Positive impressions from life in Kiev - April 2015

Hello descon,

Thank you for this useful piece of information. 

If you do have some answers to our questions on this thread : Cost of living in Ukraine – 2015 , do not hesitate to participate please as these information will be useful to other members as well.

Thank you

Priscilla 

Hi Priscilla,

You are welcome As you might understand, prices in Ukraine have changed recently, so when a person enquires about a certain thing, I'll be able to share more accurate info rather than providing info on all things for a certain date.

Thank you for sharing your honest opinions about Ukraine. I will visiting Kiev in mid May, i already booked my flight. I've always wanted to go but due to several political issues in the country, i decided to just let it calm down a little before I go.

To be honest, I am a little bit nervous and excited because I do not know what to expect. I am glad people are generally accepting. I am of Asian/Spanish decent, and (not trying to be rude) from what I heard the population there is mostly predominantly white. Do you think I will have issues? I will only stay for a week and will stay in the city center.

I also heard that foreigners are expected to carry their passports at all times. This is sounding very weird. Is this a requirement? I am afraid my passport will be lost if i keep on carrying it anywhere with me. As for my background, I can read and write in Russian, but my vocabulary needs more help

Dear Lizzieboo,

Thank you for a very open and friendly update to my post, it was interesting to read about your plans and concerns.

Now life in the capital is peaceful as it is in most other cities, no political events are going to happen in the near future. Yes, the population is white here, but you should expect kind and helpful attitude, if trying to ask something from a local, even in English. People here still remember the big event in 2012 – European football championship, when fans of different nationalities from all over the Europe and also Asia and Australia came to Kiev to enjoy sports and lots of volunteers and locals tried to help organize this event in the best possible way.

Also you should note Kiev is quite a big city and there is no need only to stay in the city center. Most areas are safe and some places - e. g. two aqua parks of Kiev are away from the center (situated in the northern and eastern parts which can be easily accessed by metro). They are really worth visiting.

Not sure, if you are expected to carry your passport everywhere. There aren't many police officials in the streets and I've never seen any of them checking documents with visitors. Probably it's still better to keep it in your place of living – it seems there's a bigger risk of forgetting it somewhere rather than you'd need it urgently.

Your reading and writing in Russian is good, then you can use some local guides and read information, however Ukrainian is often used in public places like metro and it's different from Russian. If I were you, I'd plan my trip using Google maps and checked ways of reaching all interesting sights in a comfortable home atmosphere.
Hopefully you'll find this information useful 

Hello Descon,

Thank you so much for very a detailed reply! I appreciate it. I agree about the passport thing to just leave it in hotel and if they ever stop me I can always go to my hotel and pick it up, but hopefully I do not get stopped I dont want trouble

I like the idea of google maps! Thank you! I will definitely try to plan my trip using that way.

Oh wow, I never thought Ukrainian would be all over Kiev...  I have no idea at all. I thought they only speak Ukrainian from the west side (Lyiv?) Good to know. I am not very familiar with Ukrainian writings but I will try to familiarize myself.


Thank you so much for your reply

Dear Lizzieboo,

You're welcome It's very nice to know that you will feel more confident and safe. Google maps will help you with planning your trip, but do you have any list of sights to see and do you know any important facts about the city?

Ukrainian is the national language and even though Russian is spoken everywhere, including Kiev, most signs are in Ukrainian, so local people are bilingual. Hopefully, it won't be a serious thing for you. Ukrainian uses the same Cyrillic alphabet, but some letters are different from Russian.

As for words, some are very close to each other like work - работа in Russian or - робота - the same in Ukrainian. However, there are differences, too, because Ukrainian language was influenced by Polish, for example ticket - билет (Russian) - квиток (Ukrainian). Still, knowledge of Russian is very important, you'll feel more or less in familiar surrounding.

Have you also considered the weather in Ukraine and things to take for it? We had a rather cold spring, it was +10 C or ven +5 C, but suddenly everything had changed and now it feels like summer - about +20 C in the morning and 25 - 30 C in the afternoon. So most likely wou'll feel like you've come to a real summer.

descon wrote:

Dear Lizzieboo,

As for words, some are very close to each other like work - работа in Russian or - робота - the same in Ukrainian. However, there are differences, too, because Ukrainian language was influenced by Polish, for example ticket - билет (Russian) - квиток (Ukrainian). Still, knowledge of Russian is very important, you'll feel more or less in familiar surrounding.

In Polish, "ticket" is "bilet" which is closer to the Russian version

Anyways, I got a question regarding Kyiv. As I gathered from reading your input to the forum, descon, you're an expat currently living in Kyiv, right?

Just out of sheer curiosity - are there any Polish expats living in Kyiv that you happen to know? I'm asking as I'm a Pole looking to move to the Ukrainian capital and can hardly seem to find any of my compatriots living there