Prison Tattoos, Stale Alcohol Breath and Long Pinkie Fingernails (on men!)

I went to KIEV! And yes, that is what my final impressions were when I boarded the plane back to Baku - the men in the Ukraine seem to have an awful lot of prison tattoos on their knuckles; they smell of stale alcohol all of the time (but what can you expect in a culture where people start drinking vodka at 9 a.m. and all day long it is common for people of all social classes and occupations to wander the city drinking beer out of the bottle any time during the day as if it is made of water); and it is mysterious to me why so many of them also have long pinkie fingernails, except that it is pretty gross.

I arrived in Kiev and had the fun of navigating from the airport to my friend's house on my own- fumbling in bad Russian. In another taxi ride I was certain the driver told me to be careful of bad drivers who hike up their prices- and he called them "communist bandits" - which was pretty funny to hear in Russian. The sites in Kiev are interesting and old - but it is COLD IN THE UKRAINE! Women there all look like supermodels, tall and skinny and decked out in high fashion (even in freezing rain). And if you don't know this already - people there are VERY RELIGIOUS. They are Orthodox Christians - so even women in the smallest skirts you have ever seen on the highest heels anyone could barely walk in will cover their heads in a religious place and weep and pray and kiss the religious icons and cross themselves over and over again.