Final posting from Ukraine

Well, with this post, I bid goodbye to Ukraine and my many loyal blog followers as I leave Poltava via train tomorrow, and depart Ukraine on Monday afternoon from Kyiv. Again, I must give a HUGE thank you (or spassiva) to my colleague, translator, and friend, Larissa Ischenko, without whom my entire stay in Poltava and Ukraine would have been incredibly difficult. Lara facilitated pretty much EVERYTHING I was involved in during my four months here, from translating my presentations to helping me purchase train tickets and shopping for various items I needed but had no idea where to find here. She also insured that my stay here included interesting excursions to museums, parks, and the wonderful shashlik outing last weekend.

All in all, this has been a very good experience, particularly in an academic sense; however I feel that I should remark upon a few items that I will list as peeves, or perhaps best described as personal frustrations; these were, in no particular order:

• The lack of winter weather remediation for roads and sidewalks: Although the main thoroughfare boulevard (Zhovtneva) was fairly well-maintained, most side streets and sidewalks were covered with six inches (or more) of snow and ice until the temperature for day-time highs remained in the 40s consistently for several days; this did not occur until mid-to-late March. To me, this lack of basic service at the city level seemed to project a very bad image to display for anyone thinking of investing here from the outside.
• Infrastructure problems: Aside from the streets, I had no hot water for over two weeks in late-April early-May. Fortunately, during that time I traveled to Western Ukraine and I had hoped that, upon my return, I would be greeted with hot, or at least warm, water; not to be. Finally, after repeatedly contacting the agency through which I rented my apartment, the building’s hot water returned (after three days). However, the faucet in the bathroom provides only a trickle now, but thankfully the shower and kitchen water pressure are fine. Also, the electricty intermittently goes off, mostly in the morning. I have no idea how/why any of this happens lately, as during the winter, all seemed fine.
• Here I will be blunt: For the most part, and with a few exceptions, people in the stores were quite cold and unfriendly. Even after repeatedly going to stores near my apartment, I was never greeted with so much as a nod of recognition, much less a smile, and I often felt hostility towards me as a non-native and non-speaker of Russian (the locals mostly speak Russian here). Occasionally the women at the store would provide a degree of assistance with placing groceries in a bag, but for the most part everyone seemed hurried and ill-tempered. I stopped greeting any of them when I saw that they never returned the greeting.
• Little respect for personal space: I noticed almost immediately that, while walking down the sidewalk  and attempting to move to one side or another to avoid colliding with another pedestrian, they would often change in the same direction, forcing me to change again. Either such people are completely oblivious to the implication of colliding with a 200+ lb. man, or they enjoy deliberately playing “sidewalk chicken”. Which brings me to another point: Many here are into competitive speed-walking. Often while attempting to pass another pedestrian, they will speed up, insuring that I either drop back and let them take the lead (where they inevitably slow down again and restart the competition), or I have to semi-run to out-distance them and eliminate myself from the competition by “winning” - whatever that means. Also, especially when I was in Western Ukraine, I found that people routinely jostle and bump into you without so much as a word of apology. I must note that this is not the case with EVERYONE here – but the instances that do occur can lead to a visitor such as myself to judge a population as a whole on the rudeness of the few.

Again, ultimately, this has been an extremely positive experience, thanks to the direct assistance of many here, so I do not wish to appear ungrateful nor wish to stereotype the local population. These are just observations that I want to include as a form of summative addressing of my four month experience here.

Farewell, Ukraina!

A day of shashlik and nature

A Saturday outing on the grounds of the beautiful campus of the A. Makarenko Boarding School for gifted students in the village of Kovalivka, between Poltava and Kharkiv. It was a total surprise for me as I was anticipating a guided tour of the Poltava History Museum.

My first (and likely last - at least for a while) walk in the natural beauty of the region; shashlik (outdoor grilling or barbecue) with a great variety of excellent local foods and fresh vegetables. Many toasts, as well, as this was more-or-less my farewell feast on my final weekend in Poltava. Lots of pictures of the grounds and food, and the fine folks who made it all possible.

