Morning-Evening-Afternoon guys! I know you haven't missed me much but here I am again )) This time I'm planning to write a very very very long story as you can already tell from a very very very long title (both my teachers of English and Ukrainian languages would break into tears seeing so many "very" following each other). Over my lifetime I had an experience of living in very different environments. Even right now when I'm writing these words I live on a big property in a very rural area that has never happened to me before. I can tell you right away that in Ukraine there is a really big difference between living in a town and a village. The reason for that is not purely environmental conditions or degree of pollution. The thing is that Ukraine is not a "car" country. Unlike the States the quantity of cars is way way less, the statistics says that there are around 7 million personal cars in Ukraine with a population of around 44 million people. Whereas in the States we are talking about 250 million vehicles with a population of 326 million people. So you can see what I mean by using that weird "way way less". This "transportation" fact effects lifestyle in my country quite a bit. That is why I decided to compare all the above-mentioned population clusters since such a small number of vehicles makes life in each of them very different.
So I will start my story backward going from my recent experience to my oldest one. For around 6 years I lived in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine (dear friends, I know that Ukraine is a pretty exotic country for you and that you know about it mostly in connection with the soviet union era in our history, but now we are an independent state and we try to retrieve our genuine history that is why it is correct to call our capital Kyiv (ki-eev), not Kiev (kee-yev) which is russian cliche that is completely incorrect). I was lucky to live in very different locations and very different districts but my last apartment was the best. It was on the 15th floor and I had a pretty incredible view opening from it. Another great thing about my apartment was that I had 3 different supermarket chains located literally across the road from it. Each of those stores had own bakery so buying freshly baked bread, rolls or croissants was something I took for granted. One of the supermarkets had also a confectionary but I will not tell you anything about it because I don't want to choke myself with own saliva. I will just write here one word about it "cheesecake"... I miss you... If I wanted fresh vegetables I could also buy them there along with fish, different meats, milk products and all kind of good booze from all over the world. The only thing you would not find in our supermarkets is processed food. Of course, I exaggerate a bit because you can find some kind of it, for example, we have frozen pizzas, but I cannot say that they are very popular. People prefer to order a freshly made pizza or make one at home. Another thing you will find in the frozen department is dumplings of all kinds, but I can't call them processed food since freezing is the only way of preserving them. There are a couple of other food varieties that can be found in the frozen section but mostly you will see there vegetables, mushrooms, berries, ice-cream and some kinds of fish. Why my list of processed food is so short? What am I trying to conceive from you? Well, you got me! The terrible truth is that Ukrainians in their majority cook from a scratch. In the worst case, they use preserves from the vegetables they harvest in summer: pickled tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, sour kraut, and so on, along with the whole variety of different jams and confitures from fruits and berries.
Back to my apartment on the 15th floor )) I really loved it. It was small but I didn't need more. I had a kitchen and a bedroom/living room. The best thing was my closet, not all soviet era built houses have such a luxury as a walk-in closet. For a woman with a lot of shoes it was a great option )) I had a wonderful enclosed balcony that was just like another small room where I could sit and stare at the clouds or sunsets. The great feature of that apartment was its proximity to the underground station. Here I will make a transit to how a freelancer (meaning me) traveled around a sizable city without a car. Kyiv has a great variety of public transport that is used by a majority of its population (here I am talking about a number of around 2 million people, not New York, of course, but big enough for me). So, in Kyiv we have trams, trolley buses (it's a hybrid between a bus and a tram, a bus with horns as I call it, a funny representative of electric transport), regular buses, shuttles (small buses, usually operated by private enterprises), taxis (Uber, Uber-like and more traditional ones) and the best of the best Kyiv underground. The last is my favorite one. It has three lines and usually, it was enough for me to get to most of my students. Its remarkable feature is that some stations are real masterpieces and in some spots, you travel not underground but above and you can see our beautiful river Dnipro. Another cool feature is the deepest underground station in the world Arsenalna (105.5 meters or 346 feet, for