Down time

 Don't look for a new blog post until July eighth when Garry and I are scheduled to land in Poland. I fly tomorrow morning to see my dad for a couple days before picking Garry up at the airport in Newark NJ. We'll be at his family reunion until the fifth and it'll be light on technology and WiFi.

I think I have everything packed and done, or as much as I could. I've put Seth in charge of baby chicks and turkeys, assuming any turkeys hatch this week. We'll be back in Manitoba about August sixth. 

Keeping busy

 Garry's had a busy week, he took a trip to the sea with people from the church, on last Thursday as it was a holiday. On Saturday he took the train to a nearby city to explore. There's been some rainy days, so he's getting close to finishing his painting the container used to store stuff. He's working on finishing the black trim, he finished the green paint last week.

I've been busy myself, with chicks to take care of, today I moved the four big ones out to Garry'schicken coop. Yesterday I did some work on it to get it ready. Both of the Bantam chicks hatched yesterday, of the two Garry got the day he left, so they're in the house with the lumpy one. Still five turkey eggs in the incubator that should hatch next week. 

Last weekend I did the ALS walk in memory of my mother, with a couple of the kids and grandkids.it poured rain for part of the walk and we needed rain gear. Sunday I spoke in Gimli at the Bayview EFCC , I even got to cut the cake after church in honour of father's Day. It was nearly four when I got home. 

I'm packing my bag for New Jersey, on Tuesday I'm off to visit my dad until Garry flies in Thursday for his family reunion in Pennsylvania. Then we're off to Poland for a couple weeks. 

Photos

 Here in Manitoba, I stayed home all weekend trying to get over this cold, and it seems to be working, excepting the lingering cough. Hopefully that's gone this weekend, since I have the ALS walk in Winnipeg Saturday and on Sunday I'm speaking in Gimli. 

I'm down a couple chicks but there's four very healthy ones left and one limping one. 

I got some more photos of Garry in Poland, at the help center, at church, what looks like the bakery, and the blue van he drives to pick up bread and supplies.

Garry's weekend

 Garry has less to do on the weekend, although he started his Saturday painting the outside of a container used to store stuff. It's going to be green with black trim he tells me. He hopes to finish it this week. He did say someone noticed he had paint on his elbow at church, and it's right across from the container. Friday night he went to a movie at a nearby theater and was excited to discover it was in English with Polish subtitles. 

 He did some biking on the weekend, watched some kids Motocross races on Saturday. Sunday after church he biked to some nearby places and found some old Protestant churches. He says that this part of Poland was part of Germany before WWII. He had a bit of excitement when he realised he didn't have his backpack at the second place he stopped. He rode fast back to McDonald's, where he'd had some lunch, and when he asked the non-English speaking staff, they went into the office and handed it to him.

Today he rode about fifty kilometres on the bike he said, saw some old churches and got a photo of the swan that attacked him, well ran at him, maybe it was hungry? He said he saw one with babies yesterday but didn't get a chance to take a photo.

Of course, today was a day they hand out food to Ukrainian families, he said there were a lot there today, because the weather had cleared up and it was sunny in the afternoon. The weather has been mostly cool and drizzling. There was lots of talk about a new policy that they will only give out twelve weeks of food to Ukrainian families, he said.

He only drives the van for work, mostly picking up the food that's given away. He has to turn the headlights on, even during the day (like in Ukraine) and he keeps forgetting to turn them off. Someone is supposed to make them automatic this week. He's also going to drive the van for a seaside excursion with some people from the church on Thursday.

This weekend he talked a bit in Russian with some of the Ukrainian families in his apartment building. One lady with two kids from near Kyiv said she hoped to return home after the summer so they can start school at home, if it seems relatively safe, their apartment is not damaged at this time.

One week...

 

Garry's been on the ground in Poland for a week now, I have seven baby chicks now, and am suffering through the bad cold Garry had a couple weeks ago. Here's a summary from Garry about the work he's doing there.

I start at 6 each morning, going to the bake shop, picking up bread and then back again around 8 to get the bread that they brought back from their deliveries. I then bring the bread to the help center and put it in bags and onto the shelves. Afterwards I pick up fruits and vegetables from the grocery store. At 3 I open the store and along with some volunteers we sort the vegetables and fruit into bags. At 4 we open the door and give everyone meat, milk, cheese, canned meat and fish, noodles, oil, cereal, flour sugar, tea, and bread.  There are around 50-80 families that come each time and they can come once per week.

After 6 we close and I go shopping at a local store. We buy everything by the case and it takes several carts full. For example, yesterday I bought 144 liters of Milk, 100 packs of cheese and butter, 156 bags of corn flakes and 60 jars of jam. Hot dogs are the most difficult as we need 150 packs every week but they never have that many in stock so someone is always looking for them.

The Ukrainians are very grateful, it is mostly young moms with kids and grandmothers. I have only been separated for a week from Teresa but they have been missing their husbands for months already.

