Interesting Things About Lugansk, Ukraine:
– Lugansk is the Russian name, Luhansk is the Ukrainian name.
– People are bilingual (Russian/Ukrainian), but mostly only speak Russian
– It is 20 miles from the Russian border (you can attempt to throw rocks & logs to Russia if you happen to be just a small river away, ask our boys about their attempts)
– It is further east than Moscow
-We had the sweetest, old-school flowered wall paper in our flat
– I’ve seen stray dogs all around the world, but in Lugansk, they all seemed to be missing parts (fur, eyes, legs, insides, etc.)
– Babushka’s are cute and they will typically be selling fake flowers or blood sausage in the bazaar’s.
– New Tone is an English school we got to visit quite a bit. They have awesome people there. They get creative in the way they teach students English, like singing songs such as “Hotel California” and “We Are The Champions”.
– Most Ukrainians know a lot of history about the city they live in (about the monuments, the buildings, important dates, etc). I believe I would fail miserably in the history department if you came to my hometown for a tour.
– Hosts often give their guests a loaf of bread with salt on the top. The
ritual of offering a guest bread and salt is a ceremony of welcome
which dates back many centuries. We were welcomed with such a gesture.
ritual of offering a guest bread and salt is a ceremony of welcome
which dates back many centuries. We were welcomed with such a gesture.
– Borsch is awesome. It’s a beet soup. Add a dollop of сметана (sour cream) and it’s so scrumptious. (Thanks Darcy!!)
– What we call “perogies” at home, they call “vareniki”. They are potato filled dumplings.
