Random thoughts

I'm obviously bored and in the typing mood.
I had an hour-long conversation about Ukrainian music the other day with my host family. Let me paint the picture for you on what a typical day is like at my house. From 7am to 2am Marina has the radio blasting. The station plays the same 10 songs over and over and over. The music here is pretty much all techno or really bad pop music. I am going insane and you know it's bad when you start to sing along to bad pop music in another language. As most of you know, I am a rock and roll kinda guy and despise pop music. I finally asked them if there are any rock groups in Ukraine or radio stations. The response was that there were some, but nobody listens to that kinda music because Ukrainians are peaceful people. I just shut up and buckled up for a long 2 years. However, The Rolling Stones and The Scorpions are coming to Kyiv in the next couple months.
Next topic...
I am having difficulty remembering some of the cultural differences here. For example, empty bottles are not allowed on tables so after I am done with my beer, I can not for the life of me remember to put the empty bottle on the floor.
Smiling. Ukrainians don't believe in smiling. They instruct us not to smile as it draws attention to us. If you smile at someone on the street, they assume you are a lunatic. If you smile at a baby or tell the mother it's cute, that baby will have a bad life according to urban legend.
I love to whistle and if you whistle indoors in Ukraine, it brings bad luck into the house.
I always forget to wear my slippers around the house and it is pretty much mandatory in Ukraine to wear slippers (tapachkeys) all the time.

I have been watching "Lost In Translation" over the last week. One reason is because it is one of my favorite films and the other reason is because that is pretty much my life right now.
I realized how limited my DVD collection is here. If anyone sends a package out, slide some movies in there for me. ANYTHING!!!

Some of the topics we have been learning in language class so far are: Getting Acquainted (how to greet someone and tell them about yourself), food (how to order in restaurants and markets) and time and weather. Speaking of which, 2 more things I can't get used to is the wacky celcius tempurature scale and military time. When someone says it's 30 degrees at 17:30. I wanna climb into a hole.

That's all I got today. We are getting internet at home sometime this week so hopfully I can post more and add more pictures. I'm off to watch "Smokin Aces" in Russian and eat fish eggs and duck liver after squating in the shower and cramping up. Viva La Peace Corps!!!