Friday night the educational director from our first school and the accountant of the program, who we had eaten lunch with everyday for the first two weeks, took Kasia and I for a little tour around Kiev in a car. It was really nice of them, since they both have kids and had worked all day already. It was nice to see the landmarks from the comfort of a car seat, and everything seemed a lot closer to each other when we were driving instead of walking. Yaroslov and Victoria took us to the Podil district which as lots of different restaurants. We sat down at the first one we looked at. I thought it was way way too expensive, even for Kiev, but they insisted it was okay (typical here even if people can’t afford something). We ordered drinks and waited for his wife to join us. Most restaurants in Ukraine, even if they are fancy, have a theme (rock and roll, Roman, etc.) and this one was pirate themed. The meal I had was awesome, probably the most flavourful thing I’ve eaten here. They asked us lots of questions too, about our impressions of Ukraine and the children. Yaroslav’s wife and Victoria also did numerous tequila shots everytime we did a toast, which are very common during a meal. They gave Kasia and I each a book on Kiev and Ukraine as a present. They are very nice people.
After dinner we headed back to the flat and joined the other interns. We went clubbing again until dawn, which is really taking its toll on my sleeping patterns. I slept in hard core and we somehow went to the beach for the rest of the day. It was nice to just relax in the sun, even though there was a second heat wave and the water is too dirty to swim in. Saturday night we went out to Kreshchatik, the main street, and just walked around and sat in the square with beers. This is starting to become one of our favourite hobbies.
Sunday the big plan was to go to a big Hindu Indian temple in the suburbs. It was the only one in Kiev that we knew of and some of the Indian interns really wanted to check it out, so we went with them. It was really far on the bus and in the middle of a random neighbourhood. When we got there, we went in and removed our shoes and went to the balcony. There were many people dressed like Indians, but no real Indians, just people who converted to Hinduism. A man was giving a speech about how it’s lucky that we are human and we should use our unique skills, like talking and thinking, to worship god.
After the speech there was lots of dancing. People were full of energy and laughing and smiling. It was a really long prayer song about Krishna, the Hindu god. It was so cool to see everyone dancing and moving, way more exciting than my church. After the one hour long dance and song there was a prayer and everyone had to sit on floor. They introduced all of us new people and explained why we were in Ukraine teaching children. There lots of good Indian food and all for free. They served it out of buckets and we ate on the floor. It was a really cool experience even coming from a multicultural country. We talked a lot about how these people must have found Hinduism so far away from India and without the influence of many people from India living in their society.
Back at the flat we met even more AIESECers and interns and had pancakes. Everyone tried the real maple syrop that I brought. No Aunt Jemima here. They really enjoyed it. We’re going to finish the rest for Canada day.
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