Ukraine: A Lovely Return to the country that started it all
The border crossing
Sarah and I stayed in the border town of Przmysl because we planned to cross the border on foot. Neither one of us had ever crossed a border on foot, so it promised to be quite the adventure. The only information we had on crossing the Polish/Ukrainian border was to take the local bus to Medyka. Dubiously, we showed the name of the town written on a piece of paper to the ticket window, where the employee understood enough English to communicate the line in which we needed to stand.
One of the worst feelings when you are traveling is the thought that you are not where you are supposed to be. I was comforted by the high schoolers congregating around us who I hoped were also going in our direction. The bus was miniscule and happened to be the one that everyone and his friend planned to use, so we barely pushed our way in (I obtrusively hit almost every teenager on that bus who returned the favor with some quizzical looks of offence) and paid the driver. Since we were not returning to Poland, we used all of our zloty except the coins we were told we needed for the bus fare. Thankfully, Sarah, being the cautious one, decided to keep an extra zloty (the equivalent of about 30 cents) just in case. And good thing she did because we had just enough and would not have had a sufficient amount had we both believed the tourism official who instructed us. I guess it pays to doubt. 
The driver knew where we needed to get off, so with a stop and a nod of the head, we exited the bus essentially on the side of the road. The only other person who got off was an old man who motioned for us to follow him. We were maybe one mile from the tollbooth through which we needed to pass before we could enter the last step of our travels together. Not knowing English but interested in helping us, the old man who got off the bus with us followed us all the way to the crossing. He tried to communicate with us, but all he spoke was Polish save a few English words like, “Sarah, I love you,” after gesticulating in the way of Sarah, wondering what her name was. I was a bit uncomfortable with his attention because I had no idea why he was so interested in assisting us with something that seemed fairly simple. He walked us up to the gateway building, said something about us being Americans, kissed us on the cheeks, and turned around and walked out. We were so perplexed. Who knows?
I had hidden all my dollars at the bottom of my backpack because a random guy had warned me that Ukrainian officials have been known to extort tourists at the border. Even though I was skeptical, I decided to play it safe. No one said anything except where we were staying and why we were visiting Ukraine. After getting our passports stamped, we exited the official domain, which made me nervous, and exchanged money. The infrastructural differences were stark between Poland and Ukraine, even more so since we had just stayed in a city where funds were pouring into the regeneration of decrepit buildings. No such funds were available in Ukraine. I knew this trip was going to be even more meaningful in light of the trajectory I had just completed.
L’viv or Lwow or Lyvyv
In 2003, I traveled to Ukraine with Fort Atkinson High School on a cultural exchange. It was one of the best trips I had ever experienced, and one that I attribute to my current desire to meet new people and get acquainted with foreign cultures. Although I was only 16 when I traveled to this new land, it had made an indelible impression on my mind and heart. I looked forward to going back, especially since I now had a new reason to visit this fascinating place. My friend, Kate, from college, is now volunteering with the Peace Corps as an English teacher and living near a town I had visited in 2003. It was kind of exciting to return to L’viv, but the means of getting there was a far cry from the last time.
Once Sarah and I exchanged some money, we looked around for the local bus that would take us to L’viv. There was a horde of old cars and cabs around the corner from the exchange booths but no buses, so we thought we had a better chance of finding a bus stop outside of the border area. Wrong! We ended up walking for 45 minutes until we saw a small clearing on the side of the road marked by a broken sign with a faded bus symbol. Thankfully, there was a young woman and her children also standing there who was able to confirm for us that the bus going to L’viv would eventually stop there. I always appreciate those people who are so providentially placed in their ability to aid us lonely travelers. Never underestimate your ability to reach out to the lost and directionally confused ☺
This bus was even more packed than the one that took us to the Polish/Ukrainian border, but we had enough room to stand and hang tight (Sarah in the door well and I hanging on to the wall pole as I wobbled to and fro with the rickety motion of the old, yellow bus). The bus driver yelled at us when we reached the first main stop and we had no idea why until a guy translated that he wanted us to force our way to the front to pay him. I suppose that makes sense, but it was sure uncomfortable to bump into every passenger in order to give him the equivalent of four dollars for two people. You just never know what is going to happen and what various cultures esteem okay and awkward. I always like finding out, putting myself in a place of limbo and uncertainty.
