Unlike in America where we receive plastic bags for almost every purchase, Ukrainians follow the European model of charging for every bag used at a shop. While in America we talk about changing for plastic bags in order to save waste and clean up the environment, in Ukraine it is a simple case of economics: people don't want to have to keep buying bags. Every kopek counts! Therefore, bags are purchased then used, reused, rerereused, and then reused one more time for good luck. Despite my best intentions, I don't always carry a bag with me so over the past year my collection has accumulated. I now have two big bags that house all the rest of my smaller bags. It used to be only one bag serving as home base but the collection kept growing and growing. And while I only use three or four of these bags at most to do my shopping, I'm unwilling to give or throw the rest of them away. I've gotten the Ukrainian mentality of holding on to things in cases I may, just may, need them in the future. And this is not such a bad thing as it keeps me from wasting. Still, I feel that by the time I leave I will have a few dozen more plastic bags in my kitchen. Or perhaps I only started with two and they started reproducing.
Bottles are also in large supply in my apartment, specifically they are in my kitchen and my living room. Similar to the reasoning of plastic bags, Americans don't want to use plastic to cut down on waste and improve the environment. Ukrainians, on the other hand, use bottles for so many things. First, the water is not fit for drinking in Zhytomyr so it behooves locals to save their bottles and get them filled at fresh water filling stations.You can either have a person fill your bottles using a hose and a funnel or you can use a machine that takes your money and pumps out water. I always make sure I have six five liter bottles of fresh water filled at all time for cooking and for drinking. Second, you never know when the water is going to go out. A few months ago it was announced the government was going to shut down the water in the entire city for three or four days so they could work on the pipes. Everyone had to make sure they had not only enough drinking/cooking water but water for cleaning dishes and flushing toilets. This time we had a warning so we were prepared. Other times you wake up in the morning or middle of the night, turn on the water and....gurgle, gurgle. It's a horrible sound to hear especially when you need to flush the toilet. So, I make sure I always keep several gallons in the bathrooms for that unexpected "pipe renovation".
The final "B" is only really a Ukrainian "Б" and it stand for Банки or jars. As with bags and bottles, you never know when you will need a jar. Whenever someone gives me homemade preserves or something from his/her garden, it will inevitably come in a jar with a plastic top. Also when I buy fresh honey at the market, it comes in a.....jar! So over the past months my jar collection has multiplied faster than a cage full of hamsters. And I learn a very important rule, never throw out a jar! The woman who works the desk of the dormitory was sure to chew me out when I tried to put some jars in the trash. Perhaps that's why I never throw them out.
Is it possible to break down life into simple concepts like boxes, bags, bottles, and Банки? Perhaps not, but it is a nice way to summarize my life in Peace Corps. And I don't have to carry around a small roll of toilet paper in my back pocket like I used to do. Plus, that's not a "B" and would not have fit into my nifty use of alliteration in the title.
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| Fit to drink and cook with |
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| Waiting for jam and honey |
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| Bags, Bags, Bags.... |
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| Do not drink! Use for flushing! |
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