My landlord, Luda, showed up around 8pm with a bathtub Jacuzzi machine. My first reaction was more curious than confusion, which is weird because normally confusion comes first. The confusion this time came a little bit later and the more I think about it, the more I can see how the pieces all fit together in Luda’s grand scheme to import herself into America. My relationship with Luda is kind of like reading Lord of the Rings, each time I read it, the more I think Sam has a secret love crush on Frodo. Luda has a huge love crush on America which massively contributes to why I have a sweet apartment for a lot less than what its worth and maybe why she was standing in my apartment with a bathtub Jacuzzi machine. But like with most things that happen to me in Ukraine, I didn’t ask and decided to just see what would happen.
When I first moved in Luda didn’t say much about her self except that she lived in New York City for 3 years. She was ‘working and writing about American culture’. I discovered over the next few months that she was actually there illegally on a one year working visa and had skipped out on the part that required her to come back to Ukraine. Eventually, the U.S. Government broke up with Luda and the fact remains that even though the break up was not mutual (in fact the break up was brutal and Luda apparently put up one hell of a scene in the JFK airport) Luda still wants to go back. This plays into mine and Luda’s relationship on a regular basis and is usually the reasoning behind most of Luda actions.
One time, Luda offered to take me on an all expenses paid trip to Kiev to ‘see her countries capital.’ But part of the trip involved me going to the U.S. embassy to vouch on her behalf for a green card. All I had to do was tell the embassy that she only wanted to go to America visit my mother for a few weeks. “But Luda, you don’t even know my mothers name and not to mention that New York (where she planned to go) is a good 12 hour drive from South Carolina.” This didn’t really concern Luda and she said it was “just a little lie.” I opted to not go on the excursion to Kiev.
Another fact about Luda is that illegal immigration runs in her family. Her son and daughter in law live in Australia illegally. While they can’t really leave with out getting in trouble they do however send regular packages to Luda. A recent package included a bathtub Jacuzzi machine. So tonight Luda came by to collect rent with the bathtub Jacuzzi machine intentioned to distract me from her schemes. She’s a tricky one but I saw through it. The instructions were in English and Luda ‘needed my help to translate them.’ Luda speaks perfect English and can read effectively enough to regularly bring me (and discuss) articles printed off the internet about places to visit and see in America - so this was the first tip off. The second tip off was when half way through demonstrating how to use the machine and that she shouldn’t put the machine in the water, she very coyly said that I could hold on to the machine if I wanted. I wouldn’t have suspected anything but almost immediately after that sentence she asked me what countries she could fly to that go through the U.S. and if I knew anyone that worked at the airport. This developed into a 30 minute conversation about how you can’t just leave the airport with out going through customs and how just because I’m from America doesn’t mean I know people who work at the airport (or Brittany Spears). So that’s how I spent my Wednesday night and its pretty much how I spend the 1st of every month when I pay rent - playing one of the many games I play with Ukraine. It will only be a matter of time before Luda figures out that I cannot help her get an American visa and only a matter of time before I have to move out of my apartment. But at least I have access to luxuries such as a bathtub Jacuzzi machine and excursions to Kiev.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Grad School App:DMV as GRE:____________
Don’t worry, I am alive! I’ve been really busy studying for the GRE and other activities this summer. But, over the next few weeks I think I will be able to catch you up on past and current events. I will start with the most current and work my way backwards to where I left off.