Finally we arrived in town and tried to find our way to where Kate would meet us. I think the unpredictability of how to get to our destination was starting to wear on us. Dusk was falling and there was no English in sight. Thank God Sarah had an international SIM card, so we could keep Kate on the other end if anything happened. Following a couple more mishaps with the trams and the street signs written only in Ukrainian, we made it to the appointed meeting place near our hostel, The Kosmonaut. It was so lovely to see Kate and to wrap her into a bear hug, almost incredulous that she was there and that we had arrived. With her was a nice American woman in her 30’s, traveling around Eastern Europe on a break from her high-stress real estate business in L.A. She tagged along with us for the two days. And to round off our group, one of Kate’s friends from the Peace Corps took an eight-hour train ride to get to us and also passed several days with us.
With our hopes high, we delved into the culture of this historical city. Unfortunately, it rained the entire two days that we were there. Oh, well, you cannot determine your trip around weather caprice, so we wielded our umbrellas and bought wool socks to ward against the cold that had seeped into the country while we settled into our final week.
I want to share the wool sock experience because it will give you a good idea of just how the weather can alter the overall ethos of a trip. While browsing through a traditional craft and antique market in L’viv, Sarah and I kept passing booths selling woolen products, which would not normally tempt me. As we continued our rounds of the market, progressively getting colder and wetter, the wool socks assumed a greater appeal in my eyes. Finally we both broke down and bought them for five dollars. So worth it! Those socks went on as soon as we got into the restaurant and our hostel and even went with us to the Opera. The combination of wet and cold is never desirable.
Our tag-a-long Californian proposed the idea of going to the Opera. I was all for it as long as it cost less than 20 dollars (you have to set parameters when traveling on a budget and stick with them). The two Peace Corps friends tag-teamed and tried to order us tickets for the night’s ballet—Swan Lake!—and it was so good that they were willing to translate for the group because even they had trouble communicating what they wanted. Unlike Poland, Ukraine is not very English friendly, so it was surely appreciated to have guides with us. Sometimes, as much as I hate to admit it, having someone who speaks the language or is familiar with the terrain can be invaluable.
Imagine my surprise when our ballet ended up being Swan Lake. We got those tickets for $6!!! That is unheard of, even for shows at high schools and universities, and here we were in one of the most beautiful opera houses, modeled after the one in Paris,
watching Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet with its elaborate costuming and whimsical tones.
I was enthralled and could not believe my fortune, viewing a ballet I have wanted to see for such a long time. It was a major highlight and all thanks to our L.A. friend; we would never have considered a show there had we not met her. I think that is one of the best aspects of accumulating other travelers on one’s voyages: there is always an interesting inter-mixing of ideas and perspectives. If they work well together, it is really a blessing, and if they do not work well together, you severe ties, and no harm no foul.
In spite of the inclement weather, we really scoured the city for the charming quarters and historical sights. My favorite part, besides the ballet, was the bazaar, specifically the food portion. L’viv has such great prices—cheap—compared to even the rest of Ukraine, so the bazaar was almost like getting great food for free. We made some picnic lunches and took them back to the hostel and got cookies and chocolate for traveling and munching. I can never resist new cookies and candies, so I took my fair share of new delectable sweets. When I travel, it seems as if I am always eating because there are so many new things to sample. Good thing I walk miles and miles when I am in Europe. Here is a great example of the lengths I will go to buy the sweets I crave. Our L.A. friend and I fell in love with these confections we labeled “chocolate balls of deliciousness.” They sold for about 30 cents in a small convenience store near downtown. Catching my eye, I purchased one even though I was not hungry. Everyone tried them and also fell in love. We promised each other that we would go back to this little non-descript shop, even marking it on the map with the name of the prostitute displayed on a sign next to the store. On our final day, we ran through our schedule several times always placing the visit to the chocolate ball store at the end, which we finally accomplished before dinner.
