2 run-ins with the Eastern European Police force is enough for a lifetime

So, some of you may or may not have heard about my apartment's debacle last weekend.

First off, I apologize for not writing as much- I've been letting 2 other students use my computer since they don't have one of their own and so it's hard to find that time to write posts.

Anyways.

Last weekend I was doing ministry with some local orphans. We did a cooking seminar for them to teach them cooking (duh), nutrition, shopping, budgeting, etc. Fun, yummy, and exhausting! Saturday night I slept over at the other girls' apartment since it's a lot closer to the base than mine. After teaching and cooking all day I couldn't wait to sleep. Just as I was about to lay down in bed I got a phone call from our DTS leader that I needed to come over to my apartment because there had been a gas leak and the police and firemen had broken in to stop it. Since the other girls were still out I got over there as fast as I could to find the street swarming with the Ukrainian police.

Now, Ukrainian police are nothing like American ones. They don't eat donuts; they pull you over for no reason to see if they can get a bribe from you. These men were trained in the Soviet Union and look like they know torturing abilities we only see in horror films.

Needless to say, I was a little nervous. I let them in to the apartment and in went about 12 inspectors, police men, gas men, fire men, captains, lieutenants, and investigators. (They're very reactionary here.)

Then they wanted to question me, as I was the one girl from the apartment who was there. However, I didn't know a thing, I hadn't been home since 8:30 in the morning when the other girls were still sleeping! And once they realized I was an American who didn't understand Ukrainian they really didn't want to talk to me.

Marta, one of my flatmates, came home and she was thoroughly questioned, then promptly taken to the police station and fingerprinted. Apparently that's procedure around here. Still, a little overkill don't you think?

By the time Marta came back home it was about 2:00 am. And I still had to be out the door by 8:30 for the cooking seminar. So much for a good night's sleep.

We're still waiting for our gas to be turned back on. We need to pay the fine for all the trouble we caused (you should have seen how angry our neighbors were since their gas was shut off that night too!) and hopefully after that they'll take the seal off our gas line. If not, I guess I'm not eating much this weekend!

Yeah, that's life here for ya! Eventful even if not always enjoyable...

I'll try and get back on soon to write about how the school is going. Classes have been great, I'm enjoying them a ton. We're heading very quickly in to winter here, so I'll be writing about snow soon. Hope you all are enjoying the fall!