"It is not possible"

Monday May 12,  2014
"It is not possible" says the impossibly beautifully, young 20 something,  woman.  To which I reply "Yes it is".  When I walked into the bank she greeted me. She's very stylishly dressed as are all the young women here.  While we are talking she fingers and adjusts her colorful neck scarf to perfection.  So different from my visit to Turkey last year where half or more of the women wear their scarfs on their heads and are conservatively dressed.

Turkey is just across the Black Sea, but there  is a world of difference.  I told her I wanted to get money using my bank card numbers shown on the copies of the cards which I showed her.  She talks to the bank manager in Ukrainian. He in his late 30's or early 40's and apparently does not speak English.

You see I know better since the hotel was able to process my credit card with just the numbers.  They didn't need the physical card.  So it makes sense that the bank could do likewise.  Right?  Wrong!  As I found out when I went to the next bank and repeated the process. Another stylishly dressed incredibly young and beautiful woman speaking fluent English communicating and interpreting between me and a higher up -- this time a woman -- who does not speak English. She tells me (as did the last one) that the answer is Western Union and I learn this is going to cost about 9% if the rate in the US is the same as here which it may or may not be she can't say what it will be.     Time to do this?  Maybe minutes once the telegram is sent from the US I can take it to any of the many banks or store fronts with the Western Union sign on their front door or window.  I can get a family member, friend or my Broker to send the money.

In my on line Chat session with my Broker's agent (in India or Bangladesh?)  last night I was told to call collect Monday 8:30 AM to find out how this works, how long etc.  Well I find this out in a matter of minutes here this morning.  Now I have to wait another 10 hours to get this going (pacific time vs time here).  If the Broker just had some people working on the weekend I could have saved a great deal of aggravation and worry.  "Bankers hours' indeed.

I could get my son to do this , but as the urgency is not there now as I  could make it through without additional funds given the low cost of living here and my ability to pinch pennies I choose to wait and learn how the Broker will respond and how it works using them rather than imposing on friends or family.

It's rainy here today and the news continues troubling with violence in the East and the hasty "elections".  Here in Western Ukraine it appears to be business as usual .. well as usual as an ignorant foreigner can observe just from surface appearances.   The contrast with Turkey which is sliding into autocracy is interesting to see and here where the people appear to be looking to establish better governance is fascinating to me.  I had wanted to revisit Turkey but see it's trending inexorably towards less freedom and democracy.  The outcome seems less certain to me here.  I hope for the best for these people.

Tomorrow I'll tell you how this all works out.  Thanks for reading!