Luckily my roommate likes football, so I didn't need to convince her that it would be a good idea! We bought the second most expensive tickets, which cost 150 hryvnya (around the £12/£15 mark I think), which isn't too bad considering I often pay around £30 to watch Forest play when I'm at home (extortionate).
Of course, on Tuesday it decided to snow, which is unusual for Odessa at this time of year. Having paid a man for a lift to the park in which the football stadium is situated, we managed to reach the stadium having not slipped over. God knows how we managed that - the path was basically a sheet of ice and all the crazy Ukrainian men were sliding everywhere. It was also a really bloody hilly path, which made matters worse!
When we eventually got to the ground without any broken bones, getting in was actually really difficult and quite scary. In England there are lots of turnstiles for each area of the ground, which means you seldom have to queue, and there isn't any pushing. Here, it was just a free for all to get past a barrier, which the really unhelpful policemen were holding up. At one point I was getting squashed against this barrier, to the point where I felt like I couldn't breathe, which was absolutely terrifying. Fortunately, after about 5 minutes of this (it felt like a lifetime) the police decided to let all the women in, as you do. I also had to have my bag checked, which has only happened to me once at a football match in England (at Peterborough's ground of all places).
We eventually got to our seats about 5 minutes after the match had started (gutted to have missed the national anthems, sob). Despite the absolutely freezing temperatures, it was nice to finally relax, and when a man came round with beer it was hard to say no! I found it quite novel to be able to sit in the stands with an alcoholic drink, although I think if this was allowed in England I'd probably not remember any of the match.
The quality of the football was average at best. You could tell that Anatoliy Tymoshchuk plays for a decent team though, as he seemed to control everything that was going on. The first half finished 0-0, with Ukraine having had the better chances. The second half improved a little though and we saw 3 goals! I was left a little terrified after Ukraine scored, as the rowdy section of the crowd set off flares, which made a very loud bang. Later on in the game, this section decided it would be a laugh to take their tops off and chant too. I am really glad we didn't sit there.
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| Look how pink and cold I look!! Kudos to the nice lady who gave us a blanket at half time. I love you. |
The match ended 2-1 to Ukraine, so everyone around us went home happy. We had to wait for ages until there was a trolleybus that wasn't completely rammed full, but after about half an hour we managed to get on one. The journey involved being given vodka by some very happy young men. We did a toast to Ukraine's success, and they practiced some (very) broken English on us. It was about midnight when we got home, but I don't think I properly warmed up until about midday on Wednesday.
I'm off to Kiev tonight, despite there being another ridiculous document related situation this week, which resulted in me spending most of yesterday being very dramatic and crying. I am very very fed up of paperwork, and I hope I don't have to sort anymore out because I'll probably end up going mad. I haven't even started my packing yet, I think I'm just going to put all of my jumpers in a bag and hope for the best.
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