Electricity died. Which is very relevant in the midst of an endless heatwave.

At first, I grabbed the Yellow Pages and started dialing. Of course, nobody was picking up anywhere.

And then I realized that I was acting like I wasn’t even living in the 21st century. So I found an app that is a sort of an Uber deal for all sorts of workers and within minutes got contacted by a pair of electricians who were driving by and were available to help.

The electricians came, diagnosed the issue, told me the problem was at the provider’s end, and wrote down what I need to tell customer service. And they didn’t charge anything because they prefer a good review.

If you are not sure how to spell a word, what do you do? Look it up online or in a dictionary, write out several different spellings to see which fits best, say the word out loud, ask somebody?

If you are not sure how to get to a certain destination, what is the very first thing you’ll do? Turn on your GPS or consult a map, ask for directions, start driving to see if you can find it on your own?

If you are buying a car, what’s the most important source of information on it? Trial drive? Kelley Blue Book? The way the car looks? What your friends or online reviewers say about it?

If you are trying to learn to make a new dish, what do you do first? Call a friend who knows how to make it and ask for a recipe? Look up a recipe online? Start cooking, relying upon your intuition to guide you?

There are some things one can discover about oneself even in one’s dotage. I just took a test included in our Spanish 101 textbook and discovered that my preferred method of learning is neither visual nor verbal. It’s kinesthetic. I had absolutely no idea. I thought I was heavily verbal. But it’s absolutely true that I’ll never read an instruction manual when I need to assemble something. I just start assembling and see how it goes. N has been trying hard to get me to look at my car’s manual. It’s been two years, and I have been able to resist his implorations so far.

So guess who volunteered to give a talk about multicultural workplaces for our Leadership Institute? What wouldn’t one do to fulfill the obnoxious service requirement.

I plan to teach the attendees the following:

1. Not to inform every foreigner that they have an accent unless they are 100% sure said foreigner is truly unaware of this fact.
2. Not to inform every foreigner that “I know a guy whose ex-girlfriend once went on a date with a guy who knew somebody who once roomed with a guy from your country.” There is absolutely nothing whatsoever that one can say in response that doesn’t make one feel dumb.
3. Not to organize unsolicited sociability opportunities for people from the same part of the world. I had an unpleasant moment a couple of weeks ago when somebody triumphantly introduced me to a person they brought over specifically for my benefit. “Here is Clarissa! She is from Russia, just like you!” To which I was forced to respond, “I’m from Ukraine,” causing intense discomfort for me and for the Russian person who had no interest in meeting me.
4. Not to list every stereotype you associate with the person’s country of origin. I have heard, “Ah, vodka!” so many times in response to “I’m from Ukraine” that I started wondering if “Vodka” was my last name.
5. Inagine that instead of being from Ukraine, Nigeria, Sweden, Pakistan or Guatemala, your interlocutor is from Wood River, Illinois (a neighboring town). This will help you stop being fake around them and help you relax and be normal. Which is the only thing everybody wants.

Of course, I also have suggestions for foreigners. I’ll put them in the next post to avoid making this one too long.

We all look at everything through our own lens (or a set of lenses, if we like to have a more complex worldview). For me, it always matters how each development will impact Ukraine. Is Brexit good for the future of the Ukrainian revolution?

The answer is no, Brexit is a big blow. It won’t be fatal but it will hurt. Brexit will be milked by Putin’s propaganda for every ounce of triumphalist, anti-European, anti-Western and anti-American (“if Europe has collapsed, the US can’t be far behind, and have you heard that Texas wants to secede*?”) gushing. 

Also, there is a high probability that Brexit will lead to the election of somebody who will not be as adamant on the subject of anti-Putin sanctions as Cameron has been. If Corbyn is elected, then it’s “hello, comrade Putin” all the way.

In terms of a larger picture, if there is no Europe as an ideal to apsire to, then what is left? Ukrainians have been making an enormous effort at transforming their country because they believe in the values of the Western civilization, in the great promise of progress, human rights, peace, and prosperity. It’s in order to be more like the idealized Europe that Ukrainians struggled to overcome barbarity and accept the Pride this year. There is a feminist movement in Ukraine that has been revived as a result of the revolution, there is a ton of great developments that look to Europe in order to find inspiration.

Brexit vote sucks for Ukraine a lot. We shall overcome but today is not a good day for teh revolution.

*Yes, Putinoids are obsessed with the possibility of Texas seceding. They seriously believe it is almost about to happen. Just like theyr seriously believed half of Ukraine would defect to Russia if given a chance.