Public schools in Kyiv have been closed for the past couple of weeks for the annual "quarantine." Apparently every year when there's a flu outbreak, schools and businesses close. I'm not sure exactly how serious the flu epidemic is, and think that maybe the quarantine is scheduled to give people some time off--there are no snow days to look forward to in a city like Kyiv.
My school was not affected by the quarantine, but we had a winter break last week. My friends Regan and Zig and I visited Stockholm, then took the ferry to Helsinki for a few days. It was a real contrast to leave a poor cold country like Ukraine and spend time in rich cold countries like Sweden and Finland. People don't appear miserable and beaten down by weather and circumstances, as they do in Kyiv.
Everyone dresses well but not flashily, everyone looks healthy, you don't see anyone drinking in the streets. (a gauge of public health: how many citizens are swigging beer at 7 a.m.?)
The greeting in Stockholm and Helsinki is "hej" which sounds like "hey." So all day long we were hearing "Hey!" "Hey!" "Hey!" It made for a jolly atmosphere.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
What a nice change in attitude, culture and socio-economics. I'd love to read a post about your decision to spend the year in Kyiv.
Post a Comment