It’s incredibly relieving to have finished the GRE; I feel like 100 kilograms have been lifted off of my shoulders. I feel human again! Jim, Justin, Kelly (my three friends and fellow PCV’s who I took the GRE with), and I went to a celebratory shashleek party in our friend Curtis’s village near Ternopil. I found myself somewhat socially awkward and tongue tied most of the weekend. I couldn’t tell if it was from locking myself in my apartment for months on end to study or my normal disposition but regardless, it felt really good to talk to human beings again and interact with the real world. Most of us kept using GRE vocabulary that one would not normally use in common conversation. Finding the appropriate small word synonyms is really difficult after you’ve forced your mind to memorize 3,000 ten lettered words and their definitions. (For those of you studying for the GRE, feel relieved that 1,000 of those words mean “to excoriate, disavow, or slanderous.) I also came back to site and immediately began to re-assimilate. I went to work and started work on the final conference for my tourism development project along side my counterpart who I hadn’t seen in weeks. Some of my friends who didn’t know what the GRE was thought I had gone back to America and in consequence, instigated the question if I was staying in Ukraine forever either for a job or a Ukrainian wife. I even cooked a Ukrainian dinner of palmeni, cutlet, rice, and kampyt then the next day started studying language again. Today I went for a walk through the bazaar just for cultural fun and then my English club had a jazz band play in contribution to October’s theme – “Music from America”. The students from the local music university not only rocked out jazz and blues standards but gave lengthy reports on the history of jazz and blues in America. It was a good way to return back home victorious over the evil GRE. But, while that battle has been won and all is well on the home front, another war is looming in the fatherland. Since I finally took the GRE last week and did well enough, I started the application process for graduate schools.
Trying to get all of the proper documents for graduate school admissions while living in Ukraine is like going to the DMV during rush hour. Even after years of checking your work and garnering the paper work you will always undoubtedly get to the front of the line and a snarky employee behind the desk will caustically tell you that you’re missing an obscure form that has at ONLY two letters and a six digit code. (Then you normally get tossed out of line like a rag doll by the people behind you who always seem to have the same problem. Seriously, with the plethora of technology now there has to be some way to streamline the process.) This lengthy process endured is hardly short of exhausting; its absolute mental and physical abuse. (I add physical because I received an intense paper cut on some obscure document that sounded like “SA-666666” today) Fortunately, my time in Ukraine has increased my stamina and endurance to this kind of abuse to above super human level. Graduate school admissions/the DMV have no idea who their messing with. So Let the games begin!
It’s incredibly relieving to have finished the GRE; I feel like 100 kilograms have been lifted off of my shoulders. I feel human again! Jim, Justin, Kelly (my three friends and fellow PCV’s who I took the GRE with), and I went to a celebratory shashleek party in our friend Curtis’s village near Ternopil. I found myself somewhat socially awkward and tongue tied most of the weekend. I couldn’t tell if it was from locking myself in my apartment for months on end to study or my normal disposition but regardless, it felt really good to talk to human beings again and interact with the real world. Most of us kept using GRE vocabulary that one would not normally use in common conversation. Finding the appropriate small word synonyms is really difficult after you’ve forced your mind to memorize 3,000 ten lettered words and their definitions. (For those of you studying for the GRE, feel relieved that 1,000 of those words mean “to excoriate, disavow, or slanderous.) I also came back to site and immediately began to re-assimilate. I went to work and started work on the final conference for my tourism development project along side my counterpart who I hadn’t seen in weeks. Some of my friends who didn’t know what the GRE was thought I had gone back to America and in consequence, instigated the question if I was staying in Ukraine forever either for a job or a Ukrainian wife. I even cooked a Ukrainian dinner of palmeni, cutlet, rice, and kampyt then the next day started studying language again. Today I went for a walk through the bazaar just for cultural fun and then my English club had a jazz band play in contribution to October’s theme – “Music from America”. The students from the local music university not only rocked out jazz and blues standards but gave lengthy reports on the history of jazz and blues in America. It was a good way to return back home victorious over the evil GRE. But, while that battle has been won and all is well on the home front, another war is looming in the fatherland. Since I finally took the GRE last week and did well enough, I started the application process for graduate schools.