Travel to Western Ukraine

During the first full week of May (May 3-8, to be exact), I accepted an invitation to travel to the city of Ivano-Frankivs'k, way on the other side of Ukraine from where I am residing in Poltava. I travelled with Chris Lowe, a Peace Corps volunteer stationed in Poltava. We were both invited to present at the PreCarpathian University in Ivano-Frankivs'k by fellow Fulbright scholar Martha Kuchar and Molly Smith with the Peace Corps there. I was grateful for the English-speaking company on the 20+ hr. train ride to get there. Plus Chris speaks Ukrainian rather well, and this helped immensely with logistics.

We caught a train leaving Poltava at 10:30 PM, and were glad that we did not have to share the four bunk sleeper compartment with others. The nice thing about catching a train that late is that once you have settled in, have something to eat and drink, it's easy to just crash.

I awoke the next morning at 9:00 AM which surprised me, but sleeping on trains is not new to me having done so many times, many years ago. We had time to have both breakfast and lunch from the stash of food I brought and the train pulled into the Lviv train station at 2:40. Our train to Ivano-Frankivs'k left at 3:20 PM, so it was a nice, fast connection. (I must say that so far I have been VERY impressed by the timeliness of the Ukranian railways - they always seem to be right on time.)

We got to Ivano at 6:40 PM and were greeted by my Fulbright colleague, Martha, at the station. I caught a bus to the hotel they had reserved for me while Chris went to stay with another Peace Corps volunteer in Ivano. We met up for pizza at 8:00 PM, and I had the closest thing I have tasted to a real Italian pizza at a pizzeria named "Pizza Peperoncino". Sitting outside eating a real wood-fired brick oven-baked pizza after the grueling train ride was like waking up in Wonderland. Needless to say, I slept great that night.

The next morning, after eating at a sumptuous breakfast buffet, Martha and Chris met me at the Hotel Nadia (in case you ever go there) at 10:00 AM whereupon we embarked on a brief tour of the town. You can see pictures of the entire visit here. Suffice it to say that Ivano-Frankivs'k is a very different place than Poltava, and much of the city centre is quite charming.

After a light lunch, we went to the University where, after negotiating a labyrinth of hallways, we located the computer lab graciously lent to us for my presentation/workshop. A few issues appeared right away - first, there was no projector or screen from which to project my PowerPoint (there was also no whiteboard or any board, for that matter). Next, the laptop eventually provided did not have MS Office 2007 on it, so my presentation was translated via OpenOffice (note: do NOT attempt this). Then I discovered that the computers in the lab had varying configurations for Internet browsing - some having Internet Explorer, others with only FireFox or - Opera! Needless to say, it took a while to get things up-and-running and, oh, did I mention? The lab had no ventilation and it was sweltering hot. Now, some of you know that I can sweat standing still in a snowstorm, so it soon appeared that I was in a sauna - which, in essence, I was. But things went reasonably well, eventually, and we all ended up going to a nice outdoor spot in a beautiful park for a few refreshing beers. After that we were joined by a few others as we dined in a very fancy place with excellent traditional Ukrainian food. Unfortunately, this eatery had us sitting in a small private room which, after a while, became sweltering hot. After finishing the sumptuous multi-course meal, I really needed fresh air and had to excuse myself, but fortunately was joined by Molly and Chris and enjoyed the walk back to the hotel in the very welcome fresh air. Part of my problem is that I never eat three full meals in one day, so my discomfort was likely due to "train lag" coupled with the notable humidity in Ivano, plus more food than I would normally consume in two days! But I survived, and sat by the beautiful fountain outside the hotel for a while to get additional fresh air before heading to my room.

The next day I took my time getting up, going for a walk around the city center again, and avoiding any food, as I really had enough nourishment for a couple of days in me! I felt great as I met up with Martha at the University early enough for me to open every window in the computer lab letting in the cool breeze, and allowing the "sauna lab" to cool down prior to my workshop. As I started the workshop, the staff started closing the windows, which of course I protested, but was followed by the two air conditioning wall units being activated. I attempted to say that the breeze was fine and was a lot cheaper, but that was that; AC on, windows closed. I really have a hard time understanding Ukrainians sometimes...

