This is true. I am currently at the ripe ol’ age of 25 – almost to the point where people start making jokes about pushing 30 (well, some already have). I don’t know how to take it. Whenever I log into FaceBook, I am always shocked by messages of people getting engaged, married, and now having babies! Ah! Usually, people are shocked to find out that I’m over 20, and I often shock myself when I tell them my real age.

Sometimes, it’s ok. Older people sometimes see me when I’m out and about and offer me help because they think I am a lost little girl. When I flew home from Kazakhstan, this older man that sat beside me kept getting me coffee, tea, and offering me food (even when I was trying to sleep). Waiting at the Kazakh embassy, an older woman made sure to tell the guard I was there before other people so I could get let in earlier. Yeah, sure that’s ok. Taxi drivers would often walk me to my marshrutka and help me bargain prices for long journeys. I’ll take whatever help I can get.

But, the thing is, I’m completely capable of dealing with these situations on my own. So, sometimes, it just seems patronizing. In class the other day, a girl asked me, “But you’re so young! How can you travel all the way to Ukraine by yourself?!” Ugh. Come on.

Oh, now, lucky me! It seems I have chosen the best location for people with problems of looking way younger than their age. From the first weekend here, Tanya and I have realized just how difficult guessing the ages of local people is! I actually had to take my roomie out onto the balcony to gossip, “Oh my goodness! She’s only 18?!” This was when we were sure the person was at least 23-ish!

This shock continued into the classroom. People my age often look well into their 30s, and so on. It is no lie, but the people here age differently than we do back in America.

So, why am I lucky?! Apparently, in a year’s time, I will also experience the aging benefits (?) of Ukraine! Another teacher explained that when he first got here, people always guessed him as being extremely young, but after almost a year, he is now pegged at his real age! Then, again, maybe that’s not lucky. I don’t know if I like the idea of aging 5 years in one.

Then, you might be wondering why this is true. I hadn’t thought much about it before coming back to Ukraine, but there was little incident some years ago known as Chernobyl… Yeah, ha, right? I always laugh when people make jokes about not drinking the water…

I like little things. I have always had an affinity for travel-sized shampoos, puppies that can be carried in a bag, and mini cars among many others. For me, finding something tiny and cute is like finding gold - and this can be applied to the details, as well. Yes, it is the fine details of my current life and living situation in Ukraine that I like to call my “little treasures.” Here are some of the things that bring a smile to my face every day.

These are just a few of the things I enjoy. There are also a number of things, or little treasures, that I can’t quite take pictures of. These might be little tid-bits of information that I can’t get past. Here are some of those jewels:

1 - It might shock and surprise you that it is quite common for people to just pay for their driver’s license instead of taking tests. Safe, no?!

2 - Dentists make more money than doctors here. And, if you want to have a good operation or care, you have to give your doctor a “gift”.

3 - The landladies here are just as crazy as they were back in Kyrgyzstan. They are known to just drop in and check things out whenever, and not quietly!

And there you have it - Just some of my little treasures from life in Ukraine!

Hollllllllly cowwwwwwww! I have a job! After a whirlwind two weeks (that seriously felt like 2 months) of training, Brooke has officially become a paid-member of the teaching staff at an English language school in Kiev. Ahhh!

I’m definitely kind of excited. Yes, a paycheck would be nice. But… but… oooh I must admit, my mind is already asking, “Where to next?!” Besides this nagging feeling of needing to move on, everything else in Kiev is treating me quite well. I love Ukrainian food: potatoes, dumplings, and borsch. I am remembering more Russian than I thought I would. Actually, the Russian is clearer to me now than it was on the streets of Bishkek, which may have something to do with my mind not being on meltdown from lessons during the day. And, I think I might not be so bad at this whole teaching thing.

For training I felt like nothing more than a substitute teacher, which is frustrating for both the teacher and the students. Now, I have my own classroom and students, most of which are in their lower 20s with a few younger and older thrown in the mix. I can build a lovely little rapport with them over the next 7 weeks (we do 7 week semesters) and hopefully get them speaking some English! Woo!

In order to teach effectively to people who know very little English, I’ve had to dumb down my speech dramatically. I can already tell this is starting to creep into my normal life. It reminds me of when I was working my IT job and started throwing words like “resolution” and “reboot” into every normal conversation. My job here is also to just make people talk, so I, of course, have become a pro at asking the right questions to keep people going.

I will hopefully get some pictures of all my work and classes in the near future. But, for now I must prepare another lesson!

Halloween this year, though not traditionally celebrated in Ukraine, was no other than a memorable experience. Now I didn’t get my annual dose of scary movies, passing out candy, or haunted houses (the closest thing we got was walking up the dilapidated black stairs to the party’s apartment), but I did get to have a few laughs thanks to the Ukrainian students and American teachers in the area.

Since the teacher trainees were all so busy last week, we didn’t really have time to find a costume, so at the last minute we found a website that had some last-minute ideas. I pinned a sign to my shirt that said, “Nudist on Strike.” Ross burned a DVD and tied that to his neck. He was a DVD burner. Tanya held on to a sign that said, “Go ceiling!” She was, of course, a ceiling fan. Nothing special, but at least we put in some sort of effort. We could have just showed up.

