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Travel
Tips
Packing: what to bring
We will be limited to one
50 pound bag, to be checked, and a carry on bag with personal
things in it.
Travel comfortably on the
airplane—the flight from the U.S. to Europe is about 10 hours!
Have shoes that can be unlaced so that they fit loosely.
Carry your warm jacket on the airplane with you (temperatures in
Munich, Kiev and Donetsk could be cold—it is still winter for
them). Also, I find on these international flights that
the planes get rather cool by the time we reach our destination.
Carrying your jacket means you will not have that weight in your
bags! Be sure to have warm gloves, ear covering and a warm
scarf for your neck. What you wear on the plane will
double as your casual clothing while in the Ukraine. Carry
sufficient clothing and personal things in your carry on so that
you can live out of it for 2 days in an emergency (of course the
airlines would never lose your checked bag?!).
Bring a book or CD player for “down” time on the airplane.
Watch the weight of everything you bring! Carry a few
snacks with you; bottled drinking water is available on the
flight and in both Vienna and Donetsk. Drink water and
juices on the flights. Stay away from cokes, etc. for they will
dehydrate you on long trips (Remember, while in the airplane you
are in a climate of only about 5% humidity! So drink lots
of liquids!).
Bring your own hand/shower
soap and a bath towel. Also, be sure to bring a pair of
flip-flops to wear around the room and in the shower.
Also, bring at least one roll of toilet paper with you (possibly
2). You will want to carry toilet paper with you during
the day and have some hand wipes or hand cleanser with you, for
many of the “water closets” (WC’s), though clean, do not have
toilet paper or soap and paper towels/dryers. Any
medications should be in the prescription bottle in which you
purchased the medicine. If you are going to use
electricity, then be sure to bring an adaptor (electricity there
is 220 volts not 110, as in the US!). And! There are
a very limited number of outlets in the rooms! You will
also want to bring an assortment of plug-in adaptors so that you
can plug your appliances into their particular style of outlet
(they vary in Europe). The evenings will be cool in the
rooms, so be sure to have warm sleepwear.
You will be dressing
“casual business” over there in the seminar (that means slacks
and a good sweater or dress shirt). We will not have the
ability to wash clothes while there, so bring sufficient
underclothing or be prepared to hand wash you “delicates.”
Wear a very comfortable pair of shoes, for we will be walking
most of the time (you will put in 1-2 miles per day!). So
long as your shoes are substantial I don’t think you will need
to have “rubbers” for your shoes. Temperatures will be in
the 20’s and 30’s while we are there and the wind will blow!
Bring a notebook or some
paper for taking notes and journaling your trip in the Ukraine
and Russia. You will have the opportunity to purchase
local crafts indigenous to both the Ukraine and Austria.
But! Be sure that you provide extra space for taking such
things back home with you. I will be asking everyone to
carry 2 books with them that we will be giving to the students
at the Institute of Artificial Intelligence. You will be
able to buy small, miscellaneous, toiletries there, but they
will be expensive and sometimes difficult to find. You may
want to bring a camera—the students love to have their pictures
taken (they will have cameras and want to have their picture
taken with you!). Generally, stay away from bringing
laptops. You will find obtaining a connection “in country”
very difficult and the customs check-ins are sometimes
difficult.
While in the Ukraine
You will find the students
and the faculty at the Institute of Artificial Intelligence to
be very open and engaging. But! Not all Ukrainians
are like this. When on the street you will find that most
people will not talk, unless they know you personally.
Since most Ukrainians do not speak English they will not be
talking to you, for the most part, on the streets. They
are a hardy lot and in some cases they will want to talk.
If so, engage them, for they want to know about your country.
The young people will usually know some limited amount of
English.
Be sure that you do
not compare your country with theirs! They want to
hear you say good things about their country to them! Just
as we would want then to do should the situation be reversed.
The students will want to talk to you. They want to know
what it is like in America and you are a source for them to have
conversational English—very important to them! So!
Be prepared to talk and spend time with the students. But!
