{"id":5036,"date":"2021-03-25T03:03:41","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T08:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kachelman.com\/ukraine\/blog\/?p=5036"},"modified":"2021-04-01T07:23:15","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T12:23:15","slug":"report-18-march-24-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kachelman.com\/ukraine\/blog\/2021\/03\/25\/report-18-march-24-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Report #18 – March 24, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Featured Photo: You\u2019ll love this\u2014cutlets made from \u201crapan\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today my Consignee in Odessa started the day trying to get transportation to take the commodities shipped in a container that have been stored at Port Customs. He finally secured a truck and things got started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have to take a break as he was getting an online menu photographed for a seafood caf\u00e9 he opened in October but has been in lockdown. He had invited four of us to eat as the menu items were being photographed. I did not know he intended for us to eat EACH menu item as it was photographed\u2014there were THIRY-FIVE menu items! I had 3 bowls of pilaf\u2014chicken, mussels, and duck. I had mussels in every kind of sauce you can imagine and some that go beyond imagination. I had fried minnows that you eat head, tail and everything. I had all kinds of things\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the revealing of the 35 courses, one item brought was \u201ccutlets.\u201d I asked Tanya, what is this? She said, \u201cI\u2019m thinking how to translate the word but just eat it and I\u2019ll tell you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note for future\u2026when the translator says I\u2019m thinking how to translate this, you need to have antennas UP!!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I began eating\u2026the inside was a bit rubbery and squishy. I asked again \u201cWhat is this?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking how to translate just eat.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the table Igor understood what I was asking and he said it was \u201crapan.\u201d I thought I\u2019d use the translation app and typed in the Russian word and got \u201crapan.\u201d No help. Then I thought I\u2019d Google \u201crapan.\u201d Igor was ahead of me and as I got the images, he reached across the table showing me his phone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTHIS IS A SNAIL!\u201d Tanya said no it was not. I then found that rapan were a part of the mollusks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tanya said, \u201cYes they are and that\u2019s what I was trying to think how to tell you. It is not a snail it is a mollusks that prey on mussels. They are predators.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just to make sure all understand here is a definition of \u201cmollusks\u201d: Mollusks are soft-bodied invertebrates of the phylum Mollusca, usually wholly or partly enclosed in a calcium carbonate shell secreted by a soft mantle covering the body. Along with the insects and vertebrates, mollusks are one of the most diverse groups in the animal kingdom.  THIS IS A SNAIL!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I dropped Tanya off at her lodging tonight she was saying she wasn\u2019t feeling well and thought maybe she got chilled at the caf\u00e9. I told her she probably was feeling all those \u201cmollusks\u201d crawling around inside her hunting the thousands of mussels she ate! Her parting words, \u201cDo you have Imodium with you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for your interest, concerns and prayers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John L. Kachelman, Jr
(Odessa, Ukraine)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n