Trying to get all of the proper documents for graduate school admissions while living in Ukraine is like going to the DMV during rush hour. Even after years of checking your work and garnering the paper work you will always undoubtedly get to the front of the line and a snarky employee behind the desk will caustically tell you that you’re missing an obscure form that has at ONLY two letters and a six digit code. (Then you normally get tossed out of line like a rag doll by the people behind you who always seem to have the same problem. Seriously, with the plethora of technology now there has to be some way to streamline the process.) This lengthy process endured is hardly short of exhausting; its absolute mental and physical abuse. (I add physical because I received an intense paper cut on some obscure document that sounded like “SA-666666” today) Fortunately, my time in Ukraine has increased my stamina and endurance to this kind of abuse to above super human level. Graduate school admissions/the DMV have no idea who their messing with. So Let the games begin!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Mad Libs
some guys fishing in Sevastopol, UkraineOld person conversation is the same on every continent. Im sitting here eating my bowl of chili watching the ‘babusiyas’ (grandmothers) converse next door and I’m only imagining what their conversations could be about. (Seriously, what could they have to talk about? They sit in the same spot literally everyday for hours at a time. I don’t know what could have happened between 3pm yesterday and 3pm today - Maybe babusiya Irena is listening to babusiya Olga carry on about the same thing she was bantering about yesterday. I don’t know about babusiya Irena but that would make me angry. Maybe there will be a baba-battle?) What makes this so fantastic is that the topic could be anything because A) I cant understand every word and B) even if I could they’re too far away to hear. The conversation could be about cabbage, the rambunctious hooligans that live next door (me), or even killer robots. Take your pick - there are endless possibilities and hours of entertainment sitting right outside my balcony window.
I do the same thing pretty much everywhere I go now. I try and listen to people’s conversations in Ukrainian or Russian and figure out what they’re talking about. You might call it eaves dropping but that would assume that I can understand what they’re saying. Well I can only get about one out of every five words and the rest I fill in with my own vivid imagination. I call it actively practicing my listening skills which I’m sure what every five year old tells his parents when he is actually caught eaves dropping. It’s more like that game called Mad Libs, where it has the skeleton of a sentence with blanks every few words. In the blanks it gives you the type of word and you have to pick a random word to put in the blank. Kind of like this;
Can you believe that Volodya has a _(Adjective)_ __(Noun)__ and he __(Verb)__ it every day to __(Noun)_ because its __(Adjective)__? You know, to my mind its simply a _(Modifier)_ thing to do.
And this is how I fill it in;
Can you believe that Volodya has a _giant_ __eagle__ and he __flies__ it every day to __the pool_ because its __thirsty__. You know, to my mind its simply a _brilliant_ thing to do.
Anyways, after I finish my chili I go to meet a friend at the train station and we walk around for awhile catching up on current events and whatnot. I tell her about babusiya Irena and Olga and their conversation about giant potatoes. She doesn’t think this is funny and say’s it is “creepy” that I’m spying (AKA – eaves dropping) on the old ladies next door. (This is the point in the dialogue where I explain how its not eaves dropping.) Actually, the scary part is that I can’t turn English into background noise anymore. When someone is speaking English within a two mile radius I can tell you exactly what the person is saying. This being my reality, my fun little game is immune against people speaking English and even worse, I can’t block out the people who normally would fade into the background noise. (blah blah blah) Today is one of those days where I really want (need) to block out the conversation I’m having because it consists of a contradiction every two or three statements.
“I love to travel” says my friend.
Just to get things going I respond with “You don’t say, have you traveled much around Ukraine since you’ve been here?”
“No, I don’t have any desire to really travel too far from here.”
“Interesting. So, you just don’t like to travel in Ukraine then?”
“No it’s just that I really love my (small) town and it fits my personality.”
“Oh, so you like small towns? Did you grow up in a small town?”
“Not really, I’m a big city kind of person.”
In my mind, I am pouring poison into my friend’s beer because this has turned into a coy game and I don’t understand the rules. Isn’t that how an opponent of equal coyness responds by eliminating the opposition? Outside of my mind this is a sincere conversation and it’s not a game. I really like this person as a whole but I miss Babusiya Irena and Olga. Their conversations are much more predictable and entertaining, mainly because I make them up. I am sure that Babusiya Irena and Olga are just as frustrating in real life as my friend and actually many others that I have conversations with these days. I don’t have as many day today social interactions with people of my own species. (English speakers) and in all honesty, I think it’s really that I am becoming more socially awkward the longer I live in Ukraine.
