The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv had scheduled an orientation
for English Language Fellows, which, to my surprise, was not cancelled
in the aftermath of the attacks on New York and Washington.My
trip began Thursday evening, the 13th, at the train station
(PivdennyVoksal) in
Kharkiv. As I waited to go up to the platform, I was shocked at how well
I blended in. People kept stopping to ask me if I knew which way to the
train going to Luhansk.I
had to say I’m sorry, I don’t speak much Russian.On
the train, the man in my compartment made a comment that I sounded like
I had a Bulgarian accent!I told
him in Russian I was American.The
first two English words out of his mouth were “my condolences”. We had
a nice time talking. At one point he translated that the young man in our
compartment wanted to know if I wanted to change my clothes; if not he
wanted privacy so he could change.It
was an overnight train, and people usually sleep in their pajamas and change
back in the morning.The man said
you can’t really change in the bathrooms on the train, and I understood
why when I went in one.The lights
didn’t work, and it was so smelly I was actually glad I couldn’t see.This
man and I talked much of the evening.He
showed me his English language flash cards and I practiced reading the
Russian translations.In the morning
he escorted me to the Kyiv metro, paid for my token, and walked me to the
transfer point.He was like a guardian
angel.
I exited the Metro and saw McDonalds. I tried to find an internet café but had no luck. I had to go to the bathroom so I went to McDonalds.I saw the sign for WC and was a little concerned when I saw a urinal, but I didn’t see another entrance so I thought it was one of those liberal European unisex things.McDonald’s, even though it is open at 8 a.m., doesn’t have its breakfast menu here.So I got a hamburger and fries and hot tea.That was over 6 gryvnias, about 6 bucks in local shopping power but only a dollar for me.I went to the bathroom again. As I was leaving, I saw a sign on the opposite side of the restaurant for another WC—the women’s room. D’oh!I had been using the men’s room.Well, another story for the folks back home I guess.I walked up the street to the Embassy. The American flag was flying at half staff.I got in and my point of contact at the Public Affairs office, Lilia, led me to two program fellows who were checking their email. I knew Ed from the orientation in Washington, but it was the first time I had met Kitty.A fourth fellow, Phillip, was teaching and would be joining us later.Of course instead of talking with Americans, I checked my email (I had to take advantage of the free service.)I saw Vera, one of the assistants whom I had met at the American center in Kharkiv.Then we went to the conference room for the first half of the meeting. Lunch was in the embassy kitchen (we paid 10 gryvnias each for it). It was served at a large table, family style. The borscht was really good. At lunch I met Marta, the woman to whom my boxes of educational materials had been mailed (including the last one which miraculously was waiting for me), and I saw Janet again (the Public Affairs Specialist I had met in Kharkiv).I also met Liz, a National Science Foundation Fellow who would be traveling to Kharkiv soon.Ed had a doctor’s appointment at 4, so he left a little early; I didn’t see him the rest of the weekend.
After the second half of the meeting I noticed that there was a free copy machine.I usually pay 10 kopeks for copies, so Lilia also helped me make some copies of materials for my students for the next week.She seems like a real bend over backwards type of person. After copying, we rode in an Embassy car to see the English Language Teaching Center at Kyiv Mohyla Academy. Wow, what a center! How jealous I am that I am not anywhere near it.Videos, tapes, magazines, Betty Azar grammar books…I was drooling.I got a membership and checked out the movie “Primary Colors”.Next, Lilia arranged a taxi for Kitty and I to Premier Palace hotel (formerly Hotel Ukraina).That place was PLUSH.I couldn’t believe I was staying there.I could see why it got 5 stars. Lots of wood and marble and mirrors.Large western-style elevators.Electronic keycards, not the 18th century kloochi (key) I use to get into my apartment.Digital phones. A mini bar.It was the first mini bar I had seen with condoms in it; on the price list the English translation called it “for your comfort” instead of condoms.I thought that was funny.
