For four days, she circulated among the demonstrators and settled into one of the tents. So did Vasili. "I liked everything I saw," he says of his first impression of Sofia.
They shared borscht sent to the camp by Vasili's mother. They listened to guitar music together at late-night hootenannies. Talk got around to marriage. One of the political operatives in charge of the camp said they ought to go ahead and get hitched.
Sofia Kirichuk and Vasili Folosov met and married during political protests in Ukraine, and have spent their honeymoon in a tent city in central Kiev.
(Ivan Sekretarev -- AP)
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They lined up with the other two couples under the tent of Radio Gala, which set up a remote studio outside the perimeter. The priest blessed them. They exchanged borrowed rings. Later, the editor of a newspaper gave them a pair of thin gold rings as a present. "We can't afford anything bigger right now," Vasili says.
They told their parents -- after the fact. Hers came down and embraced the couple. "They liked him!" says Sofia. His haven't traveled to the square yet. "Mine were shocked," he says.
The couple organized a formal wedding ceremony at a Baptist prayer tent inside the encampment. A little wedding party included soft drinks and sandwiches. "No champagne," says Vasili. "It's forbidden."
They have moved into a large, military-type tent because it is warmer -- there is no heater, but the occupants' body heat warms up the place to the point that by morning, the walls are dripping with moisture. They sleep on thick Styrofoam mats covered with blankets. They eat at a canteen that serves dumplings on plastic plates. The tent's interior is decorated with a single orange balloon. The occupants are careful not to break it. It is the only one that has survived since the beginning of the demonstrations.
They haven't figured out their future housing arrangements. "We're not worried. If we can stand this together, we'll have a long life together," Sofia says.
"Why wait?" asks Vasili, and jokes, "We can always hang a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the tent if we have to."
