We drive and drive

We spend a lot of time driving places every week. Normally we are home Monday evenings, but yesterday we drove into the city for a birthday party for Katya's son (she's one of our milk buyers) We followed Victor there and he translated for us although she and her son (who was 21 yesterday) know some English. What a lot of food we ate, and I really enjoyed meeting her mother, who is quite a collector and traveled the world when she was younger. The party was still going on when we left at ten pm.

Tuesday we are usually home also. During the school year, every other Wednesday evening Garry has a Summer English Institute follow up class in the city of Dneprapajisk, about a 40 minute drive from our village, thanks to a lovely by pass road that was built four years ago. This year he is doing the book the E Myth, about why small  businesses fail. He says it has applications for all of dealing with life.

Group photo last Wednesday

Every year a number of students come daily by train from that city to attend the three week session in July with the Canadians, and they were thrilled that Garry would come to them, because they had never had one in their city. This will be the third year going there. He has another follow up discussion group every Friday night in Dnepro also. This year we plan to read and discuss short stories in English.

Dnepro group last Friday

Thursday evening we are almost always at an English Bible study group in Zaporosia with other missionaries, which Garry really finds a time of spiritual refreshment. Saturdays we are at home eating pizza unless there is a special event.

Of course during the day, we are teaching classes every other week.   During our time off, we are often out and about, going for parts, and driving places, often with the students, This is a teaching week, but Garry had to drive five first year students to the village where orphanage/trade school they come from on the other side of Dnepropetroesk, so Maria and I are teaching the senior students for the afternoon. She is teaching her Ukrainian/ Russian reading/writing class, reviewing Garry's cow information with them, and I am doing English. Garry plans to be back in time to go to our evening Bible study, which was moved up a couple days because our friends are away for a time.

Friday I am driving Maria, group home Mom Larissa and some of the girls for a shopping trip to the second hand stores (thrift stores)in Zaporosia, they have some money and need more clothes to school and work. Second hand is what many of them say on the sign in front of the stores in English-  are all over the city, mostly for clothing. I have some donated t shirts here at the house, but for the girls we need small and extra small, or maybe medium. All I have is large and extra large, but maybe they will work for  some of the boys.



Almost every Sunday morning we drive to church in Dneproetroesk, often with a couple students along and a jug or two of milk to sell (we donate it to the church, who sells it). This past Saturday we drove a couple hours to see a waterfall with some guys from the church.

 The road got worse... many pot holes were swerved around.

about halfway there, we realized Garry had accidentally brought me on a men's outing. Sometimes things get lost in translation,( or when some speak English to Garry, I guess,)  but we enjoyed the drive, and saw a little water fall and it was interesting seeing where they were quarrying granite. 

Nasty pricker weed seeds

 During a stop we discovered you didn't want to get close to these pricker plants, Garry got some on his sock and my arm brushed one and they dived right into my wrist! Stung for a while and bled after I pulled them out!

This looks like where the car in front of us lost a hubcap... going through a big pothole... we found it and he stuck it in his trunk.

 Yeah I did not go over there, looked a little tricky (for short people) and I didn't want to fall in the water with my camera.

Me on a a rock while they were there

 After the picnic lunch and sharing in Russian the guys started a fire for shaslik, but Garry and I headed for home (successfully found our way  back to the highway, too)

Garry brought a battery powered saw

We stopped on the way back and looked over the side  at this mine and Garry had a lovely chat with the guard. He found out that they had been working there about 30 years and everything else he asked was a secret, except the abandoned one across the road was from Soviet times,