I had 10 minutes to freshen up, then Kitty and I bought some cheese at CentralyHastronom (Central Supermarket), got on the Metro, and walked from the Metro to the Ambassador’s residence.He opened up his home to the American community in Kyiv for a potluck in the wake of the attack.His home looked like a church on the outside (perhaps because it sat next to a building with spires) and inside it felt like a White House diplomatic reception room.The garden was lovely. Kitty and I got some food inside and sat at a white wrought iron table on the terrace overlooking the garden.The varyenyky (a Ukrainian dumpling) with potatoes or cherries, and basmati rice with spiced Indian meat were divine.So were the chocolate chip cookies and brownies. I was having a wonderful time, and at the same time I knew that the only reason I was enjoying these delicacies at the Ambassador’s house was because so many people were suffering in New York and Washington.Theoretically we were suffering too because it was our country that was attacked and many of us didn’t have Americans to talk to about it.But I knew we were much better off where we were.It was surprising to see and hear so many American voices again. Surprising but nice.
Liz and Marta joined Kitty and I on this terrace and we all sat eating and drinking.Liz wanted to catch a taxi home; instead we all agreed to walk with her to the bus stop.We ended up taking the funicular to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and St. Andrew’s church, a beautiful green and white church with gilded domes. The ambassador had a view of this church from his backyard. The view of the city and the Dnipro river from up high was amazing.(Kyiv is a very hilly city.) We all walked through the square where Clinton spoke this year and where there is a tribute to the unborn children from the famine of 1932-33.We dropped Liz off at a bus stop near a square, then walked back to our hotel, past sights like St. Sophia’s Cathedral and the Golden Gate and a statue for the first president of Ukraine.
Once in the hotel, I turned on the TV and started watching CNN, BBC, RAI Uno and Due, France TV 5, and Deutsche Welle.It was the first time I had seen the full video of the fall of the twin towers and live footage of the rubble. I saw Bush give his speech to the workers and heard them chant “USA” and I felt really patriotic inside.I fell asleep with the TV on and ended up waking up in time to watch Larry King at 4:00 a.m. doing the interview with the husband of Barbara Olsen.So depressing.
In the morning I got up, took a nice shower, slipped into the hotel robe and slippers, watched TV until I got Kitty’s call to breakfast, got dressed, and went upstairs to the restaurant for the buffet breakfast. I had a smoked salmon omelette, hot tea, sausage, and lots of other Ukrainian and western delicacies as we sat with a view of St. Sophia’s. It was a meal fit for a king.
After breakfast, Kitty brought her luggage to my room since she was checking out that day. We wanted to go to the Lavra (Caves of the Monastery).We tried to follow Marta’s directions to Bus #20, but had to keep stopping to ask for directions. Eventually we found it but we walked up some steep hills only to end up in a place that we could have gotten to just as easily by walking down the main street, Khreshchatyk.On the bus ride up we talked to two Americans who were there as missionaries.At Lavra I got a 50 percent student discount so it was only 8 gryvnias, but that’s still 5 gryvnias more than Ukrainians pay.We hired an English speaking tour guide (160 grivnias minus the full price of the two tickets). The guide, Galina, was very good at explaining the different parts of the monastery. She also showed us pictures from her visit to the World Trade Center last September.I had never been to an Eastern Orthodox church before, so I was surprised to find out about the separation of the congregation (earth) from the clergy (heaven) by a gilded door. For a service, the clergy members walk through the gate and stand in a special area with the people, who also have to stand.I decided it was worth paying the attendant three gryvnias to take pictures.There was one church that at one time had been used by the Soviets as an atheist museum, then it was destroyed by war bombs.It had been rebuilt in the past year, but was not open yet.The next thing we saw were the caves themselves. Monks had originally lived in the caves for solitude and prayer.Then it became a crypt for the monks.Many monks were buried in a glass-covered coffin with their face covered and their hands exposed to pray.Kitty and I had to buy scarves (5 gryvnias) to cover our heads.The monks do not believe in electricity, so we each had to buy a thin yellow wax candle (50 kopeks) to guide our way.We were supposed to be silent as well.Gallina waited outside for us while we went through.The paths were narrow, and it was creepy standing there with a candle looking at these leathery hands.Many of the more religious people knelt to kiss the graves, the pictures, the walls, anything their mouths could reach its seemed to me.
