The Peace Corps has a little trick to fix that. Every volunteer is placed with a host family that doesn't speak English. In many ways, Ukraine looks like a Western country and offers a few of the perks of one. For example, down a dark alley and in the basement of a run-down building lies an Internet Cafe, where my fellow Peace Corps volunteers escape for news from the outside world. Then, you attempt a seemingly simple task, such as taking a bath, and find it is impossible.
Water is rationed.
It may be there. It may not. Most families fill the bathtub when it is running just in case. Towns and cities centrally control the heat, turning it on and off according to finances, not the weather. Some homes are freezing, others sweltering.