American Embassy

As many of you know, Jason and I hauled in to Kiev this last weekend for Fulbright orientation. We got up early on Thursday and took the fast train (4 hours versus 10), making stops in Poltava and Mirgorod (two famous cities in their own right, but I'll not tell you why because I have full intentions of visiting and describing them later).

The trains were made by Hyundai and purchased in time for the European soccer cup held in Ukraine and Poland last year. Amusingly people kept warning us of the "problems" the train has been having. Apparently, Hyundai sent engineers to check it out and ride on the trains, generally inspecting the situation. They concluded that the problem was not the trains, but rather the rail lines... whaaaa? (okay- maybe just a little sarcasm there).

In any case, train ride in, hauled to hotel on the metro... only to discover that you could see the train station from the hotel. yeah. It looked farther on the map.

I apologize, but I forgot to snap some shots of the hotel and room. So, let me describe it as Intourist Luxe, although the obligatory digital clock in the lobby was no more and had been replaced by fish tanks. The bathroom was unusually small for intourist- I had to wedge myself under the sink to sit on the toilet and perform yogic maneuvers to get to the TP. I suspect even a Japanese person would have been impressed with its efficiency. All of the furniture in the room was made of some blond wood facsimile and numbered in black magic marker. Jason and I each had a...er...let's go with twin sized bed, although they were about my shoulder's width, and which we duly referred to as our "pods". There was a fridge, an inaccessible balcony, a 12 inch tv (which sometimes worked), free wifi (which also sometimes worked), and free breakfast. Regarding breakfast, you were okay so long as curried chicken, rice, deviled eggs or cocoa puffs were to your liking. Actually, they had okay bliny (crepes) filled with apple and pretty decent coffee that was actual coffee and not instant (I swear they boiled it in huge vats and dumped it into the dispenser! I saw a waiter delivering some from the kitchen). In any case, these luxurious accommodations cost a mere $100/night. In truth they were pretty reasonable and clean.

I have managed to digress a bit and I apologize. I'm trying to get us to the Embassy. I took copious notes on what we were told and thought you would find it interesting to hear some of the stats and advice we were given:

• Per Transparency International's corruption index, Ukraine is ranked number 144 out of 167, tied with Syria and Eritrea. 
• Per the Economic Freedom Index, Ukraine is dead last. 
• 2012 in Ukraine ended in a recession. 
• Ukraine is currently negotiating with the IMF. They were supposed to start debt repayment (or, at least, make a plan) by December 2012, but the date came and went with no activity. 
• The government has conceded that it will no longer use pirated Microsoft software in its offices...really. 
• President Yanukovich's crowd of supporters and oligarch's are referred to as "The Family".
• Petty crime is more prevalent than violent (e.g.- pickpocketing in crowds and on transportation).
• There is no real terrorism here, outside of the occasional bombing associated with business/organized crime (e.g.- a real estate deal gone bad a few months back). 
• The largest Peace Corps contingent is here in Ukraine. 
• Driving is considered a full-contact sport. 
• One Ukrainian academic said that Yanukovich is too lazy to be authoritarian like Putin, which takes effort- you must tighten the screws all the time. 

There was a whole session on the state of education in Ukraine. I will hold off until tomorrow to write about it. It deserves its own topic and time, and, in fact, many Fulbrighters are itching to write articles and papers on the goings-on in education...So, until tomorrow!