I've spent over 3 total years of my life in Ukraine, and I've seen a lot of crazy dancing and strange moments, but never, until this weekend, did I see the chicken dance. The old people who go to the graybeard dancing hot spot in Hydropark were twisting to the chicken dance. It made my night.
Note on previous post. The chicken dance here is called the "little duckling" dance. When you think about the dance itself, this actually seems more accurate.
Monday, March 31, 2008
You look like a Stanislav
My apartment building is not all that unfriendly, given the usual nature of Ukrainian apartment buildings. This could be due to the fact that the residents of my building are somewhat rich by Ukrainian standards, or foreign (well, at least one foreigner...that Italian guy). By not "unfriendly" I mean that some people talk to me in the elevator. The old lady with the cane and the dashchound (sp?) always talks to me. Some guy the other day asked if I knew what the weather was going to be like the next day. "Nice," I said, which was true, at least according to the Yahoo forecast. So I am now used to the occasional question in the elevator that is not "Going down?" A few days ago a couple got into the elevator a few floors down from me. I am not sure which had the more powerful scent, the girlfriend/wife/lover/secret lover's perfume, or the dude's leather coat. Probably the coat. Still, I was listening to some podcast about the history of the tank between the world wars, which is why the following conversation took me off guard.
Dandy in the leather coat: "Are you Stanislav?"
Me: "What?"
Dandy in the leather coat: "Are you Stanislav?"
Me: "No."
Girlfriend/wife/lover/secret lover of dude in leather coat: "Why did you ask that?"
Dandy in leather coat: "I heard about a guy named Stanislav living upstairs."
Dandy in the leather coat: "Are you Stanislav?"
Me: "What?"
Dandy in the leather coat: "Are you Stanislav?"
Me: "No."
Girlfriend/wife/lover/secret lover of dude in leather coat: "Why did you ask that?"
Dandy in leather coat: "I heard about a guy named Stanislav living upstairs."
Monday, March 17, 2008
The Adventures of Mukhtar the Second
My outrageously over-priced gym features just 2 working treadmills and 3 elliptical machines. Just above these machines are two TV's, one of which is set, at all times, to the retch-inducing Fashion TV. I can only stand Fashion TV when I chuckle to myself thinking about how strikingly accurate "Zoolander" was about the ridiculous nature of these fashion shows. The other TV is sometimes turned to the news, which is a waste, as there is no volume, just the loud thumping of disco/house music on the gym's speakers. Sometimes, mercifully, there is some kind of soccer or hockey game on, which can at least distract me with the movement of the players.
The other day, though, in the morning, the second TV was turned to local station One Plus One. at 9.15 AM, a Russian television series is showing. The show is the Turner and Hooch and K-9 of Russian television programming. It features a crime-fighting german shepherd, Mukhtar, and his handler, Artem. I havent figured out why this is the second Mukhtar. My only guess is that Mukhtar the First was killed in the line of duty in a previous season. I've now watched two episodes of Mukhtar and figured out that the plot will always be the same. In the prologue, some crime is discovered. After the opening credits, which end with an adorable shot of Mukhtar is a policeman's hat, Mukhtar and Artem arrive on the scene to solve the whoodunit for the week. Here is One Plus One's description of the show:
Mukchtar's Return
This dog has keen sense of smell, perfect auditory acuity, generous heart and boundless devotion, but only to its master Artem Kolosov and friends – Olena and Tolik. This restless trio investigates criminal cases with indispensable help of Mukchtar's unique intuition, high professionalism and inventiveness. That's why he is a four-leg employee of law machinery and justice defender. Besides, Mukchtar can always get something tasty as a reward…
The other day, though, in the morning, the second TV was turned to local station One Plus One. at 9.15 AM, a Russian television series is showing. The show is the Turner and Hooch and K-9 of Russian television programming. It features a crime-fighting german shepherd, Mukhtar, and his handler, Artem. I havent figured out why this is the second Mukhtar. My only guess is that Mukhtar the First was killed in the line of duty in a previous season. I've now watched two episodes of Mukhtar and figured out that the plot will always be the same. In the prologue, some crime is discovered. After the opening credits, which end with an adorable shot of Mukhtar is a policeman's hat, Mukhtar and Artem arrive on the scene to solve the whoodunit for the week. Here is One Plus One's description of the show:
