Blogs about Ukraine (once upon a time)

Looking for blogs about Ukraine? I'm updating the blog list and retiring the golden oldies below!

Ukraine once had a large number of talented foreigners blogging away about the funny, the fantastic, and the frustrating. Now that number has plummeted. While politics and hard news are everywhere, it's harder to find a plain old daily-life "what's it really like?" update in English. 

I'm keeping this listing of blogs here because although most authors have moved on to other endeavors, they left behind a great online record of their days in Ukraine. I hope you too will find interesting stories when exploring their sites.

As for the blogs still producing content, check out the updated More Ukraine Blogs tab. If you know of a good English-language blog about daily life in Ukraine, please leave a comment below and I'll happily add it. I LOVE reading stories of everyday Ukrainian life no matter how big the city or how tiny the village.


Happy reading! : )

Interview with an American farmer in Kyiv

I'd like to take you to Kyiv today to meet my friend Al, a former dairy farmer with a real love for Ukraine! We've been penpals for the past few years and somehow traded countries in the process :p

Al, once upon a time you were living in Wisconsin and dreaming of Ukraine. Now you're sending out weekly adventurous emails from Kyiv! Tell us a little about your background and your life before the big move.

I had been a dairy farmer for most of my life. It was a smaller farm where you were committed to a 7-day-a-week job but at least you were your own boss. No longer farming, I worked a few other jobs, the last one being in retail. Not bad jobs but I was not the one in control and like many in this day and age, making a living but not getting ahead.

My 3 children are adults and living their own lives. I was divorced so I didn’t feel I had anything or anyone tying me down.

Back in 1976 and still a teenager, I had the opportunity to travel to Europe for 3 weeks on an agricultural tour. One of the countries we visited was the former Soviet Union. From Moscow we flew out to visit a huge farm (approximately 20,000 acres). The farm was in the direction of Ukraine but at that time we simply called it part of the Soviet Union. I fell in love with the few people we met and never forgot about it. I also vowed to never drink vodka shots again. Of course I enjoyed it, but assumed I’d probably never return to the area.

Interview with an American blogger in Ukraine

Chernivtsy, Ukraine.

In Ukraine I worked with all kinds of American teachers. 

Young teachers and old teachers. Trained teachers, newbies, and aspiring teacherpreneurs. Teachers who left their homeland because of politics. Teachers who came to the edge of Europe to look for adventure. Or love. To preach. To drink. Teachers with Ukrainian blood running through their veins and teachers who had randomly picked the country from a job ad. Teachers who... well, you get the point ;) Lots of teachers. 

Out of all of them, Brendan is one of my favorite people- and a kickass writer to boot! He's the wordmaster behind all the travel tales at My Life in Transit. But before you read his stories of life in Italy, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and Finland, take a few minutes to catch up with the author first...

Brendan, tell us a little about yourself and your life before Ukraine.

First off, thanks for having me, Katherine. It's great to be here! 

In 2007 I studied abroad for the summer in Prague. Absolutely one of the high points of my life. I had never even left the U.S. before that, and this experience ignited something inside of me. That entire summer was like a film, probably directed by Richard Linklater. It was pure magic. I knew then that I would never be able to stop traveling. There's a great word in German for this, "fernweh", which literally means "a longing for the distance." After graduating from college in 2011 I decided to get a TEFL certificate and teach English abroad, as that seemed like the easiest way to live overseas. After spending a bit of time in Berlin, Prague, and Morocco, I made the move to Ukraine.

Chernivtsi University, founded in 1875. Chernivtsi, Ukraine.

What originally brought you to Kharkiv?

The fact that not a single one of my friends had ever been to Ukraine really enticed me. Most all travelers have done the London-Paris-Rome route at some point, and while that's great, I wanted to go somewhere that most people hadn't been. I knew two things about Ukraine before coming here: 1. The Chernobyl Nuclear disaster, and, 2. That Ukraine was rumored to have beautiful women. Were the two events connected? I decided to go and do some firsthand research. Kharkiv itself was entirely unplanned. I actually wanted to work in Kiev or Odessa, but the school I had come to Ukraine for placed me in this far off city near the Eastern border with Russia. That ended up being quite fateful.

Downtown Kharkiv.

Tell us about an average day in The Life of Brendan :)

Interview with a Kharkiv expat

 Meet João, a friendly Portugese expat currently living in Kharkiv, Ukraine!

João, tell us a little about yourself and your life before Ukraine.

I studied International Relations and this part of Europe got me interested, not only due to its history but also the Slavic culture. Before Ukraine I was not particularly happy with the path my life was taking so I decided to try something different and venture myself into this country. This way I practice international relations every day while learning a language that I love and experiencing this culture. And the best thing is that all this builds up to my medium to long term professional goals.

Why Kharkiv?

You can call it luck. My goal was eastern Ukraine because I wanted to become proficient in Russian language. But now that I’ve visited other Ukrainian cities I have to say I’m really glad I ended up coming to Kharkiv. I like the city a lot. It has something unique to it. It’s not too big and industrialized, it’s historic and cultural but in a different way than western Ukrainian cities I’ve visited before, it has a nice range of leisure places and I find people to be more genuine than in other touristic cities. [Editor's note: agree 100% with all of this!]