The workshop went a lot better, as I had "downgraded" my PowerPoint to the 2003 version, but there were still issues with the Internet connection, and various glitches while students attempted to create Google accounts. But it went really well after all, because with Martha's great recommendations, we managed to get some real products started.

Afterwards, the University's English language department, where Martha and Molly work, gave us all a great reception in their office with food and beverages, and gratitude and toasts all around. We all went to change, rest, etc. before regrouping near the city center fountain for a few beers, then to a fantastic place (Legenda-Centre) recommended by Molly atop a very modern building: outdoors, with a terrific view of the city from above, and with excellent food and my favorite Ukranian wine (Crimean Bastardo - yeah, I know).

The next day it was travel time again, so after a light helping at the breakfast buffet, I made my way to the train station and met up with Chris, who was travelling only to Lviv this time, meeting other Peace Corps volunteers and sharing an apartment over the weekend.

I had four hours to kill at the Lviv train station, but fortunately, there were two waiting areas: one, a traditional waiting room, the other with a large video jukebox and a full bar with food in the middle of it! As there were only three little tables there, I waited until one was available and then parked myself for the next three-and-a-half hours, reading while sneaking sandwiches I had already made and ordering one beer per hour to avoid appearing ungrateful for the great sitting place.

At 4:00 PM I worked my way over to the appropriate track, and waited for my train, which was already there, to open the doors. At 4:30 I was in my compartment, and could not believe how plush it was! Knowing that I would be travelling on my own I had booked the "deluxe" compartment which meant that I would be able to spend the next almost 16 hrs. in a very nice space indeed. It smelled nice, I had the whole thing to myself, and it even had air conditioning. Still, 15+ hours is a LONG time, and I was glad that I had something to read and an iPod to listen to during that time.
I arrived at 8:40 AM in Poltava, and  I was very happy to be back "home" but I was also very surprised to hear thunder as I arrived (the first time since I had been here) and watching the spring rain come down outside my window...

New stuff - at last!

Okay, I know it has been a REALLY long time since my last post . I apologize for keeping all my many fans (?!) out there waiting, but I have just been super busy in April. For starters, I had to finish a book chapter that I wanted out of the way by mid-April, and - mission accomplished. Second, I wanted to submit a proposal to the AACE E-Learn Conference in October and that deadline was looming as well. Again, done. So lots of writing. Now for the fun stuff...

Easter here was very nice, but very quiet. I must mention that the Spring weather here has been pretty much PERFECT - to me anyway! Since around the first week of April we have had high temperatures reaching the mid 60s in the day, but night temperatures in the 40s. I like that kind of variation. This last week it has only reached the mid-to-upper-50s for high temps, but still lows in the 40s. Oh, yeah, and did I mention? SUNNY! Almost every day, actually. Yes, I know that in Memphis it has reached the 80s and all I can say to that is - I'm sorry. Sorry that you must endure that sort of early Spring meteorological anomaly, while I am quite happy to have missed it.
Oh, yeah, back to Easter - they have a special Easter bread, so I bought a small version of that along with a special wine and liqueur that came as a package with the bread. Very nice - had a nice stroll along the walkway that forms the median of the main boulevard in Poltava, Zhovtneva street. I live only a few blocks from there, and my Institute is there as well. This whole town has taken on a new and very pleasant look since the snow and ice melted, and Spring has arrived. Getting greener all the time...

In other news, my little Dell 2100N netbook more-or-less died around two weeks ago. I just got it back from a reputable computer store who determined that there were two virii on it that somehow managed to get through the Norton Symantec 11.x AV that was installed... so much for Norton being "the best". I have been borrowing a very nice large ASUS laptop from the Institute. They are SO incredibly nice, and extremely supportive to me here - I am truly humbled. I definitely made the right decision in choosing the Poltava Institute as my Fulbright location.

Also, I have finished up teaching classes - only a few presentations/workshops left. For the last two groups, in March and April, their group products were, respectively, a Wikipedia entry on informatics education in Ukraine (on Wikipedia Ukraine site), and a Google Sites website for the class and as a resource for other informatics teachers. You can have Google translate it although some of it comes out rather odd... All of the teachers were great, and it was an honor working with them.

