Cast Adrift Into the Sea of War

Carolyn Schott

I feel like I’m in a WWII novel. One friend mentioned posters going up in public places like schools, directing people to the nearest bomb shelters. Another friend spent a recent vacation with her family discussing evacuation possibilities and the necessary emergency supplies to stock in case their city gets bombed. The WWII Blitzkrieg of…

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I Need a Dirndl

Carolyn Schott

  In September, my thoughts turn to Oktoberfest even though Americans usually think about Oktoberfest in, well, October. But in its German homeland, Oktoberfest begins in September. (Something about wanting good enough weather to be able to drink beer outside.) For years, Oktoberfest in München was not high on my list of travel priorities. A…

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Chut Chut

Carolyn Schott

The first time I went to Ukraine, I hated vodka. That’s a problem, because it’s a mark of Ukrainian hospitality to share with guests. Generously. In a seemingly constant flow. I’d pretend to drink it and hide the glass behind a bowl or something. I’d slide my glass over to a friend so he could…

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Travels to Ukraine: Then and Now

Carolyn Schott

My constant bubbling-over-with-excitement descriptions of my upcoming trip to Ukraine may be trying the patience of my friends and work colleagues. What a contrast to my first trip in 2001, when I wasn’t even really interested in traveling to this country. I loved the history and genealogy of my German ancestors who had been born…

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Who Am I?

Carolyn Schott

As I’ve become obsessed with the news from Ukraine, first the Maidan revolution and now Russia’s invasion, I’ve found I can turn almost any conversation with any group of people into a discussion about Ukraine and its politics. And so I’m often asked, “Are you Ukrainian?” The correct answer would seem to be no. No,…

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How Travel Changed Me

Carolyn Schott

I just got off the phone with the White House. I was telling President Obama (via the citizen comment line) my opinion of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the U.S.’s inaction. Most articles about how travel changes you enthusiastically describe expanding your horizons and understanding other cultures. While I do believe that’s true, travel has…

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Seattle’s Obsession With the Rain

Carolyn Schott

Seattle has an unhealthy relationship with rain. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not an import who makes disparaging comments about Seattle’s climate. In fact, I’m a native Seattleite who loves the rain. At least, I love the rain from October through June. But from July through September, gray clouds, keep your hands off my weather! It’s…

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Music Speaks to the Soul

Carolyn Schott

By birth and upbringing, I am American. My ethnic heritage is German. But music speaks to the soul, and my soul is Eastern European. Maybe it was all those years my ancestors spent in Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, Hungary. It’s certainly not the music I heard in my childhood (which was an eclectic mix of my…

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Crisis in Ukraine: The Basics

Carolyn Schott

As I talk to friends about the crisis in Ukraine, I am frustrated by the misunderstandings I hear. I am neither Ukrainian nor a geopolitical expert, but 13 years of traveling to Ukraine has given me a deep respect and love for the Ukrainian people, causing me to follow the crisis daily since November. I…

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I Wish I Were Polish

  Traveling to Poland and learning more about the Solidarity movement and the Warsaw Uprising gave me a whole new view of the Poles … and makes me want to claim some Polish heritage. It’s embarrassing to admit how little I realized the significance of Poland’s Solidarity movement in the 1980s to the ultimate fall…

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