comparison the Niagara Falls is only 167 feet deep). In summer it's very nice and cool, in winter it's nice and warm ))) If you are unlucky to live in the district without underground, your trip to work may consist of several kinds of transport. That is why rentals for apartments near underground is usually higher than for the same apartment away from it. At the same time Kyiv is a walkable city. Especially during warm seasons (I mean the end of spring, all summer, and the beginning of fall), I used to walk between my lessons if my clients' offices were located not far from each other. To say the truth "walking" is one of the things I miss the most. I used to make around 20 thousand steps each day without putting much effort into it. If my work day was over before 6 pm I would go one underground stop further, go to McDonald's, grab a McFlurry and walk back home. It would take me approximately 20 minutes, just enough to finish my dessert )) If I was in a bad mood or wanted some extra exercise I would go to the riverfront that was 20 minutes walk from my apartment. My other hobby was to walk in the old part of the city. Unfortunately, during World War II, Kyiv old center was completely ruined after a couple of devastating bombardings, so unlike such cities like Lviv and Chernivtsi, it does not have very old houses. However, the center was rebuilt in more or less same style and definitely has its charm. It is also a very green city with lots of parks and small garden squares. In case you get tired of walking, you can always land in some of the numerous restaurants, cafes, coffee shops, pubs, confectionaries, bakeries and ice-cream places. There is no chance to suffer from thirst or hunger in Kyiv. I will not pretend that living in Kyiv is completely cloudless and happy. The city has its issues and it's not cheap to live here, but living in the capital city is always costly. Though it also opens more perspectives as well as different kinds of entertainment. Kyiv is no exception. Theatres, cinemas, nightclubs, museums, exhibitions, different cultural and professional spaces, creative hubs, co-working offices, gyms, swimming pools, and many other things can be found in Kyiv. It's just the matter of finding something to your liking. As a big transportation hub, Kyiv is a good starting point for many trips: 2 airports and a big train station can take you to all corners of Ukraine and other countries, not just neighboring ones. So that's shortly about living in a big city. Almost forgot one important thing. There are no unsafe places in Kyiv, I don't want to offend anyone, but we don't have anything that resembles "ghettos". Of course, there are districts less attractive for tourists, but generally, the city is safe. But I always say to my foreign friends: Use common sense! If you want to do something that would be considered silly in your country, be sure it would be considered silly in my country too and can get you into trouble. This is shortly about living in the big city. I am sorry I didn't go deeply into many things but then my blog would turn into an encyclopedia, which will make happy neither of us.
Next couple of paragraphs I will dedicate to living in a mid-size city. By mid-size I mean approximately 40 thousand people. You might wonder why I skipped something a bit bigger like 150-200 thousand, well, from my experience (I used to live in Chernivtsi, population 295 thousand people) life in big district cities (Ukraine consists of 24 administrative districts and the Republic of Crimea) does not differ much from the capital: the lifestyle is a bit different and the speed of life is slower, but generally there are same problems and more or less same range of entertainment. As an example of mid-size town, I will take Volodymyr Volynskyi, the town where I was born and spent most of my summer holidays. So its population is about 40 thousand people and it is located 9 km (5.5 miles) from the Ukrainian-Polish border. I LOVE THIS TOWN!!! I've traveled a bit, I've seen Cracow, Berlin and London, I've been to the Cocoa Beach at the sunrise, I lived on the Black Sea, but I love this town with all my heart. I will mention many times in my future blogs that I love Lviv too, but the truth is that Lviv is my soul, Volodymyr is my heart. Even while living in the capital of my country I still enjoyed coming back to this town. And it's not just because my grandparents and great-grandparents lived there, it's a small town, with somewhat underdeveloped infrastructure, but with a big soul. You would go to the local market (I don't mean a supermarket or any other kind of regular store, it's more like a farmer's market located in a very old building from the 18th century that operates every day of the week) and after a couple of trips there the lady that sold you cheese will remember your and next time she sees you she will give you a slice of new kind of cheese to taste in case you want to buy something different, or you will go to this funny lady selling candies and cookies and she will tell you everything about the novelties she brought and next time she will confidently say: No, no, no! You will not like these cookies, try those ones. And the chances that you will run into your acquaintance or family friend on the town square are pretty high even