It’s been three weeks since I returned to Ukraine, and A LOT has happened. A LOT. I am just starting to feel like my feet are solidly underneath me after everything. When I got off the plane here, I had no idea where I would be going. Well, first stop Peace Corps office, but other than that a lot was still up in the air. I walked in the office and for all intents and purposes there was not one person there who knew what to do with me. My Regional Manager was out of the office and I’m not sure that he was appraised that I would be returning to Ukraine, and the Medical Office knowing that I was deemed healthy had figuratively washed their hands of me. I literally walked up and down there stairs between two offices at least ten times in a little over an hour to figure out where I would be going next.
The program people wanted me to go back to my old site, since my new site hadn’t found me an apartment yet. My RM told me I was never going back to my old site and I didn’t really want to go back there. Unfortunately, decisions had to be made on the spot and I was kind of homeless in Ukraine. I wanted to go to hang at Conor’s site for a couple of days until the dust settled, but administratively that didn’t make sense to the people in the office. Many panicked phone calls were made to my RM, my new site, my old site, etc. I was literally a few steps away from the ticket window at the train station and my RM called and told me to wait a few minutes and that he would call me back with a plan.
The short back story being that all of my stuff minus my valuables that I took with me to DC were still in my old apt. in Balakleya. After almost a year, I have accumulated a lot of stuff in addition to what I had already. Plus the PC gives us a space heater, a fire extinguisher, and about 30 lbs. of written materials during training. When all is said and done, I had the equivalent of 4 large suitcases, 3 smaller bags, and a backpack (filled with my laptop, my new Netbook that I picked up in the states since my laptop might not make it much longer, Kindle, camera, and all the wires that go along with that). Plus a gigantic backpack of food that I entrusted to Kim with the assumption that I might not make it back to Ukraine and I wanted my closest friends to reap the benefits of my cache of American foodstuffs – peanut butter, hot sauces, mac & cheese, and Nature Valley granola bars. (That bag is still with Kim, figuring out how to get it back is still in process. I miss my hot sauce!).
My RM called me back and told me to buy a ticket to my old site for the next day. If I was there and if my new site was able to find me housing he would come with the Peace Corps car and move me to my new site. If not, I was on my own. Well, I took a chance that my new site would be able to find me housing ASAP and went back to my old site. Unfortunately, finding an apartment in 24 hours is a huge feat and it didn’t happen, so my RM called me back and told me I was on my own for the move. Well shit. How does one girl move 4 large suitcases, 3 smaller bags, and a backpack down 3 flights of stairs, and onto a train at 3:43 in the morning when the train only stops for 2 minutes? How? Well another PCV comes to the rescue with her Ukrainian counterpart at 12:30 am and they help me with the help of two taxis and drivers on one end and one taxi and drivers on the other. This was a real Ukrainian adventure.
The day after my RM called to say he would not help me, my new site came through with temporary housing. So he told me to saddle up and get to Lugansk and that my new people would pick me up from the train station. Well, this was impossible on my own. So a 69 year old PCV volunteered to bring her 22 year old friend on a middle of the night train adventure. They took the train from Lugansk to my town (a 7 hour train ride) and arrived at mine at 12:30 am. We had a beer, shot the shit, I finished packing and we met our taxi drivers outside with all the bags at 3 am. The taxis brought us and all the junk to the platform and we hoped that we were in the right place since you have to get on the correct ticketed car and running with 4 large suitcases and 3 small bags was not an option. We were about 30 feet off the mark, but managed to get everything and ourselves on the train in the two minute window. I bought an extra berth for the baggage, the train attendants were not pleased, but all in all, it worked out. Seven hours later, we were in Lugansk and thankfully that was the end of the line for the train so we could take our time unloading. We manage to hail a cab, he helped us with the bags and we crammed all the bags, plus the three of us, plus driver into a car the size of an early 80s Toyota Corolla hatchback. It was really amazing. On the Lugansk end, Caroline, generously volunteered a corner of her living room for my stuff and a couch for me to sleep on until my people picked me up.
At this point, the operative question was, when would they pick me up? First it was Tuesday. Then it was Wednesday. Then it was Wednesday or Thursday. But finally it was definitely on Friday. So on Friday, I was ready to go. My friends came over to help again, with the 22 year old Ukrainian very graciously translating everything so everyone could understand. The car that came to pick me up was the equivalent of a mini-Jeep. The mini-Jeep had a huge spare tire in the minimal trunk space. My new people also packed 3 people in the car. So, there was only room in the car for me and one suitcase. This spiraled into a quick panicked negotiation where they agreed that they would come back the following day with an empty vehicle and that I would just bring the one suitcase and whatever I needed for the night. So I did. I hopped in a car full of strangers with only a few of my belongings and set off on a 2 hour ride.
