Serious topic. Don't judge if you read.

Hi guys!

I apologise for writing much less this semester but I admit I am just too lazy in my spare time, although I like writing new blog posts. This time I want to write something different and kind of more serious than my previous posts. As I wrote a while back, I am born in Ukraine and have been living in Austria for 10 years now. I moved here with my mother at the age of 8 and left my whole family, including my father. I used to visit them once a year but this year I won't and I don't know when I'm going to see them again. As you probably know (if you aren't a completely ignorant person who doesn't read anything on the internet, the papers or doesn't watch TV), it isn't really nice in Ukraine right now. Some people say the conflict between Ukraine and Russia might escalate into a third world war. I don't know whether this is true or not but I just want to say right away: I am not supporting ANY side. I am staying neutral and will write down my own opinion about this conflict. DON'T GET IT WRONG! I don't want to convince anyone I'm right and don't want to sound smart. I am just telling you what I think about the whole situation as I see it. As a Ukrainian living in Europe.

When I grew up in Ukraine, I didn't even know people actually spoke Ukrainian. I heard it on TV and the radio sometimes and knew it existed. I never learned to speak Ukrainian because I grew up in a completely Russian-speaking family. I don't know exactly if we were all pure Ukrainians, maybe we had Russian ancestors, but who didn't in the north-eastern part of the country. My home town is just a few kilometres away from the Russian border so I thought it was natural that Ukraine is exactly like Russia and all the other kids thought the same. My first school year was in a private, Russian-teaching school. Because I moved to my grandma (my mum left to Austria), I had to change the school, and they were only teaching Ukrainian in the outskirts. I am telling you this because I want you understand my opinion on this conflict and want you to know my personal experiences in Ukraine with Russia and Europe. Ukraine sells Russian food, Ukraine broadcasts Russian films and music (in fact, Ukrainian radios mostly broadcast only Russian music), Ukraine has the same mentality as Russia and the most Ukrainians grew up with the Russian language. At the same time, Europe seemed like something very special, almost exotic to the people I knew. Maybe it was just the far east of the country, maybe the rest of it wasn't and isn't that influenced by Russia and feels more connected to Europe, but this didn't count for us.

Europe was sooo far away and so different! Although, geographically, Ukraine is in Europe, it had a completely different meaning. Europe was civilised, had a great culture and was just beautiful and clean. Ukraine looked like someone built houses, destroyed them and let people live in them. There is and was no money to build up the cities properly, to repair the streets, to just do ANYTHING to make the people feel comfortable. But the people in Europe seemed to be the happiest people on earth. They could travel wherever they wanted, had enough money for their family, had beautiful homes and were treated well. Well, nothing of that ever happened in Ukraine as I lived there (and every following year I visited my family). NOPE. So naturally, the people want to join Europe and fight corruption to have better lives, to give their children hope to have a job and a family, to make the country beautiful as the European countries. Well, there is one problem they don't really think or even know about. EVERYTHING in Ukraine is held in Russian standards. All the houses look the same, all the people act the same, it's just, well, very similar. If you see Russian cities on TV, this is what Ukrainian cities looks like. The railway is a shame, the wagons are so old and dirty it's a miracle they are still allowed to transport people. The buses and trams are not safe at all, the tram tracks look destroyed and it's an adventure to any tourist going by tram, the buses are small and old,... I'm sorry, I'm just ranting ahead but there are SO many things in this country I am really sorry about. I don't hate Ukraine, I absolutely LOVE it! It just looks like after the disintegration of the Soviet Union no one ever cared about the country or the people. It is abandoned and poor. There are only rich oligarchs and poor people, there is nothing in between. I am so sorry for the country because it could have been a great place to live and I would never have left it if I ever had a future there. And because of all these facts I don't think Ukraine will be successfully integrated into Europe. You would have to build everything again or at least restore the buildings and build them in European standards, you would have to change the way people think or act to meet the standards as well, and this would cost a lot of time and money. I am certain Ukraine will be a great place to live in in the future, but I don't think I will ever see it recovered. It's a place with too many wounds, which can only heal with time and a lot of help.

 

 

A typical soviet tram, still used in Russia and Ukraine in 2014. And you can see the same-looking, soviet houses in the background. That's what an Ukrainian city looks like.

And this is a completely normal Ukrainian bus,

This is a typical street in Ukraine. And the houses. Also, you see an ancient car which is still used by most Ukrainians. Yep. Do you smell Europe?

Now don't get me wrong please, I was just ranting, as I said, and I don't think Ukraine should stay with Russia. But I also don't support the idea of it being in Europe, as it would just cost too much money and time to “heal” Ukraine. I am staying neutral and I am just telling you what I experienced there compared to my experiences Europe. I really hope for the country to recover, because the people deserve it. They deserve a life without corruption, they deserve new, well-built homes and means of transport, they deserve a better future. But I think it's going to take a long time to reach this goal because of the Russian influence in the past.

Wow. Didn't expect to write that much actually. I am telling you AGAIN: don't get me wrong. It's absolutely my opinion and might not be true for every Ukrainian. Don't judge. Thank you for reading my rant and don't report me if I wrote something insulting you. I didn't really mean it. And Russia is a great country, it's just very different from Europe and could never be the same. I love Russian music and shows, I am very influenced by it as well, I just think it doesn't have the same standards as Europe, that's all.

I would love to know your opinion on this whole “thing” as well.

Bye and thanks for reading :)