First I'd just like to say that life is absolutely wonderful at the moment. I'm wrapping up my teaching duties and soon summer, freedom and travel will be upon me (especially with the news today that Peace Corps is reverting back to its relaxed travel rules after all the volunteer protest over the more stringent ones).
More to the point, we had our first real warm day today and the Ukranians ladies proved it in style. Fashions are a little more...um...risque...here, but that doesn't become apparent until after the winter coats come off. So today it was all midriffs, short skirts, see-thru pants with thongs underneath, see-thru shirts with (sigh) bras underneath, and not a flat shoe in sight. Looking at it all, I felt like one of those bobble headed dolls.
I was walking around with some female friends today, enjoying the weather, when my head swivled to follow the results of nothing more than a few well-placed bits of cloth. Suddenly, I was punched on the arm.
(In Russian) "You are such a bobnik," said Marina, the one who had assaulted me.
(Linguistic note: Bobnik translates as "male slut".)
This was the best defense I could muster: "She was a redhead!"
Luckily, for reasons beyond my understanding, my female friends find my bobnik-ness endearing.
But that and a dozen other nice little things that happened recently still didn't make me feel nearly as good as getting this email from New England Ropes:
"We have a couple of short ropes coming to you (~ 153', but shorter than what we consider sale-able) as well as stickers, posters, and a few patches. Hope the kids enjoy them. We'd love to see pictures of them!"
Boo-yeah! A 153' rope is plenty of rope. And more than one? This is a godsend because we've already almost worn out the ropes we bought with the SPA grant last year. I am so freakin' happy at the moment.
And immdietly following that was a slight surge of worry: big packages tend not to arrive in Ukraine, especially if they've been insured (it just tells the "authorities" that there's something valuable inside and that it'll get replaced, so they take it home). Plus I can't actually find my keys to get into my mailbox should it get here. My keys were lost somewhere in my apartment, which is ironic because I don't have a big apartment and there's not much in it and I've been through every inch of the place. I'm currently using a spare set from my landlord (imagine the embarassment of telling your landlord that the keys were lost IN your apartment). This problem may not happen for a few weeks and hopefully I'll have found them by then (the current plan is to leave out candy for the goblins that took them and drop a cage on their unsuspecting, thieving asses), but the ONLY key to my mailbox (where they'll drop the slip that I'll need to pick the package ) is on that key ring.
Still, got to keep one's chin up. Especially if I'm going to go out and look at more ladies.
NOTE: Some of you, dear readers, may be slightly offended at my objectification of women. I'd like to inform all of you that I not only support gender equality, but chivalry as well. I think women should get equal pay, doors held open for them and multiple orgasms. But I in return I reserve the right to look at them. Especially if they happen to be wearing a see-thru shirt.