We arrived in town and I would be renting a small house for two weeks until my permanent apartment was ready on March 25th. Well, let’s just say for two weeks the house was passable, but not comfortable. I equate the experience to indoor camping. The bathroom and the stove were in a converted porch (this means these two rooms are FREEZING at all times). There were three rooms in the house, but for heating purposes we kept my one with the fridge and the table closed off from the rest of the house. They moved a divan for me to sleep on into the room and closed the doors to the other two rooms and sparked up the gas heater. I could see my breath. It was freezing in the room and there was some kind of miscommunication between the Peace Corps and my organization. They didn’t have sheets, blankets, or even pots and pans for me to use. So, here I was in this freezing house with no blankets and no kettle, no nothing. At least if I had my stuff, I would have had a sleeping bag and a little pillow, but it never occurred to me to pack that in my overnight essentials. I called my RM and he said, ‘Amy, ask them to take you to the bus station and catch the first bus back to Lugansk and stay with Caroline for the night. They are not prepared. Let them get prepared and they can pick you and the rest of your stuff up tomorrow’. At that point, I just wanted to scream. What a nightmare!?!
This is where I am repeating to myself in my head all the Peace Corps mottos… ‘It’s the toughest job you will ever love’, ‘How far will you go?’, you should be prepared to serve in hardship conditions, etc… I took a deep breath and went to the bus station, bought a ticket, and headed back to Caroline in Lugansk.
Prior to my Peace Corps experience, I considered myself to be a very patient person. This past year has taught me that I am capable of so much more. If I ever doubted my strength, this proves that I am one tough cookie. Something kept me going. I knew that if I could get through this without going totally bonkers, it would be worth it. New site, new people, new beginning, new opportunities, and most importantly a new adventure. It will be worth it. I just kept repeating that over and over again.
The next day would be a new day, they would pick me up and everything would be fine. And for the most part it was. They picked me and my stuff up, we side-tripped to pick up the driver’s son. He squished in with my stuff in the back seat. The house was still freezing despite the fact that the heat was cranking for 24 hours at that point, but I had my thermals and my sleeping bag to make it work this time around. My Director brought me a kettle, a pot, bowl, cup, set of utensils, sheets, pillow and light blanket. I had my Peace Corps space heater. Hey, it’s just like camping indoors, right? It’s only for two weeks and the people I met were amazingly kind. The vibe was completely different from my last site so I knew that as long as I rolled with the punches things were turn out to be alright. And after a little more than a week, it has turned out to be much better than I could have ever dreamed.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Medevac
Holy whirlwind Batman. After packing up my apartment in Balakleya, I hurried back to Kiev and got ready to head back to Washington, DC for medevac. I slept in the Peace Corps office in sick bay and they drove me to the airport at 3 am or something and then wham bam thank you ma’am, later that same day (due to the time change) my brother picked me up at Dulles and we grabbed dinner before he drove me to Georgetown to the hotel that I would be living at for the next three weeks. I should note that the dinner tasted like the most amazing thing I have ever eaten. It was grilled salmon over a bed of mixed green salad with blue cheese, pieces of boiled potatoes, pecans, pine nuts, figs, tomatoes… it was amazing. Salads in Ukraine tend to be simple, either tomatoes and cucumbers, or cabbage, or something not all that vegetable related and mayonnaise laden (i.e. cubed lunch meats, kielbasa, peas and mayo or something gross like that). Lettuce is not readily available in most places and as for mixed greens and baby lettuces, forget about it. Blue cheese is hard to find and at the point I ate this magnificent salad, I had not eaten grilled salmon since I left the States at the end of March last year. Needless to say, it was quite possibly the best salad I have ever eaten. This is something you can only appreciate if you have been deprived of or are not able to access the food stuffs in that salad.
Much of my medevac was an exercise in food porn. I had a list of certain foods I HAD to eat while I was in the States and overall, I think I did a good job. It only helped my cause that I was in Georgetown surrounded by tons of good eateries. In addition to food, I had a bunch of whirlwind visits with my friends. Danya came to DC the first weekend I was there. Elizabeth was in town for work my first week. My second weekend, I took a train to Connecticut to see the folks, family and friends. The third weekend I took the Megabus to NYC and caught up with my friends there. I was constantly busy. One of the days in NYC, I had a lunch date, followed by a coffee date, followed by drinks and dinner, followed by a jazz concert, and I crammed in a manicure all with different sets of friends. I definitely made good use of my time and still managed to eat a NY slice and NY bagel at some point.
In addition to all the travelling and visits, I also caught up with friends in DC and took some pretty amazing walks around the city since the weather was just starting to open up to Spring. I had an amazing roommate at the hotel who helped me keep things light and assisted me in taste testing the various cupcakes, cookies and pies in the immediate vicinity of the hotel. We bonded over trash TV and lounging on the couch. What could have been a very stressful experience was made all that much more comfortable by someone I just clicked with. It was a great three weeks and now, if I want, I have a PCV to visit in South Africa.