Saying goodbye to our L.A. friend, we met up with a few more Peace Corps volunteers for dinner in a typical Ukrainian restaurant. Again Sarah and I were thankful to have translators as nothing was in English. In 2003, I never noticed this language barrier because I was always in a group where the students and teachers all spoke English and arranged everything for us. It is funny how you can be completely oblivious to something when it does not concern you. This among many is just another reason why Ukraine was almost a new country this time around.
L’viv was our first stop, but Kate had a whole program for us to make a pleasant circuit around her area, meeting her Peace Corps friends and seeing how they live and work, which was quite interesting. From L’viv we took a marshrutka (public buses that go from town to town and are really cheap and bumpy) to a small town about three hours away. There we stayed for a couple of days relaxing and eating lots of Ukrainian chocolate and Mexican food (yes, we managed to make quasi-Mexican food that was surprisingly tasty). With only a castle to tempt tourists, the city itself was typically Ukrainian and forgettable, but the views of the city from the rolling hills inside the castle compound were lovely.
We left behind Kate’s Peace Corps volunteer friends and off we were again to the city of Lutsk—smaller than L’viv but mid-sized and conveniently situated. It is renowned for its castle—pictured on the 200 hryvnia note—which we quickly visited on our final afternoon in Western Ukraine.
Kate teaches at a small school outside of this typical urban establishment. One of the highlights of our time with Kate was to see her in action at her small school on the outskirts of Lutsk. We did not stay at her abode because her host was not very keen on having guests. (She eventually moved from that place a couple of weeks after we left.) We accompanied her to three classes of screaming students. Some students were more interested than others, but we played the question game where they posed us questions that we answered to the best of our ability. (Questions like “What is your ideal date? And if you could change your name, what would you name yourself? These were Kate’s questions she had written on note cards for them to read.) Altogether, it was an intriguing encounter with the Ukrainian school system that differed from my previous experience in 2003, which had been as a student. I remember meeting a Peace Corps volunteer when I visited Cherkasy, Ukraine, with my high school, and I remember thinking that she was such a captivating person with the coolest job ever. How amazing how life sometimes comes full circle to the point where you can appeciate both ends of a spectrum. I really appreciated seeing Kate in action as she dealt with challenges that arose from the language barrier and the cultural dissimilarities between the American and Ukrainian school systems.
Since Kate had to teach the next day, she left us in the care of one of her cluster-mates where we slept for a few hours that night. Even though Kate could not accommodate us, it was wonderful that she had made and developed enough connections in her area where someone else could house us. I am always humbled when strangers are willing and happy to welcome me into their homes. This is a unique practice that not everyone is capable of offering. At 1:30 am we woke up and Kate’s friend walked us to the overnight bus that we would take to get to Kyiv, our final Ukrainian destination. The bus was not crowded and Sarah and I had the whole back seat to ourselves, so we were able to sprawl a little, but I did not manage to sleep much at all. It’s appreciated that the adrenaline of being in a new city always seems to compensate for a lack of sleep and rest.
Kiev or Kyiv
I was hoping that I would remember more about Kyiv from the last time I was there, but there were only certain iconic memorials that I recalled. The rest was more or less a blur of sounds, tastes, and images. When we arrived, the sun had risen and it was bitterly cold. We were thankful that it was not raining and in fact, it did not rain at all while we were in Kyiv, which was such a nice relief from the past few days we experienced. Rain can be so inconvenient when one is traveling, especially when coupled with the cold and the disorientation of being in a new place. Upon exiting the bus, it took a while to gain our bearings and after some wandering around and a few glances at Sarah’s map, we found the metro and bought our tickets.
