Jan. 13, 2009

Location: Kiev, Ukraine

The reason I'm in Kiev is because this is where the orientation for my mission trip is. I will be here for 10 days before I go to Czech Republic. This is the most wonderful experience of my life and I haven't even made it to Prague yet! Something about this place is intriguing and I can't put my finger on it. It's like I'm home or at least it feels that way. The people here are different than in America. They are more quiet and reserved. They all dress in their best when going places, but that's just one of the many cultural differences. I like the metro system (subway). It's fun to me not having a car and having to walk and take the metro everywhere! People always seem like they are not a hurry, but time doesn't really play the role here as it does in America. The girls are very beautiful here. It's due in fact to the Russian influence on the culture. The girls are to look as good as they can whenever they go anywhere!

The time difference here hasn't really affected me much even though it's a 7 hour difference! I am not used to seeing all these randomly placed shops all clustered together underground. They are in all the tunnels going to under the streets and to the metro. There are even entire 2 floor malls that are completely underground!!! The escalators go a lot faster then American ones and they also go a lot farther! Ukraine has the deepest metro system in the world! random fact. It is hard to witness to the people here for a couple of reasons... 1. the language barrier, they speak Ukrainian which is closely related to Russian with a lot of the same words, but it is different... and 2. is because everyone here is so private and they keep to themselves.

This means I have to witness in non-verbal ways. Yes, you can do that! It means giving up your seat on the metro, holding doors for people, and even just smiling to people you pass. No one smiles here. It's kind of depressing...

Atlanta to Kiev