While all this sounds great and fun, I was also going through a barrage of tests that were neither easy, nor pleasant. I left Ukraine very uncertain about my health and almost certain that I wouldn’t be allowed to return to Ukraine and finish my service, but as it turns out I was perfectly healthy and all the cause for alarm was just dated mammography and ultrasound equipment in Ukraine. In DC, I got poked, prodded, biopsied, squished and scanned and everything turned out to be okay. So guess what? I was headed back to Ukraine. But the operative question was, where was I going when I got back to Ukraine?
Right before I left on medevac it was determined that I would be changing sites and moving somewhere else due to the problems I was having with my organization in Balakleya. I had emailed the Peace Corps the week before I returned, but to no avail since people were on the road travelling. So when I arrived I had no idea where to go, and as I soon learned, they didn’t know quite where to send me either. So the adventure continues.
Much of my medevac was an exercise in food porn. I had a list of certain foods I HAD to eat while I was in the States and overall, I think I did a good job. It only helped my cause that I was in Georgetown surrounded by tons of good eateries. In addition to food, I had a bunch of whirlwind visits with my friends. Danya came to DC the first weekend I was there. Elizabeth was in town for work my first week. My second weekend, I took a train to Connecticut to see the folks, family and friends. The third weekend I took the Megabus to NYC and caught up with my friends there. I was constantly busy. One of the days in NYC, I had a lunch date, followed by a coffee date, followed by drinks and dinner, followed by a jazz concert, and I crammed in a manicure all with different sets of friends. I definitely made good use of my time and still managed to eat a NY slice and NY bagel at some point.
In addition to all the travelling and visits, I also caught up with friends in DC and took some pretty amazing walks around the city since the weather was just starting to open up to Spring. I had an amazing roommate at the hotel who helped me keep things light and assisted me in taste testing the various cupcakes, cookies and pies in the immediate vicinity of the hotel. We bonded over trash TV and lounging on the couch. What could have been a very stressful experience was made all that much more comfortable by someone I just clicked with. It was a great three weeks and now, if I want, I have a PCV to visit in South Africa.
While all this sounds great and fun, I was also going through a barrage of tests that were neither easy, nor pleasant. I left Ukraine very uncertain about my health and almost certain that I wouldn’t be allowed to return to Ukraine and finish my service, but as it turns out I was perfectly healthy and all the cause for alarm was just dated mammography and ultrasound equipment in Ukraine. In DC, I got poked, prodded, biopsied, squished and scanned and everything turned out to be okay. So guess what? I was headed back to Ukraine. But the operative question was, where was I going when I got back to Ukraine?
Right before I left on medevac it was determined that I would be changing sites and moving somewhere else due to the problems I was having with my organization in Balakleya. I had emailed the Peace Corps the week before I returned, but to no avail since people were on the road travelling. So when I arrived I had no idea where to go, and as I soon learned, they didn’t know quite where to send me either. So the adventure continues.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Medevac'd!?! WHAT!?!
Whoa. That’s all I can say right now as I sit in the Amsterdam airport after what I can only describe as a whirlwind two weeks. I’m en route to DC. I’ve been medevac’d. I guess one could say that I am in shock.
After Egypt, I had these moments of clarity with my service where I had begun to see Ukraine in an new way. I was truly starting to appreciate it for what I consider oddities and I could find beauty in the strangest things. Instead of an exasperated UGH UKRAINE sigh, it was more of a light hearted chuckle and eye roll Ukraine. Things just started looking different, and I had hit my groove with my service. I felt like things were going to change in a monumental way, although, to be honest, this wasn’t the monumental change that I was expecting.
January was a really stressful month, because I was working to get my SPA grant finalized and submitted. There was some kicking and screaming, literally, not the kicking, but the screaming part in trying to get things done. Let’s just say, I wasn’t the only one screaming. Needless to say, it was a really stressful month, but I knew that the last week of January would bring with it Language Refresher. For roughly a week, me and my Russian speaking PCVs were getting together to well practice our Russian and get some additional language training in a FUN environment. So even though I was going through hell most of January, I knew that at least this would make it worth it. I would get to see my clustermates and some other good friends since we had strategically applied for Language Refresher all together on Thanksgiving. It was really going to be a hoot to be reunited.
That said, I left site and headed to Kiev a few days before language refresher to have a meeting and to get a medical appointment out of the way. Without too much detail, within the span of 5 hours that Friday, my life in Ukraine got turned upside-down. That’s not to say that what happened sunk in at that time. It didn’t. I had a busy weekend lined up with a trip to visit Kim in Ktop, followed by us travelling to visit our host families in Starry Belouse for two days considering the Language Refresher was going to be held in Chernigiv, and then, Language Refresher for the rest of the week. I hopped on the train to see Kim and chatted quite normally with a couple of friends on the phone and then realized what the heck had just happened.
