My first week in Kiev
Oh my goodness what a week! After a teary farewell at the Airport and lots of cuddles from my favourite nephew Henry and my adorable nieces Isobel and Eliza it was time for my 24 hours of transit. The flights were ok, although both flights I was sat next to big men with chicken wing arms and legs which left me little space for any form of comfort. The 2nd flight was with a budget airline and I had to change terminals....that wasn't so nice, it took over 1 hour to do because I had to wait for several buses. Then the plane got stuck on the tarmac for 2 hours because they had closed the doors but one of the oxygen masks somehow fell down so we had to wait for an engineer to come and fix it, that then made us late for our take of time and well 2 hours later.....
It was one of those flights where you have to pay for entertainment and food and of course I had no local currency and my travel bank card wouldn't work on the flight. It was 6 hours with no entertainment and no supportive head rest. I did fall asleep for about 30 seconds but then my head would drop and wake me up ahhh FML.
Customs was rather quick to get through although the airport is tiny. I would say that Parafield Airport is potentially bigger!
I was picked up by the head of my school and taken around to my school the secondary campus of my school and then finally my apartment. I was extremely exhausted but had about 90 minutes after everyone left to get myself ready to go out for dinner. The best way to avoid jet lag is to push through and go to bed at a normal hour. Sure I was tired for a few days but I was on the right time schedule.
I met with Joey, a fellow new teacher who I'd been in contact with via Facebook for the last 6 months and we got the subway together. Thankfully she'd arrived a day early and was able to take the reigns because honestly I have no idea how I got there. We ate at a Spanish restaurant and then I went home at about 11pm.
Next morning I did a neighbourhood tour to find the supermarket and how to get to school from my apartment. Still feeling a bit dazed and confused and not quite understanding the currency I didn't buy anything but I've somewhat made up for that now.
The rest of the week has been full on with work and setting up my classroom. Monday is a public holiday thank goodness so we have an extra day. I'll be going to the Independence Day parade tomorrow morning and then head to school after that. I did do a quick walking tour on Monday afternoon last week and a river cruise on Friday. There is a lot to explore here.
There is definitely a soviet feel to this country and you can tell it has a lot of history. The metro's a built deep enough to withstand a nuclear blast and still have old soviet style trains. Much of the architecture has that soviet feel to is as well. I really need to take some more photos to explain what I am talking about.
There is a lot of poverty here that is sad to see and can be quite confronting at times. Its easy to forget that this country is currently at war, there are almost no signs of it in Kiev. The only reminder you have is usually about once a day you will see a couple of soldiers walking down the street with their big army bags slung over their shoulder and you know that they are most likely on their way to fight on the front line. They currently have conscription and I have spoken a local who was waiting for his letter. However he is leaving the country next week though to go to Uganda to work for the UN.
Hopefully I will have more time next weekend to actually start exploring a bit more and seeing what this amazing city has to offer.
It was one of those flights where you have to pay for entertainment and food and of course I had no local currency and my travel bank card wouldn't work on the flight. It was 6 hours with no entertainment and no supportive head rest. I did fall asleep for about 30 seconds but then my head would drop and wake me up ahhh FML.
Customs was rather quick to get through although the airport is tiny. I would say that Parafield Airport is potentially bigger!
I was picked up by the head of my school and taken around to my school the secondary campus of my school and then finally my apartment. I was extremely exhausted but had about 90 minutes after everyone left to get myself ready to go out for dinner. The best way to avoid jet lag is to push through and go to bed at a normal hour. Sure I was tired for a few days but I was on the right time schedule.
I met with Joey, a fellow new teacher who I'd been in contact with via Facebook for the last 6 months and we got the subway together. Thankfully she'd arrived a day early and was able to take the reigns because honestly I have no idea how I got there. We ate at a Spanish restaurant and then I went home at about 11pm.
Next morning I did a neighbourhood tour to find the supermarket and how to get to school from my apartment. Still feeling a bit dazed and confused and not quite understanding the currency I didn't buy anything but I've somewhat made up for that now.
The rest of the week has been full on with work and setting up my classroom. Monday is a public holiday thank goodness so we have an extra day. I'll be going to the Independence Day parade tomorrow morning and then head to school after that. I did do a quick walking tour on Monday afternoon last week and a river cruise on Friday. There is a lot to explore here.
There is definitely a soviet feel to this country and you can tell it has a lot of history. The metro's a built deep enough to withstand a nuclear blast and still have old soviet style trains. Much of the architecture has that soviet feel to is as well. I really need to take some more photos to explain what I am talking about.
There is a lot of poverty here that is sad to see and can be quite confronting at times. Its easy to forget that this country is currently at war, there are almost no signs of it in Kiev. The only reminder you have is usually about once a day you will see a couple of soldiers walking down the street with their big army bags slung over their shoulder and you know that they are most likely on their way to fight on the front line. They currently have conscription and I have spoken a local who was waiting for his letter. However he is leaving the country next week though to go to Uganda to work for the UN.
Hopefully I will have more time next weekend to actually start exploring a bit more and seeing what this amazing city has to offer.