Oh Ukraine...

I'm boycotting one of the two internet places in town because the owner called me a fool. Not to my face, but under his breath. I guess he assumed I haven't learned anything since coming to town seven months ago. I'm annoyed though, because now I have to boycott his establishment, which means there are only four computers in Bar that will get me on-line, and only three that will let me check my email.

The thing is, he's the fool. He's the 35-year-old man getting annoyed that my email is slowing down HIS gaming even though I'm the only customer in the club and he should just be thankful for my business. They really have a long way to go when it comes to customer service here. Sometimes it's like, well excuuuuuse me for buying milk. Excuse me for asking you to give me cheese. It's not my fault everything is behind glass.

Oh Ukraine,

My friend Emily was away from her site for most of the summer. She returned last week and saw one of her neighbors in the hall. It was the first time she'd seen him since June and he said,

"You were away so long and you got fat. Too bad."

When I lived with my host family here in Bar, my crazy host mom routinely slapped my ass and told me it was gaining weight nicely. Then one day she slapped it and told me I should watch my figure if I ever wanted to get a man. I assured her I didn't, at least not a Ukrainian one. My friend Sky's fiance is always telling her she needs to lose weight, that's she's too big. He doesn't mean it to be offensive, it's just the attitude here. In America, you might comment if a person seemed to have lost weight; but you certainly would never tell them that they've gained it. And you would NEVER tell someone they got fat while they were away.

When I was out east for Dave's birthday, we went over to his friend Sveta's apartment. Sveta's mother-in-law was there too, and the first chance she got, she pulled me into one of the bedrooms, pointed to a stationary bike and asked me if I wanted to ride it. When I said no, she said,

'Oh, you are so thin. How much do you weigh?' I told her I didn't know and she ran off and got her scale, put it on the floor and told me to stand on it. Then she bent over to see what it said. After I stepped off, she stepped on and pointed down to the scale for me to look. Then she put me back on the scale on last time, I guess to make sure she read it correctly.

And again I say, Oh Ukraine...

Yesterday I had a meeting with the Mayor of Bar. It seems I've been roped into writing a grant to install garbage cans throughout the city. It's a good project, and I suppose I don't mind having to do it, but I was pretty much forced into saying yes and I'm slightly bitter about that. But, how could I say no to the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, Jennifer's host parents and the Director of my school? Plus Bar really does have a trash problem so it's not like they were digging for money for some superfluous reason.

Anyway, the Mayor is a nice guy. His daughter is one of my students, one of my good students in fact, and he said he'd heard good things about me, so that was nice. He also said he heard that I played basketball well. I swear, I can't sneeze in this town without everyone finding out about it, and I suppose that's as much small town life as it is life as the foreigner.

Summer is winding up pretty fast. Next week I'm going to Kiev to meet my friends. The 24th is Ukrainian Independence Day and we are going to rent an apartment near the center of town. I think spending Independence Day in the capital will be pretty interesting. After that, Dave and I are taking a quick trip down to Crimea to enjoy our last few days of freedom, I mean summer, on the beach.

Maybe by the time I get back and my school schedule is finally sorted out the internet club will be under new managment and my inconvenient boycott can end. Oh, who am I kidding...