because they can be considered an invasion of one’s personal space, but I’ve found that over time most people warm up to the gesture if it’s sincere.

A typical morning

I believe my genuine fondness for people combined with a hug has opened an incredible world for me in Kyiv. I’m referring to the staff at Hotel Bursa plus their friends & family who I’ve come to know through random chance, party crashing or genuine invitation during wartime. 

Every morning I grab my laptop and head to the lobby for my essential double-cappuccino. There I always find either Tonia or Sasha who I call ‘Sunshine’ because of her wonderful countenance and megawatt smile. As I proclaim “dobre ranock”, whoever’s behind the desk comes out for a good morning hug.

Next, I’m usually intercepted by one of the hotel security guys who leaves his post for a morning hug. I’ll make my way across the lobby and hug a few of the cleaning staff and the hotel engineer along the way. I then do my rounds of the gang in the restauarant, including the kitchen team and dishwasher, before sitting at my patio table for another morning on the computer.

New friends & interesting people

My quest to meet people has also contributed to a fascinating litany of astonishingly interesting folks I’ve met just by making eye contact and starting a chat over a coffee or meal at the hotel. I’ve met journalists, actors, humanitarians, soldiers, students, ambassadors, rock stars, models, celebrity chefs and atomic energy inspectors in the Bursa lobby or restaurant, and I’m now on a hug basis with all of them. 

It’s been an incredibly humbling experience to meet so many amazing people and share a bit of our lives together. It’s also great because I now have friends all over the world who can advise me on local hotels and restaurants wherever I go – and I always have a dinner partner.

The world can be a wonderful place even during times of war and upheaval. A hug may be just a simple gesture, but it’s also a powerful motivator to surround yourself with good friends and ‘family’ wherever you travel.

Slava Ukraini!  Heroiam Slava!

As an early riser I always start my day with a double cappuccino just to get the motor running. I’m so lucky to be staying at the Hotel Bursa in Kyiv because their breakfast menu is full of yummy options. 

Choose an English Breakfast, French Breakfast, homemade granola, or the Bursa version of Eggs Benedict: two poached eggs with hollandaise sauce on top of medium-rare roast beef and fresh bread (my personal favourite). Be it breakfast, lunch or dinner, all the food is incredible thanks to a team of amazing chefs. Furthermore, the menu changes every three months which keeps your taste buds looking forward to even more choice.    

Not on the menu

However, some of the best meals are not even on the menu. I’m referring to ’staff food’. If you’ve been following my posts from Ukraine, you’ll recall that the average shift at Bursa is 12 hours, while the security team actually works 24-hour shifts! Working all day with a one-hour commute on both ends doesn’t afford a lot of time to pack a lunch or make breakfast. Fortunately, the awesome Bursa kitchen crew takes care of the staff just as well as they take care of guests.

Always available are a collection of simple, one plate meals for staff. So occasionally, big bowl of steaming borscht arrives at my table. Sometimes a sweeter offering will appear, perhaps a lemon cake with sticky vanilla icing, or a pear tart, or even a chocolate creme brulé.  

Home cooking

Usually however, you’ll see staff eating as most Ukrainians do. Yes, it would be easier to serve the regular menu items to staff but they prefer something more home cooked. Bursa chefs can create outstanding cosmopolitan meals for sophisticated European palates, but they can also whip-up perogies, buckwheat and chicken that any Ukrainian would swear their Baba just made. Borscht is always served with a couple of slices of rye bread and salo (fatty bacon), that just might top my own grandmother’s – sorry Baba… 

Staff meals are always available in the form of shrink-wrapped plates ready to be heated a moment’s notice. You never know when a plumber or electrician will need to be fed while they work all night to repair emergency damage inflicted by a Russian missile attack. All Ukrainians work doubly hard during wartimeand they don’t make a lot of money, so warm comfort food made with love by ‘family’, goes a long way.  

Slava Urkani!  Heroaim Slava! 

After nine months living in Kyiv, I’ve found that driving a vehicle in the capital is chaotic at the best of times, and a risk to life & limb at the worst. Kyiv, like any big city suffers from traffic jams, poorly-maintained roads and limited parking, but here, everyone seems to take it in stride – Ukrainian style.

