Today I go on holiday. 6 weeks returning to the home country. Boy I am looking forward to it, but I dont know what I look forward to the most. smooth roads with no gaping potholes half a meter deep, busses that arent "stuffed up to the windows", being able to get something done without paying a bribe, or simply a nice warm beer with fish and chips and mushy peas?
Maybe its the fact that I am going "home". When I first came to Ukraine I promised myself I would never use that term in reference to going to the UK as "wherever I lived with my partner was home", sorry but no. England is my home, and will soon be ours I think. Once we return from our trip to England I think we will be discussing our long term future here.
Its defeatist but life is too much for me here. I am constantly angry, or frustrated, or both at the things going on around me.
Only time will tell. Iwill let you know on my return at the end of July. In the meantime enjoy the posts already here. As I have said before, its not a rant, or an angry blog, believe it or not its just the truth.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The great divide
Hmm, where to start on this one. For those that dont know, Ukraine is a former republic of the old Soviet Union. As such there are many soviet relics plaguing Ukraine and many other of the former republics, which they still have to overcome.
One of the more obvious ones to a well Ukraine-travelled foreigner (I have a job in east Ukraine and family in the west and make the journey regularly) is the east-west divide.
Let me give you an example.
Language - In the west of Ukraine they speak Ukrainian. "So what?", I hear you say, it is their national language. This is true, and Ukrainians are a bilingual race, speaking Russian fluently too, but the national language is Ukrainian. So then, in the west they speak Ukrainian, and in some places Russian is not taught anymore and people are emerging from the generations below mine that do not speak much Russian at all. In the East, however, it is a different story. Russian rules. I have been verbally insulted several times in the east with the phrase "we don't speak English here we speak RUSSIAN", and they do! Everywhere you go Russian is the FIRST language of east Ukraine. everyone knows Ukrainian to some extent but its Russian they speak first. They say in the West that you know a tourist from the east of Ukraine because he will talk to you firstly in Russian. :). Although the signs and documentation are all in Ukrainian, the spoken language is Russian.
Another example?. Ok, religion and traditions.
The west of Ukraine is steeped in local traditions and deep in the Ukrainian Orthodox church. people still believe in and celebrate old traditions and have traditional values and celebrations in their daily lives. Things like traditional anniversaries, local heroes from history, weddings, etc are still steeped in traditions with traditional clothes, music and dances. Religion is a major part in everyone's life with churches well attended and religious blessings in the local language on many occasions. When passing a worker, for instance, it is tradition and action too to bless him in his days work "bozhe pomohay" is the phrase used (sorry about the poor spelling). The east, well, what can i say. Its just like living in Soviet Russia. What's a church? Sunday is for meeting your friends, shopping and getting drunk. Religion plays a very poor part of life here. I see little in the way of tradition at all and its very sterile and staid in its ways. As for "bozhe pomohay", what does that mean? I have never heard it once here in East Ukraine.
Sadly, this is a divide that will be hard to cross and may be a permanent marker within Ukraine's future here. I hope that the traditions and values of the West will survive the stiffness of the East, and personally I think they will. But the divide will also remain and create unnecessary tensions as we can see in other countries that have such marked divides.
One of the more obvious ones to a well Ukraine-travelled foreigner (I have a job in east Ukraine and family in the west and make the journey regularly) is the east-west divide.
Let me give you an example.
Language - In the west of Ukraine they speak Ukrainian. "So what?", I hear you say, it is their national language. This is true, and Ukrainians are a bilingual race, speaking Russian fluently too, but the national language is Ukrainian. So then, in the west they speak Ukrainian, and in some places Russian is not taught anymore and people are emerging from the generations below mine that do not speak much Russian at all. In the East, however, it is a different story. Russian rules. I have been verbally insulted several times in the east with the phrase "we don't speak English here we speak RUSSIAN", and they do! Everywhere you go Russian is the FIRST language of east Ukraine. everyone knows Ukrainian to some extent but its Russian they speak first. They say in the West that you know a tourist from the east of Ukraine because he will talk to you firstly in Russian. :). Although the signs and documentation are all in Ukrainian, the spoken language is Russian.
Another example?. Ok, religion and traditions.
The west of Ukraine is steeped in local traditions and deep in the Ukrainian Orthodox church. people still believe in and celebrate old traditions and have traditional values and celebrations in their daily lives. Things like traditional anniversaries, local heroes from history, weddings, etc are still steeped in traditions with traditional clothes, music and dances. Religion is a major part in everyone's life with churches well attended and religious blessings in the local language on many occasions. When passing a worker, for instance, it is tradition and action too to bless him in his days work "bozhe pomohay" is the phrase used (sorry about the poor spelling). The east, well, what can i say. Its just like living in Soviet Russia. What's a church? Sunday is for meeting your friends, shopping and getting drunk. Religion plays a very poor part of life here. I see little in the way of tradition at all and its very sterile and staid in its ways. As for "bozhe pomohay", what does that mean? I have never heard it once here in East Ukraine.
