Field Trip To Kiev!

Last Thursday, our cluster group went to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine! It is about an hour and a half bus ride from Oster...maybe 2 hours when all was said and done. There are days built into our busy PST (Pre-Service Training...the first 3 months that we're in country) schedule that are specifically for field trips. This first one had a few objectives:

1) find the Peace Corps office headquarters
2) ask directions to people on the street
3) go on a scavenger hunt to find 5 monuments/churches/other big tourist attractions
4) go to the bank to get our next months allowance
5) go to a cafe and order food

We left Oster on the 7:30 bus to Kiev...and had to immediately go to the metro (subway). There were times that I literally forgot I was in Kiev and not NYC. Think of how confusing the subway can be in NYC...and multiply that by about 100 because everything is in UKRAINIAN now...the language that I don't know. Luckily, Zhenya was our tour guide, and would help us if we were going to get on the subway going the wrong direction. We will go to Kiev again in a few weeks to practice how to navigate in the metro and train stations on our own...but we haven't gotten to that vocab. yet. After going about 10 stops on the metro, we took a 70 meter escalator (I think Zhenya told us it's the biggest in Europe) up to be on ground level. What greeted us was something very familiar...


This is our trash from it. See the golden arches?

The McDonalds is literally about 100 feet away from the metro and train hub. I was somewhat excited to use Russian when ordering my food (small fries and a coffee), but the lady then spoke to me in English. Bummer!


For around $2.50, I got a small fry and small coffee.

After our McDonalds break (which felt weird to be able to have fast food...I like my fresh foods now!), we were off to find the Peace Corps office. We had to ask people in Russian if they knew where Saksaganskova street was...quite the mouthful. There are not street signs on every corner in Kiev (or much of Ukraine) for that matter. Street signs are sometimes located on the corner of a building...but more often than not they are not visible at all. This means that you have to ask the locals walking down the street where a street is located. I'm sure I'll get used to this idea eventually...but I was definitely a little weirded out at first with this idea. We finally made it to the Peace Corps building...where we were given a tour of the 4 story building that runs PC Ukraine!


These are all of the PC Trainees that are in my group...group 41. There are 106 of us (one of the biggest...if not the biggest PC Ukraine groups) split up into 22 clusters. My piece of paper is the top right...I'm on the 2nd row on the left.

While at the PC office, we met with Lena (like my mom!), who visited our cluster earlier in the week. I believe she is in charge of language coordination...and for homework we had to come up with some more in depth questions to ask her.

Lena, Cassi, Lydia, Zhenya, Mark, and Jamie (Brendan had stepped out of the room for a bit)

After our tour of PC Ukraine headquarters, we were off to find our bank...which took quite some time. But...we passed a few neat things along the way!

Loved this cute clock as we were searching for our bank!

We ate lunch at this amazing, cafeteria style restaurant...I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head. Basically, every type of Ukrainian food you might want was available and you chose what you wanted and paid at the end. Totally forgot to take a picture of my tray. It was filled with potato pilmini (ravioli with potatos/onions/carrots), bread (duh), a chicken kiev type dish, and this amazing rice/veggie mix. Oh...and the best part: apple juice juicebox :)

After our filling lunch...it was time for our scavenger hunt. I'm not going to be able to remember some of these building/monument names, so forgive me. If you really want to know...I can find out! Just ask.


Loved the golden leafing...

adorable hotel in Independance square

St. Sophia's cathedral bell tower

St. Sophia's cathedral

Also in Independance Square (St. Sophia's is behind me, while St. Michael's is about 3 blocks beyond this statue)

St. Michael's cathedral, which we got to go inside (no pictures though). It was unbelievable...

A door for Dave!

The day ended with us sprinting to catch a bus. It was literally one of the funniest things I've witnessed in a while. We were on one side of the train tracks when we needed to be on the other...so Zhenya kept asking people standing around where we could go to catch our bus. I wish I had worn a pedometer to see how far we walked that day. I thought I packed mine but haven't been able to find it in my suitcases.

So, that was my trip to Kiev. If you, readers, have any subjects that you would like for me to blog about (questions about Ukraine, what a normal day is, food, etc.) please email me or leave a comment with the questions. I would love to know what y'all are curious about :) Need to work on some homework now. Night night!