Mystery Meat

So I'm officially working today. A typical Ukrainian work day is from 9 - 6, and I can proudly say that I made it to work by 9. What that means is I woke up at 7:30 and used that information to justify sleeping for another hour and not getting out of bed until nearly 9.

Yesterday I spent about 2.5 hours studying Russian - specifically vocab. I have a general understanding of how present tense Russian verbs work, but couldn't tell you a single Russian verb other than 'to speak'. Because of this I figured it would be a good idea to start working on my vocab. I started last week with useful words related to food. I've already started applying and understanding some of the things I've been beating into my head. A good example of this is in relation to juice.

I bought some orange juice last week. Besides the naturally wholesome qualities it has, I figured it would help dilute the nail polish flavored $3 bottle of vodka I have. I tried some and it was crap. Not only was it not juice, but it just seemed like orange colored water - I figured maybe it was a concentrate of some sort. I dumped the crap in the sink but saved the container so I could try to figure out what it was some other time. Now that I know the word for juice - COK (CIK in Ukrainian) - I can confirm that it wasn't juice. Apparently having pictures of oranges on the packaging doesn't mean anything. So it turns out that what I had was orange 'nectar'. I'm not exactly sure what the hell 'nectar' is in relation to juice, and google has failed to yield any type of scale that places it with on any type of 'juice scale'.

Not all nectar is bad though, on a different quest to find a juice for my vodka I purchased something that had a picture of pineapples, oranges, and some other fruit on the packaging. Since I had no idea what it was I decided to give it a try. It tasted much better, but after learning the difference between juice and nectar (COK vs. HEKTAP) I realized that this is some sort of 'Multi-vitamin Nectar'. Either way it was good, but I still haven't found orange juice.

Armed with my newfound vocabulary I went back to the store by my apartment this past Saturday and found something that genuinely claimed to be orange juice. I purchased a smaller container since I've been through a few craptastic orange juices allready and didn't want to throw out another containers worth of random juice. I also picked up a can of Redbull, which is a segway to the second part of this post.

Not only was the orange juice for the vodka, but my backup plan was a can of redbull. I was planning on going out Saturday night and wanted to have a few drinks before I went. Not only is this a cheaper alternative to buying drinks at the club, but when its snowing, 25 outside, and you need to walk almost a mile to the club it's a good way to stay warm. The place I was going was supposed to open at 11 so I decided to get there early. I got there too early and nobody was even in the line. I made a loop and walked around on the main square for a little bit and then headed back - this time to find a small line. Eventually I got in, checked my coat, paid, and got to the bar/dancefloor. Here are some notes that I took on my phone that sum up the night:

• There was an older guy on the dance floor - probably 45 - with his sweater tied around his waist who was just dancing away and creeping out all of the girls around him.
• I had a seat next to the bar. The guy sitting next to me was a crazy chain smoker and I left the place smelling like an ashtry.
• There were dancers on a podium type area in the middle of the club - both male and female. One of the guy dancers in particular though had a tattoo of wings on his back. I found this to be very strange.
• The club shot off confetti every ten minutes. Every ten minutes I had to cover my drink and pick the stuff off of my clothes.
• The club doesn't open until 11 and it's lit only with strobe lights, black lights, and some lights around the bar. Sunglasses are NOT needed. There is no way so many people were out all day and came straight to the club and just happened to not drop off their glasses at home. Not only that, but it's not like the sun comes out here anyways.
• There were lots of photographers at the club. One in particular had to shake his camera after every picture he took. I suppose the shutter was stuck on his camera.
• Some things are universal regardless of language- when another guy accidentally steps on your foot he'll give you a hand gesture of 'sorry' and you are expected to return it.
• At 4:30 in the morning there was still a line of people waiting to come in. (I said I would stay until 5 when I got there.)
• One of the last DJ's was wearing an Xfiles shirt of the 'I want to believe' poster.
• Sweat on your forehead quickly becomes ice when you walk outside and its around 25 outside.
• On going to bed at 6AM - I'm going to need to get better drapes if this becomes a common thing.

A few other things that I'll explain a little more about. I've noticed a few trends here that I, as a westerner, find strange. The first of these is the mullet. It appears Billy Ray's achy breaky heart has come here to die. While I wouldn't categorize the style as popular, or even a full mullet - its more of just making a concious decision to not cut the back of your hair -but it is common enough that I keep noticing it. In particular, I noticed it very often on all of the best dressed guys. Actually, just about all of the guys who were dressed similarly to me - a sweater with a button up shirt underneath it. Who knew I would give away my cover as a foreigner from my lack of a mullet.

The other thing I've noticed fairly often is this countries incredible taste for awful sweaters. I'm fully convinced that if Ukraine invaded the USA one of the first places they would hit would be Goodwill and other consignment shops. As next Christmas rolls around I'll be interested in seeing if they have ugly sweater parties here, and if so, how ugly they get.

Finally, with regard to the shopping cart idea: I approve. However I think that a radio flyer might be better for two reasons. First, I won't look as homeless. Second, I could probably manage to steer a little red wagon down the hills around my apartment. While I won't deny the fact that it's completely possible to sit in a shopping cart, typically a second person is required for steering.

Anyways, I have more reading to do for work. Dinner tonight should be interesting. I have what I think could be beef in my fridge. I know the first word on the lable is 'minced' but I can't make out the second. The second word is Ukrainian and not Russian so I can't find a translation (technically both are Ukrainian but some words are the same). Typically any meat that is minced means its a blend of a few things, so I'm just going to assume its beef and rabbit but hope for the best. All I know is that the other packaged meats that could have been beef had waaay too high of a fat concentration for me to even consider taking home. Just on account of being mostly red and having minimal specs of white in the package I picked this stuff.