Swine flu

Passport control and customs officers at the Kiev International Airport in Boryspil were wearing masks (protection from the swine flu) this morning.

"So, how's the flu in Ukraine?" "Ah, that's a political illness."

50% of billboards are dedicated to the election campaigns of different presidential candidates. Elections pop up as a topic of any conversation at least once every fifteen minutes. The country is literally paralysed by the coming presidential elections.

Someone (a business partner of the Chamber of Commerce Benelux-Ukraine) told me that when she met me in Utrecht during Ukraine Day, she thought I was Dutch who speaks Russian very well. Afterwards she couldn't believe I come from Kiev because apparently I speak Russian with a very strong accent. I wasn't pleased to hear this…

I'm total loss, off to bed now.