One last thing - I didn't like the way that Blogspot posts photos, so from now on I am posting all photos here (and there are some new ones). More on an upcoming trip soon - I promise! In the meantime, you can catch my Tweets - which I have managed to have real birds transmit to you subliminally, as I don't actually use Twitter... so listen closely to them... they're right outside your window. Right now. Look! And listen...

Room with a view

I have been meaning to upload some photos of my apartment, and the view from the windows. Here they are, without comment.

Food, too

Okay, I will admit that there is more to eat here than flavored peanuts. I have had the pleasure of eating "real" Ukrainian foods when invited for lunch and dinner when I first arrived here, and as previously expressed, it was quite varied and delicious. But for my daily nutritional needs, I can find many of my favorite fresh fruits and vegetables, along with great locally-made bread, sausages, salami, and cheeses. There are butcher shops where one can buy beef, pork, and chicken, but since I really don't need to eat much meat, I am good with the other stuff. (I have found some delicious crab cakes here that I enjoy.)

Yesterday my colleague, Lara, surprised me by bringing over some smoked fish and homemade wine and honey, along with some beers. The fish was deliciously smoky and salty, perfect with hot mustard and the homemade wine, which was slightly sweet and strong. Also, in the photos you will notice the large jars of pickles, tomatoes, and borscht. These were all made by and given to me by my generous colleague - Spassiva, Lara!

So here are more pics of food - mostly to prevent my mom from freaking out at the idea that all I eat here are tins of flavored nuts ...

Food

For some reason many friends and family members have asked what it is that I eat here. So I figured I would accomodate these requests by, once and for all, revealing what it is that I have found to survive on in edible provisions. I have already revealed what there is to imbibe: beer and vodka; as the water is likely unsafe from the tap, I make coffee with beer ... odd combination that takes some getting used to. Anyway as you can see from this photo, it is very easy to get all food groups from the three items depicted: dairy, meats, and legumes. Since nuts also provide some roughage, I figure with these three items I have it all covered. Mmmm ... Bon appetit!

Interesting week, Pt. 3: The Celebration

On Friday the Institute celebrated the March 8 Women's Day with an all out effort and performances by the male faculty, administration & staff members for the women (the women did the same on Men's Day, a couple of weeks ago). The reason it was celebrated on the 5th is that March 8th is a national holiday here (coincidentally also the anniversary of the Russian Revolution).

I was asked to participate, so in keeping with the culture (and not having a playable guitar available readily) I played the balalaika, Dedicating the performance to my truly awesome contact / translator / colleague here with a version of Lara's Theme from Dr. Zhivago (her name is Lara). The song is over forty years old, and was actually written by a Frenchman (Maurice Jarre), but I heard a few oldsters humming along, so despite having picked up the instrument and learned the song (and instrument) in three hours that morning, I guess I did okay.

Everyone then repaired to the adjacent room for sweets, shampanske (sparkling wine), and brandy, people dancing and singing, so I could say it was a great day ... It's fascinating that these folks are fairly reserved until it's time to "party", but boy, they do know how to party when it's time!

As you can see from the video, I made the best of this potentially disastrous situation...

Interesting week, Pt. 2 - The class

Upon reviewing feedback from my first group, and after discussing this with my colleague, she recommended that I go "deeper" with them in terms of instruction; meaning, in short, that I needed to get "heavy" with them in terms of what they are getting out of the class. Several things have prompted this: an insistence that I provide every single detail of instruction (step-by-step) regarding the research and projects I have them working on, and explaining precisely "why" we / they are doing something in the class.

So in last Wednesday's class, I started out by asking them how many cards I was holding. (In the absence of playing cards, I used some colorful little calendar cards I found.) I deliberately made it look like I was holding three, and showed them back and front of my hand holding the cards. Satisfied, they all agreed that I had three cards. I then revealed that behind one of the cards I held two more, making five cards where they were certain there were three.

My point, which I carried forth, was that you cannot always be satisfied by appearances, and that further investigation is ALWAYS required, particularly when teaching students. This seemed like a novel idea to them, so I expounded on the fact that even though we see what is in front of us all the time, we simply must look beyond at the greater world to discover more - and encourage our students to do likewise. So I have been trying to break through this wall with my students / teachers here and get them to start looking elsewhere - like the rest of the planet. I actually challenged them when I asked if they believed that through their jobs as teachers they can change the world simply by affecting their students. Most shook their heads and said no. Do you know what I told them? Then you should NOT be a teacher! That got the discussion going ...

