Metro

Kyiv's metro system is surprisingly one of the best I've ever ridden on.  It might be old and it might not have air-conditioning, but the train stations are clean, they're beautifully decorated, the train comes every two minutes, it's fast, efficient, extensive, and cheap.  No matter how few or many stops you take on your one way journey, it's 2 Hyrvnia - which is $0.25 and you purchase blue plastic tokens to get through the turnstiles.  If you go one stop, it's $0.25, it you go 10, same $0.25.  Kyiv Metro has done a very good job of signage so even if you don't speak the language, it's very easy to figure out which side of the platform you need to be on.  There is a down escalator and an up escalator and they're fast and steep, the metro is quite a ways underground.

In one of my guide books there was mention to go to "Kyiv's Union Station", which locally is called Zoloti Vorota (Golden Gates) because it's the stop just next to the Golden Gate (which you'll need to wait till the weekend for me to blog more about, that's on the to do list).  Anyway - each train station is decorated artistically but Zoloti Vorota is supposed to be the most beautiful, so after lunch at the Japanese restaurant which is right next to the metro stop, I ducked down to see what all the fuss was about.




It was beautiful....and if I didn't agree to be back in fifteen minutes, I would have spent a little longer taking better pictures, but I only have a few minutes and it required two escalator rides down and two back up and each section is about 2 minutes each, so out of my 15 minutes, I had only about 7 minutes to snap away.

Before and After

Do you guys remember me showing you the picture of the women planting the gardens by the statue of the Father of Ukrainian language?  If you don't, go read "Work" on Monday, May 20th.  If you do remember (or after you're re-read it), well I went back today after work to see what the park looks like now.  Here you go.

Before

After

Starbucks

If you were wondering whether there is a Starbucks here the answer is no and truth be told, I'm not sure if it would be successful.  There is a cafe on just about every corner here, most are independent, stand-alone shops that feature lovely coffee drinks and scrumptious desserts and there is also a strong chain - Coffee House that is on every other block. This cafe, Coffee House, has a very extensive coffee, tea, and drink menu - they make shakes and juice drinks as well (and of course you can get alcohol), and they also offer a small selection of cakes / desserts, plus ice-cream.  To top it off they have a quick lunch menu - think soup and sandwich.  It's really good, so far I've had a pot of tea, a cappuccino, and a lunch consisting of mushroom soup and chicken salad sandwich.  I do still find it odd that everything is more expensive then beer / wine.  I had a glass of wine today at lunch (shhh) that was 19 in local currency (about $2.75 USD) and a cappuccino on the way to work and it was 38 local currency ($5.50).  Take my word for it, I enjoyed the wine more.

But back to Starbucks.... the culture here is not a go go go culture like back home where everyone is racing through Starbucks to get their morning jolt of coffee; coffee and the cafe experience is to be enjoyed, and yes there is Free Wi-Fi everywhere.  Coffee House does do "coffee to go" but it still takes a while to get it, they'd much rather you sit and stay, relax, enjoy.  For Starbucks to hit it off, it would need to focus on it's ability to fill your order fast so if you want it to go, you can get it and go.  That's my opinion anyway, because this morning I would have been happy to get my cappuccino to go and been in and out of the "Starbucks" in five minutes vs. the twenty that it did take me.

Even though I've been going on an on about how long and relaxed the meals are here, which is a good thing for your digestion, there is one fast food craze here that Paul and I just had to go and explore today.  We went to Pizzeria 33 (oh my the risotto and wine there are fabulous) and on our way back we wanted to go by this place that we've seen a couple of times that is nothing more then a hole in the wall but has a queue all the way up the block.  We've been advised not to eat "off the streets" but given how long and steady the line is for this place (no matter the day or time) I think we're going to have to line up one day and wait.  From what we can tell, it's like a hot dog and costs about $1 USD.  Maybe on the weekend if they're open and we have more time to waste we can give it a try.

By the way, on top of the seafood risotto and glass of wine I had at lunch I splurged and got dessert - I was useless for the rest of the day.  Could have gone back to the hotel and had a nap.

