Saturday, August 31, 2002

15:37

Finally, I have a way to plug my computer into the wall, so I feel safe using my computer with the battery.

It’s been a busy three days, and I’m actually writing the journal in reverse order but putting it in proper reading order. I’m also actually finishing it on Sunday.

Tuesday, August 27/Wednesday, August 28

I had lunch with Bruce one last time at Au Bon Pain at International Place. He liked that area, and I admit it was nice with the fountain. I should have taken a picture with the new digital camera I bought on Monday.

I went back to Shara’s (stopping first at Ritz to buy a digital camera file transfer doohickey), grabbed my bags, and schlepped to National Airport on the Metro. I made a few phone calls—Dad, Mom, Phillip—while I was still in the country. I should have called Uncle Joe and Aunt Joan again but I didn’t get around to it.

I bought a book at the airport called “Fitness for Travellers”, thinking it would have tips for getting a work out in limited conditions (i.e. in places without a pool or gym). It was a pretty good investment for 14 dollars. I went through security—very easy compared to when I was there in December 2001—and said goodbye to Washington.

In Philadelphia I stopped in the food court to get my last hoagie. I had half in the airport and took the other half wrapped up on the plane. It wasn’t a great hoagie (Lee’s is the best), and at $5.25 it was pricey. I almost wished I’d had the cheesesteak instead, or cheese fries. But that really would have been too much. I couldn’t resist the dinner (though I wish I had; the lasagna dish was pretty bad) and I stayed up watching Spiderman instead of sleeping. I got a few hours though.

The plane landed 25 minutes early. I found the line for checking in for my Ukrainian International Airlines flight, and there was no one waiting. I thought I’d have plenty of time to make my flight. I went to the bathroom and freshened up, then went up stairs.

I had forgotten that I’d have to go once more through passport control and security. There was a long line. It was 10:35, the boarding time for my flight. A guy behind me with a later flight said he was going to try to ask at the front of the line to cut in. I wasn’t in a big hurry yet. I figured if I didn’t get through by 10:50 (20 minutes before the flight), then I would cut.

I got through pass control between 10:45 and 10:50. Then I heard the announcement: “Passenger Goodman going to Kyiv…” Oh my God. I was being paged for my flight. That couldn’t be good. I asked to go in front of a few other people to scan my bags through, and was relieved to see I was not pulled to the side. I ran to the gate, and the woman told me to run downstairs. I couldn’t see the stairs, as they were behind the gate. But I found them and ran down and gave my ticket and passport to the man. He said I’d been kicked out of the system. It took a few minutes and a few phone calls to get me back in the system, then to get me on the shuttle bus where everyone was waiting to take me over.

The flight was fine. I had my hoagie then their lunch (I skipped the chicken to try to be “calorie conscious”). I got to read Kyiv Post, which announced the joyous news that Ukraine was ending differential pricing for foreigners and locals at hotels and tourist attractions. I was also pleased to get a visa form to fill out on the plane. I thought it would save me time in the airport. Ha!

When I arrived, I got in the line for foreigners. It moved as fast as a constipated snail with a walker. I heard two guys speaking English behind me. I asked if it was their first time in Kyiv, and they said it was. I tried to give recommendations on what to do in Kyiv and other cities. I was shocked to learn they didn’t have a visa; their travel agent had not said anything about getting one. I knew there were plans to ease visa restrictions for people coming into Odessa and Crimea; I wasn’t sure if it had been extended to Kyiv. Sure enough, when I got my bags I could see them standing next to consular affairs. I wasn’t sure if they needed help, or if it was selfish of me not to offer.

I went through customs and the sea of taxi drivers to the Polit bus stop. The bus had one more seat but didn’t have room for my bags, so I had to wait for the next one. It was pretty warm out, and I was tired. I slept half way to the train station. I put the big bag in the “camera check” (open and guarded like a coat check) because I knew it wouldn’t fit in the lockers. I put my laptop bag and my small backpack in the locker because the laptop bag was too valuable and the backpack would fit in there as well so I might as well keep it safe.

I went upstairs and changed just as much as I needed ($10) to buy a ticket to Khmelnytsky. It was only 25 gryvnias. I called Nina to let her know I was in Kyiv and to let her know the train car number. She was happy to hear me, and I was happy to hear her too.

