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Court Case Ignites Public Outrage at Corrupt Justice System

Sternenko in courtroom awaiting sentence On February 23rd a young Ukrainian political activist named Serhei Sternenko was sentenced to seven years in prison. Sternenko was charged with participating in the kidnapping and torture of one Serhei Sherbych, director of the Odessa branch of pro-Russian political party “Rodina”, in April of 2015.  The judge’s sentence was met with shouts of “Shame!”…

What is it about this country that makes people refer to it as such a hopeless, dangerous place?

What is it about this country that makes people refer to it as such a hopeless, dangerous place? Many people have the habit of using an unnecessary article when talking about Ukraine. I’m sure you’ve heard it referred to as “the Ukraine” in movies and television. I’m not aware of any other country that receives such grammatical exception besides “the Congo”. When mentioned like this in media,…

The mind wanders when you do mindless work. Anyone else have this happen?

I’m sitting here, trying to think of something to write about. They say everything comes from somewhere. Lately, while filling out Amazon reviews or writing yet another blog post about word press plugins, I’ve been struck with vivid memories of my childhood. A car ride down a well-traveled road, a field, the face of a childhood friend, images popping up in front of my face in the middle of…

Wishing someone a simple "happy birthday" in another language can be more difficult than you would think. Discover Ukraine's birthday wish culture.

In the few years that I’ve lived here, I still have yet to master the art of wishing someone a happy birthday in Ukrainian. They put a lot of effort into it and each wish is at least a paragraph long of flowery language. I’m still not sure if they prepare it beforehand or if it just comes to them naturally after so many years of well-wishing. Wishing the person health and happiness is mandatory,…

In the few years that I’ve lived here, I still have yet to master the art of wishing someone a happy birthday in Ukrainian. They put a lot of effort into it and each wish is at least a paragraph long of flowery language. I’m still not sure if they prepare it beforehand or if it just comes to them naturally after so many years of well-wishing. Wishing the person health and happiness is mandatory,…