Mukchtar's Return
This dog has keen sense of smell, perfect auditory acuity, generous heart and boundless devotion, but only to its master Artem Kolosov and friends – Olena and Tolik. This restless trio investigates criminal cases with indispensable help of Mukchtar's unique intuition, high professionalism and inventiveness. That's why he is a four-leg employee of law machinery and justice defender. Besides, Mukchtar can always get something tasty as a reward…
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Sprite Girls Vs. BK Kyiv Support Squad
Kyiv's main basketball is called BK Kyiv, and is made up mostly of tall Ukrianian guys, shooting guards and forwards from a variety of Balkan countries, and assorted ex-Division I American guys who couldnt cut it in the NBA. BK Kyiv's roster includes former players from universities such as South Carolina, University of Wyoming, and South Dakota. BK Kyiv's roster is actually quite similar to many other teams in the Ukrainian Super League, and very similar to other teams in the eastern and southern European leagues. BK Kyiv's opponent on that night, some team from Poland, had a similar makeup of their team. Their best player was some guy called Logan who looked a bit like Drew Gooden (maybe it was the bald head and the headband), and who scored nearly 30 points on the night against a sub-standard BK Kyiv team.
The game took place at the Palace of Sport and the capacity was about the size of a large high school gym or small college gym. The crowd was a bit subdued at the beginning of the game (as opposed to the soccer games I've witnessed), but got a little more into things as the game progressed and the Kyiv team continued to make boneheaded plays. Behind one end, there was a small band of die-hard supporters with drums, horns, scarves, and Kyiv shirts. Right in front of the supporter section was a group of 6 girls dressed in Sprite shirts and short green skirts with long green leggings. Before the game, we had watched the Sprite girls danced while a local guy paid by Sprite rapped about the merits of Sprite in Russian. Not surprisingly, the Sprite girls had very little rhythm and hadnt seemed to practice the "Sprite sway" for more than a few minutes before the game. On the other hand, the BK Kyiv support squad had practiced quite a bit. Most Ukrainian basketball teams have support squad, which is the cheerleading squad. The BK Kyiv support squad appeared during every time out and break between periods in progressively more provocative outfits to entertain the crowd. I began to think the Sprite girls might be the JV squad, training to be a real BK Kyiv cheerleader. But its hard to say. In any case, the BK Kyiv cheerleaders were the second most impressive sight of the night, after the BK Kyiv mascot, lets call him "Wolfie." Thats not an exact translation, but close. Wolfie is a wolf with sunglasses who wears a BK uniform, and who excelled at doing several back and front flips in a row during each break.
The game took place at the Palace of Sport and the capacity was about the size of a large high school gym or small college gym. The crowd was a bit subdued at the beginning of the game (as opposed to the soccer games I've witnessed), but got a little more into things as the game progressed and the Kyiv team continued to make boneheaded plays. Behind one end, there was a small band of die-hard supporters with drums, horns, scarves, and Kyiv shirts. Right in front of the supporter section was a group of 6 girls dressed in Sprite shirts and short green skirts with long green leggings. Before the game, we had watched the Sprite girls danced while a local guy paid by Sprite rapped about the merits of Sprite in Russian. Not surprisingly, the Sprite girls had very little rhythm and hadnt seemed to practice the "Sprite sway" for more than a few minutes before the game. On the other hand, the BK Kyiv support squad had practiced quite a bit. Most Ukrainian basketball teams have support squad, which is the cheerleading squad. The BK Kyiv support squad appeared during every time out and break between periods in progressively more provocative outfits to entertain the crowd. I began to think the Sprite girls might be the JV squad, training to be a real BK Kyiv cheerleader. But its hard to say. In any case, the BK Kyiv cheerleaders were the second most impressive sight of the night, after the BK Kyiv mascot, lets call him "Wolfie." Thats not an exact translation, but close. Wolfie is a wolf with sunglasses who wears a BK uniform, and who excelled at doing several back and front flips in a row during each break.
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