UKRAINE BOUND!

[TechHeavy]

Hello Everyone!

I am so excited to be traveling to Lugansk, Ukraine in just 5 weeks! This will be a personal vacation for two weeks where I hope to see as much of Ukraine as possible! I will be meeting my beautiful friend to whom I've been writing for an entire year now, and she will be my travel partner and guide.

The lessons here at RussianPod101.com have prepared me sufficiently so that I feel I will be capable of communicating on a basic level with Irina, and locals, with confidence! Because I am fortunate in that I can listen to the lessons on my iphone all day long at work, (9 hours of listening to Erik, Alex, and the beautiful Anna!) these podcast lessons have been the perfect language learning solution for me! These lessons are incredible, and really work! Thank you RussianPod101.com!

Hey, I think Anna is traveling to Moscow around this same time.... Maybe we will be on a same plane along the way?!! Lol. If I see her I promise to ask her, "Do you speak Russian?" like she wished for in the lesson. And Erik! Shame on you for not taking her photo when she asked you to in a lesson! It could have been put on the website here!

Well, to the reason for this post:

If anyone has any travel tips for me, please post them here. I've done a LOT of research, and made many preparations, and I think I'm ready, but I've never been to a Russian-speaking country, and nothing can compare to tips and advice given by those who have been there and done that. So please, feel free to advise me.

Thanks again RussianPod101.com, and keep those lessons coming!

[Pollyanna]

Hello, TechHeavy!

Welcome to Ukraine! I hope you will have a great time here and gain a lot of nice and memorable impressions. I live in Ukraine, in Vinnitsa city. Since you will have a friend to guide you, there is nothing to worry about the travel.

It is hard to give tips in general, it would be better if you ask more specific questions. Yet there are couple of things I can advise.

The first: You'd rather avoid talking about politics. This theme is quite sharp and very often leads to tension between people. "Politics" includes the Russian language and relations between Ukraine and Russia. These are two different countries now, but depends on the region the population has very different attitude to this fact.

The east part of Ukraine where you are going to (Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozh’ye, Dnepropetrovsk etc) and the Crimea peninsula are 90% Russian speakers and the general culture here is rather Russian and former Soviet Union. The native Ukrainian traditions are feebly marked here.

Opposite, the west part of the county (L'vov, Ivano-Frankovsk, Zakarpat'ye and so on) are 90% Ukrainian speakers. People here are jealous of Ukrainian folkways, clothes, music and so on. So the second advice: if you'll travel this region, don't ever say that Ukraine is a Russian-speaking country! Be ready to hear Ukrainian language on streets, on TV, radio, see on signboards and in newspapers.

The central part is the 50/50 balance of these two tendencies and people here are most tolerant.

Independently from the region, people are very hospitable and welcome. Your hosts will be happy if you like their meals and eat a lot

It is also great that you come here in spring. The nature in Ukraine is reach and beautiful and spring is a wonderful time to enjoy it. I’ve never been to Lugansk yet, but lived in Zaporozh’ye for some time. If you’ll be in Zaporozh’ye, you may visit the Khortitsa island – the nature preservation which lies between two branches of the Dnepr river. It is my favorite place for the rest

Hope you will enjoy your travel!!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

[TechHeavy]

Hello Pollyanna!

Thank you for such an informative post! Your English writing skills are spectacular.

Ok, I will be sure not to bring up politics in conversation. Thanks for the tip. I can see how this could make things uncomfortable to say the least.

It's very interesting what you have described regarding the Ukrainian and Russian languages spoken in the seperate regions. I will take heed of your advice and not call Ukraine a "Russian-speaking" country!

I think I have thought of most things I will need for the trip, (such as power converter/adapter for my electronic devices, ect..) but it's great to know you are in Ukraine and are available to answer questions if I should have some. Spasiba! It's so cool that you are in Vinnitsa!

Yes, I have read about the beautiful nature preservations you have there in books from my library. I really hope to see some.

So it will be warming up with Spring in late March? Great! I had planned it this way, but couldn't be certain since it is still cold where I live all the way into late April. I was so hoping that it wouldn't be too cold still.

Thanks again for your reply. I was very glad to read it!

[Pollyanna]

TechHeavy

How is your trip to Ukraine? Has it happened? Where have you been? Whan have you seen? How are you impressons about it?

About a week ago trees have begun to blossom here, in my region. THIS is the moment I would like to show everyone who visit Ukraine. The air smells like in heaven and dark rude stems of trees are covered with white ans pink tender flowers...

[TechHeavy]

Hello Pollyanna,

The trip to Ukraine was incredible! I had such a fantastic time, and it was the best vacation ever! I met such wonderful people and made great friends and even some business partners. Now it seems I may have to travel to Ukraine often for business, which is fine with me because I love it. To be honest I was having such a good time that I didn't really want to leave, but I missed my daughters. Maybe next time I will bring them with me.
It is true that it was still a bit cold when I arrived there the last two weeks of March, but it wasn't too cold and the weather did not hinder any plans or sightseeing. Lugansk is a big city with an abundance of activity. Threre was never a dull moment. Culture, tradition, arts and entertainment, night-life, and wonderful dining will keep any visitor busy!
By the way, Pollyanna, my friend Victor has a lady friend who lives in Vinnitsa. I hope to see more of Ukraine on my next visit and I may travel there with him to that region.
The basic Russian language skills I've learned here at RussianPod101.com were extremely helpful during my trip to Ukraine. The majority of the people in the region of Lugansk speak Russian and they were so appreciative that I could speak even a little of the language. I could communicate with the taxi driver, order at restaurants, speak with vendors at the market, (I bought nice shapkee for my daughters!) and ask for basic directions. It was SO MUCH FUN!! I can't wait to go back and do it all again. The lessons I've learned with this podcast, and the friendly tips and advice from Anna and Erik, went a long way there. I can't tell you how many times I would chuckle to myself and tell my Ukrianian friend Victor, "Yes, I learned that in my lessons...". )) So, thank you Anna, and Erik! Your lessons are really working.
I hope I can post this here. I have all the photos from the trip to Lugansk on Facebook. If you would like to see them, (almost 200 photos of everything! lol) then you can do a search for me and I will be happy to add you as a friend. This offer is good for any RussianPod101.com user also, by the way. Do a search for David Peyregne on Facebook, and request to be a friend. It's easy.

Ok, well, if anyone has any questions about Lugansk, or others that I can answer, please ask.
Sincerely,
Dave

[Erik]

TechHeavy,

It sounds like your trip to Ukraine was amazing - you've got me thinking about going now.

I'm happy to hear that the lessons were of value to you in your travels. Reading your feedback is important to us here at RussianPod101.com because we don't always know if the content of our lessons is going to be useful for our listeners in the Russian speaking world, even if that is always our goal.

Bolshoye spaceba

All my best,

Erik