A Kyiv Christmas
- madisonunderwood93
- Dec 27, 2016
- 3 min read
My first Christmas in Ukraine turned about to be very special and one I will never forget. I cannot thank my new Ukrainian friends and family enough for putting in effort to make me feel better about missing the holiday with my family. If you did not know Christmas in Ukraine is celebrated January 7th (I will write a blog post about Ukrainian Christmas traditions soon!). Teachers went out of their way to give me gifts and say “Merry Christmas.” In one class, we even learned We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
My host mom in Romny decorated a Christmas tree with me on Christmas Eve then presented me with gifts. I even got a special call from my host mom and her friend from my training community wishing me a Merry Christmas, health and many boyfriends!
This is my first Christmas I have ever spent away from my parents and family so in order to combat the inevitable FOMO and sadness I decided to spend the day in Kyiv with a friend from training, Emily.
My day started bright and early at 5am when I got up to get ready, hopped in a taxi to the bus station and caught the 6:15 marshrutka (bus) to Kyiv. I got hot chocolate after arriving and our first stop was Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
It has the tallest bell tower in Kyiv. It was only 20 hryvnia to enter the grounds and 50 to climb the bell tower (in total about $2.70).
Pechersk means 'of the caves' and a lavra is a senior monastery. While I didn't get a chance to explore the caves this time, I will certainly return because the grounds housed enough to see for at least half a day, and we spent less than 1.5 hours there.
We were at the top of the bell tower when the bells began ringing for about ten minutes, and uhhh they were loud. But it was pretty cool because two guys pulled the ropes and stepped on pedals to make the song.
We headed toward St. Michaels Golden-Domed Cathedral, skated around the outside, yea they didn’t shovel and there was a lot of ice, and wondered inside. At the time of construction this was the only church in Kyiv with a golden dome, hence the "golden-domed" in the name. It was free to enter the grounds and the church and thankfully there was not a huge crowd for being a Sunday afternoon.
Outside the church was a ferris wheel so of course we had to go for a ride. There was also two merry-go-rounds, pony rides, a mini tubing/sledding hill, slides and tons of other different activities for children.
We wondered around Christmas markets, and lemme tell you everything smelled delicious, there was hot wine being cooked on the streets, fresh cookies, and lots of BBQ. The Christmas tree (or as they call them here New Years tree) was no Disney or Rockefeller tree but nonetheless we still got some cool pictures.
I made it home around 11pm after a slightly stressful/confusing/weird bus situation & was able to Skype my parents before passing out.
Even though it was very different, Christmas in Kyiv will be one I will always remember. I'm not going to lie and say it's always rainbows and butterflies for me, being away from home for the holidays was very hard. After teaching lessons where students don't seem to understand anything I say, then going to a grocery store and getting yelled at for not correctly weighing the apples, slipping on ice trying to get home with groceries, and finally getting home just to see pictures of my friends together at a Christmas party all I want is to go home (and cuddle with my puppy and eat Wings Over). But days when I walk into school and am greeted with "Merry Christmas" from students and teachers who won't be celebrating Christmas for another three weeks I realize how appreciated I am here. Plus I try to remember something a friend texted me a few weeks ago "Just remember you aren't missing anything in Lancaster. We won't be doing anything crazy without you and it will be just like you left it when you get home." And besides for (probably) an entirely new traffic pattern in Gap I know things really won't be that different when I get home.
That same friend (seriously everyone should get themselves a Hannah Esh) also said "You are going to be home for the holidays for the rest of your life. And then you will be looking back on your time in Ukraine and wish you could go back there." Keeping that in mind made this Christmas a positive one.
Wherever you are, be all there - Jim Elliot
-M