Guacamole

Since I've arrived in Kyiv, I've had a multitude of cultural dishes - Ukrainian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Italian, and French.  Sadly, no Tex-Mex or anything that could resemble Tex-Mex, until today.  I have been craving Chips and Queso, Tortialla Soup, and Tortillas and have even mentioned it to the team.... if only I had a tortilla at breakfast I could make a breakfast taco.  Today Paul, Shiva, and I had a really late lunch, about 2:00 p.m. and then we worked till about 7:00 p.m., so when Darren sent me a text letting me know they would be gathering at 8:00 for dinner, I wasn't sure I'd go.  But then I thought to myself, I see Paul and Shiva every day, it's not often I get to see "the Kids" so I should go.  We, the Oldies in the group (Paul, Shiva, Cheryl, and I) have affectionately tagged everyone under the age of 35 as "the Kids".  This is the group that went off to Lviv this past weekend and spent nearly 32 hours on the go trying to see and do as much as they could in one day.  I'm just not up for that, neither were any of the other "Oldies".

So off I went with "the Kids" and we went to a place that is almost right next door to the hotel.  I was looking at the menu and trying to decide what to eat when Satish, who like Shiva is vegetarian, asked what something was on the vegetarian menu that he had been given.  He asked, "What's Guacamole?"  My ears pricked up and I asked to see his menu.  On it was an appetizer of guacamole with corn chips, ding ding ding I know what I'm having.  I tried to keep an open mind as to what my dish would look and taste like and I was very pleasantly surprised when it was delivered - it looked beautiful and it tasted lovely.  OK, I needed to add just a little bit of salt but who's complaining.

While we were waiting we exchanged stories from the weekend and I mentioned that I wish the TVs in our room had a movie channel or pay-per-view, I'd be happy to pay for a movie at this point.  I wouldn't even mind a bad movie that was dubbed or sub-titled in English, there is only so much BBC News and CNBC Financial News one can watch - ask me I know.  That's when I found out that Srikanta (India) has a 4 TB external disk drive with movies down in his room.  (For those not in the technology world, it's a really large storage drive).  Srikanta was explaining that he likes to watch movies and he usually watches one to two a day - he goes to bed late apparently.  He offered to let me watch a few and we joked about having a movie night in the hotel.

While Srikanta was telling me about some of his latest movie titles, trying to help me decide on what to watch, we didn't notice that he kept re-arranging Flavia's place mat.  We had crowded seven people around a six person table and Srikanta and Flavia were sharing an end and each had a place mat.  Flavia's was at an angle and without really noticing, Srikanta would turn it straight, and then a few minutes later Flavia would turn it back, and then a few minutes later Srikanta would "fix it again."  Flavia finally called him out on it and we teased him in good fun about his "obsessive compulsive disorder" which he readily admits he has - he likes things to be orderly and in place.  He managed to leave Flavia's place mat alone for the rest of the evening, but it did make for a good laugh.

Our dinners arrived and yes, I took a picture to show you how well the food is presented here, it's quite beautiful, although I would have preferred a larger serving of guacamole and a bowl of chips, and of course, a margarita.  I'll be home soon, and I think my first few meals are going to be Garcia's in Buda and Chuy's over by Costco.

By the way, I think I'm going to start with Lincoln and Argo, now if I can just find some popcorn!

Kyiv Day Fireworks

I don't know how Cheryl and I figured out that there would be fireworks for the Kyiv Day festivities but we did.  We asked the hotel staff to confirm and they said yes they'd be on about 10:00 p.m. so we asked if we could go up to the 15th floor restaurant and watch from there and they said yes we could.


So Cheryl told Kailash and I told Paul and so up we went about 9:45 p.m. along with Satish.  Cheryl and I aren't comfortable with just showing up and using the restaurant so we each purchased a beverage while we waited for the show.  It got to 10:00 p.m. and no fireworks, 10:15 same, 10:30 still nothing had started.