Here and there again

 Garry's learning all he can about the town and what he's supposed to be doing this week. Next week the pastor and his wife are going away to a conference. One of the things he does is pick up old and mishaped bread and baked goods. Some is for the center and some goes into a free bread fridge. He couldn't remember where he was supposed to go to put it in the fridge on Tuesday and had to phone the pastor. He had gone there with someone the day before and was enjoying the conversation so much he wasn't paying attention to where they went. 

Turns out he is having some issues communicating. He tried to buy a phone card but no one spoke English. He's discovered that only a very few young people know English- he met one at McDonald's. Not that many speak Russian either. 

He says he's supposed to pick up bread twice a day, and help with packaging up the food they give away. He will need to buy some stuff too, he has a van to drive when he gets the bread, but he's exploring the town on foot or bicycle. He says everyone picking up food at the centre for refugees is female, mom's with kids, sometimes with a grandmother, or pregnant ladies. Some things go in the bags every week, like bread or rolls, butter, hotdogs, cereal and pasta, but some stuff like oil and tea are given every second week. They also get a pack of candy for every child. They can only come once a week, but they are open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon. 

He now knows how to run the washing machine and how to turn on his stove, and has WiFi, unless it stops working. There's a guy from the center who fixes it for him. He has found McDonald's, it's close to where he picks up the bread. He also visited the drug store and got drops for his earache, no one spoke English there either. He hasn't posted any new photos, but I found this one that he took with his phone. He gets better photos with his tablet, the lens is cracked on the phone.

Back here in Canada, I have finally caught the cold that was going around the farm, and I am not feeling well. The guys are done planting and have started harvesting first cut hay. I'm making a couple field meals for the crew, later today and tomorrow, there's up to a dozen guys this year. I'm working on finishing the renovation Garry started. The couches Garry picked were delivered yesterday. 

On the baby chick front, two have hatched and more are trying to get out of their shells now. I'm watching a couple grandkids this morning and they're excited about this development. I was a little worried none would hatch, but it looks like they just needed an extra day.

Getting started

 

Garry is settled in his little apartment, in Novogard (opps I misheard the name before). There's three twin beds, a tiny fridge (it's the first white square countertop height in the photo) and no couch, or AC (not hot, yet anyway)  or television, but they brought him a coffee maker. He said they're supposed to take away the bed in the main room and bring a couch. It's on the ground floor, and pretty new. Someone got his phone connected to a hotspot because he doesn't have WiFi.

He has been taking long walks around the lake in the center of the town early (5am) in the morning. It's more than eight kilometres, he's seen lots of people fishing, and enjoying the big trees. He had a free day yesterday and walked around the town for a while. Garry even found the McDonald's for breakfast Saturday morning. He said most stores were closed, except grocery stores. He avoided riding the bicycle after he rode a lot on Friday when he got it given to him. It's in the apartment. He's a little sore.

Friday he got to see what they do three days a week, handing out food and clothing to refugees. Today he was going to get picked up for breakfast and church. Next week he'll learn more about what he'll actually be doing. As you can see he took a few photos yesterday. In the evening he went for a walk and bought an ice cream cone. He was thinking the young people working there might speak English, but no luck. He can communicate with people over fifty because they learned russian in school!

I talked to him at midnight Manitoba time, he's seven hours ahead in Poland. He'd been up since five, he says it's light at four am. 

He got there

 I haven't talked to him yet tonight or Friday morning his time, but earlier today I talked with him for three minutes. He had arrived in Poland, it looked like maybe all his flights had delays but he and his suitcase were in a van going toward the city he'll be working in. He said he had three seats to himself over the ocean so he laid down and tried to rest, but he's pretty tall to fit in three seats. Even so, he said he was feeling good. 

Anyway, I should know more by the weekend. 

On his way

 I dropped Garry off at the airport just before one o'clock this afternoon! He tried to call me just before six but I wasn't home yet because I'd stopped at IKEA to look at stuff to finish the kitchen and laundry room. Traffic was heavy leaving Winnipeg at 4:30. He had made his connection even though the flight was slightly delayed. Garry loves quick connections.

Hopefully I packed everything he could need in his suitcase and it arrives with him. It was a little challenging since almost all his summer clothes are in Ukraine. He has two pairs of sandals there, none here, I got a pair from one of the boys. 

Saturday he put in a long day planting alfalfa as the boys raced to finish planting before the rain came. They did get the oats and alfalfa done and a lot of corn planted before it was too wet. They actually are back at it today. 

Amazingly, Garry did cross everything off his to do list. 

Flooring in the guest room... you might notice there's a theme in there.

The beam in the kitchen is secure and the first coat is done on the drywall repair...

He even built his chicken coop!

Sunday he sang with the choir and the church prayed for our trip... 

He mowed the lawn Monday when it wasn't raining and even gave me operating instructions this morning so I can mow it on the weekend.

I'll let you know what I hear from him tomorrow.