Archive for ‘Ukraine’

May 5th, 2010

Making the World a Small Place – Soup Wednesday

You travel. You meet people. You leave. You leave new friends.

A little over a week ago, I received a Facebook message from a girl I taught with in Ukraine. The message was also addressed to many other teachers that had come and gone the same route as we had. She brought up an interesting idea — to all take part in having a meal of soup on Wednesday to sort of signify our want to keep in touch despite being dispersed in various parts of the world.

Since I just can’t say no to soup, and because I do miss these wonderful people, I participated. Afterwards, we all sent in photos to share the moment. Here’s to soup Wednesday!

Patricia ate borscht in France.

David ate ramen in China.

Lauren ate lentil soup in the U.S.

Lauren’s cat ate soup with her.

I ate lentil with pepperoni soup in Australia.

Patrick ate soup with me.

Tanya ate lentil soup in Canada.

Brian ate ham and white bean soup in Ukraine.

Stephen ate imaginary soup in the U.S.

Stephen’s photographer played along.

I’m still waiting on a photo from our lovely ringleader, and I will be sure to post it when it has arrived. Overall, soup Wednesday was a huge success, and it was so nice to connect with these wonderful people over a wonderful dinner.

How do you make the world a small place and keep in touch with all of your worldly friends?

April 9th, 2010

Things I've Kept: Funny Student Papers

I was sitting in my room in Ukraine when I started hearing my flatmate laughing pretty loudly. After it didn’t stop, I had to ask what was going on because who likes to be left out of a funny moment?

It turns out she was grading papers from her English students, and one student in particular was giving her quite the laugh.

Obviously, the title of this assignment is “UFO”, but this student decides to take it in another direction by talking about how he shouldn’t have married someone because she didn’t love him. He then continues:

“I’m liar, am I? I’m crazy, am I?! Let me tell you something! You are wild, crazy, insane creature! If I had known that you’re such a cold, stuck up b_ _ _ _, I would never have gotten married with you. My heart is broken. Get off my house!”

Oh, and by the way, this was an adult student and not some outspoken and troubled youngster, so it’s OK to laugh. And then I read his next assignment and thought, “Hmm… I’m not so sure about that ‘troubled’ part anymore!”

This assignment dealt with planning a holiday. In the article, this same student was asking a hotel for a list of rates, which seems pretty normal… until he said this:

“I’m going to go to Antalya with my wife and two children. I would like to ask you for a favor. Please don’t tell my wife that I was with a young girl that last time cause she’s not my daughter. I don’t have any daughter, only two sons.”

After teaching English, even for a short period of time, it is safe to say that it can get a bit repetitive and boring after a while. Well, it turns out that even students get bored and need to mix it up to stay interested.

October 20th, 2009

Memories from an Overnight Train to Odessa

I have been recently writing about the ins and outs of overnight trains in Ukraine on HubPages, and I was reminded of one specific ride from Kiev to Odessa. See, in the article “Overnight Trains in Ukraine“, I explain the feelings that go along with choosing this form of transport in the former Soviet country; feelings of coldness and also feelings of respect, comfort and caring. To me, taking an overnight train provides an opportunity to learn about the culture, or in my case, confirm the cultural teachings I had been taught thus far.

P1060484This one particular train ride was memorable because I was able to share the experience with my flatmate, Tanya. We were heading out for a girls only weekend in Odessa with two other teachers, but they made plans much later and could not get a cabin with us. So, Tanya and I had to share with two Ukrainians – one male, and one female later to arrive.

When we arrived in our 4-berth cabin, a man was sitting on the bottom bed. He stood up as soon as we entered to make way for our belongings. I put my stuff on the bottom right bed, while Tanya reached for the upper left bunk. The man heard us speaking English and quickly joined in with impressive dialogue.

“No, no. I will take the top bed. You are a woman, so I will let you have the bottom.”

We both thought that was cool because the bottom bed was so much more convenient. As the train moved out of the station, the man continued to talk to us. He was very curious about us, and he was very happy to get to practice his English.

Tanya and I got out our bag of snacks and quickly offered the man (I believe his name was Yuri) some, too. He, in return got out a bag of apples and said we were free to have some as well. This type of sharing amongst strangers was not uncommon.

Yuri decided to get all three of us some tea from the carriage attendant to wash down our snacks. As he stepped out to place the order, Tanya and I started guessing his age.

“Hmm, I’m going to say he’s 32,” said Tanya.

“Yeah, 30-ish is probably right,” I agreed.