The guys were about to leave and head back to the rooms when the display started.  We all went out on the balcony and watched the spectacle, it was very nice and you could hear the cheering from Independence Square.  The fireworks actually lit up the statue and you could see just how close we are to the City Center. Cheryl was able to capture some of the fireworks and I know everyone has seen a fireworks show before, but you've never seen one from Kyiv.



Enjoy!

7

7 is not just a number, it's the name of what has become our team hangout.  I'm sure at some point in the day at least one or two of our team are there, having lunch, an afternoon drink, or dinner.  The staff there is very friendly and their English is very good and they indulge us as we try our hand at the local language.  The food is very good, as it is everywhere here, but it is really affordable and just a few blocks down the street.  Paul, Shiva, Cheryl, and I stopped here on our way back from the Monastery Caves today.  We usually sit outside unless it's raining or if there is more then four us, but today the weather was lovely (although a little windy) and it was just us Oldies.

Paul found this place for us, he was one of the first to arrive in Kyiv two weeks ago and he arrived shortly after breakfast.  He was looking for somewhere to eat and came across this place.  We joke that our team has significantly increased the monthly revenue of this restaurant and we joke about having them give us a Bon Voyage party when we leave.  You can tell we've been here a lot because we all knew that the girl standing behind Paul had just started working here because unlike most of the staff, she didn't recognize us.  Give her a week and she will.

Bat Cave Questions

Hi Mrs. Borrel and Third Grade.

Hey Sydney....

I am so glad to hear that you are all reading the blog while I am working here in Ukraine.  It is a very beautiful city and the people have been very helpful, their ability to speak English is so much better then my ability to speak Ukrainian but each day I try harder and harder to speak the words properly and to learn a new word.

While I am working here there is a lady who helps us to make sure we have what we need to do our jobs and to make sure everything is OK with our hotel.  Her name is Oksana and she has two boys, one, whose name is Oleksii (but he likes to be called Alex) is about a year older then you all.  I was able to spend some time with them on Saturday so I asked them your question about school uniforms.

When Oksana was a girl, her country of Ukraine was under the rule of another country, Russia, and it was required to wear a uniform to school from Kindergarten all the way through High-School.  She said her uniform was a long black dress and she wore an apron from the waist down.  She said she has fond memories of her uniform.

Today, Ukraine is independent, they make their own laws and rules so there are some schools where a uniform is required and some schools where students, like you at Carpenter Hill, can wear what you want.  Alex goes to a school where a uniform is required.  Oksana has mixed feelings about the uniform, on the one hand she really likes it because your child knows what to wear each day, there are no discussions or questions (or arguments) about what one is going to wear each day, it's easy.  But on the other hand, the uniform her son is required to wear is made of wool, it is very good in the winter because it keeps him warm but it is very hot and uncomfortable in the summer.  This uniform is also very expensive so if there was a lighter and more affordable uniform that Alex could wear then Oksana would be very happy.

The team that went to Lviv were able to get some pictures for you guys outside of the city while they were on the train.  Thank you Darren (Malaysia), Aline (Brazil - Blond Hair), and Flavia (Brazil - Black Hair).









As you can see, the countryside is very green and seems very lush, sadly, Texas is not that fortunate to get as much rain as Ukraine does, plus it is not as hot here as back home.

I did bring my Carpenter Hill Colt t-shirt with me so I wore it out to dinner today and had Cheryl take a picture of me in it for you.  I am having a turkey pot pie and a cherry pie for dessert along with a Coca-Cola which is served in a glass bottle but then poured into a glass to drink.  I have noticed that all the drinks come in bottles here - either glass or plastic and I asked Oksana if Kyiv has a large recycling program with all the recyclable glass and plastic bottles.  Sadly, she said, "No, not yet, but hopefully it will come here."  So keep recycling and composting over the summer, I know Mrs. Borrel will be happy if you do, so will I.