Sadly, this is a divide that will be hard to cross and may be a permanent marker within Ukraine's future here. I hope that the traditions and values of the West will survive the stiffness of the East, and personally I think they will. But the divide will also remain and create unnecessary tensions as we can see in other countries that have such marked divides.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Sights and sounds. 3
Some of the stuff I have seen here that has turned my head...
Observation: Why do overweight women with large bags always sit at the back of the marshrutka and always want to get off when its full of standing passengers?
Observation: Why do overweight women with large bags always sit at the back of the marshrutka and always want to get off when its full of standing passengers?
Sights and sounds. 2
Some of the stuff I have seen here that has turned my head...
My partner and I were walking through the village and heard from behind us a car and loud music. As it passed I realised it was an old Moskvitch, with one side panel missing. Driving it was a young man with his expensive sterreo turned up full, blasting out some russian music. As it passed me and my partner, we could not help but laugh as we saw that the drivers door was missing and the driver was sat on an old plastic crate, steering wheel in one hand, beer in the other with a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth as his head bobbed backward and forward with the music.
My partner and I were walking through the village and heard from behind us a car and loud music. As it passed I realised it was an old Moskvitch, with one side panel missing. Driving it was a young man with his expensive sterreo turned up full, blasting out some russian music. As it passed me and my partner, we could not help but laugh as we saw that the drivers door was missing and the driver was sat on an old plastic crate, steering wheel in one hand, beer in the other with a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth as his head bobbed backward and forward with the music.
Sights and sounds. 1
Some of the stuff I have seen here that has turned my head...
I remember walking home in the village and coming upon the rear of a large trailer. This trailer was about 2 metres wide and 3 or four meteres long and piled upon it were the remains of a large tree cut into pieces, trunk, branches, roots and all. Two middle aged men with saws were talking at the side of the trailer and drinking beer. As we passed the trailer I expected to see a small truck or two large horses hitched to the front of the trailer. Imagine my surprise when all i saw was a small and incredibly fed up looking donkey....
I remember walking home in the village and coming upon the rear of a large trailer. This trailer was about 2 metres wide and 3 or four meteres long and piled upon it were the remains of a large tree cut into pieces, trunk, branches, roots and all. Two middle aged men with saws were talking at the side of the trailer and drinking beer. As we passed the trailer I expected to see a small truck or two large horses hitched to the front of the trailer. Imagine my surprise when all i saw was a small and incredibly fed up looking donkey....
Sitecore
So, enough about me and more about Sitecore. We are in the process of running up to the release of Sitecore 6 and man I am excited. The latest release is a HUGE step forward from Sitecore v5. The developers have been inspired to make changes to the product that have really brought the product to the front of the web CMS market. I personally think that this will be a huge success for Sitecore and will push them way up the ladder from the heights they are already at.
The improvements are large and various, from a new Page Editor that means that people can edit data directly on the web page without developer help, to a new security model integrated using the latest .NET architecture. They have got rid of something that has bothered me since I came here, and I know that it has bothered users too. MASTERS HAVE GONE. Hoo-bloody-ray if you ask me, I never did completely understand how they worked. The new templates are so easy to understand that I told my 16yr old daughter how they work when I was showing her the product and she understood without any more than one explanation. Even I understood it (lol)...
The security makes sense, it uses .NET architecture and will be so much easier to provide and is so flexible and infinately more secure than the old Sitecore model.
I also like the way that the way the Page Editor works. The ability for an unskilled computer user to have the ability to directly edit text and change pictures with no need for Sitecore knowledge will be a godsend to some businesses, allowing their staff with skills and knowledge to contribute to a web site without waiting for a developement schedule for things to be changed. Imagine a health worker being able to add the latest news and update the latest medical details on a site immediately, just by clicking on a text area and editing the text directly on the page. Cool feature, and I think it will be an instant hit with those who have been used to the more unwieldy WebEdit features and also with those new to Sitecore.
Combined together these features along with the host of others, like reducing the databases from seven to three and having each database have its own recycle bin and archive integrally and the content management improvements make Sitecore look so stunning and easy to use that even I have finally got round to trying to design a web site with it. :)
The improvements are large and various, from a new Page Editor that means that people can edit data directly on the web page without developer help, to a new security model integrated using the latest .NET architecture. They have got rid of something that has bothered me since I came here, and I know that it has bothered users too. MASTERS HAVE GONE. Hoo-bloody-ray if you ask me, I never did completely understand how they worked. The new templates are so easy to understand that I told my 16yr old daughter how they work when I was showing her the product and she understood without any more than one explanation. Even I understood it (lol)...
The security makes sense, it uses .NET architecture and will be so much easier to provide and is so flexible and infinately more secure than the old Sitecore model.
I also like the way that the way the Page Editor works. The ability for an unskilled computer user to have the ability to directly edit text and change pictures with no need for Sitecore knowledge will be a godsend to some businesses, allowing their staff with skills and knowledge to contribute to a web site without waiting for a developement schedule for things to be changed. Imagine a health worker being able to add the latest news and update the latest medical details on a site immediately, just by clicking on a text area and editing the text directly on the page. Cool feature, and I think it will be an instant hit with those who have been used to the more unwieldy WebEdit features and also with those new to Sitecore.