As we drank our hot, sugary and lemony tea, we decided to ask Yuri some questions – how old he was, why he was going to Odessa, etc. To our shock, Yuri was only 25 years old with the face of someone 7 years his senior. I laughed on the inside and knew that Tanya was, too. We had been having trouble guessing anyone’s age our entire time in Ukraine because they just tend to age differently.

Yuri was on his way to Odessa for work for a couple of days. It was his first real job, and he still lived at home with his parents. This is where it got a bit weird.

“Yes, I live at home with my mother and father. I like it. I might move out someday, but not soon,” Yuri stated.

“Maybe when I have a wife, I will move out,” he continued.

“My mother gave me these apples to take on the train today. She said that if I am somewhere where I can’t brush my teeth, I should eat an apple.”

The devotion to his mother and his home life was, even though admirable, a little off-putting for us from a guy his age. It is just a different culture, and a different mindset.

“Whenever you girls want to dress for bed, tell me. I will stand outside until you are done,” stated Yuri.

And, stand outside he did. It is this part of the Ukrainian culture that got us. Men were so respectful of other women and their mothers, but it was tied up with a mama’s boy attitude or just dressed up in groomed eyebrows and REALLY tight jeans. I feel almost as though even the toughest, seediest and most corrupt of the Ukrainian men have a soft spot, so don’t let them fool you!

Yuri stepped back into the cabin. Tanya and I were in our cozy little train beds. We asked if he needed to do anything or if we could turn out the lights.

“Let me just eat an apple,” Yuri said. “You know what my mother says.”

March 22nd, 2009

Chest X-Ray, Anyone?

When talking to my mom the other day on Skype, she asked me how my trip of a lifetime was going. The interesting part was that she wasn’t asking about traveling around the world. She was asking about Australia – a place that has struck my fancy since I can remember. I made it here; I made it happen. I left Ukraine and am now basking in the perfectly blue skies of Sydney, but it wasn’t an easy task. Let me tell you something about Ukraine – it doesn’t give up without a fight.

I think every attempt I ever made to get out of that place, even just for a quick trip, was made a little more difficult in some way or another. After applying for visa sponsorship and buying my plane ticket to Australia, I was bombarded with the question asking if I had spent more than 3 consecutive months outside my home country, and, if so, to list those countries.

That’s where I started to get a little nervous. I began listing countries like Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine in my response. Was it going to be a problem getting a visa now?!

Apparently, the countries I had spent the majority of the previous year living in are considered quite dodgy. Actually, they are considered so dodgy that they weren’t even on the list of dodgy countries to begin with! It just said: “If the country is not listed here, then it is considered Very High Risk.”

D’oh! So, of course I was given yet another difficult task to complete: obtaining a chest x-ray… in Ukraine… by the one certified doctor they would accept the x-ray from. Oi!

homer xray

Luckily, I was able to get an appointment right away, but I had to frantically search all the money changers in my vicinity to find US dollars to pay for the appointment with. Why, if it is so difficult to find US dollars in Kiev these days, does the place ONLY accept US dollars as payment?!

After that, I had to find my way to the Oil Refinery Hospital on the other side of town in a place where the Metro didn’t run.

Then, I had to deal with the x-ray process in itself, a process I will not soon forget. Picture a typical Soviet style hospital – stark feeling with a bad paint job of the most unappealing colors. The hallway was the waiting room, and it was packed full of Ukrainians waiting for their own exams to take place.

When I was called into the dark x-ray room, I was taken to a section with a metal screen. The woman in there motioned for me to take my sweater off. I hadn’t really thought about the needing to undress for this. After that, she motioned for me to take my undershirt off. As I stood there in my bra, she proceeded to twirl me around until I was facing a large mechanical screen on the wall. She stroked my hair in her hands, eventually tying it up in a ponytail.

“Well this isn’t so bad,” I thought.

Just then she yanked my bra straps down, so suddenly I gasped in shock. I was somehow given a protective shield to hold behind my back while my chest was pressed directly up against the cold screen. My chin rested on top where the smell of saliva and sweat lingered from all the people who did the same just minutes before. “Just great,” I thought. “If I wasn’t sick before, I probably will be now.”

I was told to fill my lungs with air just before the lady ran out of the room. Some lights flashed and then it was over. I put my clothes back on and went into another room to see what the doctor had to say. When she finally arrived with my x-ray, she looked at it for about 30 seconds and then spurted out, “You’re fine. Bye!” in a stern tone.

What was I fine from exactly? I still don’t know. I got over another hurdle and became one step closer to where I am now. Big Sigh Of Relief!

March 5th, 2009

Bribes: The True Ukrainian Experience

Once you explain the meaning of the word “bribe” to a Ukrainian person their look of misunderstanding quickly changes to the “oh-yeah-i-know-that-because-it’s-normal” look. Bribes are everywhere in Ukrainian life. These actions are so blatant that what we might know as “money under the table” is actually just “money set on top of the table in an envelope”.

