Observing the Ukrainian Elections: Part I

Far too much happened within the past week to be condensed into a single blog entry, so I will have to make installments.

I'll start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start. :)

I had signed up months ago with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (a Canadian organization for Ukrainian diaspora) to join the hundreds of international observers monitoring the Ukrainian parliamentary elections on October 28th. After working with this organization, I don't mind telling you that it is the worst-run, most disorganized group I have ever worked with, and I definitely would think twice about working with them again. But hey... tse Ukraina.

(After they changed the date 3 times,) I knew our orientation would be at 8:30 AM on October 25th. I did not yet know in which city I would be observing the elections. Twice the UCCA had sent me forms to fill out about my preferences for where to be sent, whether I would need accommodations and train tickets, etc. etc. Twice I had completed these forms: twice I told them that Vinnytsia was my first choice, L'viv my second, and beyond that I didn't care; and that yes, I would need accommodations unless I was in Vinnytsia, and yes, I would need train tickets.

By the day I was to leave for Kyiv (Wednesday the 24th) I still did not know for certain where I was to be placed. I'd emailed them to ask; they hadn't answered. Jack (the other ETA) had called them and they'd told him they hoped to send me to Vinnytsia, but then they sent me an email the next morning saying they hoped to send me to L'viv. Then the final list was sent out (but not to me, Jack had to forward his), and it listed me in Vinnytsia. I thought probably this meant I was coming back home to Vinnytsia, but I packed an extra set of clothes just in case. Anyway, I was more concerned that I had not heard any word of where I was meant to be staying that night. Starting to panic, I tried to find a hotel in Kyiv, but many were full. I finally got ahold of UCCA to ask whether they had made arrangements; they had not, but they assured me they would. I was literally about to board my train when they finally called to inform me that they had booked me a room at Hotel Ukraina... for 800 hryven (about $100) that night. Expensive! But I was glad to have a place to stay, at least.

After that harrowing afternoon panicking about not having a place to stay, I finally arrived in Kyiv, took the metro to the hotel, and secured my room around 10 pm. Hotel Ukraina is very nice... a Soviet high-rise at the very center of town, right behind Maydan Nezalezhnosti.

See? Right behind the freedom monument.

So I was annoyed they couldn't have put me up someplace cheaper, but glad the place was reasonably nice.

My room on the 10th floor of Hotel Ukraina

What really made the place almost worth it, though, was the view from the balcony!

View this one full-size. I promise it's worth it! I am really pleased with how well the pano came out, and at night no less!

I didn't sleep too well, however, because the room was hot and there was noise from the street, and I was still feeling a lot of residual stress from all that had happened that day. All in all I only slept maybe 3 or 4 hours. I got up around 7 for breakfast at the hotel, then afterwards got back on the metro to Kyiv Mohyla Academy at Kontraktova Ploshcha for our orientation.

On Kontraktova Ploshcha... autumn leaves in the background, and the church on the hill...

The orientation was endless and frustrating. Everything was announced in English AND in Ukrainian, and the information was redundant anyway. On the plus side, I met up with some of the other Fulbrighters (click here to read about their projects): Russell, a journalism teacher from Penn State; Jack, the other ETA; Talia, a researcher working on the history of Jews in Ukraine; and Debra, who I hadn't met until this day but who was (supposedly) coming to Vinnytsia with me. At the start of the day she came up to me to say that UCCA hadn't found her accommodations in Vinnytsia like she'd asked (surprise, surprise), so I told her she could crash on my couch. They hadn't bought us train tickets either, though, so we spent the whole day struggling to find a good train back to Vinnytsia that evening. In the end we decided just to wait till we were at the train station and buy whatever was left, even if it meant getting in at 2 am.

The most (possibly only) interesting part of the orientation were the visits from the Canadian and United States Ambassadors. Unlike when we had met him during the Fulbright program, Ambassador Tefft had over an hour to talk and take questions, and we were allowed to take pictures. None of mine came out, though.

The orientation was supposed to end at 5 pm with us breaking off into our regional groups with our group leaders, but this did not happen until after 6. When the list of group leaders was read, guess what? There was no one for Vinnytsia. Debra and I went to ask... and were told that the leader for Vinnytsia, as well as the other four members of our team, had all dropped out. Either we could go and be the only people in Vinnytsia, or we could go someplace else, or we could go home.

WHAT.

Well, damned if I was going to go home empty-handed after sitting through that 10-hour orientation and paying $100 for a hotel in Kyiv... and Debra and I couldn't do it alone, since neither of us had any election observation experience... so I got sent to L'viv.

But I didn't have a place to stay in Kyiv that night, and I had no train ticket, no place to stay in L'viv either, I told them. And of course they hadn't made any for me. Panicking, I called my friend Taras at Ukrainian Catholic University who'd arranged housing for me on my last visit, and told him the situation. He found me a room in UCU's new dorm for 150 UAH a night. Acceptable. Then the UCCA people offered me a train ticket to L'viv they had already bought which left in a little over an hour. I bought it, but was worried about getting to the station in time for an overnight train and not having eaten dinner. This didn't turn out to be a problem, though, since the L'viv team's leader, a British woman named Darka, traded tickets with me since an unplanned meeting was called and she had to arrive earlier. This meant that I wouldn't need to leave until 11:30 pm, and I had time to go eat. Plus, another observer, a British guy named Peter, was also taking my train, so I would have help getting to the station and finding the train. Not that I really need it at this point, but still good to have the assurance since I seem to be very talented at messing up things I already should know how to do. Crisis averted.

In order to wind myself down from the panic attack nearly caused by all of this, Peter, Talia, and I went out for pizza and a few good drinks. After a tall glass of Chernigivske beer and a couple hours of friendly conversation, I finally began to relax. Oh, Ukraine. In the words of Svitlana, "This is Ukraine, where unexpected is happening every day."

After Talia went home, Peter and I moved on to an Irish pub for another beer. This pub had Halloween decorations everywhere-- spiderwebs, pumpkins, etc. It was so refreshing to see them, like being at home. :) Then we went to the train station, arriving about an hour early. We settled down in the waiting hall, but unfortunately the only seats empty were next to an extremely drunk bum. Peter, being a proper British gentleman, took the seat closest to him. Unfortunately he wanted our attention. He started talking to us in Russian, telling us (among other things) how pretty I was. Peter and I, of course, pretended not to understand him and carried on speaking in English. Then the bum tried to speak to us in English. Unfortunately (or fortunately, it's anybody's guess), the only words he knew were "Baku" "seven" and "thank you very much!" He repeated all these phrases to us in different permutations, and occasionally Peter would respond to him sarcastically. I felt terrible for making fun of this poor drunk man, but by the time we left for our train I was just dying of laughter.

Our train tickets, unfortunately, were third class, in separate cars, and top bunks. I barely slept at all during the entire ride, because it was noisy and the lights were shining directly in my eyes. By the time we rolled into L'viv around 8:30, I was completely exhausted. Taras called a taxi to take me to the dorms, and I checked in and went right to sleep for a few hours. I was too tired to do much else that day except go out for dinner with Charitie, another Fulbrighter who lives in L'viv. We went to a restaurant on Rynok Square called the Golden Boar and the food was phenomenal. I had Zeleni (green) Borshch and shashlyk (kebabs) made with mushrooms, cheese, and olives. Charitie had cherry Varenky (dumplings) which she shared with me. It was all so delicious. I'm definitely going back to that restaurant.

Before the actual election fun begins, I think I must take a break. You are starting to see, now, how insane these days have been, and I think you will understand why I am so glad to finally be back home in Vinnytsia, and why I need sleep! Part II to follow. :)

Life in Vinnytsia: Continued

Yes I know it's been a long time since I've written. I had that cold for a week or so, and not much was going on. Things have finally started to pick up, though. I am now teaching about 3 classes a week, working with Svitlana (my contact here at the university) and Oleg (the department head) (for the sake of simplicity, we might just call them "my Ukrainian mom and dad," hahaha) and various other teachers.

SO here are pretty much all the significant things that happened in the last few weeks:


A week ago Sunday, on the last warm day of the year, I finally went to the little cafe downstairs. I had cappuccino and apple strudel... and it was the best ever. Tasted better because I ordered in Russian, paid in Russian, and the waitress understood me... it tasted like VICTORY.

Apple Strudel a la mode. Mmmmmmmmm...

I've also done a lot of writing on my novel. I'm happy to report that it now stands at 51,615 words... ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the halfway mark! Yayyyyy!

Storyboarding on my living room floor... don't read the papers, there are spoilers!!!

So far, the most fun I've had teaching a lesson was the class I had last Tuesday with the Philology students. They were learning about British theater... so I made them a lesson based on Les Miserables. I passed out a synopsis, and we discussed it; then, we did a listening activity with "Stars," my favorite song from the musical. The students were really happy and enthusiastic, and we all had a really fun class.

On Friday, I helped out in Oleg's class. They are only first-year students, but they are very bold and talkative. In fact, they talk more than Svitlana's fourth-year students do. Whenever I begin working with a new class, I always give them a half-class or so to ask me questions about myself, where I am from, what America is like, what I think about Ukraine, etc. etc. One young man in this class wanted to know: "You are very beautiful. Do you have a husband?"

The entire class and I laughed for a good minute over that one. Teaching college students is so much fun.


After teaching that class I finally had my first lesson in Russian. Oleg, the department head, has taken it upon himself to personally tutor me every day. It makes my brain hurt, but if I keep up at this rate, I do think that, as he says "by the time you return to America, you will have a Russian accent."

Yes, this is a textbook for teaching English. Yes, I am using it to learn Happy Russian.

Another big step on Saturday... I had to go pay my internet bill by myself. It actually went off without a hitch, but I get so nervous every time I'm supposed to speak Russian without an interpreter around.

And the adventures continue... this morning, the light fixture in my living room, the main source of light in my apartment, fizzled out. Literally. I was afraid there would be a fire or something. Tanya's husband, who is an electrical engineer, will come to have a look at it tomorrow. But for now, my apartment is very dark. And also very cold, since I haven't yet called my landlady to turn on the heat. Another problem for tomorrow.

Today at the store I found fresh figs. I had never seen a fig not dried. I bought three, and this evening I ate one. Pretty tasty, but not as sweet as they are when dried (I guess that makes sense).

And now you know what a fresh fig looks like.

And that, I think, it all that has happened of importance over the last week or two. Updates as my Russian improves.

Fulbright in Ukraine Orientation

I'm feeling rather lousy today after the Fulbright Orientation in Kyiv. Partially because last night was really stressful, and partially because I seem to have caught the cold that the Fulbrighters in Kyiv said was going around their school- sore throat and runny nose. Today I haven't been up to much except laying on the couch and drinking tea, which, fortunately for you, means I have plenty of time to update my blog.

On my way to Kyiv, I had a seat on one of the new express trains with airplane-style seats. Not bad at all, and pretty fast as Ukrainian trains go. I used the ride to work on my novel, so the time went by quickly. Upon arriving in Kyiv, I followed the directions provided by the Fulbright office to find our hotel without any problems. When I checked in, I was told that I had been assigned a roommate, which was fine until I saw the room...

I've seen two queens or a single king, but how about a perfectly good full-size bed cut in two?

Uh-huh. Cozy... I guess.

After checking in, I went outside to meet Halya, one of my Ukrainian friends from the English Summer School. She took me to her parents' apartment, where she had cooked a delicious dinner of Borshch, roast chicken and potatoes, and salad, with cake for dessert. It was all so good, and I enjoyed a nice evening catching up with her, helping her practice her English.

Beautiful mosaic of St. Volodymyr, Baptiser of Rus', in the Universytet Metro Station

The hotel provided complimentary breakfasts, so after dining there with a few of my fellow Fulbrights, I met up with Halya again and she took me to her family's church for liturgy. It was the first Ukrainian Greek Catholic liturgy I've made it to since being here, and I was most happy. :)

Halya's church was modern, but still beautiful-- a balance which many American churches fail to find.

Even better, after Mass, Halya took me to the church bookstore and helped me to buy a prayer book which contains the entire liturgy and all the offices in Ukrainian. I was so excited! It will help me to not only follow along with the liturgy in a foreign language, but also to learn lots of new vocabulary :)

After church, we returned to Halya's family's house and ate a delicious lunch. Her parents didn't speak much English at all, so I had only a little conversation with them with my limited knowledge of Ukrainian and Halya's help. They were so kind and gracious-- they even gave me a bagful of apples to take home with me, and when it looked as though I would not be able to get to the orientation on time, Halya's father drove me straight to the apartment of the director of the Fulbright Program in Ukraine, where the meeting was being held.

The orientation was great-- it was nice to meet other Americans who share my love of Ukraine, and to put faces to names I've seen on contact lists. They all seemed like pretty nice people, and we got along well. While enjoying appetizers of fruit, cheese, and crackers, and drinking wine, beer, juice, and water, we saw presentations on the education system of Ukraine and the elections in Ukraine by the former Education secretary of Ukraine and by the dean of the law college at Mohyla Academy, respectively. Then we enjoyed a tasty dinner of blyny, shashlyk, varynky, and many other foods while milling around and chatting. After that day I was so tired I returned to the hotel and went to bed at 10 PM. It was probably for the best, though, because the next morning's events started early.

After breakfast at the hotel, a series of cars collected us and took us to the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. Security was tight-- we had to turn in all our electronics and medications, and we were not allowed anywhere without an escort, including the bathroom. A day full of presentations began, all by the staff of the U.S. Embassy, including things like health in Ukraine, the Ukrainian economy, security in Ukraine, and so on. At the end of the day we were fortunate to have a visit from the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, John Tefft. He was a very nice guy, who chatted casually with all of us about our work in Ukraine.

Following the orientation we took cabs back to the hotel, and four of us went out for dinner in the time before we had to catch our respective trains. We enjoyed pizza and drinks at Oliva, a chain of Italian restaurants in Kyiv. Around 8 PM I caught my train (and yes, I caught it this time!) back to Vinnytsia, which put me back around 11:30.

Now, I had thought I might be able to take a tram home, but a look at the sign outside the tram stop told me that they had stopped running around 10 PM. The buses were still running, but I didn't know which number to take and I didn't want to end up God-knows-where. I would have called Tanya or Svitlana, but unfortunately when I had turned in my phone to security at the U.S. Embassy they had made me shut it off, and when I turned it back on it demanded a PIN which I did not have in my possession. Therefore, my phone was useless. I looked for a pay phone at the station (they are more prevalent in Ukraine than in the US) but could not find one. Despite the panic rising, I could not resist the urge to laugh. It was such a perfect storm of misfortunes, each so unlikely that their convergence was frankly absurd.

My next idea: take a taxi. I waited until one pulled up to drop people off, thus signaling to me that they were from a reputable company. I asked if he was free, and he said yes, but when I told him my address he could not understand me, so I got frustrated and got out.

Now I really didn't know what to do... so I sought out an employee at the Ukrainian train station, and tried to explain to her as best I could the problem I was having. Although I'd tried to explain to her in Russian, she took me to another employee who spoke English, who asked me to explain in English. I told her that I needed a taxi to get to my address, and she asked if I was staying with friends. "No, I live here!" I said. She was surprised, "You live here and you don't speak Russian!?" So I told her in Russian, "I speak Russian, but very badly!" I think the taxi driver didn't understand my request because of my accent.

She then went and got me a cab-- I am pretty sure it was the same one, actually-- negotiated the price for me, and gave me her number and asked me to call her when I got home. I offered her a little money for her trouble but she refused it. On the way back, I chatted with the taxi driver in my terrible Russian, explaining my frustration at my language situation and explaining that I *lived* here, I should know my way around! I know he had some trouble understanding my terrible Russian, but he was very nice about it. When I arrived home, I finally put the code into my phone, only to find a text from Tanya telling me which trolleybuses I could take. Lot of good that did me now, haha! I called the train station worker as she had requested. I told her I was safe at home and she responded, "You live alone!?" I assured her I had friends here and a job, that I wasn't just a helpless foreigner. She told me that I could call her any time if I needed anything, whether I just wanted to talk, or if she could help me buy train tickets. I thanked her and asked her what her name was. "Angel." As if I needed another sign that someone upstairs is looking out for me :) Thank God for kind Ukrainians!

That was the longest day ever, and after being so panicked at the railway station it took me a few hours to calm down so that I could sleep. And then I woke up with the cold, paired with a strong sense of discouragement at my language skills after all that had happened last night. Hence, my reluctance to do anything but lay on the couch today. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel better!