Open Doors

My second "open doors" photo: The Relax Cafe.

Unfortunately, this door is saying "Come in! Have a few shots of vodka! Relax! Indulge yourself!" It's a bar.

The building was built in a small section of a park. For some reason, it seems that if you have enough money here in this city, you can buy anything, including public park areas and turn them into sleezy businesses like this one. Oh, it started out as a cafe - if I remember correctly, it lasted less than half a year. Was shut down for awhile and then reopened like this. The building actually has a corner where the cheap siding is broken and torn off a bit and you can see where the electrical wiring caught fire one time. I've never seen more than two or three people sitting at the outdoor tables, located behind the building to the right, but then, I don't walk past there late at night.

Thinking along these lines, there is a little store, similar in it's Ukrainian way to a 7-11 or Loaf-n-Jug, near where our church is currently meeting. Mel went in to buy a bottle of water last Sunday morning. It was about 8:45 am. The far end of the store is a bar. Kind of like: walk in the door and buy candy and cookies at the first register, walk a bit farther and buy meat and cheese and other products at the second register, walk a bit farther and get drunk. Already at that time of the morning Mel saw the usual crowd of men standing there downing 100 gram shots of vodka and eating candy.

(This is a Soviet style store where everything is behind the counter and you have to ask: "Give me 200 grams of sausage, a can of olives and a carton of peach flavored yogurt." The woman piles it all up on the counter, you pay, then she hands you the items and you put them in your own bag that you brought. Then you go to the next person and say: "Give me half a kilogram of Korovka candy, a packet of salty (not sweet) crackers, and a bag of M&M's." She gathers them all up, you pay, she hands them to you and you put them in your bag. Walk to the next woman and say: "Give me a bottle of cheap Kagore wine, a bottle of Jack Daniels and a shot of vodka - don't forget my candy chaser!" I prefer to shop at Oskar....where I can do my own gathering in my own little cart - and they don't sell vodka by the shot, just by the bottle. :):) )