Wanted for Shoplifting

OK, so we suppose the title begs for an explanation. The crime was committed last night, and I (Steve) just wanted to add to my Ukrainian experience by seeing what it would be like to go to jail. Just kidding - it never got that far. However, we were guilty of shoplifting, accidentally. Here's how the dirty deed went down: We went into a small market last night to pick up some juice. There's something we haven't told you about most of the stores around here, and that is the fact that you often need to pay for each item right in the section where you picked it up. In other words, you have to pay for the milk in one place, the bread in another place, the soda somewhere else... you get the picture. So, last night we picked up four cartons of juice and took it to the nearest cashier we saw. She spoke no english, but we were able to discern that she was asking us if we wanted a bag. We said yes, put the juice in the bag, and paid her. I couldn't understand how much she was looking for, but she made it clear that she needed coins, so I held out the pocket change I had and she took some of it. After Julie and I left the store, I said that it just didn't seem like she took enough. I don't think she took more than 50 kopecs or so, which is the equivalent of about a dime. Now, some things are inexpensive here, but not that inexpensive. Julie then asked "do you think that she thought you just wanted a bag, and had already paid for the juice?" Then it all made sense. That's another market quirk here - you have to pay for a bag if you want one. That's all we had paid for. We had bought a bag, loaded it up with stolen merchandise, and left the store. We immediately went back in, pocketed the bag, and found the right place to pay for the juice, standing in line like nothing had happened. Thank God no one had noticed - I can't even imagine what a nightmare it would have been trying to explain the whole situation to the police. So that's our crime of the week; we'll try to keep our noses clean the rest of the time we're here.

We've been dying for Chinese food lately. How twisted is that - Americans in Ukraine craving Chinese takeout? Our food options are somewhat limited and we're getting tired of the same things. The only restaurants we're comfortable going into are a pizza place we found and McDonalds (and Julie doesn't even like McDonalds). The others all have menus in Russian and we could accidentally order chicken liver wrapped in sheep stomach for all we know. We did just find a store around the corner where they sell some prepared foods we recognized (rice & vegetables, things like that), so we'll pick up something there for supper tonight. Oh yeah, not only do they charge for bags at the stores, but they charge for ketchup at McDonalds. Not cheap either - 2 grivna (about 40 cents) for a small packet. Other menu items are actually a little less than in the States, so go figure.

The weather has actually been better here than at home, so you won't hear us complaining about it any more. It's been a little warmer the last few days - high 30's-low 40's - and no snow on the ground.

5 more days to court. We just got a call from Luba and she said that we just got the required approval from the SDA, so court is definitely on. Juliana continues to charm us and bond with us - we've both fallen in love with her and are just so anxious for the whole process to wrap up. Hope you like the new video. Thanks again for your prayers and posts - we look forward to coming home next week.