trying to fill time...

At the Internet cafe in Kharkiv, killing time before my 11 pm train. Mike and I had pizza, caught up on our summers, and had a grocery store run for travel snack foods (he's off to Odessa tomorrow). Much fun. We need to hang out more often.

So today, I went to school to drop off my gas bills to my director, and I was talking to Nelya. She asked me, "Who was the boy you were walking with?" I racked my brain for a bit, and then realized she meant Andrey, the guy from the church in the center who's learning English. So I explained to Nelya who he was and that he is married. Happily married. Apparently someone who works at the school had seen him walking me home (because it is apparently inappropriate for a young woman to walk alone after 8 pm) and wondered if I was dating someone.

Honestly. Small towns. And I can't even say "small Ukrainian towns", because I know it's universal.

So then, of course, Nelya tells me that we should find me a boyfriend in Balaklia. Or on my trip to Germany. I try to explain the various reasons why we don't. She brushes them off.

So far, the only people I've talked to on my trip are the 54 year old, female teacher of Ukrainian from my school who sat with me on the elektrichka and Mike, who's basically my older brother. The prospects ain't lookin' good.

(This does not bother me.)

After this conversation, I walked to the post office. As I get there, I hear (in English with a New Zealand accent) "Where are you from?", followed by "Hello, Sally" from a Ukrainian woman.

I looked perplexed and said, "Do I know you?" It turned out that she was an English teacher from the lyceum who I'd met before and he was a New Zealander starting a pig farming enterprise in the area. Actually, I'd been asked if I could work as a translator while he was here, but declined as I didn't think my Russian/Ukrainian was up to it.

(Poor man. He's at the "how do you do" stage of Russian, and was incredibly happy to be speaking with a native speaker. I was attempting to explain that the woman he was with speaks some of the best English in town, but he didn't look comforted.)

~*~

Mike and I found real chocolate chip cookies at the grocery store. W00t.