Thread by @veruka2

Friends, I want to show you Ukraine. Most people don't know it. It's an incredible place with fiercely bright and creative people. It's a second home and the place I most often long to be in the world.

Ukraine is a huge country, about the size of Texas. There are enormous cities with so much life and culture, and beautiful natural lands and coastlines that will take your breath away.

Here are some of my favorite places. First, the book markets. There is a long history of writing, scholarship, poetry, literature, and printing in Ukraine. There is this extraordinary open air book market in Lviv that opens almost every day near a statue of a press worker.

There's another famous book market in Kyiv that is PURE CHAOS in the most glorious sense. I have made it very clear to @NatGaertner that when I die I would like my ashes to be scattered here. Click for a video: instagram.com/p/Bzk01r-nodt/…

Ukraine has undergone something of a Movida in the years since the successful uprising and removal of the Kremlin's most recent puppet government in 2014. The art scene has exploded, and so many incredible arts and music venues have been established.

And the night life. Oh man you have no idea. These are all events at Art Platform Zavoda in Kyiv. Just incredible.

But Ukraine doesn't lack for small town charm either. One of my favorite desinations is the southern river port of Mykolaiv. Lovely people, lovely landscape, wonderful place to rest and reconnect.

And yea, let's talk about this food y'all.

Better yet, let's just talk about the chocolate. Did you know that Ukraine is, like, peak chocolate territory?? Now you do. YOU'RE WELCOME.

Or better yet, let's talk about this honey. This is linden honey, one of the best seasons of linden honey I've ever had in my life. My friend described it as "chewy like bread." Tastes at first like frosting, then later like a bouquet of lilies. **dies in Ukrainian**

And the markets where you get this stuff are out of this world. Here's some pics I took of the main bazaar in Odessa a few years ago. It still looks like this today. At least it did 24hours ago. There's heavier fighting happening in the south. Who knows who and what will survive.

If that weren't enough for you, there are BRIGHT SANDY BEACHES in the Ukraine's biggest metropolises. Here is a lovely beach on Trukhaniv Island in the middle of the Dnipro river in Kyiv.

And another at a spot called the Administerial Lake, also in Kyiv. Great for BBQing. :)

Ukraine is also a very old place, with uninterrupted cultural continuity going back more than a millenium. St. Michael's Golden Domed Monastary is pretty young. Built recently in the 1700s.

The stunning St. Andrews church was built about the same time.

But many architectural landmarks in Ukraine are much older. St. Sophia's cathedral and Zoloty Vorota, the Golden Gate, were both built by Vladimir the Great in the 11th century around 1017AD or thereabouts.

The Kyiv-Pecherska Lavra, or the Monestary of the Caves, also dates back to the early 11th century. It has been in constant use as a religious center, monastery, and mausoleum for nearly 1100 years.

And some of the architecture, while not super old, is just SUPER COOL. Like the Chimera House in the government district. Or the National Bank building. I mean LOOK AT THEM.

But the thing that really makes Ukraine home for me are the incredible, intelligent, joyful, generous people who have cared for me--and sometimes let me care for them--along the way.

The doctors and nurses who welcomed me into their clinics to learn from them. And the kindness they showed not only to people but to the homeless animals living on their hospital compound. This spare office in a TB hospital was given as a safe space for local cats.

Or this gentleman and countless others who let me speak with them about their experiences living with HIV, seeking treatment for substance use disorder, trying to build a life.

Folks who invited me to dinner, invited me to their dacha, invited me to travel with their children.

Folks who were always eager to try new things. Like this incredible moment when a new buddy agreed to try his hand at this American thing he had long heard of but never seen in real life - a chocolate chip cookie. My affection for this memory and this photo knows no depths.

And the genuine kindness of strangers who made sure we were warm, and safe, and fed, and that our cell phones were well charged at a time when the Kremlin's puppet government was attacking its own people.

And if Ukraine has taught me anything, it's that successful democratic revolutions will have childcare.

So now that you know a little more about this really great place and the really cool, lovely, valuable people who live there, please join me in understanding what an incredible, horrible tragedy these attacks by Russia are, and how great and terrible this loss will be.

Help Ukrainians live in a peaceful country where string quartets randomly set up on balconies, because it's a beautiful thing to do. Not a country losing all it has to offer to a war that has been thrust upon it.

Consider making a donation to Povernys' Zhyvym, Return Alive, an org recommended to me by Ukrainian veterans who are again preparing to fight. savelife.in.ua/en/donate/

Minor note here. An editing error left a stray word in my tweet. This should simply say Ukraine, not "the" Ukraine, because that's not the name of the country! My mistake here. Just tweeting too fast and missing errors while feeling w lots of feelings. #Ukraine