On Being American in Ukraine.

"You Americans smile too much." - Philip Masyuk
This Ukraine trip was not my first time out of the country. It wasn't even my first time to Ukraine. In my travel "experience" or whatever you want to call it, it's not a new thing to realize how loud we are as Americans. Going on the tube in London with a group of Americans was one of the most embarrassing things, but after a few weeks there we blended in like anyone else on the tube. Maybe we just weren't there long enough, but it would definitely take more than a few weeks to blend in in Ukraine (I mean not even thinking about the whole language barrier thing). My quote from Philip is a perfect example. Apparently, we smile too much. And besides being too loud, which is just a given where ever we go, we also greet people too friendly? That was probably one of the funniest things to discover. After playing with kids in Kiev for the afternoon we walked to our host Andrey's apartment to have dinner. As we walked in we greeted his wife in a normal way. "Hi Marina! Oh my gosh this smells so good [dinner]! Thank you!" etc. And I noticed Victor mimicking us. "haha Are you making fun of us?" I asked. He just laughed. He was! He then later explained how they thought that was so funny; how we greet so enthusiastically I guess. Which we do but I would say it's funny not to great with a smile.
That's not the only thing that makes us stand out. Apparently we just look American. I don't really know what that means, but we do. While taking a walk in the village we went to, Vapnarka, we passed by a wedding. The band was playing and people were dancing and as we walked by a band member said into the mic "Helllooo Americansss!" I mean in that case we were walking in a small village in a large group and stopping to stare at the wedding- so that may have given us away. It was funny anyway.
Fortunately for us, the kids love the "Amerikanskis" and being American was an automatic cool in their minds. I don't know how I feel about that and I don't think I want them to think I'm awesome just because I'm American, but without that, we wouldn't have been that big of a help on this trip- at least not the three days in Kiev between camp and Vapnarka.
During those three days we went in the afternoon to this area where there are a million tall apartment buildings to play with kids. The first day there we set up some crafts started playing and the kids just started coming. It was crazy and so cool. By the third day they were waiting for us, running and saying "Amerikanskis!!" When we left a few followed us to our bus to see us off. They were so fun and so cute. I hope that they do end up going to the kids club that our hosts told them about the last afternoon we were there. My friend from the last time I came to Ukraine came with us the last afternoon, and he told me how his girlfriend told him that she remembered when she was six years old some Americans, like us, came and played with her. She's 18 now and she remembers when she was six Americans came. To think that these kids are going to remember us 12 years from now is crazy and I hope I remember them 12 years from now too. Maybe I won't remember their faces or names, but I will remember them and Ukraine. This was not my last time coming to that country.