Cheers to the Dutch, and to Kharkiv!

When we stepped out of the train station in Kharkiv, this is what we saw.

Already a hundred times better than Kiev was.

When we got off the train, the station was packed full of Oranje (Netherlands fans). YAY FOR NOT BEING THE ONLY TOURISTS! YAY FOR OTHER PEOPLE WHO SPEAK ENGLISH! Woot.

Another happy note: there is an internet cafe in the train station! Double yes.

It was only about noon and we weren't going to be able to check in to our EURO2012-affiliated hostel until 2pm, so after sending emails to ensure our worrisome mothers that we were still alive and well (stuffy noses and coughing notwithstanding), we grabbed a map from the EURO2012 information booth and worked our way over to the Kharkiv fan zone. The fan zone still had its final tweaks to figure out so it wasn't open, but it is right next to Shevchenko Park, which is one of the biggest parks in Kharkiv. We figured we could go to Shevchenko Park, grab something to eat, and hang out until it was time to check in at the hostel.

We got about ten yards from the fan zone when we saw a 24 Hour Irish Pub, with an outdoor terrace full of Dutch people in costume. Highlights of lunch were the glass tankards full of malty dark Ukrainian beer whose name I can't pronounce, and these two cute little Danish girls who tried to be sneaky about creeping up to a table full of Dutch people in silly orange costumes to take their picture.

Billy, being as small as he is, couldn't hold his liquor, so we had to carry him around all day.

Then we took the metro to our hostel....

And this is what we found.

Luckily, the Dutch people in the video had an extra taxi that we could take once we FINALLY figured out the correct address. The taxi driver didn't speak any English, but on our way out of the hostel area, he took a little dirt road that I suppose was the main road into the area and luckily pointing is universal. He pointed to a small white sign that said "This is the CORRECT address for Hostels 2 and 3 of Technical University: *insert address here*" WHAT?! An email would've been nice, travel agency. Not a little sign on a small dirt road.

Two things we found out about Ukraine (and Europe in general) on a more personal level during this taxi drive:

1) Everyone here drives like a maniac. Seriously, I don't get why they even bother putting lines on the road at all, because no one follows them. A two lane road always gets turned into three lanes because someone always drives down the middle to pass other cars. And amazingly, we haven't seen a single accident the entire time we've been here. I've seen more accidents in the twenty minutes it took me to drive from Riverside to San Bernardino for work than I have in the week we've been wandering around Europe.

2) No one here wears deodorant! The taxi was PUNGENT with the smell of sweat and onions (in other words, the driver's BO). We notice it on the subways too. I guess I just always thought that everyone wears deodorant, all over the world. Now I realize.... No one else except USA does! This, coupled with all the cigarette smoke, is wreaking some serious havoc on my nostrils.

The taxi took us to a much nicer area than the one we'd been in, and we were finallyable to check in to our hostel and settle down for a while. YAY!

This is where we'll be living for the next ten days.

That evening we headed to the fan zone, which is only a few metro stops from our hostel, to watch the EURO2012 opening game. The fan zone has big screens for watching games, lots of shops selling EURO2012 and general Ukraine memorabilia, and some beer tents (as Carlsberg is one of EURO2012's official sponsors). There was some pre-game entertainment onstage in the fan zone including a Ukrainian folk band, but the real highlight of the pre-game entertainment was everyone ignoring the Carlsberg cheerleading squad (who were really, really uncoordinated) to watch THIS.

The opening match between Poland and Greece was fun to watch while surrounded by so many other fans. I think most people there were rooting for Poland because it is a host country and because everyone in Europe hates Greece at the moment. We didn't stick around for the second Group A game between Russia and Czech Republic, but after stopping by the market for water and snacks, we found out that the televisions on each floor of the hostel were set to the game. Because Ukraine is so far east of the rest of Europe, the games are all one hour later here than the Central European game times advertised. For us, this means that the second game of the night doesn't start until almost 10pm. We were so tired from a long, eventful day that we ended up going to sleep at halftime.

Tomorrow is a big day for us, though! We have our first game: Netherlands vs. Denmark!!! :D

EURO2012 IS FINALLY HERE!!!!!