No Parking!

Like other post-communism cities, Kyiv was not built in the most logical fashion and has nearly doubled in size since independence thirty years ago. There are dozens of both new & old apartment buildings all over to house the new inhabitants, but none of these have a parking garage! After all, very few people in former Soviet Union satellite states owned a car, so city planners are only now considering personal parking requirements. 

You can imagine the chaos on streets with buildings housing hundreds of residents with cars, but no designated tenant parking. People actually drive their cars over the curb to park on the sidewalk. In fact, as long as you leave a two meters space for pedestrians to get by, it’s completely legal!

However, never block an entrance to a building. If you do, in no time a flatbed tow truck with a crane will arrive and literally lift your car into the air, place it neatly on its bed, then deliver it to the impound lot. There’s a entrance to a bank across the street from my Hotel Bursa, and I’ve seen at least twenty cars plucked from either side of the bank’s main doors every day.

Road to nowhere

I’ll be honest, the roads in Kyiv are pretty bad. The tram rails nearly shake the teeth from your head every time you drive over them, and it’s tough to avoid the suitcase-sized potholes everywhere. Repairs are routinely started but rarely completed, so you always find blocked curb lanes causing additional havoc for drivers.

You’d think the lack of parking, shoddy roadwork, and drivers constantly changing lanes would result in road rage, assaults and hundreds of accidents every day. Not in Ukraine. Drivers are so used to weaving to avoid roadwork and double-parked delivery vans, they simply let people in and receive polite acknowledgement by a flash of the hazard lights.

Anytime, anywhere

Making traffic even more congested, Kyiv is the world capital of ride sharing. There are three services, Uber, Uklon and Bolt – all of which are busy every day. Add standard taxis to the mix, and there are thousands of cars criss-crossing the city ferrying Kyivans and the occasional Canadian to and from appointments, restaurants and stores.

Even when air raid sirens are sounding, you can be picked up and dropped off, complete with loosened teeth and a few blinks of the hazard lights. 

It’s definitely an adventure owning and driving a car in Kyiv, yet even with all the chaos, there’s no road rage or screaming. A flash of the headlights to indicate you’re letting someone in is acknowledged by a wave and blink of the hazards. It’s understood that we’re all in this together. 

Which is exactly what’s important when your country’s at war.

Slava Ukraini! Heroaim Slava!

Ukrainian people are very technically sophisticated, especially in the big cities like Kyiv and Lviv. Evenryone has the latest iPhone compete with air buds. You can order, pay and tip at every restaurant by scanning a QR code at your table. Banking is virtual and people pay and transfer money by sharing credit card numbers and tapping Apple Pay. Hungry? Glovo will deliver in the middle of an air raid and Uber, Uklon or Bolt will pick you up and drive you anywhere in Kyiv anytime.

How did Ukraine become such a technically sophisticated nation?

Tune in to the latest  episode of the Decentralists to find out.

You may have noticed that despite the dozens of blogs I’ve written from Kyiv over the last nine months, I’ve not posted much about the military. Not surprisingly, sharing any military information on social media is very much discouraged. Nobody wants to inadvertently reveal details that might jeopardize Ukrainian troops. Just like during WWII: “loose lips sink ships”. 

However, I can certainly share my impressions of the typical Ukrainian soldier.

A break from fighting

In reality, Ukraine has been at war with Russia for over nine years, ever since Donbas, Luhansk and Crimea were invaded in 2014. The current 2022 invasion of the entire country is being repelled by hundreds of thousands of men & women fighting every day to rid the country of Russians once and for all.

Because the war is primarily being fought in the south-east, very few soldiers are seen walking the streets of Kyiv. However, if you’re lucky you’ll meet them at places like Hotel Bursa when they’re taking a few days off from fighting on the front. Indeed, it’s extremely important for active-duty soldiers to take breaks from time to time to maintain their mental and physical health.

No professionals here

It’s important to remember that the Ukrainian army is largely made up of volunteers, not professional soldiers. Those I’ve met are musicians, teachers and computer programmers who’ve taken up arms to defend their country and way of life. In other words, honest and hard-working real people. Perhaps this is why they’re some of the nicest folks you’ll ever meet.