I walked around to the front to go to McDonalds for a bathroom stop and a Sprite to go (I said it was hot and I was thirsty). Then I walked to Prospect Peremohy to change money and get a marshrutka to Khreshatyk. The marshrutka was so full I had to stand next to the driver. Scary but normal for Ukraine. From TsUM I walked to the post office. By the time arrived it was five after 7 pm. There was a woman at the first window but she was closing down. I went into the second room and the woman barked that I had to go to the first room. I said it was closed but she didn’t care. I’d never had a problem before, but that’s Ukraine. Things change quickly. Still, there was a buzz in the air on Khreshatyk and near the train station. I was happy to be back and understood why Renuka and Bruce and Liz were jealous.

I didn’t want to spend time and money on a full meal, so I went to the old standby, McDonalds. Then caught the marshrutka to Prospect Peremohy and went to Fourschette, a great discount supermarket (touchy feely) to buy toilet paper and boil-in-the-bag rice, two things I hadn’t seen in great supply last time I was in Khmelnytsky. Then it was one last pit stop at McDonalds, and I lugged my bags to the train platform. I was praising God that the route I took down the stairs, straight left, took me directly to my wagon and my compartment was the first one.

There was a man and shortly a young woman wearing shorts and a tank. The woman was saying something about her bags (in two hours or at two o’clock? I’m not sure which). She and the man talked for a while. I had the lower bunk, but I didn’t want to switch to the top because I wanted to sleep on my stuff. I also didn’t want to make this woman sit next to the man; I didn’t know what kind of man he was. I was so tired I slept leaning on my backpack until (about two hours later) she got the hint and moved over so I could sleep.

Thursday, August 29

About ten minutes before the train arrived, the man I was sharing a kupe with told me to get up. I’m glad he did; I was so tired I’m not sure I could have done it on my own. I shut the door when he left and got dressed. I was prepared to leave the train with just my t-shirt and pants on, but then I remembered I was in Ukraine; someone was bound to tell me it was too cold to go out in the morning air dressed like that. So I put on my windbreaker. At Khmelnytsky at 6:04 a.m., and Nina and Slavic were at the train to meet me. I noticed that Slavic was wearing a turtleneck, so I was glad I had thought to put something on with long sleeves. I once again had to apologize for having so much luggage.

We took everything in a taxi back to the university. Slavic was worried about hauling my heavy duffel bag up the stairs to the kafedra, but I assured him we could leave everything downstairs in the storage closet I had been using all summer.

We went inside, and Nina prepared some hot water for coffee. She went to the store and came back with bread and ice cream to use as cream in the coffee. Why not? She also returned with some sugary sweet wafers. What I had a hard time swallowing (pun intended) was the bread and butter. It was like she was trying to frost a cake. I tried to have a second piece without butter, but it was already prepared and I didn’t want to waste food.

At 9:00 a.m. Natalia (a co-worker) came with her car to take us to my new apartment. It was very close and very easy to get to compared to my last apartment, where the driver and faculty had to ask someone for directions to drive to the apartment building. We went in and I felt immediately it was a nicer apartment than the one I had been in last year. Lots of carpets on the floor and walls, lots of nice furniture, and lots of space. I found out the landlady’s name was Lilia and she was a doctor. Her mother, the actual owner of the property, was Lina. She lives in the village now. I asked Lilia when I would have hot water, and that’s when she said there was a kolonka. I didn’t know much Russian/Ukrainian, but I knew that word and I knew it meant I would have hot water any time I wanted (provided there was water). I was a happy camper! I had to ask Lilia to clear out some space in the closets so I would have room to put my things, common in these situations.

Shocker number one came when Lilia (or Lina) told Nina that I had to pick the two rooms that I wanted for $50 a month, and the other room would be sealed off. I didn’t like the idea of having a room in the house that I couldn’t access. I also liked each room for different reasons. I liked the big bed in the bedroom, though Lina warned me it gets cold in the winter. (It’s cool now so I’m sure she is right about that). I liked the wardrobe and cabinet in that room for my clothes. I liked the living room and TV set up; even if I wanted to watch a smaller TV in a different room, that room had access to the balcony so I couldn’t give that up. And the third room would make a great office. Even though theoretically I could sleep on the couch, the bed in the bedroom looked more comfortable. And I liked the idea of sleeping in a room away from the work room. I asked Nina if it was possible to pay more and have all three rooms. Lina said it would be 30 dollars a month extra. I tried to negotiate that to 75 to save face (and thinking $25 per room), but conceded to pay 30.

Shocker number two was when Lina said that I had to pay all 10 months up front. One, I wasn’t used to paying a whole year’s worth of rent up front. Two, I didn’t have that much money with me. I said I could pay half now and half later. Then Lina told Nina that I had until the 13^th of September to pay the whole thing. I thought it made no sense to want it all and to wait at the same time, but whatever.