I had to push my way into the throng of morning commuters crowding the ticket window. Sarah remained on the sidelines while I made the advance. Unfortunately, all the metro signs are in Russian, so we had some trouble translating the names with our Xeroxed copy of the Kyiv metro system. Good thing Sarah had those translations otherwise we would not have arrived as swiftly as we did. This is my problem with guidebooks: they give you street names and metro names in English translations without taking into account that what you need is the actual name of the streets and stations with proper notation on how to utilize the map. Having a map of English names will never actually help tourists. The next time you are buying a guidebook for a foreign country, look for one with good maps that have both local names and their English equivalents with proper explanation of how to orient yourself when you arrive in the city. This is half the battle.
With a few wrong turns, these exhausted travelers made it to the hostel, which was basic as basic can be, but it was clean and seemed safe. When we had booked it on hostelworld.com it promised that we would be able to use a credit card to pay for the remaining amount. Well, when we arrived the manager did not speak much English and said in a few words with a lot of gesticulation that they had no credit card machine but would give us a deal. We had been smart and made sure we knew exactly how much in hryvnia we owed so they would not take advantage of us, so we got a good deal, albeit we were then short on cash.
Kyiv is a great city to visit because of its history and architecture, which is much closer to Russian than to European, like in L’viv. In fact, most people who live and work in Kyiv still speak Russian more than Ukrainian. Sarah’s map of the city was actually quite accurate and although it was only the size of a half page, it took us all around the city to places like the Motherland, the Lavra, St. Michael’s, St. Sofia’s, and other cathedrals and winding streets. Sarah had never been to Kyiv, so I wanted to make sure we retraced the steps of all the famous sights, which I was happy to do considering I had such hazy memories of the whole city. Despite the cold temperatures, we walked more in Kyiv than any other place we had been on this trip. Still dedicated to making picnics for lunch and kind of confined by our fund limit, we found an underground shopping mall with food court to eat our lunch on the second day.
For me, the best part of our time in Kyiv was the chance to reconnect with Irina, who was my lovely host when I traveled to Ukraine with my high school. The program was actually an exhange, so she came to the U.S. the next spring. Well, she is now a professor and PhD student at the University of Kiev and we arranged to have lunch with her our first day in the city. It was a little uncomfortable at first because she had chosen a really nice restaurant in the center of a beautiful park downtown and neither Sarah nor I could afford the food there because of our money problems.
(We had literally planned to the final hryvnia, so when we had to pay with cash for our hostel, that completely changed our whole budget.) We decided that we would only have a drink with Irina then go elsewhere to grab some bread or something cheap. In spite of the long years that had separated us, we were still able to connect. She asked many questions and I learned a lot about what she had been doing during our six years apart. She even invited us to lunch on her, which was so sweet. I was glad to see that the generosity she showed me in 2003 had not faded. We had a lovely lunch together and promised to get together that evening after she had completed work. Sarah did not feel well and was very tired, so she stayed behind to sleep while I enjoyed catching up with my special friend. How amazing that after all these years and the distance between us, we were able to reconnect and agree on many things. I hope that we maintain contact and see one another sometime in the future.
I think in two days we accomplished seeing the complete tourist circuit and we survived financially because of a lovely gift from Irina, who was more than generous to Sarah and me. How wonderful to have friends like that around you. Now was the time for Sarah and me to part. Our two weeks together really flew by that I could not believe that it was already over. The next morning, I flew back to the States and that evening Sarah took a train back to L’viv and a bus to Prague. She had roughly 38 hours of traveling ahead of her. I actually got back to Chicago before she arrived in Prague if you can believe that!
I took her to the train station and got her on the right berth before walking back to the hostel, which was on the opposite side of town, so I squared my shoulders, scrutinized my map and was off. An hour and 15 minutes later, I arrived at the hostel. Since I did not fly out until early the next morning, I tarried at the hostel for a while before returning to the train station where I picked up the airport express bus that took me to the airport, which doubled as my hostel for the night. What a great trip and what fabulous friends with whom I shared the journey! I am so glad that I was able to make the trip happen, folly and impracticality set aside, to reestablish bonds long ago fashioned.
