Thursday 13: How you know you're in Ukraine

Today's 13 deals with our experiences here in Ukraine. This is 13 ways that you know you're dealing with a COMPLETELY different culture.

13. When it's normal to be berated on a cold day for not wearing a scarf by a stranger lady with nothing covering her lower half but a mini-skirt the size of a band-aid.

12. When the answer to "is that legal?" is always "sort of."

11. When you know that if you ask 10 people to explain a situation, you'll get at least 11 different stories.

10. When you are told that you must be prepared for something at 5pm, which could either mean 4:15 or 5:30 - but nothing in between.

9. When you are dealing with an office setting and people feel that talking to you and helping you is more important than what they're doing (definitely not an American mindset).

8. When you call your internet provider to learn why your connection is alternating between stupid slow and nonexistent and they just say, "we know."

7. When you are told by a person that will fill his entire sedan to the roof with farm produce that pick-ups are not practical...

6. ...and this makes you start counting the pick-ups that you do see and looking at them longingly.

5. When ping-pong is considered a "man's game" and it sometimes causes tempers to flare.

4. When it's normal to see a lady in stiletto heels move like a ninja across a broken and rubble-strewn street that Americans would use 4x4s on.

3. When you have 'salad' for every lunch and dinner but can go 3 months without having a scrap of lettuce (I love mayonnaise).

2. When you have to get a new drivers license every month.

1. When you can't learn the language right because even your own name changes spelling depending on the context.

Please add your own little pearls from any of your international experiences.