Kyiv's metro RULES!

It rules for several reasons: 1. it's really fast (it's speedy, I'm telling you!); 2. it's really efficient (trains pull in every few minutes, one right after the other!); 3. it's never broken down (I haven't seen it broken down once since I've been here -- if it were DC, well....); 4. it's really, really, really deep (multiple escalator rides into the underbelly of the city!); and 5. it's super cheap (basically 20 cents per ride no matter how far you go on the line!).

There are some negatives though too: 1. there are too many people riding it every day, all day (crowded trains like in Japan -- someone told me they have people pushers on their payroll too, just like in Japan); 2. people will move to the door to disembark before the train comes to a stop -- regardless if there's room to move to the door or not; 3. escalators are crowded and people push to get on and off of them too; and 4. it's really, really, really deep (it kind of scares me!).

The most fun with a dryer since....

I lied. I don't have fun with my dryer, but there is something interesting about it. Take a look....

You have to empty water out of it periodically. I've never had to do this with any other dryer I've ever used. The funny thing is, this is the first dryer I've used overseas; I just hung my clothes to dry in Cote d'Ivoire, Japan and East Timor. Maybe this is how dryers roll (ha ha, get it?) "across the pond" (as Tom says).

Notorious

Thanks to a crash course in Russian, I know how to read the Cyrillic alphabet. There are a lot of cognates (words that are pronounced basically the same and have the same meaning) between English and Russian -- words like pizza, diplomat, coffee and taxi. So, when I arrived in Kyiv, I could actually read some signs and felt like I could get the context of things with the help of these cognates. My first week here, I walked by a large sign that read "Notorious." It was a cool looking sign and rather large on the side of a building located on a rather bustling street. Maybe because of the Kyiv restaurant chain Mafia, I assumed that this place was also a restaurant. Also, I just kind of like the name Notorious for an eatery. I didn't think much of it until time passed and I saw signs everywhere reading notorious. It's really weird. There are a lot of them, and many on the same street. Finally, I asked someone and they unlocked the mystery. These signs are advertising notaries. I guess that makes sense too.

Hot snakes

We were invited over to my supervisor's house for dinner tonight. I had visited the commissary yesterday and picked up a brownie mix. I thought I would make the brownies and take them over to her house for dessert. Well, I failed. Whether it was because I didn't have an egg to add to the mix (and I was too lazy to go and get one), or because I tried to make up for the missing ingredient by adding peanut butter, it just didn't work. So, plan B was to get a bottle of wine to take. We walked to our neighborhood market and selected a bottle of red wine. We had heard that Moldovan wine was nice, so we were looking for that. They didn't have any, of course, so we opted for Georgian wine, which is also supposed to be nice. Before we left for dinner, I took a closer look at the label and there was a paragraph in English on it. It said that the bottle paired nicely with hot snakes. Really?! Those Georgians are up to some fun culinary things. It wasn't until dinner that one of the guests pointed out that they probably meant hot snacks, not snakes. He said, "I've had a lot of Georgian food and I've never seen snakes." Not quite Japanglish, but close.

This is the Golden Gate

I'm not really sure what it is though. I suppose I should know more. It's only a few blocks from our house and it's, I believe, one of the original entrances to the ancient city of Kyiv. It was build somewhere around 1037 (or so Wikipedia says). I guess there was a moat nearby at one time. Maybe when all the snow melts, we'll be able to see it. There are some statues around and a metro stop right across the street. It seems a little less historic with all the hustle and bustle of the city happening around it.

Good news!

Our good friend Joe has bought a ticket to come to Kyiv in May! He was able to sell some childhood toys for quite a bit more than the price of an international flight to Kyiv -- Transformers, definitely more than meets the eye!

I can't believe we're going to have a visitor so soon, and by the time he arrives, it will be spring! It's very exciting. Just like this guy, I will take my hat off to him when he arrives. Welcome to Ukraine, my friend, welcome!

It seems spring is right around the corner. We arrived in the midst of the coldest time Kyiv has seen in 80-something years, but it really didn't last that long. A mere three weeks later, and it seems spring is on its way. For example, today the weather was significantly warmer and it rained. It turned to sleet during my evening commute home, but it had been rain. I kind of thought we'd have more of a winter to deal with. Now I'm wishing I hadn't packed my rain boots away to come in my sea freight.

Bonus post

We ventured in to a store called Mega Mart recently. We had heard tales of how wonderful this place was and that it was the best one-stop shopping around. "It's the most like a grocery store you would find in the States," is the refrain we had heard most. Indeed, it was big and we immediately noticed the large- (what we would consider normal-) sized juice boxes. Most of the things in our neighborhood produkti are pretty tiny, or so we think. They also had two rows of serve-yourself frozen seafood. I thought this was brilliant and kind of gross at the same time. It's awesome to be able to take home exactly how much you want from the store, but it's also a little concerning that these rows were wide open for anything to fall into (or any little one to stick their hands in and play). We were mainly on a reconnaissance mission, so opted out of the frozen fishy things, but now we know where to get them.

Day three and I'm already falling behind

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday. I completely forgot! It must have been all the pancakes we've been eating. It is, after all, pancake week here in Kyiv. Bellinis they're called here. These tasty little devils were filled with chicken, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese. Yum.

Our view

This is the view from our balcony. I rather like it. It makes me want to paint it. Last night there were fireworks. We stuck our heads out and got to watch them go off. Not bad, Kyiv, not bad.

Here we go again....

Here I am again -- in a new city, struggling with a new language, and trying to make sense of new cultural norms. It's always easier and more fun to blog when I'm in a new location, so I'm going to give it a whirl again -- this time from Kyiv, Ukraine. Who knows what this city and country have in store for me and I'm excited to look back in a couple of years when my time is up to see how much I've learned. And, I suppose, if I'm really missing Americana I can always go to one of the three US establishments I've found so far... Mc Donalds, TGI Fridays and Dominos.