Гроші For Nothing and Some Perspective For Free!

I had a chat with my old PCBG buddy, Tim D. Wade, about how much I was paying for a gym membership in my village community. The answer is 320 UAH. That, of course, means nothing to him. It's actually quite expensive for my community, and strangely more expensive than other gyms in Ukraine despite its lack of toilet, showers, and locker room. I thought it might be fun to put some expenses and costs in perspective for my American audience. I'm partial to the Portland area on account of having roots there so I'll compare to there.

The Peace Corps gives me a stipend of 3600 UAH each month on which to live. This amount is meant to mimic the average Ukrainian salary (which is actually closer to 5000) so that Volunteers live at the same level/standard as their colleagues - and will have an easier time integrating with them. This 3600 UAH is my living allowance for food, drink, fun, and whatever else, like a gym membership.

If I go and blow 320 UAH of my 3600 UAH on a gym membership, that's 8.9% of my take-home pay. If an average Portlander (who's average in Portland?) blew 8.9% of their take-home pay on the gym, it would be 240 USD per month! I used to pay 15.00 USD per month for a 24 Hour Fitness membership, and it had a sauna! That's a pretty big difference in ratios of costs to incomes between my two homes.

To get my "averages" I consulted government websites, data nerd websites, crackpot websites, news websites, and fake news websites for their interpretations of an "average salary" in Portland. For 2016, the numbers varied and no two websites had the same number. So, since I'm not a professional numbers guy (just a hobbyist), I'm gonna say that the average salary in Portland for 2016 is in the ballpark of 53,000 USD per year. More or less. And the average take home bit, minus taxes and 10% into savings, is roughly 2700 USD per month.

The average salary in the two Ukrainian places (city/village) in which I've lived so far, is right around 2,300 USD a year. Using some math to pull that down to a monthly level makes it right around 190 USD per month. Ish.

The local currency here is a called a "grievna" and is represented by UAH. Every time someone tells me the price of something, I hear Ryan H. Haberlache in my head yelling, "Grievance!" Now-ish, each USD is worth about 26 grievances.

For comparing things a bit more fun, I'll start with beer. It would be easy to look at a menu here and see a beer listed for 20 UAH and think, hot damn, that's less than a dollar and it isn't even a happy hour price! In fact, I've heard many Americans insensitively exclaim, "It's so cheap here!" It's really just cheap for us, and comparing local costs with local earnings tells a very interesting story. The 20 UAH for a beer here would transpose to Portland pricing at 15 USD! Can you imagine paying 15 bucks for a beer in Portland! The cafe in which I'm typing this up and flirting with waitresses is charging me 17 UAH per basic black coffee. That would be like 12.75 USD in Portland. I've only been gone a few months, is Starbucks close to that yet?

The following are what things cost for the Ukrainian people I know. They're not paying 15 bucks for a beer, but they're paying an equivalent to 15 bucks for a beer because of the percentage of their income it takes to purchase a beer. These prices obviously vary slightly from store to store, and stand to stand. And probably city/village to city/village.

Beets are 12 UAH per kilo → 4.09 USD per pound

Onions are 15 UAH per kilo → 5.11 USD per pound

Carrots 18 UAH per kilo → 6.14 USD per pound

Milk 28 UAH per liter → 84 USD per gallon

Wine (the ones I like) 70-90 UAH per bottle → 52.50-67.50 USD per bottle

Gasoline 24.56 UAH per liter → 73.68 USD per gallon

Toilet paper 7 UAH per roll → 5.25 USD per roll

Sunflower oil 35 UAH per liter → 26.25 USD per liter

Bread 8 UAH per loaf → 6 USD per loaf

Pepsi 22 UAH per 2-liter → 16.5 USD per 2-liter bottle

Whole Chicken 50 UAH per kilo → 17.05 USD per pound

Chicken Breast 70 UAH per kilo → 23.86 USD per pound

Pork 125 UAH per kilo → 42.61 USD per pound

Movie ticket 70 UAH → 52.50 USD

Protein Candy Bar 30 UAH → 22.50 USD

Unlimited internet (if you can find it) 150 UAH per month → 112.50 USD per month

Installing an internet connection 5000 UAH → 3750 USD

Really Pretty Mountain Bike from a generic sports shop in the mall 15,000 UAH → 11,250 USD

MacBook 40,000 UAH → 30,000 USD for the same MacBook I brought with me.

With these prices, it doesn't leave much room to save for retirement, investing in hot stock tips, or buying a plane ticket to come visit me in Portland. This is an extension of the reason why people who don't make USA wages have a much harder struggle at affording life than we do. Not putting down anyone's struggle in Portland. I know there's a housing crisis and all. But, it's good to know that one of the luxuries of Portland/USA is its livability, wealth, and financial security - and to understand what that means in comparison to some other places. I remember complaining when my 24 Hour Fitness membership went up from $12.50 a month to $15.00 a month. I was so disappointed. That $2.50 a month was $30 a year! That's a full first date! (#gosmallandthengohome #alone) I used to think I'd be miserable with one less first date a year. I'll try to remember this perspective, after my service, every time I don't pay 15 bucks for a beer in Portland.

