Six Years Away: Kyiv, Moscow & Beijing

This summer brought to an end six years of being away, living overseas and being a digital nomad. These six years were spent with two and a half years in Beijing, one year in Moscow and two years in Kyiv, with six months in DC between Moscow and Kyiv, after being declared persona non grata in Moscow. During the six years, I learnt to love and enjoy parts of these metropolises, so I wanted to write about what I enjoyed in each of these cities. In the coming weeks, I also plan to write about what I learnt in each of these cities and the unique contexts that they provide. I really enjoyed Kyiv and found it an amazing, vibrant, and fun city to live. I will forever be grateful for my experiences in Beijing and all the people I met there.  Although I will always remember Moscow and am glad of the year I spent there, the context of the sanctions and being expelled with only seven days to pack will always influence my reflections of the time spent there.

So after taking some time to reflect on each of these cities, I want to discuss the positives that I will take from each city and the experience there, as I believe that our experiences make us the people we are.

Kyiv 

I think it is an honest reflection to say that Kyiv was my favourite foreign city of the three that I lived in over the last six years. It was the most vibrant and relaxed and felt the most similar to home. I enjoyed the seasons, there were four clear seasons throughout the year, with lovely springs and autumns, and relatively pleasant summers and winters. Kyiv was a friendly city, where I was happy to attend football matches, even big European games. I held a Dynamo Kyiv season ticket during both years, and whilst these were not successful years for the club, I always felt welcome and enjoyed attending the games. It was a bonus to see Champions League qualifiers and Europa League games! There was also a great craft beer scene, and I always felt relaxed and comfortable going to small bars and pubs despite being unable to speak any Ukrainian. I will also be grateful for the welcome I received within Kyiv at both the football and bars. The architecture in Kyiv is interesting, and it was great to be able to walk past wonderful sights and feel part of the city. I will miss Kyiv, and I am grateful for our time there and living in the city centre. 

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Moscow 

Living in Moscow will always be an experience that was tainted by how our time ended there, although I will always be grateful for the experience. The grandeur is genuinely spectacular. I enjoyed being in the city centre and walking through Gorky Park and past the lovely streets in the city centre. The long nights and short days are something unique to experience but were tough when living there. The metro is a fantastic experience, and you can get lost in its beauty. On a practical note, both the metro and airport express are super-efficient, which is essential for an individual commuting back and forth to the UK. Beyond how our time in Moscow ended and the political strife we experienced whilst there, the thing I will always remember is the sound of the snow clearing teams. It would start at 8pm and go on until 7am, and the sound of shovels grating on tarmac roads and pavements will always take me back to Moscow. I will also always remember some flights out of Moscow, where I could not believe that planes were going down the runway to take off due to the snowfall, particularly on my way back to defend my Education PhD at Huddersfield.

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Beijing  

Beijing will always be the first city where our family put down roots. It has a unique buzz, and I think we all learnt so much. I am truly grateful for our time there, as it set up a theme of my research, and I managed to build more collaborations there than anywhere else, due to the desire for research and development. I still enjoy going back to Beijing to see the constant development taking place. Since we have left, I still have connections that take me back, which I am grateful for. The willingness to collaborate has always been more significant in Beijing. During my time in Moscow and Kyiv, I still found myself turning back to China. Some of the modern breweries in Beijing also opened my mind to beers beyond standard lager. I am sure it was a time and a place, but Jing-a will always be a special place for me.

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