Visiting the East Side of the Dneipro
I keep a map of Ukraine in my living room and faithfully upon return from visiting a new place, I find it on the map and push a pin into the city or town. It is a way of visualizing where I have been in the country and what areas I still should visit.
After this summer I noticed how lop-sided this map had become. Ukraine is often talked about politically, linguistically, and even culturally as being divided into two areas--the west and the east, the mighty Dneipro being the dividing line. By those simplified terms I live the west, even though people here would associate themselves as being more like those in Eastern Ukraine. Despite the south being more "Eastern" in thought, it does not excuse my own failings for not travelling on the "other" side of Ukraine.
I made plans to visit my clustermate in her city, a town of over 100,000 people. I enjoyed the visit very much, even despite the obnoxiously cold weather at the time and the rain (and the cold that was burgeoning inside of me). She took me to a museum and of course to several restaurants and cafes where I got to enjoy some new cuisines (Tartar food) and new people.
My clustermate lives in a city not used to seeing foreigners, so people are extremely friendly and curious. We met a couple at a cafe who ended up sitting next to us on comfy couches as we watched some belly-dancing acts and a wedding party and some live Casio-tune style Ukrainian wedding singer act.
Her site I felt was very easy to navigate, as I quickly learned my way around, which I always consider a plus. It seemed to me to not be in as bad a shape economically as I would have suspected, being a little industrial city in a country where many industrial jobs are being phased out. My clustermate assured me that it was a safe place, but of course moments later we saw a man with crutches getting kicked and punched in the face just mere feet away from us. Not one to let that dampen her spirit for her site, she reiterated the towns safety and believed that perhaps the man did not pay his bill. (Actually, physical violence is more visible here and is often a way of settling such disputes, such as failure to pay or, as I witnessed about a week ago in my own site, car accidents).
As I prepared to leave on Sunday night, I couldn't help but think that she did have it made. She lives in a great apartment (the most American one I've seen) inherited from a former PCV. She has high speed internet and cable TV, in addition to a guest room. It was hard to leave.
But that I suppose ended up being an omen as we headed to the bus station we saw a throng of people trying to stuff themselves on a Donestk-Odessa bus. I quickly realized that that was not going to happen for me and we waited in the cold, wet, and extremely sketchy bus station for about another 2 hours. At the end of this time another bus entered and another (but smaller) mad dash ensued. The driver quickly announced that only two seats were available and as I waited it out, I realized I was not going back to N-- that night.
Cold, wet, and extremely pissed off, I went back to my friend's house and texted my coordinator to leat him know I wouldn't make it to my classes the next day. Thankfully, I had a nice warm place to stay and good company.
After this summer I noticed how lop-sided this map had become. Ukraine is often talked about politically, linguistically, and even culturally as being divided into two areas--the west and the east, the mighty Dneipro being the dividing line. By those simplified terms I live the west, even though people here would associate themselves as being more like those in Eastern Ukraine. Despite the south being more "Eastern" in thought, it does not excuse my own failings for not travelling on the "other" side of Ukraine.
I made plans to visit my clustermate in her city, a town of over 100,000 people. I enjoyed the visit very much, even despite the obnoxiously cold weather at the time and the rain (and the cold that was burgeoning inside of me). She took me to a museum and of course to several restaurants and cafes where I got to enjoy some new cuisines (Tartar food) and new people.
My clustermate lives in a city not used to seeing foreigners, so people are extremely friendly and curious. We met a couple at a cafe who ended up sitting next to us on comfy couches as we watched some belly-dancing acts and a wedding party and some live Casio-tune style Ukrainian wedding singer act.
Her site I felt was very easy to navigate, as I quickly learned my way around, which I always consider a plus. It seemed to me to not be in as bad a shape economically as I would have suspected, being a little industrial city in a country where many industrial jobs are being phased out. My clustermate assured me that it was a safe place, but of course moments later we saw a man with crutches getting kicked and punched in the face just mere feet away from us. Not one to let that dampen her spirit for her site, she reiterated the towns safety and believed that perhaps the man did not pay his bill. (Actually, physical violence is more visible here and is often a way of settling such disputes, such as failure to pay or, as I witnessed about a week ago in my own site, car accidents).
As I prepared to leave on Sunday night, I couldn't help but think that she did have it made. She lives in a great apartment (the most American one I've seen) inherited from a former PCV. She has high speed internet and cable TV, in addition to a guest room. It was hard to leave.
But that I suppose ended up being an omen as we headed to the bus station we saw a throng of people trying to stuff themselves on a Donestk-Odessa bus. I quickly realized that that was not going to happen for me and we waited in the cold, wet, and extremely sketchy bus station for about another 2 hours. At the end of this time another bus entered and another (but smaller) mad dash ensued. The driver quickly announced that only two seats were available and as I waited it out, I realized I was not going back to N-- that night.
Cold, wet, and extremely pissed off, I went back to my friend's house and texted my coordinator to leat him know I wouldn't make it to my classes the next day. Thankfully, I had a nice warm place to stay and good company.
posted by Molly | 4:27 AM
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