Monastery Caves (Pechersk Lavra)

Today is Sunday and once again, Paul, Shiva, Cheryl, and I set off for another adventure at 10:30 a.m.  Nothing really starts here before 10:00 as we've discovered, but that's OK, we've all adjusted.  My usual bed-time nowadays is 11:30 p.m. after I've had a chance to speak to Tyler and Sydney when they get home from school at 3:15 p.m.  Kyiv is 8 hours ahead in time and in order to skype with them, I stay up later.  My whole day schedule has shifted to fit in here although I still find myself waking up each morning shortly after 6:00 a.m.  Oh, and everything runs on military time, so no 5:00 p.m., it's 17:00.  I'm good with it after four years in the military, but back to today's adventure.

I wanted to go to Perchesk Lavra which is a major Christian Orthodox monastery founded in 1051 A.D., a cave monastery, and it is very much in use even today (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev_Pechersk_Lavra).  Along with St. Sophia Cathedral which I'm going to see next weekend, it is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Cave Monastery as it is referred to is considered Kyiv's number one tourist attraction.  As all of our adventures outside of the City Center require a metro ride, we headed over to the local station "University Station", a place we are all familiar with now at navigating.  After three stops on the metro we needed to find Bus No. 24 or Trolley No. 38.  We found the bus first so on we hopped, paid the conductor (and not the bus driver) the required fare and a few minutes later we arrived at our destination.  As we came closer to the monastery we noticed the women were pulling out their scarves and covering their heads.  Not wanting to insult anyone, Cheryl and I pulled our scarves from our purses and covered our heads as well.

The monastery is located on a series of hills and includes many churches and buildings and it was very difficult to figure out where to go and what to do.  I thought given it's UNESO status that there would perhaps be a few signs in English or a map / guide we could purchase in English so we could follow along.  Unfortunately not, so we followed everyone else who seemed to know where they were going and did our best to muddle through.  We found the main entrance to the caves, the part we wanted to see, so we each purchased a few candles and went through the doors.  The guys were in front and Cheryl and I followed behind.  We had been able to follow the signs for "No Camera, No Smoking, Women Cover Your Head" but we didn't realize that we were required to be in a skirt - that detail wasn't in our guide books, and not clear in the signs we could make out.  We were stopped by a monk who showed us we were not dressed appropriately and that we needed to leave.  I felt horrible, not because I couldn't get in but because I had offended their faith and customs.  I handed Paul my candles and asked him to light them for me.  I went outside, looked around a bit, and sat down on a bench to wait for the guys.

I kept watching people go into the church, the line was continual and then it dawned on me that women were going into the church wearing pants and not being turned away.  Hmmm... what were they doing right that I had done wrong?  I sat and watched and noticed that just before the women in pants reached the church door, they took off their head scarf and tied it around their waist, making a pseudo skirt.  Really... that's it, that's what I need to do in order to get in?  I sat for what must have been five minutes contemplating what I should do, should I take my head scarf off and tie it around my waist and go in or should I wait?

I waited.

I was really seriously thinking of tying the scarf around my waist but all of a sudden a scene from the movie "A Bug's Life" popped in my head, it's where the main character Flik is trying to describe something to Dot and he picks up a rock and wants her to pretend it's something else, but at the end of the scene she goes, "It's just a rock."  That's how I felt about the scarf as a skirt...how is a sheer see through piece of material that would barely fit around my waist let along cover or hide anything, somehow magically transformed into a skirt, I'm still clearly wearing pants.  How does this suddenly make it OK for me to enter the caves?  I couldn't shake the feeling I was having, a certain hypocrisy if I tied the scarf around my waist.  I decided it was better for me not to see the caves then to take part in what I felt was a facade.  I mean no disrespect to the Ukrainian people or to the Christian Orthodox Monastery, but I just couldn't do it.  I have another weekend here, and I do have a skirt in the closet, so I think I might try to go back next weekend and do the experience properly.  I was able to take some pictures outside and of course, walk down and then back up three hills.

Kyiv Day

Kiev Day, or officially the Day of Kyiv, is a holiday in the capital city usually celebrated over the last weekend of May and celebrates the founding of the town.  City residents and suburban tourists (and moi) travel to the city to see performances by actors and musicians where they perform in the streets, and it is usually finished off with a firework show at around 10 in the evening.

