Відповіді

• 2003.08.29 | Роман ShaRP

  А от на що це вказувало:

  Цікава ж стаття, йоли-пали , Україна з точки зору американця. До речі, і про мову тут теж написано.
  
  http://www.sociosolutions.com/about.htm
  
  

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  Life in Ukraine
  
  Ukraine: Coming into its own
  
  by Rick DeLong
  Business and economy
  
  
  Business and economy
  
  
  Ukraine underwent a serious economic collapse after the breakdown of the Soviet Union. The whole economic production structure broke apart and left much of
  the country's highly-trained workforce without jobs. Small-scale retail trade, services, and barter helped fill in the gaps in the economy. The 1990s brought an influx of previously unknown Western goods, and retail trade gradually became more sophisticated. In 2002 the first malls built to Western standards appeared in Kiev ("Globus" under Maydan Nezalezhnosti and the five-storey "Kvadrat" at the Lukyanivska metro station) with many more to come. Visitors to Kiev can now see all kinds of stores from the old Soviet-style everything-behind-the-counter shops and open-air markets and bazaars to large, modern, supermarkets and malls.
  
  Ukraine's economy began to show its first real signs of growth around 1998. Since 1998 the number of cars in Kiev has supposedly tripled despite the city having
  an excellent public transportation network. And -- as opposed to a few years ago -- not everyone who drives a Mercedes these days is a criminal!:) Salaries have been rising steadily, though they are still painfully low (on average below $100/month around the country). New apartment buildings have appeared in all parts of Kiev and other large cities. In the early 90s apartment owners began to invest in their homes by doing "European renovations" (evroremonty) and outfitting their apartments with nice parque floors, tiles, and nicer furniture. The phenomenon of "communal apartments" disappeared as residents began buying and selling their rooms and apartments at will. New apartment buildings with more and more modern innovations began appearing first in Kiev, then in other large cities. Today the ritziest apartments in "elite" housing in Kiev can sell for as much as $500,000, while two-room "Khruschevka" apartments go for $15,000 to $30,000 depending on the location and condition of the apartments. In the past couple years the wealthy have begun to show more and more interest in having their own individual homes (as opposed to apartments) on the edge of town, creating what may be the beginnings of suburban Ukraine.
  
  
  Cultural differences
  
  
  
  Despite the influx of Western goods, media, ideas, and practices, business culture -- and culture in general -- remains distinctly Ukrainian. Employees tend to form
  closer relations with each other than do Americans. At work employees know more about each other and share more jokes and personal experiences, creating an office subculture with its own set of rituals, parties, and socializing. By comparison American employees maintain a greater distance -- both psychological and physical -- and tend to be more formal and task-oriented at work. In America's individualistic culture each person's unique values and preferences must be carefully respected, and everyone is on his own to achieve his goals. This cultural value generally allows for more personal initiative and achievement but provides less emotional support and sense of group identity. In Ukraine's collectivist culture, your personal achievements and preferences are usually not emphasized, and you are expected to become part of the group and share in group experiences (that are often unrelated to work). There are many other cultural values which can be generalized and explained at length. Such information I hope to provide on this website in the near future -- especially for clients and participants of our work study program -- to better prepare them for their experience in Ukraine. As the advice to exchange students goes, "it's not better or worse; it's just different." An appropriate cultural symbol of the United States might be a suit and tie -- representing one's professional qualities, honed manners, personal achievement, and outside image -- while a symbol of Ukrainian culture might be the dinner table (stol) -- representing the home, food and drink, shared experiences, and emotional intimacy.
  
  
  Language
  
  While the official state language is Ukrainian, the preferred language in most of southern, eastern, and northern Ukraine is Russian. Which means... at the office
  official documents may be in Ukrainian and employees e-mail each other in English, but they speak primarily Russian with each other. In Kiev and many other regions use of Ukrainian has been increasing and instruction in most schools is in Ukrainian. The percentage of Ukrainian spoken on the street is about 20-30% in Kiev, 30-50% in Zhitomir, Vinnitsa, and Khmelnitskyy, 5-10% in Kharkov and Donetsk, 1-5% in Crimea, 80-95% in Lvov, Ivano-Frankovsk (these are just approximations). Educated people usually speak clean Russian with just a few minor differences in pronunciation from "classic" Russian (although Moscow Russian has just as many idiosyncracies), while street vendors, laborers, and farmers often speak a mix of Russian and Ukrainian, called "Surzhik." Ukrainian is similar to Russian, and a few months of passive exposure is usually enough to learn to understand it for fluent Russian-speakers. Westerners usually have an easier time learning Ukrainian since it has fewer palatized consonants (t', d', l', r', s', and so on) and consonant clusters (str, vstv, and the like), and is famously melodic. Ukrainian and Russian share much of their vocabulary, but the whole pronunciation paradigm is different. Nonetheless, learning Ukrainian from a base of Russian or vice-versa is much easier than mastering a new language from scratch. We can provide tips and tutors for learning and improving either language while in Ukraine.
  