I do the same thing pretty much everywhere I go now. I try and listen to people’s conversations in Ukrainian or Russian and figure out what they’re talking about. You might call it eaves dropping but that would assume that I can understand what they’re saying. Well I can only get about one out of every five words and the rest I fill in with my own vivid imagination. I call it actively practicing my listening skills which I’m sure what every five year old tells his parents when he is actually caught eaves dropping. It’s more like that game called Mad Libs, where it has the skeleton of a sentence with blanks every few words. In the blanks it gives you the type of word and you have to pick a random word to put in the blank. Kind of like this;
Can you believe that Volodya has a _(Adjective)_ __(Noun)__ and he __(Verb)__ it every day to __(Noun)_ because its __(Adjective)__? You know, to my mind its simply a _(Modifier)_ thing to do.
And this is how I fill it in;
Can you believe that Volodya has a _giant_ __eagle__ and he __flies__ it every day to __the pool_ because its __thirsty__. You know, to my mind its simply a _brilliant_ thing to do.
Anyways, after I finish my chili I go to meet a friend at the train station and we walk around for awhile catching up on current events and whatnot. I tell her about babusiya Irena and Olga and their conversation about giant potatoes. She doesn’t think this is funny and say’s it is “creepy” that I’m spying (AKA – eaves dropping) on the old ladies next door. (This is the point in the dialogue where I explain how its not eaves dropping.) Actually, the scary part is that I can’t turn English into background noise anymore. When someone is speaking English within a two mile radius I can tell you exactly what the person is saying. This being my reality, my fun little game is immune against people speaking English and even worse, I can’t block out the people who normally would fade into the background noise. (blah blah blah) Today is one of those days where I really want (need) to block out the conversation I’m having because it consists of a contradiction every two or three statements.
“I love to travel” says my friend.
Just to get things going I respond with “You don’t say, have you traveled much around Ukraine since you’ve been here?”
“No, I don’t have any desire to really travel too far from here.”
“Interesting. So, you just don’t like to travel in Ukraine then?”
“No it’s just that I really love my (small) town and it fits my personality.”
“Oh, so you like small towns? Did you grow up in a small town?”
“Not really, I’m a big city kind of person.”
In my mind, I am pouring poison into my friend’s beer because this has turned into a coy game and I don’t understand the rules. Isn’t that how an opponent of equal coyness responds by eliminating the opposition? Outside of my mind this is a sincere conversation and it’s not a game. I really like this person as a whole but I miss Babusiya Irena and Olga. Their conversations are much more predictable and entertaining, mainly because I make them up. I am sure that Babusiya Irena and Olga are just as frustrating in real life as my friend and actually many others that I have conversations with these days. I don’t have as many day today social interactions with people of my own species. (English speakers) and in all honesty, I think it’s really that I am becoming more socially awkward the longer I live in Ukraine.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Peace Corps Can Save Polar Bears Too!
From "Den Misto" (City Day) in Ivano Frankivs'k. Concert held on Shevchenko Lake.
Why did you join Peace Corps?
This question pops up in my modern life at least once a day and regardless of the format I always have trouble answering this question. Not in the sense that I don’t know what to say because the knee jerk answer is a five minute monologue about A) experiencing another culture, B) helping other people and C) saving polar bears from extinction.
When I finish the monologue (which comes in all sizes, well at least two, from English to Ukrainian) I feel good about what I’ve just said because it’s all true. The difficulty comes with finding a genuine response and it’s the genuine response that’s under much debate and sometimes a lot of us feel guilty about. It’s a quandary for all of us to know how to tell the self centered version of the monologue where the answers are A) I wanted to do something different B) I hated my job C) I need help to go to graduate school D) I plot to take over the world etc.
Yes, those answers are rigid and sometimes make us look like assholes but I want to rebuttal with this; Even though a lot of us might have these responses, those answers are really just circling a bigger picture - we all aim for something better and for self improvement. Admitting to the fact that we came over here to ‘do something different’ or ‘get help with graduate school’ is not exclusive to ‘experiencing a new culture’ and ‘saving the polar bears.’ Just because we didn’t realize that’s what we wanted to do when we got on the plane doesn’t mean we didn’t, or will not, eventually incorporate those answers into our statement of purpose. Also, take into account that traveling across the globe ‘just do something different’ and ‘for self improvement’, indicates a level of self awareness and acknowledgment of something bigger that’s unique.
