Potholes, Women & Children

Driving & the roads here are never a dull moment..

Potholes grow so large people mark them with old tires….

Intersections are often asymmetrical & the street lights can be completely confusing…

Amidst that, it is interesting to see what does & does not merit warning.

ROAD WORK?  Nah...

  

The road at the bottom of our hill was repaved yesterday....  

....any pesky barricades or construction ahead signs?  

Nah….they didn’t bother to close it to traffic.

Cars wove in and out among the various construction trucks!

Zoe enjoyed the close up view of the action..

WOMEN & CHILDREN - Watch out!

Meanwhile, the demographic warnings are abundant…..

”Baby on Board" is a popular one…

...so prevalent you see it in multiple languages

And given how many of these you see, I thought it stood for Ukraine (in Russian, Y sounds like OO)

But it turns out it means "Watch out - this driver is still learning"

The one that surprised me the most is this one (which is also everywhere)…

I thought it meant “I love shoes” & found it odd that so many cars donned them.  

But when I saw a guy applying one to his girlfriend’s car today, I asked them what it meant. 

“Caution: woman driver”, they reported.  And she was right there, supporting the application of said sticker!

So while we're well warned of the innocent & 'more sketchy' drivers, after that, we're on our own. 

Here's to uneventful Sunday drives!

Mothers – put those kids to work!

Happy U.S. Mother’s Day to all! 

While Mother’s day is supposedly celebrated in Ukraine on the first Sunday of the month (last Sunday), I saw no signs of it.  According to a local friend, Women’s Day (Mar 8 this year) is their way to honor the ladies – and all the ladies at that.

Maybe part of the reason is they just aren’t having that many babies - and those that do, tend to just have 1.  Since 2000, the population has dropped almost 10% (from ~50MM to 45MM).

That said, just because they are semi-scarce doesn't mean kids sit around being coddled!  You often see pretty little kids walking to school & riding the Metro alone.  And while technically kids aren’t supposed to be employed until they are 16.........

...today in the market near my house this girl was working a clothing stand…..

At the Botanic Garden, this kid was working the snack kiosk.  OK, a weekend job is a great way to foster independence & responsibility, right?

But honestly people - as the beer guy?!  The surprises around here never end!  

But in the country’s defense (hmm, or not), beer was only recently classified as an alcohol!

Meanwhile, our kids would probably describe work as having to pick up the million errant Nerf darts before being allowed to play Xbox! 

That said, they do valued work around the house on occasion too.  This morning, to celebrate the occasion, they treated me to breakfast in bed!

I don’t care what’s delivered, breakfast in bed is always fantastic. 

Thanks L, Q, X & Z - you guys rock!  

So here’s to all the Mothers in the world & being inspired to dust off those chore charts!

Celebrating defeat & pushing peace

Today Ukraine (and most of the former Soviet states) had off in celebration of Victory Day!  


May 9th marks the day that Nazi Germany signed a surrender document ending WW2......otherwise known as the 'Great Patriotic War' to the Soviet 'marketing machines'.


What does that look like?  


Downtown, the President spoke & shook hands with the few veterans who are left 
(Ukrainian men's life expectancy is only 63) 

Closer to home, people walked around donning their / their family members' medals from the war....

   


...and held various random celebrations to honor those who served

The day sparked a lot of conversation and questions about WW2 and wars in general.  

While explaining the nutshell history I vehemently injected my 'pro-peace' views:

• 'there are no real winners in war'
• 'killing people does not make sense - you should use words'
• 'It'd be like if we decided to take over our neighbor's house because we are 'better'' 
• 'war is just stupid'  (gasp - a bad word!)

Meanwhile, the kids enjoyed the day off:  Xavier at a laser tag party & Quincy playing Wii at a friend's......................both blowing the crap out of things  

I guess we'd better double the pro-peace propaganda tomorrow!

Here's to 'using your words'  and giving peace a chance.

Men: Accessorized but still overshadowed

As I've said before, the women here are quite expressive with their outfits...

By comparison, the guys - frankly - blend into the background...

...and have hit the accessories - maybe to try to keep up

Yes, the "murse" is widespread

And if that is not enough, how about the murse + no shirt combo?!

A for effort.  No one said it would be easy trying to outshine the sun!  

So here's to the guys - now go grab a murse and head out to enjoy a Happy Sunday!

Hard hats & undies

We live across the street from a fairly active construction site…. 

Given the ‘fortress like’ building style, cement trucks come and go essentially round the clock.  The action provides entertainment.

