It’s a…. NOTHER TRAINING!
I spent late last week and this past weekend in Kyiv for warden safety training.
I’m my oblast’s safety warden, which means I’m responsible for conducting routine safety checks and approving housing requests for all the PCVs in my oblast.
It means that — should the situation with Russia escalate and we’re asked to evacuate the country — I’m responsible for coordinating transportation, consolidation and evacuation for all the PCVs in the Khmelnytska oblast.
It happened back in 2014, so it could happen again.
The training itself was (while very crucial) likely pretty boring for pretty much everyone reading this. It was fairly small, so we were able to hold it in the Peace Corps Headquarters conference room. We went over a lot of random things, like what criteria we need to look for when approving/ denying housing request forms, how to conduct check-ins, etc.
We also went over conflict resolution, de-escalation, situational awareness… etc.
Admittedly, the best part of the training was when our country’s finance director brought in a box of Thin Mints.
Outside of training, we had a great chance to explore Kyiv some more for a few days!
Because I took an overnight train to Kyiv and got to the city just in time for safety training on Thursday, Danae and I went right to our Ibis Hotel after we had finished for the day.
“Two small beds, please.”
*Enters room*
“Oh look! They gave us one big bed!”
The first place we (me, Danae and some of the other PCVs in Kyiv for warden training) went after check-in was STRAIGHT to Himalaya. It’s the best Indian restaurant in the entire country (remember my Friendsgiving disappointment?!) and I could eat there EVERY SINGLE TIME I’m in Kyiv.
While I haven’t had Indian food in India so I can’t compare authenticity or anything, Ukraine’s Indian food is obviously nowhere close to as good as Indian food in the U.S. (or in the UK, for that matter), but it’s the best on this side of the continent and it’s far better than most other international restaurants in Kyiv.
(Flash back to my Mexican restaurant experience here.)
After dinner, we walked around for a bit before heading to the Pivna Duma brewery with our friend Emma’s LCF Vlad and his friend Pasha.
After Friday’s training session, we celebrated Valentine’s Day with dinner (and wine) at Pervak Kiev… which had some of the coolest decor.
Then, finally, the weekend!
Honestly, shoutout to PC Ukraine for doing a Thursday/Friday training so we had Saturday and Sunday to hang out in Kyiv and keep exploring.
Danae and I went for brunch at Milk Bar! It’s the first time I’ve had an American-style brunch in forever. Like, truly. We had mimosas and everything.
It was very comforting, in a strange way.
We also ran into Gianna, another PCV, and her boyfriend while we were there.
We spent our day walking around, running errands, shopping and exploring.
There are actually a good number of international stores in Kyiv, and I think most PCVs make it a point to hit up as many as possible every time they’re in the capital.
Our errands included, among other things, Lush, NYX and MAC Cosmetics. I bought some new shampoo and conditioner bars from Lush, some more makeup from NYX and a new compact (mine broke) and lipstick (Ruby Woo) from MAC.
It was a little hard to stomach. I think I spent about half of a month’s stipend on skincare, bath products and makeup, but as we like to joke in Peace Corps…
“It’s a coping mechanism!”
In addition to our normal basic bitch brands, we did branch out and explore a bit. We wandered through some shops and malls, and explored Khreshchatyk, which is Kyiv’s main street.
We ended our day with dinner at Turkish House.
And, that was it! We woke up Sunday, checked out of our hotel, dropped our bags off at the Peace Corps office for safekeeping and grabbed brunch (brunch!) at Lyubimi DyaDya.
Lyubimi DyaDya (translated to mean “Favorite Uncle”) is a Mediterranean restaurant. I told you — we eat enough borshch and vareneky with our host families at site! Kyiv visits are not for Ukrainian food, they are for international food. And McDonald’s.
After breakfast, Danae and I said our goodbyes, and I headed to the Kyiv train station to get back to site.
Overall, it was a perfect weekend in Kyiv. It was a really good reminder as to what brought me here: My love of adventure. Sometimes it can be a little hard to be at site now where day-in and day-out has become routine, so getting to spend a weekend in Kyiv reminded me of the little two-day international trips I used to do to big cities.
It was such a welcome break from the norm.
Anyway. I have yet another conference this coming weekend, so I’ll be back to recap that soon enough!
This post was originally published Feb. 5, 2022. Its timestamp has been updated to better reflect the timeline of my Peace Corps service.
