Now, the thing about Ukraine is things have changed faster than your average toddler can empty a cupboard (Hi Chloe! I saw my own niece JennaMae in action, so I know what your mom means when she says you're fast)! So, 7 years ago when I arrived there was no such thing as ice tea in a bottle. Nor was there ice coffee (that's important) in a bottle. L'viv (population around 800,000) had 1 store with grocery carts (GROCERY CARTS!!- when you're down, go there just to push the cart and choose your own products off the shelf- loiter and linger to make it last) and it looked like a warehouse with skin disease. There was also a McDonald's about 20 min from our apt and we ate there once a week for sanity's sake. Kyiv was a total rush because you could find Oreos and Reese's PB Cups there, not to mention, Kyiv was just plain cool...in fact Kyiv is still just plain cool (I mean, they have a TGIFriday). Buses were a total nightmare 'back then'- the most common bus was big, red, ancient (called 'Icarus') and one memorable trip I was sitting just behind the driver and could see the speedometer-which rarely got over 70km/hr (that's about 43 mph) and it wasn't at all unusual to have to stand at least part of the trip, sometimes for hours AND you invariably snagged something as you maneuvered the aisle- there were always sharp things sticking out, lurking, in fact, in dark but impossible to avoid places. And, something I just remembered- all winter you saw people approach their seat, turn around and deftly flip their coats up so that the outside (which shows, you know) wouldn't come in touch with the seat- which was likely dirty. Back then, DeAnn and I decided that we'd make our first million designing and selling a contraption that people would wear (sort of like a hoop skirt) under their coats- they'd push a button and it would flip the coat up out of harm's way, saving precious moments of 'grab-that-seat-before-someone-else-does' time.
Now, buses are mostly clean, snag-free and 'new'; they run many more buses and we seldom have to stand anymore. Even Izmail and Drohobych have multiple really nice 'grocery cart' stores- if you don't like bazaars or stores where all goods are on shelves behind the counter and you have to ask for everything, you seldom need to go to either. I don't know when I last saw someone flip their coat up to sit down- there are 'European drycleaners' all over; I guess it's easier to take care of long coats- plus seats are cleaner.
Tonight we're on a train and when we got our sheets, they were still damp... And that brought all this to mind. It's the first time in I don't know how long that's happened, although it used to be common. So, that's why I suddenly got fired up enough to do another post... That, AND, remember I said we can get bottled ice coffee now? Well, see, there was only 1 ice tea anywhere near the train station tonight- so I gave it to Sharon and got a coffee for myself (which she doesn't know- Hi S!)...significant because I can keep myself awake and hyper much easier in the 'new and improved' land we live in than 7 years ago! Oh yeah- and I can get on the web and surf it for a mere UAH 20/month (the equivalent of $4) with my handheld and cell phone- it's a decent 'faster-than-dial-up' connection...so I find that I can blog from stations and trains and buses- as long as my carrier has a tower nearby... It's a rough life... ahhhh
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