if you come to the town two times a year. Volodymyr is even more walkable than Kyiv and, of course, mainly because of its size. It takes me 20 minutes to get from my grandfather's house to the town center where most of the shops and other facilities are located. There are more remote parts of the town, in that case, you would use a shuttle bus or a taxi if you don't have a car. You will not find some fancy entertainment in the town: a cinema, community center, some restaurants, cafes, confectionary, a couple of parks, but you still can be pretty busy since Volodymyr is a very old town, older than Kyiv according to some researches: it has very unique churches and a very interesting monastery that looks more like a fortress in a village just next to the town. There is s small serpent-like river crossing the town that can be explored on a kayak and is good for fishing and meditation. There is no doubt that this town is really good if you want to slow down and get some rest from the big city life. The cost of living is low, the air is clean and if you get bored you can always hop on a bus and go to Poland, for example )) My biggest pride is the house where lives my grandfather, to be more precise not the house itself but the history behind it. The property on which stands his house is in our family for over 100 years and was given to m great-grandmother by her father as her dowry when she got married. You would say: So what? Many families own their land for generations. Well, in the case of Ukraine and its stormy history for the last 300-400 years that's something to be proud of. Even if only to take into account our latest history of being part of the soviet union where people were ripped off any possessions that could make them different from others (there you have an example how socialism actually works). Unfortunately, our plot got smaller with time, but it's still in the family and the part of the house was built by my great-grandfather. Not far from it, on the other side of the river stands the house where lived my great-great-grandfather (my great-grandmother's father). That property is in possession of my grandfather's cousin. So my family history is somewhat collected in one place, which always seemed cool to me.
So here I will finish my first part of this lengthy story. Bet you are a bit tired of reading!
Wish you all a great day and behave!
Truly yours )))
And for dessert, not cheesecake but photos of Kyiv!
I apologize for the quality, all of them were taken on the phone, back then I didn't have a professional camera.
Views from my apartment
St. Michael's Cathedral, Kyiv
Castle of Richard Lionheart, a house with a very cool story, Kyiv
Both photos are views from my apartment
An art object on the Dnipro riverfront, Kyiv
Independence Square in winter
The Arc of Friendship, an old soviet monument that hopefully soon will get new life and purpose
So I will start my story backward going from my recent experience to my oldest one. For around 6 years I lived in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine (dear friends, I know that Ukraine is a pretty exotic country for you and that you know about it mostly in connection with the soviet union era in our history, but now we are an independent state and we try to retrieve our genuine history that is why it is correct to call our capital Kyiv (ki-eev), not Kiev (kee-yev) which is russian cliche that is completely incorrect). I was lucky to live in very different locations and very different districts but my last apartment was the best. It was on the 15th floor and I had a pretty incredible view opening from it. Another great thing about my apartment was that I had 3 different supermarket chains located literally across the road from it. Each of those stores had own bakery so buying freshly baked bread, rolls or croissants was something I took for granted. One of the supermarkets had also a confectionary but I will not tell you anything about it because I don't want to choke myself with own saliva. I will just write here one word about it "cheesecake"... I miss you... If I wanted fresh vegetables I could also buy them there along with fish, different meats, milk products and all kind of good booze from all over the world. The only thing you would not find in our supermarkets is processed food. Of course, I exaggerate a bit because you can find some kind of it, for example, we have frozen pizzas, but I cannot say that they are very popular. People prefer to order a freshly made pizza or make one at home. Another thing you will find in the frozen department is dumplings of all kinds, but I can't call them processed food since freezing is the only way of preserving them. There are a couple of other food varieties that can be found in the frozen section but mostly you will see there vegetables, mushrooms, berries, ice-cream and some kinds of fish. Why my list of processed food is so short? What am I trying to conceive from you? Well, you got me! The terrible truth is that Ukrainians in their majority cook from a scratch. In the worst case, they use preserves from the vegetables they harvest in summer: pickled tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, sour kraut, and so on, along with the whole variety of different jams and confitures from fruits and berries.
