Holding pattern

Good Morning Everyone,

As the heading states we are in a holding pattern. We thought we would have an appointment yesterday (Friday) but it didn`t work out. Our translator called us in the morning and said that someone(SDA or something) lost power and heat and everything is backed up a day or two. So now it is supposed to be Tues. or Wed. Not a good start to the day and it was to get worse. We called the kids before they got on the bus and you could tell they were getting pretty lonely. Kinda made us wonder what the heck we are doing here, but I`m in the mindset we`re here, we`re gonna get`r done.

The bureaucracy is unreal, if you don`t like what you hear from one individual, ask someone else in the same office and you will get a different answer. You still won`t like the answer but it will be different. It`s like dealing with the Freeborn County zoning and planning office every single day. Our internet in our apartment still isn`t working. The landlord did send a guy up last night to tell us as they have before that it has to be our laptop. His final analysis after working on it for an hour- it must be the internet connection, WELL DUH -I`ve been telling you that for three days. Now they will maybe get someone to check it out Mon. maybe. We called our translator after that and said to move us because we took this apartment to be able to use the internet so we could "Skype" the kids every day. (skype is where we use webcams and talk directly with them).

Other than that there is nothing to post other than some of the other "differences" over here. So, here are some of the things that make you go hmmmmmm.

- Apartment elevators, about the size of a manlift in a grain elevator, really small and creaky and which by the way, ours doesn`t work and we`re on the 5th floor

- Toilet paper, no charmin quilted over here, think paper towel texture. (John Wayne style- rough as heck and doesn`t take any ....well you know)

- As we said before, we walk everywhere and everyone moves right out, I know I`m getting in shape because yesterday I was able to pass a couple older ladies. It might have been because they were both carrying shopping bags but I don`t think so.

- Haven`t seen a fire truck here yet, but yesterday I heard an air horn and sirens so I sat back to see what a firetruck here looks like and wouldn`t you know it, here comes a VW rabbit cop car blaring an air horn.

- There are two pairs of Carhart blue jeans in all of Ukraine and I have both pair.

- Garbage cans, we have had one garbage can in our apartments thus far. It is about the size of a 3 # coffee can, we don`t know if this is normal but it wouldn`t last an hour at home before being filled.

- The electrical outlets are very different- two big prongs and the electricity is way higher voltage than ours. Gail`s hair dryer lasts about 10 seconds on high before it kicks out and with my clippers that I have I can shear a large sheep in under a minute the way it sounds.



Uncle Georgie borrowed me his money pouch that he had used on his Africa trips and told me where to carry it to keep it safe. Well, lets just say I don`t know if it will ever be the same!



Well, thats about it for us. If anything changes we`ll let everyone know on our next posting.


Gail and Craig