In many ways already noted, these teachers are a product of a much more regimented education system that produces desired "results" (exam scores) than we have in the United States. But I believe that we may have an advantage in the US in that, with all our comparatively uneven school accountability (because it varies greatly state-by-state, district-by-district, even school-by-school), our teachers are just not ever going to be -- conformists.

But then, we have to remember something about Ukraine - it has only been independent from USSR since 1991, and they are still struggling with their identity - one need only read the recent political news for confirmation.

Interesting week, Pt I.

Well, it has been an interesting week here in Poltava; so interesting, in fact, that I will divide it into three parts, so here is the first part:

The week started inauspiciously enough with a lecture for the faculty scheduled for Monday morning being postponed for two weeks. Okay, then, on Wednesday as I arrive at work to teach my class and am cooling down from the mile walk through ice, the Institute's Rector, Vitaly, and the Foreign Language coordinator, Valentina, arrive in my office to give me this beautiful terracotta frieze and a matching teacup, both handmade locally.
During my class, another faculty member came in and gave me a copy of the book she authored (quite well-known nationally, it turns out), along with this cool handmade pouch, and sang happy birthday to me! I turned pretty red ... After class, the students gave me another ceramic Ukrainian figure (this time a man) filled with malinka,a local liqueur. And it wasn't even my birthday yet! They sure are sweet here, when they want to be. (Photo of all this great booty haul posted above)

I also have to acknowledge another great "gift" that arrived Wednesday, the day before my birthday - this was a much awaited Volkstaf collapsible hiking staff to assist me in negotiating the icy sidestreets on the way to work and back. I simply must express my deepest appreciation to Ruth,the owner of Rocky Mountain Amblers,who went far above-and-beyond the responsibilities of a retailer in insuring that the staff made it into the hands of Linda-Marie & Don Sundstrom, who delivered it to the Fulbright office in Kiev (and deep thanks to all of these as well). Ruth has since emailed me regarding this blog, and I have encouraged her to leave her extremely insightful reflections as comments here. Ruth, you're the best!

More to come on this eventful week - stay tuned ...

Guest appearances

On Thursday I was invited by a teacher at a local school to speak to her classroom of 6th grade students. They are learning English, and spoke it rather well, I thought, so it was very interesting - they had great questions about everything from schools in the US to my personal hobbies and impressions of Ukraine. Afterwards, they all came up and wanted me to sign notes to them - as if I were famous or something! (Note to ICL faculty: I could get used to this very easily, so watch out when I get back ...!)

On Saturday I was invited to attend the opening "ceremonies" of a regional Olympiad (competition) for students of informatics. The age group seemed to be around 15, so this was likely a ninth grade competition, and I was informed that there are other regional informatics competitions held with different age groups. One of my students, an informatics teacher, was present as well. After some pomp and ceremony held in the auditorium of the Poltava University of Consumer Cooperatives in Ukraine (aka the Cooperative University), where I was actually recognized and introduced from the podium as a visiting professor from America (ICL faculty are you getting all this. ..?), the students were sent to one of several computer labs in the building. They were given four problems to solve, split into two days: two on Saturday and two on Sunday, with the winners announced on Sunday afternoon (where I am soon headed). I asked if I could see the problems, and someone kindly translated them into English (more or less) using Google. Wow! These were not entry level Internet or software problems, but actual programming challenges to solve the problems given them: one was related to creating a program to solve a contradictory time clock problem, another involved productivity of robots with a defined "life" span, another involved feeding cats left home while on vacation, and the other I don't recall. But they said they would let me have a printout of the translated problems today, after the competition ends. Needless to say, I was impressed. Now, realize that what these kids had been learning was programming - in both PASCAL and C + + - and that I don't teach computer science. So those of you who are programmers and are chuckling at the simple solutions to such problems, go ahead and laugh - in the ninth grade I was struggling to make it through Algebra I! I have uploaded some photos of the students in action, the University's online library area, and a group photo that includes three of the jurors, the fellow in the suit having written the official textbook for 9th and 1oth grade informatics in Ukraine. The other two ladies in the middle are from the Institute where I teach.

