For those of you who don't know, I was able to volunteer as an observer of Ukraine's elections, which took place on September 30. My colleague, Hans Stege, and I traveled to Luhansk, Ukraine, which is in the far east of the country, close to the border with Russia. On election day, we traveled to polling stations in Luhansk, as well as Alchevsk, which is a neighboring city, and observed the voting process. The videos below are a recap of our experience there.

I divided it into two parts, so as to make it easier to upload. Just click on the links, and they will bring you right to the movie.

http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k77/Bongo78/?action=view¤t=firsthalf.flv

http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k77/Bongo78/?action=view¤t=secondhalf.flv

On Monday, December 17, 2007, a group of Fulbrighters took a tour of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster area, officially known as the exclusion zone. This is the number one thing that I wanted to do in Ukraine, which probably sounds strange (I know most would probably prefer Bermuda). As this was one of the more moving experiences I have had in a while, I thought I might share my impressions and movies that I made. As someone who was in New York City on September 11, this event has particular resonance

The Chernobyl nuclear power station was the only Soviet power station built on Ukrainian soil. It is approximately a one-hour's drive north from the capital Kyiv, where I live. It is a massive complex, in which four reactors were built, with an additional two that were only half completed at the time of the accident. To house the workers of the plant, a city named Prypiat was built a few kilometers to the south. It was supposed to be a model socialist city, and living there was considered a privilege. It eventually housed 46,000 people in typical communist high-rise buildings.

On the morning of April 26, 1986, reactor four of the Chernobyl nuclear power station experienced a meltdown for reasons that I do not know (something related to a test gone wrong). I have heard an account of a Russian schoolteacher, who resided in Prypiat. When she and her husband heard an explosion, they went to their balcony and saw a glowing fire at the plant a few kilometers in the distance. Their phone rang five minutes later, telling her that a car was coming to pick her husband up. The husband put his clothes on and left, and this would be the last time she would ever see him. Accounts differ, but apparently people were not fully aware of the danger posed to them at this time, and the Soviet government did not evacuate the town until the next afternoon. Also, they did not tell nearby residents, for example, in Kyiv. People in Kyiv started to evacuate their children as they heard through whatever connections that an accident had happened.

In one of the movies I posted, the tour guides played the message that was broadcast to all Prypiat residents. Even if you do not understand Russian, it is very eerie. The woman speaking says only that buses, in a few hours, will be coming to take residents away. No explanation was given, and residents were led to believe that they would only be gone for a few days. In the message, people are told not to forget to turn off their lights and gas appliances, and to bring food and their identification. Everything else was left behind. Needless to say, no one ever returned to Prypiat again to live. Everyone had to leave his or her belongings, documents, photos, etc. As a result, the city remains frozen in time, showing what Soviet life was like (I always wish I was older, so I could have visited the USSR).

The stories of heroism of the plant workers are quite moving, and make one think of the firefighters and police officers on September 11. Those who responded to the alarm or who were working there at the time had to be aware of the danger posed by the radiation from the fire. Nevertheless, without question, they responded and fought the fire, without even wearing respirators, just like many of the first responders on 9/11. As a result, many had radiation particles on their skin as well as inhaled them. Due to the high level of radiation, the firefighters would work in two or three minute shifts. According to Wikipedia, there were only 57 direct deaths from the fire, while afterwards, there were a few thousand deaths related to cancer. As in New York, many of the firefighters died on the scene, while the rest died later from radiation exposure. For example, according to our guide, the Prypiat firehouse lost all of its firefighters. These people are now referred to as "Liquidators" and are regarded as national heroes. Statues in their honor are found throughout Ukraine.

On our excursion, we got to go to the exclusion zone villages, which are almost completely abandoned, as well as to go up to the reactor (covered by a concrete sarcophagus) and to tour the deserted Prypiat. My only objection was that the tour guides failed to convey the gravity of the disaster, and instead gave it something of a carnival atmosphere.

Click on the links below to see the movies:

• The Pripyat firehouse, from which all firefighters apparently died in putting out the reactor fire
• Sidewalk between apartment buildings, which is now totally overgrown
• Roof overlooking Prypiat's main square
• Chernobyl reactor in the distance
• Main square of Prypiat
• Bumper cars at the amusement park