Combined together these features along with the host of others, like reducing the databases from seven to three and having each database have its own recycle bin and archive integrally and the content management improvements make Sitecore look so stunning and easy to use that even I have finally got round to trying to design a web site with it. :)
The good things in life.
so to balance it out a bit I thought I would write about the good things here. Yes, there are some.
The people, thats the real, honest normal folk are really nice here. Street crime just doesn't exist in the majority. I can walk the dark streets without fear of being attacked most of the time. If you get into trouble and people are around they always jump in. Once I saw an ignorant van driver try to force his vehicle through a crowd of people at a red light. He was getting angrier and angrier. Imagine HIS surprise when a couple of guys in the crowd he was trying to force out of the way dragged him out of his van to teach him a lesson in good manners. YES! One up for street justice. The real honest folk here (thats the poor, the rich dont care about anyone but the dollar in their pocket and there is no middle class, you are either rich or poor) are decent honest hard working people and will help you when you need it. Coming from england that's refreshing. In the villages everyone greets everyone else as they pass, something I have NEVER seen back home.
Kids are well looked after and raised properly with the correct moral standards and respect. You NEVER see drunk teenagers throwing up on street corners here and the kids are always quiet and polite when out and about and would never even think of abusing someone as they would quickly get exactly what they deserved. If someone assaults someone else then the police are called and that person is summarily "dealt with" then dragged off and given his just deserts then told to go home. To some that may sound a bit severe but it works, you just dont do stuff that may incur the business of the police, they carry sticks they can and WILL use and for the really stupid they are also armed.
The Ukrainian countryside is beautiful, long rolling green fields and small villages dot the countryside. The sun shines all day and it mostly rains only at night. In winter its covered in snow all the time with regular and heavy snow falls and temperatures that drop to a bone chilling -30C and in the summer it glows all day in a hot and steamy +40C. the seasons are definate and marked by stunning changes in scenery as you go from the grey and white of winter to the green and blue of summer with all the shades in between in spring and autumn.
I feel that Ukraine has a lot to offer the right people but has a lot of problems it needs to address before it will reap the rewards that the countryside and the mountains can offer its people.
I do have a soft spot for Ukraine and what it can be, however, what it is at the moment is really tough for someone like me and I admire anyone who can live here all there lives and not fall into the traps of poverty and alcoholism.
The people, thats the real, honest normal folk are really nice here. Street crime just doesn't exist in the majority. I can walk the dark streets without fear of being attacked most of the time. If you get into trouble and people are around they always jump in. Once I saw an ignorant van driver try to force his vehicle through a crowd of people at a red light. He was getting angrier and angrier. Imagine HIS surprise when a couple of guys in the crowd he was trying to force out of the way dragged him out of his van to teach him a lesson in good manners. YES! One up for street justice. The real honest folk here (thats the poor, the rich dont care about anyone but the dollar in their pocket and there is no middle class, you are either rich or poor) are decent honest hard working people and will help you when you need it. Coming from england that's refreshing. In the villages everyone greets everyone else as they pass, something I have NEVER seen back home.
Kids are well looked after and raised properly with the correct moral standards and respect. You NEVER see drunk teenagers throwing up on street corners here and the kids are always quiet and polite when out and about and would never even think of abusing someone as they would quickly get exactly what they deserved. If someone assaults someone else then the police are called and that person is summarily "dealt with" then dragged off and given his just deserts then told to go home. To some that may sound a bit severe but it works, you just dont do stuff that may incur the business of the police, they carry sticks they can and WILL use and for the really stupid they are also armed.
The Ukrainian countryside is beautiful, long rolling green fields and small villages dot the countryside. The sun shines all day and it mostly rains only at night. In winter its covered in snow all the time with regular and heavy snow falls and temperatures that drop to a bone chilling -30C and in the summer it glows all day in a hot and steamy +40C. the seasons are definate and marked by stunning changes in scenery as you go from the grey and white of winter to the green and blue of summer with all the shades in between in spring and autumn.
I feel that Ukraine has a lot to offer the right people but has a lot of problems it needs to address before it will reap the rewards that the countryside and the mountains can offer its people.
I do have a soft spot for Ukraine and what it can be, however, what it is at the moment is really tough for someone like me and I admire anyone who can live here all there lives and not fall into the traps of poverty and alcoholism.
Corruption. Good, bad or just normal.
Corruption is endemic here. that is to say its a fact of the normal working of every part of life here. There is a phrase...
"If you want something done properly you must pay a bribe" And that is how the whole society works, and it makes the whole country rot from the stret to the highest levels of government.
Examples...
1. I had to "pay a fine" (a bribe) to the Ukrainian guards on the border of Romania to let me OUT of Ukraine.
2. The local passport office delayed releasing my new visa and passport for 12 days. This put me over the legal limit of ten days to get it registered, automatically putting up for a fine. This is aparently normal for all foreigners here and is the way local justices make extra "pay".
3. To get myself registered with the local housing office the housing officer had to take a bribe to the local council office, the girl there then took part of this bribe and bribed someone else to correctly stamp my documents.
and on and on and on...
It is the one thing that I really don't know how this country can get out of.
"If you want something done properly you must pay a bribe" And that is how the whole society works, and it makes the whole country rot from the stret to the highest levels of government.
