Although we have a kitchen, the cooking utensils are lacking, and well, the groceries are completely different, not to mention the Ukrainian alphabet has symbols so reading what things are is difficult. Yet we can't afford to eat out every meal, every day. So we have compromised. We aren't doing any cooking, but we are able to buy stuff to make sandwiches. Unfortunately they do not have precut meats and cheeses, so you have to order them from the "deli" but I have done really well with pointing, hand motions, and using my fingers. So far we've basically got what we've wanted! Lol. For breakfast we have been buying cereal and muffins. Then we allow ourselves to eat out once a day. Typically we eat a late lunch out, to help get us through the day of munching otherwise.
Saturday, with a hankering for pizza, we found an Italian restaurant. Shortly after sitting down Matt says to me, "I am not meaning to eavesdrop, but have you paid any attention to the conversation of the table behind you?" I hadn't, so I was like, what's the big deal? Matt said, "It sounds like the guy is trying to convince the woman to come and live with him..." So even though I shouldn't have, I was dying with curiosity and I began to listen in on the conversation. I couldn't believe what I was hearing!
At the table behind us sat a middle aged man, probably in his 50's, seemingly a well to do business man from the States, a Ukrainian woman probably in her 30's, and another woman who was the translator. The man was telling the Ukrainian woman all about his life in the States, even showing her pictures of his home. I heard him say a few times, "I don't need a cook, although it would be nice, and I don't need anyone to clean my house or do my laundry as I hire someone to do so." He basically told her about every detail of his life, his work history, his likes and dislikes and the such. He also talked about his view on relationships and life, which was interesting, and in my opinion, distorted, just a bit.
We were telling Yuri about this on Sunday while he was giving us a tour via car, and he was like, "oh yah, wife hunting." We were like "WHAT???" and Yuri told us about it like it was no big deal. Apparently its a very normal and frequent occurrence here in Ukraine.
Either way, it provided us with very interesting lunch conversation.
I had an ELL student in St.Paul who had moved to the States because his mom was going to marry a guy there. Evgeny thought nothing of it. When some other kids asked him if there were no men to marry in Ukraine, he straight-faced answered, "No." His soon-to-be step-dad was really nice and I think it worked out really well for all of them. Different lives, different views. I'm not sure all of them turn out that well, though.
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