I made it back to the village last night just before one am--Garry picked me up at the train station just before midnight- we even went through Mc Donalds for cheeseburgers since I was hungry for the first time since eating that "omlet" on the plane. I did have help getting from the airport to the train station from Denis' girlfriend-after meeting me, riding with me and all my bags on the bus, she headed out after giving me my ticket, buying me a bottle of water, giving me her cell number in case I had a problem and finding a place to sit and wait for four hours until the time for the train to Dnepropetroesk (she had classes to get to in the afternoon). The only hitch was the ticket did not list the track it would depart from, I went down to check the board dragging my two 50 pound suitcases and a very large carry on bag (good thing I used to weight lift calf feed bags.) A very-insistent-on-carrying-my-bags man helped me find track one- he gave me his little plastic bag to hold- I could locate every track but the one that came up as where I needed to be! I gave him a Hershey bar- he seemed pleased with the "Americanski chocolate".
The plane ride was pretty smooth, but we were a hour late flying out of JFK and before that the shuttle from Newark airport was stuck in traffic that crawled along- I hope the guy going to Mexico made his flight. Thanks to my little brother Ron and my mother, I had a built-in cushion when they dropped me off in Newark- it's a much easier drive from the home farm than New York City (yes, my family really has a dairy farm in the middle of New Jersey) The customs guy wanted to know something and he didn't seem to know English- I realized he was listing family members so i said "moy moosh" - he looked at me expecting more so I said Gerrit- he typed more nad gave me my stamped passport- I guess "my husband" was an acceptable answer to whatever he was asking! It was good to climb into bed after about 24 hours of travelling! I did snooze on the plane during two movies I hadn't seen before.
This morning Garry was eager to check out the goodies he'd asked for in my suitcases for the barn and his new workshoes- size 14. They were busy while I was gone, and here are some of the pictures they took while I was gone of them finishing up the hay, and Maxim welding the heat pipes at the sportzali(the school/village gym) last week - he also did some welding at the school after - it's hard to get heat out of leaking pipes!
There was a veterinarian visit- from the state vet who eartagged (in photo with the white coat) and -I believe- tested the cows and even vaccinated the cats and dogs for free throughout the village. I was relieved to find Polo looking good when I got back- and he even has his vaccinations now!
I missed being here for Seth's 17th birthday on Thursday- Seth and Jonah found a recipe on the internet, made a two layer cake - they had to bake them one layer at a time- I only have one round pan- they got Victor to read the directions on some packets of chocolate glaze from the cupboard and you can see the results. I am told it was very tasty, with the ice cream with reese chocatlate shell I'd been saving for the occasion. The boys were very excited to get birthday cards (Jonah will be 15 next week) from their brother Matt and family- they took pictures of the mail- including the cards drawn by their nieces Xaris and Havilah that they are displaying in their room.
Garry and the boys attended the celebration of the five year anniversary of the village church on Saturday- Garry says he had a wonderful meal after (he took the photo as they were getting it ready)- and a translator for the service- but the boys headed home before the food.
I took some photos this afternoon of the finished shed with the chopper and baler tucked in- already parked for the winter. They turned a leftover piece of steel into the end of attic of the storage shed that Victor and Garry had rebuilt the brick/cinder block wall on early in the fall after it fell down- I must say it looks really good!
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