The doctor had sat me down and explained things. He told me I was going to be medevac’d (although he didn’t say when, because he didn’t yet know) and asked me if I wanted any medication to help with nerves or sleeping or what not since he had just supposedly dealt me kind of a major blow. Well, clearly, I was in shock, because halfway through that train ride I was kicking myself for not taking him up on some drugs. At the time, I really didn’t believe the medevac was happening. I just thought it was a remote possibility. But on the train, I replayed what he said and I was like, Oh SHIT! I’m getting booted out of Ukraine.
I spent the weekend with Kim, on Sunday we headed to the host family, on Monday we went into Chernigiv to hang with Caroline, Vicki and Cheryl and to toast Vicki’s birthday at one of our old haunts. Then on a very packed marshrutka back to Starry B, I got the phone call to drop everything and go back to site, pack up, grab my documents and get back to Kiev ideally by Wednesday. WHAT!?! That was too much for comprehension and virtually impossible since it’s a 2 hour trip to Kiev and then another 12 hours back to my site… horrendous. Let’s just say, I freaked the fuck out. I had banked on Washington taking a few days to make the determination. Apparently, all it took was an email from Ukraine. Things NEVER happen that fast in Ukraine! NEVER.
In the end, I kind of refused to leave. I wanted to go to Language Refresher and spend time with my friends, and then Conor and I had planned to spend the following weekend in Kiev. I mean, shit, I don’t know what is going to happen in DC. Let’s just say I created a little confusion at the Peace Corps office in Kiev when I went on the lamb by going to Language Refresher. I think more than one person would have liked to wring my neck on Tuesday. I want to return to Ukraine after they sort out my medical problems, but I can’t be sure that that will happen in the 45 days that I have to get well before I get medically separated. I might be saying goodbye to some people for good, and this was the thought that I had when I decided to just go to Language Refresher. I compromised by cutting the Kiev time short by one day. I got to see my peeps and we had a decent time considering there was this thing hanging over the time we had to spend together. Hopefully things will go well in DC and I will make it back post haste. I’m not done with Ukraine yet. It’s funny and very true that you don’t fully appreciate something until you lose it. Crap Ukraine, I don’t want to leave you yet!
After Egypt, I had these moments of clarity with my service where I had begun to see Ukraine in an new way. I was truly starting to appreciate it for what I consider oddities and I could find beauty in the strangest things. Instead of an exasperated UGH UKRAINE sigh, it was more of a light hearted chuckle and eye roll Ukraine. Things just started looking different, and I had hit my groove with my service. I felt like things were going to change in a monumental way, although, to be honest, this wasn’t the monumental change that I was expecting.
January was a really stressful month, because I was working to get my SPA grant finalized and submitted. There was some kicking and screaming, literally, not the kicking, but the screaming part in trying to get things done. Let’s just say, I wasn’t the only one screaming. Needless to say, it was a really stressful month, but I knew that the last week of January would bring with it Language Refresher. For roughly a week, me and my Russian speaking PCVs were getting together to well practice our Russian and get some additional language training in a FUN environment. So even though I was going through hell most of January, I knew that at least this would make it worth it. I would get to see my clustermates and some other good friends since we had strategically applied for Language Refresher all together on Thanksgiving. It was really going to be a hoot to be reunited.
That said, I left site and headed to Kiev a few days before language refresher to have a meeting and to get a medical appointment out of the way. Without too much detail, within the span of 5 hours that Friday, my life in Ukraine got turned upside-down. That’s not to say that what happened sunk in at that time. It didn’t. I had a busy weekend lined up with a trip to visit Kim in Ktop, followed by us travelling to visit our host families in Starry Belouse for two days considering the Language Refresher was going to be held in Chernigiv, and then, Language Refresher for the rest of the week. I hopped on the train to see Kim and chatted quite normally with a couple of friends on the phone and then realized what the heck had just happened.
The doctor had sat me down and explained things. He told me I was going to be medevac’d (although he didn’t say when, because he didn’t yet know) and asked me if I wanted any medication to help with nerves or sleeping or what not since he had just supposedly dealt me kind of a major blow. Well, clearly, I was in shock, because halfway through that train ride I was kicking myself for not taking him up on some drugs. At the time, I really didn’t believe the medevac was happening. I just thought it was a remote possibility. But on the train, I replayed what he said and I was like, Oh SHIT! I’m getting booted out of Ukraine.
I spent the weekend with Kim, on Sunday we headed to the host family, on Monday we went into Chernigiv to hang with Caroline, Vicki and Cheryl and to toast Vicki’s birthday at one of our old haunts. Then on a very packed marshrutka back to Starry B, I got the phone call to drop everything and go back to site, pack up, grab my documents and get back to Kiev ideally by Wednesday. WHAT!?! That was too much for comprehension and virtually impossible since it’s a 2 hour trip to Kiev and then another 12 hours back to my site… horrendous. Let’s just say, I freaked the fuck out. I had banked on Washington taking a few days to make the determination. Apparently, all it took was an email from Ukraine. Things NEVER happen that fast in Ukraine! NEVER.
