(I’m actually stuck at JFK on my way back home, but this is the first time I’ve had unfettered internet access and a few free minutes to use it. I actually wrote this post a day or two ago.)
It will remain a mystery. I’ve asked, as best I can, and yet I still don’t have the answer. And if the Ukrainians themselves don’t know, how can I ever expect to? I am speaking, of course, about “water with gas.”
I mentioned in another post how you can’t drink the tap water, so people buy bottles of it left and right. By and large, the water is available in two types: plain and “with gas,” which is to say, carbonated. (There are also some brands that offer plain water with lemon or other flavorings, but that’s still plain water.) Just judging from what I’ve seen in the market and on the street, sales go about 60/40 plain to carbonated — and yet no one I’ve asked (here or in Odessa) seems to know why people buy carbonated. (I’ve tried it, and the carbonation process does add a taste to it that, while it isn’t awful, I don’t really care for.) One person suggested that it helps digestion, which does make some sense. But does that mean that most Ukrainian diets consist of food that is largely indigestable if you don’t have “water with gas?” Like I said, it’s a mystery.
However, I did solve another mystery, thanks to English teacher Anna. Remember that wrong phrase for “I’m sorry?” Well, I found out what that phrase is supposed to mean. It doesn’t mean “I’m sorry,” as in “I’m sorry I stepped on your foot.” It actually means “I am sorrowful” or “I feel sorrow for something,” which has a wildly different connotation if you say it to someone on the street. (Of course, say it enough times to the right people in the right place, and it might score you some free vodka. I don’t know, and it’s not really worth finding out.) For the standard, American use of “I’m sorry,” the appropriate expression is “izvenitcha.” (I will have to send a note to the Byki people when I get back; this is an error in the very first lesson!)
I don’t have a lot on tap for Friday. I leave early, early Saturday morning, so I need to prepare for that. And I know there’s at least one more picture I want to get. There’s a place downtown with a beautiful new building on one side of the street, and an old, graffitied (yet still lived in) building on the other. It’s a great contrast of Old and New Mariupol. I really hope my camera can get both sides of the street at the same time. And I have been told there is one more Ukrainian food I have to try before I leave (although after tonight’s very filling traditional Ukrainian dinner, I don’t want to think about food at all). It’s a half-round pastry filled with meat, fried and served with sour cream called “chayooriki.” (I probably didn’t need to add “served with sour cream,” because everything is. Except for a couple types of salad.)
By the way, if I haven’t mentioned it, Saturday is going to be a bear of a travel day. I leave here at 6 am local time (which means I need to be up by 5:30 at the latest). I’ll have about a 90 minute (or so) ride to Donetsk, about an hour wait at the airport, and then an hour-long flight to Kiev. (I’m crossing my fingers that I don’t have a delay like in Odessa; that would screw me over royally.) I’m in Kiev for a couple hours, and then it’s my 10-hour flight to JFK. I’m in New York for 2-3 hours, and then it’s 5 more hours back to Portland. Technically I get in at midnight of the same day I left Mariupol, but with baggage and the drive from the airport, it will be 1 am before I’m back “home.” To recap, that’s 16 hours on planes, 6 hours in airports and 3 hours in cars — all on the same day. 25 hours of travel, but that’s still better than the 38 hours it took me to get to Odessa.
(PS – Actually, because of my JFK delay – and a little original miscalculation of times – I will get home about 32 hours after my alarm clock went off on Saturday morning in Mariupol. I thought I’d be able to sleep a little on the plane from Ukraine, but I was very wrong. Right now, I’ve been up for 20 hours, with only a little dozing time to the sleep account.)