There and Back Again

[Pictured to the right is Kiev's Independence Square, site of many protests during Ukraine's Orange Revolution.]

Bryan and I thought we were so clever. We paid half the price for our return tickets as we did for the tickets to Kiev. Clearly, we were owed this after being unable to purchase said return tickets in Chisinau, ariving in Kiev 6 hours late, and standing in the wrong ticket line - the one for same-day ticket purchases - for a good 30 minutes before the woman behind the glass told us we needed to wait in a nearby and even longer line if we wanted to depart two days hence. So we figured we were owed this unexpected windfall, and reasoned it must be cheaper because we were leaving from a bigger city, Kiev.

"What's prodelnista?" Bryan asks as we wait for our train home. "I think it's the 3rd class kind of ticket. Why?" "Because it's printed here on our tickets." Turns out the tickets were cheaper because we were going home in the general class car - not in a 4-person kupee. It's comfortable enough, but there are four loudly debating Russians at my 2 o'clock. I'm hoping the copious amounts of vodka imbibed an hour ago will soon lead them to a deep drunken sleep.

There's also the guys immediately next to me, who are nice enough. We do the typical things - I show my passpot, explain the PC and my role in Moldova, and demonstrate the multiple uses of my Leatherman, attached at my belt. They throw me a curve ball when I'm criticized for not knowing the name of the firm handling the reconstruction at the World Trade Center site.

I'm glad I never used up my rubles from my trip through Russia. They seem to be the prefered currency among the food sellers at the stations along the way, even though we never actually enter Russian territory. I buy baked potatoes, buns, pancakes, and deserts for Bryan and myself. The rubles also pays for our sheets and pillow cases.

I should talk about Kiev. Bryan and I are there for business, not pleasure. We're taking the GMATs in Ukraine because they're not offered in Moldova. During a PCV's two year period of service, each Volunteer is allowed up to 3 days administrative leave, similar to vacation days, for things like job interviews or grad school exams. We leave Sunday night, arrive Monday, take the test Tuesday, depart Wednesday.

Things go according to plan, minus the 6-hour lateness of our train's arrival. Fortunately, we still pull into town early enough for a quick dinner - at TGIFriday's!!! - and a good night's sleep in our surprisingly spacious room at the St. Petersburg Hotel.

My exam is at 9:30, and we didn't have time the night before to explore and find the exact location of the testing center. We try to do so in the morning, but get separated on the metro. As the doors close with Bryan on the crowded train and me on the equally crowded platform, I tell him to go 4 stops ahead and then wait for me. I follow in the next train 30 seconds later, but find no Bryan when I exit the train. Perhaps he thought I meant to go 4 stops and get off at the 5th? I go one more stop and again no Bryan. At this point, I decide that we'll have to find the testing center separately, as the time of my exam is approaching and his isn't until 1:30.

So I eventually find the place - Tech-Expert it's called - despite there being no sign on the building outside or inside. A burly guard's answer to my question, "Is Tech-Expert here?" is the only way I learn I'm in the right place. I worry that Bryan will have a more difficult time finding this place than I, so I leave a note for him with the guard.

The exam itself is going well. Occassionally I get what seems to be an easy math question, which worries me because the exam changes itself based on my previous answer. If I got it right, the next problem is harder; if I got it wrong the next one is easier. So getting lots of easy problems probably means lots of mistakes.

I'm also making great time, and that never happened on any of the practice exams. I'm always right against the time limit, but find myself with 7 minutes at the end of both the math and verbal sections.

Then the score. The waiting. The wondering. Did I just blow a chunk of change and 4 days on this exam, not to mention untold hours spent studying and planning this trip? Are dreams of business school - ok, I don't actually have dreams about graduate programs, it's just for effect - dashed forever? In a word: no. The score pops up on my computer screen and I'm elated.

Bryan is waiting outside. I'm glad he got my note and found the place, and it seems neither of us is angry at the other for this morning's SNAFU. [Later he would tell me that he was worried because he thought I had tears in my eyes. If I did, it was only because I really had to pee. I also learned then that he had gone only 4 stops, but then waited at the top of the escalators instead of at the bottom. Who does that?!]


Now time to experience Kiev. I meet Tanya, the neice of my tutor, and go to a WWII museum and some catacombs. The museum is closed by the time we get there, but there are lots old Soviet tanks and planes outside. The statue of the woman here is known as the "Mother of the Hero." She stands over a square with 13 large blocks, each a symbol for the 13 cities of the Soviet Union that were attacked by the Germans during WWII. The catacombs are almost closed, but we manage to get in and walk around. Old dead monks in clear glass coffins. Not all that interesting for me, but there were plenty of locals praying over/to the departed. Oddly, all the monks burried down below were really, really short.

That night Bryan and I celebrate with sushi and then at a rock/jazz club, Art 44. The club is a hit, especially the second band that performs. Bryan and I feel a special connection with them because the name of their group is Pusk, the same name as our business semina. I doubt, however, that theirs is an acronym for Entrepreneurialistic Learning of Strategy and Commerce.

Special thanks to Taya and Bona, two PCVs with whom I served in Uzbekistan now serving in Ukraine, for their excellent recommendations of things to do in Kiev. Also thanks to Tanya for showing me around her city. And thanks to Bryan for