All is well

Well, after the break, the students / teachers went to work for the 2.5 hrs. I gave them to complete the lesson plan, working in pairs. The first team, comprised of the only two guys in the group, were finished right at 5:00 PM; the others soon followed. Okay, I might have been a tad worried, but all for naught - the stuff they came up with was great! The guys did a whiz bang job on the PowerPoint end, with all sorts of animated GIFs, etc. but all of them really GOT it! After all that discussion - I suppose they were just clarifying for themselves. One of them asked, interestingly, if I had used the lesson plan format from Intel's Teach to the Future program of some years back - I replied no, but this was a fairly standard format. Hmmmm ... I wonder when / why / where they studied that?
At the very end, we gave the teachers official certificates with the Institute rector's signature as well as mine; he came to the class and they took pictures as Vitaly (the rector) and I handed the certificates to the students / teachers. The students then gave me a beautiful ceramic statuette of a woman in traditional Ukrainian garb, and then the surprise - it's filled with vodka! I will make sure that the statue makes it back home, can't say the same about the vodka ...

So, after all that, it was a very successful first class ... > WHEW

Some thoughts about my work here...

Note: I started this two weeks ago, but did not post it here for whatever reason; tonight was my third and final session with my first group of students/teachers, so I find it appropriate to post my initial and my final reactions; here they are:

Feb. 3, 2010: This evening was my first experience teaching in Poltava. I was very impressed by the serious dedication the teachers provided in each activity. I was also impressed by the questions I was asked in regards to educational technology in the U.S., such as do we have a standardized curriculum for math, science, and informatics. I found myself relating that no, we do not have anything close to a "standardized" curriculum for the entire U.S., as each state and subsequently individual districts often mandate their own version of a required curriculum. When made to reflect on this, I find myself thinking that maybe we are not as advanced as others in the world, in terms of education. In fact, we may be far from being the most advanced - in many areas. Informatics (information science) is a required course for secondary students here - even when there is only one computer in the classroom!
Feb. 17, 2010: Today is my last day with my first informatics teachers group; after last week's session, which went only so-so, I asked my contact what I should do to improve the sessions. She told me that I should make the teachers (my students) go "deeper". So this week I shortened the presentation and added a very big assignment: create a technology-infused lesson plan for a specific grade level, including all the components of a typical lesson plan: Subject, topic, grade level, learning objectives, timeframe, required resources, required technologies, activities, student product, assessment (tied to learning objectives), and student reflection. First of all, I had cleared this with my contact/translator, asking if this American-style lesson plan was asking too much, and she assured me that it was not. However... when I finished explaining the lesson plan components (which were already translated on a separate, simultaneously projected PowerPoint), a twenty minute discussion ensued, which seemed to devolve into several arguments. Then they all stopped, went for a break and the hot tea, coffee, and food that was served, and eventually came back and got right down to work. I have no idea what all the discussion was about, as I thought what was required of them was fairly straight-forward, but I gathered that there was some confusion over the lesson plan components. Apparently thinking "out of the box" - and I get the distinct feeling that their educational box is quite restrictive - is a process that is not used very much here. So it will be very interesting to see the results. Later I will give them three surveys I have adapted and had translated: one is the TIMSS questionnaire (thanks, Sally!), then a short survey I created vis-a-vis their and their students' use of computers and Internet both at home and in the classroom; and finally a standard instructor/presenter evaluation. I really want to gauge how they feel about my work with them, as I have three more groups to work with during my stay here. More on their responses next time!