True Story. When I decided to join Peace Corps I was really unhappy at my job and generally pissed off at the world. I knew that I needed to do something better and bigger than selling nuts and bolts to the local mechanics. Realizing that I had the opportunity to do something else and that I could at least attempt to improve myself I turned in my resignation and hopped on a plane. In my exit interview with my three bosses (yes – three bosses just like ‘Office Space’) they seriously looked me in the face and said “Peace Corps? Isn’t that the old hippie thing? I didn’t know it was still around. Why would you go and do such a thing when you have all the management training you could ever need right here with our company?” I think I threw up a little in my mouth at that point and just politely responded with my five minute monologue. The point to this story is that those guys had been with this company for so long that they were stuck. They had no desire to ever leave or see something different. The universe only consisted of the 20 square mile radius that they never left. I don’t hate them for that because to each his own right? But I didn’t want to get stuck. I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life (and still really don’t to a certain degree) but I knew that I wanted something better and not to get stuck. I wanted to do something else to keep improving myself so I joined Peace Corps because I knew that it would give me the chance for self improvement. I don’t consider that self centered because now that I’m here it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. Along with teaching English, telling people about my life in America, and working with small business development - I’m also saving polar bears while taking over the world. Self improvement can also directly relate to the improvement of others. So, “Motivation is everything” and “the end does justify the means.”
This question pops up in my modern life at least once a day and regardless of the format I always have trouble answering this question. Not in the sense that I don’t know what to say because the knee jerk answer is a five minute monologue about A) experiencing another culture, B) helping other people and C) saving polar bears from extinction.
When I finish the monologue (which comes in all sizes, well at least two, from English to Ukrainian) I feel good about what I’ve just said because it’s all true. The difficulty comes with finding a genuine response and it’s the genuine response that’s under much debate and sometimes a lot of us feel guilty about. It’s a quandary for all of us to know how to tell the self centered version of the monologue where the answers are A) I wanted to do something different B) I hated my job C) I need help to go to graduate school D) I plot to take over the world etc.
Yes, those answers are rigid and sometimes make us look like assholes but I want to rebuttal with this; Even though a lot of us might have these responses, those answers are really just circling a bigger picture - we all aim for something better and for self improvement. Admitting to the fact that we came over here to ‘do something different’ or ‘get help with graduate school’ is not exclusive to ‘experiencing a new culture’ and ‘saving the polar bears.’ Just because we didn’t realize that’s what we wanted to do when we got on the plane doesn’t mean we didn’t, or will not, eventually incorporate those answers into our statement of purpose. Also, take into account that traveling across the globe ‘just do something different’ and ‘for self improvement’, indicates a level of self awareness and acknowledgment of something bigger that’s unique.
True Story. When I decided to join Peace Corps I was really unhappy at my job and generally pissed off at the world. I knew that I needed to do something better and bigger than selling nuts and bolts to the local mechanics. Realizing that I had the opportunity to do something else and that I could at least attempt to improve myself I turned in my resignation and hopped on a plane. In my exit interview with my three bosses (yes – three bosses just like ‘Office Space’) they seriously looked me in the face and said “Peace Corps? Isn’t that the old hippie thing? I didn’t know it was still around. Why would you go and do such a thing when you have all the management training you could ever need right here with our company?” I think I threw up a little in my mouth at that point and just politely responded with my five minute monologue. The point to this story is that those guys had been with this company for so long that they were stuck. They had no desire to ever leave or see something different. The universe only consisted of the 20 square mile radius that they never left. I don’t hate them for that because to each his own right? But I didn’t want to get stuck. I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life (and still really don’t to a certain degree) but I knew that I wanted something better and not to get stuck. I wanted to do something else to keep improving myself so I joined Peace Corps because I knew that it would give me the chance for self improvement. I don’t consider that self centered because now that I’m here it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. Along with teaching English, telling people about my life in America, and working with small business development - I’m also saving polar bears while taking over the world. Self improvement can also directly relate to the improvement of others. So, “Motivation is everything” and “the end does justify the means.”
