Almost a Vacation

 Garry had been looking forward to his trip to Kramatorsk to teach English at Pastor Yuri's camp (VBS). He thought he'd have a restfull week, teaching three 40 minutes English classes for five days, living in an apartment. However, it hasn't gone as he planned.

First, his plan was to make the four hour drive from Dnepro after attending church there on Sunday. Saturday night he discovered that it was this Sunday that he'd promised to help Tanya with her student oral testing, not next Sunday like he thought, and it was from four to six pm. He ended up leaving Dnepro about 7:30, with the van piled full of humanitarian aid from Morningstar church for their sister church. He said he grabbed his suitcase and put it in the front seat so he could find it when he got there.

Which he did about 11:30 Sunday night. His phone GPS worked well for directions until he got to the city. If you don't know where Kramatorsk is, we haven't driven there is years, since the war in the east because it is much closer to the front than we are, in fact, early in the war it was taken over by the non-Ukranian side, but returned to government control before the 'ceasefire'. Anyway, Garry used his tried and true method of finding a place he can't find, he hired a taxi to follow to where he was going.

So he didn't get a lot of sleep before his first day of teaching. Garry is a go to bed at nine guy most days, but he figured he's catch up on his sleep on Monday night. Turns out VBS started in the morning but he was there until lunch at three o'clock. His classes went okay, although he was finding it difficult teaching the youngest group since most of them know very little other than my name is________. They are learning animals with pictures, but the oldest group was easier he said. 

So he got back to the apartment and took a nap in the air conditioning, someone from the church brought him dinner (rice and chicken) and around seven pm, he went to the nearby grocery store to buy something for breakfast. He took the van there, I called him around that time, so I was thinking he'd call back soon when he returned to the apartment.

I got a call from him late afternoon Manitoba time, and was like it must be two in the morning, why are you calling now? He was just getting to bed. When he returned to the apartment area to park, some man started yelling at him about where he'd parked. Parking spots are a problem, since most Ukrainian apartment building were not really planned to have parking for cars, and more and more people have their own car.

Anyway, Garry decided to head up to his rented seventh floor apartment, but the guy got on the elevator with him. Garry figured to avoid confrontation and the guy knowing where he was living by getting off and walking up. As he reached his floor there was the guy with a very large friend coming down from the floor above. They wouldn't let him get to his door, and the big guy punched Garry in the head. 

Garry phoned Yuri, the other guys called the cops and said Garry was drunk and driving to endanger children, and had parked in their parking spot. Garry said he had parked where he had been told to park when he arrived the night before. Garry ended up taking a breathalizer, theycops said there weren't any reserved parking places. Then everyone insisted he go to hospital to get checked out, then they moved him to a different apartment, so that's why he was going to bed at two am.

He got about three hours of sleep before getting up to teach Tuesday, he said the morning sun was bright in the apartment, so he left as soon as he taught his classes and didn't stay for lunch. He picked up a pizza on his way back to the apartment (he says this apartment building is just behind the grocery store, so he can just walk there) where he parked in a muddy spot that no one would want. Then he went to bed until late afternoon, when he went for a short walk. He was going to get some groceries, but a big bang of thunder had him hurrying back after buying a cup of coffee from a kiosk. He said he poured right after he got back to the building.

He'd talked to Max and they had gotten all the dripline in the corn fields and were starting to attach it to the layflat hoses. That takes a while to do, but the irrigation system will be in place soon. Not that they need it yet, I think he said something about Max almost getting stuck in the mud in one field.

Here in Manitoba, the boys were making haylage for the last three days, so I have been doing a lot of baby and Carson watching with daddy mowing hay, and made two field meals besides. There are 12 or 14 guys working on the crew, driving trucks, tractors and choppers, so it's a production to make it and bring it to the fields now. Our daughter-in-laws take turns and I make some when I'm here, too.