Random Thoughts

A few random observations:
I had to check in at the same two ticket counters twice each upon my arrival in Kiev because my bag was overweight. While shopping today for a t shirt, we had to buy the shirt, then return to a photo processing store where the shirt will be printed. We had to speak to four different people at the photo shop before we had it right.
I’ve seen Soviet era dump trucks and men sweeping sidewalks with brooms feathered with willow twigs. These men work for the city government. I’ve been in grocery stores where I had to bag my produce, then have someone else weigh it. There are large high rise apartments being built next to small neighborhoods of squat houses, fenced in tight to keep the chickens and pigs from wandering into the street.

On buses, passengers in the back pass their fare to the front, and their change is passed back to them. Riders are given a ticket, but no one ever checks the ticket. At school, all records, including grades and attendance are kept by hand in notebooks that are then shown to parents at parent teacher conference time.
At the school canteen, bread sits on every table through each of the lunch periods, and the canteen is sometimes occupied by nearby construction workers, who find the fare cheaper than restaurants. This summer I’m told the canteen will be repaired, but the school administration will have to ask wealthy parents for assistance with the costs.
That all said, the students might not participate in school organized extra curriculars like our students in the U.S., but these students can often times speak four languages by the time they graduate after the eleventh grade.