After the caves, the tour was over. We decided not to go to the museum of microminatures or any of the other museums on the grounds.We took the bus back down the hill and wandered along Khreshchatyk, which is closed to traffic on the weekends. We passed by the monument to Ukrainian Independence; it seemed taller and more colorful (White with blue and gold) than the one in Kharkiv.We stopped at the hastronom for Ritz crackers, Oreo cookies, and other Western foods which are hard to find in Kharkiv or Odessa.As we came out we saw a demonstration march. At first we thought it was people from Crimea who wanted to separate from Ukraine. Then we realized it was an anti-Kuchma demonstration.(Kuchma is the president of Ukraine.)It was a beautiful sea of people walking down the street, many wearing t-shirts that said in Ukrainian, “Ukraine yes, Kuchma no!” The demonstration was timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the murder of GeorgGongadze, a Ukrainian journalist who had published a Web site that was critical of Kuchma and his administration. There are some audiotapes which indicate that Kuchma ordered the murder.I didn’t join the crowd in deference to everyone who asked me to avoid getting thrown in jail or worse, but my heart swelled with joy to see that such demonstrations were taking place and that they were not being squashed by the militsia (police).
Kitty and went to the hotel and changed into our bathing suits and robes for a swim at the pool, which was decorated in beautiful dark and light blue mosaic with a Greek or Roman mural on one wall. We swam and spa’d, and had a fruit juice cocktail delivered to our recliner chairs.After swimming we tried to call Phillip but there was no response.So we went on our own out to the “passage” (rhymes with massage) off Khreshchatyk to an Italian restaurant that Kitty knew called Apollo. There were lots of women with children begging for money, some following us to get it.Kitty said her policy is to give to people who are invalids; you can’t help everyone or you will go broke.On the other hand, with the fall of the Soviet Union and the crash of 1998, some people’s savings have been wiped out and people have either lost their jobs or work but don’t get paid often enough.So their need may have been very real.But I stuck to my American instincts and didn’t give anything.Just tried to enjoy our food.For the first time I had frogs legs.A little chewy but the garlic lemon butter sauce made it worth it.Kitty’s salmon-avocado appetizer was great too.Kitty picked out a Georgian wine.We weren’t really hungry for the second course but we did what we could. I couldn’t finish my veal so I ended up giving it to a beggar.Kitty’s nut pasta was great. Went well with the veal but was good on its own. Kitty didn’t want leftovers so I took it home.She had to dart out of the restaurant at 9:00 to catch her train, but I said I’ll meet her in Odessa at Thanksgiving.
On the main street, there were lots of street performers. The jazz and rap musicians were not very good. The classic Russian rock singer was good, but I didn’t know the songs. I walked back to the hotel, watched more news, and fell asleep.
I woke up early again and watched Larry King. Went back to sleep. Got up again. Called Phillip; he explained that he had gone out to the village with some friends, and they got lost and didn’t get back until 8 p.m.No problem. We agreed to meet at the Golden Gate at 11:00 a.m.I went upstairs to that sumptuous breakfast again.This time I passed on the omlette and went for a blini (cheese blintz).And a hardboiled egg.And had tea with honey in it.And more salmon.
I checked out of the hotel, an interesting process in itself. I called for a bell boy who put my things in storage.I had to pay for “incidentals” (the cocktail and the phone charges) at the front desk but I was taken to the second floor to see the manager to settle the room bill. I was prepared to pay in cash with Ukrainian gryvnias, but apparently she had been expecting U.S. dollars.She wanted me to pay at a rate of 5.5 gryvnias to the dollar, which I thought was much too high. She said she can buy dollars ata rate of 5.40 gryvnias and I said that was better.No reason why they should make money off changing the money.So I plunked down 1900 gryvnias ($350) and walked up the street.I don’t know if I can get reimbursed completely for the hotel, but it was so nice I almost don’t care if I do.
