Where is Phil?

A couple nights ago we went to the night club district near the beach - Arkadia.  I have been looking forward to this for years, since last time I came to the city it was winter time and this area was not really open.  We took a cab and made our way to one of the best clubs in the district - ITAKA.

ITAKA

This place was huge!  It reminded me of Rosarito, Miami and Burning Man all rolled into one.  There were fire dancers, gymnastic shows, and go-go dancers.

Gymnastics

More Gymnastics

Super Man and his dancers

We smoked hookah upstairs while drinking our wine, then we moved to the dance floor.  There were go-go dancers on a platform, and there was even a guy in a Cheburashka costume.  Cheburashka is a cartoon character from old Soviet literature.  The people went nuts!  I even got a photo with him.  It was an amazing night full of dancing, mostly to soviet hits from the 80s and 90s.  I can't believe I was dancing on the beach until the sun came up.  Only in Odessa!

Never seen such an amazing hookah!

Dancing with the hookah

Caviar

Topless woman in a martini glass!!

Cheburashka!

Dancing with my bestest girl in Odessa

Dancing 'til the sun comes out

View of the beach from the club

Walking out at 5AM, still crowded

Arkadia!

The next morning, we noticed one of our friends, Phil, had not returned.  He had been talking to one Ukrainian girl, so we figured he had gone home with her.  When 11PM that night rolled around, we started to worry.  We speculated maybe she was a hooker, or someone who was interested in harvesting his kidneys.  Of course we were mostly joking, but it was still a bit troublesome.  He finally returned the following day, alive with both kidneys.  He had made friends with this woman and had stayed in her home town for an extra night.  We were so happy to see him come home!  Now he is a legend, people from our hostel will be laughing for years to come and saying, "Where is Phil?"

How to diffuse an altercation

The kids played a game with the organization’s psychologist today.  We discussed people in our lives can potentially be a source of conflict, as well as people who can help us get out of conflicts.  It’s fascinating to me how overwhelmingly negative the viewpoint here is on the police.  It’s not just “cool” to hate on the police.  It’s the reality of the country of Ukraine – the police are generally just bad people here.  In all my time here, I have never been told to call the police in case of an emergency.  In fact, most advice I have gotten was to stay completely away from them or they will try to rip you off because you’re a foreigner.

This exercise was good for the children because it got them thinking of how to safely diffuse conflicts and use resources to get out of tricky situations.  It was also entertaining to watch!

Workshop

Ukrainian Cuisine

I helped out in the kitchen today, and I would like to say it went well.  It’s pretty hilarious when people see me peeling potatoes and as me questions in Russian like, “Do you know how to cook?” or “Do you ever cook?”  I guess my inability to peel a potato with a 7-inch blade is a dead give away.  Today, one girl took the time to teach me how to peel potatoes the Ukrainian way.  I mean, I guess the rest of the world might peel potatoes like Ukrainians do, but I haven’t had the experience of cooking in other countries.  I was always taught to cut away from you, so that if the knife slips, you don’t cut off a finger.  This, however, is not the Ukrainian way.  I was terrified, not that I could cut my finger, but that I would embarrass myself in front of a bunch of 15 year old girls who already know more about preparing meals that I ever will.  How can I explain to them, that I usually cook for one or two?  If I buy potatoes, I buy two single potatoes, not two huge bags of them.  I peeled more potatoes today in one sitting than I ever have in my entire life – mind trip, right?  Well, it was a learning experience nonetheless. 

We do most of our cooking outside, since that is where the running water is, and the little kitchen inside is always so hot.  We do so much with so little, but we don’t seem to mind at all.   

Hot water station

A BBQ

  

We also sat around a tube of apricots that the boys gathered from a local tree.  I gutted them of their seed, and threw them into another bucket.  We later made Kompot with them.  This is a Ukrainian drink that is very similar to sangria, except its hot, and it doesn’t have wine…. It’s also not juice.  Do we have anything like that in the states?  I am pretty sure you just through fruit and sugar into boiling water and call it a day.  It’s delicious, but when it’s over 100 degrees out it’s not the most refreshing beverages.

Preparing fruit for Kompot

The Dog Says…

Well, in the states dogs say, “Bow wow wow.”  In Mexico, dogs say, “Guau guau guau!”  Here they say, “Gaff gaff gaff!”

It’s funny how each language has a different way of making animal sounds.

Misha the puppy

I later found out that Misha has fleas, like most animals I have met in Ukraine.  Sad times.  I miss  holding my kitty, Toothless!  Nat has been diligently sending my photos of her to keep me happy.

What a good study buddy!

Heat Wave!

It’s so hot here, y’all.  And I am saying this as someone who has survived a Texas summer.  I thought it was in the 90s, but I was told today it was 103 F.  That is hot!  We don’t have AC, ice or even an electric fan.  We eat hot soup for lunch and dinner, and drink hot coffee and tea.  This country is so strange.  We do have the ocean, but after today, I got heat rashes on my neck and arm so I think I am going to stay away from the beach for a few days if possible.  I can’t even open the balcony door because I have the light on in my room.  Last night, the kids helped me fight off the infestation of mosquitoes.  There are black spots all over the ceiling and walls.  There is this little patch of something that you burn that kills mosquitoes that we used last night, so I had downed, half dead mosquitoes all over my bed.  I bought some super powerful chemical mosquito spray so at least I have been able to make it out without too many more mosquito bites.  Never have I been so happy to take a cold shower!

