Caravan and Daffy

Maryna (one of the team at work), and Dima have both mentioned Caravan & Daffy for shopping. Now for those who know me, I am not a shopper (right N). But for some reason, probably because it is cheap, I am really enjoying shopping for clothes, and I will admit it..... to a lesser extent, shoes. So last week, we tee up with Marina and Christina to go via the metro to Caravan & Daffy. I am told they are two vey big shopping centres very close together, where you can shop for clothes, bags, shoes and groceries, eat, ice skate..... yep skating rinks in both centres and I think they even have cinemas. On Friday, Maryna informs us that her friend, Natalie who loves shopping and who has a car, will be joining us. This is even better as there is nothing worse than having to carry all your shopping back on the metro.


Saturday 10am is kick off Maryna calls to say she is here at my apartment. I run down stairs and Christina and Maryna greet me and say Natalie cant make it today ...... Oh, there goes the easy ride, then I turn around and I am met by a man standing by a car (a Ford... not a Volga thank god), and get introduced to Andrey. Maryna’s man!!!! And what a lovely guy he was. As we were driving down to Caravan and Daffy, he gave us the lowdown on Kharkiv and its history, showed us the huge river that runs through the Eastern part of town and was basically a great tour guide. Now given three girls were about to embark on a big shopping day, Andrey drops us at the front door of this big “centre” and we tell him we will look after his girl. We walk into Caravan......smaller than Forest Hill Chase and only one level, but it has all the European name shops as Christina seems to know them.

Now a little about Maryna. She is a lovely girl, a little bit quiet around us STA’s as her English is not great, but the more time we spend with her, the better the English. So Christina and I wanted to spend some time with her to hopefully bring her out of her shell and get to know her better.
Maryna

So we hit the shops and I am the first to make a purchase. In fact the first three or four shops we went into I made purchases. Just love propping up the Ukrainian economy !! Eventually the other two bought something and then we decided we deserved a coffee and some refreshments. We sat, ate, watched people ice skate and talked and then Michal test me and asked how we were going. I told him I had made four purchases already. He replied “Nice tempo of purchasing, Its interesting how this whole shopping thing can make girls happy” and added they would be there at 1pm. After an hour off our feets and feeding our bellies, we decide to have a look at “Daffy”.

These shopping centres don’t have the big Myer, David Jones type signs out side, well none that I knew, but they certainly attract people. By this stage it was 12.00 and it was getting busy. We walked in and found PROMOD, the shop I bought my shoes and pants at in the city last weekend. My eyes light up and we all make yet another purchase. Just as we are going upstairs, the boys spot us and we catch up for yet more food, as they haven’t yet had breakfast.

The priority now was grocery shopping. We can get cereal, milk, bread etc at the local shops in the city, but for cleaning products, toilet rolls, can openers etc, we can only get these at the big supermarkets. So we stow the clothes shopping in the lockers they provide and go into the supermarket. These things are a mixture of a Kmart and Safeway. You can buy almost anything! Christina & I get a trolley & the boys get one of those little carry baskets that you get when you only want 10 items! They laugh at us for getting a trolley....... We split up, but as we do, we tend to keep an eye on each other in case the military come to arrest us and we need help!!!! (More to the military story later). Butter is a problem for me. I think I know butter when I see it, but Maryna saved me and asked me what I wanted this (pointing to “my “butter”) for. “To spread on bread”, I say, “no” she says and takes me round the corner, where she selects me the butter she uses. I have no idea what I had picked up as butter, maybe it was margarine? I don’t know. Anyway, as we go through the isles, my trolley is getting filled with lots of things that don’t belong to me, the boys are using me as their trolley pusher......

The final purchase is booze! Dima said he had found something for me so I follow him to the wine section.... there are isles’ and isles of alcohol and as always, staff on hand to help you make a selection! In prime position on the end of the isle is Australian wine “Quay Landing” with a roo on the label. So we all purchase a bottle of Aussie wine and a bottle of Vodka. Last time, my vodka choice was “RELAX”. There are a variety of names in the series including PICNIC, TRAVEL, PARTNER and one other that I cant remember. My choice this time was PARTNER! Apparently, they all have a different taste, so the staff member tells us !

With trolley and baskets full, Maryna, calls Andrey and arranges to meet us at the entrance of Daffy to take us girls and all the purchases (which only just fir in the car), home. The boys stay to complete their shopping of Xbox games and other electrical stuff. Big day out but Maryna, Christina and I had a great time and we learnt a little more about Maryna. One more great friend to spend some time with here in Kharkiv!

Now, last week, we discovered, by chance, that when Michal entered Ukraine, he listed in his customs documentation that he was here as a tourist!!!! “I didn’t know what to tick” says Michal ! Try ticking “business’, we all say in unison. So know we know why the military stoped us on the way home from work that day! Michal, who is working, is meant to be a tourist. Maybe he really is a criminal !?!? LOL

No pics this week, you cant shop and take pictures!!!!!

xm