Ukrainian success at the Australian Open!

[Serhii]

Albatross, let’s talk football ( voets ?) first. I just want to share my joy with you. Dynamo won the tournament of the 1st ( Russian) TV channel in Israel. It was a great final battle ( literally sometimes) between two Ukrainian teams Dynamo and Shakhtar ( = Miner ). It was a great match indeed - all Ukr , Rus , and Israeli newspapers wrote about it. I agree with them. Prizes were not bad as well $ 1 mln for the 1st place and $ 0,5 mln for the 2nd.

Now to tycoons. You are mistaken. She is not one of them , she is much poorer and doesn’t belong to that closed club. Akhmetov, Pinchuk, Kolomoiski , etc have up to $ 2 -3 billions each. She is much weaker and American journal Forbs doesn’t even indicate her. Perhaps she was going to become one of them, but she was brutally stopped. I slightly hope she has changed since then.

I vote only for her, and support her in everything at the moment. ‘ Tell me who are your enemies and I’ll tell you who you are ’. I know her enemies and because of it fully stands for her.

You are happy not to have such problems in Holland ( why do they call you Dutch ?)

Do Albatrosses in Holland – THE Netherlands have names or only nicks ?

[Albatross]

Hello Serhii,

Congratulations on Dynamo's victory ! Let's hope it's the prelude to more success from DK. The Dutch word for football is simply "voetbal", so very similar to English.

Re Olicharchs: i knew of your support for Tymoshenko, so i was just teasing you a little. I understand there is hardly any real information available about her current wealth and Tymoshenko is rather vague about it herself. Of course she has a good reason. It would not be smart for her to be perceived by the public as an Olicharch, hence she has an interest to claim she lives modestly. Her daughter married an English guy though, and from what he told the press, it can be determined that she's still very very wealthy.

But i also understand she's a real full time politician and not just in politics to manage her business interests, like so many other "politicians" in Ukraine. Additionally, she's a skilled political campainer. And I read somewhere she's the most trusted politician in Ukraine right now. So obviously she did something right. I hope for Ukraine that time will prove she's worth your support!

About Holland: yes, our political scene may be extremely boring, but if the sea level will continue to rise, we'll have even bigger problems then you guys! Almost half our territory is below sea level.

Say, about EC 2012: is there construction going on in your backyard already? Platini seemed a bit worried about the progress of preparations.

All the best

[Serhii]

Hi Albatross,

Could you believe I didn’t know that sisters Bondarenko are from my region. They live in Kryvyi Rig , the second largest city in the area. Thanks to Australia Open that I have known about it Hope for their further successes

Yes, Platini has frightened us a lot. A few days ago Yushcenko had a serious conversation with those responsible for the preparation. They promised to fulfill all plans. Interestingly that they have to destroy huge half-built shopping center near the Central stadium in Kyiv. Paradox is that there isn’t enough money to build but additional money needed for demolishing.

As for my city , the stadium is almost ready. The same good situation is in Donetsk as far as I know. But we need many hotels, new roads and bridges and million other things. We hope…

Our conversation here shows the real situation in Ukraine, indeed. Have you noticed that talking sports we can’t avoid politics ? You will smile but even old people ( traditional babas ) very sharply discuss political events. Nobody knows what’s going on but everyone discusses it.

And for sure Yulia is the central person in all discussions.

Does the sea level continue to rise ? Hope they’ll find the solution. I always thought it is just a prediction not a real situation. If so, always remember Ukraine and fly here.

My best.

[Albatross]

Hi Serhii,

Good to hear development for the tournament is on schedule in Dnipro. I'm sure this problem in Kyiv will be solved. The road infrastructure might be a more serious problem: Kyiv seems to be in a permanent traffic jam, at least on weekdays. It's the "price of progess" i guess. How's traffic in Dnipro?

Re Ukrainian babushki: they seem to discuss everything very sharply, political events, but certainly also neighbourhood gossip! Here, the elderly mostly live seperate in elderly homes so they're less "visible".

Thanks for the hospitable invitation. The sea level may be rising, but slowly, so i hope to avoid a refugee status for a while.

with best regards

[Serhii]

Hi Albatross,

I have recently come back from Kyiv and can only prove all you wrote about traffic jam. Even Metro is almost paralyzed with huge crowds of people. The situation in Dnipro is pretty much the same. It is a relatively new town with wide and long streets but they are packed with vehicles as well. Officials promise to build new roads till football tournament. Will see. How is traffic in comfortable Holland by the way ?

Have to say that I am very pleased again with your excellent knowledge of Ukrainian entire life. Yes, those babushkas are very significant persons in everyday life. They know everything about everyone ( including you and me ). There isn’t any neighborhood gossip or news they don’t know or don’t share. So, when you are here next time pay them full respect

Axel , I do hope you’ll never need refugee status but you always will be the most welcome guest in Ukraine.

PS After your note I began to follow sisters Bondarenko – they have had some very successful matches in Europe.

[Albatross]

Hello Serhii,

I apologise for my long absence. I actually visit Ukraine more often now than this site . The traffic situation in Holland is also pretty bad, particularly in the Western part of the country which is most densely populated. Increased residential property prices makes that many people just can't afford to live close to their place of work, hence an increase in traffic.

In Kyiv though, the problem seems to be a strong influx of people from other areas of the country, so the infrastructure is simply unable to cope with that many extra people. I read that the Kyiv municipality decided to ban large trucks from entering the city at certain hours, a pretty drastic measure!

On a different note, since Ukraine's overall population is not increasing, rapid growth in Kiev (and Dnipro?) should mean the population in small villages and towns is decreasing. Is this actually happening?

with best regards

[Zbyszek]

Originally Posted by Albatross

...
I'm too young to appreciate the "totaal voetbal" of the Dutch team in the 1970s, but Van Basten was something special indeed. Arguably he had his best performance at the 1988 European Championship. I think everybody remembers his goal in the final against the USSR!
Van Basten is currently the coach of the Dutch national team. He is critisised a lot and has decided to step down after the next EC. There are rumours he will become the coach of Ajax.

...
with best regards

Hi Albatross, I live in Warschau (as you Dutch call my city) but, taken together, I spent more than a year in a little town near A'dam. It was really a refreshing, nice experience.
I remember a big banner near one of A'dam canals saying something like MARKO ERE EN DOKTORAAT. It was an enthusiast welcome of Amsterdammers to a victorius Dutch team after they won the European Cup in the eighties (in zommer). It was nice to see people celebrating.


Dag!

(remembering many Dutch words including that hard 'God verdon me' but still having problem with the Nederlands pratten)
Maybe you remember Rijkaard's shampoo? ha ha ha