Sunday August 26, 2007

Zdraste Everyone: (Formal hello in Russian - English transliteration)
Today is Sunday and on our walk to the Internet Cafe we noticed people leaving a synagogue or church just around the corner from us. We saw alot of people that needed chiropractic care, especially the babushkas (grandmothers). Many were holding their backs and walking slowly. Speaking of chiropractic care I should mention that there are two soccer teams staying in our hotel - the Vodafone team and the Fortis team. One is from Holland and one from Greece and we are not sure which is which yet, however, we noticed the Vodafone team last night limping and we thought - HMMM- we could be busy for an hour or two adjusting the team. The Fortis team was not as beat up last night as the Vodafone team.
Today, I thought I would mention some interesting observations we have noticed about the Ukraine. There are flat screens everywhere - in the hotel, in the restaurants, and in the arena in Kiev. The arena is a big shopping area where Mandarin mall shops surround the arena. The screens at the arena were absolutely huge! We ate dinner on the second floor and watched TV across the arena on this huge screen that would suffice as a billboard screen. The next interesting thing we noticed is how clean our apartment in Kiev was and how clean our hotel room is in Donetsk - even the corners of the floors. Our hotel is owned by the richest man in the Ukraine, once a criminal, now a politician because his friend is the president of the Ukraine - interesting how politics are the same everywhere. They are trying to get immunity for the Senators in Parliament - total immunity - NICE PERK if it happens - you can be a horrible criminal and be untouched. Next observation is that everyone in the Ukraine smokes. Sergey comments that: Ukraine smoke, America no smoke and I no smoke! We hope that trend continues!! The young people here are very slim - extremely slim - not anorexic - just slim. The middle age people are slightly stocky, and only five percent seem obese. Of course I noticed the clothing here. The children are dressed in very cute clothes with American logos - Nike, etc. The female young adults dress in heels and somewhat provocatively, especially at night, but the guys really don't pay that much attention to them. The business women all wear heels and fancy dresses, suits, with brocade and alot of style. The babushkas and mothers on the playgound wear common clothing, but almost all are in skirts. The businessmen all wear suits, white shirts and ties. Their shoes are Italian and look expensive. The Ukrainians are multiracial, caucasian mainly, but also Blacks, Asians and Mid Eastern influence is noticed. Everyone has nice facial features and overall are a good looking group of people. Rex noticed the newer model cars, Mercedes, a few BMW's, and cars made in the Ukraine called Skoda. They take very good care of their cars. He also noticed hardly any scooters, a welcome relief to those of us who motorcycle, but also very few motorcycles. We decided the climate was too harsh and money too scarce to have more than one means of transportation. Rex also went to an Orthodox church last night while Sergey & I continued at the Internet cafe (four hours of games for Sergey - oh do I wish for a pool or lake right now to entertain him). Church services were under way. All the people stand for the service - a couple of hours. The chandeliers and the pulpit were gold trimmed. The chior sang beautifully from the chior loft. The outside of the church was beautiful also and we will post it when we get home.
That's all the room for today's update.
Disadanya,
Rex, Liz and Sergey