Украиїна, or the space thousands of miles from Там.

Так. Приехал.
Incredible and then some. It's not possible to fit everything into words and such that I can't even work into thoughts and spaces of sobriety. The two day something flight was a few days ago and this is the first time I've been able to land myself in an internet cafe or anywhere close to a technichally complex object. I am now an expert at pipes. More on that in a bit.
So around 8.5 hours to Amsterdam, 2 hours surrounding myself in the mix of German and some sort of Swedish mix of a language, few Heineken, 3 hours to Kiev. Sleep? Fuck no. The Heineken held me in a semi conscious state, KLM flights out of Amsteram all have a good amount on board. One of the first things you figure out after the hour wait in line through customs for the single worker, who without warning decided it was a great time for lunch and left a bit of a gap in service, at the аэропорт is that bathrooms, separate from rooms with sinks that is, are incredibly rare. Great sentence there, that's the Russian working itself in. Seriously. So much to drink and eat, and not a great amount of space for the results of such activities.
Пиво or beer is everyflippingwhere. Out on the sidewalks, in the thousands of kioski lining the sidewalks where people park their cars or drive down if the roads are full, fucking, everywhere. In America it would probably be a problem. Здесь, where the cost is around 3 grivna and the exchange rate is 5 to 1, the only problem is restraint. Not so much through, the intimidation of the kiosk workers and my struggling Russian is enough to counter most of the urges, that and the lack of bathrooms again.
The paradoxes in society are everywhere, one glance at someone walking past and you have figured it out. Figuring out the reasons behind it are a bit more obscure, but it slaps you in the face every four seconds and then gives you a bit of a kidney punch. Nothing apart from heels on girls. Suits for all the человеки. Walking around in anything short of that is a bit intimidating. Ukranians and Russians are all emotional people, seriously. Figure that out and most else falls into place. You deal with someone at a counter to get a метро pass or fight for some non-carbonated water and it's either an incredible experience or you sort of wish that the stray dogs, or wolves, not much of a line, circling you will decide that its time for a bit of Ukranian колбаса.
Western plumbing is fucking incredible. This is ancient Rome. This is Kiev. The water shorts out every while, usually later at night. The toilet you flush by pulling the bit of wire sticking out of the top and with that actually opening the water to stream in. Using the sink means you open the valve to the pipe on the wall, and in that turn off the water to the kitchen. Hot water means you light the water heater on the wall in the kitchen, haven't exactly figured that one out yet and I usually drop some broken Russian to the host family to work that out, especially as the mother sleeps in the kitchen under that space and mostly lives in that room. Her son-s? and daughter or son's girlfriend or something share what is the main living room to sleep, and I am in the other room with two solid Soviet beds and one of the guys from UM Morris. Incredible.
Things are at great prices around here if you get local or close European and if they don't figure out that you aren't Ukrainian. There are some modern shops in the non-Soviet mall sort of thing in the center of Kiev, all US or main brands, and all priced in grivna with American prices. This doesn't defer anyone from buying these, конечно. They just don't pay rent or upkeep anything else. Soviet is everywhere. Metro stations all have grills on the side with the sycle and hammer, and the whole scene matches the 19th century trains which careen along the probably unmaintained tracks, and always jammed with people. Right. No space bubbles, lost that one a while ago already. Probably on the upside of most third world countries at the same time, as most of the people do the basics for hygiene and the wost is the heat or some old decrepit person shouting at you in Russian and shoving you to the side to get a better space.
Russian is spoken in most places, from the slower bits of conversation that I can figure it from. Everything is written Ukranian which isn't a problem, add a few і ї and it all works out. The languages are similar sounding so I work it down to that if I can't understand more than every 4 words, it's Ukrainian.
Я устал. I'm tired from the overconcentration of differentness, and usually thirsty from the fine edge of drinking, and it's incredible.
Extended flashes of randomness and pictures and such will follow. Time to drink. Пора выпить.
Through all of that, rain still falls the same in Ukraine. За всё.