Sarah and I stayed in the border town of Przmysl because we planned to cross the border on foot. Neither one of us had ever crossed a border on foot, so it promised to be quite the adventure. The only information we had on crossing the Polish/Ukrainian border was to take the local bus to Medyka. Dubiously, we showed the name of the town written on a piece of paper to the ticket window, where the employee understood enough English to communicate the line in which we needed to stand.
One of the worst feelings when you are traveling is the thought that you are not where you are supposed to be. I was comforted by the high schoolers congregating around us who I hoped were also going in our direction. The bus was miniscule and happened to be the one that everyone and his friend planned to use, so we barely pushed our way in (I obtrusively hit almost every teenager on that bus who returned the favor with some quizzical looks of offence) and paid the driver. Since we were not returning to Poland, we used all of our zloty except the coins we were told we needed for the bus fare. Thankfully, Sarah, being the cautious one, decided to keep an extra zloty (the equivalent of about 30 cents) just in case. And good thing she did because we had just enough and would not have had a sufficient amount had we both believed the tourism official who instructed us. I guess it pays to doubt. 
The driver knew where we needed to get off, so with a stop and a nod of the head, we exited the bus essentially on the side of the road. The only other person who got off was an old man who motioned for us to follow him. We were maybe one mile from the tollbooth through which we needed to pass before we could enter the last step of our travels together. Not knowing English but interested in helping us, the old man who got off the bus with us followed us all the way to the crossing. He tried to communicate with us, but all he spoke was Polish save a few English words like, “Sarah, I love you,” after gesticulating in the way of Sarah, wondering what her name was. I was a bit uncomfortable with his attention because I had no idea why he was so interested in assisting us with something that seemed fairly simple. He walked us up to the gateway building, said something about us being Americans, kissed us on the cheeks, and turned around and walked out. We were so perplexed. Who knows?
I had hidden all my dollars at the bottom of my backpack because a random guy had warned me that Ukrainian officials have been known to extort tourists at the border. Even though I was skeptical, I decided to play it safe. No one said anything except where we were staying and why we were visiting Ukraine. After getting our passports stamped, we exited the official domain, which made me nervous, and exchanged money. The infrastructural differences were stark between Poland and Ukraine, even more so since we had just stayed in a city where funds were pouring into the regeneration of decrepit buildings. No such funds were available in Ukraine. I knew this trip was going to be even more meaningful in light of the trajectory I had just completed.
L’viv or Lwow or Lyvyv
In 2003, I traveled to Ukraine with Fort Atkinson High School on a cultural exchange. It was one of the best trips I had ever experienced, and one that I attribute to my current desire to meet new people and get acquainted with foreign cultures. Although I was only 16 when I traveled to this new land, it had made an indelible impression on my mind and heart. I looked forward to going back, especially since I now had a new reason to visit this fascinating place. My friend, Kate, from college, is now volunteering with the Peace Corps as an English teacher and living near a town I had visited in 2003. It was kind of exciting to return to L’viv, but the means of getting there was a far cry from the last time. Once Sarah and I exchanged some money, we looked around for the local bus that would take us to L’viv. There was a horde of old cars and cabs around the corner from the exchange booths but no buses, so we thought we had a better chance of finding a bus stop outside of the border area. Wrong! We ended up walking for 45 minutes until we saw a small clearing on the side of the road marked by a broken sign with a faded bus symbol. Thankfully, there was a young woman and her children also standing there who was able to confirm for us that the bus going to L’viv would eventually stop there. I always appreciate those people who are so providentially placed in their ability to aid us lonely travelers. Never underestimate your ability to reach out to the lost and directionally confused ☺
This bus was even more packed than the one that took us to the Polish/Ukrainian border, but we had enough room to stand and hang tight (Sarah in the door well and I hanging on to the wall pole as I wobbled to and fro with the rickety motion of the old, yellow bus). The bus driver yelled at us when we reached the first main stop and we had no idea why until a guy translated that he wanted us to force our way to the front to pay him. I suppose that makes sense, but it was sure uncomfortable to bump into every passenger in order to give him the equivalent of four dollars for two people. You just never know what is going to happen and what various cultures esteem okay and awkward. I always like finding out, putting myself in a place of limbo and uncertainty.