Examples...
1. I had to "pay a fine" (a bribe) to the Ukrainian guards on the border of Romania to let me OUT of Ukraine.
2. The local passport office delayed releasing my new visa and passport for 12 days. This put me over the legal limit of ten days to get it registered, automatically putting up for a fine. This is aparently normal for all foreigners here and is the way local justices make extra "pay".
3. To get myself registered with the local housing office the housing officer had to take a bribe to the local council office, the girl there then took part of this bribe and bribed someone else to correctly stamp my documents.
and on and on and on...
It is the one thing that I really don't know how this country can get out of.
Reality check
Ok, about now you must think I am doing nothing but moan about life here and some of you must be asking yourself why I am still here.
I am not complaining, simply telling it as it really is. This is the facts of life here in post soviet Ukraine. Its a mess, but there are sparks of hope. the economy is, slowly, improving. There is new construction work everywhere you look and more and more foreign companies are investing in Ukraine all the time. they are moving towards integration into Europe and this can only be good for them. It is a slow thing, with the old rusting russian chains still strangling the East of Ukraine and holding the whole country back, but it wont last.
The biggest problem this country faces is reforming the corruption in the country...
I am not complaining, simply telling it as it really is. This is the facts of life here in post soviet Ukraine. Its a mess, but there are sparks of hope. the economy is, slowly, improving. There is new construction work everywhere you look and more and more foreign companies are investing in Ukraine all the time. they are moving towards integration into Europe and this can only be good for them. It is a slow thing, with the old rusting russian chains still strangling the East of Ukraine and holding the whole country back, but it wont last.
The biggest problem this country faces is reforming the corruption in the country...
Here and Now!
Okay. so, now you know about me and where I am and what I do. What about my "experiences here".
Lets start with life. Its tough. Food is horribly expensive and the quality is not good. Our food bill here is at least as expensive as it was in England, and the wages levels are not even half. Not that I am not well paid here in Ukraine, I am, but I wonder at the amount of poverty there must be in the general population. As an example in England we have beggars, but normally they are proffesional beggars who are earning quite a bit off the idiots who fall for their "I am homeless" con. they mostly consist of young people with dogs (that look amazingly healthy seeing as their owners are supposed to be homeless). Here in Ukraine the beggars are elderly. Poor, in rags, holding an old used plastic cup or simply a battered hat, and they really are poor. The peosion here is a joke and most elderly either have to rely on their families to support them or keep working part time to support themselves, or simply beg or starve or both. the poor here really are poor and it saddens me that these are people who lived all their lives in the soviet system that promised them comfort and security in their old age and has left them like this.
housing is incredible here. I have never seen anything like it and its disgustingly expensive. considering the wage levels the housing here is at least as expensive as in England (honest!). I have seen three room flats (thats 2 bedrooms to me and you) for an average of $200,000. It's a regular thing here, everywhere in the cities is expensive.
In England we have a mentality that you buy expensive outise the city or in the suburbs to get away from the city itself. Here EVERYONE wants to live in the city, its nuts.
The building blocks are old and not maintained at all. Dark stairwells and no corridoor lights are normal. Huge towers half a kilometre long with hundreds of flats crammed in are a regular sight here and when you see them you can see the brickwork (yes brickwork in a tower block, think concrete platforms with brick walls) cracking and falling out. Rotting balconies hang precariously off the sides of walls that dont look as though they have the strength to hold them. Gas and electricity cuts are a regular thing here in Ukraine which surprises noone and the water is filtered or preboiled. these are average building, the norm, and they rent out for $400 to $500 a month (mad when you think that the pension rate isonly $100... and the average wage is $400. for a "decent" falt you can pay over $1000 a month.
Electricity is a joke, its not regular and we sit at home watching the lights glow bright and dim as the supply flutuates. As an example I have a UPS on my PC at home and the power supply is supposed to be 230volts (I think) but it regularly flucutates between 160 and 270 and the UPS goes nuts a lot screaming at me to unplug it.
So the mentality to want to live in the city is exactly that in my opinion, mental!! I am happy with a water pipe in my garden and an outside toilet afterlooking at some of the flats here in the city.
Lets start with life. Its tough. Food is horribly expensive and the quality is not good. Our food bill here is at least as expensive as it was in England, and the wages levels are not even half. Not that I am not well paid here in Ukraine, I am, but I wonder at the amount of poverty there must be in the general population. As an example in England we have beggars, but normally they are proffesional beggars who are earning quite a bit off the idiots who fall for their "I am homeless" con. they mostly consist of young people with dogs (that look amazingly healthy seeing as their owners are supposed to be homeless). Here in Ukraine the beggars are elderly. Poor, in rags, holding an old used plastic cup or simply a battered hat, and they really are poor. The peosion here is a joke and most elderly either have to rely on their families to support them or keep working part time to support themselves, or simply beg or starve or both. the poor here really are poor and it saddens me that these are people who lived all their lives in the soviet system that promised them comfort and security in their old age and has left them like this.
housing is incredible here. I have never seen anything like it and its disgustingly expensive. considering the wage levels the housing here is at least as expensive as in England (honest!). I have seen three room flats (thats 2 bedrooms to me and you) for an average of $200,000. It's a regular thing here, everywhere in the cities is expensive.