First days in Poltava

I arrived in Poltava the evening of Thursday, Jan. 28, by train from Kyiv. I was assisted both getting on and then off the train with my heavy duffel by a very nice fellow named Alex. Alex was trying to practice as much English as he could via speaking with me, so I spent a lot of the trip in the hallway chatting and drinking very hot tea. I learned that he and his wife would be new parents in June. Thank you and congratulations again, Alex from Siberia!
When I arrived in Poltava, a literal welcome wagon awaited me, with two of my new colleagues from the Institute plus a couple of fellows from the agency with keys to my apartment (mind you, this was well after 9:00 PM). My colleagues gave me a bag of food and coffee, tea, fruit, cheese - all sorts of goodies to make me feel right at home! My apartment is up five flights of stairs, but it is very nice once inside, and I crashed pretty much immediately after everyone left.
The next day, Friday, I enjoyed my first full day in my host city. I had lunch with two of my associates in the Institute in a traditional Ukrainian eatery (very European - plain, very simple and clean, but with excellent food), then met the rector and others high up the administrative chain. I was then formally introduced to all of the Institute's faculty (you can see photos at http://tinyurl.com/yb5qmwo ). They are fantastic folks! They really seem happy to have me here, and later we all had dinner, Ukrainian-style, in the dining room of the Institute's dormitory. LOTS of food, with traditional meat / potato / cabbage dumplings (pirogi, actually), a delicious type of coleslaw with a light vinaigrette dressing instead of mayo, assorted meats and other stuff, and between talking and eating, several (like 5 or 6) toasts with vodka or brandy - I felt like I was among my kind of people!

Final notes on Kyiv

My 2.5 days in Kyiv were interesting mostly in that I was able to find my way around on my own, all the way to the Fulbright office, managing to avoid being hit by cars driving in snow on the sidewalks. I met with the Fulbright Ukraine Director and his very helpful Program Officer who facilitated my stay by arranging the apartment, rides from airport and to the train station later, and facilitating a phone call to my contacts in Poltava. Thank you, Natalia!

I also managed to find an iPod-to-USB cable at a large computer store, City.com, because I inadvertently left mine back at home. Gotta listen to and download to my iPod!

Anyway, as I walked around, I took a few pix with my Motorola Karma phone - again, not the best, but typically I never take photos during my travels, preferring to capture in my own memory only. So what you see is a statue in one of the main squares in Kyiv, and a view at ground level of the chaotic car situation. My next stop was the Kyiv train station, a very modern edifice where police routinely walk around rousing and kicking out the drunks who thought they had found a nice, warm place to crash ...

Next stop - Poltava!

Two days in Kyiv (Kiev)

I landed at Kyiv Borispol airport at around 3:50 PM last Tuesday. An uneventful flight on Hungarian Malev Airlines from Budapest to Kyiv (more free sandwiches on this flight, but, alas, no beer - which was okay since the Budapest airport had an excellent British-style pub inside). I saw them loading my large Eddie Bauer rolling duffel on the plane as we boarded, so I knew all would be well in terms of non-lost luggage. Then Kyiv, where they actually X-rayed all incoming luggage, and scrupulously looked at my visa, but no problems. I was met by a representative from the Fulbright office in Kyiv, who although spoke no English at all, was very helpful in negotiating the incredibly crowded streets of Kyiv and locating my rental apartment in what was now a dark and icy evening. I was met at the apartment by the owner, a very nice lady who actually did speak a few words of English, and helpfully showed me how to work the two remote controls for the TV and satellite system and apologetically explained there were only two English - language channels available, being CNN International and the trusty BBC. I really didn't care, as I just wanted to get settled in. As it turns out, about 100 meters outside the apartment there was a small grocery store with a conveniently located money exchange booth inside (these are everywhere in Kyiv, for some reason). Although there was also a decent-looking restaurant quite near it (not to mention a McDonald's down the street), many of you know that I absolutely do not like eating at restaurants unless required to, or as a special treat with family and / or friends. Well, not if I am alone and there's a grocery store nearby! So I stocked up on the requisite items - bread, cheese, oranges, tomatoes, pickles, some delicious locally made salami suggested by a nice lady behind the meat counter, and, of course, some Ukrainian beer. I have uploaded a photo of this sumptuous feast in my Kyiv apartment's kitchen which although grainy (all photos are taken with my Motorola cell phone - sorry!); it should give you an idea of what my idea of a "home-made meal" looks like ...

