Settling In
Today marks two weeks in Ukraine! Much has been happening, although it doesn't look like it sometimes. We continue the cleaning and setting up phase of settling into our new home. We can find most things fairly quickly, but there are still many items in suitcases, waiting for their storage spots to be constructed. We've been checking on shelving options in Dnepro and hope to make our purchases on Friday. The store we were in, Epi Center, makes Home Depot look small!
We have been working on Russian language studies at home using Duolingo. Our daughter-in-law, Hannah, talked us through (on a WhatsApp video call) adding a Russian keyboard to our tablet and now we can type the answers to some questions in Russian (and get them right!).
On Thursday Victor gave us a pint of cream (yummy!) and some cottage cheese, which Scott actually ate. More than once!! It's the dry curds, so he finds it more appetizing than the cottage cheese we get in Canada.
We are discovering all sorts of new things here. For instance, paying for your phone and internet. In Canada, you get a bill and you arrange to pay it out of your bank account or on your credit card and then you forget about it. That's not how it works here! You purchase your package and pay for it and then by the end of the month you go back to the store or to a kiosk and put more money onto your account. (If you forget, you have no service or no internet until you pay!)
On Sunday we went with Garry to church in the village. It is a small Baptist congregation that meets just down the street. Garry takes his computer and projector to play music videos. They had to unplug the heater so he could plug in his electronics, so it was rather chilly in the room! Almost everyone kept their coats on. Nellie sat beside us and translated most of the sermon, which was in Ukrainian.
After lunch on Sunday Garry drove us around the village to show us the different staff houses, the classroom, the shop and the barn as well as some of the nearby farmland.
Yesterday we were up in the attic getting a few supplies for the closets and we noticed snow had blown in through the peak! Today we bought spray foam insulation and tomorrow Max and Scott will get it sprayed in place so we don't have any more issues.
Today we went bowling in Zaporizhzha (Zap or osia) with the students. It was 10 pin bowling, something new for us. We did okay, I think. Scott even beat me...both times :( There were 14 of us laughing, giving high fives and having fun. We bowled two games and then ordered pizza.
After lunch Victor took us and Nellie to a store to buy a sewing machine and then to a couple of fabric stores to buy material for curtains. We are learning that shopping is not the quick get-what-you-want-and leave experience that we are used to. Different doesn't mean wrong! It's just different.
Something else we are trying to adjust to is taking pictures of our daily activities for you to see. We'll try to get better at that!
We have been working on Russian language studies at home using Duolingo. Our daughter-in-law, Hannah, talked us through (on a WhatsApp video call) adding a Russian keyboard to our tablet and now we can type the answers to some questions in Russian (and get them right!).
On Thursday Victor gave us a pint of cream (yummy!) and some cottage cheese, which Scott actually ate. More than once!! It's the dry curds, so he finds it more appetizing than the cottage cheese we get in Canada.
We are discovering all sorts of new things here. For instance, paying for your phone and internet. In Canada, you get a bill and you arrange to pay it out of your bank account or on your credit card and then you forget about it. That's not how it works here! You purchase your package and pay for it and then by the end of the month you go back to the store or to a kiosk and put more money onto your account. (If you forget, you have no service or no internet until you pay!)
On Sunday we went with Garry to church in the village. It is a small Baptist congregation that meets just down the street. Garry takes his computer and projector to play music videos. They had to unplug the heater so he could plug in his electronics, so it was rather chilly in the room! Almost everyone kept their coats on. Nellie sat beside us and translated most of the sermon, which was in Ukrainian.
After lunch on Sunday Garry drove us around the village to show us the different staff houses, the classroom, the shop and the barn as well as some of the nearby farmland.
Yesterday we were up in the attic getting a few supplies for the closets and we noticed snow had blown in through the peak! Today we bought spray foam insulation and tomorrow Max and Scott will get it sprayed in place so we don't have any more issues.
Today we went bowling in Zaporizhzha (Zap or osia) with the students. It was 10 pin bowling, something new for us. We did okay, I think. Scott even beat me...both times :( There were 14 of us laughing, giving high fives and having fun. We bowled two games and then ordered pizza.
 |
| The cheering section |
 |
| Leila talking to the ball! |
 |
| Vasa choosing his ball |
After lunch Victor took us and Nellie to a store to buy a sewing machine and then to a couple of fabric stores to buy material for curtains. We are learning that shopping is not the quick get-what-you-want-and leave experience that we are used to. Different doesn't mean wrong! It's just different.
Something else we are trying to adjust to is taking pictures of our daily activities for you to see. We'll try to get better at that!
Comments
Post a Comment