Varyat,

As requested, attached are family photos, including Romchyk on Maydan(I took Romchyk out for a few minutes on day 3, morning. He took it in for about 10 minutes and proceeded to get preoccupied with the newly fallen snow). The girls, Maya and Kalyna you can see on the train photo (train to Lviv). There is also a shot of Ola and myself last night, 26.Nov: our ten year anniversary!

Yes! Military officers, SBU generals, militia, are regularly making appearances on the stage and pledging their allegiance to the people and to Yushchenko, to which the crowd responds "Molodtsi! Molodtsi!"

Kravchuk is pretty much clueless.

Thanks for feedback!

Petro

Hi! Thanks for the anniversary wishes and kind words. Ramada, eh? Should've checked my spelling and grammer (and unfinished sentences caused by falling asleep at the keyboard) :

This morning Kalyna wanted the "Yushchenko plate". There is no more color orange in our house. If you ask kalyna to list the colors, she will reply blue, red, pink, yushchenko, green etc…

This morning we did a walk down the loop which has now become the standard progression…maydan, euro sq, cab min, vr, and pres admin. Again amazed by the ability of PORA to create huge demonstrations at each place simultaneously.

People are arriving and arriving....example: tarasa schev. Blvd. from bessarabka to volodymyrska packed with minivans between the topoli. A massive tailgate party. Mostly western Ukraine. But eastern regions represented as well. Tarasa Schev. Park also becoming a camp ground/minivan park…..

Growing, growing, growing…..

Going back tonight. More later today…

Petro

Pryvit! Passed out last night and never finished DAY 6 second half. So here it is.

Despite the Orange Revolution ballet class was not cancelled. In the middle of DAY 6 we took Maya and Kalyna to their scheduled ballet class. Nothing like ballet class during a historic revolution for a dose of the surreal. I was asked if anyone in the city is working. The answer is yes. Outside the center, you can't really tell there is anything abnormal happening. Except the various parks and squares around the center that are jam packed with minivans, buses, and cars. Like St. Sophia square which looks like the parking lot at giant stadium before a game. People cooking, singing, and sleeping in minivans with their engines running. The smell of exhaust fumes from old engines is one of the pervasive smells of the revolution. I won't go into the smells inside Dim Ukrainian which has become a crowded, dark, and wet shelter where demonstrators can warm up, receive medical attention, or go to the "Spalnyj Punkt" which consists of a set of chairs where one can sit and sleep in a sitting position. The stairs to the second floor are also reasonably dry so many people are sleeping in sitting position on the stairs with their head on their arms on their knees.

Ola's cousin Nazar from Kolomya is part of the security wall around the tent city at the area across from mcdonald's. What he said about the tent city:
     - Access is by passport only (checked against a registration list)
     - All residents are frisked on the way into the compound (as a result of one guy that brought in a gun).
     - All residents take an oath not to drink alcohol of any kind. Anyone determined to be under the influence is removed from the camp and taken off registration.
     - They are well supplied and well fed with hot food from the field kitchens. In fact, at the border of the tent city the students are actually feeding other demonstrators…that don't have any food.

Then to the Pres. Admin lower part. 4 days ago there was a line of riot police side by side with special billy clubs and hard black star wars helmets. Last night they had soft helmets with no visors. They had large gaps between each cop, and didn't have the special clubs. Kind of a relaxed from the police side. Up on bankova things are pretty much the same regarding riot police deployment.

Around midnight it became a little more like we're used to on Khreschatyk on the weekend except hugely amplified by the crazy amounts of people everywhere. Many inebriated individuals spotted….we moved quickly and were on alert. Sure enough waiting at a kiosk while a friend was making a purchase, I was approached by two yanuk supporters. Young men, white T-shirts pulled over their sweaters with a blue; "Ya Lublu Yanukovicha" printed on them.

He pointed at the US flag that's hanging from my hat and said (in Russian) "In your country elections aren't falsified? Do you honestly mean to tell me that the people voted for someone that sends their sons and daughters to fight and die in Iraq". The young man was in um..and elevated state. I smiled and said I have to go. Ola, our friend and I turned and started leaving the dvir the kiosk was in. They followed us chanting something about Lenin and Komsomol. We were relieved when we neared the exit of the courtyard and there were large groups of Yush supporters glaring at our new found friends. We stopped and they kept going chanting away in a sea of orange: "Lenin…Komsomoltsi…."

The house we are in (Danyo K's) is a happy (though at times loud) revolution house with 6 kids and 5 adults. Plus an additional 3 men, family connections to Danyo, that arrived from Lviv last night to show their support.

That's it for last night. End of Day 6.

Leaving for maydan now to spend the evening there. Petro Out!

PS. Congrats on the NYC Protests!!! Thanks for the video footage that I will distribute on CD at the tent city, and yush's headquarters.