Lina came in shortly with a giant jar (probably a gallon) of milk, and several eggs. I thought it was a sweet welcome, but I wasn’t touching that milk (probably unpasteurized) with a ten foot pole). The eggs looked good though.

I spent the morning trying to unpack, putting things in the general vicinity of where they belonged (ie. bags of toiletries in the bathroom and bedroom, books on the floor of the office). I tried taking short “power naps” in the afternoon but they turned into powerless naps of 3-4 hours.

Later that day, Tanya (Lina’s granddaughter) came by looking for Lina’s notebook. Then in the evening Lilia and her husband came by to fix the kolonka (unsuccessfully) and the knob on the balcony door (which had been taken off because Lina was afraid of robbers). The downstairs neighbor came up to introduce herself, ask about my marital status, and to assure me that I would meet somebody someday; Lilia had. She kept asking what kind of man I was looking for and I said I didn’t really know, which must have sounded silly after my saying I didn’t have a husband because my standards were too high.

I called Peg after they left. She was glad to hear from me, and invited me over for salads with her and John. I couldn’t say no to that invitation, and thought going out would help me sleep later. I took the trolleybus to where I remembered Peg’s house to be, and shouted at what I hoped was the right window. I got no answer. A woman was staring from another apartment, so I told her I was looking for apt. 19. She gave me directions to the right area and told me when to shout. I thought that was nice.

Peg had some great salads prepared, and she was most appreciative of the Folger’s coffee I brought her (to thank her for storing my jam all summer) and of the salsa and chips I brought. One bite and she was in heaven. John didn’t stay around very long. I got the feeling he was uncomfortable around me, but maybe it was just the timing. Peg spent a lot of time talking about the center she will be the new director of when she leaves Peace Corps, hopefully on November 21. I had to act happy for her because I know she has served her time and is ready to move on, but I feel like she is my best friend in Khmelnytsky and I’m going to miss her when she goes. I ended up staying chatting until after 10 p.m., so I took a cab home (only 5 grivynias).

Friday, August 30

Nina had asked me to come to a 10:00 staff meeting, and to come about 15 minutes before the meeting. I didn’t want to disappoint her, so I set my alarm at 7:30 to give myself plenty of time to get ready and walk down there. I didn’t sleep well the night before. I went to bed at midnight, woke up around 4:30, tried to read about being an agent of change, and went to bed again around 5:30. By the time my alarm went off, I was thinking it was going off every minute so I turned it off. The next time I woke up, the clock said 10:00. 10:00! I thought I had died and fallen into a page of “Bridget Jones’ Diary”. After everything they’ve done for me, the first time they ask me to do some actual work, I’m not there. Shameful. Shameful. I dressed and brushed my teeth as quickly as I could, and grabbed my bag. I called Nina’s office, and someone else answered. I said “Mozhna Nina Lyulkun?” The woman said in English she was not there. I thought she was covering for Nina being in a meeting, so I said in English, “my name is Bridget and I’m supposed to be at a meeting. I overslept but I’m on my way”.

When I arrived, the woman I talked to (whose name I still don’t remember) said that no one was there. There was a department meeting scheduled for 12, and a university staff meeting at 10. I thought maybe I had gotten it confused in my head, that the university meeting was something I didn’t need to go to after all. I waited in the department reading Change magazine (ugh) and still feeling sorry for myself.

Nina came into the department office a little bit after 12. I apologized for being late. She said not to worry about it, that the meeting was not for me.

The “meeting” at 12 turned out to be a birthday party for Tanya, one of the teachers in the department. There was quite a spread of butterbrot, fruit, sweets, and drinks. I was impressed by the “German melon” (sweeter than candy) and the bread with cheese and lemon on it, which wasn’t as bad as it might seem. The “Old Doctor” wine was horrific, but the Sovietska champagne was good as usual. Natalia Petrovna, a woman about Nina’s age, was sitting next to me and constantly checking that I was eating enough and drinking enough. Everyone seemed to be joking and having a good time, though I have virtually no idea what they were saying.

After the party, I still had an hour to go before I could check my email. (There is only email service in the department from 7-8 and from 15:30 onward). I asked where would be a good place to go shopping, and Slavic said downtown at Detsky Mir. I didn’t want to go all the way downtown, so I wandered the local shops looking for the things I just needed for the next day or two.

