Thanks! Since you ask - Ukraine is awesome!
I always wanted to live and work abroad. Everyone I know who has lived in another country was enriched by the experience.
In many ways Ukraine is like Europe was in the 50s. It’s cheap, the food is fantastic, it is picturesque but rough around the edges, not gentrified. I’m still struggling with the language. Unlike Western Europe, few people speak English well, but translation apps take care of a lot of problems - like trying to figure out what’s inside a box on the supermarket shelf.
I don’t need a car, I’m 10 minutes from a subway station, I am within walking distance of supermarkets, a bazar, restaurants, my barber, an upscale shopping mall, a movie theatre, countless little cafes, coffee-houses and coffee-kiosks, street-food. The setting is exotic: the surrounding architecture is a mix of ultra-modern, Soviet-era, 1890s-1915 Italianate and Art-Noveau, with the occasional Napoleonic-War era fortification and pear-domed Orthodox church or monastery, the oldest of which date back to the 11th century.
There is usually no more than a 3-minute wait for a subway train. By subway I can go to the public beach (on the river), or to larger suburban-style box stores (a bit like Home Depot), the train depot, or anywhere else in the city. There are also busses and old-fashioned tramways.
I’ve made a few friends. It’s been difficult to have a social life in the pandemic. It’s an odd thing in Ukraine, but I’ve found no love-interest. Sort of like starving in the land of plenty. I do have a very good friend who meets a lot of my emotional needs, but she is much younger and is not interested in more than friendship. We meet online regularly so I can practice the language, but most of the time we unwind about our troubles.
I recently tried out a dating app, and got a big response. But, replying to these women was painfully difficult. I avoided it, hoping they would go away. Lol.
Maybe I’m just not ready to expose myself to another relationship where I could get hurt, manipulated, betrayed.
I did meet one of the dating-app women and she’s ok. We share an interest in exploring the city. I can’t say there was a spark between us, though.