In England we have a mentality that you buy expensive outise the city or in the suburbs to get away from the city itself. Here EVERYONE wants to live in the city, its nuts.
The building blocks are old and not maintained at all. Dark stairwells and no corridoor lights are normal. Huge towers half a kilometre long with hundreds of flats crammed in are a regular sight here and when you see them you can see the brickwork (yes brickwork in a tower block, think concrete platforms with brick walls) cracking and falling out. Rotting balconies hang precariously off the sides of walls that dont look as though they have the strength to hold them. Gas and electricity cuts are a regular thing here in Ukraine which surprises noone and the water is filtered or preboiled. these are average building, the norm, and they rent out for $400 to $500 a month (mad when you think that the pension rate isonly $100... and the average wage is $400. for a "decent" falt you can pay over $1000 a month.
Electricity is a joke, its not regular and we sit at home watching the lights glow bright and dim as the supply flutuates. As an example I have a UPS on my PC at home and the power supply is supposed to be 230volts (I think) but it regularly flucutates between 160 and 270 and the UPS goes nuts a lot screaming at me to unplug it.
So the mentality to want to live in the city is exactly that in my opinion, mental!! I am happy with a water pipe in my garden and an outside toilet afterlooking at some of the flats here in the city.
Public transport
Man! local public transport is a nightmare. In Dnepropetrovsk it consists of four forms of tranpsport.
Trains. the local train network is poor. There is so much other public transport that I don't think they ever bothered improving it much so there is not a lot of it. However, the good thing is that most of the time the conductors who do the tickets on the trains are so lazy that you can normally cross the city without being asked to buy a ticket, and they have no checking system at the stations.
Trams. Here we have a tram system, and its old, poorly maintained and regularly breaks down. However, its cheap, really cheap. I use it when I have no choice, which is not very often as standing on a moving tram requires balance skills that I just don't have.
Trolley buses. thats buses that run on electricity with overhead wires. Again, as with the trams, old, and poorly maintained, and cheap. I don't think I have ever travelled on them here but they always seem to be rammed full up to the windows. So I am quite happy about this.
Marshrutka. What can I say? Incredible! If you never do anything else in former soviet countries thenI advise that you take at least one trip on a marshrutka. Simply put its a transit van with the panels cut out and windows put in and as many seats as possible stuffed inside. Legally, they can seat about 15 to 20 people. Normally they seat 15 to 20 people. then stuff another 30 inside standing. Right up to being stuffed against the windows. Even then the drivers will always stop and let another person fight their way on board. I have to endure this twice a day for 40 minutes either way. So do all the other normal travellers here. Its cheap, but uncomfortable and the drivers only thoughts are motivated purely by money. If the driver could replace the people with boxes of goods and make the same money he would. I am used to it now, but the first month of this was not good for me. I was angry and frustrated every day befor I even got to work. To make things worse, Natalya had to come with me too as I did not know enough language and the right thing to say to be able to do the journey by myself. so there I was, lead by the hand like a schoolboy on his first days at school each day, and met outside work at night. Happy bunny I was not! But the job made it worth while.
Trains. the local train network is poor. There is so much other public transport that I don't think they ever bothered improving it much so there is not a lot of it. However, the good thing is that most of the time the conductors who do the tickets on the trains are so lazy that you can normally cross the city without being asked to buy a ticket, and they have no checking system at the stations.
Trams. Here we have a tram system, and its old, poorly maintained and regularly breaks down. However, its cheap, really cheap. I use it when I have no choice, which is not very often as standing on a moving tram requires balance skills that I just don't have.
Trolley buses. thats buses that run on electricity with overhead wires. Again, as with the trams, old, and poorly maintained, and cheap. I don't think I have ever travelled on them here but they always seem to be rammed full up to the windows. So I am quite happy about this.
Marshrutka. What can I say? Incredible! If you never do anything else in former soviet countries thenI advise that you take at least one trip on a marshrutka. Simply put its a transit van with the panels cut out and windows put in and as many seats as possible stuffed inside. Legally, they can seat about 15 to 20 people. Normally they seat 15 to 20 people. then stuff another 30 inside standing. Right up to being stuffed against the windows. Even then the drivers will always stop and let another person fight their way on board. I have to endure this twice a day for 40 minutes either way. So do all the other normal travellers here. Its cheap, but uncomfortable and the drivers only thoughts are motivated purely by money. If the driver could replace the people with boxes of goods and make the same money he would. I am used to it now, but the first month of this was not good for me. I was angry and frustrated every day befor I even got to work. To make things worse, Natalya had to come with me too as I did not know enough language and the right thing to say to be able to do the journey by myself. so there I was, lead by the hand like a schoolboy on his first days at school each day, and met outside work at night. Happy bunny I was not! But the job made it worth while.
So, where are you now?
Hmm. We are living in a small house outside the main city. We have a small piece of land with the house which is very good for growing things.