One of the first weekends in Ukraine, we ventured down to an expat type bar where we spoke with many businessmen from the U.S., U.K., and Canada. They all talked about how difficult and frustrating it is to get the simplest task completed, like the signing of a form, without the use of a bribe. How is a company supposed to deal with adding the costs of bribes to their books? Very interesting.

Since bribes are so common in Ukrainian life, my time wouldn’t have been complete in Kiev without having to pay at least one. It was interesting because a week before the possible incident my students asked me if I had yet paid a bribe. I responded that I hadn’t, but that I had definitely thought about offering it before in certain situations, such as getting the internet hooked up in a timely manner.

If you don’t follow along the comments of the blog too closely, you might not know that I am no longer in Ukraine. Surprise! Interestingly enough, my mom sent me a package a few weeks before I had to leave with some important documents and such. Even though it arrived in Ukraine on Feb 9, it sat there… and sat there… until finally last week I got very nervous. I contacted a teacher’s service worker at the school and she was able to find out that my package was sitting in Customs. She went as far as to visit Customs only to find out that she had to fill out a stack of forms and come back the next day. Apparently I was going to have to pay some sort of tax on the package since it was claimed as being work $140. That, in fact, is a huge LIE. My guess is this:

The Ukrainian Customs people saw that a package was sent through Priority Mail from America. It was obviously a bit more imiportant to the end recipient than sending standard mail. However, it was not sent DHL, which from what I read online actually pays bribes to the Customs officers in order to get their package to arrive on time. Since it was probably an important package, Customs figured they could get a bribe from the recipient in order to receive it immediately.

Basically, it was looking to be a huge hassle and I was worried I wouldn’t receive my package before I had to leave on Friday. I actually told the teacher services worker that I would be willing to pay a bribe just to be done with it.

She went back the next day with all the paperwork, which literally took 30 seconds for the officer to look at before handing over the package. What?! Really?! No taxes to pay either?

Come on, Ukraine. You’ve got to be kidding me. No, I didn’t actually pay a bribe. Sorry if you thought I did – suckers – uh… I mean thanks for reading!

February 24th, 2009

Fat, Unhealthy Americans

“Most Americans aren’t in good physical condition because they don’t exercise enough.”

“No matter how unhealthy it maybe be, Americans love fast food.”

“Who do you think is healthier: Americans or Ukrainians?”

If you haven’t guessed it already, this is material I have to teach. At first I laughed a bit. Now, I find myself getting angry. The amount of America-bashing this country does gets really frustrating, especially when my classes answer the question of who is healthier.

Of course the entire world classifies the U.S. as a group of overweight and lazy pigs, and sure, there are plenty of those back home, but come on – do not try and tell me you are a healthier country when you’re munching on potatoes and fatty meat and kicking it back with beer or vodka! And, please, don’t get me started on salo!

The other day, a student asked me in English, “Brooke, do you eat lard?”

Lard? I responded by saying, “Do you mean to ask if I eat salo?”

Yes! Salo is what he meant, and it is a word commonly translated into English as lard. Remember that little party we had where we tasted salo and was told repeatedly how HEALTHY it is? Are you laughing a little now?

Not only this, but we have plenty of conversations about McDonald’s and fast food. I’ll admit it – I love McDonald’s. I love the greasy, salty combination of a double cheeseburger and fries washed back with a Coke Light. The funny thing here is that all my students will say how unhealthy and disgusting McD’s is, but when I ask them how often they eat there they often respond with a “once a week.” And this brings me to my next point: They freaking love McD’s over here!

I finally decided to break my McD’s ban (it had been over 4 months since the last) and experience it Ukrainian style. Actually, I quite think McD’s in other countries is just as much a cultural experience as sightseeing. For example, the style, class, and menu of such establishments has to change slightly in order to do well in other cultures. By seeing how this establishment alters itself in different circumstances is really interesting to me!

So, I went to McD’s, and in typical Ukrainian fashion, I had to wait in line. I had to wait in line because the place was so busy! I don’t think I really need to say more.

Again, I’d like to touch on the fat American stereotype again. It is true that we have some pudge in our waistline. It seems that when I look at photos from back home and people my age, they do seem to have a little more meat on their bones than the youngsters around these parts. However, the girls, and guys, here are impeccably thin – almost to a level where I wonder how much they actually eat. Then, I also find it interesting that the older women are the exact opposite! You never see a thin babushka out on the street. What happens?