  
  Traveling around Ukraine
  
  Traveling in Ukraine can be a lot of fun, and we can provide tips and contacts for nearly any kind of trip. You can hike the Carpathians or Crimean mountains
  (both an overnight train ride from Kiev), take a boat down Ukraine's numerous rivers, cruise down the Dniepr, or travel to Odessa, Yalta, Lvov, and many other beautiful cities. Much of Ukraine's tourism industry is fairly well-developed with hundreds of tourism agencies around the country, and public transportation (especially trains) make getting around inexpensive. Vacation packages can cost several hundreds of dollars, but if you know how to get around on your own, vacationing can be remarkably cheap. For example, my friends and I spent a week in Crimea at the end of April for a total cost of around $50 per person...
  
  
  Climate
  
  The climate is continental and similar to the American Midwest and upper Midwest. Kiev is warm to hot in the summer (70-90 degrees Fahrenheit in the daytime)
  with moderate humidity, cool in the spring and fall (40-75 degrees in the daytime), and cold in the winter (10-40 degrees in the daytime) with near continuous snow cover December to February. Precipitation is spread evenly around the year. Western and southern Ukraine are warmer and slightly less continental. Popular outdoor activities during the warm season are volleyball, soccer, table tennis, and badminton, sunbathing, swimming and relaxing by lakes and rivers, and hiking (usually meaning "walking in the forest"). Walking around town with friends is a favorite activity of many Ukrainians at any time of year.
  
  
  Miscellaneous facts
  
  
  Ukraine's population peaked at 50 million and is now around 48.5 million due to emigration and low birthrates.
  As much as one percent of the population - primarily drug users - may be infected with the HIV/AIDS virus.
  Ukrainians are generally positive about the U.S.
  Kiev is famous for supposedly being "the greenest city in Europe" and for its cathedrals and historical landmarks.
  Kiev has one of the highest percentages of computer programmers anywhere in the world.
  Kharkov boasts Europe's largest central square -- even larger than Moscow's Red Square.
  Kiev's Hydropark island has an area with free-of-cost, open-air workout machines ingeniously welded out of old elevators, buses, and miscellaneous spare
  parts.
  99% of taxi drivers are men.
  American women are often surprised or even shocked by how Ukrainian women dress up, while American men rarely complain.
  Ukraine has the highest percentage of women in its population of any country in the world, and they are notoriously attractive and "domestic" by U.S. standards (the men are domestic, too, though).
  Black is still the fashion color of choice, especially in cool weather.
  It is now acceptable to bathe in the Dniepr in swimming trunks as opposed to the traditional speedo-cut swimsuits.
  Obesity in young people (up to age 30) is rare.
  Kiev has its own official Ultimate Frisbee team.
  You can buy dental floss, contact lenses, anti-dandruff shampoo, Thousand Island dressing, Hershey's chocolate syrup, and potato peelers in Ukraine, but you can't buy rubber scrapers, official-weight frisbees, maple syrup, or peanut butter.
  McDonald's just opened its 50th restaurant in Ukraine.
  A loaf of bread costs 15-20 cents.
  Imported sporting goods and clothing are usually more expensive than in the U.S.
  Pirated CDs and software are still the rule, not the exception.
  It is cheaper to buy movies on DVD or videocassette than to view them in a movie theater.
  Groomed hiking trails in the Carpathians or Crimean mountains are virtually nonexistent, yet backpackers come again and again.
  The highest mountain in Crimea is located in a beautiful area that is closed to the public -- well, supposedly closed to the public...
  Foreigners located in Ukraine usually have to leave the country to renew their visas at a Ukrainian consulate abroad -- say, in Poland, Hungary, or Slovakia (which don't require visas for U.S. citizens).
  Foreigners as of June 2001 no longer have to register at the local OVIR (Department of Visas and Registration)after arrival.
  The "required" emergency medical insurance policy for foreigners costs about $30 for three months.
  Flying in or out of Ukraine on a Ukrainian airline is no longer a harrowing experience, but Kiev's Borispol international airport has notoriously inadequate service.

• 2003.08.29 | Роман ShaRP

  Думаю, існували і реальні "Україномани"

  Про таких я чув коли якось раз мене занесло у Славутич.
  
  Живучи "як тут" і отримуючі свої європейські чи мериканські гроші, іноземцям абсолютно не хотілося повертатися додому.
  
  Клімат нічого собі, харчування нормальне, ціни на все місцеве - супер з їх точки зору. В Україні вони могли не просто нормально провести час, а ще й заощадити на цьому.
  
  Правда, не знаю, що сталося після того, як Чорнобиль таки закрили...