Saturday, January 2, 2016

Test yourself on Kharkiv

Okay, Kharkiv friends and друзья, here it is-







Are you a true Kharkovian?   

(Тест на Харьковчанина)

 

Answer the questions to find out if you're a true Kharkovian:


1. Do you give up your space for the elderly on public transportation?

Via an awkward inquiry in Russian, yep.



2. Do you throw trash and cigarette butts in the trash can?

I did.



3. Do you follow the rules of go-with-the-flow in the metro? (don't go against the flow at Radianska's crossing, keep to the right on the elevator, allow those in a hurry to pass you.) 

Um, yes. Out of fear of being crushed to death by the crowd at Radianska or beaten by a babushka with a handbag.





4. Do you visit Barabashova market only under dire measures? 

If dire measures include trying to track down a mythical Vietnamese cafe, then yes.



5. Do you regularly listen to the city news? 

Not really. It was usually сарафаное радио, word of mouth, or Facebook updates. I did like reading this one newspaper (free copies at Coffee Life!) but then it was accused of being a Pro-Russian mouthpiece and shut down.





6. Do you always vote in local elections?

Not once. And to be honest, I wasn't always sure if it was a local election or a national election when it was happening. But I followed them and photographed them and interviewed the observers and photographed some more.




7. Do you prefer muted colors and comfort when choosing clothes?

Like this?


Guilty, but only in winter.


8. Are you interested in the history of the city?

Yes!
Do I know it well?
Despite people's best efforts- no.




9. Do you buy food over and over from the same neighborhood stores?

Yes. The same stores, the same things. And life got even easier when we discovered online grocery shopping, hooray!
 


10. Do you participate in city holiday festivities at Freedom Square? 

Always! Unless we got too drunk and arrived too late. It happens.




11. Do you know where your local medical clinic is?

Most unfortunately, I did. And the dentist too!

Never went here but it had a good reputation.




12. Do you visit the city's public places? (parks, theaters, stadiums, cafes, etc.)

Yes. And I mean YES.



13. Do you know where Korolenko library is located?

Absolutely no idea.



14. Do you know which building you were born in?

Ha! I actually don't but it definitely wasn't in Ukraine.





15. Do you know how many people live in our city?

No, but I'm bad with big numbers as is evident by my lack of millions of dollars. A few million?



If you answered "yes" to all the questions, then you're a native Kharkovian! You're a cultured and educated person who loves your city of birth and is interested in its affairs.


If you had 1-2 "no" answers, that means soon you'll be a Kharkovian, but you can't call yourself a master of the city.


If you said "no" more than 3 times, most likely you're a guest, not a Kharkovian, but in any case you don't care about any of this and you live in your own little world. You totally aren't interested in what's going on outside the doors of your apartment.

********************************

Well, it's not that I wasn't "interested in what's going on outside" but yes, a guest, guilty as charged. Who knows, maybe we'll get back to Kharkiv someday and I can work on improving my score.

How did you do? :)


5 comments:

  1. Three no's, haha. Time to move?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Or to step up your game and become Master of the City ;)

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    2. Like, start wearing all blacks and join the bazillion of similarly looking black-wearing folks celebrating at The Square? No way :-)

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