Newspapers

Living in the States, I'd never really miss newspapers. (But unlike Palin, I could NAME a couple if asked.) I get all my news online; and I don't really need the tactile nuisance of fumbling with large sheets of newsprint. Still, HERE- I kind of miss not having anything English to read outside of the internet. I went to the hair salon a couple of days ago and I couldn't just pick up a Cosmopolitan or Vogue to pass my time. It was ALL in Russian. So I flipped through them, looking at the pictures and feeling like a preschooler.

However, when we were in Kiev, I was very excited to discover that they do have an English Newspaper: the Kiev Post

It's like a bawdy British Tabloid. Here are some of my favorite articles:

-Marharyta Chervonenko's divorce headaches from Yevhen (millionaire businessman/former racecar driver)

-A lively discussion in the Opinion page of the metro fares increasing from 50 kopecks to 2 Hr

-An article encouraging Ukrainians to have prenups (VERY high rate of divorce here.)

-An IFES poll finding that 76% of citizens believe Ukraine is moving into chaos. 84% don't trust Yushchenko. 72% don't trust the government.

-A restaurant review of Comunalka- a communal flat-style restaurant harkening back to the Soviet regime of utilizing large-scale apartments of rich citizens and dividing them to fit 4-5 working families. They would share a bathroom and kitchen and dining area; so this restaurant was decorated as a communal dining room. The review recommends the Lenin Diet mushroom soup and Genplan veal tongue with cheese.

Then there was the section that just made me laugh out loud.

an entire section dedicated to : Introduction/Massage.

I'm not kidding.

The whole "Russian mailorder bride" thing.... it applies to Ukraine as well.

ANYWAY.

The one thing I was a TINY bit jealous of ? The much-larger ex-pat community in Kiev. There were numerous English Speaking clubs and organizations, including an English AA, an amateur English Theater club and Latin Dance clubs. My favorite? Democrats Abroad Ukraine. I would SO join.