Arrived in Kiev, Ukraine. The plane ride was about 2.5 hours from Paris and the Air France staff did not seem as friendly, but then again I was asleep for most of it. We (squad mate and I) sat next to a man that spoke about his country beautifully. We landed to walk out of the plane unto the runway and into the airport. Customs/Visa people in developing countries is a joke. Fill out the paper and get a stamp. No questions asked, no profiling.
Once we got our bags we walked out to meet our leader, Sydney! It was a quick reunion and then we hurried over to the bus stop, only to wait for some kind of arrangement. We sat on the bus for about an hour from the airport to the main train station. We got food (an adventure in itself when you don’t speak Ukrainian and the don’t speak English) waffles with cherry sauce and a ctapdog (we pronounced it crapdog, it was really some kind of hotdog stand). We “protected” our things as we took turns eating. We must have been a sight to see, a bunch (52) Americans with packs (internal frames around 40-50lbs and backpack around 10-20lbs) none speaking Ukrainian.
A few hours later we are dashing to the train hoping we are where we should be. I’ve never been on a train especially one where the conductors only speak another language. The first conductor lady sent us on the wrong cart/box. Emily (teammate) and I walked through the hallway getting stuck in every compartment door opening with our giant packs only to find out we were in the wrong box. We keep walking and walking asking every conductor if this was the right box. We finally arrive to our box only to realize that its missing the first two steps to get on. I took a deep breath, took hold of the gross, dirty bar and hoisted myself up. I was sweating by the time we figured out which compartment was ours. We arrived only to realize that our bunkmates (a married Ukrainian couple) had the bottom beds and we were on the top bunks. Emily, a rock star, hoisted herself up the beds like some kind of jungle monkey and then proceeded to left, push and tug our 45lbs backpacks into the small storage space above the box. The Ukrainians thought we were weird and then showed us the compartments underneath the beds on the floor!!
We found out two of our other teammates were in the same box with us. We also found a man, Adam, who spoke English!! It was totally a God thing. He was in the Ukraine for about 2 years with the Peace Corp and was leaving for home (Dallas) in a few days. He was sweet and very helpful communicating with the people on the train and explaining the customs of train ridding to us. Yes, there is a train etiquette.
10 hours later we arrived in Lutsk, Ukraine with one of our squad leaders, Jenny. We met our YWAM contacts and drove over to the apartment. God is soo good to us 🙂
