Kyiv, part 1

I have to confess, I wasn't crazy about going to Kyiv for a program trip last week. I've always thought of it as big, noisy, and expensive, and I've been there 15-20 times already. That said, I had a great time.

We arrived Thursday night at the Post-Graduate Institute for Taras Shevchenko National University, where I had stayed a couple of years ago for a Peace Corps function. Group 36 (!) had had their swearing-in ceremony there last week, but unfortunately, they left before we arrived. I would have enjoyed sharing my (and Tif's) horror stories with them to scare them before moving to site (just kidding).

Friday, we spent the day doing things I'd never done before. In the morning, we went to the Kyiv-Percheska Lavra, which is an Orthodox monestery complete with museums, churches, and monks buried in caves, which we got to see. Very interesting. Then we went by the Parliament building, and while we couldn't go inside, we still could take pictures of the outside. (Our professor told the guard on duty that we were a "delegation" and therefore got us a good parking spot.) After lunch, we took a boat cruise a ways down the Dnipro River and back, which was something I'd never had the chance to do before, and I really enjoyed it, particuarly because it came after the Lavra, which we could see quite well. Having been there first meant that I actually knew what I was looking at. After that, we went to Saint Sophia's Church, which dates back to the 11th century. A lovely day, particularly because even though I'd been in Kyiv so many times, I hadn't seen any of the things we saw.

Saturday morning, we went to Petrivka, a big book/CD/DVD market in Kyiv, where I loaded up on English textbooks used in the schools here in order to have them as references for my thesis. The vendors looked at me a little strangely when I asked for books by specific authors and didn't care what grade they were for, as most people would be looking for a book for a specific grade. I also got a movie, Metropolitan Andrey (about a Greek-Orthodox priest) in Ukrainian with English subtitles, and a CD of Ukrainian folk music.

And now the lady at the computer lab tells me I must go, so more later!