Ya ne zeniu

Either I look smart or like a local because I have been asked numerous times on the street for directions and a few times for a smoke. However I have a simple reply for them. I say, “ ya ne zen-i-u” which means 'I don't know'. And if they keep on persisting then I try, “ ya ne zen-i-u Rooskee yazik” which means 'I don't know the Russian language'. This is half true because I do know some Russian but very little and definitely not enough to carry a conversation solely in Russian.

However, as we learned last week you don't need to be fluent to communicate. Our friends Vova and Lena who speak very little English invited us to learn how to make Borsch with them. Which was a lot of fun. We took a trip to the open market and bought some cabbage, beats, carrots, potatoes and all the other necessary ingredients. And as we were leaving the market we ran into Tieetsia, a lady we know who is involved with helping orphanages and such. She knows very little English and we know a little Russian but we attempted to visit. As the conversation continued she told us she wants us to be her ghosts!...ghosts?... Luckily, we just learned that word a couple days ago. How convenient! It means 'guests'. So, through a jumble of Russian and English words, we made plans to visit her the next day after our Russian lessons. We felt pretty good for communicating so well with her through the language barrier.

Back at Vova and Lena's place we prepared the veggies and cooked the meat...it actually takes quite a bit of prep work to make a good pot of borsch. Here is Vova cooking the carrot and onion mix. Mmmm it was good.



If your wondering if that big green pot behind Vova is our borsch pot...it's not. Vova told us that the pot is filled with water and then heated up to be used for showering in the shared washroom next door. The second floor of UBI where we were cooking is shared among the students and other people who live there that are not associated with UBI. I'm guessing they don't have hot water piped up there.

Oh, if you are in the Ukraine and you are looking for a good soup mix. This is a good seasoning. I took a picture of it so that we would remember what to buy they next time we make borsch.



The next day we went over to Tieetsia's place. We did not now where she lived so she met us at UBI and then we walked over to her place. It is a quaint little place that is very small compared to Canadian standards. It has one tiny kitchen, a bathroom and one other room that is her bedroom and living room combined. From the moment we got to her flat she was teaching new Russian words and quizzing us to see if we remembered them and insisting that when we got home we needed to label everything in our house with Russian words so that we would learn them. We visited by sharing pictures with her of many of you in Canada (and the USA). She also showed us her pictures, several of which were from before WWII or shortly after. They were quite interesting but the time we looked at our pictures she would write out the Russian word for 'friend' or 'nephew' or 'niece' and stick them into our album and then she would quiz us on those words again. We are pretty sure that we had a little mix up in our 'successful' conversation in the market the other day. We think that our request to meet her after our Russian lesson might have made her think we wanted her to give us a Russian lesson. I guess we'll keep working on our Russian-charades communication skills. It was a nice visit anyways with several little giggles mixed in.