My First Metro Ride
Wednesday, June 14
Today I got to shower first – just in case! I turned the faucet on and there was instant hot water!! Very hot!! So I hopped in the shower brushed my teeth and flossed, washed my hair (2 rinses), put on conditioner and ran out of hot water. No shower for Ed today.
Well, okay – I only have to wash my hair once a week, so maybe the water will last for at least one entire shower without the hair wash and, if we’re very lucky, maybe it will last for two so we don’t have to alternate shower days. It can get pretty hot and humid here, and if you’re pounding the pavement, as I have been, looking for stuff and exploring, you can work up a pretty good sweat.
I took Belle for a quick walk after her breakfast and on the way I saw a guy, with a cart like thing attached to his car, taking huge sides of beef or mutton out of the cart and stuffing them into the trunk of another car – interesting system of distributing and delivering foodstuffs here! We also passed the resident cat – Belle is delighted to have a cat to terrorize in the Ukraine!
After cleaning up and writing a little, I left the apartment at about 11 a.m. to try and accomplish my two goals for the day: (1) purchase train tickets to and from Kyiv for Friday so that we can pick up the rest of our stuff and store the remainder at the IRF offices; and (2) go back to the computer store and actually purchase the printer and keyboard which were supposed to have been delivered to the Pushkinskya branch from another branch by this morning.
The Bradt guidebook told me that the two best ways to make travel arrangements in Kharkiv was to use either Mir Travel, in the Mir Hotel on Prospect Lenina, or the city’s own tourist office where “the staff are friendly and helpful, and besides a wealth of local information, they specialize in organizing very unique excursions to the surrounding areas.” Since Gosprom, where the city travel agency is located, was closer (about 1 ½ miles from the apartment), I decided to try there first. I hiked up Sumskaya to Lenin Square (officially Svoboda Square, but known by one and all as Lenin Square) where I spotted a Babushka selling peanuts outside the Universitet Metro station!!! Ed will be thrilled, and I thought I would buy some on the way back if I could dig up something to put them in (they come in cones of paper and are meant to be eaten right away, while walking on the street). The guidebook further described finding the tourist office as a “Soviet experience,” directing visitors to “go to the big Derzhprom complex, open the left-hand door under the right-hand concrete bridge (#6),” and warning us not to take the elevator but to “just push through doors until you see the sign.” Well, wonder of wonders, after asking only 3 or 4 people “deh Gosprom?” I found the office quickly and easily following these directions. The building really is a massive Soviet complex – and dreary as can be. There was only one woman in the office, and she didn’t speak any English. So, although she was very friendly, and tried to be helpful, I got absolutely nowhere.
I soldiered on to Mir Hotel and Mir Travel on Prospect Lenina. I started walking on a street I thought was Lenina after looking at my map (which has waaaaay too much information on it – I’ve got to get another, simpler one), and did my usual “vuybushteh, deh Lenina, vona tout?” and got the most puzzled looks in response. I did finally get one woman to understand and she got me to understand that Lenina was the next street over. I found it easily – it’s huge – a boulevard on a grand scale, and started walking toward the Mir. When I asked people if the Mir Hotel “von tom?” pointing in the direction I was walking, they all said I must take the metro, but confirmed that I was walking in the right direction. Now I know why they said I should take the metro – it’s a long walk – a really long walk. I didn’t get there until 12:45, but it was an interesting exploration of a part of the city I hadn’t seen at all yet. I passed a pet store and made a mental note to remember that so I can get Belle a new toy – poor thing, all she has is her purple squeaky ball that Diane gave her before we left. I also passed the intersection of Lenina and Kultura, where one of the apartments that I had hoped to get (based on photos I saw while still in the States), was located, and thanked my lucky stars that we didn’t end up there. This is not the neighborhood I want to live in while we are here – it’s just too far form the center of the city and has a very different feel to it – much more Soviet feeling, not as alive and vibrant as Pushkinskya.
When I finally got to Mir Travel it looked like all the workers were busy, so I sat and waited patiently. Finally someone came up to me and spoke in English – it turns out no one was helping anyone, they were just talking among themselves!!! She came to tell me that the cashier was going on her dinner break and would be gone for an hour!! I explained why I had come and was told that the Ukrainian government requires that foreigners purchase their train tickets at the train station – no exceptions! But Ola, the nice girl who helped me, and who is training there for the summer so that she can work in the travel business here, gave me her cell phone number and offered to help me get tickets for our trip to Moscow in July. I went next door with her to the airline office and found out that it will cost $600 per person to go from Kharkiv to Moscow, Moscow to Riga, Riga back to Moscow, and Moscow to Kharkiv (there is no flight from Riga to Kharkiv so we have to go back through Moscow). Seeing as how the train ride to Moscow is 10 hours long, I think we will probably end up flying, but I thought I’d wait to buy the tickets until I can get on line – I’ll bet anything that I can do better than $600 per person. It’s hard to believe it costs that much because Moscow is only about 750 kilometers from Kharkiv – I still can’t understand why it takes 10 hours by train, but I’m sure it does.