Finally we arrived in town and tried to find our way to where Kate would meet us. I think the unpredictability of how to get to our destination was starting to wear on us. Dusk was falling and there was no English in sight. Thank God Sarah had an international SIM card, so we could keep Kate on the other end if anything happened. Following a couple more mishaps with the trams and the street signs written only in Ukrainian, we made it to the appointed meeting place near our hostel, The Kosmonaut. It was so lovely to see Kate and to wrap her into a bear hug, almost incredulous that she was there and that we had arrived. With her was a nice American woman in her 30’s, traveling around Eastern Europe on a break from her high-stress real estate business in L.A. She tagged along with us for the two days. And to round off our group, one of Kate’s friends from the Peace Corps took an eight-hour train ride to get to us and also passed several days with us.
With our hopes high, we delved into the culture of this historical city. Unfortunately, it rained the entire two days that we were there. Oh, well, you cannot determine your trip around weather caprice, so we wielded our umbrellas and bought wool socks to ward against the cold that had seeped into the country while we settled into our final week. 
I want to share the wool sock experience because it will give you a good idea of just how the weather can alter the overall ethos of a trip. While browsing through a traditional craft and antique market in L’viv, Sarah and I kept passing booths selling woolen products, which would not normally tempt me. As we continued our rounds of the market, progressively getting colder and wetter, the wool socks assumed a greater appeal in my eyes. Finally we both broke down and bought them for five dollars. So worth it! Those socks went on as soon as we got into the restaurant and our hostel and even went with us to the Opera. The combination of wet and cold is never desirable.
Our tag-a-long Californian proposed the idea of going to the Opera. I was all for it as long as it cost less than 20 dollars (you have to set parameters when traveling on a budget and stick with them). The two Peace Corps friends tag-teamed and tried to order us tickets for the night’s ballet—Swan Lake!—and it was so good that they were willing to translate for the group because even they had trouble communicating what they wanted. Unlike Poland, Ukraine is not very English friendly, so it was surely appreciated to have guides with us. Sometimes, as much as I hate to admit it, having someone who speaks the language or is familiar with the terrain can be invaluable. Imagine my surprise when our ballet ended up being Swan Lake. We got those tickets for $6!!! That is unheard of, even for shows at high schools and universities, and here we were in one of the most beautiful opera houses, modeled after the one in Paris,
watching Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet with its elaborate costuming and whimsical tones.
I was enthralled and could not believe my fortune, viewing a ballet I have wanted to see for such a long time. It was a major highlight and all thanks to our L.A. friend; we would never have considered a show there had we not met her. I think that is one of the best aspects of accumulating other travelers on one’s voyages: there is always an interesting inter-mixing of ideas and perspectives. If they work well together, it is really a blessing, and if they do not work well together, you severe ties, and no harm no foul.
In spite of the inclement weather, we really scoured the city for the charming quarters and historical sights. My favorite part, besides the ballet, was the bazaar, specifically the food portion. L’viv has such great prices—cheap—compared to even the rest of Ukraine, so the bazaar was almost like getting great food for free. We made some picnic lunches and took them back to the hostel and got cookies and chocolate for traveling and munching. I can never resist new cookies and candies, so I took my fair share of new delectable sweets. When I travel, it seems as if I am always eating because there are so many new things to sample. Good thing I walk miles and miles when I am in Europe. Here is a great example of the lengths I will go to buy the sweets I crave. Our L.A. friend and I fell in love with these confections we labeled “chocolate balls of deliciousness.” They sold for about 30 cents in a small convenience store near downtown. Catching my eye, I purchased one even though I was not hungry. Everyone tried them and also fell in love. We promised each other that we would go back to this little non-descript shop, even marking it on the map with the name of the prostitute displayed on a sign next to the store. On our final day, we ran through our schedule several times always placing the visit to the chocolate ball store at the end, which we finally accomplished before dinner.
