Here is a quick overview of things I did in ukraine.
Ate, lacked sleep, drank, ate a lot of mushrooms, did not die of mushroom poisoning. Went sight-seeing, froze my ass off. Can't feel my toes. Are we there yet, are we there yet? Go left, oh wait, you can't. Please stop feeding me, yes you should buy that. Yu look so much older...yes I am a bit taller.
Watched procedures, eavesdropped, patient care, let me hand you this instrument. Do you want more ethanol? Let me tie you, let me tie you. Tie one leg, tie another leg. Move your butt closer to the end of the table. Mechanical suction on, mechanical suction off. Umm...is that supposed to look like that? Cricoid pressure, let me hold her hand. Fetch cart, apply leeches, chase leeches around the jar, squirmy little suckers. Sit on the couch, drink coffee, drink more coffee, drink some more coffee, oh god, my eyes are twitchy. Feel confused, look confused. Change in a closet, did i get locked in again?! Questions questions questions. umm yes, I can do that on my own.
Elections, I don't understand how you can buy votes? Why do you want even more power? Have they counted all the votes? Are they done counting? I don't like his face. Wo are they supporting? And then what?
Consult, what day of cycle are you? Listen, smile politely at an inappropriate joke, make a smart face. Drink coffee, team I'm drinking I promise. Transvaginal ultrasound, transvaginal ultrasound, transvaginal ultrasound, and differelin for everyone!!
Last day in Kiev, I am expecting a money order. After a tricky day hunting for western union, and western union with money, and western union with my money, we find one, it is inside a subway statin, like literally, you have to buy a token and pay for a ride to get to it. So I have a bunch of change and I'm standing in front of the counter trying to count my exact change so I can get rid of coins, when a random dude walks up to me, puts a hryvna (an eighth of a dollar) into my hands with words "here, here, go go already!" it appears I look needy in other countries.
On to Moscow. Super early flight, some ordeal with my passport at the border. I get into the city, find my hotel. Wait 20 min to check in because some large group of teenagers are checking in and taking forever and a half. And for some reason I am being ignored, I hate kids, and now maybe this hotel. After surveying my super expensive and super crappy room, I decide to go for a walk to find the clinic so I'm not lost tomorrow. Checking out the hotel map, it turns out the not display the center of the city (I'm in the northern part) and even that in chunks. Fine, not a big deal, I know the general direction, I'll figure it out. On my way there, of course, I stop to add minutes onto my Russian phone (and look like a complete idiot because, did you know, that sim cards expire after 6mo of no use!? Well, I guess no wonder that after three years it is no longer recognizing network, and this is reason why I'm having difficulties adding minutes to my card. Bt thankfully, the girl at the counter, and the dude running the store soared me the eye-rolls unit after I left) so I'm going for a walk, thankfully the weather is nice although it does threaten to rain periodically (I have no umbrella). The city is full of central Asian-looking people, which I don't mean as a racist thing, but just to say that it's really prominent, the presence of Gastarbeiter (guest workers) in the city. They are everywhere, men traveling in groups, men sweeping, cleaning, fixing roads. I pass by a construction area and dudes literally drop shovels and start yelling things at me. Oh god, it's like I never left Tajikistan. It's really surreal, it's like observation and research has already started.
I keep walking along large highways, and over larger highways, and past train stations (I do not like train stations. Tis is where homeless people, and sex workers, and...oh yeah, homeless sex workers live. This is where children get stolen and I have poor associations with interviews conducted in the past). Finally I find the clinic, and my options are to get on the subway and go home, or walk back, and since I've already walked here, and the weather is nice and I'm sort of short on cash and should not waste subway rides, I choose to walk home. I verify my route with some security guard, who looks at me skeptically and tells me yes, theoretically you can walk where you're trying to walk to. Then, I turn onto a side street as a shortcut and sort of get confused for a second, at this point I ask a,lady if I can get to where I need to if I just walk this and that way..ummm, no, you cannot walk, but you get a ride. Like, I shouldn't walk there because it's far, or I really just can't walk there?! No you can't walk there you should get a ride. That desnt sound like I can't walk there. So I do. And I walk for a very long time, and then I realize that my feet hurt, and are possibly blistering in my dansko's which I didn't think was possible. And the road keeps running out of road. And I end up taking dirt oaths, and it's getting darker and I'm getting tired? The point is I walked for like 4 hours straight, which I don't think I'm doing again tomorrow. Time to elevate my feet.
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