Ukraine Confusion: May 2012

I think it would be cool to have a post called “The Lion and the Cobra” or “The Serpent and the Rainbow” or maybe “The Dragon and the Tiger” but today’s post is merely called “Bread and Water”

Water came before bread so that’s where I’ll initiate this blog post. The water situation is a little out of the ordinary in Ukraine. I haven’t really had any tribulations in Kharkiv brushing my teeth with the tap water but I did have one bad case of Montezuma’s revenge during a trip to Odessa, (I’ll spare you the details). I use water straight from the faucet to make coffee/tea and occasionally during cooking but this has caused frowns among the locals. I have noticed the shampoo receptacles in my shower develop a white coating on them after a few weeks so I’m confident that I don’t want to be drinking this mysterious liquid, (Or even put it in my iron). So like most expats I just purchase some bottled water at the grocery store. This is a little odd for me because I never buy bottled water in the United States. I have always lived in a area where it was fine to drink the water that comes out of the public pipes. If I was going to be “out and about” especially hiking I would just put some iced tap H20 in a hard plastic reusable water container. I hate the idea of all those empty plastic bottles ending up in a landfill or the ocean. Never the less, today at the supermarket, I bought some more water for about eighty one cents apiece. Strangely enough a chilled Budweiser (a recent discovery for me in Kharkov maybe because of Euro 2012?) could be bought for the same exact price. I’m drinking some of that cold water as I’m writing. The thought that I might want to run in the morning is keeping the King of Beers at arms length. Of course, .81 cents is a lot for water so there is another option for the thrifty. From time to time a water truck will pull up to the apartment building while beeping his horn. This is a sign to bring your empty bottles down to get them refilled for about half price. The only time I think these trucks are used in America are at oil drilling sites or if the National Guard needs to distribute water due to some emergency. I only live on the third floor but still I’m not going to refill my bottles to save forty cents. Then again, that would give me more money for beer and be better for the environment. Too bad I can not use the savings to buy a Colorado Silver Bullet.

A water truck outside my apartment

When I go out to dinner with people that are new to Ukraine, I always have them try the Kvass (квас) if it is on the menu. At my favorite Ukrainian restaurant in Odessa I usually order a pitcher to start the meal. Kvass is a fermented drink that according to the modern recipe is prepared from rye bread. To me it sort of tastes like watered down apple juice. It may have a slight alcohol content and is usually flavored with fruit or herbs. Kvass has been an accepted drink in Eastern Europe (including Russian, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Belarus) for over a thousand years and has been mentioned in books like War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Some of my ancestors came from Lithuania over 100 years ago and I’m sure they were disappointed that it was hard to find in America. Maybe they made a homemade version for years until that skill was forgotten in my family. During my earliest trip to Ukraine, I was possibly the first person in my family to consume it in eighty plus years? Kvass used to be only available in the summer but now you can find bottles of it in the stores year round. A sure sign of spring is when the venders start selling it on the streets. Coca-Cola and Pepsi have their own brands of Kvass in Russia so McDonalds isn’t the only blue chip trying to vacuum up some rubles. Most of my friends appreciated the fact that I had them sample this drink. However, I told one friend about it that arrived in Ukraine to teach before me. He bought a cup from a street vender, tasted it and then promptly but the cup on the ground next to a wall. I guess it is an acquired taste?