Hello Everyone,
I have been getting a borage of information about Ukraine in the past few weeks and I thought I would share some of it with you. First of all, I am a lot less stressed out about the winter. It has been said that it is not any worse than a Northern Michigan winter (which is cold, but I can handle that). I was pretty relieved to hear that since I have been picturing trudging three miles uphill both ways to school through the arctic tundra.
One of the most helpful documents that I have received is a list of advice on packing and adjusting to Ukraine from current volunteers. They have said that for men, you can dress however you want and look just fine, jeans, track suits, turtle necks, all good. For women it is a different story. Every volunteer who offered advice mentioned how scandalous the women dress. Apparently the women ALWAYS wear makeup, tight or short clothes, and see-through blouses (the see-through blouses were brought up quite a bit). One person said that if they could sum up Ukrainian women's style in one word it would be tight. That sounds like me right? Haha I'm going to look like a nun for the next two years. That's probably for the best though.
They did soften the blow by saying that it is futile to try to look or act Ukrainian. They will peg you as a foreigner pretty quickly just by sight, and once you open your mouth all bets are off. I guess I am going to see new things. It sounds like I'll be seeing a lot of these people : )
