Photos from Country of Service: Kyiv, January 2007

I often forgot how beautiful and contradictory Kyiv is while I was in Ukraine. I had the opportunity in January of 2007 to view her as a tourist, which was quite frankly the ONLY time I really enjoyed being there. Perhaps this was because being accompanied by someone paying for everything assuaged the wallet some. Kyiv is very expensive and it is impossible to find a hotel for under $20, which to a PCV is a LOT of money.

These two photos illustrate the two faces of Kyiv. One shows the beautiful St. Andrew's church, located on the equally beautiful cobbled stone Andriyivsky street. There are some beautiful architectual masterpieces in Kyiv, especially in regards to the gorgeous Orthodox churches that paint the landscape of this busy city. This church was made by Bartelomeo Rastrelli, who also created the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.

The other photo is of Rodina Mat, the Nation's Mother statue, also affectionately known as "Tin Tits," who stands before the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in all her Soviet glory. In her own way as beautiful as Rastrelli's church.

They show the contrast between the Orthodoxy and grandeur of a tsarist empire and a People's Republic, uniform in design and thought. I think that Ukraine is still trying to find herself somewhere inbetween these two things, as they both encompass her rich and often times confusing past.

While I did not serve in some place as exotic as most PCVs, I did get a front row seat to witness the devastations of Communism and the idealism of it too. It was the unique opportunity to watch a country grow, develop, and shape its identity right before your own eyes. She has learned to crawl, but it is time to see in which direction she walks.