Strana strana. I'm butchering the spelling, but I'm told those two words mean "Strange Country". Syllable emphasis makes a big difference in Russian language, and strana can mean either "Strange" or "Country" depending on whether you emphasize the first syllable or the last. Apparently it doesn't matter which order you do it in either. Word order and sentence structure are fairly unimportant in this language. Say STRA-na stra-NA or stra-NA STRA-na, either way it means Ukraine, er, I mean "Strange Country". This leg of the trip has been very different than what we've encountered elsewhere. A few examples of why this country seems strange to me:
- we got off the plane via stairs to the tarmat, then boarded a bus and waited for several minutes. Then the bus started up, pulled a u-turn, and stopped. We all got off on the other side and walked into the airport building. It was literally less than 10 seconds, and I could have walked that distance 20 times while we waited. I'm not sure what the point of that was. Could be some kind of government job-creation program or something :)
- when you enter the country, they give you a form with 2 sections for "Arrival" and "Departure". Both sections are identical, and you fill them in with your personal information and ARRIVAL details, including for the "Departure" section. That seemed really odd to me. I would have thought they'd want to know when I was coming and when I was leaving, but instead they wanted to know when I was arriving twice. It made more sense once I went through passport control though. The guy verified they were the same, marked both sections with an official stamp, then cut it in half and gave me back the departure section. Apparently I have to have that to leave the country. I've been checking my pockets twice a day to make sure I haven't lost it.
- there are white lines on the roads here just like in Canada, but I'm still unsure whether they are lane markers to drive between, or guiding lines to show where the middle of your car should be. The locals don't seem to know which purpose they serve either. I've seen motorbikes turn lane dividers into another lane back home, but here it's common place for full size vehicles to do the same, even between 2 wide buses.
- they use the Cyrillic alphabet here, which makes reading the signs impossible for a monolingual like me. There's some weird symbols I can't type out here, but about half of them are actually the same as the Phoenetic alphabet we use. Except that those symbols don't always mean the same thing. For example "W" is "sh", "C" is "S", and "P" is "R". Mapket was the only sign I saw in 3 days that I could read. Oh, and MacDonalds, which is the universal word for "free bathroom".
- speaking of bathrooms, I'm told that most of them here are squatters, and have no TP or running water. My sisters and nephew encountered a few of those, but somehow I have yet to see one for myself. Been all fully-equipped porcelain thrones for me thus far.
- we had a Ukranian BBQ one day, which was DELICIOUS. Nothing all that unusual about a BBQ, but Laurie and Bruno invited some Ukranian friends over for it. Between their broken English and Laurie and Bruno's more broken Russian, communication involved a lot of cherades. A fun and entertaining experience we didn't get elsewhere. The "strange" part was that no one here has a BBQ, so a Ukranian "Sashlik" is done by building a big fire, letting it burn down to coals, then slow-cooking your meat (mostly pork) on it. Yummity-yum-yum-yum. As far as I can tell though, you can't buy firewood anywhere here. So if you want a sashlik, you go around the neighborhood scrounging for wood where-ever you can find it. Fortunately most houses and fences are in bad disrepair, so it's not hard to get enough for a meal. Nail in the board? No problem. Strange chemicals on it? That'll burn too, toss it on. Hey, a new flavour!
- Donetsk is quite poor and run down. Unemployment is well over 20%. A local tram driver makes about 40 greevna a day, which is about 6 dollars Canadian. A decent apartment will typically cost 1500 greevna a month. You can do the math. But there's also a lot of wealthy people here. You will see brand new condo buildings that would look fancy in Canada, right next to a run down house with only half a roof that someone is still living in, with nothing separating them but an industrial smokestack that may or may not still be in use.
- the highlight of our stay here, other than visiting family, was that we got to tour a local children's TB hospital yesterday. It was exactly what you'd expect a hospital in this country to look like, but the kids where a delight. They put on a "performance" for us, then showed us around. I'd love to describe more, but I've probably written enough already, so I'll wait until I can post some pictures and videos to go with it.
That's all for now. I'm off to Moscow where I'm meeting John and my new tour group for the next leg of the trip in about 4 hours. I arrive at an airport that the tour company won't pick me up from, so I've pre-arranged a private transfer for myself. Supposedly some guy will be there with a sign saying "Greg Ashby". Supposedly he won't work for the Russian mob, and supposedly he won't drive me to some forsaken part of the city and threaten to leave me there unless I pay him 1 million rubles. This is what I like to call the adventure part of my journey. If I survive, I'll try to keep posting something from each city I hit, and hopefully gets pics of Prague and Donetsk up soon too. If I don't, well, it's been nice knowing ya :)
Das-vee-dan-ya
Greg
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