Getting acclimated

I always joke about the transition from Manitoba to Ukraine and back again. In 2010 I had blog posts about the 10 best things about being in each place.

It is more than whether you drink (or cook with) the tap water, or flush the toilet paper.

 There is a big difference between well water from the middle of the Sandilands Forest and well water here in the village- it is "salty" and corrosive to the water pipes, taps, and even the hot water heater tank, which was replaced in the house two winters ago when it broke open while we were in Canada, getting water all over the laminate flooring in our bedroom. You can still see the water line on the closet drywall (it is in our clothes closet since it backs onto the bathroom).

When we were shopping the day after getting here last week, I made a critical error and forgot the "if its on the package it's in the package rule". We learned this the first summer we were here and bought what was called mexicali tuna fish in a can. There was a picture with corn and kidney beans and other things on the front and that was not a serving suggestion- it was what was in the can. It didn't take me long to learn the Russian and Ukrainian words for in oil and in water or broth, so I could get the one I wanted.

What did I buy last week? Facial tissues. and I decided to save a few grivna and not buy Kleenex brand. I picked up the children's box (with crayon drawn zebras on it) of a cheaper brand of tissues, and thought- hey why not buy the ones with lemons on instead? Because you have to remember not to breathe in before blowing your nose with them, it's like inhaling lemon pledge. I mean the whole room smells when you pull one out of the box. I should have realized it because we bought them once before, but I was not in Ukrainian mode yet, after two months in Canada. If you are wondering, the zebra box does not smell like zebras.

Garry drove to the city this morning, one of the girls wanted to attend a Christian conference today, and he dropped her off before hunting for a milker bucket lid with Victor. When we got home they were milking four cows over here at the "old farm" (three times a day) because they could only milk them in the line, three fresh cows and one Yana was worried would not be able to adjust that calved since Garry left. The cow- I forget her name- has bad legs- but gives lots of milk, she said. Garry has decided she will go over with the rest of the cows and if she doesn't adjust, we will sell her to someone looking for a milk cow.

Garry went over for afternoon milking and was gone for a while, he was doing some preg checking. Apparently the breeding chart where the cows who are calving now, or need to dry off before they have a calf in the next two months is missing too. See previous post for the Let's burn some paper to light the fire problem. Yana was trying to reconstruct all the information we do have, they mostly burnt the unused pages from her calving record book. Yesterday they tagged and moved some of the calves who were in the hutches and off milk (weaned and eating grain 2-3 months old) so they could put new ones in the hutches, which are over at the other farm. Garry tells me many of the calves being born now are solid red, and some that were born in December were red and white, instead of black and white.

Tonight Ilya, Max Borodin's friend stopped in to pick up the bag of stuff Max sent for him from Canada. Most of the tools and parts have departed the house for the shop now. I am getting ready for some company on Monday and Maria moved out to the summer kitchen this weekend, at least she started. Garry told her she could still eat here, so not sure how different it will be. She went home today to her parents, but she'll be back on Monday for our first week of teaching.

Garry was missing CNN and the "Trump update" he'd been watching everyday in Canada, but he found out he can watch via the internet. We used to have an international CNN feed on the satellite but it disappeared last fall, so we can only watch BBC for news in English on the tv.