Sunday
Today is Sunday November 16th and I am writing to you from Simferopol's main post office. On the way to the internet I saw a drunk man stumbling around. As I passed by he mumbled something to me, some phrase that probably soudned coherent and reasonable in his own mind, but came out completely incomprehensable. He was dressed in dirty clothes and could barely stand (10:00AM). Unfourtunately this sight is nothing new in Ukraine. Maybe it can be blamed on the ridicuously cheap booze here, I don't know. My host mother once told me about her late husband who drank himself to death and like many stories here about alcohol, it was very sad.
My mom called me last night which was wonderful. Unfourtunately she called while we were sitting in a bar. After I hung up, I got to thinking about how people grow up. Hell, I can remember when I first drove to high school. I had to get up early for some zero period class, so it was around 5:50 in the AM. We had our first snow of the year that day, and she wanted to "test" out this big green Oldsmobile. So, because my dad had already left for work, she goes out in her robe and jacket and gets in the car and gets it up to speed on the cul de sac. Once she is going around 10 mph or so, she slams on the brakes and the car skids a good half a car length on the fresh snow.
"Well, just be careful Alek."
She said those same words as we said goodbye on the phone line last night.
I have another story to tell about a woman who I met here in the internet center, but it requires a new blog entry.