A Month Already

Well I’ve been in Ukraine a month now & it has just flown by with all the fun.  In my last blog entry some of you expressed concern about the man who caused a scene at McDonald’s.  Not to worry, I don’t think he could do much damage as he was a senior & I can still move pretty fast.  Foreigners are usually well treated here.

I don’t have anything new to tell right now so in the spirit of fun I thought I’d do a list of the ten things I like most about Ukraine & the ten things I miss most from Canada.  Forgive me if most of these are food related.  What can I say?  I’m a guy. 

First the ten things I like most about Ukraine - in no particular order.

1. Lemon scented kleenex - it’s so much nicer than the mint scented kleenex.
2. Milka bars - If you’ve had a Dairy Milk that was made in England or in South Africa, that’s the only thing that comes remotely close.  And the funny thing is it's made by Kraft Foods yet it's not available in Canada.
3. Cherry juice - The box says it takes 600 cherries to make a litre of juice - it’s sooo worth it.
4. Most prices are way cheaper here & there’s no sales tax.  The mark-ups in North America are insane!!
5. Cities here are designed for PEOPLE, not cars - much more pedestrian friendly.  It’s much easier to get around & much easier to get the shopping done.
6. People here are much more social.  They speak to & are willing to help strangers.  (See my previous blog entry for an example.)  They are also much more patient when they realize you don't know their language.
7. Regular internet is much faster here - 100 megabits per second - my high speed in Canada was 54 mbps - & it’s much cheaper here too.
8. Pechena Kartoplya - this is a fast food chain that specializes in baked potatoes where you have a choice of toppings to choose from.  The garlic & cheese is my favourite.  (Kartoshka is the Russian word for potato)  www.kartoplya.com
9. The scenery here looks a LOT like Canada.  (See my August 23, 2011 blog entry.)
10. My cell phone bill is approximately $5.65 per month including internet & again, no tax.

Here are the ten things I miss most from Canada - again in no particular order.

1. Regular flavoured potato chips.  I did find Pringles Original - at $3.25 per can (imported pricing I guess).  Otherwise they just have flavoured chips here such as crab, shrimp, mushroom, baked ham, red pepper (the kind of red pepper you put in a salad) & bacon.  They also have sour cream & onion, ketchup as well as sour cream & dill but I only like regular.
2. Pam spray - they don’t have anything like it here.  (It’s a good thing I hate to cook any ways.)
3. Canned tuna - they do have what they call canned tuna here but since this is a family site I won’t describe the taste.
4. Habitant pea soup with ham - any canned soup actually.  They do have the dry packets the same as Canada but those are mainly salt - yuk.
5. A&W - I could just murder a Papa Burger with cheese & some onion rings right now - or a Mama Burger - or a Teen Burger & of course a frosty mug of root beer.
6. Cheddar cheese (old) - I just don’t like the cheese here.
7. Whole wheat bread - or any normal sized loaf.  The bread here does taste much better but they have such tiny little loaves.  It takes 4 slices of bread to make a normal sized sandwich & most bread here doesn’t brown in the toaster.
8. A normal sized washing machine.  I used to do one load per week and the cycle would take 25 minutes.  Here with these tiny little washers the same amount of clothes takes 3 loads & one cycle takes about an hour.  Where’s the energy efficiency & water conservation in that?!?
9. Not having a clothes dryer.  I have yet to see one anywhere here & I hate ironing.
10. Fish & chips - that one should speak for itself.

Till next time… Я люблю тебя!

There are other versions of Milka but these are my two favourites.

Yes, 1200 cherries were sacrificed to make this box of juice.

This is the usual size of bread.  This one actually turns brown in the toaster.