We were cautioned about not going down to the City Center this weekend given the large number of people out in the streets, but given that we couldn't go the weekend before due to the protests, Paul, Shiva, and I decided to brave it Saturday afternoon.  Our logic thought was that if this was to be a celebration (kind of like an Independence Day in the States or a Market Day like in Greune), then it would be lots of singing, dancing, beer, and local arts and crafts for sale - harmless.  We walked down and arrived just in time to see an all-girl marching band start off the mini-parade of local sports youth teams.  We walked up the main street which had been closed off for the event and arrived at what is becoming a familiar location - Independence Square.

We stopped for a quick drink and Paul goes to me, "Sam - do you think you could find the road with the tourist shops?"  Ha ha.... he has played right into my hands.  I really wanted to cross off a few more things on my  "to do" list and now I was going to get my opportunity, thanks Paul.  Since I'm the navigator, I slung my purse across my shoulders and told him and Shiva, to "follow me, but I'm not walking slow."  Off we went, up the hill to St. Michael's church - it's actually a working Monastery and the pale blue building is absolutely gorgeous.  We had visited here on our original city tour but you couldn't help but stop to take some more pictures.  I could have led the guys down the next road but I wanted to take the Funicular (the cable car) down the hill and cross it off my list, so off we went.

When we got to the bottom we cut across a side road looking for "the oldest road in Kyiv" which sits behind St. Andrew's church on the hill.  St. Andrew's church overlooks the Podil neighborhood and it is where you find most of the tourist souvenirs.  For this weekend, the "oldest road in Kyiv" turned into the arts and crafts market and we each picked up a few souvenirs.  Of course because we had taken the funicular down, we had to walk back up the hill, but it was a pleasant afternoon - not hot, not cold, but boy was it crowded.  When we came to a fork in the road there was a live band playing so we stopped to listen, Shiva (India) however took a video.  Paul and I are going to be in a lot of Shiva's videos as that is what he prefers to do vs. take pictures.  Since Paul, Shiva, and I are a sub-team we've gotten to know each other well these past two weeks, so Paul and I know that we always need to stop and look over our shoulder to see if Shiva is still with us or if he's stopped to take a video.

From there I led the guys back to St. Sophia's church - are you sensing a theme here in Kyiv - lots and lots of beautiful, historic churches.  On Friday's walk when we passed St. Sophia we noticed crews putting up a stage and when we walked back by it, we were captivated by an orchestra playing and a man singing opera - it was a truly beautiful sound (OK, perhaps I was the only one who was truly captivated but the guys humored me and stopped for a few minutes to listen).  I would have liked to sit down in the chairs provided and listen but after the arm twisting we did to get Shiva and Paul to come to the Ballet next week, I decided I would walk slowly, very slowly, past the church.  I am hoping to go back to St. Sophia next weekend as it has been turned into a historical museum and you can climb the bell tower.

When we finally sat down for dinner it was 7:30 p.m. and we had been walking for three hours, just as long and as far as we had gone on Friday.  I had a lovely dinner of salmon and grilled vegetables, sorry no picture, and thought about the fact that I would be walking up and down hills on our Sunday excursion to the Monastery Caves which is three metro stops away and a little outside of the city center.  I'm feeling pretty good now with all the walking and navigating the city and the metro.  Now, if I can start learning a few more words, I'll be good to go (although the hotel is impressed that I can say my room number - 505 in Ukrainian - pyat null pyat).  I'm really glad and grateful that Paul and Shiva were wanting to go out despite our caution, it was a fun time.  By the way, I've discovered that the beautiful church that we can see from the hotel and the one we walk by on our way to and from work is actually St. Volodymyr's Cathedral and is considered the most ornate church out of the main four in the city.  Here's a picture if you need a reminder.

