It's the Little Things

I was in Chernihiv all this week for my COS (Close of Service) conference. Chernihiv is northwest of Novomoskovsk yet impossible reach as the crow flies. Getting there would require a bus to Dnipropetrovsk, a train to Kiev, a bus to Chernihiv, and another bus to the hotel. Phew. That’s a lot of traveling for me. It was like going from Providence to Montpelier via Albany.

 I don’t know how it happens that I love to travel but hate the going. I used to love travelling. There was a time when the most fun for me was in the getting to and the coming back from. Now I find it is simply exhausting. I think the part I hate the most is the not sleeping part. If I am away from my apartment and sleeping on a train or a hotel bed or where ever…I just can’t seem to get to sleep.  This made the conference long and boring and all I could think of wanting to do is lay down for a nap.

 When I joined the Peace Corps I was told about all the possible challenges I would face. I could live in a village of 100 people and have no indoor plumbing. The heating system could be a central wood or coal stove that needed to be stoked by hand every 2 hours. I could end up living on a farm where the closest source of food was the chickens and cows or what ever else needed to be slaughtered. I could have perhaps ended up in a place where no one spoke English at all (I think the scariest thing because my Russian skills are so bad). I could be isolated. I could get depressed. I could get homesick. The potential challenges and hardships I could have possibly faced were endless. There are thousands of things that were told to me but mainly it is the small things that really get to you in the end. And no one ever said anything about the little things.

          The trains are so hot it’s like sleeping in a 250 degree oven.

• The trains are so cold it’s like sleeping in a freezer.
• Back-breaking seats on public transit.
• Overcrowded public transit
• Overheated route taxis.
• The public toilets are…no, I am NOT going there.
• Cabbage cabbage and more cabbage.
• The time it takes me to drive from Providence to New York? 4 hours. That same distance by train from Dnipropetrovsk? 8 hours. (Sometimes 9).
• Going to the post office scares the shit out of me.
• Ditto the hair dresser.
• No warning when the water will be shut off. Or the electricity.
• I can walk faster than a bus.
• People bumping into you or slamming a door in your face with no apology.
• The homeless animals (I feel this is a BIG thing but thought it needed a mention)
• And the biggest little challenge of all: How much does that train ticket cost?

    

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