I came back and checked my email and sent out my massmail. At around 7:30, the server stopped working. I thought it had shut down for the day, but the woman at the other computer said that they shut down the server at 7:30 and then turn it back on. Good thing I wasn’t in the middle of an email at that point. I have to watch out for that next time.

I left around 8 and went home to try to figure out what to have for dinner. I decided to start putting kitchen things away first. I had to do some major cleaning in the pots and pans cabinet. It was really disgusting seeing dead spiders in with the pots and pans, and jars of God only knows what. I pretty much lost my appetite for anything good like mac and cheese, and decided to go with a basic meal of beans and salsa and chips.

Nina called around 9:00 pm. I said I was about to make dinner so she said good night. I couldn’t tell if she was calling to check up on me, or if she wanted to talk to me about something but didn’t want to bother me while I was preparing dinner.

Saturday, August 31

Today was the “first day of school” ceremony for the first year students. I want to participate in all official events that I can, so I said I would attend. I remembered how dressed up students were in Kharkiv last year, so I put on a nice sundress, blew dry my hair straight, and even wore makeup—foundation, eye shadow, mascara (what a difference that makes!) and lipstick.

When I walked into the kafedra, two faculty members said they barely even recognized me.

I walked with Nina to the “stadium” where the ceremony would be. (It was a track/football field with a hill). As usual, everyone was standing. The students were standing in the middle of the field next to a big sign representing their facultat. I stood with Nina, Tanya, Natalia Petrovna, and the students while parents and friends stood on the other side of the track or up the hill.

The ceremony started with speeches and flag raising, followed by more speeches. You could tell that people were losing interest because fewer people were clapping at the end of each speech. There was a sports demonstration (boxing, tae kwon do, fencing, and weighlifting) followed by a “fashion” show and a march by students in the equivalent of ROTC. Then it was time to hand out credit cards (books in which students keep track of the classes they have passed).

After the ceremony, I went home to drop of things I didn’t need (like my black high-heeled shoes) and took the trolleybus to “Detchsky Svit” (Children’s World”). Assuming I was in the right place, the place recommended by Slavic, this was the place that was a children’s department store but had since been turned into about 50 individual kiosks selling clothes, shoes, and household goods. I found one really good kiosk where I got a bunch of the household goods I had been looking for. My Russian is still lacking—I could understand she was asking about the kind of insects I had in my house, but I didn’t know the Russian word for “fly”. So I made a buzzing sound and moved my hands through the air. She sold me a plug for 25 grivens with a solution for mosquitos. Well, close enough.

I meandered through the rest of the rynok and the kiosks outside the rynok, not really knowing where I was going. Just running on memories of my last time there with Peg.

The other challenge of the day was finding an electrical adapter. I need something to fit the large prongs of my American/European adapters (and the power strip I had bought in Kharkiv) into the smaller outlets in the house. I was able to communicate what I had by pointing and using the words “small” and “large”, but no one had it. I almost bought an actual outlet at Detchsky Svit for 6 grivens, but I didn’t want to deal with trying to connect electrical wires to it. Finally I walked out of the rynok into what looked like the wrong side of the tracks. Lots of car parts, old TVs, and more. If I were in America, I would have sworn it were all hot (stolen). Nevertheless I found an adapter that looked the right size. I tried to test it with a large plug I saw there, but couldn’t get it in. The woman who was selling it took both products and got the big one to fit, so I bought it for 2.50. Then I got it home and tried to plug it in, but the prongs on the adapter were too wide. On closer inspection, they looked like they had been turned outward. I thought, “what would a Ukrainian do at this point?” So I got out a hammer and started hammering the prongs closer together. I cracked the plastic a little bit, but it works.

Dinner was a mixed success. I saw wonderful vegetables in the rynok (eggplant, squash) and decided to make a summer mixed vegetable grill. I had bought the one “ostry” (hot and spicy) product at the Korean food stand, and thought that would make a nice meat side dish or topping. The vegetables turned out okay, and I was eating it and the Korean product, noting that the Korean food tasted like chicken and looked fatty but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. Then I pulled two thin, fish-like bones out of my mouth. Hmm. It is too chewy to be fish, but the bones are too small to be chicken. Abort food consumption! Abort immediately! I wouldn’t even use my chopsticks to scrape it off the plate, just let it fall in the trash. Was it cat? Was it dog? Don’t ask, don’t let them tell.

I spent the rest of the evening reading, except for when my mom called. She sounds really excited about trying to come to Ukraine in the summer. I’m glad to hear that.

Back to Ukraine Page

Home