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Pig Fat, The Robbery, and Transitional Amnesia
True story. I don’t remember the normality of American life; I can only tell you abnormalities of my life now, which generally penetrates into every function of my seemingly normal life now. (I say seemingly because I’ve apparently blacked out from memory my transition period from America to Ukraine – doctors call this ‘transitional amnesia’. I just made that up but for the purpose of this essay it will be my semi-fictional filler phrase.) There are the obvious complications of living in Ukraine that make things seemingly abnormal – strange foods, language barriers, customs, traditions, time change, etc. But in reality it’s all a matter of time and perspective. (And completely blacking out the memory of your former life) At first, looking at a bowl of solidified pig fat (Salo – a traditional Ukrainian dish) as an entrée is problematic. (Looking at it from the normality of life in America – I think I might throw up.) After a year of ‘transitional amnesia’, the know how of dropping that bowl of solidified fat into a frying pan and turning it into gravy for your mashed potatoes is even more problematic. (Looking at it from the normality of life in Ukraine - why would I do that when its perfectly edible as is?) In this scenario, it’s much more complicated to explain to a Ukrainian family that you don’t want to eat the solidified pig fat than it is to do the latter (Unless you just really want to blow their minds) but it’s perfectly acceptable to refuse under the pretension that you are a vegetarian, have eaten too much, or you cannot eat Salo for religious reason. (“Yes, I do believe in God and he told me that I cannot eat the pig fat.) Besides, it’s really not that bad now that I’ve eaten it a few times and it goes perfectly with a beer or two. (In Ukraine, one beer equals a liter of beer.) The less obvious snags of life in Ukraine are trickier in that they pop up when trying to reverse my brain to my former life and way of thinking. They are less obvious but normally happen in situations like remembering how to pump gas, studying for the GRE, remembering English words, or filling out a police report. At first, sitting in a police station answering questions in Russian/Ukrainian is obviously problematic. (This recently happened to me in Crimea on a camping trip. Someone stole stuff from our tent) Now however, the trickier part is when I’m trying to explain in English what happened to my family back home. Not because I was over excited or drunk during the incident (which is completely true, I’ve given up alcohol except for beer, tequila, rum, and whiskey) but because when I tried to use words like ‘stole’ or ‘tent’, the only words that came to mind was ‘vkrali’ and ‘palyatka’ and I literally could not think of the English words. Its like when someone asks you “Hey who sings this song?” and even though its your most favorite band in the world you cant think of their name because of temporary amnesia. It actually didn’t occur to me that the process would have been much easier in English until much later when conveying the story to my mom only took 15 minutes instead of 4 hours. By no means am I fluent in Russian or Ukrainian (I’m actually really awful at it which is why it took 4 hours to fully explain to the police that we had been robbed and answer their questions.) but its simply that I am no longer as efficient in English. It’s more like I am equally illiterate in three languages instead of somewhat illiterate in just one. I have been in Ukraine for 14 months and it appears that the nuances of this country have commandeered my body and mind. I am a walking robot with a little Ukrainian inside my head behind the steering wheel. I do however stop from time to time though and think; “why did I just do that? I wouldn’t have done that a year ago? Get out of my head you tiny Ukrainian!” (even that’s just weird and I wouldn’t normally talk to myself in a normal situation) In my own self defense you can ask any Peace Corps Volunteer about this phenomenon and they will undoubted launch into a tangent about how strange their life habits have become; increased need for alone time, eating Salo, reading 18 books in a month, walking 45 minutes to work, thinking to yourself partly in a differently language, cooking real food instead of eating out, forgetting how to have small talk and social interactions, etc. etc. It’s not necessarily that we have forgotten what our former lives were like; it’s closer to the fact that we have over written our former lives with the details of this life through adaptation and assimilation. This is the time when all that is seemingly normal is crazy and all that is seemingly crazy is normal. Ultimately, it’s a good thing and a benefit that will make us all adroit to adapting and assimilating new things. Hooray for Peace Corps making us weird through transitional amnesia.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Pyramids and Stuff
Egypt! Its one of those places I’ve thought about only in dreams. Never did I think I would actually ever go there. When I was a little kid I was obsessed with hieroglyphs and Egyptian history. I loved movies like The Mummy, Indiana Jones, and Star Gate. I always sought out those books about Egypt and would even wear one of those turban things around when I was little kid. (Ok that was a lie, but I thought it was funny and I actually bought one while in Egypt. The guy who sold it to me told me I looked like a terrorist, that’s not funny.)
