afriendlyood2 - Tumblr blog

afriendlyood2 · 6 months

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So, another post.

My fiance is from ex-USSR country from Caucasus. He doesn't speak Russian and didn't even learn it.

Some say Russia isn't a colonial empire - pure nonsense. Caucasus and us will tell otherwise - Cherkes genoside in the Empire times, Ichkeria, our war right now prove the opposite. We share a trauma here! Russia is an empire. It is and it was, soviet period was just a "cool left illusion" which was hard to break even by the western journalist witnessing Holodomor deaths. And we have zero illusions about empires of the west - or Japan which supports us, also an ex empire... Sure not, but we have this japanese old man in Kharkiv serving food - because some want to move on from this and engage in something other than rampant superiority, oligarhy and vile violence normalized - and some not. TBH, my long faved post about superiority and mass murder on Tumblr is from Chinese migrant to Europe and damn sure the guy knew what he is writing about - Balkans, Otthomans, Khmer Rouge and the very regime in China people like him did flee from. Come on, I am myself left but I will never be a communist or a tankie - because I do KNOW what that is, because there are parts of my very family erased both by nazis and russians. I will crtisize the inhumanity of capitalism as well, oligarhy and billionaires supporting mass murder - cause they do it, it is real. It happens at the same time and doesn't contradict, these realities are both true, because they are about superiority in the first place. The mechanisms of it. And inhumanity and kill-the-empathy things. I am not pushing any political propaganda here, to be honest - I am just telling who I really am - not a russian propaganda created ukrainian nazi or a leftie spy communist who will betray ukrainians - but a human. Ukrainian. Ready to hold your hand. Because that's what Empires did since the Mesopotamian era - dehumanised. We need to resist exactly that.

And ah btw since ya'll scream so much about Middle East right now - hate based on religious identity and sacred places and days or whatever, on so-called scared culture, from my - culture studies graduate perspective - is pure nonsense as well - I am a person baptised in an Orthdox Christian church which lives in Catholic Poland, being rather agnostic and being engaged to a Muslim - not an Arab, Turkish - Azerbaijani specifically, having arguments with him over Armenia like everyday, being frightened to learn I have Jews in my roots during the Palestina controversy yet having comfrot in realising that exactly them - Azeirbaijan - did host Jews after Holocaust and that history has an irony to it here... and yes being horrified by both Jews and Muslim Palestinians dying there, cause people are people, especially gunless civilians and you don't have to have any moral dilemmas and choose a team to root for. Like, Russia attacks us through Belarus - but those who suffered after 2020 in Belarus massacres are real people, like in Iran too. Or in Hong Kong. PEOPLE. That's it, that's an ended sentence - they are people, oppressed and murdered, periodt. if we are lettig the inhuman shit happening in history right now, we are all losing. If we use victim-blaming language and BOTH victimhood card to create hate at the same time - we are losing. If we are not studying trauma and hate - we are losing. That's it. Thanks, nobody will read or take seriously (ironically yet conciously speaking here) my rant anyway :)

I suppose I should start my story now.

Well, as you might know, February 24 Ukraine was bombed. We woke up in the morning from explosions. I remember us wandering at the street to the metro station and then getting back after realising we won't get inside. We packed more things back at home and got on the local bus that goes to the opposite part of the town. On one of the stations we decided to go out and I realized I have a plan and I know a bunker we might stay in. We called grandma to get to us by public transport as well, waited for her and got to the bunker together. We will sit there for 4 days.

That's where I get to the sad part - we didn't have a carriage for our cats. So we left them to our neighbour who decided to stay to watch them. We had a plan to take them out by the volunteers later... Long story short that didn't work.

But for now we were at the bunker. We took the only animal we could take - our friends' dog - and we heard explosions only when were taking the dog out to walk. The rest time in the bunker was quiet. For example, my friend who was still at Saltovka heard everything, including the fighters flying around every evening.

We also invited to the bunker our friend, a migrant from Cameroon, who is twice a refugee 'cause started his life in Ukraine in Donbas. He had a car and also a plan created by his friends from a religious group. So on the 4th day we left by car. Loooong road. Also for 4 days.

