It Happened in Odessa . . ..
I know I've haven't written anything of sorts for almost a month here, and having just gotten back from Odessa I thought I would pass along one of the best stories I've had in my Peace Corps service here. Much, much more will follow in the coming days about where I've been and what I've been doing. Should check in at 3000 or so words . . .
On to the story: The past Monday night, our last night in Odessa, my friend and I wanted to go to the best place in town just to meet people and see a bit of the night life. We started out at a bar in the center and, after talking with the waitress, ended up taking a taxi to a popular area with a boardwalk of sorts about two miles south of the center. My friend (who speaks Romanian) and I were walking with beers in hand when a police officer with a dog stopped us and asked to see our passports. My friend had his but I was without mine, which was certainly a mistake but should not have led to anything too difficult for me. I explained to him how I'm an American that lives in Moldova and how my passport was at the place where were sleeping. He, however, wasn't satisfied, told me that it was a good idea to always have my passport on me, and told us to follow him.
We walked with him for a while in the direction of the police station while he lectured me on why it was a mistake to leave behind my passport. At one point he told me to tell my friend to wait at one place while we alone would go on a bit towards the station itself. We walked up about forty yards, and at first he told me I was drunk (I had drink two beers and told him so and also that I wanted him to test me) at which point he told me that he wanted me to give him twenty grivnet's (about four US dollars) for a pizza, then I could go home. I'm not a fool and knew exactly what he wanted, which I was willing to give if not for the principle of the situation. At the start I told him how I wasn't doing anything bad and I would leave if he wanted me to, to which he responded that of course I wasn't a terrorist. So I went into a big thing with him about how I would not give him any money directly but if he really wanted a pizza I would be more than willing to pay for it and we could go to a restaurant to get one right away. He responded that he could not because 1) He couldn't just go to a restaurant while at work just as I can't during school, and 2)He had a police dog with him so he couldn't go inside anything. When it became clear that he would not receive the twenty grivnet's from me he told me we would need to go inside the station (we were outside about 30 yards). I responded that I would go anywhere without my friend, so the officer told me to call over my friend.
So when me came up I explained the whole situation to him and he asked, rather quizzically, if we could share the pizza with the cop, which I translated and, upon receiving an affirmative response he told us that he would wait for us and we could buy pizza at places not far. My friend and I got really excited about the great story we were going to get out of it so we sprinted up to the place we saw, bought 3 pizzas (for a total of 18 grivnet's), and brought them back to the waiting officer, who had since also dumped his dog and was very pleasant with us, talking about life while we ate. So there were were, at midnight in Odessa, Ukraine, eating pizza with a cop who was treating it as some sort of bribe that ended up being 1.20$. Frankly, I think it was a wise investment for a story like the one we received . . .
Check back in about 3 more days for a painstakingly large amount of detail about what I've been doing since the end of school.
On to the story: The past Monday night, our last night in Odessa, my friend and I wanted to go to the best place in town just to meet people and see a bit of the night life. We started out at a bar in the center and, after talking with the waitress, ended up taking a taxi to a popular area with a boardwalk of sorts about two miles south of the center. My friend (who speaks Romanian) and I were walking with beers in hand when a police officer with a dog stopped us and asked to see our passports. My friend had his but I was without mine, which was certainly a mistake but should not have led to anything too difficult for me. I explained to him how I'm an American that lives in Moldova and how my passport was at the place where were sleeping. He, however, wasn't satisfied, told me that it was a good idea to always have my passport on me, and told us to follow him.
We walked with him for a while in the direction of the police station while he lectured me on why it was a mistake to leave behind my passport. At one point he told me to tell my friend to wait at one place while we alone would go on a bit towards the station itself. We walked up about forty yards, and at first he told me I was drunk (I had drink two beers and told him so and also that I wanted him to test me) at which point he told me that he wanted me to give him twenty grivnet's (about four US dollars) for a pizza, then I could go home. I'm not a fool and knew exactly what he wanted, which I was willing to give if not for the principle of the situation. At the start I told him how I wasn't doing anything bad and I would leave if he wanted me to, to which he responded that of course I wasn't a terrorist. So I went into a big thing with him about how I would not give him any money directly but if he really wanted a pizza I would be more than willing to pay for it and we could go to a restaurant to get one right away. He responded that he could not because 1) He couldn't just go to a restaurant while at work just as I can't during school, and 2)He had a police dog with him so he couldn't go inside anything. When it became clear that he would not receive the twenty grivnet's from me he told me we would need to go inside the station (we were outside about 30 yards). I responded that I would go anywhere without my friend, so the officer told me to call over my friend.
So when me came up I explained the whole situation to him and he asked, rather quizzically, if we could share the pizza with the cop, which I translated and, upon receiving an affirmative response he told us that he would wait for us and we could buy pizza at places not far. My friend and I got really excited about the great story we were going to get out of it so we sprinted up to the place we saw, bought 3 pizzas (for a total of 18 grivnet's), and brought them back to the waiting officer, who had since also dumped his dog and was very pleasant with us, talking about life while we ate. So there were were, at midnight in Odessa, Ukraine, eating pizza with a cop who was treating it as some sort of bribe that ended up being 1.20$. Frankly, I think it was a wise investment for a story like the one we received . . .
Check back in about 3 more days for a painstakingly large amount of detail about what I've been doing since the end of school.
posted by Andy Buchanan at 3:35 PM
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