I flew from Austin, Wednesday, January 30, landed in London, waited two hours and then boarded a plane for Kyiv. (The Russians and us spell it Kiev.) The trip was uneventful except for Heathrow security. My plane landed at one of the International Terminals. I had to walk through it and go to another terminal for my flight to Kiev. I had planned to stop in British Air's club for a cup of coffee and use of the Internet. I wanted to confirm my pick up at the Kyiv airport, Borispol, by email. Those plans went awry as I walked through security. Without explanation, I was told to wait while my roller board, my back pack were placed in line for searching. It was a long line. After almost ten minutes, they were looked at and I was searched too. The searcher was a different person than the rude UK security man who told me I was a suspect; this man asked if I knew why I had been singled out for "special attention". I said, no. He explained that I had a bottle of water in my backpack. I did. The flight attendants handed them out as we walked off the airport.
Everyone get the moral of this tale?
I didn't have time for coffee but I did manage to get an email sent. My iPhone had stopped working when I left the USA and wouldn't be operative again until I joined a Ukrainian mobile phone company. Yes, I could have paid for International calls on Sprint, but I am a pretty tight person about things like that.
BACK OF A KYIV APARTMENT BUILDING
NEXT TO THE HOTEL IBIS
Arrived in Kyiv around 11:00 a.m. I was met by Velera, t who has been driving people around for Fulbright office for years. He met me with a sign "Graham", carried my bags to the front door, told me to wait while he got his van, came around, loaded me up and we were off. I had been told to bring dollars with me for private hires like this one, my rent and other miscellaneous items.
It was cold! It was snowing! The highway was a mess, drivers drove like Italians, I was nervous all the way to the Hotel Ibis. We got there, I paid Valera and went to sleep.
The Hotel Ibis was suggested by the Fulbright Office. It is a five minute walk from the train station, ten minutes from a nice mall, and University Metro stop, from which, after one line change, one may reach to Fulbright office. The hotel is owned by a French company. It is really a good deal, especially the restaurant. M is shown below. She is one of the wait staff and is studying film at a school somewhere in Kiev, a city of several million people. I ate in the restaurant every night until I left Monday, 4 February.
On Friday, I visited the Fulbright office. Met Natalia, with whom I had been emailing for several months and Marta, the new Director of the Ukraine program. Mainly I slept, walked around during he day, ate in the restaurant at the hotel and slept.
The Train To Odesa
Valera took me to the train station, only a five minute walk, but I would never have gotten my luggage on the train but for him. The Fulbright instructions state that one should not arrive on a weekend. Both Natalia and Professor Vadymn Barskyy, my contact and subsequently my liaison at the Academy of Law, suggested the train as the best method of getting from Kyiv to Odesa. I had two suitcases and a back pack, so I thought it was better than flying. I left at 10:56 p.m. in a 4 person compartment, 2d class, no first class seats were available.
But for Valera, I would still be on the train trying to stow my luggage. It went below my bunk. The top lifted and underneath was a huge compartment. None of my compartment mates had any luggage, so I would never have known the space was there. My three traveling mates, never said a word, took off their shoes, went to sleep. The young woman across from me did look at texts and mail on her phone for about 45 minutes, had a short conversation with her mother; then went out like a light too.
I didn't. I had several thousand dollars under my head, I was worried about leaving my stuff, the train stopped every 30 to 55 minutes; all in all, it was not the way I prefer to travel.
5 February - 7 February: Odesa!
I'm here. Professor Barskyy (Vadymn) met me at the train station. No, he did better than that, he met me at my compartment, and carried off my roller board and heavy second suitcase. I managed to carry my back pack. I was very tired, rather hungry, and not particularly friendly. (Some of you would say the latter is a perennial condition.) It was 6:54 a.m. The train left Kyiv at 9:56 p.m. Almost 9 hours, of bouncing, noisy, hot travel.
Vadymn suggested we go directly to the apartment he had found for me. I heard him say that if I didn't like it, I could look for another the next day. He explained that all the rents had gone up and stayed up when Ukraine hosted the European cup in 2012. Also, that agents were paid by the renter one month's rent for finding an apartment and he didn't think I should do that as I was only staying until the end of May. Sounded reasonable to me.
Around 8:00 we arrived at the apartment.
FRONT DOOR TO MY APARTMENT
BUILDING KNOWN AS A
" KRUSHOVKA"
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