It's quiet now...

This morning we were teaching the first year students, we alternate weeks with the group home parents. After I spent 45 minutes with them - from 8 am to 8:45- we started a week on telling time, learning farm words in English, then I decided to teach them Jesus Loves Me since singing  it was a big hit with last year's students. Everyone knows when breaktime starts (pear-rim-mean-yah) and are watching their timepieces- mostly cell phones to alert me to the time for me to stop so they can rest before Garry and Maria arrive to teach. 


 Garry had them here at the house after they did an hour reviewing diseases at the classroom, so they could make cheese.

So for two hours it was rather noisy in the house. Here are a few photos of Garry and his curds and whey.

 Of course they also ate some candy Garry bought at the store and made hot tea- the dishwasher is running as I type, with every mug in the house in it I think, along with the pots and colander Garry used, and the lunch dishes. They did sample the still warm and squeaky cheese, too.

Good thing I made extra pizza last night, so all we had to do was warm it up for us when the students left, That's the two of us plus Maria - who has moved into the summer kitchen, but still eats dinner (noon is the main meal of the day in Ukraine) with us and Max Rudei, who'd come in and realized we were having pizza. Max misses my "American" cooking, after almost four years of marriage (he lived with us for three years) and now that Yulia has returned to teaching after her two year maternity leave, he sometimes stays for lunch if he's passing through at dinnertime.

Garry was getting ready drive the Mercedes van into Dnepro with the second year students for "evening school" or afternoon school as I call it, since they leave here around one and return at five pm. They go twice a week to upgrade their diplomas so they can apply to better trade schools next year.

That's the shed that will be removed, to the right of the summer
kitchen,the cheese plant will be kitty-corner to the house.

Garry spent the weekend drawing up plans for his cheese building and for the big cheese vat that Max is going to weld (perhaps with Vova's help) out of stainless steel. He was going to visit Victor this afternoon while the students were in class, because he's found some steel to buy. The teams will be arriving to make the building in twenty days, so we are getting organized. The old shed needs to be taken down and the stuff inside stored somewhere else. Garry wants to get the cement pad poured before they come. The present shed has a dirt floor.

Sasha feeding Polo ice cream last year

I have some sad news to report, we have lost Polo. He was here the first days we were home, and then disappeared. At first we thought he'd found a new girlfriend as he often did, but after two weeks we believe he is dead. The last couple years it had gotten hard to find him at home, he was always wandering the village, finding new and old friends, we had been talking about tying him up, but it's too late now.
He was always delighted to see us, whether we'd been gone for a couple months or a couple hours. It's strange walking to teach without him in the mornings, he would always race to come with me, and follow me into school. Bear is now getting all the attention and treats he shared with Polo. We still have our two house cats, but with the warmer weather, Needles is outside, except for eating and naps.

Student Masha with Needles