Turns out, Egypt is one of those most popular vacation destinations for Ukrainians. Shelby found a really good deal through a Ukrainian tourist agency. Round trip tickets from Kyiv to Hurgada (the resort we stayed at), 5 days in Egypt, and 2 meals a day was only $350. We paid a little extra when we got there for excursions to Cairo and Luxor but it was worth the price. We had to wait until the last day to get the tickets to get the best possibly price which was kind of stressful and we actually had a back up plan to go to Hungary if it didn’t work out. It all worked out though thanks to Shelby. Seriously, how much does it cost to go to Egypt from the U.S.? Erica, Cody, (two other PCV’s) Shelby & I were on it.
I’ll start by saying that Luxor was much more enjoyable than Cairo. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Cairo, but its really a giant tourist trap that’s loud, expensive, and really dirty. There are guard and police every few hundred feet to ensure security and on the way to Cairo we went through a security check point about every hour. But in the midst of being overwhelmed I could really see why it’s on the 7 wonders of the world. You see pictures and hear of how big and impressive the Pyramids of Giza are, but I can’t begin to explain their size. And to think people built them by hand thousands of years ago is awesome. Lots of people say that the sphinx is a lot smaller than you think it would be but it still is an impressive thing to see. We also went to the Cairo Museum (which was also severely overcrowded) that houses some of the most impressive Egyptian artifacts including the mask and outer sarcophagi of King Tutankhamen. It was really cool for me because it was a continuation of seeing the Egyptian artifacts in the British Museum last Thanksgiving. Egypt is still trying to get back a lot of those misplaced artifacts back.
In Luxor we went to the Temple of Karnak which is impossible to describe. ‘It is about 1.5km x 800m and is big enough to fit 10 cathedrals in.’ (from Lonely Planet) It’s really massive enough to get lost in and if we would’ve had more time I would have enjoyed getting lost there. You can still see color on the hieroglyphs and see where different stories through out Egyptian history are chiseled into every square inch of every piece of stone. After that we went to the Valley of the Kings where the Egyptians moved the mummies of their kings after they started having major problems with tomb raiders. (Thanks Laura Croft!) Here King Tutankhamen is buried along with many other kings. We only were able to go into the tombs of Ramsees I & IX. King Tut was expensive and since we saw his findings in the Cairo Museum we simply took a picture of the entrance. The Valley itself was scorched and there was literally nothing there. However, Luxor was actually a very green place and driving into it was a cool contrast to the dessert and mountains.
We also went to a lot of other places in between lazing around Hurgada on the beach like a papyrus paper museum, stone crafting work shop, and places in between that were all just as impressive. I also ate Hardees and Pizza Hut twice because they don’t have those in Ukraine. Yes, I also tried Egyptian cuisine. My mouth loved it but it didn’t agree entirely with my stomach. (Well worth the price) So, now were all back in Ukraine scheming for our next trip. Shelby is heading to Georgia in July and I am heading to Croatia sometime in the fall. First I have to get back to work and deal with the projects I neglected while I was gone. I love living abroad but it does come with its own set of head aches. Ill write more about that later.
