What a week. It was a week of legends. My career as
an ecologist started off with a bang. What I thought
was a one hit wonder has now turned into a lecture
series. It must have been my compassionate delivery
because an encore has been requested for this coming
Thursday. And not only have I figured out my future
life in the natural scientist realm, I accomplished
one of my life goals. Hitchhiking.
I was at the bus stop at 10:10 am. It comes at 10:30
but is often late so I figured that I had plenty of
time. Luckily it was a nice day and seeing that I had
perfect phone reception, I caught up with friends
around Ukraine. It was already after 11 when a
passing woman told me that the bus to Odessa had
already passed. Shit! I spent the next two minutes
swearing into the phone until I finally saw a car
leaving my village.
It was a really nice – even by American standards –
SUV with leather seats and tinted windows. They were
probably in the mafia. Before I even thought about
what I was doing I had stopped them and asked if they
knew when the next bus out of the village was. I
already knew that the next bus was at 3:30, but I was
secretly hoping they would give me a ride somewhere,
and my ploy worked! They told me there was a noon bus
in the next town up and told me to jump in the car.
So I did. Nik was driving and I forgot the name of
the other guy as soon as he told me. It was weird and
ended in one of the trilly r's I can't say. They told
me I spoke Russian well.
We had an extra half an hour so we stopped at the
hotel Nik owned on the edge of the village. We drank
coffee and chatted and then he showed me around the
complex. Everything was built of beautiful imported
wood. I say it was imported because we don't really
have trees around here. There was a weight lifting
station and pool outside as well as a sauna somewhere.
The complex had its own water tower and generator.
On the way to the bus finally, Nik took advantage of
the 8 minutes we still had and drove to the sea. It
was actually really beautiful. I wish this part of
the sea was closer to me.
Once on the bus I was taken to Belgorod-Dnestrovsky
where I had to run across town to the other bus
station to catch a bus to Odessa. I was happy that I
got a bus with a fast driver. I was mad when we were
stopped at the draw bridge for an hour. What normally
takes me 2.5 hours took me over five. I eventually
arrived in Odessa, jubilant in the thought that I had
conquered the system!
Life back in my tiny village seems dull now. None of
the places I used to frequent hold quite the same
contentment as they did before. Few cars pass to
remind me of my past voyage to the unknown and instead
of pimped out SUVs, only tractors and Ladas to catch
my gaze. Sigh. I made that first part up. I never
used to frequent anywhere because there is nowhere to
frequent. So the part about not holding the same
contentment isn't really true.
Seriously though, when I reflect back in time, as I so
like to do, I spent much of the venture trying not to
laugh. I don't know what made me so giddy. Perhaps
it was being in a situation that was unknown and
having it work out. Perhaps it was the thought of
what a good story it would make later. Whatever it
was, it is much different than how I would have
reacted a year ago. Hitchhiking was always on my list
of things to do before I die but it was never
something that I envisioned myself actually doing, and
certainly not alone. The fact that I did it as if on
autopilot says a lot about how I've changed. I'm
unstoppable. Like Superman. In fact, my glasses
aren't real – they're a distraction so people don't
figure out my true identity.
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