I found Phillip, and we walked down Vladimira towards an Internet café he knew of.But it was closed for some reason.We went then to St. Sophia’s Cathedral, bought some postcards, and saw a little bit of a service at the cathedral.The chanting was beautiful, but the constant crossing and planned responses from the congregation were a little surprising.We walked on to St. Andrew’s, then down a side road instead of taking the funincular. It was a beautiful windy cobblestoned street with lots of people selling arts, crafts, and souvenirs. I got souvenirs for friends and family here.We walked back to Phillip’s apartment, which was very nice and had a view on one side of St. Andrew’s and a view of the Dnipro on the other.Then we walked along the river and up a hill to an old steel rainbow, a monument to the Russian-Ukrainian Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.There was a carnival but we didn’t go on any rides.We walked down again and ended up on Khreshchatyk.We stopped for individual pizzas (4 gryvnias) at Davinci, which was okay. We went to a place near the post office where we could use the Internet for 10 gryvnias an hour. Expensive but the service was fast.At that point Phillip had to go back home and prepare his lessons, so he gave me advice on a good café to have tea at, then he said goodbye.
I checked my email some more, then I wandered around Khreshchatyk a little while longer. I went into the major department store, Tse-U-M.They had lots of things you wouldn’t see in an American department store of that size, like cleaning supplies and school supplies and videos. It felt like a K-Mart but with washing machines.(At first I typed “washers and dryers”—ha!). Or maybe Sears is a closer analogy?Anyway, I walked to a bookstore but it was closed. I started walking towards that café Phillip had recommended when I saw some women selling maps on the street.I was looking at one for Kharkiv when I heard my name. It was Marta!She was returning from her seminar at the embassy.When I told her I had checked out of the hotel and was just doing some shopping she said she didn’t want to leave me hanging out on the street as it were, and invited me to her apartment for dinner.We stopped at the hastronom so she could get some things, and she showed me some Ukrainian china at another store.Then we walked to her apartment.The entrance was a typical Ukrainian one (dark and dusty), but the inside was gorgeous. I know I shouldn’t covet, but I was impressed.A toilet and bath in the same room, and a sink with a faucet.Shelves lined with Super G bread crumbs, Lipton tea, and other American cooking paraphernalia.Marta explained that she is expected to entertain a lot, and she is expected to use American things.She also didn’t realize how much would be available in Ukraine when she had these items shipped.
We had a nice dinner of frozen pizza, salad and Obolon beer. (Obolon is Ukrainian.) For dessert we had peach yogurt with slices of peach in it.It was delicious. Marta called a cab to meet me at the hotel, and showed me how to walk back to the hotel.She also very generously lent me her luggage cart so I could get my luggage and my box back to Kharkiv easier. She told me to go to the bathroom at her house, but at that point I didn’t have to go.I thanked her very much for everything and left.
I got to the hotel and my cab was waiting for me. I had the bellhop collect my luggage and box and put it directly in the cab. I was shocked at how close the train station was to the hotel. I think we drove two blocks up the street and turned left, and there it was. And it cost 10 gryvnias for the ride.I had read in Kyiv Post about the renovations to the train station, and it really was lovely.Lots of marble and glass. It was without a doubt the most luxurious looking train station I had seen in Europe.The only train station more beautiful is Union Station in Washington, D.C. and that’s because of its sentimental value.I thought this would be a safer place to go the bathroom than the train, so I paid the 50 kopeks to enter the women’s room. When I opened a stall door, I thought I had opened the door to a shower instead of a toilet. I kept looking for a toilet, and then realized I had just paid 50 kopeks to use a “squatter” toilet, where you stand on grooved porcelain and aim at the hole in the floor.
The only other cross-cultural mishap occurred on the train.It costs 7 gryvnias (about $1.50) to get a set of sheets. My sheets were damp. I mean so damp I thought my clothes would get wet if I slept on them.Not comfortable. So since I was paying for them I decided to complain. I told the woman who worked there that the sheets “don’t work” (nay raBOTayet), since that phrase seems to work for almost everything here.I rubbed the sheets and gave them to her to do the same so she would now what I mean. She started babbling angrily in Russian. I thought she wanted to know how they got wet. I said “I don’t know why”.The only word I caught that she said was “chista”.She walked off. I took the sheets and waited outside her office. She came back to the compartment and talked to another woman sleeping in there. I could tell she was telling the train lady that she saw me open the new sheets and put them on my bed.The train lady angrily took sheets off another bed and gave them to me.Later that week, I found out that “chista” means clean. I’m guessing that the train worker was trying to tell me that the sheets were clean so it doesn’t matter.Other people here told me that that happens all the time (the sheets being damp) and I shouldn’t have worried about it.