In Dnipro there is an "English Pub" called Big Ben. I had slightly high hopes for Big Ben's seeing as it advertises itself as an English pub, surely this would be a place where it might even be possible to order things in English, watch the English football team on a television and maybe even encounter other English ex-pats in Dnipro.
As soon as we walked in my suspicions that this would actually be more of a Ukrainian take on an English pub and not actually that English at all. There was a small bar area with the obligatory chairs next to the bar (got that right) then they had a load of tables that definitely belonged to a restaurant (okay maybe they were going for the gastro pub idea, not traditional English pub but certainly on the rise.) They welcomed us in Russian (okay it is a Ukrainian city I'll accept that most people should speak Ukrainian or Russian but it would have been cool to have an nice "hello" echo out as we crossed the threshold...) There was a TV (the modern staple of an English Pub) but as I turned to my left I noticed that there a stage set up for a band!
After a quick check we had the conformation, no football, just the band. There was of course only one possible choice for us in light of this. We left and set of for the Irish pub (the description "just round the corner" was definitely not accurate in this case). We were all surprisingly impressed by the Irish pub, there was a plentiful supply of many different types of whisky (although most did appear to be Scottish blends, that can be forgiven) there menu included Irish classic as well as a very tasty steak and they had Guiness on tap! They also showed the England match!
Having watched England win 4-0 we decided to leave the Irish pub and head home, stopping for a final beer at a cafe/bar we had visited recently. At this point I decided to test my Russian out (as we had lost our more fluent Russian speaker earlier in the evening). It started well and I managed to ask for two beers and was completely understood. I was then asked something which I assumed was "which beer would you like" seeing a they serve a variety. I was wrong, what I was actually asked was if I wanted something to eat and given a couple of options. As such when our beers arrived so did some pistachio nuts and what I can only assume is the Ukrainian equivalent to Jerky. Luckily this still wasn't to expensive though it has now lead to some ridicule!
I have the weekend off from teaching so aside from doing a bit of preparation for next week It should be a great chance to relax after the start of the term. (yesterdays lessons involved breaking up a couple of fights, having teenage who seamed to forget everything they had learnt in the previous lesson and other such delights! hopefully the next lessons will go better.)
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