For those of you who have been living under a rock, there's a war going on in Donetsk right now. I'm sure that anyone who is reading this blog is probably well aware of this fact, as it's been all over the news, especially after the rebels shot down a commercial airplane, killing almost 300 innocent people in one fell swoop.
So, as to what I've been doing that whole time, it's been one of two things: either working, or trying not to get shot. I was in Donetsk during the whole ordeal. I watched the ouster of the previous president turn into outrage and fear, outrage and fear turn into large protests, large protests turn into overthrowing the local government. The ordinary people turned into protestors, and the protestors turned into a makeshift milita, which in turn was largely replaced by mercenaries from Russia. The city of Donetsk turned from a relatively large, beautiful, and peaceful city into one of turmoil, and then into a virtual ghost town.
The hotel I lived next to also ltransformed during this time. It went from a brand new hotel, into a base for international monitors, to closing down, and then just before I left, into a barracks for mercenaries. It's been eerie watching how unrest and war can transform a city so quickly. Thankfully, I get to watch the rest of its transformation from a much safer distance.
So, yeah. Now I'm in Kiev, which is supposedly temporary, but with each day it seems more and more likely that I won't be able to go back to Donetsk anytime soon. I'll be waiting out the rest of the war here, hoping that it can once again transform back into a large, beautiful, and peaceful city.
For a little more detail about the last few months in Donetsk, I did a series of interviews with Engrlish Teacher X. You can read the first part here:
