It’s Ukraine…not The Ukraine

The big news is slowly sinking in. In less than one year from today, we’ll be sitting in our Kiev apartment slurping borscht and discussing NATO in Russian. Something like that anyway.

Kiev was indeed our highest of highs on the bidlist and we’re very fortunate to have landed it as it was a popular place on the list. When I first turned in my bidlist I was feeling pretty good about the chances, but the closer we got to Flag Day the more the doubts began to build. I was certain we’d be mysteriously sent to Lagos or Matamoros or Jeddah. Luckily, my fears proved unfounded.

So far we have heard only good things from those who have been to Kiev. I keep hearing about the “buzz” of the city and the beautiful architecture despite decades of Soviet-era beautification campaigns. We don’t know many of the details as far as what our housing will look like yet, but I’m guessing a nice apartment in the city center.

This summer I’ll be kept busy with job specific training. For the particular duties that I’ll be doing, this consists of classes in real estate, property management, logistics, transportation, contracts, acquisitions, and many other topics that I know very little of. I think it will be a very valuable and interesting experience. Jennifer and I are already hoping that the real estate classes are taught by one of those infomercial guys and I can start flipping properties in Ukraine on the government dime. I don’t foresee any ethical or legal violations there…

In September I will begin Monday through Friday, full-time, paid Russian language training. This is an incredible perk that comes with my job. The chance to learn Russian is the main reason this post was our number one. Russian is one of a handful of “super-hard” languages that State deems as a critical needs language. I think it will be hugely beneficial to my career to learn. It will be hugely difficult as well, but I’m not dwelling on that fact right now. Oh yeah, the full-time language training lasts for seven months.

There is still a lot that happens between now and when we head to Kiev in April of 2007, but it is great to finally have a target. Now we know where we are headed and have a purpose in this endless training. We can’t wait.

p.s. Yes, there is a language called Ukrainian. Yes, they speak it in Ukraine. However, most Ukrainians speak Russian and it is much more useful to my career to learn the latter.

Blog Notes: I’ve added another link on the right side of the site. This is an extra special link as it goes to my better half’s new blog. It’s called Patchwork Planet and it is certain to be much more entertaining than my site. Please don’t forget about me.