The Wonders of Traveling

When I say 'wonders', what I really mean is, it's a wonder anyone ever travels out of Ukraine. Or gets back in.

Starting  way back on March, I began gathering information on how to buy international train tickets. I tried registering on the Official Ukraine train site, but for some crazy reason it didn't take my password. I had two different people call the main desk for information and received two sets of instructions...the last one being so absolutely rude I thought my friend was going to cry. As April stretched in May I was nearly out of my mind and then June rolled in and I finally decided to bring in the BIG guns...the travel expert who works in the Peace Corps office in Kiev. Of course, prior to this I didn't know this person exisited. Lyudmila is wonderful!!!! She did some research, made some calls and voila! I received the correct information and I was armed and ready for the next step...purchasing tickets.

I considered myself extremely lucky that I could buy international tickets in Dnepropetrovsk because the first round of phone calls informed me I had to travel all the way to Kiev to do this. I was ready with my friend and community counterpart Julia...I was taking no chances at this point. I had my money, my passport, and all the pertinent information and off we went. We found the ticket office and talked to a very nice young lady, who was very happy to sell me a train ticket to Romania...but that was all. She could not provide me with a return ticket. She said to comeback on Monday to speak with the manager.

I had to go to plan B.  Well I didn't have a plan B but I needed one, and fast. I was leaving soon and I couldn't leave Ukraine until I bought a return ticket...the reason being is because I also needed to buy a return ticket to Dnepropestrovsk from Kiev...a hard-to-come-by ticket if you are trying to purchase a same-day seat. I can't think of anything worse that being stuck in the Kiev train station. I had a near miss last year and it was not fun, I can tell you.

So, I came home without tickets and e-mailed Lyudmila in the office and also I e-mailed my friend Daniela in Bucharest to see if she could purchase a ticket for me. While I waited for their replies, I looked up the Moscow-Sofia train on-line and wouldn't you know they had a great user-friendly English language website that operated very much like an airline's site...you could book online for your exact dates and use a credit card (yippee!) and print out the tickets. WOW.  Or so I thought.

The cost of a train ticket from Bucharest to Kiev is $242 . This is a one way ticket! Horrified, I waited to hear back from someone. That evening Daniela e-mailed me to tell me she had purchased the return ticket for me. In the end the total cost for round trip tickets: $182.  Bingo!

SO, I decided that I might need some spending money for train travel. I figured I would get some Euros to tide me over because the train trip is 27 hours and I will probably need something to eat that isn't bread, cheese, or water. I couldn't imagine anyone accepting Ukrainian Hryvnya so I took my personal Visa card to the bank and asked if I could get some Euros. The cashier said yes and asked for my passport. The card machine wouln't process my Visa for some reason and I was told to try another bank. I went outside and decided to just use my card in the ATM to extract some money and return to do what I thought would be a simple exchange. NOT.

I went back inside the bank to another cashier and she refused my passport. She said I needed a Ukrainian passport to exchange money. I left there not a little confused because how the hell can people visit here without local currency? I was not happy. I knew something was not right so I came home and called my travel expert Lyudmila and explained what happened. She told me that perhaps the cashier did not understand and to try another bank so I went out again to a new bank and the same thing happened. Huh.  I did get help this time, however, because a customer in the bank understood my problem and exchanged my Hryvna for Euros using her passport. (She was exchanging money for a friend who was from Moldova)

After all the aggravation I have gone through for a simple train trip to the next country over, I think I can say I have been given a new insight into what it means to be Ukrainian and want to visit someplace outside the borders of Ukraine. The iron curtain fell 21 years ago and these good people should have more personal freedom for themselves. If I am having this many problems trying to accomplish the little things, I can just imagine a Ukrainian national trying to apply for a visa of some kind. It makes me sad. These people deserve better. Much better.

Post Script
I had e-mailed the Moscow-Sofia train site to ask about the kinds of currency they would except on the train but did not hear from them until just now. Turns out they do except Ukrainian money so I went though all that exchange nonsense for nothing. huh.

I received a call from travel guru Lyudmila in the PC office and she dug a little deeper into the mystery of how to exchange money in Ukraine. When a visitor first arrives here and exchanges money, they must save this receipt, because without it, they cannot exchange any Ukrainian money back into another currency. It's like presenting proof of where you got this Ukrainian money. I can imagine a visitor coming here and having hundreds of UAH left over because who saves those receipts anyway? Strange.

Bucharest-Bound

Well, it's that time again. I am getting ready to hit to road for a trip back to Romania. The craziest thing I want to mention is that by car I can reach Bucharest in 16 hours, but PC volunteers are not allowed to drive so I am taking the train, which will take 27 hours. (Add to that, 7 hours from Novomoskovsk to Kiev). The trip from Rhode Island took 23 hours door to door. Go figure. Those of you who had followed my studio blog will most likey remember those postings from the month that I spent there in 2010. It was a memorable time for me, but who could ever forget my hospital stay? http://papergirlsstudio.blogspot.com/2010/11/in-my-dirty-hospital-johnny.html What a nightmare!  It's been a few years and I am feeling really good now and I don't plan on visiting THAT place again. I will be visiting with my friends however, and I am looking forward to a fun visit. I'll be in Bucharest a few days and then we'll travel to Constanta, which is a city on the Black Sea. We have an exhibition of our work happening at the museaum of art there and I am happy to be able to help with the installation.  The art work has been touring in Romania since 2010...it's amazing that the show is still strong and gaining many followers. All the shows have been extremely successful. There have been catalogs printed and many articles written about the work. I am happy I have been able to continue with the Cultural Book Exchange while in service to the Peace Corps, and very lucky that my Romanian friend and colleague has been able to continue working and planning the touring exhibition. Take a peek if your interested...
https://sites.google.com/site/theculturalbookexchange/home

7163-79

I have been writing blog posts for several years now. I have 3 of my own and have participated in others as well. Recently Blogger revised its format for using it and I was browsing through all the new things and noticed they put all the statistics up front and decided to take a peek. I was astounded at the number of times this particular blog has been hit...7163 times!!  I'm shocked!  Who would ever think that anything I had to write was even remotely interesting to anyone outside of a few friends and my family? Then it hit me. People who are interested in serving as Peace Corps volunteers must be the ones reading this blog. When I was waiting to hear about my status as a prospective volunteer I remember spending a lot of time reading other volunteer posts...especially those PCV's in  Eastern Europe where I was nominated to. At the time I didn't know which country I would be placed in so I browsed all of the EE countries. So....

Even more astounding is the number of comments...only 79. 79! And most of those are from my very good friend Manette. (Thank you dear Manette). There is such a big discrepancy that I thought I would reach out to all you non-commentors and ask you to say something....anything! I want to know who you are...what your thoughts are, how you came to find my blog and how you came to be interested in the Peace Corps. After all, we all have our reasons and I would like to hear yours. I can help you as well. Do you have questions? Do you require affirmation? Do you want to know the kind of people who are needed to serve in the Peace Corps? I will be honest and tell you I have met a few volunteers who should not be serving. Are you one of them? Do you think you have the right stuff?  I know you all have questions and I am happy to answer.

So step up, make a comment, ask a question, state your intentions. Seriously folks. Let's talk.

My Novomoskovsk