Anyways, when I think about that night, I cannot help but giggle. I must say that before I came to Ukraine, I was wondering what type of person would choose to move here to work. Well, I think Halloween night gave me the answer. Here are some pictures from my very, very, very strange evening.

When I was at home in August, traveling and living in this part of the world felt normal and not out of the ordinary to me. I didn’t realize how strange it actually was until I was at the salon getting my hair cut and the lady acted in shock when I said I was hoping to get a job in Ukraine. “Oh, yeah, I guess that does seem a bit odd to hear a young American girl say she is hoping to move to Ukraine.”

Ukraine – probably one of the more cut-off feeling Eastern European countries – lacking sufficient budget airlines, highways, and popular gauge of train tracks – barring Australians and South Africans without a visa – sometimes waking up to no hot water or even no cold water – just plain mysterious. But, like I said before, it feels normal now to be living here – everything from hearing Russian on the streets straight down to the circa 1975 style apartment I just moved into. It’s probably a combination of just getting used to it and an attraction to all things “retro”, but I love my new apartment!

I am rooming with another teacher from the language school – a Canadian named Tanya (you’ll probably hear a lot about her) – who I get along with quite well. We have two large rooms, balcony, kitchen, bathroom, an extra bed, washing machine (but no dryer), all the cooking supplies we will ever need, enough Russian books to keep me busy for about 10 years, a nice tea set, a dining room table that could host Christmas dinner when pulled out, and so much more.

Our first impression on walking into the apartment was that it felt like living in your grandparents’ basement – partially because an old couple was in fact living here before. We had our first apartment guest last night and we were very happy to hear him say that he thinks we have the nicest apartment out of the all the teachers thus far. Go us! And, we are also very close to the bridge meaning we are also closer to the metro line. Oh! And I also just found out I get to teach at the school that is literally a 5 minute walk away from here instead of the one that would take an hour commute each way! How cool is that?!

Unfortunately, we don’t yet have internet in the apartment, so I decided to keep busy by putting together a little video of forgotten clips from the past year. It makes me feel all nostalgic and miss all the cool people I met along the way. It has truly been a great year!

This post will be short and sweet because I merely want to showcase Kyiv’s wonderful Metro line. The Metro is a super cheap way to travel (only about $.10 a ride!) and pretty quick. However, avoid it at rush hours if possible! They get super crowded and even the babushkas will kick you around.

Overall, the most interesting part of the Metro, in my mind, would have to be the depth of the escalators at the Kreshatik stop. They go on forever… I mean… forever. If you don’t believe me, take a look at this video as proof. Enjoy!

“How long have you been traveling? Where are you going? Why are you going there?”

The list goes on and on. Having travelled as much as I have at this point, I have been bombarded almost every day with some form of a question above. It has gotten to the point where I am thinking about writing my response down and just giving it to people when we are introduced. Just last week I would have probably put together some sort of Q&A like the following:

Hi! My name is Brooke and I am an American from Illinois (not Chicago!).

Q. How long have you been traveling?
A. Off and on for about a year now.

Q. Where are you going?
A. I’m moving to Kyiv, Ukraine for an entire year to teach English and study Russian.

Q. Why are you going there?!
A. After living in Central Asia for some time, I have become insanely intrigued with the former Soviet Union countries. I am also in need of some cash and therefore must work.

Ok, so printing off about a hundred of these and just passing them out would probably be seen as pretty impersonal. Even though I have to force myself to reciprocate the interest with this repetitive interview at times, in the end it is worth it when you meet some amazing people from around the world. Since there is a common bond in the love for travelling, it is generally easy to get along for a few days before having to say goodbye. As travelers, this is all too common. We constantly come and go. It is what we do.

Normally, this is not a problem, but recently I did struggle with a goodbye more than I would like to admit. And, as much as I can pretend to be a realist, the truth comes out: I am a romantic – a hopeless romantic maybe – and maybe more hopeless than anything. Haha. I was thinking about this fact recently and how it sometimes makes me a little embarrassed. Then I thought about it some more and just realized it is because of this romantic side that I am able to see life how it could be and not just how it should be. It makes me a dreamer, and let’s face it, without this side of me how else would I have done any of the things this blog has followed?

Because I am a dreamer, I had to follow through on the goodbye and board a very tiny plane – one with the big propellers and only enough room for 3 people in a row – in the cold, dark evening on a one-way ticket. I landed in a place that was vaguely familiar – cold, sterile, and hassling (I don’t need a taxi already!). Yep, breathe that in. That is the fresh stench of Kiev.

All the previous week I worried that I might have made a bad decision on moving to Ukraine. Damn nerves! So, it didn’t help when I arrived at the Kiev airport and was not able to find the person I was supposed to meet. Of course, I was also without contact information and the internet café at the airport was broken (haha, oh Ukraine you are too funny). I was at the point where I was about to just get a taxi to a hotel for the evening when finally my ride arrived (blame it on a traffic jam). Whew!