And while the building continues to grow further from the ground, the workers don’t seem the least worried about safety: 

   ·      Scaffolding?  Nah. 

   ·      Nets or railings?  Nah.

   ·      Hard hats?  What for?

While personal safety does not appear to be top of mind, personal comfort clearly is…

 YES!  That IS a construction worker laying cement in his underwear! 

OK, it was hot today – but how fantastic that stripping down to your skivvies at work is totally acceptable!

Here’s to letting it all hang out this weekend!

What are the Danes so damn happy about?

According to the World Happiness Report by Colombia University, Denmark is at the very top of the list of happiest countries (along with the rest of Scandinavia, Canada and Switzerland) .   Political freedom, social security and lack of corruption are key drivers - thus, maybe not surprising to hear Ukraine is 91st! (the US 11th).

Seeing for ourselves what all this happiness is about (plus the allure of the "birthplace of Legos") led us to Denmark for the holiday weekend.  We found:

Short work week: Ukraine has adopted the American way of round the clock access - but not Denmark...

These store hours were fairly typical: short during the week and forget Sunday - the day of rest they still take seriously!

Sporty galore: the outdoorsy-ness reminded us of Seattle.  People walking and running all over, distinct bike lanes filled with bikers on every street... 

....apparently over 40% of Copenhageners ride their bikes daily!  

That stat alone makes me ready to move there!

Cool design: everything was pristine and "design magazine looking". This stairwell donned dark wood stairs and sleek steel rails....

...and it was a low-traffic, interior stairwell to the basement bathrooms in the airport!

Silly prices: I'd heard that Denmark was pricey - but damn!  A 20oz. bottle of Pepsi went for 22dkk (~$4)!

.....and that was at 7-11!  

(That said, given our long standing love affair with 7-11, being violated by the prices didn't overshadow our excitement of the reunion)

The toll over a bridge to Bilund (home of Lego) was almost $40 - - EACH WAY!

No wonder they can afford such fab design!  (Given they already collect 43-63% income tax AND 25% on basically every purchase, they're rolling in it!)

Tivoli Garden: fancy and clean amusement park / concert venue / beer garden smack in the heart of the city.

Fun food: the only cheap meal we found - hot dogs from trucks - were delish and all over the place.  

Turns out my fave (loaded on a bun) is considered "American" (can take the girl out of America.......)

Our other favorite was a "conveyer belt sushi buffet". Stuff yourself silly of a typical buffet + sit on your duff while food comes to you laze & entertaining = perfection!  

Legos: who wouldn't be proud to share citizenship with Legos, the original Lego land plus the worlds largest Lego store?! 

Given the mad Lego fever that has hit our house, we did not walk away unscathed......

...the kids forward spent their entire May allowances!

Minnesota friendly: To top it all off, we didn't encounter a single Dane who wasn't smiling and ultra friendly. It's like the whole country took congeniality training.

So while we all felt the pinch of the prices, the other fabulousness more than makes up for it.  

Here's to Denmark!

Shady Deals

My cousin Dave works with a Ukrainian woman who taught him a common Ukrainian expression: "Have to borrow the dog's eyes to look you in the eyes".  The meaning wasn't obvious at first (being shady), but has plenty of application with a little context....

Under soviet rule, all property and assets were state assets.  Since its collapse, Ukraine has undergone - and continues to undergo - privatization (selling government assets to private companies....kind of like Chicago selling its parking meters). 

After decades of living under "we are all equal socialism", the transition to a free market seems to have swung the pendulum to the opposite extreme.  Those in top government positions and their friends get the best deals – buying utilities, land and other assets at fire sale prices. 

One of the richest men in the country (~$2B estimated worth) snapped up major state assets for cut-rate prices in 1996-2005 when his father-in-law was president!  Conflict of interest?  Nah!

One of the biggest deals took place last year when the national phone company (Ukrtelecom) was sold for over 10B UAH (~$1.3B).  The shady part being that it was sold when the stock was at record lows AND there was no competition for the deal (only 1 bidder – who by the way is somehow related to the president).

And rumor has it, our neighborhood is thanks to one of those shady land deals.  Our house is ~2-3 lots away from the State Botanic Garden.  Apparently, the Botanic Garden used to be even bigger– but the people running the joint decided they could pull the fence in a bit, sell off some plots and line their pockets.

So you could say, the people involved in the aforementioned deals would “need to borrow the dog’s eyes to look taxpayers in the eye.”

Here's to funny expressions and 'keeping your nose clean' so you don't have to 'borrow the dog's eyes'.