In the end, I kind of refused to leave. I wanted to go to Language Refresher and spend time with my friends, and then Conor and I had planned to spend the following weekend in Kiev. I mean, shit, I don’t know what is going to happen in DC. Let’s just say I created a little confusion at the Peace Corps office in Kiev when I went on the lamb by going to Language Refresher. I think more than one person would have liked to wring my neck on Tuesday. I want to return to Ukraine after they sort out my medical problems, but I can’t be sure that that will happen in the 45 days that I have to get well before I get medically separated. I might be saying goodbye to some people for good, and this was the thought that I had when I decided to just go to Language Refresher. I compromised by cutting the Kiev time short by one day. I got to see my peeps and we had a decent time considering there was this thing hanging over the time we had to spend together. Hopefully things will go well in DC and I will make it back post haste. I’m not done with Ukraine yet. It’s funny and very true that you don’t fully appreciate something until you lose it. Crap Ukraine, I don’t want to leave you yet!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Walk Like an Egyptian
What a whirlwind couple of weeks. My vacation was supposed to start with a medical visit to Kiev, broken up by a weekend visit to Kim in Konotop pre-Egypt to break up my appointments. Lucky for me, they changed one of my appointments so that they were both on Monday, so I decided to just head straight to Konotop which is on the way to Kiev for me anyway. It was great to see where Kim lives and to hang with the some of the other PCVs in Konotop. With the latest batch of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) volunteers Konotop now has 6 PCVs in town. Wow. Feeling a little left out in Balakleya where I am the one and only volunteer.
Kim and I made the best of it and managed to pack in a really full weekend. We both got great haircuts and pedicures (for Egypt), hosted a dinner/wine get-together for the lady PCVs in Ktop, got together for another dinner get-together Mexican night, and managed to squeeze in a trip to the banya (sauna) with Kim’s co-workers (which in the end turned out to be one co-worker plus me and Kim. Having not been to the banya since the summer, winter adds a whole new element of fun to the sauna experience. Winter means, running outside and rubbing snow on your body after sitting and sweating in the sauna. Actually, it was pretty fun. I can now kind of understand the Polar Bear Club… kind of. You are so warm from the sauna that you are still hot when you step outside. I’m thinking that the cold water is still a really big shock though.
I took an early train to Kiev on Monday and knocked out my medical crap. Then I just waited for everyone to gather the next day. By the time I was up and ready to go from my hostel, Cassie, Kim and Conor were all at the Peace Corps office. John came a lot later and met us for dinner. We had a family dinner at the Doctor Bar and got a reasonably priced steak (actually it was really cheap, less than 10 bucks). It was surprisingly really good. I will be going back there. The wait staff dresses in dirty nurse costumes and serve shots in little beakers in a basement restaurant that is off the beaten track and something you can only find with really thorough directions from someone in the know. (It’s in a back alley, in a basement, without signage to advertise – nonetheless, the place was packed).
The next day we headed to the airport extremely early to be there for a 6:30am flight. Conor and I managed to get seats in the Emergency Exit Aisle for his long legs, and apparently on Ukrainian flights/airlines there is a lot of clapping. Before the plane even hit the ground in Egypt someone had started off the whole plane clapping. I guess I have become so blaisé about flying that I take it for granted that I am in a gigantic silver tube hurtling through the air and the fact that I land safe and sound in a different destination is a small miracle. Well anyhow, Conor and I got a chuckle from the passionate clapping when we landed. No really, there was some seriously heartfelt clapping going on. And then, Hurghada…
The small back-story about Egypt is that from Ukraine you can get really good all-inclusive package deals to resort destinations such as Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheik (a woman was recently killed by a shark there). For flight, transport from the airport to the resort and back, and all inclusive food and beverage for 8 days and 7 nights we each paid a little more than $500 USD. That’s pretty amazing. So we planned a trip for our cluster to spend Christmas in Egypt. We figured we could use the resort as a base and visit the sites from there. We planned to go to Cairo for a couple of days to see the Pyramids of Giza and then to head to Luxor to hit up the Valley of the Kings and Queens. Kim and I put our heads together pre-trip and decided a flight to Cairo, a night train to Luxor and then a bus back to Hurghada and we would do all this in 3 days. Whirlwind, yes, but then we would have a couple of days at the resort to just chill in the sun before we headed back to the darkness in Ukraine.
The resort was nice enough and we got what we paid for. I really wish I bought some kind of mosquito repellant, because our room was filled with mosquitoes – and these mosquitoes loved them some Amy. Any thing that wasn’t covered by the blanked was covered in bites. I can still hear that traumatic high pitched buzz around my ears… Needless to say, I am very thankful that the mosquitoes were not malarial.
