T-Minus 7 Days...and counting

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

Exactly 1 week from now, I will be landing in Philadelphia; time is flying.

Yesterday was my last day of work. I am officially retired for 1 week. Everyone I worked with in that department was so awesome and I will miss them. It's crazy how attached you get to people when you spend 8 hours/day with them for 5 months. Thursday they took me to lunch at the Olive Garden, Friday Jennifer made me my most favorite food of the gods thing in the world, her spinach and artichoke dip, and they all gave me a gift bag with the following contents:
- Vitamin C, airborne and Echinecia (because I am always paranoid of getting sick)
- 2 disposable cameras (1 for Italy and 1 for Greece so I can send pictures to them if I make it to those places they are dying to go)
- An old school cassette walkman (because I am always complaining about my ipod)
- A fifth of vodka (speaks for itself)
- 2 Montana shot glasses (see above)
- A book light
- 3 Paperback books (my personal favorite being "The Italian Boss's Secretary Mistress" with Fabio on the cover)

Last night I was having beers with my brother one last time and the girls from work showed up and surprised me. It was a blast hanging out with them and my life is complete now that I saw Fern karaoke Cheeseburger in Paradise. I will miss all of you. Thanks for making the last 5 months fun!

I learned some fun facts about Ukraine. It sounds like I'm going to a different planet or something. Check out some of these superstitions the Ukrainians have:
- Never shake hands in a doorway. It's a form of insincerity.
- Never whistle indoors. Your money will fly out the window.
- Never look a baby in the eye or tell the parents how cute it is. It is bad luck for the baby.
- Never give an even number of flowers. It symbolizes death.
- Never refuse a drink. It is the same thing as refusing a hand shake here.
- Ukrainians like to feed people. If you finish your plate, they will refill it and if you don't eat it all they take offense. I have to strategically remember to leave one morsel of food on my plate when I am done, I guess.
- Never shake a woman's hand unless it's offered to you.
- Take your shoes off when entering a house. Most of the time they will give you slippers when you enter.
- Ukrainians love to make toasts. If they do, you are expected to make one as well and a simple "cheers" or "thank you" is not good enough.

There are more, but those are the most entertaining. I'm hoping by writing them out, it will help me remember all of this.