I guess I’m just venting a little bit because I constantly have to bite my tongue in class. Actually, I do not mind that America is known as the fat country of the world. What I do mind, however, is having to push the stereotype even further. A country full of people using mayonnaise as salad dressing and eating lard is no healthier (no matter how they look physically) than one pulling up to the drive-thru window everyday. If there is one thing I have learned during my time in Ukraine it is this: Ukraine is really just like America in the health aspect because we both have people on all sides of the spectrum.

February 21st, 2009

Photos Updated: Pics from Odessa!

As much as I love using my big camera to take photos, I just don’t do it enough. There’s something about the hassle of taking it around with me, or the fact that people stare at me sometimes when I’m using it, that makes it not so popular. This is why the party cam (pocket point and shoot) became such a huge part of my life this past year. It helped me be a bit more inconspicuous. However, the party cam bit the bullet after New Year’s, so all I’m left with is the big one. But, it’s not a bad thing. I’m glad I’ve been using it more often as the quality of photo it takes is just so much better! I’ve finally updated the Ukraine gallery and added some pics from the Odessa trip. Enjoy!

February 13th, 2009

I can't believe I did that!

Every year for the past few, I have taken part in scoring standardized tests for Illinois schools. This is a temporary (usually only a month long) job, but it helps me save a few extra bucks. I recently got another offer for this April, which I was ecstatic about… until I read the fine print.

This year, the company wants me to resend a document to them, and the problem with this task is that they want it notarized. In America, this would pose no problem, but in Ukraine? Where’s a girl supposed to get a document notarized here and have an American company trust that it is in fact real?

At the American Embassy, that’s where!

For some reason, I had myself fooled into thinking this little expedition into downtown would only take 1.5 hours. I’m not sure where I got that number, but I definitely spent that long just in transit. Getting things done here always takes a long time!

As I neared the street of the American Embassy, I started to hear faint shouting noises. These grew into a much clearer megaphoned voice with other voices cheering from time to time the closer I got. “Oh, please, oh please, oh please don’t be outside the embassy,” I hoped, but of course this little gathering was exactly outside the embassy where I was wanting to go. I have no idea what these people were saying overall, but words in reference to Cuba, America, and Puerto Rico were tossed about. A bunch of flags were on display, some for Puerto Rico, and some signs for Barack Obama. It didn’t seem like it was a negative street display, but hey, I don’t mess around with crowds of people armed with megaphones.

I sneakily snuck my way to the guard booth for the embassy with passport on display only to find out that I wanted citizen services, which would actually be at the American Consulate a few blocks away.

So, my trip took longer because I had to trudge through the Kyiv streets to find the Consulate, and I knew I had arrived when I saw the huge line of Ukrainian people hanging around outside. I wandered up to the door area where I was immediately confronted by a Ukrainian guard asking to see my passport. Luckily, I passed the test and was allowed inside to the bag check/body scan area. This is where things started to get interesting.

The two Ukrainian guards asked me to empty my pockets, turn off my cell phone, and give them my purse. They ran my purse through a scanner and quickly started finding things I had forgotten in my bag.

“Is this a flash drive?” they asked.

Yes, I had forgotten that thing had been thrown into the abyss that is my purse many months ago. I had to scour to find it. They then ran the bag through again and found something else.

“Ok, it looks like you have a little flashlight and some batteries here.”

I ended up taking everything out of my bag looking for it until I realized it was probably in the tiny little zipper pouch on the outside. Yes, there was my mini-flashlight.

“Ok, now what about these little things that look like batteries in the scan?” they asked.

I think my heart stopped. Every curse word I could think of ran through my mind as I realized what those little battery looking objects in my bag were. Really? Did I seriously leave those things in my bag for the past 4 months and not remember?! I even think now that I flew to Ukraine with those in my carry on luggage! S^*#! F@#K!!!!

I swallowed hard and pulled out the battery-looking objects from the small zipper pouch of my bag. And, just what were these objects you might ask? If you refer back to about 4 months ago, I was probably in Vilnius, Lithuania. And, what did I do in Vilnius, Lithuania? Oh yeah, I shot hardcore, badass guns. So, what did I have in my bag? Yes, the bullet shells to these hardcore, badass guns that I kept as a souvenir. Bullet shells… at the American Consulate! Oi!

“No, no, no, you can’t have those here,” one of the guards said as he picked up a phone and started dialing a number. I wondered who he was calling. I tried to sputter out whatever words I could to explain myself as I held these things in my hand. Finally the other guard said the word I was looking for – souvenir.

“Yes, a souvenir!” I managed to speak. “I don’t need them. Please just throw them away.”

