A wonderful day in the neighborhood

I love Mykolayiv and the people I've met here.  Andrii came to meet me at the hotel around 12:30 and we walked over to the LIGA offices (it's the very well-organized LGBT organization in this city) and then we and Julia walked over to a nearby mall to have lunch.  I had pasta with chicken, quite garlicky and very cheesy.  We went back to the offices expecting the couple to be married to come at around 5.

I read for a little while then walked up to a local church to visit some saint friends.  I found my friend, St. Panteleimon, and talked with him for a while asking that he give me some relief from my really sore back.  I found it almost impossible to do correct metanias (bows) because I couldn't bend very far.  I know many people don't believe in this form of religious practice but I do very strongly.  Within an hour, my back muscles started to relax and I was walking much easier.  After church, I walked back to the mall where we had lunch to get a cup of cappuccino and people-watch for a while.  I find Ukrainian people endlessly fascinating.  Actually I find all people endlessly fascinating.  I can spend hours just watching how people walk, greet each other, interact in any way.

I went back to the LIGA office and read some more.  The executive director, his partner, and some visitors from western Europe were at Simferopol for meetings.  I was sorry not to see them.  Oleg, the Executive Director, and I have been friends since I met him in Romania in 2009.  He has everyone in Mykolayiv calling me "Jimmi".  My dominant images of him are full out laughing.

I met with the women getting married, and with Andrii's help translating, asked them several questions about readiness.  They'd been together for several years and really have a maturity of relationship that made me glad to be doing this ceremony for them.  It was a really joyful ceremony, small with just their immediate circle of friends and staff of LIGA.  One guest understood English and works as a seaman, away several months a year.  All their guests/friends were straight.  One couple asked if I could marry them next year.  I felt sad to tell them that, as a foreigner, I was not allowed to do that legally.  They were very impressed with the warmth and personal nature of the ceremony.  I have quite a few pictures of the ceremony which I'd be happy to share with you if you ask for the link.  Because of the difficulties that LGBT people have here, and because it's not legal for me to be doing these ceremonies, we are very careful about putting things publicly on the web.

A group of friends who work at LIGA walked me back to my hotel and said a vociferous goodbye with lots of hugging at the front desk.  I probably won't see them again until next May when I'm in Mykolayiv again for Rainbow Spring Festival.

Here's a picture of one of the last roses of summer from LIGA's garden: