Stahlke Adoption

East and West

A little historical background on the current political crisis in Ukraine--

The Dnieper River flows from north to south right through the middle of Ukraine before ending in the Black Sea. If you face south, the east side is called the right bank and the west side is called the left bank. Kyiv lies on the Dnieper River, and the view over the river from the east toward the golden church domes on the west side is spectacular.

The western half of Ukraine is primarily Ukrainian-speaking, and many people worship in the Ukrainian Catholic Church, which is affiliated with Rome but not directly under them. The eastern half of Ukraine is mostly Russian-speaking, and many people belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is connected to the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. Over the centuries, Ukraine has been ruled by many other countries, for its relatively flat lands do not provide natural barriers to invasion. The western half of Ukraine has had much more contact with the Roman Catholic countries of Poland and Austria, while the eastern half of Ukraine has usually been affiliated with Russia.

These divisions are very present today, as President Yushchenko firmly supports ties with Europe, while Prime Minister Yanukovych leans toward Russia. The extent of the controversy extends to some of the most basic parts of life. For example, the Ukrainian and Russian languages are very similar (like Spanish and Portuguese) but use different spellings. So Ukraine's capital city can be spelled Kyiv (Ukrainian) or Kiev (Russian). We faced these spelling issues when we first met our children. I reported in my earlier posts that our second child's name is Bohdan (the Ukrainian spelling). But we eventually found out that he prefers Bogdan (the Russian spelling). And we've found out that our children, who lived in the geographical center of Ukraine, speak a mixture of the Ukrainian and Russian languages.

posted by Stahlkes @ 10:51 AM