Turns out, Egypt is one of those most popular vacation destinations for Ukrainians. Shelby found a really good deal through a Ukrainian tourist agency. Round trip tickets from Kyiv to Hurgada (the resort we stayed at), 5 days in Egypt, and 2 meals a day was only $350. We paid a little extra when we got there for excursions to Cairo and Luxor but it was worth the price. We had to wait until the last day to get the tickets to get the best possibly price which was kind of stressful and we actually had a back up plan to go to Hungary if it didn’t work out. It all worked out though thanks to Shelby. Seriously, how much does it cost to go to Egypt from the U.S.? Erica, Cody, (two other PCV’s) Shelby & I were on it.
I’ll start by saying that Luxor was much more enjoyable than Cairo. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Cairo, but its really a giant tourist trap that’s loud, expensive, and really dirty. There are guard and police every few hundred feet to ensure security and on the way to Cairo we went through a security check point about every hour. But in the midst of being overwhelmed I could really see why it’s on the 7 wonders of the world. You see pictures and hear of how big and impressive the Pyramids of Giza are, but I can’t begin to explain their size. And to think people built them by hand thousands of years ago is awesome. Lots of people say that the sphinx is a lot smaller than you think it would be but it still is an impressive thing to see. We also went to the Cairo Museum (which was also severely overcrowded) that houses some of the most impressive Egyptian artifacts including the mask and outer sarcophagi of King Tutankhamen. It was really cool for me because it was a continuation of seeing the Egyptian artifacts in the British Museum last Thanksgiving. Egypt is still trying to get back a lot of those misplaced artifacts back.
In Luxor we went to the Temple of Karnak which is impossible to describe. ‘It is about 1.5km x 800m and is big enough to fit 10 cathedrals in.’ (from Lonely Planet) It’s really massive enough to get lost in and if we would’ve had more time I would have enjoyed getting lost there. You can still see color on the hieroglyphs and see where different stories through out Egyptian history are chiseled into every square inch of every piece of stone. After that we went to the Valley of the Kings where the Egyptians moved the mummies of their kings after they started having major problems with tomb raiders. (Thanks Laura Croft!) Here King Tutankhamen is buried along with many other kings. We only were able to go into the tombs of Ramsees I & IX. King Tut was expensive and since we saw his findings in the Cairo Museum we simply took a picture of the entrance. The Valley itself was scorched and there was literally nothing there. However, Luxor was actually a very green place and driving into it was a cool contrast to the dessert and mountains.
We also went to a lot of other places in between lazing around Hurgada on the beach like a papyrus paper museum, stone crafting work shop, and places in between that were all just as impressive. I also ate Hardees and Pizza Hut twice because they don’t have those in Ukraine. Yes, I also tried Egyptian cuisine. My mouth loved it but it didn’t agree entirely with my stomach. (Well worth the price) So, now were all back in Ukraine scheming for our next trip. Shelby is heading to Georgia in July and I am heading to Croatia sometime in the fall. First I have to get back to work and deal with the projects I neglected while I was gone. I love living abroad but it does come with its own set of head aches. Ill write more about that later.
Friday, February 29, 2008
The Tracks
Weekly I go to the 'Windows on America' club here in my city. (At least I go when I can, usually once a month or so.) This club is usually occupied by 4 or 5 regular people and then maybe a few more that aren't regular but like to come and just listen to us speak English. We talk about everything from politics to life in Ukraine, but always and most definitely the conversation ends on the topic of food, which is a common denominator to everyone everywhere. This week at the club we had a new guest who had just arrived back home in Ukraine from Detroit for the first time in 8 or 9 years. His name was 'Dre' as in the rapper, Dr.Dre. Dre is originally from Ukraine, Ivano Frankivsk, and while in Detroit his job was 'husteling cars', not people, not drugs, not the poker table...but cars. While Dre refused to speak English half the time, the other half of the time his perfect northern accent was dominated with words like 'straight up', 'bling', and 'keeping it real'. When the club was finishing, Dre gave me makeshift business cards with his name and number on it, including a message of love and peace for Ukraine. It looked like this;
Andre S.
364857
'Keeping it real for the brothers and sisters living in the world'
Andre S.
364857
'Keeping it real for the brothers and sisters living in the world'
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