I’ve chatted with Maksym at Bursa a few times and he’s quick to answer questions about what’s really going on in places like Bahkmut and Kherson with smile and a laugh. This war is surely no laughing matter but Maksym always maintains a sense of humour, especially when taking a break from his frontline job as a Special Forces, Reconnaissance Commander. He’s also one of the biggest humans I’ve ever seen. At six feet, six inches tall, covered with tattoos and easily over 120 kgs, he’s certainly not someone you’d want to mess with!

A shot from the Gulag

A few months ago, I stopped by an ‘informal’ bar that specialized in shots of home-made liqueurs called Semahon. It’s essentially a grain spirit (vodka), infused with local Ukrainian herbs and fruit. Sergeii the owner served an amazing variety of shots like blueberry-sage and apple-currant, but my favourite was the cinnamon-spice concoction reminiscent of Masala tea. Incredibly, Sergeii explained that he created the recipe while being held as a POW at a Russian camp in Luhansk in 2014.

A fellow hotel guest told me about meeting a General who was shot in the head in 2018 then left for dead in Donbas. After two days lying in a field surrounded by dead Ukrainian soldiers with the back of his skull missing, he was evacuated and taken for treatment in Kyiv and Europe. Today the General has a plate covering the back of his skull and walks with a cane. However, he’s also in charge of training all military cadets in Ukraine.

My friend added that the General was one of the nicest guys he’s ever met, and I’ll say the same of Sergeii and Maksym. It’s been a great honour to meet a few of the ordinary but brave people who continue to fight for the freedom of Ukraine and indeed Europe. There’s no question in my mind that this time, these nice guys will finish first.  

Slava Ukraini! Heroiam Slava!

Finally, winter is over. Not many consider it their favourite season in Ukraine, but the last six months have, of course, been especially tough. Imagine never knowing when missiles or killer drones will appear overhead. Imagine wondering if the brave Ukrainian defenders will continue to hold their position between your town and the invading, murderous Russians. 

Then add the stark reality that you no longer have reliable heating, electricity or water services because Putin’s force specifically destroys public infrastructure. Suddenly, you’re desperately trying to get your family through a very cold and dark winter. But imagine the relief when you realize the days are getting longer and most importantly, the temperature is now well above freezing.

Spring Celebration

Saturday was the first day of Spring in Kyiv with clear blue skies and sunny hot weather. For the first time this year, Hotel Bursa’s rooftop bar was open and by 6pm there was a line-up 40 people deep. Considering the ‘death from above’ winter many have endured, it’s no surprise the revellers needed to blow-off some steam. 

It was such a fun, wonderful and heart-warming evening. As many of you know, I’ve been a Hotel Bursa guest since August of last year. Considering my time here plus their appreciation of the work I’ve done to help plan the rebuilding of their country, the staff created a cocktail named after me – The Old Cold! A variation of my long-time favourite Old Fashioned, The Old Cold is made with maple syrup instead of sugar to give it a genuine Canadian twist. And it’s called cold because my Ukrainian last name, Holod, actually means cold.

Selfie salute

In preparation for the opening, Bursa hired a bunch of new staffers. Thank goodness they did because all were run off their feet as over 200 people ascended to the roof to enjoy some Spring fever. Everyone was in great spirits eating, drinking and rocking to the non-stop sound of cocktail shakers and 80s hits plus current dance music. Everyone took turns at the railing proudly taking selfies with the Ukrainian flag blowing behind them in the brilliant breeze over the rooftops of Kyiv. 

Parts of Ukraine are now a cratered wasteland of destroyed homes and ghost towns for absolutely no good reason. However, you can sense that the people are revived because they’ve made it through the dead of winter during wartime. Spring, sunshine and warmth have re-energized and fortified the indomitable Ukrainian sprirt. The country’s invincible courage soars far above any rooftop restaurant. 

Slava Ukraini! Heroiam Slava!

After another whirlwind few weeks in Europe I’m back in Kyiv and it feels great. Don’t get me wrong – I had a wonderful time in Europe as I always do, but there’s something different about Kyiv. Despite a war raging in eastern Ukraine which makes it quite challenging to enter or exit the country, there’s something very special that draws me back.

