A few days ago, I got to take my first trip to Kyiv, Ukraine!
I think most people know this, but Peace Corps Volunteers don’t serve in capital cities, or even big cities for the most part. Our offices are in usually in the capitals, but volunteers serve in smaller, often remote towns and villages so as to meet the need of the country’s general population.
I’d never been to Kyiv before, but it was always on my list! All of the volunteers flew into Kyiv together, but Peace Corps quickly whisked us away to Irpin on a bus for a week-long welcome conference before sending us to our first host families in the Zhytomyr area.
However, as adamant as Peace Corps seemed to be at keeping us away from Kyiv, all the volunteers had to make a day trip in order to get their immigration documents figured out.
Oh, PS? It’s spelled KYIV, not KIEV. Kyiv is the Ukrainian-to-English spelling, and Kiev is the Russian-to-English spelling. Because the word Kyiv in Ukrainian («Київ») uses letters unique to the Ukrainian alphabet, like «Ї,» it translates differently. I realize a lot of people are stuck on the “it sounds the same in English” thought, but considering everything Ukraine has been through in gaining its independence from Russia, I think we should let Ukraine decide how the spelling of its capital city translates into Latin. Добре? Добре.
Our day started with an incredibly long bus ride from Zhytomyr to Kyiv. I had to wake up at like, 4:30 a.m.! My host mom Olga is NOT a morning person, so she surprised me with a cute little breakfast setup while she slept in.
We went by cluster, so Yuliya basically had to babysit me, Ryan and James the entire time. As soon as our bus arrived, we took the metro to the immigration offices so that we could get our paperwork started.
But, once that was done, we had time to explore!
…kinda.
This trip to Kyiv was actually a “field trip.” We have to take a “field trip” weekly as part of PST, so we can learn how to live here in Ukraine. For example, we’ve taken field trips to our local bazaar in Zhytomyr, to the city center and our local train station. For this field trip, we had to find the Kyiv train station (we’ll be using it A LOT during our service) and figure out how to navigate it.
Yuliya also taught us some new transportation-related vocabulary.
After that, it was time for lunch! We decided to take advantage of the fact that we were in the capital city by eating some non-Ukrainian food. We found a Mexican restaurant! We were all so excited…
…but it, uh… wasn’t great.
I’m not sure what my quesadilla was… but it definitely wasn’t a quesadilla! Our guacamole also had a slight pink tinge to it… I think they put beets in it?! Oh, Ukraine.
I’m not too mad because this is a cultural experience and all, but nothing quite compares to the disappointment of thinking you’re about to smash some legit tacos and then feeling that deflating letdown.
I’ve learned my lesson. I will eat Ukrainian food and Ukrainian food ONLY here in Ukraine.
After our “Mexican fusion” lunch, we had a little bit of time to explore. Yuliya took us around downtown so we could see the Kyiv city center, churches and monuments.
And then, that was it! We had to catch a bus back to Zhytomyr because we had more PST the next day.
I’m not gonna lie… this little taste of Kyiv made me really nostalgic for Chicago. Kyiv’s population is 2.9 million, so it’s just a little bit bigger than that of Chicago. Obviously the architecture is different, and the language is different, and — yunno — I’m on an entirely different continent — but when we took an underground red line train to downtown… it was hard not to feel a little homesick.
But, being in Kyiv reminded me why I signed onto this adventure. I love traveling! And while I definitely miss the hustle and bustle of being in a big city, I will have plenty of time to explore Kyiv while I’m living in Ukraine… and plenty of time to explore other major European cities, too! Thank you, five weeks of annual leave.
I already can’t wait to make another visit to Kyiv.
This post was originally published Jan. 23, 2021. Its timestamp has been updated to better reflect the timeline of my Peace Corps service.