In Kropivnitsky there was still air alarm and shots at the street. At the morning we had to fix our trunk. We did it and were late at Uman', where we saw a burnt truck after bombing we were late on... Later, after big help of local people with the car we came to Nemirov. First calm night. Ever. Then, we got to Chernivtsi. Sadly, alarm again. At Chernivtsi I ate well the first time without feeling sick after. Then we took a long road through Karpaty to Vilok. My grandmother saw these mountains first. In Vilok we crossed the border with Hungary. The calmest night ever at Vasharoshnameny. By the way, we were taken to the place of our night stay by local police woman on her car! Up next - on two trains to Budapest, again we were helped by local to get from one train to another! In Budapest right after getting from train we were grabbed by a volunteer and she leads us to the volunteer station, where we met Anastasia, who took us in for a night.

There we got sad news - a house near ours (in Kharkiv) got bombed, our windows broke, cats run away. Our biggest loss so far. It happened a day before the volunteers could take them. I can't forgive myself to this day.

From Budapest we got to Krakow, and from Krakow, again after 4 days, to current location, mostly by trains too. That's how it went.

Friend from Cameroon considers Portugal.

I don't feel safe enough. Putin's propagandists say they might attack other countries of Europe too. When and how - not certain.

Belarus steps in. Mariupol is a living nightmare. It's hard to watch the news.

Hear us. Read us. Spread the truth.

That'll be all for now. Thanks.

#removing an _image_ and showing a human #damn I imagine quiet a fight after this post #if anyone will care anyway

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afriendlyood2 · 6 months

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Update: Learned recently that one of my Kharkiv cats got a new owner

It's some light on a heart

My step dad and brother are in Canada, my grandma, mom and sister are in here. I am engaged to another migrant :) he is also from post-USSR country, yet he doesn't speak Russian and you can tell simply by that how young people want to escape that identity and culture, being forced superiourly on them for years... More on that in another post. But for now what I am telling about is clearly a personal trauma, healing. Through desire to live and love.

I suppose I should start my story now.

Well, as you might know, February 24 Ukraine was bombed. We woke up in the morning from explosions. I remember us wandering at the street to the metro station and then getting back after realising we won't get inside. We packed more things back at home and got on the local bus that goes to the opposite part of the town. On one of the stations we decided to go out and I realized I have a plan and I know a bunker we might stay in. We called grandma to get to us by public transport as well, waited for her and got to the bunker together. We will sit there for 4 days.

That's where I get to the sad part - we didn't have a carriage for our cats. So we left them to our neighbour who decided to stay to watch them. We had a plan to take them out by the volunteers later... Long story short that didn't work.

But for now we were at the bunker. We took the only animal we could take - our friends' dog - and we heard explosions only when were taking the dog out to walk. The rest time in the bunker was quiet. For example, my friend who was still at Saltovka heard everything, including the fighters flying around every evening.

We also invited to the bunker our friend, a migrant from Cameroon, who is twice a refugee 'cause started his life in Ukraine in Donbas. He had a car and also a plan created by his friends from a religious group. So on the 4th day we left by car. Loooong road. Also for 4 days.

In Kropivnitsky there was still air alarm and shots at the street. At the morning we had to fix our trunk. We did it and were late at Uman', where we saw a burnt truck after bombing we were late on... Later, after big help of local people with the car we came to Nemirov. First calm night. Ever. Then, we got to Chernivtsi. Sadly, alarm again. At Chernivtsi I ate well the first time without feeling sick after. Then we took a long road through Karpaty to Vilok. My grandmother saw these mountains first. In Vilok we crossed the border with Hungary. The calmest night ever at Vasharoshnameny. By the way, we were taken to the place of our night stay by local police woman on her car! Up next - on two trains to Budapest, again we were helped by local to get from one train to another! In Budapest right after getting from train we were grabbed by a volunteer and she leads us to the volunteer station, where we met Anastasia, who took us in for a night.

There we got sad news - a house near ours (in Kharkiv) got bombed, our windows broke, cats run away. Our biggest loss so far. It happened a day before the volunteers could take them. I can't forgive myself to this day.

From Budapest we got to Krakow, and from Krakow, again after 4 days, to current location, mostly by trains too. That's how it went.

Friend from Cameroon considers Portugal.

I don't feel safe enough. Putin's propagandists say they might attack other countries of Europe too. When and how - not certain.

Belarus steps in. Mariupol is a living nightmare. It's hard to watch the news.

Hear us. Read us. Spread the truth.

That'll be all for now. Thanks.

#diary #memories not to hide to #kharkiv #ukraine

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afriendlyood2 · 7 months

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