I'm chicken 'bout kyev

January 21, 2007 7:21 AM

I'm thinking about moving to Kyev.

My company has offices all over the world. I've been offered a position in the office in Kyev, Ukraine, and tomorrow I'm leaving to go check it out. I've been scouring the internets to find out as much as I can about the city, but I'm hoping someone with some firsthand knowledge can help me out.

I'll be visiting the office, of course, to make sure that I feel it's a good fit, but what in the city should I go see? What neighborhoods would be good for a 35 year old single woman who's "artsy"? Speaking of which, I have heard there's a good art scene, what is the music scene like?

I currently live in Chicago (in an area know as the "Ukrainian Village" strangely enough) and have lived in Frankfurt Germany for a bit, but I'm pretty sure this is going to be culture shockie. Any and all info is welcomed and appreciated. Thanks!

posted by monkey!knife!fight! to travel & transportation (5 comments total)

Do you speak the language? Have you been to any part of the former USSR before? If not, safety may be a concern. Living in the FSU is very different from living in the US or Western Europe.
posted by Krrrlson at 11:04 AM on January 21, 2007

Probably the largest culture shock is that, in most situations, the subject and object of a sentence are reversed. For instance, TV watches you. This can be quite a surprise to most Western visitors.

Hmm, I don't know if that should be flagged or favorited.

A friend of mine is from Ukrane, and I think I offended her when I told her that the thing I wanted to see most was Chernobyl (she grew up just 60 miles away). There are some people who will take you on a tour of that place, complete with radiation suits, etc.
posted by delmoi at 3:03 PM on January 21, 2007

If you don't speak Russian or Ukrainian and have never been to the FSU, the trip will be very difficult. Kiev/Kyiv is a huge city with numerous things to do and see, but, like other Soviet capitals, such as Tbilisi or Chisinau, it has some very serious issues in dealing with Western tourism. I would contact the US Embassy and try find out as much as you can about where you'll be staying, etc.

Also: Learn to read and write cyrillic!
posted by vkxmai at 9:30 PM on January 21, 2007

The language is actually very, very logical (much more so than English, in the opinion of this native English speaker who studied Russian). As soon as you learn the characters, you find that virtually everything is spelled phonetically, the grammar rules are very consistent, and there's no need to memorize any arbitrary genders of nouns as in many Romance languages.
posted by allterrainbrain at 6:52 PM on January 22, 2007

For the record - I'm writing this from my hotel in Kiev/Kyev/Kiyv and here's what I've found in the past two days (so, grain of salt, but if someone is coming to visit for a short time, I hope it will be helpful:

The airport is dumpy and people will fly at you asking you if you want a taxi. If you have a ride arranged already, just keep your head down and ignore there. The entry visa folk are pretty nice, however, and you need to fill out both sections (arrival and departure) of your landing card, which they will stamp on arrival and hand back to you (the departure half)

On your way from the airport is where you may have a bit of culture shock. It was the worst sort of stereotype of old soviet era living. Large buildings, crappy and gray. But soon enough you'll cross a giant, beautiful bridge (complete with star and sickle design!) and toward a giant statue of a woman holding a sword...and then you're in the main part of the city. Which is amazingly beautiful. So many beautiful buildings, and statues.

It's a walking city, but be careful crossing the streets because people drive like it's their first time, and there are way too many cars. Some places have underground walkways to get across the street. And within them, you'll find more shops. It's crazy cool.

I could go on and on, but I'm really digging the city. And, allterrainbrain, I'm finding the language really simple...well, when it's taken from english at least. I was out last night, and figured out the days of the week, because I recognized the word "cocktail" and l backed it out from there.

And there is more green space per person then any other place in europe. People keep telling me about the spring and summer, and I've got to say, I'm looking forward to seeing it.
posted by monkey!knife!fight! at 10:45 PM on January 24, 2007