We spent a good day and a half chilling at the resort and the beach in the SUN. Yes, there was SUN in Egypt, unlike Ukraine where the sky is grey and the sun sets at like 4 in the afternoon. The resort had two restaurants and it was buffet-style eating. I have never seen the boys eat so much in the time that I have known them. It was really amazing what they packed away. There was also a couple of bars and alcohol was included in our package, unfortunately, the alcohol was served in tiny 2 ounce plastic cups like the ones that you get at the dentist to swish and spit with… yeah, guess how long a beer lasts in one of those cups? But, they also had hookahs or water pipes that we could smoke depending on what you call them. You get to smoke fruit flavored tobacco sans nicotine. Not bad, it makes for a fun group activity anyhow and oddly enough is really relaxing.
Our flight to Cairo was at 4:45am on Christmas Eve, so the plan was to get to Cairo, find a place to stay and see the pyramids as soon as possible. We were kind of walking around blindly and this guy came up to us around 7am and offered to show us around and brought us to a great locals stand to get an authentic Egyptian breakfast (butter bun with jam, falafel, and pita stuffed with what tasted like refried beans). He took us to a local’s alley to get coffee and eat our breakfast, and then took us to a hotel and helped us get a room. We got a passable room for 20 bucks each that included breakfast. Yes! And then he took us on public transportation to the pyramids. Riding the bus was fun. Apparently tourists don’t do it often, because we had a lot of interesting looks. We stopped off at a papyrus museum where he likely got a cut of whatever profit they made on us, but it was interesting to learn how to make papyrus (the paper that the ancient Egyptians wrote on). Then he dropped us at a place where we could rent camels to ride and get a guide to show us the pyramids. We tipped him handsomely, but really, I thought it was worth it since the breakfast was great, we would have bumbled around for a hotel on our own, and we would likely have taken a cab to the pyramids missing out on the local experience.
Riding a camel is likely a necessary venture if you visit Egypt, but it ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Camels smell, they fart a lot, mine was constantly doing the shimmy when we stopped so I had to hold on for dear life, and Conor’s camel bit John. Granted the camel bit John’s cargo pocket on his shorts and technically bit the sunscreen in that pocket, but still, John VanGavree got bit by a camel. It was hilarious. Unfortunately, for me, the camels took away from the fact that we were seeing THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA. I spent a lot of time focusing on staying on my camel since he was a dancer. Thankfully Cassie and Conor took a lot of pictures. I had trouble getting my camera out of my bag since I had to use both hands most of the time to hold on.
The pyramids are huge and awe inspiring. I’ve read the articles in National Geographic and I have seen the photos, but seeing the pyramids with your own eyes is a whole new experience. Spoiler: the Sphinx is not that big. Sure it’s big, but in comparison to the size of the pyramids, it’s just a little thing.
After the pyramids we grabbed a quick snack then headed back to the hotel for a much needed rest, and shower (we all wreaked of camel). After a rest, we ventured out to find a restaurant called Farfalle, which was touted as an old traditional Egyptian restaurant with reliable food and a nice atmosphere. Sold. Christmas Eve dinner should be special. Unfortunately, we had a heck of a time finding it. After wandering around for a half an hour we asked someone and it was just across the street, right in front of us. We had an excellent, if not heavy meal, but we were all exhausted so after dinner we headed back to the hotel and passed out.
On Christmas we slept in, got our free breakfast and then ventured out to the Egyptian Museum and spent the better part of 3 hours looking at artifacts that were found in the tombs. Talk about sensory overload. Our guidebook said that you should try to tackle the museum in two days. I saw everything in 3 hours. Did you know they also mummified animals? Mummified crocodile anyone? After we grabbed some falafel at a local joint, we then happened upon the alley that we ate breakfast at the day before and ordered a hookah and some coffee and sat with the locals. This was pretty awesome. The beer we had at the locals bar after that was also awesome. Then we headed back to the hotel to meet our ride to the train station to catch the night train to Luxor to head to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. (Night train was also awesome).
Luxor was pretty impressive, if not a bit of a blur. It kind of had the feeling of get in this tomb, hit this tomb, get in the van, next tomb, next temple, etc. I definitely saw some cool sights, but I honestly have no idea whose tombs I saw and which temples we visited. Our guide was a bit useless so we gave him the boot once we got our bus tickets back to Hurghada. We ventured off and happened upon a great lunch place. John, Kim and Conor got some awesome meat dish, which I passed on knowing that I had a 6 hour bus ride in my near future. Cassie and I got falafel, which was also awesome, but I kind of wish I got the meat dish. If I could trust my stomach at all, I would have.
