Odessa: Part 1

Still catching up on blog posts from way back (I don't think I ever finished the swearing-in ceremony...whoops. add that to the list of things to blog about!), but I've been dying to post about my little vacay down to Odessa. When I got back from my camping trip, I learned that we didn't have work the next week. A group of fellow PCV 41's (my training group) were going down to Odessa for a few days to catch some rays and enjoy the amazing(ly hot) weather. I didn't want to go by myself though because I had yet to ride on a train here in Ukraine and was nervous to do all of that on my own. However, when I was hanging out with some of the PCVs who live in k-grad with me, Phil mentioned one day that he was thinking about taking a little vacation somewhere, maybe Odessa. I jumped on the opportunity to have a trouble buddy (let alone a seasoned travel buddy who had already been to Odessa few times!), so Phil and I went to buy our train tickets. This is an incredibly nerve-racking process because there is no doubt a line when you go to buy it, it is all done in Russian/Ukrainian, and the ladies that sell you your tickets are not usually very nice. But, I got our tickets purchased without a problem and was so excited to see friends I could hardly stand it.

It is typical to travel by train overnight here in Ukraine so that you arrive the place you're going in the morning and you don't waste a night. Our train left at 2:30 am (which kind of sucked) and arrived into Odessa at 8:30 am. When you buy your ticket, you request one of four ticket options: luxury (first class, 2 beds in a compartment), plutzkart (2 upper and 2 lower beds in a compartment), kupe (upper and lower beds in hallway-type configurations, no doors), and coach (a seat, similar to an airplane). Phil and I got 2 plutzkart tickets for around 130 griev each (a little over $16.00)--and we had bottom beds, or so we thought. When we got on the train at 2 am, there was a young mom and her 3 year old daughter asleep in my bed, while the dad was on one of the top bunks. The train attendant (kind of like a stewardess) woke the mom up to tell her that she needed to move to her top bunk, but she wasn't having it. I said it was fine, that I would sleep up top. Little did I know that the daughter was going to wake up at 5 or 6 am and scream and cry for the next 2 hours until we arrived in Odessa. Here are a few pictures of the train and how it's situated...these are actually pictures from our train home but they're all the same.

the hallway (all of the plutzkart rooms are on the left and there are windows on the right)

odd numbers are the bottom bunks, top bunks are even numbers

looking out the rain when we were still at the train station in Odessa

Phil's bottom bed (the bed lifts up and has a box where you can put stuff to secure it overnight.)

My lower bunk (the stewardess had not brought us our linens yet)

View of the whole compartment!

There is also storage above the hallway outside so that the people on the top bunks can put their luggage up there.

So, once we arrived in Odessa, we were greeted by their stately train station. We headed across the street to McDonalds (which has free wifi, air-conditioning, and public toilets) where we met Kym (who was in my link cluster group) and Tondraya, whose train had gotten in at 6:30 am.

The Odessa Train Station (Вокзал)

Train stations in Ukraine are usually pretty spectacular as far as architecture goes...especially the ones in big cities.

The schedule of trains...which I can pretty much understand!

After Phil and I ate breakfast at McDonalds (it was all I could do to contain myself not to get a McFlurry at 9 am), we left our bags with Kym and Tondraya to go back to the train station and buy our tickets home. That was when we discovered this lovely hidden gem in the train station where they have a) air conditioning, b) no lines, c) a patient lady who showed me the many options back to k-grad on a computer, and d) a stunning mosaic and chandelier. I will most definitely buy my tickets from that hidden room the next time I'm in Odessa!

Our time spent in Odessa included time on the beach, shopping, eating, and enjoying the company of other Americans. I think this post is long enough, so I'll go ahead and post it :)