Back to my apartment on the 15th floor )) I really loved it. It was small but I didn't need more. I had a kitchen and a bedroom/living room. The best thing was my closet, not all soviet era built houses have such a luxury as a walk-in closet. For a woman with a lot of shoes it was a great option )) I had a wonderful enclosed balcony that was just like another small room where I could sit and stare at the clouds or sunsets. The great feature of that apartment was its proximity to the underground station. Here I will make a transit to how a freelancer (meaning me) traveled around a sizable city without a car. Kyiv has a great variety of public transport that is used by a majority of its population (here I am talking about a number of around 2 million people, not New York, of course, but big enough for me). So, in Kyiv we have trams, trolley buses (it's a hybrid between a bus and a tram, a bus with horns as I call it, a funny representative of electric transport), regular buses, shuttles (small buses, usually operated by private enterprises), taxis (Uber, Uber-like and more traditional ones) and the best of the best Kyiv underground. The last is my favorite one. It has three lines and usually, it was enough for me to get to most of my students. Its remarkable feature is that some stations are real masterpieces and in some spots, you travel not underground but above and you can see our beautiful river Dnipro. Another cool feature is the deepest underground station in the world Arsenalna (105.5 meters or 346 feet, for comparison the Niagara Falls is only 167 feet deep). In summer it's very nice and cool, in winter it's nice and warm ))) If you are unlucky to live in the district without underground, your trip to work may consist of several kinds of transport. That is why rentals for apartments near underground is usually higher than for the same apartment away from it. At the same time Kyiv is a walkable city. Especially during warm seasons (I mean the end of spring, all summer, and the beginning of fall), I used to walk between my lessons if my clients' offices were located not far from each other. To say the truth "walking" is one of the things I miss the most. I used to make around 20 thousand steps each day without putting much effort into it. If my work day was over before 6 pm I would go one underground stop further, go to McDonald's, grab a McFlurry and walk back home. It would take me approximately 20 minutes, just enough to finish my dessert )) If I was in a bad mood or wanted some extra exercise I would go to the riverfront that was 20 minutes walk from my apartment. My other hobby was to walk in the old part of the city. Unfortunately, during World War II, Kyiv old center was completely ruined after a couple of devastating bombardings, so unlike such cities like Lviv and Chernivtsi, it does not have very old houses. However, the center was rebuilt in more or less same style and definitely has its charm. It is also a very green city with lots of parks and small garden squares. In case you get tired of walking, you can always land in some of the numerous restaurants, cafes, coffee shops, pubs, confectionaries, bakeries and ice-cream places. There is no chance to suffer from thirst or hunger in Kyiv. I will not pretend that living in Kyiv is completely cloudless and happy. The city has its issues and it's not cheap to live here, but living in the capital city is always costly. Though it also opens more perspectives as well as different kinds of entertainment. Kyiv is no exception. Theatres, cinemas, nightclubs, museums, exhibitions, different cultural and professional spaces, creative hubs, co-working offices, gyms, swimming pools, and many other things can be found in Kyiv. It's just the matter of finding something to your liking. As a big transportation hub, Kyiv is a good starting point for many trips: 2 airports and a big train station can take you to all corners of Ukraine and other countries, not just neighboring ones. So that's shortly about living in a big city. Almost forgot one important thing. There are no unsafe places in Kyiv, I don't want to offend anyone, but we don't have anything that resembles "ghettos". Of course, there are districts less attractive for tourists, but generally, the city is safe. But I always say to my foreign friends: Use common sense! If you want to do something that would be considered silly in your country, be sure it would be considered silly in my country too and can get you into trouble. This is shortly about living in the big city. I am sorry I didn't go deeply into many things but then my blog would turn into an encyclopedia, which will make happy neither of us.
