When Kiev Mutton Speaks...

I'm on my last day of training here in Ukraine (I was informed that they prefer that we gringoes say "Ukraine" rather than "The Ukraine" ... not sure what their objection to the article is, but OK...)

The reporter teams have done some stunning work in only a week.  We assigned them to go out and shoot and edit together video reports for the web; yesterday, we went over their (mostly) finished results, and gave them some pointers on camerawork, editing and sound.

I hope to be able to post some of their efforts here - the reports range from the funny (a piece on how Ukrainian women are so much more demanding now than they used to be - the poor guys here used to be heroes if they brought a woman a piece of smoked fish - now they have to get diamonds and perfume) - to the tragic (a piece on how the out-of-control development here is displacing old widows who are struggling to survive in a world they no longer understand).

And then there's the interviews with the victims of the sex slave trade.

My only regret so far is that I have not been able to do any real sightseeing here, but this task (teaching print journalists how to handle a videocamera, how to edit in Edius and Avid Liquid, what sort of stories are appropriate for multimedia, etc.) has been so demanding, I really haven't had the energy to get out and see this ancient, beautiful city.

Heh. I did go out last night for Tex-Mex food.  It was my inner daredevil taking ascendancy again ... I wanted to know how Ukrainians  could possibly process the South Texas cuisine ... but I have to say, it wasn't bad.  Beats Taco Hell, that's for sure.  And it goes good with the strong local beers...

Photos and (I hope, I hope) video to come...