I was taken to get some dinner and dropped off at the apartment where I will be living for the next 2 weeks. Outside on the street, I was able to see some of the popular monuments of Kiev – St. Sophia and the Rodina Mat - lit up at night. The sight immediately brought back memories from about six months before when I was in this city not knowing a word of Russian or able to read the Cyrillic alphabet. At this moment, my nerves subsided. I just felt lucky. Ha! As funny as it sounds, I feel lucky to be here in Ukraine.

So, here I am – home for a while – terribly missing the past, but still enamored with the now and the future. On the plus side, I won’t have to deal with the get-to-know-me traveler interview and constant goodbyes for some time. I started training yesterday. Can you believe I will actually be working again after a year off?! That is definitely going to take a while to wrap my head around, but then at that point, I will have my 3 week break for the holidays to travel. Oh yeah! So, any ideas on where I should head to for 3 weeks starting Dec. 28th?! I need to start planning!

P.S. Get this! Other people here signed on with a 6 or 8 month contract. Hmm…

Even though I have spent nearly two weeks of my life recently in Riga, Latvia, this is actually my first post on the country at all. Shocking, no? I was planning to do a post on Sigulda with some cute photos, but someone I was travelling with decided it was a good time to clean the sensor on my camera - gasp! Therefore, I had no battery life on the camera when we got there. I was also planning on giving some sort of walking tour of the city, but it seemed that on days when I was wanting to photograph things the weather was awful!

I have hundreds of memories from my time spent in Riga, most involving:

1) The people I met while at the ARGONAUT HOSTEL that made my stay amazing.

2) The places we all went, such as the ORANGE BAR!

But, in spite of all this other excitement in Riga, I have decided to make this post about one little thing I discovered along the way - Pelmeni XL - the backpacker/budget traveller’s dream come true! Cheap food that is quick and oh so filling!

The beauty of pelmeni XL is the fact it is weight-based. You get in line and start filling your bowl with these little dumplings - some chicken, beef, pork, lamb, veggie, and cheese. Then, you top off with sauces and sour cream. We all made the mistake the first time of getting more than we could handle because these little suckers are filling!

What makes this place even greater is the price - about 2 lats for a bowl! You can’t go wrong. And, if you’re a late-night person, pelmeni is available until 4 am at one location in Old Town. MMMmmmm. You might think the fact I ate there almost every day funny, but I’m not laughing. I loved it. Lovvved it!!!

I decided to spread the pelmeni joy to other people whenever I had the chance, and would chuckle when I saw them bringing to-go containers of pelmeni back to the hostel for dinner.

To get a better idea of what pelmeni is, take a look:

They are deeeeelicious! Take a gander at their website and make sure to stop by if ever in Riga. You won’t regret it!

Ok, so in case you didn’t know, I am about to move to the Ukraine… for a year! If you asked me a year ago where I’d see myself in 2008, I don’t think I would have for a split second considered Kiev. But, a year later, a slowly dwindling bank account, and a better understanding of former Soviet culture made the thought of finding a job in this country very appealing.

I mentioned before that I had a phone interview recently for an English teaching job - an interview that was cut short by a bad internet connection. I had given up on that idea until a week later when I heard back from the recruiter offering me the position! I was overjoyed! Not only do I get to continue living in a Russian speaking country, but I will also make enough money to live a decent life and SAVE. AWESOME! And, if that wasn’t good enough, I will also be getting a whopping 10 weeks of vacation during that time! So, don’t worry, there will be plenty of travel stories to go around. My first break in very late December (they celebrate Christmas on January 7 in Ukraine) will be for three weeks! Oh, sweet travel time.

Time for the big move to the land of leather, stiletto heels, and stern faces is drawing near. I’m getting nervous and excited thinking about it. Wish me luck! I’m about to go shopping for some new work clothes!

Paldiski could be classified as the worst city I have ever travelled to… purposely. Apparently, the guide books even say “Welcome to Hell” when talking about the small, former Soviet naval base, but still my current fascination with all things “Soviet style” helped Sam talk me into checking it out. Apparently there was even going to be the remains of a submarine training center as well. How could I possibly pass up a day trip like this?!

It took an hour by train of travelling through rural Estonia before arriving in the desolate factory town of Paldiski. In the small cafe in the train station, Sam and I acquired a third companion, an English lad whom I saw bumbling through a Lonely Planet guide. He, too, was in search of the submarine base. As three now, we made our way into town, wandering aimlessly towards the sea in hopes of discovering the base, one which apparently can be spotted from ANYWHERE in town.

We marvelled at the lifelessness of this tiny town - the torn up basketball court, the one pub, and the barb wire protected car factories. One can only imagine an Estonian winter in this part of the world!

We wandered a bit longer with no luck in finding the submarine base when yet another person with a backpack and guide book saw us on the street. Our group became four as we scoured the town for any signs. We eventually ended up on a long, long walk outside of town towards a lighthouse.

Unfortunately, we never found the base. We’re convinced that the guide books are out of date (haha, go figure) and it doesn’t exist anymore. Oh well. Sam and I had a great time and made some new friends in the process. Can’t go wrong with a day filled with good people and good conversation in a town that at least has a nice coastline.

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