Next couple of paragraphs I will dedicate to living in a mid-size city. By mid-size I mean approximately 40 thousand people. You might wonder why I skipped something a bit bigger like 150-200 thousand, well, from my experience (I used to live in Chernivtsi, population 295 thousand people) life in big district cities (Ukraine consists of 24 administrative districts and the Republic of Crimea) does not differ much from the capital: the lifestyle is a bit different and the speed of life is slower, but generally there are same problems and more or less same range of entertainment. As an example of mid-size town, I will take Volodymyr Volynskyi, the town where I was born and spent most of my summer holidays. So its population is about 40 thousand people and it is located 9 km (5.5 miles) from the Ukrainian-Polish border. I LOVE THIS TOWN!!! I've traveled a bit, I've seen Cracow, Berlin and London, I've been to the Cocoa Beach at the sunrise, I lived on the Black Sea, but I love this town with all my heart. I will mention many times in my future blogs that I love Lviv too, but the truth is that Lviv is my soul, Volodymyr is my heart. Even while living in the capital of my country I still enjoyed coming back to this town. And it's not just because my grandparents and great-grandparents lived there, it's a small town, with somewhat underdeveloped infrastructure, but with a big soul. You would go to the local market (I don't mean a supermarket or any other kind of regular store, it's more like a farmer's market located in a very old building from the 18th century that operates every day of the week) and after a couple of trips there the lady that sold you cheese will remember your and next time she sees you she will give you a slice of new kind of cheese to taste in case you want to buy something different, or you will go to this funny lady selling candies and cookies and she will tell you everything about the novelties she brought and next time she will confidently say: No, no, no! You will not like these cookies, try those ones. And the chances that you will run into your acquaintance or family friend on the town square are pretty high even if you come to the town two times a year. Volodymyr is even more walkable than Kyiv and, of course, mainly because of its size. It takes me 20 minutes to get from my grandfather's house to the town center where most of the shops and other facilities are located. There are more remote parts of the town, in that case, you would use a shuttle bus or a taxi if you don't have a car. You will not find some fancy entertainment in the town: a cinema, community center, some restaurants, cafes, confectionary, a couple of parks, but you still can be pretty busy since Volodymyr is a very old town, older than Kyiv according to some researches: it has very unique churches and a very interesting monastery that looks more like a fortress in a village just next to the town. There is s small serpent-like river crossing the town that can be explored on a kayak and is good for fishing and meditation. There is no doubt that this town is really good if you want to slow down and get some rest from the big city life. The cost of living is low, the air is clean and if you get bored you can always hop on a bus and go to Poland, for example )) My biggest pride is the house where lives my grandfather, to be more precise not the house itself but the history behind it. The property on which stands his house is in our family for over 100 years and was given to m great-grandmother by her father as her dowry when she got married. You would say: So what? Many families own their land for generations. Well, in the case of Ukraine and its stormy history for the last 300-400 years that's something to be proud of. Even if only to take into account our latest history of being part of the soviet union where people were ripped off any possessions that could make them different from others (there you have an example how socialism actually works). Unfortunately, our plot got smaller with time, but it's still in the family and the part of the house was built by my great-grandfather. Not far from it, on the other side of the river stands the house where lived my great-great-grandfather (my great-grandmother's father). That property is in possession of my grandfather's cousin. So my family history is somewhat collected in one place, which always seemed cool to me.
So here I will finish my first part of this lengthy story. Bet you are a bit tired of reading!
Wish you all a great day and behave!
Truly yours )))
And for dessert, not cheesecake but photos of Kyiv!
I apologize for the quality, all of them were taken on the phone, back then I didn't have a professional camera.
Views from my apartment
One of Kyiv streets in the center
St. Michael's Cathedral, Kyiv
Castle of Richard Lionheart, a house with a very cool story, Kyiv
Metro Bridge over the Dnipro river, the view on the Hydropark
An art object on the Dnipro riverfront, Kyiv
A contemporary mural on one of old Kyiv houses depicting a hawk dressed in traditional Ukrainian outfit chopping off a snake's head. I really like this art and the concept.
Sunset over the Independence Square, the main square of the country.
Night view from my apartment (now you definitely know why I liked it )))
A view from one Kyiv hill, Volodymyrska Hirka, on another hill with a park and the National Philharmonic of Ukraine
Independence Square in winter
The Arc of Friendship, an old soviet monument that hopefully soon will get new life and purpose 
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