The guard proceeded to deny my request and tell me that I had to leave this building and put them somewhere else. Eventually, he said there was a storage locker next door that I could leave my bag at if I wanted to. He went outside to get a lady to help me, but I’m pretty sure he was telling people what I had brought with me since they sporadically shot me shocked looks. After a few more minutes of awkwardness, I managed to lock up my bag and go back into the booth where I’m sure the guard gave me a few extra courtesy scans this time for good measure. Fortunately, this time I was let inside.

In the end, I was successful in getting my document notarized and sent away to America. It was yet another simple task made long and interesting here in Ukraine. I still can’t believe I did that, and I definitely laughed to myself the entire way home because I did.

February 9th, 2009

Is Odessa in Ukraine?

Pinch me!

Confusion was the overwhelming sensation of the past weekend when some other teachers and I made a quick girls-only trip to the southern seaside city of Odessa. We all basically endured a 9-hour sleepless train ride to get there, but that didn’t matter once we arrived because the brightness of the sunshine perked us all up like a double shot of espresso. Actually, I spent a large part of that day in tears, and not because I was sad. I just hadn’t seen that much sun in quite some time!

happy odessa

My job was to find the hostel, so, being the strong navigator that I am, I got us there fairly quickly, even after we found ourselves stopping numerous times just to question whether we were actually still in Ukraine or not. At first glance, one can seriously picture downtown Odessa as part of any other city in Europe!

Upon arrival at the hostel, we were greeted by the wonderful owner. “Yes, come in girls,” he said. “Take off your clothes.”

Uhm… Questioning looks were shot between Tanya and I as we tried to figure out just what we got ourselves into. The owner immediately realized what he said and blamed it on him being Polish, which I later found out to be true even though his British accent definitely made me suspicious for many hours to come.

The girls and I dropped off our stuff and headed out to the city. Oh, what an amazing city it was! Here are some of the reasons Odessa was so cool:

1) We ate an ecclectic mix of food including something Mexican inspired, Georgian, and Italian. It’s definitely hard to realize you’re in Ukraine when you find yourself eating nachos and drinking beer while the sun is brightly shining and Nelly is on the radio!

mexican food

2) We basked in the sun at the Black Sea. Industrial port city? What?! The beach we found had the most perfect blue water, and seagulls like you wouldn’t imagine!

lauren beachside

jess at the beach

tanya beachside

brooke at the beach

3) We bonded with wildlife, such as lions, horses, and birds. Yes, Lauren even found out its possible to see women riding horses at 2 am in this city. Is Odessa sounding more and more like a fairy tale to you, too?!

lion

jessica and the pigeons

getting back on the horse

my lil ponies

4) We hit up the markets around town, browsing like a group of girls in a shopping mall. I was even able to feed my ring addiction there.

market moment

Overall, we felt that when we walked around in Odessa, we were a part of it. There’s a certain distance one receives when trying to get to know a large place like Kyiv, so the atmosphere of Odessa was much welcomed by all four of us. It’s hard to tell if our impressions of the city are valid or not since we only spent a very, very short time there, but I think I’m going to sum it up by saying this: Odessa is in Ukraine, but we still felt it necessary to question this fact many, many times.

February 3rd, 2009

I might be jinxing it, but…

Ever get so frustrated with something not going your way that you just kind of crack like an egg, spill all over the place, and then lack the substance to sweep yourself up? After a while, the mess starts to smell a bit like uhm… rotten eggs, and eventually it gets so bad that you just can’t even look at the problem, let alone think about it. We’ve all felt this way about something at one time or another, right?

If you’re wondering why I’m talking about rotten eggs then take a look at the right side of my blog. This is where you will notice a lovely little poll that many of you so wonderfully participated in (the one about where Brooke should take her break). Yep, you guessed it! You have found my rotten eggs!

When I first got to Kyiv, I felt excited. With the job came extended holiday breaks that we all would be able to travel on. I built up high hopes of what amazing adventures I would pursue in other foreign lands nearby, but alas, you might notice that I haven’t gone anywhere since my quick jaunt to Hungary. What happened?

The list of reasons for my stagnation roll on, and to delve into that list might involve badmouthing certain institutions and people I might be in contact with, so I think it best to just say simply that plans fell through, repeatedly. Finally, after dealing with so many failed attempts to get somewhere, I just decided to call it quits and take what little money I had made and try again at a later date when I’ve had time to “recover“.

Hopefully enough time has passed because I definitely went downtown to buy train tickets today. This Thursday night, immediately after class, I’m running to the station with Tanya for a really quick adventure in Odessa. Hopefully everything works out this time, because, honestly, who likes rotten eggs?!

NOT ME!

no rotten eggs