This last week in English class we looked at ailments and remedies. Remedies in America are pretty straight forward. See the doctor, take some aspirin, drink lots of water, rest, maybe use a humidifier, and drink hot chamomile tea. We don’t get too exotic in our remedies.

In Ukraine though, when someone is sick it is everyone’s job to inform them on what they should do. Really. Ukraine is considered a warm culture so it is sort of a community event if there is someone sick, it is your JOB to share advice on what your mother did to you when you were young.

In English class, we asked the question ‘What do you do for _____ in Ukraine?’ We got some intersting answers that I thought I would share with you.

For backaches- take some bee poison

For a cut- grab some kind of leafy thing outside (there is a specific plant that I do not know the name of in English) You spit on it and then put it on your cut

For burns (this is my favorite)- whale brain. I have no idea how this is applied, but I guess you can get it in the stores. It’s really expensive though, go figure.

Coughs & colds- drink hot milk with butter and honey

Toothache- some other kind of bee product. It is not honey or wax, but something else they produce

Dizziness- medical spirits (aka vodka or some other form of alcohol)

Headache- Vietnam balm (I don’t know what this is, but it sounds scary)

Fever- wrap up in a hot blanket and drink hot Whiskey

These were just a few of the interesting remedies my class came up with. They thought it was really funny to see my reaction to some of these. Everyone has their own way of doing things, some people would argue over what was the best remedy. Ukrainians always seem to be obsessed with health. If I so much as give a little cough, I am always met with “Are you sick? Are you alright?” The smallest clearing of the throat is seen as the start of a cold. ‘I just had a crumb in my throat!’ I would say, but no matter, here is some hot tea just in case.

Earlier this year, there was a guy who came and only brought one pair of shoes of which you do not wear socks with. (They were called 5 Fingers, I don’t know how to describe them.) Anyways, he got sick, and all the Ukrainians believed it was because he did not wear socks. Gotta keep those feety toasty warm if you want to stay healthy!

It is always interesting talking about health with Ukrainians!

Just thought I would amuse you with the full understanding of how precious bread is here in Ukraine.

I once accidentally dropped a piece of bread on the floor. [Gasp!]

I reverently moved the sacred slice to the side with my foot (my hands were full, I couldn’t help it.)

I was met with a few gapping mouths. How dare I touch the sacred slice with my dirty, filthy, blemished, sinful foot!!! That audacious American!

Yesterday, I got a full understanding of this small escapade. It was explained to me that children were taught in school that bread is holy and it should be treated as such. One staff member told me the story of how she was taught, that if a piece of bread fell to the floor she was to pick it up, wipe it off, kiss it, and use it! I might (probably not) pick up a piece of the floor and wipe it off, but I certainly would not kiss it! In fact, I probably would not even eat it, I would hope that someone else would eat the fallen piece…

Dima also agreed and shared that he was told a story in school about how a child once played with bread, kicking it around. He doesn’t remember what happened to the kid (probably because it was so awful he blocked it out of his memory.) Dima only remembers being shocked and horrified that a child could possibly play with bread. He told me his aunt would never throw away bread, if it by some unfortunate cause, became moldy and was truly unusable, she burned it. It was never put into the garbage.

Most children were taught this as a result of the famines that have taken place in Ukraine. Bread should be conserved and seen as precious. I also discovered that there is a museum of Bread in Kiev, the capitol of Ukraine. Traditionally, a visitor is offered a loaf of bread and salt as a sign of hospitality.

So do not, ever, under no circumstance, even think about kicking a sacred slice of bread while in Ukraine!

I know this is old, but whatever. I can still talk about Easter.

I did not spend Easter in Ukraine, but rather went to Moldova for the holiday.

I will simply add some pictures of our adventure there. I will say though that Easter is a three day celebration here. Saturday people bring baskets of special food for the priest to bless. Sunday is the official holiday and Monday is like a day of rest. What I have not been able to verify, is that apparently on Monday you can go around and throw water on people. Not sure yet if this is true or perhaps it is only true in the villages… I stayed clear of any populated areas on that day just in case.

Waiting for the meat

Mmmm shashlik!

Playing "Kill the duck" (or something like that)

The Easter gang at sunset

After Easter, I helped Ruslan’s family get their garden ready. I felt like I was at home. We also went to a beautiful public park while the weather was nice. It was nice to see more of Moldova when everything was blooming.

Pulling out old raspberries

Note how cute their house is!

Playing with Ruslan's sisters

Hooray for sunny days in the park!

Here are some pictures of my new home! It is pretty cute I think.
We are about a 15 minute walk from the base and I have discovered all the quiet shortcuts through the parks. There is a little market just around the corner and the bus stop is right outside our pantry window.

View from one side of our building

Living room (door in background goes to a small enclosed balcony from which previous photo was taken.)

Closet/foyer (Door to the left is to the living room, unseen door to the right is to our bedroom.)

Bedroom with me in it! Can you guess which side of the bed I sleep on?

Awesome kitchen!! Window goes to a small pantry.

Notice there is no refrigerator. We are still looking for one…

View of the other side of our building from our pantry. That's a huge, strictly-traditional, Pentecostal church.

I have found an apartment and am sharing it with a dear friend named Marichka. Marichka does not speak or understand English well. It has already been an interesting first few days together! Just last night we had a few fun misunderstandings that did not help the communication gap!

Scenario #1
Marichka enters asking if I want chai (tea in Russian). I said “yes, I would love some.” She asks me which kind of tea I wanted in Russian but with a tone of uncertainty. In my attempt to affirm her in my understanding Russian, I said “yes which tea.” She said “which?” I said yes. Hooray, English has been learned… or so I thought. Five min later, I finish what I was doing and go into the kitchen to discover Marichka looking at all my boxes and tins of tea. She looks up and says “Meggie, I no find which tea. I looking and looking, I no find.” Poor Marichka was looking for the fictional tea called “Which.” When I explained the misunderstanding we had a good laugh.

Scenario #2
Marichka wanted to use my laptop for a skype date with her friend. My laptop is a little slow and so I told her to wait, but I said it in what I thought was Russian. Marichka, very confused, stood up from the couch. I looked at her very confused and she looked at me very confused. Apparently I said the word meaning ‘to stand.’ So when I was saying “wait, wait” I was really saying “stand, stand.”

Scenario #3
I was going through my Russian vocabulary cards and came to the word car. I proudly said, again, what I thought was the word for car, but I guess the word for car and man are very close. I mean very close! Marichka just laughed at me.

Oh, the adventures we will have!