Most of the last week of my trip to Ukraine was spent in Kyiv. Autumn had definitely arrived, the skies grew gray and rainy, and the chestnut trees had all turned yellow. My last few days were not, sadly, spent sightseeing or gallivanting around.  A good deal of it was spent sitting in traffic, which ha gotten exponentially worse since my last visit.  There was still work to be done at the UCARE office in the "Presa Ukraina" building – goods to be ordered for a few of the internaty, accounts to be reconciled, and photos to be cropped, edited, and burned onto discs for everyone who participated (and some who didn't).  And, since we are Ukrainian, after all, there were lots of meetings and lots of tea.

And then there was time spent visiting with friends.  Inna and I took Peggy shopping at the market on the Uzyizd, and then had her to dinner. Ruslan also came by the flat with his girlfriend to say their goodbyes, and stayed to dinner.

I met with Andriy a few times, and we spent a nice afternoon on the Maidan.  I went out to Borshchаhivka,a to my cousin Tamara's for an evening with family.

I finished up my shopping, finding gifts for everyone back home. And there was the big end-of-route UCARE banquet, held at a nice restaurant on the shore of the Dnipro, where we had a chance to thank everyone – students, staff, volunteers and understanding family members – for their help. We had good food, good company, good music, and a very good time.

....................And that could honestly be said of my entire stay in Ukraine.

Main UKRAINE Page

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1. 1.Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, like most European cities, were not built with the automobile in mind.  There are some Soviet area boulevards, true, but most of the streets are narrow, with no consideration made for parking.  This was not a problem in the Soviet or early post-Soviet eras, as no one could afford a car.  But, in the last ten years, car ownership has expanded greatly, reaching critical mass this year.  Traffic no longer moves in Kyiv, as there is nowhere for it to go.
   In past years, the way to get anywhere quickly was to hop into a cab.  This is no longer true, and there are traffic jams around the clock in Kyiv.  The Metro (subway) is a speedier alternative, except at rush hours, when it is filled beyond capacity as well.
   One reason for these problems is the lack of good driving skills by most of the people on the road.  One way to get a license is to study, practice, and then pass a driving test.  Another is to pay someone off.  Unfortunately, there are too many of the latter drivers on the road.  Add in contempt for any rules (or laws) of the road, and you have chaos....and gridlock.
   Several years ago I wrote that Indian drivers were probably the worst in the world (when it came to observing the rules of the road).  I was wrong.  Modern-day Ukrainian driers have them beaten.  There is no consideration given to others on the road, only for one's self.  How else to explain what, in India, I described as the train crossing conundrum: A train crosses a busy road, stopping the flow of traffic.  Most drivers wait patiently, but a number of selfish drivers see this as an opportunity to "jump the queue" and get to the front of the traffic.  The drive up into the opposing lane of traffic (currently empty), pull up to the gate, and plan to dart across, ahead of the other lane, as soon as the gates open.  Unfortunately, drivers on the other side of the train have done the exact same thing, causing massive gridlock when the train finally passes by.
   Ukrainians have applied this principle to any street and any red light.  Drivers will try to get ahead of traffic in opposing lanes, usually when there is no oncoming traffic, but often when there is as well.  It merely makes things worse for everyone else.  One way roads are, for some, merely a suggestion, and sidewalks, if there are no police around, make fine alternative roadways.
   Because of all this derring-do and flouting of traffic laws, and because of the lack of driving skills, accidents are legion.  It used to be rare that you would see one; now you see many on any given drive.  They are often the cause of traffic back-ups, which in turn cause more risky driving, which leads to even more accidents. The Ukrainian automotive circle of life....