post 12 october

Language learning progresses, with complications in terms of possession, multiple cases, flexible nouns and adjectives—and now verbs to be conjugated, sentences to be developed, and some sense to be made. Our language teacher’s living room/ our classroom displays more and more charts, and it’s time for some flash cards to help the process along.

Transportation is one of the exciting/ challenging parts of life in any city, and the lack of any published schedule is only slightly exacerbated by minimal language skills. People travel via bicycle, motorcycle, private cars, taxis, mini-bus [called marshrutne], trolley, and bus. Most people definitely seem to take public transportation, and there’s rarely overwhelming car traffic. The city is full of walkers, too, which may or may not be the same once it starts getting colder.

Each morning, I take the bus [number one, if you’re interested] to language lessons. Riding the bus costs 1 hryvnia and 50 kopeks. Often, in the afternoon or evening, depending on how much I want to walk, I take a trolley [usually number six or nine, by the way], which costs 1 hryvnia. The current exchange rate is about 8.4 hryvnia to one US dollar.

Buses and trolleys are usually full at rush hours—work is 8-5 for most people. Sometimes a conductor will walk around and collect money and give tickets, and sometimes you have to pay the driver. How does a driver make change, print a receipt, and drive a bus at the same time? I don’t know, but it seems to work out just fine. I’m even more amazed by the conductors—I’ve only seen women doing this job so far—who manage to collect fares from everyone on a squished-full bus, make and pass change down through several people, check IDs for school student discounts, ensure that older people ride at the right rate [Free? I’m not sure yet, but I think so.], and more. Plus, this is on a vehicle ridden by a huge range of people, of all ages and occupations, and carrying briefcases, backpacks, shopping bags, and buckets of grapes.

The new language phrase for you today: авжеж. Pronounced ahv-jej, this means “of course.” Of course that man has two huge buckets of grapes on the trolley tonight. Of course you can buy candy right on the street. Of course people are carrying flowers around all over the place. Of course this water is carbonated. Of course this bus goes to the church—but which church?!