Back to the resort and two full days to chill. Beach, pool, sun, relax, read, aahhhh. We did have some thoughts about renting dune buggies and going out on another tour, but at this point we were all toured out so we just chilled. When all was said and done, I read three books. It was great. Leaving Egypt was bitter sweet. I didn’t want to vacation to end, and I certainly did not want to say goodbye to the sun, but at the same time… I was exhausted from all the touts and people harassing you to buy stuff, etc. Strange to say it, but I was kind of excited and relieved when I got back to Ukraine. Great trip, great visuals, great weather, great friends. What more can you ask for… besides an extra couple of weeks in Egypt.
And yes, I did watch Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark when I got back.
Kim and I made the best of it and managed to pack in a really full weekend. We both got great haircuts and pedicures (for Egypt), hosted a dinner/wine get-together for the lady PCVs in Ktop, got together for another dinner get-together Mexican night, and managed to squeeze in a trip to the banya (sauna) with Kim’s co-workers (which in the end turned out to be one co-worker plus me and Kim. Having not been to the banya since the summer, winter adds a whole new element of fun to the sauna experience. Winter means, running outside and rubbing snow on your body after sitting and sweating in the sauna. Actually, it was pretty fun. I can now kind of understand the Polar Bear Club… kind of. You are so warm from the sauna that you are still hot when you step outside. I’m thinking that the cold water is still a really big shock though.
I took an early train to Kiev on Monday and knocked out my medical crap. Then I just waited for everyone to gather the next day. By the time I was up and ready to go from my hostel, Cassie, Kim and Conor were all at the Peace Corps office. John came a lot later and met us for dinner. We had a family dinner at the Doctor Bar and got a reasonably priced steak (actually it was really cheap, less than 10 bucks). It was surprisingly really good. I will be going back there. The wait staff dresses in dirty nurse costumes and serve shots in little beakers in a basement restaurant that is off the beaten track and something you can only find with really thorough directions from someone in the know. (It’s in a back alley, in a basement, without signage to advertise – nonetheless, the place was packed).
The next day we headed to the airport extremely early to be there for a 6:30am flight. Conor and I managed to get seats in the Emergency Exit Aisle for his long legs, and apparently on Ukrainian flights/airlines there is a lot of clapping. Before the plane even hit the ground in Egypt someone had started off the whole plane clapping. I guess I have become so blaisé about flying that I take it for granted that I am in a gigantic silver tube hurtling through the air and the fact that I land safe and sound in a different destination is a small miracle. Well anyhow, Conor and I got a chuckle from the passionate clapping when we landed. No really, there was some seriously heartfelt clapping going on. And then, Hurghada…
The small back-story about Egypt is that from Ukraine you can get really good all-inclusive package deals to resort destinations such as Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheik (a woman was recently killed by a shark there). For flight, transport from the airport to the resort and back, and all inclusive food and beverage for 8 days and 7 nights we each paid a little more than $500 USD. That’s pretty amazing. So we planned a trip for our cluster to spend Christmas in Egypt. We figured we could use the resort as a base and visit the sites from there. We planned to go to Cairo for a couple of days to see the Pyramids of Giza and then to head to Luxor to hit up the Valley of the Kings and Queens. Kim and I put our heads together pre-trip and decided a flight to Cairo, a night train to Luxor and then a bus back to Hurghada and we would do all this in 3 days. Whirlwind, yes, but then we would have a couple of days at the resort to just chill in the sun before we headed back to the darkness in Ukraine.
The resort was nice enough and we got what we paid for. I really wish I bought some kind of mosquito repellant, because our room was filled with mosquitoes – and these mosquitoes loved them some Amy. Any thing that wasn’t covered by the blanked was covered in bites. I can still hear that traumatic high pitched buzz around my ears… Needless to say, I am very thankful that the mosquitoes were not malarial.
We spent a good day and a half chilling at the resort and the beach in the SUN. Yes, there was SUN in Egypt, unlike Ukraine where the sky is grey and the sun sets at like 4 in the afternoon. The resort had two restaurants and it was buffet-style eating. I have never seen the boys eat so much in the time that I have known them. It was really amazing what they packed away. There was also a couple of bars and alcohol was included in our package, unfortunately, the alcohol was served in tiny 2 ounce plastic cups like the ones that you get at the dentist to swish and spit with… yeah, guess how long a beer lasts in one of those cups? But, they also had hookahs or water pipes that we could smoke depending on what you call them. You get to smoke fruit flavored tobacco sans nicotine. Not bad, it makes for a fun group activity anyhow and oddly enough is really relaxing.
Our flight to Cairo was at 4:45am on Christmas Eve, so the plan was to get to Cairo, find a place to stay and see the pyramids as soon as possible. We were kind of walking around blindly and this guy came up to us around 7am and offered to show us around and brought us to a great locals stand to get an authentic Egyptian breakfast (butter bun with jam, falafel, and pita stuffed with what tasted like refried beans). He took us to a local’s alley to get coffee and eat our breakfast, and then took us to a hotel and helped us get a room. We got a passable room for 20 bucks each that included breakfast. Yes! And then he took us on public transportation to the pyramids. Riding the bus was fun. Apparently tourists don’t do it often, because we had a lot of interesting looks. We stopped off at a papyrus museum where he likely got a cut of whatever profit they made on us, but it was interesting to learn how to make papyrus (the paper that the ancient Egyptians wrote on). Then he dropped us at a place where we could rent camels to ride and get a guide to show us the pyramids. We tipped him handsomely, but really, I thought it was worth it since the breakfast was great, we would have bumbled around for a hotel on our own, and we would likely have taken a cab to the pyramids missing out on the local experience.
