A simple “Target” return in Slavutich was anything but. I bought a large barrel curling iron the other day at Technopolis (electronic, home appliance store), they even have a red dot on their bags, so you almost think you have gone to Target (no, not really). Shopping there always starts with putting any large bags or backpacks in a locker before entering the shopping area (it’s assumed that everyone is going to steal from every store so you have to “lock” any large personal items up). Anyway, the curling iron I chose was inspected and tested to be sure it heats up, all was well. My friend and I found what we wanted and headed to the check out in less than 5 minutes. She purchased the items with her discount card. This takes several minutes, entering item numbers and more stuff and more stuff, than the guy who stands at the end of the checkout counter watching the entire time must check the item number on the box with the item number on the receipt. During his checking my curling iron numbers did not match the receipt so another guy left with my curling iron and 2-3 minutes later came back with the same box (or so I thought). We left the store after nearly 20 minutes , remembering how much this store is not like Target (or any American shopping experience, except maybe Best Buy).
A couple days later I opened the box to test out the curling iron and try a style in Ellie’s hair for her Halloween costume…. The item in the box was a smaller barrel iron (which I already own one of those). Now I was going to have to do the dreaded task of returning the item (actually just exchanging). Simple, right? They’re the ones that switched my item anyway. Sigh, I have the receipt, the unopened iron (they didn’t even break the plastic to test it, very big mistake on their part), and my Ukrainian friend to make the exchange easier. They look at the item, listen to Marina explain the problem, hum and haw, and finally agree to make the trade but that they would need my I.D. (passport), what on earth for?! Uugh, I hum and hawed, but I don’t want to own a 280 UAH ($30 iron that I already have), so I relent and hand over my passport which they proceed to walk away with it and tell me it will be about 20 minutes and we should shop around. Yikes, I hated handing over my passport (how ridiculous)! Grrr!
Marina and I snooped around, looking at things she wants to get eventually. Finally a clerk came out and informed us that my item is actually 30 UAH ($2.5) less than the one they charged me for. Great I thought for a very brief moment as I was informed that I needed to find another item to make up the difference (I could not get the UAH back). Yet another ridiculous problem. The other problem is that there is almost nothing in this store for 30 UAH especially anything that I would want. I told my friend to pick a movie for herself; turns out they had two prices for movies 10 UAH or 80 UAH. Neither of us felt a movie was worth the 80UAH so she eventually found one for 10. I still had a lousy 20UAH to spend; I saw rechargeable batteries and after consulting Tony we decided that would be fine. Turns out the price on the 2 pack of batteries was the price for just one battery, that’s right they take just one battery out of the package and sell it individually (weird and dumb, who needs just one rechargeable), grrr. Honestly, I don’t even know what I ended up getting, but we finally left the store an hour after we arrived with the correct curling iron, a movie, my passport and something else that I did not actually want to buy. As we walked through the parking lot and I saw my bag swinging with a red dot on it I informed my friend that it was nothing, absolutely nothing like shopping at Target!
We left New Years Day to France to spend the next week exploring Paris and spending time at Disney We had a small surprise for the girls – a stop at Euro Disney, they knew something was coming because we told them to get some rest (remember 4am) because we had something special planned for them and they wouldn’t be going to bed early. When we get into the train station there are Mickey ears, posters, Disney Village outside the doors…the girls were oblivious, but we took them outside and had them read the signs and as it started to sink in, they linked arms and started dancing in circles singing “this is our surprise, this is our surprise…” The grounds were laid out very much like Disney Land California just with a European flare (smoking, wine and they close at 6pm) 
This by far is the most exciting New Year I have ever been a part of; we were on Westminster Bridge a 100 yards from Big Ben right in front of the London Eye! Words and pictures can’t do justice the shear energy and excitement that this event held – the girls fell asleep for a little while, but as the hour drew near even they were shaken with the excitement! It was enough to keep them up for another 2 hours to get back to the hotel (that’s 4am Ukraine time) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1yLRK2M8YQ
