The great divide

Hmm, where to start on this one. For those that dont know, Ukraine is a former republic of the old Soviet Union. As such there are many soviet relics plaguing Ukraine and many other of the former republics, which they still have to overcome.
One of the more obvious ones to a well Ukraine-travelled foreigner (I have a job in east Ukraine and family in the west and make the journey regularly) is the east-west divide.
Let me give you an example.
Language - In the west of Ukraine they speak Ukrainian. "So what?", I hear you say, it is their national language. This is true, and Ukrainians are a bilingual race, speaking Russian fluently too, but the national language is Ukrainian. So then, in the west they speak Ukrainian, and in some places Russian is not taught anymore and people are emerging from the generations below mine that do not speak much Russian at all. In the East, however, it is a different story. Russian rules. I have been verbally insulted several times in the east with the phrase "we don't speak English here we speak RUSSIAN", and they do! Everywhere you go Russian is the FIRST language of east Ukraine. everyone knows Ukrainian to some extent but its Russian they speak first. They say in the West that you know a tourist from the east of Ukraine because he will talk to you firstly in Russian. :). Although the signs and documentation are all in Ukrainian, the spoken language is Russian.
Another example?. Ok, religion and traditions.
The west of Ukraine is steeped in local traditions and deep in the Ukrainian Orthodox church. people still believe in and celebrate old traditions and have traditional values and celebrations in their daily lives. Things like traditional anniversaries, local heroes from history, weddings, etc are still steeped in traditions with traditional clothes, music and dances. Religion is a major part in everyone's life with churches well attended and religious blessings in the local language on many occasions. When passing a worker, for instance, it is tradition and action too to bless him in his days work "bozhe pomohay" is the phrase used (sorry about the poor spelling). The east, well, what can i say. Its just like living in Soviet Russia. What's a church? Sunday is for meeting your friends, shopping and getting drunk. Religion plays a very poor part of life here. I see little in the way of tradition at all and its very sterile and staid in its ways. As for "bozhe pomohay", what does that mean? I have never heard it once here in East Ukraine.

Sadly, this is a divide that will be hard to cross and may be a permanent marker within Ukraine's future here. I hope that the traditions and values of the West will survive the stiffness of the East, and personally I think they will. But the divide will also remain and create unnecessary tensions as we can see in other countries that have such marked divides.