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Journey to the Borderland

May 1

Posted by Lindsey Whissel on 05/01 at 10:56 PM

Greetings from Poltava

May 1

I’m in the lovely city of Poltava for tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll go on an екскурсія (ex-scur-sia) around the city, then transfer to Харків (Khariv) where we’ll catch a train for the 11-hour ride down to Сімферополь (Simferopil) in Крим  (Crimea).

Earlier today, we visited the city of Чигирин (Chyhyryn), which was the capital of Ukraine from 1648 to 1669. We toured the Chyhyryn Historic and Cultural Preserve, home to Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky (another national hero) residence as well as the Church of Saints Peter and Paul and the Petro Doroshenko bastion. For more info: http://www.aboutukraine.org/museums/the-national-historical-and-cultural-reserve-chyhyryn/

Later, we met up with two girls from Poltava Rotaract who accompanied us on the ride to their city. Upon arrival, our team split up to go with our host families. I had a funny moment when my host corrected me after I spoke a few words in Russian and told me it was not good and I should speak Ukrainian; he taught me some new words and told me he was happy he got to practice his English. After a delicious dinner, I went for a walk around the city with my host family’s son and his wife. We had a wonderful discussion about our countries’ economies, among other things.

Word of the day: MoЛoДeЩЬ (Mol-oh-dets)- it means “good one/ good for you.”