ukraine: skydiving!!!

Friday around noon I got a text message from a friend, asking if I was keen to go skydiving the next day. She and I had talked about jumping, as her husband had signed her up as a birthday gift. She knew I was interested, (a previous conversation had covered each of our 'bucket' lists) and since I had nothing else scheduled for the next day, I thought 'hey, why not?'
The next morning I met her at their apartment, and we all hopped in a taxi to the airfield. It was out the west side of kyiv, in a small area called chaika. We got there faster than any of us expected, traffic wasn't bad at all for the middle of saturday. I was happy the taxi ride didn't make me carsick, as that happens often.

The man with whom everything had been arranged met us just outside the building in which the organization ran itself...after introducing himself, he showed us  to the small room where we found the overalls (I don't know the proper name: the outfit you put on over your normal clothes...kinda like a flight suit)...I ended up with a pepto pink outfit...fashion is important, right? i wonder how old my suit was, and how many people had worn it? my instructor made it sound as if i was one of the bigger people who needed a suit...hmmm...

After getting dressed, vanya helped us into the harnesses needed for skydiving...lots of clipping and tightening...
Next up was the photo board, on which we could see photos of two people dressed the same way as us...vanya used the photos to tell us how to hold our bodies at different times of our jump...
After instruction, we had to wait about 30 minutes until it was time for our plane load of people to go...Shubra and I were the only first timers on the plane, everyone else seemed comfortable with what was happening and the rather uncomfortable seating...

The plane was not modern...at all...it made me think of what I think 1970s planes would look like...I could smell petrol, yuck...we took off with the back door open! It was closed birth after takeoff...
Soon enough, our instructors had us stand up, and they tightened all the straps, and attached our harnesses to their harnesses...(the first time you go skydiving you have to go in tandem, attached to your instructor)...after that, it wasn't long before everyone else was up, making final preparations...Shubra jumped before I did, I was last out of the plane...

The first few moments out of the plane were awful...not because I was scared (it surprised me that I had no fear, which was probably because u wasn't the one actually jumping out of a perfectly good plane) but because motion sickness hit me really hard...ugh...it never occurred to me before this that I would feel it so much...as soon as we reached maximum speed, everything turned into awesomeness...free falling is amazing, you don't feel like you're falling at all...if I could do just that part again, I'd be there in a heartbeat...

My instructor let me know when we had dropped to 5000ft, he pulled the cord that opened the parachute...a really fast jerk, and I felt as if we'd completely stopped going down...as soon as we got the straps on my legs into a slightly more comfortable position, I got to relax again...vanya made a few turns, then let me try...fun :) ...(I found out later that Shubra didn't get to 'drive')...I quickly realized that sharp turns brought on motion sickness so I didn't do any of them, and vanya didn't either...(because of this we descended more slowly than everyone else)...

Our landing was perfect...I picked up my legs, and vanya brought us down smoothly...it took me a minute to stand up properly, my legs felt a bit jello-y...(another surprise)
After detaching, we chatted a bit, then went inside...after waiting about 30 minutes, Shubra and I each received DVDs with photos and a video of our jumps...AWESOME!
The taxi took us back to kyiv, and that was that...