Me! I am a city boy. Never dug a garden in my life, and it shows. Our garden has five trees, apples, apricots, two cherry trees and walnuts. Cool! But the garden was a mass of tangled weeds that had not been dug for three years and in most places was a metre high with weeds. We soon discovered a patch of strangled strawberry plants and I cleared these. Meanwhile we got some local help from our church and a couple of young guys came over one saturday and helped us dig. Since then we have planted a whole variety of stuff. Or rather my partner has (thanks Natalya). She was raised on a farm in a village in Ukraine and has been planting most of her life. She has an incredible knowledge of trees and plants and can recognise things that I have seen all my life and never knew what they were. I tried to dig stuff, but after digging half a row of holes for potatoes and being laughed at lots I gave up in frustration, my efforts since then have been limited to basic digging, something even I can't mess up. So now we have rows of potatoes now, raddishes, beetroot, various herbs including parsley, mint and dill and a couple of rows of flowers.
The strawberries were an instant success and I think that we must have had about 10Kg of strawberries. Awesome!
We dont' have running water in the house but there is a stand pipe with a tap in the garden and the toilet is outside and at the end of the yard (don't ask). So, all the water gets pre-boiled before use and the toilet... well... I said don't ask!
The journey to work is a 40 minute ride on something called a marshrutka...
Me! I am a city boy. Never dug a garden in my life, and it shows. Our garden has five trees, apples, apricots, two cherry trees and walnuts. Cool! But the garden was a mass of tangled weeds that had not been dug for three years and in most places was a metre high with weeds. We soon discovered a patch of strangled strawberry plants and I cleared these. Meanwhile we got some local help from our church and a couple of young guys came over one saturday and helped us dig. Since then we have planted a whole variety of stuff. Or rather my partner has (thanks Natalya). She was raised on a farm in a village in Ukraine and has been planting most of her life. She has an incredible knowledge of trees and plants and can recognise things that I have seen all my life and never knew what they were. I tried to dig stuff, but after digging half a row of holes for potatoes and being laughed at lots I gave up in frustration, my efforts since then have been limited to basic digging, something even I can't mess up. So now we have rows of potatoes now, raddishes, beetroot, various herbs including parsley, mint and dill and a couple of rows of flowers.
The strawberries were an instant success and I think that we must have had about 10Kg of strawberries. Awesome!
We dont' have running water in the house but there is a stand pipe with a tap in the garden and the toilet is outside and at the end of the yard (don't ask). So, all the water gets pre-boiled before use and the toilet... well... I said don't ask!
The journey to work is a 40 minute ride on something called a marshrutka...
And Sitecore?
Yes, Sitecore.
We quickly learned that the easiest way for me to remain in Ukraine would be employment. So, with this in mind we made several trips to a local internet cafe and began posting my cv to adverts for jobs requiring English. Personally I didn't really think anything would come of this as I had no skills in either of the languages here (they speak Ukrainian and Russian as natural languages). Within a month I had an interview in Dnepropetrovsk with Sitecore and here I am. The office here in Ukraine is a base for development and support and is staffed by a collection of talented and bright people who are a credit to both Sitecore and themselves. (see I can be nice :)...
They employed me as a Technical Writer and I soon became involved in the mass of documentation that Sitecore has written. I find myself doing two jobs here.
The first is the Technical Writer job. I create, edit, proof, and publish documentation for the various sitecore products along with my colleagues in the documentation department (Alexander Kokoshyn, Mark Sinclair and John West).
The second job I do here is helping to improve the level of English language amongst the staff. I am surprised at the excellent high level of English here and most of my job in this area involves making corrections to grammar and polishing english that is already at quite a good standard. I also regularly embarras myself with my very poor russian.
We quickly learned that the easiest way for me to remain in Ukraine would be employment. So, with this in mind we made several trips to a local internet cafe and began posting my cv to adverts for jobs requiring English. Personally I didn't really think anything would come of this as I had no skills in either of the languages here (they speak Ukrainian and Russian as natural languages). Within a month I had an interview in Dnepropetrovsk with Sitecore and here I am. The office here in Ukraine is a base for development and support and is staffed by a collection of talented and bright people who are a credit to both Sitecore and themselves. (see I can be nice :)...
They employed me as a Technical Writer and I soon became involved in the mass of documentation that Sitecore has written. I find myself doing two jobs here.
The first is the Technical Writer job. I create, edit, proof, and publish documentation for the various sitecore products along with my colleagues in the documentation department (Alexander Kokoshyn, Mark Sinclair and John West).
The second job I do here is helping to improve the level of English language amongst the staff. I am surprised at the excellent high level of English here and most of my job in this area involves making corrections to grammar and polishing english that is already at quite a good standard. I also regularly embarras myself with my very poor russian.
Coaches...
Well, we waited at the coach station for an hour for the first morning coach. A 200Km, four-hour journey ahead of us. At last, I though, I might be able to get a few hours comfortable sleep.
Delusions are wonderful things.
My mind was full of the comfortable relaxed coach journey we had had in England from my home town to the airport in London, a pleasant 3 and a half hours. Then this was all shattered as a 50year old soviet bus rumbled and coughed its way into the station. I commented to my partner about who would be unlucky enough to be on that, and she turned to me, laughed and said "that would be us then". i stopped laughing quite quickly after that.
