After being away from home for four or more months, traveling seems a bit anti-climactic. Everything was already weird. And now another place is weird. Who would have thought. But then at the same time, all the things that would have seemed really strange if you were coming straight from home seem kind of... normal. Because everything is weird now. There is not really any normal.
This being said, Kiev wasn't that weird.
OK. Parts were weird when compared directly with Georgia.
For example:
The Ukranian mullet There are a shit ton of mullets. Like... more mullets than I've ever seen in my life. Everywhere. And there are varying types of mullets. Some are really crazy like Billy Ray Cyrus before Miley. Some are mild. But damn, there were a TON. I tried to count one day and lost track completely after like 20 minutes.
The hot girls There are a lot of pretty girls in Georgia, and in the US and all around the world. Maybe I'm generous with the hottie title, who knows, but in Ukraine it's really undisputed. Before I left, my 11th grade students were telling me how beautiful the Ukrainian girls were and how they were the most beautiful in the world. I assumed they were just sixteen and stupid and knew that Ukrainians are "easy" and most of the prostitutes in Georgia are apparently Ukrainian... but they actually are really pretty! And blonde! Of course there are all types of hair colors, but the blonde really sticks out after being in a country where almost everyone has dark here.
The shitty weather When we left Georgia the weather was pretty good. Hot and sunny. Except for the freak thunderstorms almost every afternoon. In Ukraine, it rained like every day we were there. Everyone said it was weird for that time of year, so we just got unlucky I guess.
The small clothes The girls dress like hoes.
The terrible transportation system Well, maybe the system wasn't that bad. But it was nearly impossible for us to figure out anything without knowing Ukrainian or Russian. Luckily we met people who were incredibly helpful in our hostel and we stayed with other helpful people while couch surfing (that's another tangent I will go on). If it weren't for them, we would probably still be stuck in Kiev right now. In Georgia, the transportation system is really crazy, but there are always people who will try REALLY hard to help even if they speak no English and you speak no Georgian. The Ukrainians were actually not very helpful overall at all.
Unfriendliness We met some really nice and helpful Ukrainians of course, but some were really rude. I guess that's not surprising because I haven't really heard really positive things about Slavic attitudes, but I like to go into things with an open mind so I try to ignore that. Anyway, it was hard to find people who would do easy things like take a picture of us or give directions. Except for the one really creepy man in a track suit who I'm pretty sure tried to abduct us because he took us in a really wrong direction and kept trying to get us to go on the bus with him and then tried to get into the cab with us when we tried to get away. Either that or he was just OVERLY helpful combined with stupid.
So those are some random things I noticed.
Now for the couchsurfing tangent.
So, for those of you who don't know, there is a website www.couchsurfing.org. This website has a bunch of people on it who like traveling and other people who travel and they are like "oh hey, I have a couch, random people if you need to stay somewhere in my town ____ just hit me up and come on over for free! just be nice and not creepy." And then you sign up and you are like "I'm broke but want to go to Odessa, Ukraine, can my three friends and I sleep on your couch?" And if they think you seem cool and not like a sketchy weirdo, they accept your request and give you their address and phone number.
I've heard nothing but good things about this website, so we figured we might as well give it a shot.
And boy was it interesting!
In Odessa we stayed with a gay Ecuadorian (is that a word?) and his roommate/bedmate from Alabama who claims to be straight (and I guess I should believe it for the most part because we hit it off pretty well and so on). Anyway, they were quite friendly and met us by the opera house. Along with the other three people who were also staying there that night (we weren't told how many people would be there). So there were SEVEN of us staying there that night. We assumed that meant big house. Negative. Small flat. With one bedroom for us (seven of us couch surfers and Ecuadorian and Alabama-an) in to stay in. There was another room, but their stripper roommate (with neon orange hair and appropriately named nastia-- "nasty-uh") lived in there and it was off limits. Ecuador and Alabama were quite the drinkers and had a party the first night we were there. I had an excellent time. Drank vodka, stayed up until dawn, hiked around in an abandoned building, kept my friends awake until 5am with my overly loud talking in the living room (oops). Second night, still no sleep. Ecuador broke his hand by accidentally punching through a glass window pane... it was another night with not much sleep. And the lack of sleep combined with the weather sucking made us decide to leave Odessa a day early.
Then in Chisinau, Moldova we stayed with a pleasant 35 year old computer programmer who loved TV and Sci Fi. Talk about polar opposite from the Odessa experience! He also loved tea and Japan and made us "Japanese omeletes" in the morning and bought us tea at an Uzbeki tea-house. And a massive plate of desserts. And gave us Turkish Delights he brought back from his trip to Turkey a few days before. Oh yeah, and there were two bedrooms JUST for us. Complete with pull out beds. And he had is own room. He helped us get train tickets and we stayed up late while he showed us TV shows he liked such as True Blood (which I'd never seen) and The Game of Thrones. We also watched a Tarantino movie. And we go to sleep in. It was like heaven.
So, that is the variety you can get while couchsurfing. I recommend you try it out some time. Not only is it free, but you can meet some really interesting people! And if you have more time and less people there is a lot of selection with who you stay with and if you send some messages back and forth before staying with people you can probably get a better idea of where you are staying (I didn't really do this because a, there were four of us and beggars can't be choosers and b, it was kind of last minute).
