The past three days, I've been here in Koktebel for the annual Jazz Festival. I didn't recognize any of the performers but they always bring world class acts. It's hard to believe that I am in the last stretch of my time in Ukraine. I've already said goodbye to some of my Ukrainian friends who were with me during the festival. But I made the most of my time, celebrating life in the true Ukrainian fashion: beer, dried fish, sunflower seeds, homemade wine from plastic bottles, cooking in the fire.
During my time in L'viv I stayed at a hostel and ran into a Brit from London. We had a few drinks and shared some good conversations. Duncan had told me that he'd be coming to Koktebel but we forgot to exchange information. Luckily I was able to glean his email address from the hostel but I hadn't yet contacted him. I was with my Ukrainian friends sitting at the fencing along the perimeter of the concert area, listening to the concert for free, which cost a whole lot more than any of us cared to pay. Looking over the dark moonlit water against a backdrop of mountains I noticed a guy looking out over the see as I was. It was Duncan. I called him over and we marveled at the fact that we'd run into each other. We'd meet up again a few times and I was glad to be able to aid a fellow English-speaking traveler with little things like buying a beverage or teaching some essential phrases in Russian.
A few days ago in Lviv I ran into Ed, another PCV from my Oblast. Considering how many of us volunteers there are scattered throughout the country and the fact that L'viv is a hotspot for visitors and that the center of L'viv is pretty small, it wasn't a far stretch. But the funny thing was that I ran into him twice in one day on two separate occasions. As we were about to part ways, I realized that that may have been the last time I saw Ed. But he told me, "who knows, the world is small and maybe we'll run into each other again some day". I hope he's right. Both for us and my Ukrainian friends.
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