Thursday, March 1, 2007

Ejournal 3 September 2006 lessons learned

I have been amazed at all of the wonderful things I have learned about Ukraine. I want to share a few of my more humorous lessons with you.

When walking around the block, it is best to know the parameters of the block. Sarah and I walked down to the sea and along the coast and we thought we could just make a little circle to get back to the house. To be honest, the little circle wasn’t that little, so after walking for over an hour, we found our way home. The good news is, now we know two ways home from the sea.

Television is a wonderful place to learn lots of new languages. With the satellite we are able to watch the news and programs in English, Russian, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic, and possibly other languages I cannot recognize.

The weather forecast looks a little different in Ukraine. First, you will notice that the numbers are lower. No this is not because it is freezing outside in September, it is because the numbers are in degrees Celsius not Fahrenheit. Second , you will notice the map looks a little different. Of course it does, Ukraine is on a different continent.

There is always more room on the bus. If the bus pulls up to the stop and there are still seats available, there is room for you to get on and have a seat. If the bus pulls up to the stop and there are no seats available, there is room for you to get on and hold on to a handrail. If the bus pulls up to the stop and there are people standing and holding on to all of the handrails, there is room for you to get on and wedge yourself between other people, brace your hand against the wall or nudge your way into a small space on the handrail. If the bus pulls up to the stop and there are people hanging out the doors and windows, there is room for you to get on ……I think you see my point.

Rules of the road are a little flexible. If traffic is backed-up and you are “in a hurry” you can go off the road to make your own way a little more quickly. You don’t hurry through a yellow light, yellow lights are the indication to the cars coming other directions that it is almost time for them to have a green light, so they can go ahead and pull into the intersection. Finally, you always have a choice, hit the big pothole, the bigger pothole, or a huge moonsized crater.

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