38 Hours and 9 Time Zones Later

Now that I have internet, I can post what I wrote about my traveling experiences last week. 

Last Tuesday I started my journey to Zaporozhye. I got into the car with my family at 11AM. After going through customs at the Philly International Airport, I was on my own. I flew from Philly to New York, then to Moscow, then to Kiev. From Kiev I was picked up and taken to the train where I would try to sleep for the next 10 hours on my way to Zaporozhye. I got to the apartment I was staying in around 1:00 AM on Thursday (8 in the morning on Zap time), bringing my total travel hours to 38.

My parents watching as I go through security at PHL.

The trip was exceedingly long but there were very few complications. Except for a minor mishap with my suitcase lock there were no problems getting through customs at PHL and the security measures in Moscow and Kiev were nothing compared to the TSA.

The cultural shift began before I was even off US soil. Boarding the flight to Moscow it was very obvious that English was no longer the dominant language. Thank goodness those safety manuals have pictures--otherwise I'd never know how to transform my seat into a floatation device.

The flight itself was great. I finally got to watch at least the beginning of The Dark Knight Rises (I think it makes me a terrible person that it took me this long...especially since I didn't even finish it). I think my favorite part of the entire trip was coming down below the cloud level right before landing in Moscow and seeing snow covered trees and houses. Those of you who know I feel about snow will understand how beautiful that was to me.

View from the plane in Moscow

Surprisingly good plane food. Who serves fish in a confined space, though? Really?

As I started toward the next terminal for my flight to Ukraine, an elderly Ukrainian couple attached themselves to me. At first I didn't know what was going on--no matter how many times I pointed to myself and said "English...no Russian," the woman just kept rattling off to me in Russian. Finally one of the workers in the airport told me this couple was also going to Kiev and they wanted to follow me. I thought it was pretty obvious that I had no clue what was going on but they wouldn't take no for an answer, so we went through security together and started running to gate 48. The process was actually pretty straightforward and there were signs everywhere. At first they followed me confidently but when I stopped to read a sign halfway through they must have gotten nervous about placing their confidence in me because for the next 15 minutes they stopped every single person we passed to ask if we were going the right way. Luckily, I didn't lead them astray and the three of us got to the right gate with time to spare. 

I discreetly snapped a photo of my new friend.

As I stepped off of the plane in Kiev I received my first reprimand for not wearing a coat. It was extremely hot on the plane so the freezing breeze was a welcome change, but this idea made no sense to the flight attendant. As I boarded the shuttle in Kiev I was greeted by two Ukrainian men who had also ignored her stern advice about wearing a coat. One of them spoke English, which was a relief. After getting a good laugh about the overly nervous flight attendant he started asking all about whether this was my first time in Ukraine and where I was from and what I was doing here. He told me I came off more as a Canadian than an American (which I can only assume was a compliment). 

Upon entering the terminal, I parted with the friendly Ukrainian men to huddle around a table with the other foreigners who were eagerly filling out immigration cards. After a long wait I was accepted into the country (thank God). I claimed by baggage and was left standing in front of two corridors. One was marked “Red Route” and one “Green Route”--no explanation. I stood there for a while trying to figure out what the signs meant. It was clear that once I chose one I would not be able to come back into the terminal unless I went through customs, so this seemed important. Since I have no qualms about stopping random passersby to ask questions, I stopped an official looking man. He told me one was for people who had things to claim and the other was for everyone else. So finally I decided to take the Green Route.

At the other end of the Green Route I was greeted by Ira (HOPE's translator from the Kiev office) and the famous Vitalic (a lawyer/driver who works for HOPE--his name is almost certainly not spelled this way). They were standing there with a namecard waiting for me, just as every movie about airport meetings has led me to expect. They took me to the HOPE office in Kiev (HOPE Ukraine's headquarters) where I got to meet the country director, Andre. Tea was served immediately, of course. Andre treated me to a terribly exotic dinner of pizza from the local Italian restaurant (not quite what I was expecting) where he tried to tell me everything I'd need to know to get around in Ukraine. I asked Andre for the top ways I might accidentally offend people. He responded with these:

1) Refuse to drink with somebody. Andre says this will come across as extremely rude, but he gave me an easy out. Apparently it's perfectly polite to claim I have stomach ulcers and can't handle the alcohol.

2) Refuse to try food. "When Ukrainians find out you're American all they'll want to do is feed you."

After dinner Ira and Vitalic took me to the train station for my 10 hour ride to Zap. They were a little worried about me so they asked the conductor if they could help me get my stuff onto the train. They dropped me off in my room and Ira explained (in Russian) to the woman who was in my car that I was going to Zap and didn't speak Russian. She kindly showed me what I was supposed to do with everything in the tiny bunkbeds and made sure I was ready when we got to the city. The two Ukrainian men who were also staying in our room didn't really acknowledge me until the very end when they helped me carry my bags, which I was thankful for. After getting off the train I stood outside looking around for Max, my supervisor in Zap. It's a funny feeling trying to figure out which of the strangers on the platform might be the one who's there to collect you.

Max found me pretty quickly and took me straight to Galya's apartment. Galya runs a transition home for girls who have aged out of orphanages and she happened to have an extra bed for the week. I've been here at Galya's for a week now and will be moving into my own apartment in about an hour. She's been very sweet to me and we've had some funny moments since she doesn't speak any English and I don't speak any Russian. Google Translate has been our constant companion.

The stairway to Galya's apartment.

It's been a pretty eventful week and I'm still not quite settled in, but hopefully I'll be moved into my new apartment in just a few hours.