Star attraction at the petting zoo

Some days I enjoy the fact that - unlike when I used to travel in Latin America - I can blend in with the local Ukrainians.... as long as no one's paying very close attention. If my clothes aren't too American, I don't wear my Top Gun shades and I mumble my Russian, I can at least pass for an Eastern European of some sort.

Today at the school in the village of Chistopolie when we were doing a lecture on the ills of smoking, it was clear that I was not blending in. It probably had something to do with the fact that there were more foreigners than Ukrainians in our group so we stuck out like... well, a group of westerners in a Ukrainian village.

After the lecture Tanya came up with an older boy (maybe 15) and proceeded to explain that she had promised this boy that if he would sit quietly through the lecture, she would introduce him to her American friend. We conversed briefly in simple Russian regarding our mutual love of footy before he busted out his only English phrase...

"I am Ronaldo."

It seemed a silly phrase to remember as it was patently incorrect and thus difficult to use in a conversation, but he was very proud to have gotten to use it on me. I of course, had the duty to inform him that Ronaldo and Rooney were, in fact, 'foo' (a catch-all word for anything unsavory) as they play for Man U and I am Liverpool fan.

It's odd being interesting simply because of where I happened to have been born. Oh well, I guess I better just get used to being like a circus freak some days.