Monday at English School

While I've been in Ukraine, I've had wonderful experience with their dentistry. I've had a crown made, and four bad fillings replaced, all at one tenth the cost it would have been in America. Not just my opinion -  I've been told by Pete Bobar, an American who works with medical NGO's in Ukraine that dentistry here is first class.  Tomorrow I go in for a cleaning. If you are ever in Uzhgorod and need a dentist, call Vitaly Rusyn.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same about their hospital and medical system. I've been trying for a month to get cortisone injections for my shoulders and knees. Today I finally got ONE injection in ONE shoulder, after spending the entire day in the hospital. Let's just say that the less said about their medical care the better.

Afterwards I went to the English School, for some very interesting classes. The first class was with a group of very intelligent teenagers. One of their tasks was to pretend that they were the manager of a chocolate factory, and they just received 5 emails, and had to prioritize their importance. Briefly the emails were:
1. Cocoa bean buyer said frost damaged cocoa crop. Should I buy before price goes up?
2. From teacher, your son caught stealing my cigarettes in school. Call me ASAP.
3. From Foreman, fight between 2 workers last night. Call ASAP.
4. Order for customer damaged. Should I replace before lose customer?
5. I am setting up meeting in future with potential partner in Poland. Call if interested.

My prioritization was totally different from the rest of the class. I don't know if it was because of age, or because of the difference in Ukrainian thinking. Their number one priority was to call the teacher about the son stealing cigarettes. They said that the family was most important. Their second priority was to investigate and resolve the fight between co-workers, because of the importance of worker morale. As an American, my priorities were to protect the profit of the company, so my first priority was #1, and second was #4.

My second class was with Kate and her adult group. We had fun role playing; everyone was given a name, age, residence, and marital status, but everything else about us is our own creation. We all meet at a party, and introduce ourselves, and the others ask us questions. Kate began, and her choice set the tone for the rest of the role play. She must have seen too many American movies with AA meetings, because she began by saying "My name is Vladimir, and I'm an alcoholic!" She was also a homeless ex-lawyer who lost his job because of his drinking. Another student was "Vladimir's" ex- wife, whom "Vladimir" didn't remember marrying or fathering children with. Another was a psychologist who offered to treat "Vladimir" for free. I was an ex-con who just got out of prison; I was innocent, but "Vladimir" had been my lawyer.

I'm looking forward to going back tomorrow.