Saying goodbye to our L.A. friend, we met up with a few more Peace Corps volunteers for dinner in a typical Ukrainian restaurant. Again Sarah and I were thankful to have translators as nothing was in English. In 2003, I never noticed this language barrier because I was always in a group where the students and teachers all spoke English and arranged everything for us. It is funny how you can be completely oblivious to something when it does not concern you. This among many is just another reason why Ukraine was almost a new country this time around. L’viv was our first stop, but Kate had a whole program for us to make a pleasant circuit around her area, meeting her Peace Corps friends and seeing how they live and work, which was quite interesting. From L’viv we took a marshrutka (public buses that go from town to town and are really cheap and bumpy) to a small town about three hours away. There we stayed for a couple of days relaxing and eating lots of Ukrainian chocolate and Mexican food (yes, we managed to make quasi-Mexican food that was surprisingly tasty). With only a castle to tempt tourists, the city itself was typically Ukrainian and forgettable, but the views of the city from the rolling hills inside the castle compound were lovely.
We left behind Kate’s Peace Corps volunteer friends and off we were again to the city of Lutsk—smaller than L’viv but mid-sized and conveniently situated. It is renowned for its castle—pictured on the 200 hryvnia note—which we quickly visited on our final afternoon in Western Ukraine.
Kate teaches at a small school outside of this typical urban establishment. One of the highlights of our time with Kate was to see her in action at her small school on the outskirts of Lutsk. We did not stay at her abode because her host was not very keen on having guests. (She eventually moved from that place a couple of weeks after we left.) We accompanied her to three classes of screaming students. Some students were more interested than others, but we played the question game where they posed us questions that we answered to the best of our ability. (Questions like “What is your ideal date? And if you could change your name, what would you name yourself? These were Kate’s questions she had written on note cards for them to read.) Altogether, it was an intriguing encounter with the Ukrainian school system that differed from my previous experience in 2003, which had been as a student. I remember meeting a Peace Corps volunteer when I visited Cherkasy, Ukraine, with my high school, and I remember thinking that she was such a captivating person with the coolest job ever. How amazing how life sometimes comes full circle to the point where you can appeciate both ends of a spectrum. I really appreciated seeing Kate in action as she dealt with challenges that arose from the language barrier and the cultural dissimilarities between the American and Ukrainian school systems. 
Since Kate had to teach the next day, she left us in the care of one of her cluster-mates where we slept for a few hours that night. Even though Kate could not accommodate us, it was wonderful that she had made and developed enough connections in her area where someone else could house us. I am always humbled when strangers are willing and happy to welcome me into their homes. This is a unique practice that not everyone is capable of offering. At 1:30 am we woke up and Kate’s friend walked us to the overnight bus that we would take to get to Kyiv, our final Ukrainian destination. The bus was not crowded and Sarah and I had the whole back seat to ourselves, so we were able to sprawl a little, but I did not manage to sleep much at all. It’s appreciated that the adrenaline of being in a new city always seems to compensate for a lack of sleep and rest.
Kiev or Kyiv
I was hoping that I would remember more about Kyiv from the last time I was there, but there were only certain iconic memorials that I recalled. The rest was more or less a blur of sounds, tastes, and images. When we arrived, the sun had risen and it was bitterly cold. We were thankful that it was not raining and in fact, it did not rain at all while we were in Kyiv, which was such a nice relief from the past few days we experienced. Rain can be so inconvenient when one is traveling, especially when coupled with the cold and the disorientation of being in a new place. Upon exiting the bus, it took a while to gain our bearings and after some wandering around and a few glances at Sarah’s map, we found the metro and bought our tickets.
