Shopping and Metro challenge

Friday night 6th Nov. My blog has generated some questions regarding the English language. Sasha (Alexander) is from Russia and his English is quite good, but every time he reads my blog his falls on the floor in fits of laughter !! I didn’t think the blog was that funny! I tried to explain that the blog is my Australian impression of what I see here in the Ukraine. In other words, we, in Aust, don’t have a lot of what they have here in Ukraine, for me, it is new and unusual and that is why I talk about the kiosks on the corner and the buses and trams that are absolutely crammed with commuters.

So when Sasha asked me what kitandkaboodle was I tried to explain..... “the whole package, everything”. Well, that went down like a ton of bricks.... (that’s another one I will have to explain). So I goggled it and it wasn’t much help..... type kitandkaboodle into Google search and think how you would try and explain it to a Russian !! Any help would be appreciated.....

Sasha you are the person that I need to have by my side every time I go out of my apartment. You are my translator...........Understand now my friend? :-)

Big day tomorrow. We are taking the metro to a big “department store” that we see each day on the way to work. I put department store in inverted commas as it looks big from the outside, but having been here for a while now, I know not to get too excited. It is not in the league of Chadstone, Doncaster, Southland or even Forrest Hill....... Don’t get too excited folks! It is called “Target”, but I am not expecting a  Kmart or similar. It looks, from the outside to be a big warehouse (Bunning’s size) .... inside..... I’ll let you know.... I just want to be able to find things that I can get in Coles, find a postcard for a friend and a tin of tuna for Michal ! Yes, tuna is very hard to find over here and when you can find it is bloody expensive.... Sasha seems to think that it is imported as not many Russians eat tuna. Maybe I should ask Inna to help us find a postcard and some cheap tuna !!! that’s what she is good at :-)

Ok. It is Saturday night at 8.30 and we have had a big day.  Dima, Michal and I went to Target via the Metro............ Take note Melbourne government!!!! This train system is clean, runs on time and the stations are fantastic in terms of their architecture. So we catch the train from Pushkinska to the main station and transfer to a different line. The train ride for Michal & I was part of the experience & I enjoyed every moment....... except the driver was a bit hard on the brakes at the end of the stations......

Going underground to cach the train

What a pleasure to ride on such a cheap (50 cent Aussie if that for the whole day) and professional train system. Still Michal & I could not have done it without Dima as you have to purchase tokens to ride the metro.... hard if you don’t speak Russian !! We will work out a way to purchase tokens as we need to go back to “Target”............... best supermarket in Kharkov!!!!!... so far. Anyway, we arrive at Target and Michal & I get our trolleys ( no photos in supermarket as we were told off last time for taking photos). Dima just tries to find out what we need and point us in the right direction, but for us it is like Christmas :-)

You have to remember that everything here is written in Russian and you cant walk into a supermarket & just pick up 12 rashes of bacon or some Yogurt, dry biscuits to have with cheese, mince, steak, or a frozen meat pie, bag of Allen’s snakes (hope you are enjoying them mum), and Tim Tams............... you will never find anything like that here.

Pictures tend to speak a thousand words, you just hope their marketing departments put pictures that describe the product on the packet! As I have found out, what looks like milk is not milk!

Anyway, the first isle is cleaning products. I’m sorted in this category, it is one of the first things I organised. However, my male counterparts are a little less organised in this area and we have had many conversations on which section of the washer to put the washing powder in and which to put the fabric softener in (not that they had any softener). Michal did a lot of business in the first isle and I caught up with the two guys discussing washing powder for whites or coloured & I had to guide him in the type of products to buy. Hey I am useful for some things!!!

Next stop.... Alcohol !

We devoured the selections of wines & I put three local wines red and white in my basket. Next isle was Vodka....... all the isle ... and they have people to help you choose which one is best for you. Of course me not being a spirit drinker, had no idea which one I should get but I felt I had to buy a bottle of V to become a real local. So I picked the prettiest bottle I could find ( purely a marketing purchase!). The label had RELAX on it so I felt that was good enough for me.

Today, we reached a milestone!! We found TUNA... in a tin that was reasonably priced. Thank you Target !

This is one happy man!



The second problem we have is that I have a friend in Australia who collects postcards. Kharkov, is definitely not a tourist spot and I have not been able to find one postcard at all. Zip... nothing. Dima thinks he knows a place that we can find one but I am loosing hope......... sorry N I am trying my best. Please be patient as Michal promises to make a special personalised postcard to send back home to my friends........... we just need to get his hard drive fixed first.....

Anyway, we have cleaning product, food, Tuna and booze, so Michal and I are feeling pretty happy with ourselves and we all hop back on the train with Dima helping me with my groceries as again, I have spent the most money !!!

KIOSKS.... I promised you some pics, so here the are.......

 See the little window !

After all that shopping, we are exhausted and in need of refreshments so we decide to go to “22” for lunch.

One more stop on this street guys, I have to see if my leather jacket is still there ! So I drag Dima and Michal into this store where I dive to the spot where my jacket was last week ....... and.......... it is still there !! I didn’t try it on last week so I had no idea if it would fit so today was the big test............ Out of know where, this young girl appears and starts speaking English ...would you like to try it on?, the mirror is over here.... I was gobsmacked. Dima and Michal were left holding my bag an jacket while the assistant helped me in my endeavour to buy this jacket which was too small. My heart broke and the young girl said don’t worry, we will try and find a size that fits. Shouts of instruction were going though the store to find the jacket in my size.... Ten minutes later, I had my jacket in my size, paid for it on credit and we were on our way to our next stop.  AUD $307.00

Next weekend, Ukraine and Greece are playing Soccer in Ukraine as part of world cup or something...... Ang and Frank please help me here I don’t know much about world soccer. Anyway, as it is such a big weekend, we have decided to have a party. We will gather here............. It is a 24 hour pub that brews its own beer!

And we have booked a table so we have prime position to watch the game. I will take my Aussie flag, Michal will take a Greek flag and Dima and the rest of the locals will all be carrying Ukraine flags..... well maybe a small Ukraine flag in my bag too as I now have a Ukraine tax file number...... which means I can open a bank account here and avoid all those charges that Westpac slug you for taking money out of your account from foreign countries..... Bolley stolly sweetie darling sweetie !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9.45 now and as I have told you about my day, I start to think of what is happening at home. Its very hard to describe how I am feeling because there are so many mixed emotions. I am really enjoying myself here, I feel I am starting to fit in a little more and some of the local store people are recognising me and know I don’t speak Russian and are a little bit more ..... understanding. Heck we even have a bit of a laugh.

I have some wonderful friends in Ukraine most of which you have seen in the pics. I could not ask for a better position to be in so far from home. There are more wonderful opportunities to experience here and I am not going to let homesickness get in the way of them.

Tomorrow, lunch at Paris & then pool / snooker at the guest house !



xm