Beginnings: L'viv, Train, Dnipro

JFKrossroads

Places of coming and going are profound phenomena in our lives. While traveling is exhausting, frustrating, and stressful all at the same time, there is consistently something fascinating about everything from airports to train stations to even toll booths on the highway. These are all places of coming and going where you can hear a dozen different languages in two minutes. Each one of these crossroads hosts a wide spectrum of people and cultures with incredibly quick turnover. Here, everyone around you has a story. Where did they come from? Where are they going? 

JFK is where the new chapter of my story began.  

Before the tears

LOT Polish (Prince Polo) Airlines

Highlights of my flights on LOT Polish Airlines included complimentary Prince Polo (superb Polish chocolate), great neighbors, and smooth flying. Watching The Grand Budapest Hotel partly in Russian and partly in English was also a highlight. However, I could not figure out how to turn off the Chinese subtitles, which got me more stares than I already would have had gotten as an obvious HAPA among the Poles. The only noteworthy complaint was the lack of piano music at Warsaw Chopin Airport. Can I get a waltz, maybe a scherzo? Anyone?

L'viv Life

Never underestimate the comfort in having a welcome wagon at the airport. After an 8-hour flight to Warsaw from JFK and then an hour flight from Warsaw to L’viv, I was greeted by 3 of my mother’s first cousins along with some extended family and friends. Communication with them went was much easier than communication on the plane. Polish is a little bit too far from Russian for me and my arsenal of Polish words is mostly limited to “thank you” and “ham,” which conveniently both came in handy during the in-flight meal. Ukrainian is essentially a Polish/Russian hybrid. Therefore, communication was overall smooth with family and friends, who don’t speak or understand English. *Expect a post on my mother’s parents to learn why and how they ended up in the United States and to learn about our extended family still in Ukraine.

Roofs of L'viv

No Murder on the Non-Orient Not Express (Sorry Agatha)

After a solid few days of exploring L’viv, visiting family, and obtaining some living essentials, I set out on my 18-hour local train ride to Dnipropetrovsk. Train rides are a profound phenomenon in Slavic culture and I can say that my experience did not disappoint.

Anya & Katya

I initially shared my compartment with a graduate student named Anya, who was studying international economics. She also happened to be a professional ballroom dancer, which happens to be fairly popular here in Ukraine.

After Anya left, I had an hour or so to myself, and then Katya joined me. Katya was the typical Slavic babushka we all imagine when we think of this part of the world. She was talkative, inquisitive, curious, and blunt. Katya had a cultured knowledge of both Russian and Ukrainian literature and music. She shared with me some of her favorite poems and folk songs and readily spurred a swap of family stories.

One of the most interesting differences between my two acquaintances was their political views. Overall, it is worth noting that most of the Ukrainian people I have encountered are thoroughly exhausted of discussing politics. I like to avoid the topic also, but find it important to ask here in this current state of affairs. Anya, young, calculating, and reserved, was vocal and articulate about her feelings toward Putin and other political figures. Katya, much older, yet confident and boisterous, was obviously uncomfortable or unwilling to comment on such people. I believe Katya represents a different time in Slavic history, a time that Anya never experienced.

In my time here, from my preliminary travels in western and eastern Ukraine, Anya and Katya have proved to be representative of their generations. But the overall word I have on Ukrainian politics is that most are very tired of discussing it.

The corridor of the train at nighttime

Ready... Set... Dnipro

The city where I will be staying for the year is called Dnipropetrovsk. (Bonus points for pronunciation attempts). It is a Russian-speaking city in central/eastern Ukraine situated on the Dnipro/Dnieper river, which runs north-south through central Ukraine. Brian, did you just say eastern? Isn't there a war there? Well yes, there is commotion in the far east oblasts (states/regions) of Donetsk and Luhansk. In fact, the apartment search was rather difficult for me because of the large number of refugees from those two oblasts coming to Dnipropetrovsk. My city is determined to be and largely considered to be a stronghold in eastern Ukraine. The governor of this city, a bank tycoon and one of the richest people in Ukraine, used a large part of his own funds to support and protect Dnipropetrovsk. There is comforting Ukrainian pride around every corner, and like in L'viv, there are Ukrainian flags hung up with EU flags all over the city. Despite the usage of Russian as the primary language spoken here, this is very much a stable, safe, pro-Western Ukrainian city. 

The Right Bank and the longest embankment in Europe

Ukrainian Coat of Arms on an unfinished/abandoned hotel

I am teaching English, studying, and researching at the National Mining University of Ukraine (notable alums including former Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, aka Princess Leia!).

Well said, TotallyLooksLike.com

I've received a very warm welcome at the Department of Foreign Languages here at NMU. Students here are primarily studying business, science, and engineering. From time to time they have native speakers of English assist in the instruction of their courses, but these native speakers usually specialize in English language or education. They are excited that my science/math background will be particularly helpful for their students. 

Native speakers of English are in high demand here. Most professors of English are native Ukrainians and have limited experience abroad in the USA, UK, Australia, and so on. Consequently, I have a ton of classes. The chair of the department would like me to interact with as many students as possible because this opportunity is so rare for them. While I have a very high number of students, I feel that we are already getting to know each other very well. I’m still developing the curriculum and course plans depending on the needs of each class, but overall it will be less regulated than it would be with a Ukrainian professor of English. It’s also worth mentioning that even the professors here are making every effort to practice their English with me. Needless to say, the combination of English, Russian, and Ukrainian is scrambling my brain. 

Most paperwork, signs, advertisements, the like in Dnipropetrovsk are written in Ukrainian, because that is the only national language of Ukraine. Though Ukrainian is widely understood here, Russian is the primary language of verbal communication. To my set of ears acclimating to the linguistic setting, the difference between Russian and Ukrainian is still subtle. With time, the difference will certainly/hopefully become very clear and obvious, but for now I’m still working on it. This is without doubt one of the most interesting phenomena here. 

Ukrainian pride is on the rise and therefore the usage of Ukrainian language is increasing. The news is almost exclusively in Ukrainian. The subsets of fluency are fascinating. Most people here are fluent in Russian, but some can understand and speak Ukrainian, some can only understand it, and in rare cases some cannot understand or speak it. Moving westward, it reverses. Like for my maternal grandparents and mother, they are fluent primarily in Ukrainian, and they have analogous subsets for comprehension of Russian. 

What would babcha, my mother's mother, say about this adventure? Her journey to the US after WWII was probably the last time someone in our family made a move this big. Difference is she was moving away from a war, whereas it seems I'm moving nearer to one. Nonetheless, it's times like this that show a country's true colors. Speaking of colors, rock some blue and yellow apparel to support Ukraine!

Thank you for joining me on this journey.

Hope to hear from you soon! Comment, email, Skype, or anything. Mind the 7-hour gap (for east-coasters).

Skype: chung.brian.28

Personal Email: bchungxc@gmail.com

Some Excursions

Monument of Eternal Glory to Soldiers; Overlooking the Dnipro

So much the tourist at the art walk on the embankment

Graffiti: Young Lindsay Lohan with dog?