My 50th birthday was in January, and I decided to gift myself as much world travel as possible within the year. I had two basic goals; I was looking for a foreign country where I could work remotely for half the year, and I had also been looking for ways to volunteer in Ukraine. I didn’t know at the time that those would be one and the same.
I made a plan to visit 12 countries over the course of 6 months, with 6 weeks dedicated to finding a volunteer job in Ukraine. Whether by divine design or happy accident, I went to Ukraine first, and ruined myself for all other countries.
The Scottish and Italians were delightful, but didn’t capture my heart like Ukrainians. European countryside is gorgeous, but not as awe inspiring as Ukraine. Artwork and architecture were lovely everywhere, but not as varied and vibrant and prevalent as Ukraine. All European food is better by default, but still not as good as Ukraine. Am I biased? Yes. Completely. I absolutely can not give you an unbiased opinion about Ukraine. I'm so in love with it that I know I'm over romanticizing all aspects of it, but that's how amazing it feels to me. It's the place my heart started beating again.
As an independent woman who prefers to travel alone and never needs help with anything, Ukrainian men were always so quick to offer help, that it just became easier to let them. I didn’t know enough Ukrainian to argue the point and they were so kind about it that it just became habit to accept help. Then I traveled by train with two large bags through eight more countries, and over 3 months, only one Scottish man offered help. Granted, I’m strong AF, I don’t look like I need help and I don’t really want help. But a train full of German soldiers sat by and watched me load suitcases in the overhead for other women and didn’t even make a move to help. Sure, I’d probably reject the help, but that’s not the point here. It was the same in Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and more, but I was most disappointed by the soldiers in uniform.
Along the way, I was able to visit a few Ukrainian friends displaced by the war. They were fantastic women who befriended me during my initial journey to and from Kyiv. Several times I ran into mildly uncomfortable situations and just needed a friendly face to help me through it. Every time there was a Ukrainian woman there who was quick with a welcoming smile and an invitation to join them for a meal. They even let me practice my very basic Ukrainian language skills. I might have fallen in love with Ukrainians before I even arrived. I have kept in touch with these women and try to visit them each time I go through their cities.
A dear friend left Ukraine before the war and is building her life in the USA. We recently discussed politics and the varying degrees of dumpster fires offered by different countries. I told her it’s the same with people; everyone has baggage. The trick is to find the person who is worth the baggage, and has baggage you can live with. No one and no where is perfect. Every country has politics, corruption and ugliness. You just find the place where your heart beats loudest, and you choose to live with the baggage.