For a gram of further thought, my buddy Graham L. Bearden, found this interesting comparison between Portland and Lviv (the cultural/coffee capital of Ukraine) made by people who understand numbers better than I do.

Nobody Can Do (The Peace Corps) Like I Do!

I pulled up to my new home around two in the morning,

And I said to the driver, "Are we there yet? - I'm still learning."

Looked out at my village, I was finally there,

To declare myself to Shatsk, as the new Volunteer!

Well, I was allowed to swear in 🙄 and am finally at my permanent site. My assignment is the Shatsk Village Council, a municipality of a village of 5000 people. Shatsk is the most populous village in the NW corner of Ukraine, in the middle of the Shatsk National Nature Park. If I could climb a tree, I could see Poland and Belarus. The whole region has less than nine thousand people. 58.2% of the working-age population is employed, with an 8.75% unemployment rate, and 33.1% of the working-age population are economically inactive. The park has 241 species of birds, 150 of which nest here. And annually, the park sees one million tourists between the end of June and the beginning of September. The park has somewhere between 22 and 32 beautiful lakes, 60-ish lodges and hotels, 185-ish eco lodges and cottages! Tons of opportunity for fishing, swimming, canoeing, funning, and fighting off mosquitos.

My specific work/volunteer expectations, so far as I currently understand them, are working on large scale infrastructure and strategic business development. Specifically, some of the projects I'll be working on are:

1. Helping to manage the implementation of 96 km of sewage line and the construction of three waste water treatment facilities.
2. Helping to manage the implementation of 4 km of road improvement and the acquisition of an electric bus.
3. Helping to manage the implementation of a village-wide recycling education campaign. 
4. Helping to develop a project for alternative energy and solar water heating for my village.
5. Helping to develop a project to create a fire brigade and acquire two fire engines. 
6. Helping to develop a project to remodel and reprogram the defunct community center.
7. Helping to develop projects to extend the tourist season by offering other activities throughout the year.
8. Helping to develop a project to create a car-camping campground. 
9. Helping to develop a project to create a new border-crossing into Poland to increase European tourism.
10. Helping to implement a children's summer camp in a nearby village.
11. Helping my colleagues improve their English.
12. Teaching a class on pollution and resources at the Forestry College.

No big deal. It'll be interesting to see what of that list I'll be able to talk about at the end of my service.

Aside from that, there's been a lot of cultural shock to talk about. People here are absolutely shocked when I tell them I'm an atheist and that I don't want children. This society is surprisingly religious. I think while communism tried to kill it, it became a rebellious thing "to believe" and it's a symbol of resistance against communism. Also, family is an insanely high priority here and people just can't comprehend that offspring are not a part of my plan or desire. Literally. Like, dropped jaws, and breathing that stops, while they attempt to process what they just heard. I can see them thinking: it's more likely that Andrew doesn't understand what he just said than it is that we understood what he just said.

I have sufficiently established just how foreign I am, and there are also things foreign to me. The ones that make me laugh daily are the morning handshakes from the men. Guys, upon seeing another guy for the first time that day, shake their hand. Every day. For years and years. And women are not included... It's strange and I kinda like it. I wish the gals were included, though. The other is with the drinking. If you're not drinking alcohol, you're drinking water. Even if it's soda, juice, milk, whatever - it's called water.

The language is still a struggle... I learned it well during our training, but I'm now 15-ish hours away from my training site and folks here speak a different dialect, with a different accent. Most of the time, it seems like a completely different language from what I learned. They seem to understand me, but I can't seem to understand anyone.

There's an oddity in local language that I didn't learn on the other side of the country. It's a word meant as a prompt to continue or a validation of agreement. The word sort of translates to "well/so what/you bet" in English, and is academically pronounced as the English word "new" but in my new hood, it's accent-ally pronounced like the English word "no." So, I'll be in the middle of stumbling through my sentences, or have just made my point, or sometimes I'm just standing there, and someone blurts out, "No!" It throws me off my game every time. Such a strange thing, and it'll take me a while to get used to it. If I ever do. No.

Aside from telling me no all the time, the people here are amazing. I share an office with the lawyer, the financial manager, and the project development manager. I could not have asked for better people to be working alongside. They are overflowing with character and I love it! On top of that, they make me feel like I'm being accepted into their group (what with the 9 am shots, and the 30-minute coffee breaks with the great gals on the first floor, etc.) and it's pretty wonderful!

Here are a few pictures of where I'm living.

 First floor of the guys dorm at the Forestry College! 

 A kitchen without a sink.

 The water quality here is so poor, my counterpart commented that I'd be cleaner if I swam in the lake than I would by taking a shower...

My room! Only noisy when the drunk kids stand on my window sill to get access to the fire escape so they can climb up and smuggle in girls and more booze. 

Everything is awesome! No.