Can you remember your first impressions of the country?

My first impressions were something along the lines “Wow, this is nothing like what is portrayed by the western media”. Yes, infrastructures are in bad shape but apart from that I found Kharkiv to be quite a picturesque and cosmopolitan city. Having arrived in spring, I remember walking the neighborhoods and seeing lots of green and flowers, playgrounds everywhere with children and grandmothers watching over them, mothers taking care of their babies. Such a family oriented sight! And because the city is full of Universities, there are many youth events that make Kharkiv a city with a rich social life. As for first impressions on cultural differences, I found people here to be more reserved, yet when they have something to say they say it like they feel it. And contrary to popular belief, people are helpful and kind. Or maybe I’ve just been lucky so far.

Do you find it easy to earn a living in Ukraine?

Kharkiv now

I never forget Ukraine.

It's always quietly in the corner of my vision, something that the eyes can't quite focus on, a word on the tip of the tongue.

D and I talk a lot about what's happening. I can't imagine what it would be like to still be living in Kharkiv. We were lucky to have the option to leave. Many can't. The landscape is changing fast: symbols of the past erased, cars set alight, more bomb threats in the metro. One of the tech companies at which I taught is moving its operations and staff out of the country. The grivna jumps up and down. 37 uah to the dollar not long ago, today at 21 uah to the dollar. "With the current prices in Ukraine, there is no choice but work hard for your supper", writes one friend.

At the same time, people are getting by. They're tired of it all, yes, but still hopeful. They have spring picnics, go to new cafes, change jobs, walk in Gorky Park, work out, start a new English class. This is the stuff you don't hear about in the news.

But still, it seems that Ukraine is headed toward something. Everyone is guessing (especially the entire internet!) but no one yet knows what exactly that will be.

The photos below are old; the quotes are not.

The war is close. It's the main thing people are talking about. You can't get ready for it, you can either try to escape it or accept it, being a part of it. No one wants it and everyone just hopes it won't begin or pass us by. It's safe in here but who knows how long for. - 23 years old, DevOps Engineer

Interview with an Elections Interpreter

The statue of Lenin on the main square of Kupiansk. I have seen a lot of Lenin statues in my life and I think this one is special. Usually they picture Lenin staring forward or pointing with his right hand in that direction, which means showing the way to the better life in the future. But this one doesn't point forward. I don't know if you can tell it from the picture, but his outstretched hand doesn't point anywhere. It is frozen in the middle of some motion. Dancing...? Or he was about to drop the hand down and say "Ok, it didn't work out! Go wherever you want!"

Six months ago, Petro Poroshenko was elected President of Ukraine. The same friend who worked with the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) elections observers before is back, this time with stories from last month's Parliamentary election. This was a slightly smaller-scale campaign as the OSCE had 600 short-term October observers compared to May's figure of 900. Two of those short-term observers were lucky enough to work with my friend Timur, a very nice guy who taught himself English over the years while working the night shift at a factory. Below are his words and photographs.

1) Timur, this was your second time working with the OSCE observers. What were the logistics like this time?

I told you the story of my first mission. I thought there was danger from separatist groups who wanted to assault people on elections day in May. But most of the troubles I had were from situations inside my team. On the second day the team broke apart and I had to balance between two observers: one kind and polite and the other rude, unpredictable and selfish.

So my biggest worry was – who were my clients going to be this time? It turned out they were nice people. The rest was easy! Our team covered the same region as the last time – Kupiansk. I had the same driver, Alexander, who knows every road and each village. The same hotel “Oskol” with the best restaurant in town. And I knew many chairpersons in the PECs (Precinct Election Commission). Some of them became members of the DEC (District Election Commission), which was also helpful.

With observers Lori and Robert near the hotel "Oskol".

5 days after the elections

If you missed the news, elections were held last weekend, concluding in the election of Petro Poroshenko as Ukraine's new president. In a kind of weird way it was similar to the Euro2012 soccer championship as once again this region anticipated a sudden influx of foreigners and jobs for translators and assistants were in demand. If only the events behind all this were as positive as Euro2012...

A group called OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) was invited to observe the elections. According to their website, they coordinated over 1,000 people to work together and ensure the elections are fair. You've probably heard some of the sad stories coming from elsewhere in eastern Ukraine about teams going missing or being held against their will. Despite these stories, several students and friends still accepted positions with OSCE.

One friend landed a 4-day position working with a team of short-term observers, traveling to several small villages in the Kharkiv region. We met up the day before he started the job. "I'm a bit nervous", he told me, showing several pages of words in English, Ukrainian, and Russian. "I need to know all of these! Can you help me go through them?"

As you've probably guessed, I'm not the best person to consult on political vocabulary. There were plenty of words on that list I'd never heard of: Clerk of the Writ, gerrymandering, and a bunch of others that have already flown out of my brain. But we got through the list and he left the following day to meet with the rest of the multi-national team of observers.

He returned from the job in a rush of excitement. I think that although he'd been the most excited about working with foreigners and using English, getting the chance to step out of the city and into rural Ukraine had turned out equally as interesting.

I emailed him a few questions about his 4 days with OSCE:

Can you describe an average day on the job?