Be careful or you will find yourself spending late evenings with
groups of students—we need you ready for the next day in the
seminar. Also, the location of our rooms will require you
to hire a taxi in order to get home. If you speak no
Russian you may find this difficult!!
As mentioned above, we will
set aside time for you to do some “tourist” shopping while in
Donetsk Kiev and Munich. Be careful about too much too
soon!
We will create a “stir”
while out in the city. We will be a good sized group and
we are obviously not Ukrainian! We will dress differently
and our behavior will be different. So! The best thing
that we can do while in public is try not to talk
too loud (this is a tough one for me!). The Ukrainians are
not used to people making noise while in public! We will
also have to be extra careful in our “dormitory” in the evenings
and mornings while there, with our conversational noise.
Take the precaution of not
“flashing” your money either in the institute or
on the streets. Remember, students at DSIAI do not have
extra spending money (when we take them to lunch we will be
paying for their meals). Your showing money is an indirect
insult to them, for they do not have money. If you show
too much money while purchasing items in public, you become an
immediate
“mark.” Carry your passport and extra cash in a
“pouch” under your clothing. Keep only a minimal amount of
cash in your pocket. Guys, I would not even carry a
billfold! It becomes a target! Ladies keep your
purses in front of you, not on your back! Just as in New
York, you need to be a little more careful of your personal
safety while on the streets. When exchanging money we will
go to an exchange kiosk with someone from Donetsk. I will
have a limited amount of local currency for you as part of the
money that you raised to go on the trip. But, you will
also want to exchange money in order to purchase things in
country.
Entry into and out of the
DSIAI is all screened. This means that we will enter with
one of our sponsors whenever going into the IAI facilities.
The buildings are fenced. There is only one point of entry
for us into the facilities. We will have a room (Igor’s
office—which is huge) as a staging point for us while attending
the seminar. We will leave our coats here and materials to
be used in the seminar. However, do not leave valuables in
this room. Our classroom will be secure—it is locked
whenever we are not in it and our sponsor is the only one with a
key.
Your Role
You will be ambassadors for
Christ and for Harding University every moment of every day
while on this trip. You are Christians, in many cases, the
only “Bible” that many will ever see! So! Your
personal demeanor is critical! At all
times!!
Our personal behavior while
working at the seminar is important—you are here to teach these
students about Christ. And! Much of that instruction
will come through your minute by minute behavior! It will
come through your conversational comments. It will come
through your “body language.” It will come through the
clothes you wear. All of these bespeak your mission.
You are taking this trip as a ministry, as a mission. Be
prepared to be ministers! To be Christ like at all times, with
one another as well as with the DSIAI students. Be
yourselves! Be your Christian selves!!
You will probably want to
bring your personal Bible with you. I will be using my
Bible while teaching in the seminar and you may find that the
students may want to follow up on some of the scriptures
referenced in the seminar. We are hoping to be able to
give to each participant in the seminar a copy of the Bible
translated in Russian. This will be a valuable tool to
study the Bible with the students.
While in Donetsk we will be
worshipping with a small church of Christ (Cup of Life Church of
Christ). We will spend some additional time with the
members, some of whom will be in the seminar. I am hopeful
that we are able to have a Sunday Ukrainian lunch with them
(Last year several ladies from the church prepared this meal—it
was great!).
I am asking that each of
you not go anywhere without taking someone you know with you
(Ukrainian—and your “buddy”). I will be pairing each of us
with one another, but you should also take an DSIAI student with
you whenever walking outside the DSIAI. Don’t worry about
being able to locate anyone to go with you, some of the students
will want to go with you wherever you go!!
Should you have any
questions contact me either in our weekly meetings, via
telephone (501-279-4272), by fax (501-279-4665) or by e-mail (bhebert@harding.edu).
Thanks for coming!
Pray for success in the seminar—that means for you to pray for
the hearts of the students to open up and for them to want to
study the Bible as a result of hearing something in the seminar
or seeing your attitude while spending time with them!
May God bless your life
through this adventure of HIS!
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