The most notable difference between any major European capital and Kyiv is simply, the people. The sincere hugs and heart-warming greetings I received upon returning to my Hotel Bursa ‘family’ and friends felt as if they were true blood relatives.

Why have these relationships grown so deep and powerful? I believe it’s the unity created by a common purpose: to stop the slaughter of thousands of innocent Ukrainian men, women and children, and to repel the illegal and unjustified Russian invasion. I know this kind of friendship. It’s a powerful bond forged deep within an air-raid shelter while missiles explode above. It’s almost a mystical connection.  

Work Sleep War

Ukrainians work hard. Everyone takes 12-hour shifts. The hotel security team? 24 hours. For a barista slinging lattes and serving meals, there’s little time to focus on anything but work and war. This is the reality of life in Ukraine and it’s a wonder to behold.

Yet somehow, everyone seems to accomplish a little extra to contribute to the war effort. Graphic artists and web designers offer their talents to the government’s social media campaigns. Baristas and bartenders donate their tips to Ukraine’s military. Soldiers never pay for meals.

I routinely see staff at the hotel even when they’re not working. There’s an undeniable gravitational pull that makes them stay close and support each other. Moreover, whenever I visit friends across Kyiv, I always receive a wonderful reception because people united in adversity are family, not just friends.

Live hard, play hard

All this work and war takes its toll and eventually everyone needs some rest and relaxation. Not surprisingly, my Ukrainian friends and ‘family’ are ready to party at a moment’s notice. And this has certainly been the case since I returned a few days ago.

Occasionally however, some people have too much fun beyond the nightly curfew. That’s not a big problem considering there’s always a friend’s couch or  unoccupied hotel room. It’s expected because we feel like family, and in the morning there’s another 12-hour shift. 

Many would call in sick after a night of overindulgence but not this crew. Ukrainians get up and get to work no matter how they feel because there’s something extraordinary about teamwork during wartime. 

The existential threat has transformed all Ukrainians, but fortunately, the energy created by millions of powerful connections can only help Ukraine prevail over Russia. Slava Ukraini!

For the third time since I arrived in Kyiv last August, I’m currently travelling in Europe on business. It feels strange leaving my new ‘home’, however the more I’m away, the more I realise just how similar yet also different Kyiv is to any other large European city.

It’s not quick or easy getting in or out of Ukraine during wartime, so one must ensure to get as much accomplished as possible. That means hitting to as many cities as possible. This trip my itinerary includes Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Amsterdam and London.

Natural Selection

I immediately noticed that western European cities in Switzerland and the UK are definitely more ‘shiny’ because they’ve invested more in public infrastructure like sidewalks, streetlights and basic safety. However, sidewalks in Kyiv are rather challenging because of poor planning and construction. Consequently, the average Ukrainian has mastered the awareness and control of a mountain goat – especially when navigating streets littered with craters and holes covered in ice at night!

Butt Out

On the surface, Europe looks much cleaner than Kyiv because superior urban planning and regulations ensure that building exteriors look quite pleasing. But scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find that it’s just an illusion. Where it really matters, Kyiv is a far cleaner city. Nearly everyone in Ukraine smokes, yet one must deliberately search for a cigarette butt on the ground whereas the streets of London and Amsterdam are literally paved with them. 

When I lived in the UK a few years ago, my typical Monday walk to work included wading through a beautiful park littered with beer bottles, food wrappers, used baby nappies and charred BBQs made from aluminium turkey pans strewn everywhere. It was a disgrace. In Kyiv however, park patrons with garbage will make an effort to find a bin for disposal. Furthermore, if you finish your cigarette and there’s no nearby ashtray, residents will actually put it in their pack or pocket, then dispose of it as they walk by the next garbage can.

Designer Eats

Cities like London and Geneva are filled with designer clothing stores and fancy restaurants, but so is Kyiv. Indeed I’ve had wonderful sushi in both capitals. My favourite shirts are from the Ukrainian designer called Syndicate, but all my jeans are Denham from Amsterdam. I honestly can’t give this one to either Europe or Ukraine. Pretty much anything you can buy or eat in Europe you can in Kyiv as well, you just pay much more for it in any European city.  

