Mike Mahannah
21, student
2001, Eastern European Outreach, Russia Christian summer mission trip

Tell us about your encounter with the “Soda Nazi.”
I did not understand Russian shopping at all. One day, my team and I went to a shop, and I took a 2-liter bottle of soda off the shelf. Immediately, one of our mission team’s translators started yelling at me. “What are you doing? Put it back!” she yelled in English, but with a thick Russian accent. My translator told me I had to wait and ask the shopkeeper to get the bottle for me. So I placed the bottle back on the shelf and waited in line for five minutes. When I finally got to the front of the line, I said, “I would like that bottle of soda,” and only then was able to buy it.
{::NOAD::}