The Journey Begins!

January 15, 2011
I MADE IT!

After 20 hours of flying, 8 hours of layovers, and a 9 hour difference in time I finally made it to Kiev, Ukraine. Surprisingly enough the flights weren't as bad as I was expecting.

On Wednesday I flew from Boise to Salt Lake and stayed with Jennii Torgerson, a girl who is also going to Kiev with me, I met her in training and we instantly became friends!

On Thursday we got up at 4:30 am and left to the airport at 5 to be there by 5:30 to catch our flight to Chicago. Jennii's mom was so nice for driving us to the airport that early and helping us lug around our luggage. We could not have done it without her. We arrived at the airport at 5:30 and we

were told to check in with United.  After 20 minutes of waiting in line we then found out that our flight was having mechanical errors and would be delayed so we had to go over to Delta instead. We started heading over there when some of the other girls in the group who were flying to Chicago as well told us that in order for us to fly on Delta we had to check in with United then go to Delta and put our baggage through. After a lot of going back and forth we were finally all checked in and through security. Our flight with Delta didn't leave until 845 so we had time to sit and try and wake up. We finally got on the plane and me and Jennii were lucky enough to get seats next to each other. We were so excited to finally be on our way! The flight to Chicago  was only about 3 1/2 hours.  Jennii and I watched Despicable Me on my i Pod. We then arrived in the O'Hare airport in Chicago and
had to walk over to our flight that would take us to Germany. The O'Hare airport is HUGE! It took about 25 minutes to walk from our arrival gate to our departure gate. Good thing we had a 4 hour layover. Once we arrived at our gate we bought some food and played some cards. It was a good thing we had a lot of time in between flights so we could figure out our boarding passes. There were 8 of us

in our group from Salt Lake.  Two of the girls met up with 8 other girls at Chicago to leave to Germany at 2:30. The 6 of us met up with 5 girls coming from California and our flight left at 3:40 pm. The airplane we got on was GINORMOUS! It was a 2 story plan that had 65 rows. The 2nd floor was for the 1st class passengers because they got beds (lucky rich people).We were not even allowed to go up there, and see what it was like because we were not first class! The other floor held economy expand and economy. The economy expand group had really nice seats that leaned back a lot and they each had their own TV screen and were seated 2 seats/ isle/ 3 seats/ isle/ 2 seats, with a lot of leg and body room.(again very lucky) The next section was the economy seating which was us... our seats had no leg room and no TV's.

 There were little screens hanging in the isles every 20 seats. Our area went 3 seats/ isle/ 5 seats/ isle /3 seats (abc//defg//hij). I have never understood how planes are able to fly and after being on this plane I am completely dumbfounded. There was about 500 or so passengers on flight, so if you added it all up there would be luggage+500 people lbs+ plane lbs! It was insane! But enough about the plane.  I was lucky enough to be able to sit by another girl from the program, Kynde, and Jennii was one row behind us. We were right smack dab in the middle of the back, row 49 E & F. It was very cramped and I don't know how we were able to fit everything but somehow we managed! The flight was estimated to take 8 hours and 20 min with a 8 hour jump ahead in time when we arrived in Germany. Although it was such a long flight it really wasn't that bad. The plane showed 3 movies and the news. (none of which i watched because they all looked dumb or rated R).

They also served us refreshments after the 1st hour, dinner after 3 hours, breakfast after 6 hours, and refreshments again about 50 min before we landed! It was actually pretty good food too! I was even able to catch a few hours of sleep here and there so that was nice. We left at 4:00 pm Chicago time and did not arrive until 7 am Germany time. Man I thought the Chicago airport was big... but it's nothing compared to the Frankfurt airport.  This airport seriously is HUMONGOUS! I am so glad our Head Teachers knew where to go because I would have been so lost! Once at this airport we had to go through security again and then get to our gate.  By this time we had met up with all the girls so there were about 25 of us. We then flew from Germany to Ukraine.  It was about a 2 1/2 hour flight so not too bad after such a long flight from the USA. Once in Ukraine we got our luggage and a stamp in our passports! For some reason we didn't have to go through customs... so that was nice! We then met our native coordinator Tanya and she gave us our host family assignments. Luckily mine and Jennii's host families live right next door so that is really nice! Jennii's host dad then drove us from the airport to our homes. Once I got to my home I met my family which consists of Grandma Valya, Dad Gena, Mom Oksana, and son Vova (7). The mom is the only one who speaks mildly good English.  The son speaks a little but the dad and grandma do not at all. Playing charades has really been interesting. It is so strange to go to a country where you a minority! I have eaten so many different foods already- some good, some great, and some not so good.  But I think in time I will learn to adjust.  Before I came to Ukraine I had training in Utah with ILP (International Language Program). One of the things we talked about was culture shock, how it has different effects on everyone and what the main “symptoms” are. They explained that there are four H’s of culture shock.

Honeymoon

Horror

Humor

Home

Honeymoon is when everything is new and exciting. Every building you see, every statue, every sign in Russian.

Horror is the “What the crap?!” stage. When you question yourself; why am I here, when I could be home in a perfectly comfortable house with a real toilet and shower? You really realize that you are in a foreign country away from everything you know and you are constantly thinking about why you would do this.

Humor is when everything becomes funny. The squatters are something to be laughed at, the drunken men who follow you around are hilarious and the whole pig head for sale on the corner is something you have to take a picture by.

Home is when you start to feel like you belong. When you feel that you've adapted and are comfortable and welcome.
 I love my host family already and I know this is going to be such a fun experience.