i am glad i don't live in ukraine

so, just a disclaimer: i'm not saying i don't like ukraine. i'm not saying i don't like its people, its culture, its language, its (insert word relating to ukraine here). i'm just saying i'm glad i don't live there - and nothing more.

okay. so despite the transportation issues we've had throughout our trip and the various mix ups with directions, etc, all in all it has been a pretty darn good time. and then we got to the polish-ukrainian border. this is where i really started to appreciate how fortunate i am as an american to enjoy the liberties and freedoms and ease of daily life that we all take for granted. hold onto your hats, folks. it's going to be a bumpy ride...

if you remember from an earlier post, the overnight train from krakow to l'viv was booked, so we had to take a different one that goes to the polish border, and then switch trains for the remainder of the trip to l'viv. i learned later that the apparent inconvenience of having to switch trains was actually a good thing: the old soviet train tracks and the european ones differ in size and shape, and so the border crossing can take anywhere from a couple to 20hrs. why 20hrs, you ask? well, if you stay on the same train, they have to literally lift up the train and switch the wheels to fit the ukrainian tracks. we met one of mike's acquaintances in krakow who explained his 19hr ordeal. and during that time, you cannot use the train's toilet facilities. nor can you get off to use the station's facilities. which would make life interesting..

anyway, the ride from krakow to the polish border was crowded, but otherwise uneventful. i tried to sleep, or at least doze, most of the way. when it was time to disembark, we gathered our things and made our way to customs. it was the beginning of the adventure. talk about professional line cutters! and not speaking the language AT ALL really didn't help me understand matters. eventually we did make our way to the customs agent, who merely flipped through my passport, asked when i entered poland, and gave me a stamp. mike also got through easily. joslyn, who also had issues in budapest, got the third degree in poland, too. i guess it's because she clearly looks dangerous.

tried to use the bathroom, but they were either flooded or the lights didn't work. jos braved the flooded one. i decided to wait.

boarded the train, found our compartment. coincidentally, a passenger from our polish train was again in our compartment on the ukrainian train. when he walked in, we all laughed. especially when we realized that he could speak a little english - and therefore understand our discussions on the polish train, as they were not the most brilliant of topics. he conversed in russian with mike, and wondered why we would visit ukraine. mike explained he lived here, and we were visiting him. "extreme tourism" was the russian's answer. i began to wonder what exactly we were getting ourselves into.

after the ukrainian customs agents filed through our train - checking our passports, making us fill out paperwork to enter (and save that paper, as you need it to leave, too), searching our compartments for stowaways (i ask: who would want to be smuggled into ukraine; i'd imagine they'd have problems with people being smuggled out), asking whether we were taking anything into ukraine that we shouldn't be, sending through the drug, or bomb, or smuggling sniffing dogs - we were on our way to l'viv after only about a 2hr ordeal. which felt like a lifetime. i cannot imagine what 19hrs would feel like.

arrived in l'viv, and rather than repeating our bratislava adventure, we opted for a cab which took us to our hostel, the kosmonaut. owned by eddie, an ex-pat from australia, it's decorated with old soviet space memorabilia. eddie was a bit drunk when we arrived (which i later learned is a common coping mechanism for life in ukraine), and offered us a shot of pepper vodka. except mine was more like 2.5 shots. and it was quite strong. i was literally buzzed in about 5mins. it was very funny. as was the fact that we only had running water from 6-9am and 6-9pm. and during that time, the water was only intermittently luke warm. and there really wasn't much heat in the building.

welcome to ukraine.

the next day, set out to explore l'viv. the guidebooks claim it to be the next prague or krakow, and i think, in 10yrs or so, this will be true. it's a very nice city. but more on that later. for now, i want to explain what life is like in ukraine when you want to buy train tickets. (note: i'm paraphrasing some of what mike has already written in his blog. he understood the details; i was confused the entire time.) we wanted to get jos's ticket back to budapest asap, to ensure she would make her flight home. so first, we went to a ticket office near our hostel. the first kaca we went to told us to go to kaca 9. kaca 9 told us to go to kaca 3. kaca 3 told us we couldn't buy international tickets here and to go to the train station. frustrating? this is only the beginning..

instead of walking to the train station, which was a bit of a hike, found a tram that went there and piled on. literally. unlike safety regulations in the states for public transport, regulations in ukraine state that the public transit only works when as many people as humanly possible cram into the vehicle. we were sardines. people were in every nook and cranny, pushing and shouting things in ukrainian that i obviously couldn't understand. had a couple close calls when the tram made some short stops and quick starts, but because there were so many people, it was basically impossible to fall over..

piled off at the train station and sought out the international ticket counter, kaca 20, which we eventually found to be upstairs. there, we waited in line. and waited. and waited. and waited some more, for a half hour, while the 3 cashiers, oblivious to their customers, chatted merrily about anything and everything except their job duties. though i think this was somewhat purposeful, to make the ticket buying experience as miserable as possible. and the customers just stood there, accepting this behavior, because - well, this is just how it is. can you imagine if that happened in the states? heads would roll.. finally, after about 2hrs, we managed to get joslyn's ticket. yippee for small achievements! now it was time to get mike's and my overnight train tickets to kyiv from ivano-frankivsk..

back downstairs where domestic tickets are sold, stood in line for kaca 4 for about 10mins. kaca 4 told us we had to go to kaca 6, 7 or 8 to buy reservation tickets. kaca 6 was closed, so stood in line for 7. after about 30mins, kaca 7 said it was for exchanges only. also, 7 couldn't tell us which kaca could help us, nor could any of the ukrainians that hover over you while you're trying to buy tickets/get information. mike decided to give up; jos and i were so confused that we just blindly followed what he did. though as we were walking out to leave, he gave it one more go. stood in one last line, lucky kaca 12. when we reached the front, the cashier turned off her light and slammed a sign in the kaca window - as if saying "sucks for you!" - and walked away without a word. it was her break time, and what could possibly be more important than that?

i am glad i don't live in ukraine.