on top of a Lada and Answers

Here are few on top of a Lada photos I have taken this summer. It seems I never have the camera when we see some of the best ones- like the watermelons lined up in the back window or the one in Dnepro that seemed to be trying to fly with large cardboard wings on top of it. When we got closer we realized that it was just a new steel door tied to the roof rack of an older model Lada with a layer of protective cardboard flapping in the breeze.




Banana boxes are used to carry many things including veggies This car has a classic licence plate- nowadays they only use letters in both the Cyrillic and Latin alphabet- EU friendly




while not a lada the bread on top of this truck in Simferopol had to be included here




Going home from work with the scaffolding






quick snapshot as we passed this Lada pulling a trailer you can't tell but it was the one full of melons- the trailer too!





Everything ...even the bathtub?







what do you do when the trunk won't stay shut? bungee cord lock






Answers


Well I will be answering last week's question. Are we Ukrainian?

Many people have wondered how we ending up here milking cows in a Ukrainian village. We do not have any Ukrainian ancestors, Garry has a great aunt who came from Ukraine to Canada after WWII I think, she married one of Garry's many Dutch relatives. All of Garry's relatives are Dutch, his Dad moved to Canada from the Netherlands as a teenager and his mother's father came to Canada before the war, as a young unmarried man. I think Garry's gramma's delicious cabbage roll recipe was from her.

My family traces its roots mostly to England and Holland, but my ancestors came to New Jersey in the 1600's before there was a United States. I do have first cousins on my mother's side whose Dad's family came from Ukraine, the Krukowskis. Uncle Mike died of cancer when I was a teenager.

Since we live in an old Mennonite house built in 1904, many people ask if we have Mennonite roots? Once again the answer is no, although we go to church in Steinbach with many people who do, and some even have family ties to this village. When we were showing pictures of Nikolipolia before we came to stay, one family said they had photos of their grandparents in front of the old school (built by the Mennonites it is still in use.) So how did we get here?

Garry went on a vision mission trip about six years ago, and when he returned he told me he felt he had been called to mission work while he was there. I said that I never should have let him go alone! However, I came to believe that he was called to mission. While we were thinking about how to make this happen, I went to Providence College in Manitoba and took a TESOL summer course (teaching English to speakers of other languages, if you are wondering) Then I drove in for another three semesters, sharing rides sometimes with our oldest son Matt, who was in seminary. Four summers ago I needed to do an overseas teaching credit and we ending up in Dnepropetroesk.

Garry came along and got excited about the idea of mission as business ...milking cows in a Ukrainian village. We spent a weekend here alone in Victor's bed and breakfast house, and the following July moved in with Seth and Jonah. The boys felt they had committed to two years, and we were making plans for them to return in December, when we go back to Canada for visa renewal. However, plans changed and they are now going to school in Canada, so they will get the whole year (Seth is due to graduate this year.)


On Friday we are expecting guests, Victor has a Canadian couple coming for a tour for five days I think. Since we are now living in the house that was Victor's bed and breakfast we get to host the occasional visitor, and it's fun to meet people who come to Ukraine to find their Mennonite roots. Victor does tours and will hunt for the village that people's ancestors are from. As many people know, I love to cook for people (when I was home in August dinner was for 18 some nights) so if you find yourself in Ukraine come stay with us!





and finally how do you keep the van shut when you can't close the doors? Lots of scotch tape! This was in Kiev...