That's that. I don't know what else to say!
This being said, Kiev wasn't that weird.
OK. Parts were weird when compared directly with Georgia.
For example:
The Ukranian mullet There are a shit ton of mullets. Like... more mullets than I've ever seen in my life. Everywhere. And there are varying types of mullets. Some are really crazy like Billy Ray Cyrus before Miley. Some are mild. But damn, there were a TON. I tried to count one day and lost track completely after like 20 minutes.
The hot girls There are a lot of pretty girls in Georgia, and in the US and all around the world. Maybe I'm generous with the hottie title, who knows, but in Ukraine it's really undisputed. Before I left, my 11th grade students were telling me how beautiful the Ukrainian girls were and how they were the most beautiful in the world. I assumed they were just sixteen and stupid and knew that Ukrainians are "easy" and most of the prostitutes in Georgia are apparently Ukrainian... but they actually are really pretty! And blonde! Of course there are all types of hair colors, but the blonde really sticks out after being in a country where almost everyone has dark here.
The shitty weather When we left Georgia the weather was pretty good. Hot and sunny. Except for the freak thunderstorms almost every afternoon. In Ukraine, it rained like every day we were there. Everyone said it was weird for that time of year, so we just got unlucky I guess.
The small clothes The girls dress like hoes.
The terrible transportation system Well, maybe the system wasn't that bad. But it was nearly impossible for us to figure out anything without knowing Ukrainian or Russian. Luckily we met people who were incredibly helpful in our hostel and we stayed with other helpful people while couch surfing (that's another tangent I will go on). If it weren't for them, we would probably still be stuck in Kiev right now. In Georgia, the transportation system is really crazy, but there are always people who will try REALLY hard to help even if they speak no English and you speak no Georgian. The Ukrainians were actually not very helpful overall at all.
Unfriendliness We met some really nice and helpful Ukrainians of course, but some were really rude. I guess that's not surprising because I haven't really heard really positive things about Slavic attitudes, but I like to go into things with an open mind so I try to ignore that. Anyway, it was hard to find people who would do easy things like take a picture of us or give directions. Except for the one really creepy man in a track suit who I'm pretty sure tried to abduct us because he took us in a really wrong direction and kept trying to get us to go on the bus with him and then tried to get into the cab with us when we tried to get away. Either that or he was just OVERLY helpful combined with stupid.
So those are some random things I noticed.
Now for the couchsurfing tangent.
So, for those of you who don't know, there is a website www.couchsurfing.org. This website has a bunch of people on it who like traveling and other people who travel and they are like "oh hey, I have a couch, random people if you need to stay somewhere in my town ____ just hit me up and come on over for free! just be nice and not creepy." And then you sign up and you are like "I'm broke but want to go to Odessa, Ukraine, can my three friends and I sleep on your couch?" And if they think you seem cool and not like a sketchy weirdo, they accept your request and give you their address and phone number.
I've heard nothing but good things about this website, so we figured we might as well give it a shot.
And boy was it interesting!
In Odessa we stayed with a gay Ecuadorian (is that a word?) and his roommate/bedmate from Alabama who claims to be straight (and I guess I should believe it for the most part because we hit it off pretty well and so on). Anyway, they were quite friendly and met us by the opera house. Along with the other three people who were also staying there that night (we weren't told how many people would be there). So there were SEVEN of us staying there that night. We assumed that meant big house. Negative. Small flat. With one bedroom for us (seven of us couch surfers and Ecuadorian and Alabama-an) in to stay in. There was another room, but their stripper roommate (with neon orange hair and appropriately named nastia-- "nasty-uh") lived in there and it was off limits. Ecuador and Alabama were quite the drinkers and had a party the first night we were there. I had an excellent time. Drank vodka, stayed up until dawn, hiked around in an abandoned building, kept my friends awake until 5am with my overly loud talking in the living room (oops). Second night, still no sleep. Ecuador broke his hand by accidentally punching through a glass window pane... it was another night with not much sleep. And the lack of sleep combined with the weather sucking made us decide to leave Odessa a day early.
Then in Chisinau, Moldova we stayed with a pleasant 35 year old computer programmer who loved TV and Sci Fi. Talk about polar opposite from the Odessa experience! He also loved tea and Japan and made us "Japanese omeletes" in the morning and bought us tea at an Uzbeki tea-house. And a massive plate of desserts. And gave us Turkish Delights he brought back from his trip to Turkey a few days before. Oh yeah, and there were two bedrooms JUST for us. Complete with pull out beds. And he had is own room. He helped us get train tickets and we stayed up late while he showed us TV shows he liked such as True Blood (which I'd never seen) and The Game of Thrones. We also watched a Tarantino movie. And we go to sleep in. It was like heaven.
So, that is the variety you can get while couchsurfing. I recommend you try it out some time. Not only is it free, but you can meet some really interesting people! And if you have more time and less people there is a lot of selection with who you stay with and if you send some messages back and forth before staying with people you can probably get a better idea of where you are staying (I didn't really do this because a, there were four of us and beggars can't be choosers and b, it was kind of last minute).
That's that. I don't know what else to say!
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