Chernobyl

When I found out I was coming to Kyiv I was asked by several people if I planned to go to Chernobyl and see the site of the nuclear disaster of 1986, it is after all only two hours from Kyiv.  My answer was always the same, "No, it's not a tourist attraction, but I would like to go to the museum in Kyiv."  On Thursday evening when we had our team meeting we were asked by Oksana, our on-site logistics coordinator, what our plans were for the weekend in town since most of the team was going to Lviv.  The reason she was asking was because she had mentioned earlier in our meeting that it was going to be Kyiv Day in the City Center and we should probably avoid that area.  Hmmm.....another weekend where we can't go downtown, I'm going to have to ask if there is another "something" scheduled for next weekend, if so, I'm going to lose all my opportunity to see all the things on my "to do" list.  Well don't fret, there isn't anything planned, and well, we went downtown to check out the Kyiv Day anyway after the Chernobyl museum but that will all be covered in a separate blog.

Back to Chernobyl...when Oksana heard we were going to the museum she offered to come with us and be our guide.  Paul, Shiva, Cheryl, and I all jumped on the chance to have her join us and we invited her to bring her family with her, it was Saturday after all.  We met Oksana and her eldest son "Alex" (his name is Oleksii, but he likes to be called Alex) at the metro station and walked the few blocks to the museum.  If you weren't specifically looking for the building you'd walk right by it, it's an under-stated small two story building.  Aside from Sydney and her classmates who are reading the blog at school, we should all be aware of what happened in Chernobyl in April of 1986.  I was living in Ohio by then, had been in the States about 2.5 years, and it was a huge story in our area considering that the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station is thirty minutes away from where I was living.  If something bad happened at a nuclear plant in one country, it could happen here - that's what I thought at 16.

Oksana is a little younger then me, her son is about Tyler's age, and like me she was a student going to school, but while I was safe in Toledo, Ohio, she was here in Kyiv, not far from the Chernobyl site when disaster struck.  She shared her personal stories with us as we walked around the rooms of the museum, you can visibly see how much of a painful and personal experience that time was for her and still is.  I asked if I could share some of her experience in the blog and she said "Of course."  My first question for her was, "Do you remember where you were when this life changing event happened?" and her response to me was, "No, we didn't know at that time if was life altering, no information was being released, people weren't told anything."  It was only after a few days when International reports started coming in did those in the area learn of what happened.  She tears up as she recalls how her father waited in line at the train station for 40 hours with other fathers to purchase train tickets for their families to leave the area.  She left the next day with her mother and younger brother, he father staying behind to work - it was expected of him, and she traveled to Moscow in a packed train of women and children.  In Moscow they were scanned for radiation and while their bodies were fine, their shoes and the bottom of her long school uniform skirt were full of radiation.  She spent four months in Moscow going to school and then re-settled in Western Ukraine to finish the school year, only returning to Kyiv about a year after the event.

To describe the museum, it is somber, dark, sad, so many lives lost, so many more lives affected forever.  There are varying reports of why the disaster struck - some say it was a failed test, some say there was seismic activity in the region (which is possible given the region), it could very likely have been a combination of both, whatever the cause, the result was devastating.  As you enter the museum you see the list of towns and villages that were in the area, displayed in white - inviting, but as you leave the exhibit, you see the names black, crossed out, no longer habitable for hundreds of years to come.  It's a lesson for us all to learn, to be vigilant about our stewardship of the one Earth we all inhabit and share.  A somber, dark, deep thought, but that is what I was left with and I am grateful to have had this experience.


It was hard for me to take pictures inside the museum, I was overcome with a sense of spying on someone's privacy, taking pictures of their tragedy, but there were a few I took which really struck me.  The first is a wall full of children's pictures, they were identified as being directly affected by the Chernobyl disaster and were given a "special status" (read - needing extra care and oversight).  It is only one wall of pictures, there were four walls like this.  The other picture I would like to share is of a tree that is bearing the memories and personal items of those killed and affected by the blast, the fallen apples on the floor represent the fact that this tree no longer bears fruit.  It was a profoundly moving exhibit as you realize that this area, not far from where I am living for four weeks, is a dead zone, unable to produce or sustain anything for several hundreds of years.


Thank you Oksana for sharing this experience with me.