Ok so I bet you all were waiting to here a story about me getting lost in Kiev. Well today is your lucky day because it has finally happened! My host dad drove me and dropped me off at the metro stop where we were all supposed to meet up to go to church together. We did this same thing last week. I walked down into the station and I was the first one there so I sat to wait for everyone else. Fifteen minutes passed and still no one showed up. I was beginning to worry. Then I got a text message from Katie in my group wondering if I was coming to church. I called her and told her I was at the metro station. It turned out that I was at the wrong station. I don’t know how this happened, but my host dad dropped me off at the wrong place. I told Katie where I was and it was about 11 stops away from where I was supposed to be. I had never used the metro before so I did not know how to get to them. She said she would just come get me while the rest of the group made their way to church. I waited in the station for about 45 minutes for her to get to me. Then she took me back to the right spot. Along the way she showed me how to read the metro map and gave me some tips for using the metro. We finally got to the bus that we need to take to our church building and then got to church about an hour late. It was defiantly an adventure. But now I know all the tricks for using the metro! Katie was such a lifesaver. I really would have had no idea what to do if she didn’t come to get me. But this isn’t the end of my story….
After church I was going to get myself home. I rode the metro to the stop that has the bus that I took last night with a few other girls from my group. I am pro at the metro now.haha We then parted ways at the metro stop because they had to take other metros to their houses. I left the metro station, well tried to because this metro station is so huge and has many ways to get out of it. I went up and down about 3 different escalators trying to get to the right exit. It really doesn’t help that I can’t read Russian. When I finally made it outside onto Independent Square, things finally started looking familiar. I made it to my bus stop, got on my bus, and drove to the end of that bus route. Then I switched to my smaller bus. This is where it gets interesting. So last night Lila told me that this bus that takes me to my house cost 4,50 but I only had a 10. I gave it to the driver and expected him to give me change back. He looked at me and kept on saying something in Russian. I showed him that I only needed one ticket, thinking that was what he was asking me, but he just got mad at me and kept on trying to talk to me. I just sat down and shrugged. He continued to take money and give change to everyone else so I was really confused with what he wanted from me. An older woman tried helping me, but I didn’t understand what she was saying either. Then a man tried and then a mother and her daughter. I was getting so frustrated and embarrassed because the driver was really mad at me and everyone was looking at me. Then they told me to write something and I finally figured out that they wanted to know where I was going. I told them what stop I was getting off at and then the bus driver gave me my change. I guess this bus does not have a flat fee like every other bus that I have been on. It cost depending on how far you are going. Then I just sat back and rode the bus, but everyone was still looking at me like I was crazy. After about a half hour I finally get to my stop and escape that bus as fast as I could. I was so embarrassed that I wanted to just go home and cry. It really is so hard to travel alone, especially when I can’t understand anyone. I thought it was going to be so simple to travel home today by myself because it was easy with Lila the night before, but she knew what everyone was saying. I am really having my doubts about public transportation now, but I need to use it if I want to stay out later with my friends. Hopefully this experience today will make it easier to travel home next time. I now know that I have to say my stop to the driver. I really need to learn Russian though. Good thing our Russian classes start tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment