Today was spent mostly at home. I had a friend over for tea and then went with him to the supermarket. I only needed one thing - oil. Most Ukrainian food is fried - and Ukrainians use massive amounts of oil when they fry. They always balk at how little oil I use - but they're always impressed by the fact that my food is tasty and not greasy. Sadly, my roommates use my oil copiously and I wanted some onion rings for dinner. (Oddly, if I eat onion rings it makes my body feel as though I have eaten steak and it makes my craving for meat go away ... for a little while.) 13.74 UAH
A good day off wouldn't be complete without a little entertainment. Sadly, my friends all have finals now, so it looked like I was going to watch a scary movie and "hold my own hand." But, luckily, my roommate Andriy called at the last minute and invited me to run to the local Orthodox church and come watch his sister in a play. The annual St. Nicholas play was excellent. Maybe 40 or 50 people gathered inside a freezing cold church to watch the children and youth beautifully perform a Christmas play. At the end we prayed the Lord's prayer and sang for St. Nicholas to come to us - and he came out and brought gifts for each of the children. It was the best entertainment I've seen in a long time! 0 UAH.
Afterwards I was invited to join Andriy's family for pizza night. After we arrived, Andriy explained that he had a date and had to leave - and he left me with his non-English speaking parents and his sister who speaks a little English. So, not only did I get a free meal - but I also had a high stakes Ukrainian lesson. 0 UAH.
Money Spent: 13.74 UAH
Money Remaining: 26.27 UAH
Steps Taken: 6,885
So ... in summation. I managed to live a whole week and only spend 73.73 UAH. That's less than $10. I think it was definitely worth it to walk to city center, but I plan to take the bus on early mornings from now on. While it's good exercise, it's getting bitterly cold here and I'm a little more tired than usual this weekend.
I managed to walk 68,471 steps. For me that equals about 34 and a quarter miles in one week! Just short of my five-mile-a-day goal.
I have enough to treat myself to some steak tomorrow (I'm babysitting baby Jesse and will use the Goran's oven to cook a nice, meaty piece of steak!).
I hope you all enjoyed seeing a little bit of my day-to-day life and the small pleasures of living in a country like Ukraine.
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