Snowy ride/drive in Ukraine

We made it back to the village as we hoped on Saturday morning, the highway was open, although it still needed some work. Many of the semi-trucks that had been storm stayed and parked along the road were still there, trying to get them restarted since -20 C is not normal for Ukraine, they are not made to start in this weather. One truck was sheathed in ice from having hot water poured on it.

Victor's street- one car at a time!

Zaporosia chassay (main road into the city)

airport parking (in front of the terminal)

Victor drove out of the city and we stopped at the airport and jammed the suitcases in the back with everything else, they didn't even have to get cleared through customs, so it was pretty fast.
They were still digging out, days after the storm, it looked like some people must have parked their cars and flown away before the storm (maybe to Egypt) and not returned yet!

snow fence

almost to Bratski

The highway to Bratski (a sort of a suburb of the city) was good, even the diversion, where they put in a detour around the overpass they have been building for more than a year now. It looked like they had made a snow fence around there this year, with sticks and in one place sliced tires!




We made a quick stop in Bratski at the Ah-Ta-bey (ATb- it's one of a small grocery store chain) Max had asked Victor to get some plastic snap on lids for the glass half liter jars of sleevki (cream) to sell. The guys had made cream because of all the milk they could not sell when the buyers could not come in the snow.


 The highway was pretty good until we reached the intersection of the new highway that goes to the Dnepropetroesk/Dnepropajisk/Kiroy Rog highway.

opps! Anyone got a shovel?

Back in the cars, let's go!

There we had a slight delay, a semi had gotten stuck trying to turn around, blocking both sides of the road. As you can see in the photos, guys with shovels in their cars jumped out to clear some of the snow, and soon everyone was driving again...






even the police car which we followed all the way to Novy Swet.
The next section of the highway was not so good, in fact, large sections of the oncoming highway was not plowed, so they were on our side of the divided highway! I have some video I may try to put up later (back in the village so the internet is s..sl..oo..ww.)

Careful when passing! Oncoming traffic!

We even found the guys working on clearing the snow from the highway in Novy Swet  (New City- where the police checkpoint is) with some big equipment, hopefully they will soon have both sides of the highway open...

Is that a snow blower? There were two working here.

First one we've seen here 

There were still a few cars left behind in the road

From that village to ours the road was cleared on both sides, well except for the occasional car, at least one lane, anyway.

Different oblast (province) better clearing?

We're here... 2.2 km to go...

Road to the village is one car wide

.......and we made it home by eleven am, so I got to cook dinner while Garry checked out the goings on in the barn. The guys were happy to see us, and Maxim Boradim and Andrey were even happier to fill up on pizza that night after "two months- no pizza."

Finally here

Maybe...hopefully by lunchtime ... we'll be there

11 pm in Ukraine, and from all the barking, you would think we are in the village, but the elevator going up and down gives it away, it's Friday night and we are still in the city. Since the internet is so good here, I thought I'd give you an update- mainly that we hope to be back in the village by lunchtime tomorrow.

We have had time to sleep - for me that was between 6:20 and 10 am this morning, as I hardly slept last night! (my body is still on Manitoba time) We watched John Wiens' memorial service on vimeo this morning, before Victor picked us up for lunch at his house at one o'clock. We had some really good fish soup, and a potato main dish, then hung out and talked, which kept Garry from taking a four hour afternoon nap like the day before!

 Max phoned from the farm at 4 pm to tell Victor that the snow has been cleared from Zaporosia to the village, so it might be open from Dnepropetroesk too. Since it would be dark in an hour, we decided to try to get out there in the morning. While Victor was driving us home, he had a phone call from Turkish Air, our suitcases came in on today's plane! So we will be leaving the apartment around 8:30 am, since the office will open at nine, and hopefully get them easily and head out to the village.

From what we have heard on the news, there were 600 stuck vehicles on Ukrainian  highways (or maybe just this one) the major roads in the city are somewhat cleared, but still snowy, so traffic is moving slowly. A long line of big semi trucks are parked along the highway leaving the city, so we will likely have them rolling ahead of us.

view from the apartment window

An hour ago I heard a car outside spinning its wheels, the sideroads are a mess, a set of tracks, or maybe partly plowed, most are only one lane right now. Looks like the predicted highs won't even come close to the freezing mark for the next week, and if it gets warm in a hurry; there are huge piles of snow, waiting to melt and overtax the city drainage system. Some kids were not in school because of the low temps (neg 23 C plus windchill = really cold for here) It's a good thing we are used to Manitoba weather.

From what we have heard from the guys in the village, none of the milk buyers had been there since Monday (the storm was Tuesday, and I am thinking it looks like there is a foot of snow out there, instead of 8 inches.) There is 1600 litres of milk in the tank and they have been separating some into cream  to sell and the ladies are making cheese (like cottage cheese) out of the skim milk.

