First 2 Days

After 24 hours of travel and no sleep I finally arrived in Kyiv and the intern apartment where I was going to be living only for a few days before I take a train out to the camp where I would be teaching. I was only able to take a 2 hour nap before I headed out into the city with the interns from Britain, Mexico, India, and Macedonia (x2).

I was told that it might not be too hard for me to find away around with only English, but I soon found out that this would not be true. Thankfully, for our first day out our Macedonian frriends helped us communicate and find our way about. We made our way through a few markets and finally to the Center (AKA the Independence Square, AKA Maidan), which was stunningly beautiful.

I haven't eaten much since I got here and yet I'm not hungry. The only thing I ate on the first day was some eggs, which I found funny because I poured syrup on my eggs, the Macedonian ha ketchup, and the Mexican ate his with friend because he lacked tortilla shells. We all thought eachother were weird, but these types of conversations about eachother countries have been the norm since I got here. The others were quite surprised when I told them about Saskatchewan's weather. Here's what I ate for lunch this morning:

I also bought some perogies and something involving pancakes and apples, but I was too full to finish the pancakes. I'm not sure why I was full.

Beer is about as costly as water is here and is sold at every corner store at the market. I rate their beer slightly better than ours, at least the cheap stuff. Cheap vodka costs about $3 for a 40 oz. Everything is very cheap but doesn't seem like it because most thing cost 5-15rfn, which is only $2 at the most. I bought a cell phone for 250rfn and thought I was spending a lot of money, but it only turned out to be $40, which is still more than I'd like to be spending at this point. Public transport costs about $0.10.

Speaking of public transport, after going off my own to see a friend of mine, Daria, I tried to get home using the tram which I had used a few times already. It is night and I could not see very well. I thought I was getting off at my stop but when I walked around I noticed I wasn't. I walked for 5 more stops, which is probably 3 km and started to get worried. Oddly enough, I started feeling more at ease than I thought I would be lost in a strange city with no one speaking english. It was a dirty neighbourhood but seemed safe. Eventually I got to a station, called a Ukrainian friend to talk to the officer at the station, and he eventually said I was one station away and walked me home. He didn't speak English and I dont know what I would've done if I hadn't of bought my phone only a couple hours earlier.

Now I've found out that I'll be staying in Kyiv to teach children how to make videos. I don't know how old these kids are, how long I'm at the camp, or how far the place is away from my apartment...so that should be fun. I'm also going to help AIESEC Kyiv this weekend and be a faci for a conference for their outgoing EPs, which I'm really looking forward to. I'll also get to stay in the apartment which means I'll get to meet most of the 30 other interns that are coming to the city.

Oh ya, one more thing....

Bacon chips.