Hi guys!
Most of the last three days before leaving were spent sleeping, watching TV, and getting all of my stuff together. Wednesday morning I accidentally slept in until noon, but still managed to be ready to go at 2pm; somehow this included packing my clothes and electronics and taking a shower (Sometimes I do magical things. I think I might be part-fairy or part-witch. Either way, awesome!). From 2pm until 5pm we drove from Philly to JFK in New York. As excited as I am for my twenty hour layover in Kiev and my pre-program weekend in Haifa, I really just want to be settled into my new home in Ramla. I'm so incredibly excited to meet my roommates and everyone else on the program, and I can't wait until it starts!
In the airport a woman named Orit who was traveling back to Israel with her family told me about how tough it is to work in Israeli schools, and even though she has plenty of horror stories I'm not discouraged. She said my experience would probably be better than hers because I would be teaching in small groups rather than jumping into teaching a full class. I played and drew with her kids for a few minutes while she briefed me on Israeli schools. Part of this conversation included her offering me a job teaching English in her daughters' school, citing the school's need for a teacher an explaining that it would involve teaching English to English-speakers. I told her to ask again in a year.
A few things Orit said were intriguing. One was that there is no discipline in Israeli schools, and that children sent to the Principal's office tend to get sent back to class with a lollipop. Another was that it was like going to hell and back to teach in a prosperous and affluent school, but to teach in Ramla would be a whole other story. She also told me to plan from Wednesday to Wednesday in order to avoid long lines on Thursdays and Fridays.
Also on my flight was a Birthright group, which was pretty cool--it is always nice to see English-speakers and people in general who are around my age, though I didn't really get a chance to interact with them. On the flight I had a window seat by the wing. Because it was a Ukrainian airline everything was translated into both English and Ukrainian (Or Cyrillic? I'm not sure.) I was also reassured before boarding the plane that my luggage would be sent straight to Tel Aviv, which meant that I wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of lugging my suitcases around Kiev. The male flight attendants were super-cute and I had almost an entire row to myself, so that was great.
The flight itself was great, too--the food, while not delicious, was better than other airplane food I've had, and more than made up for my overhead lights not working. I'm almost glad they didn't work (there was light for plenty of the flight), because sleep was such a good idea. When I fell asleep it was dark, and when I woke up it was light, so the time change hasn't hit me yet, which hopefully won't change (wishful thinking, I know). I think I confused everyone when I arrived at Boryspol (Boryspil...it changes depending on the speller)--no one seemed to understand how or why I wanted to leave the airport, spend the day (and night) in Kiev, and then come back for my flight to Tel Aviv in the morning. I was finally directed (erroneously) to the transfer line and stood between the Birthright group and a few Israelis; I was surprised to find that I understood more of the Hebrew than expected, though still not much. [Spotted in airport: Boy with Pikachu kippah. Awesome. So cool.]
Going to the transfer line was wrong, which I found out after only about 10-20 minutes of waiting, so not at all a big deal. Apparently I could have just left the airport (also wrong). The flight attendant who told me this was another person who seemed quite confused as to why I wanted to leave the airport and visit Kiev. Another attendant gave me (finally correct) directions to go through Passport Control and then leave the airport and take the 322 bus to the city. As cool as it is to have a Kiev stamp in my passport, I may avoid Eastern Europe for all future transfers if possible.
Regardless, I am always up for an adventure, so this is fun (or at least not completely frustrating). On a sketchiness level: smoking in the airport is A-OK (there is even a special smokers' table, complete with built-in ashtrays), and I may have filled in Ukrainian immigration forms (the border agent handed the form back to me saying that I did not need it, which is probably a good sign). Also cutting lines--completely acceptable, not that I participated too much. The border agent was also super-cute.
I do have to say that I am spazzing out a little bit regarding feelings. I always say that I won't miss people and that I don't get homesick, and while I still don't get homesick I have started to let myself miss people, places, and things. I can't (and don't want to) call it being homesick because it won't affect my life too much and I won't be sad, but it will be weird not to be in Philly or Montreal, or studying at McGill, or working at Ramah. I also can't call it homesickness because I know how easy it is to stay in touch (even though I tend to be dreadful about keeping in touch) and because there are so many kickass experiences waiting for me, and also because all of my friends and family tend to scatter when the school year starts anyway, so leaving feels somewhat natural, even though I will be a plane ride away instead of a bus ride away.
Getting from the airport to Kiev was...a trip. Oh god. I took the Sky Bus to what I thought was the city center (it was really a metro stop which brought me to the city center many stops and a few transfers later). Luckily the weather was great and people are wonderful and so willing to help. Reminder: Know ANY Russian or Ukrainian before attempting to get ANYWHERE in Ukraine. Today I got Metro directions, only to decide I wanted to take a taxi instead (internal Ugly American moment where all I wanted to do was communicate that I would pay anything as long as I got to my destination, and quickly), only to have the taxi driver look at my hostel address and say "Niet. Metro." The adventure continued.
I had to get from Kharkivska to Zoloti Vorota to Teatraina to Kreschatyk (all metro stations), and then find the street that my hostel was on, which was also difficult because it was fairly unmarked (except for the directions spray-painted on buildings which did not help until someone pointed them out to me). I did get to see a good chunk of the Kiev area today, which was wonderful. Since I did not have anything planned for this afternoon or tonight it was nice to be able to take the time to navigate (and CONQUER and rule with an iron fist!) the metro system. Seriously though, thank goodness for the kindness of strangers [insert A Streetcar Named Desire reference here]. I managed to get to my hostel almost solely by saying "Prorizna?" (the street name) and pointing. Finding a few English speakers helped drastically, but they didn't come into play until after the metro fiasco.
I'm incredibly impressed if you read the whole way through. Give yourself a hug and a pat on the back. Also, pictures will be in an album on Facebook since I'm not sure how to put them in the blog.
Love to all,
Becca
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