 Max tried to go to the gas station yesterday with the tractor and got stuck in the snow. There were still people in their cars, begging Serosia to pull out their car when he pushed Max out with his payloader. He told them he could take them into the village, but where would they go if he got them out? the highway was not plowed yet, they would just be stuck again.

The lady who buys a lot of our milk is from Zaporosia and had told Max she would be there as soon as the highway opened, he should just call her, so hopefully her yellow van got there this evening. Apparently she was anxious to come as she was all out  of milk to sell.

I"ll charge the camera tonight so I can get some photos on the way to the village Saturday, praying that the road is open and we have a safe trip there, and then Victor back to Dnepro. From what I understand our van will not start because of the low temperatures, and the guys are dealing with frozen water pipes and other things that make taking care of the cows more difficult in very cold weather.

We may have to pick up more groceries, we have eaten some of the stuff we bought on Wednesday here in the apartment. We do have a couple boxes of cereal, we will have milk when we get back, although the guys are probably thinking Saturday will be pizza night...

It took 3 days, and we're almost there!

Garry and I left Winnipeg Friday afternoon as the sun was setting with 2 suitcases and 2 carry-ons each, Josh dropped us at the airport after a couple last minute stops along the way, to pick up some little replacement parts for the milkers for the trade school barn parlor. Since Turkish Air allows 2 bags per person for free, we had two suitcases packed full of milker parts that Garry was busy scrubbing up on Monday morning to come with us.

After that flight to Toronto on Air Canada, we were on a Turkish Air plane flying out at 11 pm, after getting new boarding passes (we had been unable to print the final ones to Dnepropetroesk at home- actually on the printer in the barn) and waiting for the plane to be de-iced. The flight was OK, the plane was packed and the legroom was a little tight for Garry (he is 6'5") and carry-on space was packed too. There was a large man in the row ahead of us who snored really loudly for a least and hour and a half, but Garry enjoyed lots of movies to watch on the little television in the seat back, and the meal was good. When breakfast time rolled around (an hour before landing at 4:20 Tuesday afternoon Istanbul time) my stomach was a little upset so I only ate the roll and had a cup of cola, while Garry enjoyed coffee, scrambled eggs, cooked mushrooms and tomato, a tiny triangle of grilled cheese sandwich (wait I ate mine)  and both our servings of cheese, cucumber slice and fruit cup (except I ate my two chunks of fresh pineapple!) This was our first time on Turkish Air and first time going through Istanbul, and I would say we'd do it again.

We landed, got off the plane, found the buy a visa line (by the way, Canadians pay $60 US dollars for one while Americans pay 20!) got them, then waited in the longer line for passport control for other passports (as in not Turkish citizens) they sent some of us to the other agents to catch up! Then we went out past the luggage belts (our bags were checked all the way through to Ukraine) to find the booth for Turkish Air hotels. Garry had heard from Justin, that Turkish Air would give you a free hotel stay if your itinerary had a layover of a certain length in Istanbul (without there being a flight you could have taken)  and at 20 hours ours would qualify! We found the right place, gave the guy our boarding passes and waited at the cafe (Garry checked his email and I read) as instructed. It took a little while but before too long, we were following someone to our shuttle van and after a half hour ride as the sun was setting, arrived at the something by Hilton had a great night's sleep in a very nice room with a king-size bed and a wonderful buffet breakfast too.

Garry went across the street to search for pop (soda)

Returned with his prizes, ready to eat!

Garry went out for a walk after we went up to the room, and walked over the street (look at the photo to see what I mean) to find a bank-o-mat to get some local cash (lira) and found what he wanted a bottle of pepsi, some cookies and corn chips, tangerines at a grocery store and some street food, a meat and peppers sandwich on a bun. I was still feeling a bit off, so I let him eat the whole sandwich, although I ate some cookies before falling asleep around 8 pm, we were up a couple times- like midnight and 4 am, but jumped out of bed for breakfast about 9:15 because the shuttle was picking us up at 10 am. Jet lag is an amazing thing, especially when we fly in this direction it seems, it drives your internal clock for a loop and then some.

In the morning (same view from 8th floor room)

Istanbul from the shuttle bus window

It was raining around midnight and still raining steadily on the Wednesday morning ride to the airport, but I tried snapping a couple photos anyway. We didn't have to de-ice, but we did have to take a bus out to the plane, and the wind was whipping as we went up the stairs to the plane, although the rain had stopped by noon. Nice lunch on the plane ( salad, sandwich, dessert - I was finally feeling like eating something, too) As the plane ducked back through the clouds nearing Dnepro we discovered everything was covered in snow, there were drifts all over. When we went down the stairs to get the bus to the terminal, I thought not as cold as Winnipeg (-15  and windy instead of negative 30) but it looks a lot like it!