I took a quick trip to the internet café in the Mir Hotel to collect emails. I asked the girl there, in Ukrainian pantomime, how much it cost to use the computers. She answered me, in English, by saying “do you speak English?” so that was the last of my attempts at Ukrainian with her! I was so happy to get Betsy and Dian’s reassuring messages, and I also managed to make a couple of scrabble plays, check Ed’s emails, and get out of there in about 20 minutes. I decided to screw up my courage and take the metro back. I asked the girl if the metro station next door would get me to Universitet or Pushkinskya and she told me to go to Derzhprom and change there. I bravely set forth, bought my token for 50 K (about 10 cents), went down the stairs, looked at the signs and actually figured out that I could go one stop further and get to the metro station that is only a couple of blocks from our apartment and right next to the computer store!! I felt GREAT!
It worked! I got off at the right station, found the computer store, bought the printer/scanner/fax machine and the keyboard with the Ukrainian alphabet (after changing the $200 to get the necessary Hryvnas - a real triumph because I gave the money changer a torn $100 bill – they often won’t even take a bill that is folded, let alone torn – and she changed it for me!! Victory!). I dragged them home – only a few blocks, but still awkward with a big carton holding an HP all in one machine!
Tonight we had a variation on our sausage, bread, butter and cheese theme. I pointed to something that looked like a cooked chicken breast in the market and bought that. I also made a cucumber and tomato salad with “smetana” – deliciously rich and creamy sour cream.
We had our nightly visit from Alona and Boris – Boris fiddled with the hot water heater and concluded that a part was broken. He told us he would arrange for someone to come the next afternoon to fix it. He replaced the burnt out light bulbs and delivered two small trash cans for the bedroom and bathroom. He explained that he had not had any luck with the high speed internet installation, and Ed explained that without it we would move and would get our money back from him, no matter what it took to do so. I don’t think these people are trying to take advantage of us. I really think they are trying to get the internet connection– it’s just the Ukrainian way – things don’t get done the moment you ask for them – there is no such thing as instant gratification here. We should not have moved in until the air conditioner and internet connection were installed – we’ve learned our lesson for Kiev (although I’m pretty sure these things won’t be a problem there). But, in the meantime, Alona got me a dial up card that actually works – and it’s not really that bad. I managed to get all my emails, reply to some, make a couple of scrabble moves and even pay two bills on line! Now that’s what I call a great end to a pretty good day!
Today I got to shower first – just in case! I turned the faucet on and there was instant hot water!! Very hot!! So I hopped in the shower brushed my teeth and flossed, washed my hair (2 rinses), put on conditioner and ran out of hot water. No shower for Ed today.
Well, okay – I only have to wash my hair once a week, so maybe the water will last for at least one entire shower without the hair wash and, if we’re very lucky, maybe it will last for two so we don’t have to alternate shower days. It can get pretty hot and humid here, and if you’re pounding the pavement, as I have been, looking for stuff and exploring, you can work up a pretty good sweat.
I took Belle for a quick walk after her breakfast and on the way I saw a guy, with a cart like thing attached to his car, taking huge sides of beef or mutton out of the cart and stuffing them into the trunk of another car – interesting system of distributing and delivering foodstuffs here! We also passed the resident cat – Belle is delighted to have a cat to terrorize in the Ukraine!
After cleaning up and writing a little, I left the apartment at about 11 a.m. to try and accomplish my two goals for the day: (1) purchase train tickets to and from Kyiv for Friday so that we can pick up the rest of our stuff and store the remainder at the IRF offices; and (2) go back to the computer store and actually purchase the printer and keyboard which were supposed to have been delivered to the Pushkinskya branch from another branch by this morning.
The Bradt guidebook told me that the two best ways to make travel arrangements in Kharkiv was to use either Mir Travel, in the Mir Hotel on Prospect Lenina, or the city’s own tourist office where “the staff are friendly and helpful, and besides a wealth of local information, they specialize in organizing very unique excursions to the surrounding areas.” Since Gosprom, where the city travel agency is located, was closer (about 1 ½ miles from the apartment), I decided to try there first. I hiked up Sumskaya to Lenin Square (officially Svoboda Square, but known by one and all as Lenin Square) where I spotted a Babushka selling peanuts outside the Universitet Metro station!!! Ed will be thrilled, and I thought I would buy some on the way back if I could dig up something to put them in (they come in cones of paper and are meant to be eaten right away, while walking on the street). The guidebook further described finding the tourist office as a “Soviet experience,” directing visitors to “go to the big Derzhprom complex, open the left-hand door under the right-hand concrete bridge (#6),” and warning us not to take the elevator but to “just push through doors until you see the sign.” Well, wonder of wonders, after asking only 3 or 4 people “deh Gosprom?” I found the office quickly and easily following these directions. The building really is a massive Soviet complex – and dreary as can be. There was only one woman in the office, and she didn’t speak any English. So, although she was very friendly, and tried to be helpful, I got absolutely nowhere.
