Food:

• Salt and Pepper are referred to as "spices".
• Salt is often served (and found in flat cabinets) in a small dish for people to grab a pinch from.
• Bread is served at almost every restaurant.
• Butter is not served with bread, though you may request it at some restaurants.
• You do not get refills on drinks anywhere.
• Ukrainian salads are not American salads. A Ukrainian salad is any vegetable (tomatoes, cucumbers, cole slaw, pickles, green peppers, onions, etc) put on a dish or in a bowl.
• Coca-Cola has a huge foothold in the Ukrainian market. Pepsi also has a good foothold, but is not as overwhelming as Coke's.
• There are no diet cokes in Ukraine.
• Do not drink water in Ukraine unless it comes from a sealed bottle. The water may contain bacterium/parasites that your body will not have resistance to.
• When you order drinks, order it in the bottle or without ice. The ice is made from Ukrainian water.
• When ordering bottled water, get water without gas (carbonation). Carbonated drinks can be found everywhere in Ukraine. Bottled spring water without carbonation is sometimes hard to find. Be sure you do not get mineral water either...it's not a pleasant taste.
• Mayonaise is served with French Fries at McDonald's.
• Ketchup is not served normally in Ukraine. You must ask and may be charged for it. At McDonald's, Ketchup costs 70 coins.
• Ketchup is nasty in Ukraine. McDonald's ketchup is the only decent ketchup we found.
• McDonald's does not serve breakfast foods in Ukraine.
• When ordering food to go at McDonald's, they put any mulitple drink cups into a sack...
• McDonald's in Ukraine offers hamburgers, cheeseburgers, double cheeseburgers, FishMaks (Filet-O-Fish), BigMacs, chicken sandwiches, and Happy Meals. No chicken nuggets.
• Fish, crawdads, chicken, bread, seeds, fruit, vegetables, milk products, eggs, sausage, and beef can be purchased out in the open market, without any type of proper sanitation or refrigeration. You should be very cautious of such food on the open market.
• Fruits and vegetables are fine to purchase and eat from the market as long as you peel them them first.
• It is not recommend that you eat seafood in Ukraine due to possible water contamination.

Personal Hygiene:

• A typical Ukrainian "toilet" is a hole in the ground. Many of these "toilets" are actually made of porcelain, just like any other bathroom appliance. Typically, they have a small track running downhill into the hole. A foot rest with traction lines is usally on both sides of the track. This type of "toilet" is not just in the country. It can be found even in the major department stores.
• Most flats (apartments) have actual toilets with seats in them.
• Many bathrooms do not have toilet paper. Bring your own always. You can always buy toilet paper at the market.
• Toilet paper is easily purchased in the markets of Ukraine. There are different varieties, but all are more rough than most American brands.
• Many public facilities will charge you to use the bathroom, typically 50 coins.
• Every flat (apartment) has a gas stove and refrigerator.
• Hotel rooms do not have stoves and may not have refrigerators.
• Many flats have cockroaches. Though this seems to make most Americans think the flats are dirty, this is not so. A flat is an apartment. The flats that we stayed in were nice, but that says nothing for the conditions in flats in the same building or floor. Just like in America, if your neighbor's apartment has cockroaches, you have cockroaches.
• Only some cities have hot water. It is probably more common to not have hot water than it is to have it.
• It is safe to take baths and showers, even though it is with Ukrainian water. Avoid getting the water in your eyes and mouth. It will happen, just try to avoid it as much as possible.
• After washing your hands with water or using any sort of restroom or public facility, clean your hands with anti-bacterial lotion (the kind that doesn't need water).
• If you would like to purify Ukrainian water, leave a pot of boiling Ukrainian tap water on the stove for ten minutes. However, we found the water tastes nasty, but is useful for things that bottled water would be wasted on.
• Brush your teeth using bottled or boiled water. Use a clean glass or cup to clean your brush in.