Of course the line we choose was the slow one for passport control, but the guy finally stamped our passports and were were off to grab our suitcases off the conveyor belt, we had seen the red one go around 3 or 4 times while we were still waiting to get our passports stamped. I grabbed the gray one I had bought at the thrift store on Saturday (for $3.50) Two bags found, where were the other two... another bunch arrived, another lady was looking for hers also, then they came back with 4 or 5 more, and closed the doors...no black or blue bag yet, now what?
The lady who still was bagless said we had to file a report on the domestic side of the airport, so off to the x-ray machine belt and then a discussion with the customs guys about what are these things we are bringing in these suitcases? Only the bags with the milking machine parts had arrived, not our personal bags...they asked if we had someone who spoke Russian; so Victor came in to talk to the four guys now looking at our bags, who were apparently saying we might have to take them back.... but they are for the school to teach orphans to take car of cows (apparently they did not seen us on television news in 2012 or 2013)
Finally they let us go through.
 Garry was trying to find the claim tickets for the missing bags while we rolled the luggage we had out to the van and went inside the other part of the airport to find the Turkish Air office. I found the rest of the claim tags in his computer bag, but it still took more than half an hour to get the paperwork done, hopefully someone will call when they find them... that bag of rubber gaskets we picked up is in one of them, along with some AI breeding supplies for Garry, and a new puzzle; not to mention my clothes, books, Advil, some gifts and lots of yarn in the other!

Victor asked if we wanted to stop for groceries, the boys are normally out of lots of stuff when we return, but it took a while to get to Metro with the drifts. blowing snow, and hardly any cars getting through the intersections when the lights change. Yesterday there was about 8 inches of snow in the city and it was pretty much the first snowfall of the year, so some of the drivers and cars were having problems. It was dusk as we headed in the store for the basics, and dark when we got out, then it was a slow progression to the highway out of the city. There are semis lined up on the side of the road, and when Victor finally gets to the front of the line, there is a policemen, turning traffic back....

What shall we do? Try the other highway out of the city? maybe, but it is not plowed as well as this one... finally a decision is made, we will spend the night in the city and go out in the morning with Victor, he has to come for Thursday's milk to sell then anyway, and hopefully the wind, which is still whipping at 10 pm will slow down and the highway will be plowed (and it will be daylight, too!)

So we are not back in the village yet, Garry has been sleeping for a couple hours already, and we are looking for two suitcases (at least I hope someone is) in Toronto, Istanbul, or somewhere in the world!


Update Thursday morning- Safely in Ukraine, but hanging out at apartment in the city until we can safely make it to the village- 8 inches of blowing snow has a big impact here, the road was closed when we tried to leave at 5 pm yesterday, from what we have heard from the village, it's full of snow and stuck cars, SUVs and semi- trucks! I guess we'll just sit back, enjoy the internet and get some sleep until we can get there.

Getting packed

Today is what fits in the suitcases day, our quest to not pay for an extra suitcase this trip back may be successful  from preliminary weight estimates and what has gone in so far.... it's looking good. I may even get my clothes in with the yarn and Christmas presents I am stuffing in with Garry's machinery parts! We fly out Monday afternoon and Garry spent all day yesterday, with a little help, wrestling with taking a milk parlor he bought apart. Right now he is gone to somewhere near Mitchell to get the rest of the pieces, which still need to be packed up to be shipped in small boxes to Ukraine. He has some photos on his camera but I am not sure where that is right now. (Turns out it's in his coat pocket, which he left at the farm.) This will be the parlor for the trade school barn when it arrives in about two months.

Garry is going to a mens retreat with guys from our church in Steinbach at Red Rock Bible camp, so his time is limited to get this finished, and it is snowing again. I am hoping to see some of the kids this weekend, and am doing a presentation at Matt's church in Piney during the Sunday service.

We even made the Steinbach paper while we were home

The news from Ukraine's capital is not good, but we are not going through there on this trip, and we have been told things are quite normal in the rest of the country. We hope to get lots done when we get back before a work team comes from Canada (BC) mid- March to help with the project.

How do you say goodbye?

We have almost two weeks left in Manitoba before returning to Ukraine, Garry had to get our tickets bought on Sunday evening, he is a little anxious to return, but has a new project, finding a used milk parlor for the trade school barn and making arrangements to box it  (the mechanical parts, not the metal) up and ship it there.

