One of the most beautiful gifts was given to me on the evening of January 1st. My splendid Kramators'kian family and I went and visited Sasha and Alla, the Godparents of Katya and Vanya. What is special about these two Godparents is that they are also the parents of Alexie's closest friend of the past, but he had passed away about ten years ago. Sasha and Alla invited three adults to the table for dinner.
During the dinner, the women drank some wine while us men shared a couple of bottles of cognac. Of course, Alexie only sipped one shot through the meal, as he had the keys to the car. Through discussion the hosts found out that I play guitar and write songs, and eventually found me one to play. The guitar was well out of tune, but I worked a little magic and got it sounding decent, and with Alexie's help, it sounded great. Anyways, after playing one of my songs then a Dylan tune, 'House of the Rising Sun,' I was told that the reason the guitar was so out of tune was that it had not been played in more than ten years...since their son had passed away. They never let anyone play the guitar, but after my conversations with them and my gratitude shown, they decided to pull it off the wall. As the evening concluded, Sasha showed me the place where I could sleep whenever I returned, and I told him that I will return. It was the most amazing gift I have received here in Ukraine.
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1 comment:
That was a wonderful thing for them to let you play the guitar...are you teaching english while over there or doing something else, like environmental stuff? it is so great you are over there. I go to London in February and I wish I was headed further east- I have friends in The Hague- Netherlands, Praha, and Kazakhstan.
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