"Vy govorite po-angliyskiy?"

Navigating through Ukraine is not easy when one has a weak grasp of Russian. I thought my knowledge of Russian was good enough to get me by here until I actually arrived. I found this out shortly after arriving in my destination city. I took a marshrutka from Odessa, a trip of around 2.5 hours, and was absolutely exhausted by the time I got off. To be honest, I'm not even sure exactly where I had ended up. The only thing I knew was that I was somewhere within the city, but at 9pm at night, it's hard to get one's bearings when one has been without sleep for almost a full 24 hours.

Standing on a dark street corner with a full suitcase and luggage and not able to figure out where the hell you are is a bit of a frightening experience. All I saw around me were sidewalk kiosks that were closed for the night, and groups of guys outfitted in the latest Russian street thug fashion (track suits, beanies, and pointy-tipped dress shoes) roaming around. Thankfully, a middle aged woman was kind enough to humor my poor attempt at speaking Russian, and was able to understand enough of it to walk me to the next street over to find a marshrutka heading to where I needed to be.

For those who have never been on a Ukrainian marshrutka before, let me say that your first time is an experience you'll never forget, and not in a good way. Regardless of how long your stay on the marshrutka will be, you will most likely experience nearly 3 accidents while the driver tests the limits of the brakes. You will experience all of this while either sitting in an extremely cramped seat meant for someone half your size (if you're lucky), or standing in the aisle, holding onto the hand bar for dear life while your feet slip out from under you every 30 seconds.

Once my second harrowing experience on a marshrutka ended, I found myself on the main central street of the city, looking for the office of the school that was to be my new employer. Again, wandering around on a dark street asking everyone "Vy govorite po-angliyskiy?" ("Do you speak English?" in Russian) isn't for the faint-of-heart. A good samaritan, armed with a rudimentary grasp of English and a map program on his smartphone, helped me find the office, only to find out it was close. Ok, no problem. I then wandered the streets (still carrying my backpack and suitcase, of course) until another good samaritan helped me find the closest "gostinitsa" (hotel). Well, at least I thought he was a good samaritan until he asked me for money afterwards. The slurred speech and strong smell of alcohol should have tipped me off, but thankfully, he was happy with the 3 gryvna I gave him. I then checked in for the night, showered, let everyone back home know I was safe and sound, and then slipped into an exhaustion-induced coma.