Riding a camel is likely a necessary venture if you visit Egypt, but it ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Camels smell, they fart a lot, mine was constantly doing the shimmy when we stopped so I had to hold on for dear life, and Conor’s camel bit John. Granted the camel bit John’s cargo pocket on his shorts and technically bit the sunscreen in that pocket, but still, John VanGavree got bit by a camel. It was hilarious. Unfortunately, for me, the camels took away from the fact that we were seeing THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA. I spent a lot of time focusing on staying on my camel since he was a dancer. Thankfully Cassie and Conor took a lot of pictures. I had trouble getting my camera out of my bag since I had to use both hands most of the time to hold on.
The pyramids are huge and awe inspiring. I’ve read the articles in National Geographic and I have seen the photos, but seeing the pyramids with your own eyes is a whole new experience. Spoiler: the Sphinx is not that big. Sure it’s big, but in comparison to the size of the pyramids, it’s just a little thing.
After the pyramids we grabbed a quick snack then headed back to the hotel for a much needed rest, and shower (we all wreaked of camel). After a rest, we ventured out to find a restaurant called Farfalle, which was touted as an old traditional Egyptian restaurant with reliable food and a nice atmosphere. Sold. Christmas Eve dinner should be special. Unfortunately, we had a heck of a time finding it. After wandering around for a half an hour we asked someone and it was just across the street, right in front of us. We had an excellent, if not heavy meal, but we were all exhausted so after dinner we headed back to the hotel and passed out.
On Christmas we slept in, got our free breakfast and then ventured out to the Egyptian Museum and spent the better part of 3 hours looking at artifacts that were found in the tombs. Talk about sensory overload. Our guidebook said that you should try to tackle the museum in two days. I saw everything in 3 hours. Did you know they also mummified animals? Mummified crocodile anyone? After we grabbed some falafel at a local joint, we then happened upon the alley that we ate breakfast at the day before and ordered a hookah and some coffee and sat with the locals. This was pretty awesome. The beer we had at the locals bar after that was also awesome. Then we headed back to the hotel to meet our ride to the train station to catch the night train to Luxor to head to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. (Night train was also awesome).
Luxor was pretty impressive, if not a bit of a blur. It kind of had the feeling of get in this tomb, hit this tomb, get in the van, next tomb, next temple, etc. I definitely saw some cool sights, but I honestly have no idea whose tombs I saw and which temples we visited. Our guide was a bit useless so we gave him the boot once we got our bus tickets back to Hurghada. We ventured off and happened upon a great lunch place. John, Kim and Conor got some awesome meat dish, which I passed on knowing that I had a 6 hour bus ride in my near future. Cassie and I got falafel, which was also awesome, but I kind of wish I got the meat dish. If I could trust my stomach at all, I would have.
Back to the resort and two full days to chill. Beach, pool, sun, relax, read, aahhhh. We did have some thoughts about renting dune buggies and going out on another tour, but at this point we were all toured out so we just chilled. When all was said and done, I read three books. It was great. Leaving Egypt was bitter sweet. I didn’t want to vacation to end, and I certainly did not want to say goodbye to the sun, but at the same time… I was exhausted from all the touts and people harassing you to buy stuff, etc. Strange to say it, but I was kind of excited and relieved when I got back to Ukraine. Great trip, great visuals, great weather, great friends. What more can you ask for… besides an extra couple of weeks in Egypt.
And yes, I did watch Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark when I got back.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Saint Nicholas Day
Here are Conor's photos from Saint Nicholas Day. His tutor Marina invited him to attend church for the day. The photos are an interesting example of the Ukrainian Orthodox church culture.
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| St. Nicholas Day |
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Interesting Winter Observation
Slippery walking conditions are a huge problem here in Ukraine during the winter. My guess is that they don't have the resources to put down salt/dirt or shovel in front of businesses to keep the walking paths clean. The obvious issue is that people walk a lot more here than in the United States. So walking from grocery store, to pharmacy, to bank, and back home is completely normal. People kind of plod along lightly and slowly on the ice, bracing themselves for a slip or fall. When it’s slippery and dangerous to be carrying heavy, bulky or just plain awkward packages, Ukrainians don’t carry them. They drag an old school sled with metal runners on it behind them and pile the packages on. Ha, amazing. Picture it, tons of people dragging sleds behind them packed with groceries.
Photo courtesy of Stephanie Somerman
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