Sunny Ukraine

Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014--Kosice, Slovakia to Uzhhorod, Ukraine

It was still cold and rainy when I got up this morning.  I didn't mind, since it was a travel day.  That way, I would be accomplishing something in spite of the weather and without being out into it much.

My bus wasn't until 12:40, so stayed in my room until almost checkout time at 10:00.  By that time, the rain had stopped.  It was still cloudy, cold, and windy.  I walked across the street to the mall where I exchanged some Polish money I had left.  I had been watching the exchange rates for 3 days, and they were unchanged.  Furthermore, I wasn't sure if I could exchange Polish money in Ukraine.  I switched it for more Euros there at the mall.

I then sat on a bench inside the mall and finished reading March by Geraldine Brooks.  I gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 4.  "Fan fiction" is a term that became popular in recent years as people who read the Harry Potter series write side stories about individual characters or wrote stories to fill in gaps left in the original series.  March is a type of fan fiction.  Ms. Brooks wrote a story about what happened during the year that the father was absent from the family in the Little Women book.  It is set toward the beginning of the Civil War and the first part of it.  I enjoyed the book.

It's not a long ride from Kosice to Uzhhorod.  First, we passed some some cities in Slovakia and one large one that was filled with factories of world brands:  Bosch, Siemens, Kia, etc.  The town was not attractive, but it apparently has lots of skilled labor willing to work for a lower price than if the factory were located elsewhere.  Then we started climbing into the Carpathian Mountains.  Eventually, we came to the border crossing.  On both sides, passports had to be collected and taken to an officer inside as we all sat on the bus.  In both cases, eventually the passports came back stamped and we were able to continue.

Throughout the bus ride, I sat beside a man from Uzhhorod who has been living and working in London.  He is well educated as an economist, but in London he works as a manual laborer in construction.  His family remains here in Ukraine, so he returns for brief visits to see them.  It was interesting visiting with him, although I felt sorry that such a well educated man cannot find a job suited to his background.  His English is good, but he said none of the jobs that he has qualifications to do--marketing, finance, etc.--were available to him because of lack of experience IN LONDON.  He's in a Catch 22 situation.

Just was we crossed the border from the Slovakian side to the Ukraine side, the sun came out.  It was so nice to see it.  And then just a very short distance from the border station, we were entering the outskirts of Uzhhorod.  The city itself was in Yugoslavia before communist times, was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before that, and is now just barely inside Ukraine.

Uzhhorod is not a pretty town.  Ukraine has not had the money from the EU that Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, etc., have had to rebuilt infrastructure, to restore old buildings, etc.  My first impression is that it reminded me of the towns I visited in Czechoslovakia and Hungary during the communist period.  Buildings are crumbling, pavements are uneven, sidewalks are sometimes absent, people seem poorer, etc.  But it is in a beautiful setting along a river in the mountains.

After checking into my hotel, I went out exploring and to check out the exchange rates.  I knew it was probably too late in the day to exchange money today, but I wanted to find where I could do it tomorrow.  Mostly, exchange is available only inside banks here.  I'm wanting to exchange currency rather than make an ATM withdrawal, because the local currency has been losing value due to the conflict with Russia.  They are in a spiral of currency devaluation and inflation.  Therefore, it is bad to get money for a long period of time.  It is better to exchange a bit every day or two.  Therefore, I brought lots of Euros in small bills to allow me to get just 10-20 Euros worth at a time.  If I tried to do that at an ATM, the ATM charges for such small exchanges would negate any advantage and would actually cost more.

Because I knew I would probably have to wait until tomorrow to get local currency, I had sandwiches, chips, a plum, and an apple in my bag for dinner tonight--results of leftovers from the apartment.  And tomorrow I will have breakfast included as a part of my stay at the hotel.  So I won't need any money until sometime during the day tomorrow.  I can shop and around and do my first exchange without feeling rushed.

The U Anity Hotel looks a lot like a bordello.  It's just the Russian influence, I think.  But the bed is red with a mirrored headboard.  The walls are in a patterned red and cream colored wallpaper.  The curtains are in solid-color panels matching the wallpaper colors.  It's clean and roomy and comfortable.  And it only costs $20 per night including taxes and breakfast.  That's not bad.