Still Waiting...What is Kyiv like?

THANK YOU everyone who left comments on our last entry. We really look forward to receiving them and check for comments all the time.

We continue to wait for word from the adoption center this afternoon (Thursday). We have heard nothing yet from our coordinator, but she is supposed to be back in contact with us in the next hour or so. Lara and I continue to keep our fingers crossed. In the meantime, we wanted to update the blog as to how we are doing, and what the Ukraine is like.

First, we continue to suffer from jet lag. Not certain as to the reason it is taking us so long to feel reasonably coherent during the day. We have been getting to bed the last two nights around 11:00, but when we wake up we feel lousy. This morning we got up around 7:30, ate, and then promptly laid back down and did not wake again until 10:30. We have to somehow force ourselves to plow through a morning of no sleep so we get on track before we have to leave Kyiv for the region when that happens. We will probably stay with a host family, and they will think we are lazy Americans. We have to do a better job in order to represent our country well. We do not get the impression that Ukrainians have had much, if any, exposure to Americans. This will be even more pronounced once we leave the capital.

So how is the Ukraine and what is it like? I have to be a bit differential as to our opinion at this point. While we can describe the big city of Kyiv, we really think that Kyiv will turn out to be much different than the rest of the country, so take this blog entry as a description of our experiences here in Kyiv.

First impression: We got off the airplane and the first sensory descriptor was "smokey". Cigarette smoking is extremely common and even though the airport has "no smoking" signs and symbols everywhere, people simply ignored them. This has become less common over the years throughout Europe, but here it is common to ignore such signs and enforcement is non-existent. Our next impression was formed while in the customs and declarations area of the airport. We entered the customs hall and there was a large crowd of people that were waiting to clear customs. While we were in the hall, there were no fewer than 5 flights that had arrived so it was extremely crowded. At the end of the hall there were three customs agents clearing through all of these people. Very chaotic! The "line" all merged in the three places where the agents were located. People were crammed in like sardines and we pushed toward the agents. The best I could tell each person was taking about 2 minutes to clear through customs. It took about an hour as I mentioned in my previous blog. Chaos reigns supreme! Probably the savior of this first experience was that after getting our bags and going through the declaration line, the agent in that part of the process sincerely wished us good luck after seeing that we were there to adopt. It was touching.

Since this first impression, we have found Kyiv to be a very interesting city and its people friendly and gracious. Language is a larger barrier than we had expected in a European capital. We have only ran into a two people who speak English. One was in a department store last night and the other was a young girl from California working for the Peace Corp. That's it. Lara and I now take the translation book everywhere and are trying to pick up a few key phrases and words. We like this sort of thing so it is fun for us (although frustrating for the Ukrainians we're certain). The writing is in Cerulean Script so it is a bit like going to Japan or China. The biggest difference being that you can find a great deal of English writing and English speakers in Asia. The Ukrainians have been more isolated behind the curtain and under the rule of Russia until recently, so they really have had minimal direct exposure to the western world (other than material goods).

Kyiv is a growing metropolis. The Russians left them with poor infrastructure and very little in the way of Ukrainian culture. The skyline and streets are filled with construction equipment and workers, but there is a lot that still needs to be done here. Under 70 years of Russian rule, the Russians sought to remove any semblance of Ukrainian culture and religion. We have visited several sights, mostly Orthodox churches. We thought we would be seeing ancient buildings and relics. What we have found is that most of these were destroyed by the Russians. The ruins left in place for the Ukrainians to see for posterity as a reminder that they and their cultural and religious beliefs were unimportant and fleeting in comparison to the power of Moscow. The churches we have visited have all been rebuilt since Ukrainian Independence so they are all new but based on the original buildings. Much of their initial efforts have been focused on restoring pride in their Ukrainian heritage and establishing an independent government. It is very apparent that life here centers around the churches and their importance can not be overemphasised. More on the beautiful churches we have seen and some photos later.

Some additional points and impressions:

Architecture: I would characterize it as a mix of stark old communist, mixed with old style (rebuilt) Classic Ukrainian and then more modern buildings. You can walk from one block to the next, if not building to building, and see all of these within eye's view. One building will be new and up-to-date and the next one look like it will fall into the street. The building we are staying looks average from outside, but when you walk into the front door into the stairwell, the interior looks old (and a bit scary at first). Then all of the apartment doors are covered in padded leather (nice) and the apartments are clean, new and gleaming inside. The contrast from step to step in every direction is amazing.

