Khreschatik is Ukrainian for Tverskaya

. . . or, for those of you across the quickly rising pond, 5^th Avenue; although the scale is barely comparable (take a wild guess as to which of the three is the biggest).

I’m in Kiev! Which is cool and all, but Russia sure is bein’ a pain in the arse, making all foreigners wait at least 10 days for a visa to their much-beloved, infinitely desirable country . . . unless you go back to your homeland for the errand. That means that those of us who hail from the States are screwed! which is pretty much what Russia wants (or so the theory goes).

So I should probably just relax in this budget wonderland of borsch, Orange Revolutionaries, and a strangely familiar alphabet—right?? Well, I would, but I’m in a bit of a salty pickle, at least for now; I’ve been snoozing on an army cot with a Californian compatriot, but her Soviet-style one-room is somewhat cramped . . . so I’m in need of another flat surface and a pillow for the next 10+ working days. What to do? I’m looking into short-term apartments, which look pretty sweet—now I just have to convince the Moscow Times to fit the bill for my couch-bed palace!

Unfortunately for any of you itching to catch a glimpse of this fascinating former Soviet republic through the eyes of a semi-experienced explorer of Slavic lands—I forgot my camera. So I’m afraid any pics I pull out of town with will have to be from an ancient, late-90s-style disposable. I hope they still sell them in this technological superstore of a country!

A full report on U-kra-i-ni-ya is forthcoming—after I go see some stuff :- )