my "blurry world through sleepy eyes" adventure (#2)

My first "blurry world through sleep eyes" adventure took place this January and also came about due to an early morning train arrival--it included dragging suitcases through snow and up 8 flights of stairs...but, this is not that story; this is adventure number two:

Ok, so I get back from Lugansk this morning. (great trip, by the way :o) Train arrives at 4:20 and is stopped at the "southern train station" I've never actually been to the southern train station except for on the train, but know that it's going to sit there for 30 min before traveling to the "Kyiv train station" that I've always used. I decide to get off here as opposed to sitting on the train for 30 mins + however long it takes to go between stations.(15-20 mins)

I start walking and decide that the dawn of morning is pretty and I'm going to walk a little while instead of take a taxi. It was awesome. I walked over this bridge before the sun was coming up and was just in awe. Snow is still on the ground and the street lights were reflecting off the river in the semidarkness. Very cool. I keep walking and thinking and talking to God, good times.

Then I get to a bus stop where there are people waiting and I think "Awesome, busses are starting to run and I won't have to get a taxi home." I stand and wait. Bus number 43 drives up. Awesome. This is the bus I take to the orphanage. I've never been to this end of the route, but I know that it goes by my stop on the other end. Perfect. We pile on. I pull out change to pay the conductor (money taker) but she doesn't come. Hmmm...that's odd. (note: marshrootkas in different cities take money differently...in Kyiv you pay when you get on, in Lugansk you pay when you get off, in Poltava you pay when the lady comes to get your money from you.) I look around. No one else seems concerned, so I decide to wait. We drive back through some really cool neighborhoods, more people get on. We go through the center, more people get on. I start to notice that no one is getting off. That's weird. But now we're on the part of the route that I recognize, so I'm not too concerned. Then we make a couple turns I don't remember.

Now we're in an area of town I don't know...no apartments, no stores, bad roads...uh-oh...where are we going?

The bus stops and everyone gets off--without paying...

I get off too. What else can I do. I walk around the bus and look to see where everyone is going. We are at the bus yard. I just took a workers marshootka to the marshootka yard. Haha. I watch the drivers and conductors greet each other and get ready for their day. I laugh to myself and think...hmmmm...can I figure out how to get back out of here? And start to walk.

I made it back to the main road and waited for a real marshootka to come by. It did. This time I asked, to be sure the driver was going where I wanted to then got on, paid, sat down, smiled and thought "only in Ukraine." I can't imagine my life without days like these :o)