Sunday afternoon while Garry was teaching English, I drove the car (the van was fixed Friday, but one more thing needed to be done apparently, I have not been told if it had anything to do with what I am writing about now) out to the road along the river with Sasha, who had come to church with us and had decided it would be more interesting to go with me to Lena's English school than walking around downtown Dnepro in the rain.
I talked to her students about Canada's Remembrance Day (what Americans know as Veteran's Day) which had been on Friday, I had found a word find to print and we made poppies to wear by folding squares of red cardboard.
Sasha even liked it, because Lena always has one of her students translate into Russian so even the beginner students can understand everything.
Then I drove back to park where Garry had parked earlier, there was a spot open along the street near the school he teaches at, the rain had been falling steadily while I was talking and there were some big puddles on the highway along the embankment, but I didn't notice anything wrong with the car.
Garry came out, started the car and said the power-steering wasn't working, and then decided he would drive to Victor's house because we wouldn't be able to drive home to the village. By the time we arrived at Victors the heater/defrost had stopped working. The belt was loose and so Victor drive us home in the blue van. Garry had hoped to drive the mission car home, but it is waiting for a part from Germany, that has been three weeks coming.
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| The cats were happy to see us |
So we were home by six pm, with a bag of groceries I had bought but no cell phones. Garry's had been left on the dashboard of the car in Victor's driveway. We had used it to phone Victor and Garry always tosses it there when he has to use it while driving instead of putting it back in his pocket. I thought of it as we got out on the road to leave the city, but we thought mine was in my purse, so we didn't make Victor go back. Unfortunately, mine must have fallen on the floor of the car, it was not it my purse or pockets when I hunted for it in the morning, so we had to rely on the internet for communication.
Victor drove the car to a garage on Monday and got the belt fixed (although one that bypassed the AC, oh well its winter) but had discovered a radiator leak. He had found our cell phones and said he'd bring them out on Tuesday when he brought Daryl and Molly to visit.
Meanwhile, Garry was underfoot all day Monday, trapped at home, because the Mercedes van was not it the village, Max's brother Arteom had driven it home to see his parents for his birthday; and of course with his bad ankle he can't walk far. He was out to the "old barn" (the one in the yard) to check on the springers (cows close to calving), and see how the student workers were doing, watched some stuff on the internet, helped me clean house, and really missed his wheels and phone.
In the afternoon there was a knock on the door and Garry was excited to see Victor Penner with one of his Mennonite tour groups, five people from Canada and the US here to see where their ancestors had lived. Garry was talking to them outside for a while (I had to get him for a minute to double check that I understood Yana, who had come to the kitchen door with some of the milk money and wanted to get paid her salary while he was outside). Then he told me to put on some coffee while he toured the barn with his guests and they came in for coffee and more chatting about what we do here.
Before they left they asked what size shoes Garry wore, and he said 50 (European) and told them how it is hard to find shoes to buy big enough for him here (size 14 US). He asked if Garry could wear 51, because they had brought a nice pair of work (or hiking) boots for a son in Kiev but he had said they were too big when he tried them on and they were in the car. |
| One rubber boot and one gift boot on |
Garry is so happy about these boots because he says he can walk down to the classroom or the shop in them because they provide support for his bad ankle, which he did more than once before our visitors arrived on Tuesday around one pm. Now he has work boots and rubber boots. He ordered boots for when he goes to help milk (his had walked away over the summer) on the internet with Maria's assistance and they arrived last week. Yesterday he picked up the rubber boots that they had ordered for the the boys in the same way, because all but two boys needed boots to wear for work.
We had a nice visit with Daryl and Molly, who Garry likes to introduce as his boss, since Daryl is the European director for EFCCM, the mission organization we serve with. We had talked about having an early American Thanksgiving dinner (they are originally form California, but have been Canadians for years) but with no car, I did not get turkey breast to cook, so we had a meatloaf main dish with Victor when they arrived.
There was some snow falling Tuesday night when Garry went out to check on his cows, in the morning there was none on the ground but some sticking to the trees and the neighbor's roof. We walked down the street to show Daryl and Molly the finished school apartment building, they had seen it under construction in the spring.
Unfortunately, the car was still not fixed, Tuesday evening. Victor changed garages after the first one had changed from do it Tuesday to maybe Thursday and it was finished Wednesday evening. By that time we had cancelled our Wednesday night English group (Garry will go next week there, after I leave for Canada) so that Max could drive the group home parents and students to their Bible study in Zaporosia with the Mercedes. Garry used the Mercedes van to drive Daryl and Molly back to Dnepro after lunch Wednesday to catch their bus back to Kirvoy Rog at two o'clock. I refilled Bear's house with straw, all I put in last month has come out, I think it catches on his chain. He seems quite happy back in our yard since September, hanging out with Polo, I had to buy a new collar for him. his broke last month, not sure how many people he scared when he was loose, but he came when I called him.
Garry will go the Dnepro with Victor this afternoon to get the car when he goes to sell milk. I need to get busy and organize the house (like buy some cat and dog food and kitty litter to get stocked up for months and make sure Maria knows where everything is) for the time we will be away in Canada while Garry has his ankle fixed, since I fly out on Tuesday morning.
Now for your amusement, I had to buy a new vegetable peeler after my plastic handled one broke while peeling the quince Garry brought home last month, I finally got one for less than a dollar last week, complete with amusing English translation.
# 1 Rule for life- never fall from a high place and collision with something hard!
Made you smile, I bet. Even though we can't use it on bricks, it did peel the carrots I bought it for.
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