You know you are in Ukraine when…
You buy water without paying attention to the color of the cap (because it's just bottled water, right?) and you get the surprise of your life when you take a big chug and suddenly realize that the water is carbonated.
You learn to love drinking said carbonated water.
You know what sala, borscht, and veriniki are.
Sour cream/mayonnaise/butter/ any kind of sauce is a food group.
You drive down the road and you simple cannot drive straight due to potholes.
Driving feels more like an amusement park ride as you jostle from side to side and up and down because of those potholes.
You know what a “babushka” is.
You eat bread with every meal.
You drink tea maybe ten times a day…or more.
You see Ladas (old soviet car) EVERYWHERE.
Those Ladas do not have power steering (try dodging potholes without power steering.)
There are tons of birch trees all over.
You are told not to sit on the ground or on hard surfaces because it will make you infertile.
Dogs and cats are all over the place.
You eat open faced sandwiches everywhere you go, which means bread with salami, cucumbers and mayonnaise…actually really delicious!
You are afraid of gaining lots of weight because there is too much delicious food…cheese, bread, and cream puffs!
There is REAL cheese everywhere!
You farm and garden (you're not supposed to plough, though)
There are monuments EVERYWHERE! Mostly for WWII, but there are others as well.
There is a statue of Lenin in your town square, and perhaps other locations, too.
You've been lots of fun, Ukraine! Thanks for all the good times, can't wait to come back again!
Leah and I rockin some sweet specs
Look at all that bread and tea…we went to lunch right after this.
An Orthodox church (temple as they call it) in Lutugino
Farming faces!
What time is it, TEA TIME!
Mmmmm, ketchup and mayo!
LADA! They're a whole lada fun!
There he is, Lenin himself!