I soldiered on to Mir Hotel and Mir Travel on Prospect Lenina. I started walking on a street I thought was Lenina after looking at my map (which has waaaaay too much information on it – I’ve got to get another, simpler one), and did my usual “vuybushteh, deh Lenina, vona tout?” and got the most puzzled looks in response. I did finally get one woman to understand and she got me to understand that Lenina was the next street over. I found it easily – it’s huge – a boulevard on a grand scale, and started walking toward the Mir. When I asked people if the Mir Hotel “von tom?” pointing in the direction I was walking, they all said I must take the metro, but confirmed that I was walking in the right direction. Now I know why they said I should take the metro – it’s a long walk – a really long walk. I didn’t get there until 12:45, but it was an interesting exploration of a part of the city I hadn’t seen at all yet. I passed a pet store and made a mental note to remember that so I can get Belle a new toy – poor thing, all she has is her purple squeaky ball that Diane gave her before we left. I also passed the intersection of Lenina and Kultura, where one of the apartments that I had hoped to get (based on photos I saw while still in the States), was located, and thanked my lucky stars that we didn’t end up there. This is not the neighborhood I want to live in while we are here – it’s just too far form the center of the city and has a very different feel to it – much more Soviet feeling, not as alive and vibrant as Pushkinskya.
When I finally got to Mir Travel it looked like all the workers were busy, so I sat and waited patiently. Finally someone came up to me and spoke in English – it turns out no one was helping anyone, they were just talking among themselves!!! She came to tell me that the cashier was going on her dinner break and would be gone for an hour!! I explained why I had come and was told that the Ukrainian government requires that foreigners purchase their train tickets at the train station – no exceptions! But Ola, the nice girl who helped me, and who is training there for the summer so that she can work in the travel business here, gave me her cell phone number and offered to help me get tickets for our trip to Moscow in July. I went next door with her to the airline office and found out that it will cost $600 per person to go from Kharkiv to Moscow, Moscow to Riga, Riga back to Moscow, and Moscow to Kharkiv (there is no flight from Riga to Kharkiv so we have to go back through Moscow). Seeing as how the train ride to Moscow is 10 hours long, I think we will probably end up flying, but I thought I’d wait to buy the tickets until I can get on line – I’ll bet anything that I can do better than $600 per person. It’s hard to believe it costs that much because Moscow is only about 750 kilometers from Kharkiv – I still can’t understand why it takes 10 hours by train, but I’m sure it does.
I took a quick trip to the internet café in the Mir Hotel to collect emails. I asked the girl there, in Ukrainian pantomime, how much it cost to use the computers. She answered me, in English, by saying “do you speak English?” so that was the last of my attempts at Ukrainian with her! I was so happy to get Betsy and Dian’s reassuring messages, and I also managed to make a couple of scrabble plays, check Ed’s emails, and get out of there in about 20 minutes. I decided to screw up my courage and take the metro back. I asked the girl if the metro station next door would get me to Universitet or Pushkinskya and she told me to go to Derzhprom and change there. I bravely set forth, bought my token for 50 K (about 10 cents), went down the stairs, looked at the signs and actually figured out that I could go one stop further and get to the metro station that is only a couple of blocks from our apartment and right next to the computer store!! I felt GREAT!
It worked! I got off at the right station, found the computer store, bought the printer/scanner/fax machine and the keyboard with the Ukrainian alphabet (after changing the $200 to get the necessary Hryvnas - a real triumph because I gave the money changer a torn $100 bill – they often won’t even take a bill that is folded, let alone torn – and she changed it for me!! Victory!). I dragged them home – only a few blocks, but still awkward with a big carton holding an HP all in one machine!
Tonight we had a variation on our sausage, bread, butter and cheese theme. I pointed to something that looked like a cooked chicken breast in the market and bought that. I also made a cucumber and tomato salad with “smetana” – deliciously rich and creamy sour cream.
We had our nightly visit from Alona and Boris – Boris fiddled with the hot water heater and concluded that a part was broken. He told us he would arrange for someone to come the next afternoon to fix it. He replaced the burnt out light bulbs and delivered two small trash cans for the bedroom and bathroom. He explained that he had not had any luck with the high speed internet installation, and Ed explained that without it we would move and would get our money back from him, no matter what it took to do so. I don’t think these people are trying to take advantage of us. I really think they are trying to get the internet connection– it’s just the Ukrainian way – things don’t get done the moment you ask for them – there is no such thing as instant gratification here. We should not have moved in until the air conditioner and internet connection were installed – we’ve learned our lesson for Kiev (although I’m pretty sure these things won’t be a problem there). But, in the meantime, Alona got me a dial up card that actually works – and it’s not really that bad. I managed to get all my emails, reply to some, make a couple of scrabble moves and even pay two bills on line! Now that’s what I call a great end to a pretty good day!
posted by Susan Spivak at 2:34 PM
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