And now you sea* me…

The language has created a problem in Crimea and Ukraine...   Crimean don’t want to learn Ukrainian…) Pro Ukrainians believe everyone, living in Ukraine must communicate in Ukrainian…  Maybe we should look at Canadian experience of blending in English and French? … VGM

In the 70s and 80s the language in the little towns of central Crimea was… I would call it Ukrussian with a hint of the Tatar’s language blended in… My grandma educated me on the household differences…  There were homes with lots of half-naked kids running around and playing in the dirt, where the oldest kids were taking care of the youngest. The back yards had nothing, but weeds.  Some of the households kept a cow. Those were migrants from Russia, attracted by the warm climate and promise of a house… Ukrainian migrant’s yards were green with happy crops. Kids had daily chores of taking care of the house, livestock, garden, etc. The kids usually played outside in the afternoon once their chores were done. I remember helping my friend with her chores so we could play sooner… Tatars… My grandma had no faith in them. She used to teach me: "Never buy their farm produce when you grow up, because they fertilize crops with human urine"…  I believe the difference between Christian an

Every summer in the 1970s and 1980s I took a bus trip to my grandma’s house located in the Belogorsk province of Crimea.  The little towns throughout the central Crimea looked almost identical; lined up duplexes with a piece of land attached to it where the family shared only one wall of the building and property line with another family of  migrants.  Many of those people spoke different languages.  These temporary accommodations were provided only to those who worked on collective farms.  The temporary houses became permanent homes for many of them…  Half of a building with two rooms, a small kitchen, covered porch and no bathroom or running water became a forever home, and still is, for thousands of Crimean’s.  My aunt was milking cows by hand all her life …  I will never forget the taste of the crust of the white bread carefully cut for me and a small glass jar of warm milk right from under the cow … Of course, I had to work for it a little…) by helping my aunt to feed the cows and

How many of my people can remember the school class: “Russian - a language of inter-ethnic communication” and the endless statistics of what percent of the world’s population considered Russian as a first/second language…  Russian was always compared to English.  I felt like we were getting closer to winning something…)))  In the meantime, the rest of the world didn’t care…  I met many people who came from various socialist countries. I’ve heard sarcastic and even rude comments about learning Russian at school.  They preferred speaking English with me…  I understand why… To be continued…  VGM  

I was born and raised in Sevastopol, a military base, the only city in Crimea and Ukraine that didn’t teach the Ukrainian language at school.  The residents of Sevastopol and  military families spoke every language of every republic of the USSR.  Many militaries  dreamed of retiring in Sevastopol. I remember us laughing at others who couldn’t speak Russian well… My friend’s family, for example, always spoke Ukrainian language at home and only at home…  After all, the Russian language was mandatory not only in the Soviet Union but in all other socialist countries…  Why? …  Why did we believe in this annoying exclusivity of the Russian language…?  Russian nationality? …  To be continued…  VGM