Some crazy shit

Mom, you or any other relatives shouldn’t read this one. I have some good stories to bring home. While I’m here, everything is “Oh but in Canada...”, and “If we were in Canada...” or “One time when I was in Canada”. But, get ready, when I get home just replace Canada with Ukraine and get ready for some reverse culture shock. There are some stories worth mentioning in advance. I’ve heard rumours about some crazy stuff that can happen in this country, but I think we’ve lived through a few of them.

Apparently there are a few more things left over from when Ukraine was in the USSR than the music and architecture. For example, you should always carry your passport on you at all times. The police may ask you at any time to prove you are in the country legally, and if you can’t, you can be arrested. I think I am more prone to lose my passport than be asked to show it, so I only carry the passport and I can identify where the Canadian embassy is. One Indian, Arunesh, went to use the washroom behind the metro station and was stopped by the police who demanded to see his passport. Thankfully, he called us and a Ukrainian who could translate got the police to agree to about a $7 bribe instead of arresting him. That’s a lot of money here. If this ever happens to you, you should always ask to see the police badge.

You should also not go anywhere alone here. Especially when you’re drunk at 6am when you don’t speak the language. I know that, so don’t. However, Tarek, a Mexican intern, was not as aware. He went out clubbing with some other interns from another project until the sun came up and when he was walking back from where the cab dropped him off, he started talking with some local guys. They ended up trying to get him to go drink with them, when he declined, they chased him robbed his camera and cell phone and followed him to our flat. He finally got in the building without them, but they ripped his shirt off. He also went out another night and had to learn another lesson. He brought a girl back to our flat. We said she couldn’t stay, she might rob us, she couldn’t speak English, said she lived too far away to take a cab alone, and when we said Tarek could go with her, she said she lived with her Mom. Yeah right. Sorry lady, see you.

Originally, we thought more than 7 people living in a 2 bedroom flat was a lot (Now we have 13, but that’s another story). So, the night that 7 interns from India arrived late at night to stay at our flat until they went to other cities in Ukraine, we were a little shocked. We met them randomly at the subway station, with Camilla, the local VP of Incoming Exchange. She was a little stressed out as to what to do with them all for the night until they left on the train the next day. This was my role for two years when I was in AIESEC so I understood the stress a little. They had spent 6 hours in security, she had to go back and get 3 more, and her phone was dead. One of them already didn’t want to be here and wanted to go home. They had also spent 24 hours with no food, they were tired, hungry, and we weren’t prepared at all. We made pasta, had a couple of extra blankets, and they slept on floor.

I think now we can handle anything. But please, no more surprises.