Luhansk

After people discover just where in the world Ukraine is:

they then want to know where in Ukraine I'll be heading for my assignment. No, I'm not heading to the amazing capital of Kiev, the Carpathian mountian region in Ukraine's west, or even the warm resort Mediterranean isthmus of Crimea in the South. Instead, I'm heading to a city of about 400,000 in the very east known as Luhansk:

This part of Ukraine is most definitely post-Soviet and very, very Russian. It's known as not being Ukrainian enough, and for having a tough, industrial vibe. Perhaps the best--no, the most hilarious, description I've found so far to describe where I'm going is from the Ukraine travel guide from Bradt (2007) which states:

"Being a drab and forlorn mid-size city on the fringe of Ukraine's industrial fringe, Luhansk was once targeted by the likes of dental tourists and creepy old men shopping for mail-order brides. The rather bored and despondent populace reacted by becoming totally addicted to the internet, and today it's one of the most wired cities in the country. Few Ukrainian cities preserve the Soviet aesthetic like Luhansk...you'll have a great time [here], as long as you can appreciate history and irony."

I'm going to go ahead and interpret that as I'm going to a place where the abundance of beautiful women have nice teeth and are whizzes at the internet! Bring it!