Last Weekend at Home

We finally got our packet about traveling to Ukraine today and I read it while eating lunch. We were supposed to get this at the start of June and it arrived today only 50 some days late by my estimate. On the plus side it has some very good info in it. I especially like their recommendations for dealing with the NAC and trusting our facilitator to make the decisions on negotiating.

There is a section on culture shock that I found interesting. The discuss how people tend to get a brain overload from trying to take in and comprehend things they don't understand. This applies to written and spoken language, but also to customs, mannerisms, food and accomodations. Everything is different and you can get fatigued from trying to understand even a part of it.

They suggest taking refuge in the familiar (which we are prepared for naturally). They say that listening to familiar music, watching familiar movies, reading books and other entertainment is a good way to relax and decompress. They also talk about getting familiar foods in Kiev. If we've been out to a remote region for a few weeks, getting a cheeseburger and fries will be like a plate of ambrosia.

Ray

Here's a link to a site with some pictures of Kiev (Kyiv) Click Here