Food: If you are looking to go low fat, diet food and loose weight, the Ukraine is not for you. The food is hearty and rich. It is like the comfort food we crave on a cold winter night. Borscht is huge... really. They eat it as a part of every meal. If you don't know what this is, it is essentially beet soup with meat or vegetables. It is very tasty. Heavy breads, meats, and potatoes make up the rest of the menu. We have yet to find a nice plate of steamed/stir fried vegetables. Vegetables are contained in dishes that come strait out of a recipiet book of Minnesota Hot Dish. All that is missing is the crumpled potato chip topping (but they will add this once they learn that it exists). Generally, food is very inexpensive. Our average grocery bill or dinner bill has been less than $10 and for some reason eating in a restaurant seems to be a bit less expensive than trying to track down a grocery store and making it yourself. We have really enjoyed the food so far and luckily we have walked so much that we have probably burned off the calories.

Restaurants: The restaurants we have been too have been packed with people and very good. There are many restaurants to choose from and the most popular seem to be cafeteria style, theme restaurants. Last night we went to a Middle Eastern Theme Cafeteria. We were hoping to see Middle Eastern dishes, but it was Ukrainian food. The interior was decked out in desert tent decor with middle eastern mosaics on the walls. Stylish and utilitarian, the food in these is very good and very reasonably priced. We have also been to sit down restaurants that were equally good, with a bit higher price. Dinner for two in any of these restaurants have been less than $10 including wine. The cafeteria style is good for us because we can see the food and simply point to what we want. With a few key words, it is easier than trying to read a menu in Cerulean Script and after a long day of walking around, and has seemed to be an easy choice. One disappointment that continues to disappoint everywhere Scott goes in the world is the McDonald'fication of culture. McDonald's is everywhere here and extremely popular. People wait 5 deep at the counters to order the exact same food we order at McDonald's back home. Burgers, fries, chicken McNuggets, sodas, etc. What is missing is the "healthy" choices we have in the U.S. You can even get "Supersized" if you want too and it seems many go for this choice. Lara went out to exchange some money one day and she came back with an extra large fry. Hard to resist a change of pace from Chicken Kyiv (yes, this is a real dish here) from time to time.

Ukrainian Style: Men dress basically. Blacks, greys, neutral tones. There is little story with men's fashion. Women on the other hand are dressed to kill, all the time. It does not matter if it is a teenage girl or a 50 year old woman. High heeled boots (minimum 4") with all the bling bling that rise above the knees. The higher the better, the more bling the better and if they go all the way up to mid-thigh the better. With the streets and sidewalks in a poor condition or made of brick or cobblestone, we are amazed at the Ukrainian woman's sense of balance and the lack of broken ankles. Add to these boots decorated tight pants or mini-skirts, belts, jewelry, etc. Lastly, and most importantly, the coat. We have never seen more fur coats in our lives. Mink with fox trim, mink with mink, fox with mink, beaver with whatever, etc, etc.... It would be tough to be an animal in the Ukraine. There are very few dogs or cats, so it makes us wonder! While the men are basic (and austere), the women are beautiful (Lara has approved my writing this and agrees). This is the land of the supermodel wana-be's (SMWB). Where the average Joe has a better than average chance of hooking up with girl that looks like she came off the pages of a magazine. These SMWB's spare no cost to look this way as already pointed out. I hope these men have really good jobs! They will need them!

Shopping: Any concern we had had for finding what we need in the Ukraine before we left is now gone. If you want it, you can get it. Shops, stores, whatever are everywhere. They tuck in a shop in every available space. The variety of goods is astonishing. For example, we went to a local department store down the street and were surprised at the amount of choices within each department. With all the jewelry, china, chandeliers, kids clothing, women's suits, men's wallets, kitchen gadgets, fur coats... we strongly suspect the # of SKU's in this department store may be significantly greater than the average US department store. Separately, we are also surprised at the number of very high-end stores, too. I think there are more fur coats, expensive cars (you name it, we have seen it here - including a Bentley), Louis Vuitton, D&G and Prada per capita than Mpls/STP and some large cities in Texas. What is hard to find? A decent grocery store (in the city proper), and office supplies (Office Depot is needed).

Money: The Hrivna (Greevnya) is the unit denomination of Ukraine. The exchange is approximately 5 Hrivna to the Dollar. The Hrivna is pegged to the dollar so it remains constant. Looking at a graph of the currency fluctuations, it is totally flat to the dollar while they let it fluctuate to the Euro, Ruble, and other currencies. All transactions here are done in either dollars or hrivna. We are told that all major transactions for cars, houses, appliances, etc are done in dollars, while everything else is done in hrivna. An observation about money here is that they decorate it with some rather scary looking men from the last epoch. No warm and fuzzy fatherly looking guys like Ben Franklin or George Washington here. More like Vladimire the Great and Igor the Really Great. I don't think that these men were truly in touch with their softer sides like our founding fathers depicted on our currency.

Coffee: Really good espresso. Like mud. Kophi Americano, OK. Tastes like espresso with some more water in it. Best Kophi Americano... you guessed it... it is at McDonald's.

I'll get to the sights in our next blog. Time for bed.