California Flu

Never mind Mexico City - here the H1N1 is referred to as калифорний грипп - the California Flu. I'm a bit late on this post, as the country has been fretting about the flu for weeks, and this upcoming week marks the end (inshallah!) of the nation-wide three week preventative quarantine in schools and universities.

Hanna, a journalist whose husband is one of this year's scholars in the program, wrote a great post about the mania as seen from Odessa. I recommend her blog in general, and will miss her posts about life in Ukraine when she and her family move back home this December.

The Washington Post today published an article attempting to explain the hysteria ("free press is a relatively new institution and media outlets dwell on conspiracy theories", lack of trust in the government), as well as why there have been so many H1N1 related deaths in Ukraine (poor health care system and patients waiting too long to seek treatment, preferring home remedies). The article also discusses some of the political posturing following the outbreak, which isn't surprising given the proximity of the upcoming presidential election.

The clip below can give you an idea of the mania sweeping through Kyiv as of last week. I know at least when I was in Kyiv, the flu had yet to hit the capital but many people were wearing face masks regardless. There were stories of pharmacists drastically jacking up the prices of medicines such as Tamiflu. Things are calmer here in Simferopol, but you still see the odd mask.






How does all this affect me? It certainly has made it more difficult to start on my project, as many of my contacts are out of town given the quarantine-holiday. But I started both Russian and Crimean Tatar lessons here without a problem; my tutors just come to my house instead of us meeting on campus.

My registration is another story. All foreigners staying in Ukraine for more than 90 days must register with the authorities (regardless of the length of any issued visas) and I think you'd be hard-pressed to find one without a story to tell about the process. As you can imagine, this is quite a bureaucratic affair. I need my university to register me, as they are the official inviting party on my research visa. But with the university closed, I can't collect my necessary documents. Oooh, California! What trouble you cause.

In other news, congratulations to David for surviving H1N1 '09! And all you got was that stupid t-shirt.