I had to push my way into the throng of morning commuters crowding the ticket window. Sarah remained on the sidelines while I made the advance. Unfortunately, all the metro signs are in Russian, so we had some trouble translating the names with our Xeroxed copy of the Kyiv metro system. Good thing Sarah had those translations otherwise we would not have arrived as swiftly as we did. This is my problem with guidebooks: they give you street names and metro names in English translations without taking into account that what you need is the actual name of the streets and stations with proper notation on how to utilize the map. Having a map of English names will never actually help tourists. The next time you are buying a guidebook for a foreign country, look for one with good maps that have both local names and their English equivalents with proper explanation of how to orient yourself when you arrive in the city. This is half the battle. With a few wrong turns, these exhausted travelers made it to the hostel, which was basic as basic can be, but it was clean and seemed safe. When we had booked it on hostelworld.com it promised that we would be able to use a credit card to pay for the remaining amount. Well, when we arrived the manager did not speak much English and said in a few words with a lot of gesticulation that they had no credit card machine but would give us a deal. We had been smart and made sure we knew exactly how much in hryvnia we owed so they would not take advantage of us, so we got a good deal, albeit we were then short on cash.
Kyiv is a great city to visit because of its history and architecture, which is much closer to Russian than to European, like in L’viv. In fact, most people who live and work in Kyiv still speak Russian more than Ukrainian. Sarah’s map of the city was actually quite accurate and although it was only the size of a half page, it took us all around the city to places like the Motherland, the Lavra, St. Michael’s, St. Sofia’s, and other cathedrals and winding streets. Sarah had never been to Kyiv, so I wanted to make sure we retraced the steps of all the famous sights, which I was happy to do considering I had such hazy memories of the whole city. Despite the cold temperatures, we walked more in Kyiv than any other place we had been on this trip. Still dedicated to making picnics for lunch and kind of confined by our fund limit, we found an underground shopping mall with food court to eat our lunch on the second day.For me, the best part of our time in Kyiv was the chance to reconnect with Irina, who was my lovely host when I traveled to Ukraine with my high school. The program was actually an exhange, so she came to the U.S. the next spring. Well, she is now a professor and PhD student at the University of Kiev and we arranged to have lunch with her our first day in the city. It was a little uncomfortable at first because she had chosen a really nice restaurant in the center of a beautiful park downtown and neither Sarah nor I could afford the food there because of our money problems.
(We had literally planned to the final hryvnia, so when we had to pay with cash for our hostel, that completely changed our whole budget.) We decided that we would only have a drink with Irina then go elsewhere to grab some bread or something cheap. In spite of the long years that had separated us, we were still able to connect. She asked many questions and I learned a lot about what she had been doing during our six years apart. She even invited us to lunch on her, which was so sweet. I was glad to see that the generosity she showed me in 2003 had not faded. We had a lovely lunch together and promised to get together that evening after she had completed work. Sarah did not feel well and was very tired, so she stayed behind to sleep while I enjoyed catching up with my special friend. How amazing that after all these years and the distance between us, we were able to reconnect and agree on many things. I hope that we maintain contact and see one another sometime in the future.I think in two days we accomplished seeing the complete tourist circuit and we survived financially because of a lovely gift from Irina, who was more than generous to Sarah and me. How wonderful to have friends like that around you. Now was the time for Sarah and me to part. Our two weeks together really flew by that I could not believe that it was already over. The next morning, I flew back to the States and that evening Sarah took a train back to L’viv and a bus to Prague. She had roughly 38 hours of traveling ahead of her. I actually got back to Chicago before she arrived in Prague if you can believe that!
I took her to the train station and got her on the right berth before walking back to the hostel, which was on the opposite side of town, so I squared my shoulders, scrutinized my map and was off. An hour and 15 minutes later, I arrived at the hostel. Since I did not fly out until early the next morning, I tarried at the hostel for a while before returning to the train station where I picked up the airport express bus that took me to the airport, which doubled as my hostel for the night. What a great trip and what fabulous friends with whom I shared the journey! I am so glad that I was able to make the trip happen, folly and impracticality set aside, to reestablish bonds long ago fashioned.
Comments