I HAVE COUSINS HERE?

Above, top to bottom: one of four dogs that came out to harass us on our way into the bush; from left, Brett and Yura discuss the finer points of Ukrainian beer from the top of Bald Mountain as they pause for rest; a white flower in a field near our camp; Brett and Yura climb a hill in search of wild blackberries to eat; the view of Turka and the surrounding region from Mount Baldy.

My dad and grandmother arrived in L'viv yesterday around 4 pm. It's the first time in 65 years that my grandmother has been to the city, she left in 1943 when she was 13 years old, fleeing the communists with her family. She spent the next 5 years in Germany in a hard labor camp for displaced persons with mostly poles, where she met and married my polish grandfather(who died in 1994), who was a United States citizen. They moved to the United States in 1949 when she was 18, and had my dad in 1955. 

Now, all three generations have returned to L'viv for a whirlwind tour. I'm a bit surprised. She seems disappointed that the city hasn't been repaired and in denial about it living under communism(hence the lack of renovation) for nearly 40 years. Of course it's run-down. 

The trip has not been without twists either. Before I left for Ukraine, I asked her, point blank, if we had any relatives.

"Yes, but I don't know where they are, Michael," she said. "I don't talk to them. Besides, you don't want to meet them."

Yeah, why would I want to meet long-lost relatives that I've never seen before and might have family history? Why the hell would I come to the old Soviet Union, to corrupt, dilapidated, dirty Ukraine and learn a language that is completely impractical in my future life and try to reconnect with my family roots? Doesn't have anything to do with you, Grandma.

We arrived in the hotel, and after resolving the taxi issue, a scheduling conflict with the front desk and finally settling down in the room, she asks for my phone. 

"Why do you need my cell phone?"

"To call my cousin, I'm going to visit her."

"I HAVE  UKRAINIAN COUSINS?"