EXPLORING RURAL UKRAINE IN WARTIME

EXPLORING RURAL UKRAINE IN WARTIME

Hi, I’m Valentina from Ukraine. And I’m Mr. East from the U.S. We decided to leave America
and move to my beloved motherland. In the middle of a war. We are on a mission. A mission from God, you might say. A mission to explore
this beautiful country, with its gorgeous landscapes,
rich history and culture, and world-class cuisine. And to get to know its great people. And we invite you to join us as we travel around this
little-known corner of Europe, here on East of the West. Follow us as we explore Kosiv, a delightful small town
in the hills of Ukraine. As we wander through
the colorful Saturday market and learn about the art
of the cheese horses. And as we ride horses. Well… kind of. As we meet Volodymyr, the “bee whisperer” and taste his mountain wildflower honey. Go for a swim. And try on new costumes. And make a few new friends along the way. So come along with us
as we explore… KOSIV! Welcome to Kosiv. A lot of people have fruit trees
and gardens out here. Lots of flower gardens. Most places have their own well. It smells so good! Lots of stopping and
smelling the flowers around here. You can see the tops
of the big church over there. Oh, let’s see the church!
I want to see the church. You can get a good view of it
from here. – Oh, wow, it’s a big church.
– It’s a big church. I like the style.
I love the old wooden churches. This is a very large example of
the classic regional wooden church style here in Kosiv. Resembles a Japanese temple. Not open, huh? We booked a horse ride
at a place called Hutsulyk. But first the manager wanted to
show us their regional museum. Ukraine is positively fanatical
about its herbal remedies – cure, they say, for any ill. This one, for example,
cures the gout. Then there’s this one:
goodbye kidney stones. Halitosis? Try this. Ingrown toenail?
You’re in luck! Constipation?
Here’s your relief. Dyspepsia. Flatulence. Hair loss. Acne. Dry skin. Misanthropy. Insomnia. Anxiety. Schizophrenia. Tuberculosis. Ennui. High blood pressure. Low self esteem. Dipsomania. Obesity. Logorrhea. Athlete’s foot. It’s a room full of miracles. This is from local artists. They decided to turn this room into this… modernized art of Kosivshina. You see, all this is… Kosiv ceramics. First of all, you see the colors.
Green, yellow, and brown. These are the signature colors of Kosiv. It’s made of wood. I would definitely wear it. One hundred percent leather. You can see all the artwork around. Hutsul people can not do
anything in a simple way. How do you like your “hutsulina”? Churning butter! You need this belt, but it’s also art work
because a hutsul can’t live without art. It’s just his way. Let’s see. Beautiful. And a jacket. This is your new style. And then at long last the horse ride. We hoped for a pleasant
ride through the hills. Instead we were led
around the parking lot. I’d probably have enjoyed it more
if I were seven years old. They assured us that soon
they’d have proper paths. They weren’t yet fully operational. In fact there was soon to be
a grand opening party. Maybe we’d care to attend? Irina talked about the horse therapy
for returned soldiers. She told us the touching story of one who
returned from the front unable to speak. After embracing a horse,
he started weeping copiously. Shortly afterwards
he started talking again. In Ukraine they call it
“Hero of the Russian-Ukrainian war.” In Russia they don’t even say “war.” They call it a
“special military operation.” You see the name of the village. The name of the village up here. This is Sheshory. It’s all Kosiv region. This is Yavoriv. Verbovets village. Sheshory. Verbovets. Kosiv. They’re all villages of the region. It’s just a fraction of… the losses. You can also read where they died. This one died near… Pisky village, Donetsk region. This is Luhansk region. A small town called “happiness.” Schastya in Ukrainian means happiness. Luhansk region. That’s where this guy died. So we didn’t intend to film a
whole episode about Kosiv here. We were going to include it in
the general villages of this region video. But once we got here
we learned that there’s just a lot of interesting things about it. So we decided to do a whole video. And one of the reasons for that
was because of this lady here. Anna is the head of the
tourist information office. Welcome to Kosiv! For example. And this one. Clothes. Wool clothes. Very fashionable. Kosiv ceramics. In UNESCO. This is the UNESCO heritage. And this is locally made in Kosiv. It’s very beautiful.
And you can see the colors. It’s also one of the arts
that you can learn at the Institute of Folk Arts in Kosiv. It’s the cheese horses! Cheese horses, yes. This is the bird that you make
to protect your house. It’s called oberih. It means “protection.” So we’re at the “secret museum.”
Don’t tell anyone! Secret museum! It’s dark here! Why is it a hidden museum? The first mention of Kosiv
is dated to 1318. So here you can find all
different representatives of hutsul people. Because every village also was different. Here you can find the regional… regional outfits. Look at the cheese horse over there.
It’s so funny! This is Volodymyr’s grandmother. Let’s take a look. Yeah. Same face! Look, just imagine him
in this outfit, and… Look at the carpets. Carpet making is a traditional hutsul art. Kosiv used to be a mix of different
ethnicities and cultures. Jewish, Polish, German,
and Ukrainian people used to live here. And it’s a very small community, and that’s why you can see
a lot of traditions still preserved. So you can see the difference
because this one was for towels. This is for towel making. And the one next to it was for
shirt making. Because the material
was a little different. This one is a special house for Christmas. On Christmas Eve people used
to put it on their window sills. That’s where they found salt. And that’s a very interesting story
because the person who founded the town, He was following the animals
and the animals were leaking the water. And he tried it. It was salt water. – And that’s how —
– The animals were leaking water? Yeah. Drinking water. Like this. – They were drinking…
– Yeah. Licking! Licking, yeah. – Please.
– Try this one. Did you try it on? No? You can try it. It’s very light. It’s all leather. I think it’s too small for me, though. – Look!
– Lucky me! Look here! Guess what it is. – I don’t know, what is it?
– This is a honey cake. Do you like it? Wow! All this brass work. Here it’s exciting because in this cafe you
can also make your own necklace. And this is an example. There is a teacher around
who can help you to do this. This person we just met
a couple of minutes ago, and he also works at the institute
of folk arts that’s also located here. Wow, look at this. – How do I look?
– Beautiful. – Okay, now I feel —
– It’s a status. – This is the sign of status.
– It’s money! This is money. Because if I’m a daughter
of a rich person, then I have more.
More crosses around my neck. And if you see me and you like me
you can also know how much money
you’re going get by marrying me. Good to know! Mulberries! By chance we met Volodymyr one day. We’d noticed a sign in his yard that
read “apitherapy” and wondered what that was. He explained the apitherapy to us and
told us about his beekeeping operation. I nicknamed him the “bee whisperer” after the beloved Robert Redford movie
“The Horse Whisperer.” He’s talking about his bees,
that you can sleep on the hives. There is a special system. And they have a bee sound and smell. Is very beneficial for
your nervous system and one hour is enough to have a full rest. And I want to try it! Honey and pepper. And what’s this — And what’s the story with these
rockets here? Hutsul present for Russians. So he’s raising… Raising the queen. Wow. These are three
potential queens right here. And they are going to choose just one. Oh, this is heavy! Oh, my God, look at this. Volodymyr can put his hand
straight into the bees. And they cover his hand. He has a connection with them. Here he catches… He catches the families that
come from nature. And he tames them. So here we are with Volodymyr
the bee tamer. The “bee whisperer.” This is sheep cheese. This is perfect for banosh (corn meal). This is a mix, sheep and cow cheese. It’s so good. I’m going to try it now. It’s really good. Smoked cheese. You see how beautiful it is.
It takes about three hours to make it with a special technology. But I don’t feel like I could eat it, because all I want to do is
to put it on my shelf and enjoy the art of the beautiful horse.
Cheese horse. – Isn’t that pretty?
– It’s very interesting. Now we want to ask Maria how
she came up with this idea, because it’s such a fascinating art.
I’ve never seen it before. Sixteen years of cheese horse making.
That’s amazing. She has master classes. If you come to Kosiv, you can
also learn how to make these… beautiful pieces of art. Thank you so much.
I think we’re going to buy this. Because I want to put it on my shelf. Thanks, everyone, for watching our video. We hope you enjoyed it. We spent a lot of time with Volodymyr,
the “bee whisperer” in our Kosiv video and he explained his beekeeping methods
and the products that he makes himself. And if you’d like to see the full interview
with Volodymyr just go ahead and click
the floating rectangle over our heads.

Kosiv, Ukraine. As everyone knows, this small town is the home of the famous horses sculpted in cheese.

But what lies behind the curtain? Is there more to this town picturesquely located in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains than cheese horses?

Over several days Valentyna and Mr. East explore Kosiv and find that the answer is a resounding YES. Scratch the surface of the cheese horse, gentle viewers, and… well, you’ll just have to watch the video to find out.

The music for this video is by:
Maurice Ravel, W. A. Mozart, Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner, Duke Ellington, and various Eastern European folk musicians. It’s public domain and taken from the Internet Archive: www.archive.org

See our full interview with the “BEE WHISPERER”:

Subtitles offered in: English, Українська, Русский, Español, Tiếng Việt, ქართული

OUR SUBTITLES ARE NOT MACHINE-TRANSLATED. Mr. East did the English and Valentyna did the Ukrainian & Russian. Thank you to our international friends for the help with the others!

These videos can’t be made without the help of caffeine. If you’d like to buy us a coffee…
buymeacoffee.com/eastofthewest

Chapters:
0:00 General Intro
0:46 Intro to Kosiv
2:06 Wandering the Neighborhoods
3:53 A Huge Wooden Church
5:51 Horse Museum Antics
11:00 Casualties of War
13:18 Anna, Kosiv Expert
15:50 The Hidden Museum
20:51 Art Cafe
23:08 Horse Party!
27:21 Volodymyr, “Bee Whisperer”
30:44 Onward to the Cheese Horses!

#ukraine #ukrainetravel #rurallife #cheesehorse #beekeeping #україна #ukrainewar #travevlog #slowliving