Visiting and pizza

We had no further intrusions into the house,  as far as we can tell, and Garry and Victor changed the locks on Monday afternoon.  Since we were out pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday,  I did send a bag over to the Crawfords to keep until we got the new lock and keys. We gave both girls keys on lanyards for when they leave the house, and have one for ourselves,  with the fourth key in Victor's hands. Lock sets come with four keys here.

Saturday  Garry was teaching at 9 am again, we left the village around 7:30 with two students in the back seat of the car, Valentina was going to Dnepro to visit friends  from central Baptist church,  she returned Sunday afternoon.  Vanya is going to the hospital for a month to be tested for a mental disability,  he's hoping to get a factory job if he does get it. They hire a percentage of handicapped workers, so he's hoping to get into the electric plant that did not hire him when he graduated from university this summer.

We dropped off both students and tried breakfast at KFC before Garry had to teach. It was interesting but we decided McDonald's would be better.  I had eggs and chicken bites and Garry had an egg and cheese on a bun with French fries.

I ran around shopping while Garry was teaching,  and picked up some lunch to eat. Then Garry was off in the car to find an English class taught by an SEI student.  Meanwhile I took two trams, first the number one from downtown to the train station,  then the eleven to where I was going to help with testing at another English school,  Tanya's.  I had to wait a bit at the train station, since an 11 was there when I arrived,  but pulled away as I walked over to it. Then I accidentally got off too soon, and had to walk a couple blocks up Rabotcha street. I was on time, but slightly out of breath.

Garry came later, some of the students got to ask him questions in English.  I got to ask all of them questions,  and listen to them talk about why being a teenager is difficult.  One said it wasn't difficult,  by the way.

Afterwards,  Tanya took us to dinner at a Gergian restaurant.  It had delicious food and interesting decor. Garry introduced himself to a couple English teachers who arrived at a nearby table before we left, they were from the United States and Canada.

Sunday morning we left before 7:30, since we had decided to go to Daryl and Molly Porter's church in Kirvoy Rog.  The road there is much improved,  with some sections newly paved, and most of the rest of it has been patched. Some of that is still pretty bumpy,  but a huge improvement over the highway's normal condition.

We arrived so early we got the GPS on Garry's phone to find a McDonald's for breakfast. We just had Mcmuffins (Garry had the chicken one) but you can see in the photo that there are many interesting choices.  French fries are now for breakfast,  or kasha (oatmeal) or McToast (the circle with cheese). At ten o'clock the place filled up, that's when they start serving the non-breakfast menu.

Then the trusty phone GPS showed us the way to the Bridge church.  I had never been there, and Garry was there last January while they were still finishing the building.  The small building is nice and seems big enough for the current congregation.  They said many people were absent this Sunday,  but it was a nice service.

Adam and Luba led the praise and worship singing, in Ukrainian and Russian. Luba is a great translator,  Garry thought. Daryl was preaching in English,  of course.  Afterward there was tea, sandwiches and fruit. I talked to Roma, who was disappointed that Kolya didn't come with us. I showed him pictures of the baby on my phone.

Afterwards we went to the Porter apartment so they could pick up their bags, they were going to Hungary Monday  morning to visit the missionary families there and set up details for our European conference next June (they are still looking for child care and music volunteers if you want to see Budapest). Since we were coming they canceled their bus tickets, and we going to drop them at Victor's house in Dnepro, so he could take them to the airport in the morning.

Before leaving the city we stopped at a cafe owned by someone in their church for a bite to eat.  The cafe had amazing murals painted by the owner.

It was a fast uneventful ride to Victor's house, other than Garry getting a phone call about breeding a cow after getting home. We were home in plenty of time to get the cow bred before watching the Eagles game on the wifi.

Monday morning I was back teaching English at 8 am, and the lesson was about come, so I said "Come to my house at 5 pm. I am making pizza."

So we had pizza in the evening,  after I spent a couple hours pulling up the last of the beets and carrots from the garden. It was a full house, with the students,  and the Crawfords and Victor.

Its amazing how the other students help take care of baby Daniel. Now  that he's crawling and pulling up on everything,  he's into everything.  I had to rearrange my cupboards after he  broke a glass bowl last week.

 Former students, brothers Vlad and Valera showed up in the village this weekend.  They are between jobs, so Garry hired them to finish the last coat of stucco on Scott and Shannon's house. They started today. In the rain.