First, people don't smile here. At all. In America, smiling at everyone on the streets is normal and friendly, but in Ukraine, such a gesture is considered very forward and...inviting...of such things I'd really rather not invite. We have to be very careful not to smile at people, especially not in public, and ESPECIALLY not at men. It's very dangerous, which is weird. I've also noticed that when people push through crowds in the streets or on the buses, they don't apologize or excuse themselves. They just barge through! And no one talks. It's seriously completely silent, aside from the sounds of buses, and the occasional person yelling about something in Russian.
Second, transportation. Everyone here takes the trolley bus, commercial bus, or the metro to get places. It's completely normal to have a commute up to an hour or two. I have an hour commute from my host house to my school. The buses are kind of crazy! The commercial bus is similar to a taxi. You have to wave it down for it to stop, and you tell them where you're going when you get on and pay, but then you have to yell the name of your stop again when it's coming up since there are so many people. That's a little nerve-racking when you don't know the area well, but it's worked out so far! The trolley bus is a little different, more similar to Trax. This is what I usually take to school and back. You just look for your bus number and get on when it stops at set times. The trick is that it only stops for about .3 seconds, and it only announces the stops in Russian, so that's fun. Also, unlike Trax where you pay before you get on, you get on the bus and someone wearing a vest with something written in Russian comes up to you, and you give them 3 hryvnia (Ukrainian dollars), which would be much less than one US dollar. They then give you a small ticket, and then you have to punch it in a....ticket puncher....? I don't know what to call it, haha. It's like a hole puncher kind of. In the beginning, the trolley was just scary to me, but now it's kind of fun. Although it's still a little unnerving that no one smiles or makes eye contact or talks. And the metro. It's just like the subway in New York. And luckily, this one says the stops in Russian AND English. Yay!
Third, the food. My host grandma is a really good cook, so I really don't have much to complain about here. (Only the fact that they don't believe in ingesting anything cold. I don't know how I'll survive four months without cold water!) I really like most of what she's made for me so far! What's most different, is what us girls call "second dinner." Every dinner is like a three-course meal here. But two of them are dinner and one of them is tea and a cookie. It's rather funny, except for when you're full to your eyes and they bring you another plate. Then it becomes slightly less humorous. Many of our meals here have consisted of chicken, pickles, and buckwheat. (P.S. if you've never had buckwheat as a lonesome side, keep it that way.) But they also eat a lot of bread and drink a lot of tea, so Ukraine suits two of my four main food groups anyway! (The other two being quesadillas and avocados.)
Fourth, crosswalks? Lanes on the road? Traffic lights? All of these are pretty much just decoration for the most part, that sometimes are followed as the rules they were intended to enforce. People also walk on the road and drive on the sidewalks, it's fine. Oh, and the sidewalk is ice. 3-inch thick ICE. That's fun, we pretty much ice skate everywhere.
Fifth, their music videos are basically pornography, and it's okay if children watch them. I'll just leave it at that.
And finally, "inside shoes." In Ukraine, everyone wears shoes inside. Slippers or sandals. Sometimes I can slip by my Babushka in only socks, but never have I succeeded for more than 30 seconds going barefoot without getting yelled at in Russian. I suppose maybe soon I'll stop trying to fight it and just conform to the Ukrainian ways, but we'll see.
So, there's a little bit about Ukraine and some of the cultural differences I've experienced in my first few days here!
Second, transportation. Everyone here takes the trolley bus, commercial bus, or the metro to get places. It's completely normal to have a commute up to an hour or two. I have an hour commute from my host house to my school. The buses are kind of crazy! The commercial bus is similar to a taxi. You have to wave it down for it to stop, and you tell them where you're going when you get on and pay, but then you have to yell the name of your stop again when it's coming up since there are so many people. That's a little nerve-racking when you don't know the area well, but it's worked out so far! The trolley bus is a little different, more similar to Trax. This is what I usually take to school and back. You just look for your bus number and get on when it stops at set times. The trick is that it only stops for about .3 seconds, and it only announces the stops in Russian, so that's fun. Also, unlike Trax where you pay before you get on, you get on the bus and someone wearing a vest with something written in Russian comes up to you, and you give them 3 hryvnia (Ukrainian dollars), which would be much less than one US dollar. They then give you a small ticket, and then you have to punch it in a....ticket puncher....? I don't know what to call it, haha. It's like a hole puncher kind of. In the beginning, the trolley was just scary to me, but now it's kind of fun. Although it's still a little unnerving that no one smiles or makes eye contact or talks. And the metro. It's just like the subway in New York. And luckily, this one says the stops in Russian AND English. Yay!
Third, the food. My host grandma is a really good cook, so I really don't have much to complain about here. (Only the fact that they don't believe in ingesting anything cold. I don't know how I'll survive four months without cold water!) I really like most of what she's made for me so far! What's most different, is what us girls call "second dinner." Every dinner is like a three-course meal here. But two of them are dinner and one of them is tea and a cookie. It's rather funny, except for when you're full to your eyes and they bring you another plate. Then it becomes slightly less humorous. Many of our meals here have consisted of chicken, pickles, and buckwheat. (P.S. if you've never had buckwheat as a lonesome side, keep it that way.) But they also eat a lot of bread and drink a lot of tea, so Ukraine suits two of my four main food groups anyway! (The other two being quesadillas and avocados.)
Fourth, crosswalks? Lanes on the road? Traffic lights? All of these are pretty much just decoration for the most part, that sometimes are followed as the rules they were intended to enforce. People also walk on the road and drive on the sidewalks, it's fine. Oh, and the sidewalk is ice. 3-inch thick ICE. That's fun, we pretty much ice skate everywhere.
Fifth, their music videos are basically pornography, and it's okay if children watch them. I'll just leave it at that.
And finally, "inside shoes." In Ukraine, everyone wears shoes inside. Slippers or sandals. Sometimes I can slip by my Babushka in only socks, but never have I succeeded for more than 30 seconds going barefoot without getting yelled at in Russian. I suppose maybe soon I'll stop trying to fight it and just conform to the Ukrainian ways, but we'll see.
So, there's a little bit about Ukraine and some of the cultural differences I've experienced in my first few days here!
This is a ticket from the Trolley Bus.
One of my meals for breakfast. I've noticed that for breakfast,
they put things on their bread, but at dinner, they just have it plain.
I thought that was interesting.
Mine and my Babushka's "inside shoes." She made me borrow her slippers.
A couple pictures from the cathedral we took a walk to today. :)
This is just down the street from where I teach.
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