Sunday (which was wonderfully springlike- around freezing instead of the many degrees below zero we have grown used to) after church we met the new EFCCM director for lunch, since he was speaking there, and had a good talk, before dropping in on some friends who wanted to hear more about the work in Ukraine. A busy day, and yesterday was almost as busy, with Garry going off to referee basketball with our son Josh last night (and the next two nights.) I have been working on some little doll and pony clothes for the girls for before grandma leaves presents, since it turns out the new dolls/ponies that I bought for Christmas need wardrobes.


Garry is out in the barn this afternoon, the boys' milking crew has been thinned recently with injuries and illnesses- mostly the same terrible cold Garry had last week.  Now that he is feeling better, he has been helping out with whatever they are doing, milking, chasing fresh heifers. Today the guys hope to even combine some of the corn that was left in the fields when the snow arrived in November (to clarify, the snow is still here, but the temperature is just a little below freezing instead of arctic-like.)


I haven't talked to him since I discovered on facebook this afternoon that two of the dear Christian men in our lives have gone home to God after battling cancer. We found out when we returned home in November that one of our dear church friends was in hospital. The first time we attended a mission conference at Emmanuel, the little boys were excited to attend a kids program run by "Dr Chuck" whom they insisted said they could call him Chuck, which they still do, because they loved the smiling man and his wife who sat near us in church, who always talked to them. Dr. Charles Nichols was a professor at Providence College and Seminary, so I saw him many times while I was there, in fact, he was the one who suggested I go take the TESOL course there, while we were thinking about becoming missionaries. One of the highlights of any trip home to Canada was a hug from Chuck and telling him how things were going in Ukraine, I was treated to one when I was home in September. Our whole family will miss our friend.

John baptized two in the Dniper River in August

John getting photographed with the young ladies

The other was our friend and founder of the trade school, John Wiens, who found out he had cancer only five weeks ago. It was such a blessing to meet and work with John in Ukraine for both of us, and we are so glad that he had been able to go to Hawaii on a family vacation with his wife Ev and their grown children in November. We last saw him in the summer, when we went to the baptism in Zaporosia, just before he and Ev went home to British Columbia for five months. We hope to help fulfill his dream for the trade school for orphans, it should be up and running again in the fall, after this year of finishing things.  Someday the school could expand to other programs besides the dairy track, as John hoped. His church plant in Zaporosia was so excited about his planned return for Ukrainian Christmas, they are going to miss their pastor very much.

We never know when God will welcome us home in heaven, we can only hope that we can all be people with a heart for God and people like these two wonderful men. We will miss them both greatly here on earth. Memorial services for both men are being held this Saturday.

A Little Talk... and some old photos

 Garry and I spoke at the Holstein club meeting in nearby Freidensfeld as scheduled on Thursday morning. His cold was better (although he is still coughing on Saturday, he is starting to sleep better, finally) so he did not lose his voice. We may have a few new readers of the blog, although I talked to several people who read it regularly already. Thanks for the encouragement.

 I don't have a picture of me (I forgot to tell Garry to take one), but I wore the Ukrainian embroidered blouse Garry gave me for Christmas and a long blue skirt that matches it, and did the intro - 20 minutes about our farm history in the US and Canada and what it's like to live in Ukraine. Here are a couple of those photos of the early Garry and Teresa farming slides, for those who missed the presentation...

Teresa, her father Ron, and Garry 1983

Garry  feeding cows, 1987, after moving to Zurich, Ontario, Canada

Teresa with Micah and Noah August 1989

The photo that started it all- we met at the fair in NJ- 1977
Garry far left, Teresa on his right

 Then Garry talked about farming in Ukraine for an hour, we had a great response from the crowd, and might get some visitors in Ukraine, some who have Mennonite roots and some people who were interested in helping with the project for the trade school, too.

Happy New Year!

We are still in Manitoba, which was apparently as cold as (or colder than) Mars for the new year. Looks like we will stay here until the end of the month, but we have not booked our plane tickets.

Not too cold for these calves to play outside!

Next week Thursday Garry (and maybe me) is speaking at the Holstein Club meeting at the Friedensfeld Community Centre about farming in Ukraine, I am working on making slides for an hour and half presentation, and need to take down the Christmas tree.... but I am procrastinating by writing a blog post...

We had a quiet new year's eve, with the three oldest granddaughters spending the night; well, quiet until I gave the two oldest (the 3-year old did not make it past 11 pm) horns to blow at 11:30 pm....

 Earlier in the evening Garry did his annual official measurement on the stick (we have had it since the house burned before Jonah was born) and since our boys tend to grow even after high school, both Seth and Jonah grew a little, but the little girls (the grand daughters) grew more!

Seth grew a little this past year- officially as tall as brother Josh