We put our luggage into a hole in the side of the bus (there was a door on it and the driver shut it with several blows from his foot) and we climbed on board. Little did I know that this coach had come from Kiev overnight with most of the people who were on it at the time I boarded. In ukraine a lot of people catch the coach if they can't afford the train. I think you get the picture. I didn't care to be honest. By this time I was so tired I actually slept for 3 hours on this old bus as it rumbled and dragged itself 200Km.
Having had quite enough already we both staggered into a taxi in Chernovtsiy for the ride home...
Delusions are wonderful things.
My mind was full of the comfortable relaxed coach journey we had had in England from my home town to the airport in London, a pleasant 3 and a half hours. Then this was all shattered as a 50year old soviet bus rumbled and coughed its way into the station. I commented to my partner about who would be unlucky enough to be on that, and she turned to me, laughed and said "that would be us then". i stopped laughing quite quickly after that.
We put our luggage into a hole in the side of the bus (there was a door on it and the driver shut it with several blows from his foot) and we climbed on board. Little did I know that this coach had come from Kiev overnight with most of the people who were on it at the time I boarded. In ukraine a lot of people catch the coach if they can't afford the train. I think you get the picture. I didn't care to be honest. By this time I was so tired I actually slept for 3 hours on this old bus as it rumbled and dragged itself 200Km.
Having had quite enough already we both staggered into a taxi in Chernovtsiy for the ride home...
Trains.
Probably the best thing about transport in Ukraine.
My first experience of trains (or any form of public transport in Ukraine) was the jurney from Kiev to Chernovtsy. We had rushed across the city in a taxi to the main railway station and found that a train was leaving in 30 minutes. the next one wasn't for 8 hours. So my partner rushed up to the cash desk and brought the only tickets left. The Common Carriage.
Ok, imagine a large sleeper carriage made for about 50 people. Then jam in about 130. Old women with enormous bags and small goats (honestly, there was this really old woman, probably about 300 years old with two enormous bags and two small goats), drunk old men passed out on the floor, families with 10 children spread all over the place with a pile of bags, ...and me!!
I squeezed myself into a corner somewhere and half fell asleep, frequently woken by the noise and smells. To be honest I don't (thankfully) remember much of the journey. We left Kiev about 6pm and arrived in Khmelnitskiy at 4am. From there we had a 4 hour coach journey from there to Chernovtsiy. Coach journey I thought. Cant be bad, at this time in the morning it should be quite peaceful.
WRONG!!!!!!!!
My first experience of trains (or any form of public transport in Ukraine) was the jurney from Kiev to Chernovtsy. We had rushed across the city in a taxi to the main railway station and found that a train was leaving in 30 minutes. the next one wasn't for 8 hours. So my partner rushed up to the cash desk and brought the only tickets left. The Common Carriage.
Ok, imagine a large sleeper carriage made for about 50 people. Then jam in about 130. Old women with enormous bags and small goats (honestly, there was this really old woman, probably about 300 years old with two enormous bags and two small goats), drunk old men passed out on the floor, families with 10 children spread all over the place with a pile of bags, ...and me!!
I squeezed myself into a corner somewhere and half fell asleep, frequently woken by the noise and smells. To be honest I don't (thankfully) remember much of the journey. We left Kiev about 6pm and arrived in Khmelnitskiy at 4am. From there we had a 4 hour coach journey from there to Chernovtsiy. Coach journey I thought. Cant be bad, at this time in the morning it should be quite peaceful.
WRONG!!!!!!!!
...And Ukriane?...
Ok already, and Ukraine...
The transport system, oh boy!! Well, on the positive side there is a lot of it, and it is very cheap. you can catch a train from one side of Ukraine to the other (a 25 hour train journey) for less than $50. Impressive... and also... erm... well... I can' think of another positive thing to say... oh yes, the trains run on time, but didn't that happen in Mussolini's italy too? :)...
The transport system, oh boy!! Well, on the positive side there is a lot of it, and it is very cheap. you can catch a train from one side of Ukraine to the other (a 25 hour train journey) for less than $50. Impressive... and also... erm... well... I can' think of another positive thing to say... oh yes, the trains run on time, but didn't that happen in Mussolini's italy too? :)...
And Ukraine?
Oh yeah! I was supposed to be telling you about life here. Hmm, where to start?
"At the beginning" I hear you say. Ok.
I stepped of the British Airways Airbus A300 at Kiev's, Borispol airport and.....
...but really, I remember the customs officer in the airport. I should have taken more notice then but I thought it was funny at the time. We decided to risk going through the green channel as to be honest we had brought too much of the sort of things we were not supposed to bring, a lot of dvd's, expensive perfume as gifts for friends, and other stuff which we were trying to "get away with". So, there we are trundling through the green channel with a mountian of cases and a tired looking customs officer approached us. My first thoughts were that we were in to lose a lot of stuff here and I wasn't looking forward to it. He spoke briefly to Natlaya (my partner) and they talked for a while, then he burst out laughing and waved us through. I was perplexed by this until Natalya explained that she told him where I had come from and that I had come to live in Ukraine, at which point he had burst out laughing and said "good luck to him" and waved us through...
