Living in Ukraine: Week 1

Upon request and out of personal need for an outlet, here’s the post about my first week in the Ukraine! It’s weird to think that I’ve been here for only a week. I feel like it’s been so much longer. I’ve learned a lot of things so I guess I’ll let you in on my first impressions of Ukraine:

1. I’ll come out and say it: Ukraine looks ghetto. That’s probably why people complain of not finding very many pictures of Kiev or as they spell it now, Kyiv: nobody wants to post pictures because it looks so ghetto. Most of the buildings (about 50% of them are apartment buildings) are falling apart. A lot of that is probably due to the former Soviet Union. You can still see and hear about the impact that the Soviet Union had/has on the present day Ukraine. Plus, I don’t think “curb appeal” is a word here. I have yet to see a lawn. Or a paved sidewalk for that matter…

2. Ukrainians are crazy drivers. Seriously, I thought I was going to die once I left the airport. Nothing fazed our bus driver: pedestrians, being cut-off, speed limits, crazy turns out of nowhere. Just another day… The streets have painted lines but they’re more of a guideline than a rule. They just kind of tell people, “This is how many lanes there are supposed to be.” Ukrainians like to create and take away lanes as needed which creates some very interesting situations, especially during rush-hour traffic.

3. Ukrainians like to feed you. A lot. Many of the teachers and I have found out that starving isn’t an option because somehow Ukrainians manage to feed you twice as much as you probably should have eaten. Meals usually include multiple dishes at your place of sitting and copious amounts of bread, meat and potatoes. I’m glad I like potatoes because I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so many potatoes in one week before. Same goes for tea. I never drank tea at home and I’m sure making up for it now. My host mom makes me my own pot of fruit tea in the morning for breakfast and at night for tea time (some teas are allowed in the Mormon religion and thanks to my brother who is a former missionary to Eastern Europe, I know which ones are okay to drink. Thanks, bro!).  

4. I think the most important thing I’ve learned about Ukrainians in my first week was this: Ukrainians are people just like me. Before I came to Ukraine I was so concerned with what they would be like. For some reason because they spoke a different language it automatically made them a different person than me. NOT TRUE. Having gotten to know my host family this past week has shown me that these people care about a lot of things and have normal human problems like the rest of us: they get mad when the bus is late. They think Spongebob Squarepants is hilarious. They fall in love. They tell jokes similar to my humor. Their kids throw tantrums in the super market. They want the best for the future and worry about changing things now. Sure there are things I will never understand, like why their toilets have to be shaped differently than American toilets and why smiling is such a bad thing. But these are people like me and I think I can relate better to my students because I know that.

So here’s to my first week in Ukraine. Tune in next week to hear about my first week of teaching. ;)