Differing viewpoints

What is Ukraine? Is it more European or more Russian? This is a question I have been pondering since our arrival here. And I think I finally got my answer this week - it’s stuck somewhere in the middle.

Viewpoint 1: Last weekend we took a quick trip to Budapest, Hungary. It was wonderful…the sights, the amazing hotel we stayed in, the food, and American movies in English. (Pirates of the Caribbean wasn’t all that great, but did I mention it was in English?) About an hour after arriving, I found myself saying, “now this is Europe.” It’s amazing how different a place can be only an hour and a half away by air. So I worked really hard to savor our time there. But a few hours before our flight back, I started feeling…let’s say “uneasy” about the fact that we were returning to Ukraine. I was thinking about the fact that we were probably going to have to attempt to bargain with a cab driver at the airport in Russian; that I needed to buy groceries, which would include not only a metro ride, but also a trip through the MegaMarket being pushed and shoved by people in a much bigger hurry than me (because I budget about 3 hours for an average grocery store trip here); and just the general isolation that one feels when living in a place where you are not fluent in the native language.

Viewpoint 2: We have friends from our Russian class at FSI that arrived here this week. They are posted to Moscow, but have come to Kyiv as a temporary assignment to help out with visa interviews. They are so excited to be here. I don’t know how many times they have commented on the friendliness of the people here and the fact that you can actually walk down the street without being trampled by crowds. Just today, my friend actually commented on how European the buildings look compared to the Soviet blocks in Moscow.

So my conclusion is that Ukraine, Kyiv at least, is somewhere in the middle of being European or Russian. My secondary conclusion is thank god we’re not in Moscow. And finally, I think our friends arrived at the perfect time to allow me to hold on to whatever bit of sanity I have left. Thanks, guys.