Queue Too

Lastly, there’s the infamous Ukrainian post-Soviet style bureaucracy and red tape. Citizens often line up for hours outside government offices to get documents stamped to issue a passport, but is this really any different from the bureaucracy in the EU? A queue is a queue and no matter what the reason, standing in line is just reality of life everywhere. At least in Ukraine, the government’s digital app, Diia, is constantly slashing the effort required to register and manage typical time-consuming municipal services. 

Ukraine and Europe are very similar in how they look and behave. One may have a bit more polish and convenience, while the other could teach the West a thing or two about littering and resilience. Ukraine is Europe and Europe is Ukraine. Family never abandons each other, so let’s end this war ASAP and build a shiny new Europe in Ukraine for everyone. Slava Ukraini! Slava Europe!

Ukrainians routinely complain about paying extra fees for expedited processing of documents, or to have a plumber repair their toilet. Kyiv is littered with unfinished apartment buildings because developers skim so much from the construction funds that the structure cannot be finished. 

Doing business in Ukraine is challenging and it’s not just because of the illegal Russian invasion. For decades corruption has been a reality. 

Is corruption inevitable in post-soviet countries? What effect could corruption have on Ukraine’s recovery and rebuilding after the war? And how can it be eradicated?

Find out on this episode of the Decentralists

I left Kyiv last Monday for a two-week trip to Europe and maybe beyond. It took twenty hours to reach Zürich, where I attended the Mapping Ukraine research symposium sponsored by the Geography department at Eigenössische Technische Hochenschule Zürich, a university more commonly known as ETH.

A few months ago our group, The Peace Coalition, welcomed a new partner: Mapping Ukraine. Mapping Ukraine is creating a 4-dimensional digital map of the destruction of buildings and infrastructure across Ukraine. Think of Google street view with 3D models showing the damage with the date it occurred, hence the 4D. Mapping Ukraine is all about collaboration so they invited us to explain our pilot project to rebuild two Ukrainian villages in front of an audience of interested parties who may wish to contribute. 

Surprisingly, I found myself surrounded by Ukrainians in Zurich – exiled academics who found a new home at ETH in Switzerland.

New place like home

Ukraine and Switzerland are very different places. Ukraine is one of the most affordable European countries to visit, where Switzerland is one of the most expensive. For example, a friend of mine in Geneva spends 350 Swiss francs for an opera ticket. That’s more than most people pay in monthly rent in Kyiv! Obviously, the most daunting task confronting an academic in exile is how to earn enough money to survive. Thankfully, for the Ukrainians I met, the Swiss government and the ETH Foundation were there to help.

Most of the universities in Ukraine closed when Russia invaded so academics and researchers, especially near the front line in Kharkiv and Dnipro, were forced to seek safer environments. The Swiss government and universities stepped up to provide funding for Ukrainian PhD candidates to continue their research. These were the folks I was lucky to meet at ETH Zürich.

It’s important to note that while many Ukrainian academics are now doing research in Switzerland, they’re continuing Ukrainian-focused research. One is studying the Ukrainian power grid with the goal of modernizing and introducing new technologies like hydrogen power generation. Others are focusing on agriculture technology. Another is documenting and creating 3D scans of Bauhaus and modernist buildings in the western Ukrainian cities Lviv and Ternopil. ETH Zürich is not draining brains from Ukraine for the betterment of Switzerland. They’re providing paid positions for Ukrainian academics to help rebuild Ukraine.

Saving Ukraine, Swiss style

As recently reported by Reuters, Switzerland is close to breaking with centuries of tradition as a neutral state, as a pro-Ukraine shift in the public and political mood puts pressure on the government to end a ban on exports of Swiss weapons to war zones.

However, their support for exiled academics and researchers has been exemplary. Many lost their homes and jobs when the war began, and replacing such a prominent career requires a higher-educational culture and institutional support. Students need professors and professors need researchers. All can be found on any Swiss university campus.

The Ukrainian academic exiles I met last week are thrilled to have support from the Swiss government and ETH, but it was bittersweet because most of them would much rather be home in Ukraine. Hopefully The Peace Coalition can provide a middle ground until the war is over by offering these Ukrainians & Swiss the opportunity to transform their theories into practice as we rebuild the two towns. Indeed, it takes a village to raise a village. Slava Ukraini! Slava Switzerland!