A Weak American in Russia & Ukraine:Adventures and Misadventures Living Among the Natives

Description

A Weak American in Russia & Ukraine is a painfully funny collection of travel nightmares; country and culture shocks experienced by an American living and working among the natives over the past 20 years. It offers practical tips on how to cope with: Sexy young women who view foreign men as potential ATM machines and transportation out of their closed countries; herds of stampeding Slavs on city streets| in metro areas and supermarkets; angry motorists who stop for pedestrians at crosswalks only because they are bumpier than potholes; packs of howling stray dogs who don’t understand English and Slavic attack pigeons. A Weak American in Russia & Ukraine also takes readers by the hand and allows them to experience the agony of entering a collapsing post-Soviet medical systemand interacting with Kafkaesque bureaucracies. And it provides foreign men| who seek Slavic brides| priceless advice that can save them from bankruptcy| jail and even confinement in a psychiatric hospital. The result is a book that weaves comic misadventures without trivializing serious issues| including AIDS| rampant corruption and ecocide; shatters many prevailing stereotypes about Slavic men and women; and clears up numerous culturally based misunderstandings Americans typically have of Russians and Ukrainians. Seinfeldian humor. Like the very popular TV series Seinfeld| this is fundamentally a book “about nothing” the banal but often fascinating events that make up our human existence. Chapters titled Slavic Attack Pigeons| Fornicating Flies| Howling Stray Dogs and Mayo Heaven are just a few illustrations. A Weak American in Russia & Ukraine fully agrees with H.L. Mencken who aptly observed: “The basic fact about human existence is not that it is a tragedy| but that it is a bore. It is not so much a war as an endless standing in line.” A Weak American in Russia & Ukraine is bound to be a source of hearty laughter for aching souls and an essential guide to help Americans and other foreigners cope with| and even enjoy| the challenges of daily life in Russia and Ukraine; and understand the many harsh post-Soviet political| economic| social and environmental realities in these countries. 59 chapters with 60 original illustrations.