Khappy Khalloveen

EDIT (Nov 1)
My attempt to evade drunk babushka was disastrous.  As I was closing the door to my room, she appeared and told me in Surzhyk to come to the kitchen.  She grabbed my arm.  In the kitchen, she produced a small bottle of vodka and soon enough, there were 2 shot glasses of Russian vodka on the table.  Thankfully, Olga and I said I couldn't, since I hadn't eaten yet.  After some kasha and kolbasa were on the table, we had a few toasts.  She asked me (very, very loudly) "Sprechen sie Deutsch?"  Apparently she was in the Soviet military in Germany for some time.  This whole time, Olga was grinning behind her and making the Russian/Ukrainian sign for being drunk/wanting a drink, which is flicking your neck, and pointing at her.  She left, eventually, but not before saying something about wishing my family well--mother, father, wife, and girlfriend.  Yes, and.  Shortly after Olga came in with a handwritten note that said (in Russian), She's an alcoholic.  She's 66 years old.
Another Sunday night in Vasylkov.

Today, my host nephew Taras (age 7) was wearing a Spiderman costume without explanation.  I assume it had something to do with Halloween--Ukrainians know about it but don't really celebrate--but my family never made any reference to it and acted normally otherwise.  Maybe he just wanted to wear it.
Daylight savings time for Europe ended today, which means 3 things.  1) Clocks moved back an hour, meaning more sleep for me, B) Since US DST doesn't end until Nov. 7, for the next week we are only 6 hours ahead of the east coast, and 3) it gets dark at 5 PM now.  And in December, it will be dark here by 4:30.  Going to be interesting.
Yesterday, I spent most of the day in Kiev.  To get there is about a 30 minute bus ride, costing 8grv ($1), followed by a metro ride for about 3 stops.  In less than 1 hour I can be in the heart downtown Kiev from my apartment for about $1.25.  Kiev is great--what you'd expect in almost any European city, only without Western European prices.  It has everything from Ukrainian and Russian chain restaurants to, of course, McDonald's and Domino's Pizza (with delivery drivers--on motorcycles).
Today, I slept until around noon, enjoyed a breakfast of potatoes, cabbage, and pork, and then caught up on some work.  I went for a run today in my neighborhood--the weather was great, clear skies and around 14 Celsius.  The sight of an American in shorts running around for no apparent reason caught a few stares, mostly from old men (who chuckled), teenage girls (who giggled, blushed, and stared), and young children, who started running with me for about 100 meters until I guess they either got tired or bored.
My Russian has made leaps and bounds since I last wrote here.  I can now comfortably talk about things in the past, present, and future--Russian only has 3 tenses.  The rest will come soon, I hope.
And now I am done.  I will be eating soon.  And, more importantly, I am going to hide in my room because the old lady who occasionally barges into our apartment, очень синая (very drunk), has returned.  She is very loud and babbles away in Surzhyk, the patois of Ukrainian and Russian favored by uneducated Ukrainians in central Ukraine.  I really just don't want to smell vodka and menthol cigarettes right now and be subjected to questions about whether I have a wife (why don't you), and am I looking for one (you want a Ukrainian one?  I'll find one for you!)

The best of Ukrainian humor, translated
Heaven is a British house, a Ukrainian wife, an American salary, and Chinese food.  Hell is a Chinese house, an American wife, a Ukrainian salary, and British food.

эндрю шелл