“I’m foreign and I know it”

This morning I felt like I was running and walking to the beat of LMFAO’s “I’m sexy and I know it,” except I had a different set of lyrics running through my mind.  I woke up in my pitch-black room at 8AM and decided it was time to go for a run.  My room is great, and its also terrible all at the same time.  It’s great because when to sun goes up at 4:30AM in Odessa I can sleep in.  But when there is a power outage or I need some motivation to get out of bed, it’s terrible.  I forced myself out of bed and changed into my running gear.  Mace and iPhone in had, I hit the streets.  People don’t really run here.  I have seen gyms around town that are mostly for muscle heads, so I am not sure where the average person works out.  People looked at me strangely as I bolted past them on the streets, but “I’m foreign and I know it.”

I did the Potemkin Stairs a couple times, which is rough since there are 192 steps all together.  Then I ran to the end of the large dock that overlooks the Black Sea, and back to the stairs.  I did some triceps, pushups and jumping jacks on the larger stairs then ran the rest of the way home.  I ran for 30 minutes and did the rest over the course of about 20 minutes – not too shabby.

Ready for some jumping jacks?

After I got back home and showered, I put on a dress and my cowboy boot and walked to my favorite café, Kompot, where I went with Claudia on our first trip to Odessa.  Again, “I’m foreign and I know it.”  People were definitely not rude to me, but I could tell maybe they weren’t used to seeing average people in cowboy boots.  On my way out, the lady that works here asked me if it wasn’t too hot to be wearing boots.  It’s funny, because I never really thought about how strange it is that Texans wear cowboy boots so often, even when its so hot out.  Anyways, it was nice to sit at my café, work on my personal statement for grad school and just people watch.  My application is definitely coming along thanks to friends like Lori and my sister, Diana, who are helping me read through some notes.  I am glad to have friends and family who support me in my desire to go to PA school.  I won’t let y'all down!

After changing into sandals, because, yes, it was too hot for cowboy boots, I went in search of the market place I remember frequenting last time I was in Odessa.  With some random walking, I managed to find it.  I had some basic items on my list, which I found with relative ease.  After doing a little shopping spree, I grabbed some lunch (which would also serve as my dinner) and headed back to the apartment.  I spent most of the afternoon working on my application, and reading The Gift of Fear, by Gavin De Becker.  It is so good that I am nearly done reading it after just a week.  I have a low tolerance for boring books and rarely finish them.  I plan on giving it to my dad to read when he gets here, then maybe a friend who I think will benefit from reading it as well.    

Well, that’s about all I have today.  It looks like it might start pouring again tonight!  I am glad it seems to clear up in the morning, because I definitely did not pack for rain.

Dirty street kitty on a moped

   

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy"

The Discotech - Why such harsh words?  It was actually quite fun, but I wish I had some photos to document this event.  I decided it would be safer to leave everything at home, so the camera did not come with me.  "Discotech, what the heck is that?" you might be asking.  Well, a Discotech is found in non-US countries such as Ukraine, Russia and Mexico.  They are essentially an all ages dance club with a bar.  Sound fun at first, but think about what this means.  Remember the last time you went to a bar?  Maybe you drank, danced, solicited someone of the opposite sex to drink and dance.  Well, no imagine you are drunk, and you start doing all of the above with someone who turns out to be 13 years old!  Could be quite dangerous.

The discotech we went to was pretty cool.  It was open air, although it gave the illusion of being a building.  It was under construction, so I won't be too hard on it, but it definitely was a little rugged.  The bathroom sink was a hose for example.  There was a disc jockey who worked with the DJ to rally the crowd into dancing.  He was really funny, and a good dancer - if you are on 4th Street or in the Castro, if you catch my drift.  Had he been wearing less clothing, I would have taken him for a male go-go dancer.  Most European men can't dance, according to my personal experience, and those who can just look like they belong in a club with a topless male bar tender wearing a rainbow flag jockstrap. Cultural differences I am sure.  And if you are European and find this offensive, please feel free to dance with me next time we meet and prove me wrong.  

While I sat at our table with one of our 15 year-old girls, this older 40 year-old man who had been kind of lurking about tried to approach us and tripped on the step, knocking over our table and most of our drinks.  He looked at me and I just shook my head at him, since he was obviously just about to solicit one of our teenagers, or me.  Our coordinator must have told him we were not interested, because he immediately switched his focus on to her.  She must have told him 20 times she didn’t want to dance with him, but he was Mr. Persistent, which is now a huge warning sign to me to back away quickly.  The cultural differences are huge here.  I would have slapped someone who tried to approach me in the manner in which he did, and he might have gotten some mace to the eye if he had grabbed me after I told him “no” multiple times.  I should be careful I don’t end up arrested for hurting someone who is simply acting socially and culturally appropriate.

Anyways, the girls had a great time, and by the end of the night, they were on the stage’s platform.  Again, a little strange for me given how young they are and how old the rest of the cliental was…but then again, there was also a 3 year-old in the back of the club dancing with his parents.  When in Ukraine…

I was on high alert to make sure no funny business went down, but at the end of it all, it was all in good fun.

After we made it back to our sanitarium, we all had to jump the fences since everything was already locked up.  Good thing I have been working on those triceps, Nat!  Everyone was impressed at how quickly I scaled the fence and made my way to the other side.

I was super tired this morning because we ended up going to bed around 2AM.  But, at least I am back in the city for a few more days to hang out before heading back to the beach!     

Oh, and speaking of the Star Wars reference, check out this awesome photo taken by a couple during their wedding photo shoot.  My fiance sent this to me, and I think it would be an amazing idea to steal...

Wedding Party Attacked by AT-ATs