Notes on travel, Pt. 2

Okay, so I get to Venezia Marco Polo airport just fine and I am greeted by my long-time best friend Michael (or Maiko, If you prefer). The next three days are spent reminiscing over old times, current events, and music. I ostentatiously demand that we partake of PIZZA at least twice during my stay, and am accomodated; needless to say - YUM!
On Tuesday I get a ride to Venezia Marco Polo airport, which is, after considering the other airports, an amazingly great experience. The security is full-on (soldiers / policemen dappertutto), but once past the security area - a fantastic cafe / bar! With fresh brioche and other treats available as if on a street cafe in Venice. FANTASTICO! Yes, once again, noi italiani sappiamo come fare ..!
Okay, next - a ride on a CarpataAir turbo prop plane. I will admit that I was a bit disconcerted when I boarded this flight, but then was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful courtesy and attention recieved by the crew on this short transit flight. On a flight lasting only one-and-a-half hours we were served complimentary sandwiches and beverages - I will note that the only beer available was MILLER GENUINE DRAFT (????) distributed by a brewery in - Moldova! Who knew??
The next leg was a relatively brief and mostly unnotable voyage from Budapest, Hungary (a city that I would love to visit some day) to Kiev, Ukraine. And then the next chapter begins ...

Notes on travel from Memphis to Ukraine

Well, I am finally here - here being Ukraine, that is, but in Kyiv (Kiev), and not in Poltava, my final destination for now - and towards which I am headed via train tomorrow. But it has been a long trip getting here thus far, not necessarily strange, but worth noting for at least a few things. And so here are some travel items I have made note of:
1. Security at airports - even in the U.S. - Is far from standardized. I had to go through security at three different locations on my intial flight from Memphis to Venice, Italy: Memphis, Chicago O'Hare, and London Heathrow. Each one had slight variations that were based on nothing I could determine. I won't go into details, but this seems entirely odd to me - shouldn't all these airports have the same or at least similar procedures?
2. While on the subject of airports, here are two sour notes in my travel; first, Chicago O'Hare: once past the security check (after a long line) there are NO RESTAURANTS, SHOPS, BARS, OR ATMS. All you get while facing perhaps a several hours-long wait are a couple of Duty Free stands and shops plus one magazine/chochki store and a stand where you could buy outrageously overpriced bottled water, soda, and very dry-looking sandwiches. This is criminal, in my view. However there were were plenty of business and first class private lounges that I couldn't enter but imagined all the free-flowing booze and free hot food buffets within ...
3. My next sour note, London Heathrow. I haven't been there in a few years, but apparently they have made some "upgrades" that are unbelievably ugly and utterly user-unfriendly. As you enter the main international terminal (5) after the quarter-hour transit ride from the plane (this after 8 + hours in the plane), you are dumped off at the very bottom of a series of escalators that take you through a labrynth of metallic corridors until you get to the security area at the top. Here you are greeted by an enormous line where apparently EVERY incoming flight is funneled through and impatient security personnel brusquely require you to enter - INDIVIDUALLY - to be screened. This obviously takes even more time and backing up of the line, so as this staging area reminiscent of a cattle-branding roundup fills with jammed-in people - all wearing heavy winter clothing, mind you - the temperature rises to a balmy 90+ degrees (remember that this area is at the very TOP of the terminal - and heat rises ...). By the time I was told to go through I was sweating considerably, causing added questioning as to "why" I was sweating ( "BECAUSE IT'S ---- ING HOT, YOU IDIOTS!" - thought but not said aloud for fear of deep cavity searches or other such "fun" airport prospects). Having gone through this hell, you descend back down to the gates (why is this a good idea, again??) and can then bask in the artificial lights of dozens of really cheesy ceilingless stores - all arrayed as if in a huge metallic mall. Yes, metallic, because Heathrow Terminal 5 is essentially a monstrous airplane hangar that they converted into a metal mall/terminal. TRULY horrid, architecturally. Needless to say, I could not wait to get out of there. Which I did, after sitting around the general seating area until a half-hour before my next boarding time - at which time the gate I was departing from was finally announced.
4. Arrival in Italia; note on Venezia Marco Polo airport: FANTASTIC!! But more on this later...

Preparations are in progress...

The countdown to my travels to Ukraine has officially begun with this first week in January 2010. More to come in future posts...