Stardate: 11/10/2007 Watch Your Expectations, Buddy!

When I was about 19 years old, a male friend of mine in Florida told me that you shouldn’t have any expectations. At the time, I really considered this thought, but now I realize that one cannot help but have expectations. I mean, I know what he was getting at, but it is impossible not to have them. They are personally, socially, economically, and culturally bound. They are how we as individuals strategically plan our next moves in various environments as we make our ways through new situations. Like Goffman said, we have frames of expectations for differing contexts (sorry for falling into academic talk).

When it comes to Ukraine, there are some interesting things that you cannot assume or expect when you come here. For instance,

· Don’t assume that things work. Generally, the best assumption is that they don’t, but you got luck today.

· Don’t expect to get more than one errand run in a day. Banish the thought of running a series of errands to save gas. The errand will take so much time that you cannot possibly do another one.

· Don’t even consider paying your bills by sending a check through the mail; it will not make it. Banish it from your mind about internet bill pay; no one has it or does it. Nope, put on your boots and heavy coat and haul your ass to the obscure and hidden location of the central bank or the business itself and pay your bill in person. Don’t forget to get a receipt!

· Don’t assume that in this democracy there is freedom of speech or that the politicians are here to make things better. In fact, the people tell me that the politicians don’t really care about what you need at all. Some teachers recently told me that they make about H500.00 a month for full-time work at the university (full-time=5 classes of 3 hours each). H500.00 equates to $100.00 per month. Yep, folks with masters degrees, and some who are ABD, they are making $1,200.00 a year! When they asked me what to do about this (and the standard question “how much do American teachers make?”), I told them that I could only answer on 2 levels- personally or socially. Personally, I told them I would do what I had to do for my kid. If I needed to immigrant to Canada or Sweden (both relatively open immigration countries), I would. Socially, I told them that if I were at home I would petition my congressman/senators, I would protest on the streets, I would participate in making a change. I said, of course, I didn’t know if they were allowed do that here. They said that they weren’t (someone would notice and there would be ramifications), it is also illegal for them to protest because teachers and doctors aren’t allowed to here. They can’t even write a petition. What are people supposed to do when their rent is $300.00 per month and their pay is $100.00? (Check out Democracy for America or Moveon.org to see two organizations that Kate actively participates in and supports for political change in the US).

· Don’t expect that people will smile on the streets. They don’t. (I think that the USSR knocked any of that out of their collective consciousness).

· Don’t expect people to work without taking many tea breaks throughout the day. They take several. They don’t get much done at work either…

· Don’t assume that the trams will run on schedule…they don’t.

· Don’t expect an American/British expat community here…there isn’t.

· Don’t expect to search for flights or train schedules on the web. They are not posted for any city by Kyiv.

· Don’t expect a tourist office in large cities. They don’t expect tourists.

· Don’t expect a shopkeeper to help you; generally, they don’t understand service like we do (unless it is a highly westernized organization or a larger company). McDonald’s here seems like a wonder.

· Don’t expect many articles of clothing in various sizes. You are lucky to find one shirt in your size, if you are large like me, so take what you can get. J

· Don’t expect that you can go on a train to central Europe without completely switching lines… you can’t. Former USSR railway lines are slightly thinner than central European ones, so the trains cannot go on the same rail lines!

· Don’t expect to find the coffee you’ve been buying regularly to be restocked on the shelves at the supermarket.

· Don’t expect regulations on what goes into your food. Yep. Scary…There are some things I eat that give me the creeps, especially when I’m eating a fresh roll from the baker’s and I crunch down on something hard…eeeek.

· Don’t expect that the food you have just purchased has not been sitting out all day. It has… along with all the flies.

· Don’t expect roads to be cleared of snow. They aren’t.

· Don’t expect that the sign on the building is correct. More often than not, that company never existed, it is already out of business, or it is a front for the mob.

· Don’t expect that people will keep their nose out of your parenting. Nope! All the babushkas have their opinions and will constantly tell them to you. There are times it is good not to know the language. ;-)

· Don’t expect any kind of governmental protections, medical expertise or preparedness, environmental awareness, standards (in the legal, academic, pharmaceutical/medical senses, etc), or academic freedoms.

· Don’t expect to cross the street on a “walk” sign and not get hit by cars.

Basically, like Jim said years ago, those expectations will bite you on the butt, buddy.

On a positive note, what you wouldn’t expect, but will find are:

· There are tons of people here who have visited or know someone who has been to Cincinnati, Ohio! Yep. That’s right. It’s because it is a sister city to Kharkiv. We’ve met like 5 people who have visited, studied or worked there. Even Maddy’s school administrator. Cinti is Kharkiv’s sister city. Weird.

· People are super kind to parents with young children. They go out of their way to help you.

· People are generous with their time and their food. They put humans before the work. They offer anyone nearby what they’ve got.

· Most people are helpful and try to be kind. If they see your face enough, they know who you are, and go out of their way to try with you. The bakery lady is one excellent example of this. She is always trying to get me the freshest rolls or warn me that there are pits in the cherries inside that roll.

All in all though. If you watch your expectations, particularly those based on how one’s own country operates, then you aren’t taken off guard.