...my first real "experience" was the jouney from the capital Kiev to Chernovtsy, the nearest city to where my girlfriend's parents live. Boy what a way to start, talk about in at the deep end...
"At the beginning" I hear you say. Ok.
I stepped of the British Airways Airbus A300 at Kiev's, Borispol airport and.....
...but really, I remember the customs officer in the airport. I should have taken more notice then but I thought it was funny at the time. We decided to risk going through the green channel as to be honest we had brought too much of the sort of things we were not supposed to bring, a lot of dvd's, expensive perfume as gifts for friends, and other stuff which we were trying to "get away with". So, there we are trundling through the green channel with a mountian of cases and a tired looking customs officer approached us. My first thoughts were that we were in to lose a lot of stuff here and I wasn't looking forward to it. He spoke briefly to Natlaya (my partner) and they talked for a while, then he burst out laughing and waved us through. I was perplexed by this until Natalya explained that she told him where I had come from and that I had come to live in Ukraine, at which point he had burst out laughing and said "good luck to him" and waved us through...
...my first real "experience" was the jouney from the capital Kiev to Chernovtsy, the nearest city to where my girlfriend's parents live. Boy what a way to start, talk about in at the deep end...
So how is it in Ukraine?
Wow! A question that wont be easy to answer. I suppose I have to be fairly nice as the guys here will string me up from the nearest post otherwise. :)
Ukraine is, for me, well.... "interesting".... It's certainly given me a lot of experiences, from the state of the transport system, to the incredibly beautiful women here, to the amazingly incompetent and complex government systems. The whole experience has been eye opening, headache giving, blood pressure rising and although it's tough for me here it is something I wouldn't miss for the world. Having come from "the decadent west" (that's England for those that don't know me) in August 2007, my initial impression was one of a country staggering into democracy, rebuilding and renewing itself after the mess that the collapse of the soviet union left it in. I was very optimistic about my future here and was quite open minded, despite my wife's misgivings and warnings about how tough (I shan't use her exact words as I would have to turn on the explicit content warning) life was going to be.
I came from Birmingham, England. A large well developed city with all the "normal" conveniences. running hot and cold water, good service supplies (gas and electricity), an excellent infrastructure and good local services with hospitable people and a good police service.
Ukraine is, for me, well.... "interesting".... It's certainly given me a lot of experiences, from the state of the transport system, to the incredibly beautiful women here, to the amazingly incompetent and complex government systems. The whole experience has been eye opening, headache giving, blood pressure rising and although it's tough for me here it is something I wouldn't miss for the world. Having come from "the decadent west" (that's England for those that don't know me) in August 2007, my initial impression was one of a country staggering into democracy, rebuilding and renewing itself after the mess that the collapse of the soviet union left it in. I was very optimistic about my future here and was quite open minded, despite my wife's misgivings and warnings about how tough (I shan't use her exact words as I would have to turn on the explicit content warning) life was going to be.
I came from Birmingham, England. A large well developed city with all the "normal" conveniences. running hot and cold water, good service supplies (gas and electricity), an excellent infrastructure and good local services with hospitable people and a good police service.
Me and Sitecore
I joined Sitecore in September 2007 and have only now got round to blogging. Call it my age, or just plain laziness but until recently I felt I had nothing to contribute. I also intend to publish stuff about my experiences here in Ukraine as well as Sitecore blogs just to keep things interesting.
Since I joined Sitecore two new and significant technologies have been released here. Foundry and the soon to be released Sitecore v6.
These have and will move Sitecore up several levels in my opinion as they offer significant leaps forward in the older versions of Sitecore already widely used.
I have had a hand in writing documentation for both projects and as a personal perspective its cool to see the software from another perspective as I have quite a number of years as a developer.
Since I joined Sitecore two new and significant technologies have been released here. Foundry and the soon to be released Sitecore v6.
These have and will move Sitecore up several levels in my opinion as they offer significant leaps forward in the older versions of Sitecore already widely used.
I have had a hand in writing documentation for both projects and as a personal perspective its cool to see the software from another perspective as I have quite a number of years as a developer.
Who am I?
A question I very often ask myself as I wake each morning here in Ukraine.
Well, here goes.
My name is Darren Farley and I am a 43yr old Englishman (no I'm not a "Brit", or any other derivation, I am and always will be "English", so there!!). Anyway, rant over, I live and work in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine where I am emloyed as a Technical Writer by Sitecore. For my sins I am married to a Ukrainian (the main reason I came here in the first place).
My main responsibilities are, well, technical writing :), and I also provide English Language support for the staff here and try my best to improve the level of English as much as my limited language capabilities allow.
Well, here goes.
My name is Darren Farley and I am a 43yr old Englishman (no I'm not a "Brit", or any other derivation, I am and always will be "English", so there!!). Anyway, rant over, I live and work in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine where I am emloyed as a Technical Writer by Sitecore. For my sins I am married to a Ukrainian (the main reason I came here in the first place).
My main responsibilities are, well, technical writing :), and I also provide English Language support for the staff here and try my best to improve the level of English as much as my limited language capabilities allow.
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