Lacking

I have just been reading over what I've written so far and it seems to me that something is lacking. I've written about all the things happening around me, day to day sorts of things, but I've really left out the things that aren't day to day. I can get to the end of a day, look back and and almost completely forget something that happened just because I didn't take notice of it when it was happening. I guess sometimes I don't keep my eyes open to the small things that happen, those things that easily go unnoticed.

I've been really caught up in all the hubbub that's been going on around here lately. It's not really hubbub but it sometimes seems like it is. We've actually been getting a lot of things done lately. Take the last couple of days for instance. We have been trying to beat the rain that keeps getting inside the building. It comes in through the walls when it gets backed up out in the courtyard and we've been digging trenches to put in drain pipe.


...I'll be back. I have to go do something for a couple hours so this is why this post is unfinished for right now.

...where was I?

I'm sorry for the lack of up-dates in the past week. I've been really busy trying to get into the swing of things since everybody arrived*, plus trying to get settled in my new place of residence.

I've been trying to figure out what all I should move from my room here in the church since I will hopefull be moving into my "own" house sometime in the near future. Actually, from what I know, this is all still up in the air. I really haven't been given the go-ahead about starting the clean-up/light remodeling that will need to be done before I move in. The people who own the house are still using it for storing a few things in, plus using it as a place to put their (seemingly) crazy "wolf"/dog when visitors come. I'll try and remember to take a few pictures so you'll be able to see what the house looks like (don't get too excited because it's really not all that much). Speaking of "not that much", I am really happy that, once I get permission, the re-doing/modeling will not be near as much work as I thought it might take; I hadn't been inside the place for over a year, so all my previous thinking was based wholely on my memory.

So what's it like living with seven people that I've known all my life? It's different. That is mainly because we are in a strange land with a lot of things to learn. In just a few words: I'm already worn out. It's one thing for me to ask questions myself; it's a totally different thing to have seven people ask me all their questions. Ok, so maybe they don't ask me all their questions, but it sure seems like they do. I guess I've forgotten what it's like to always be on the outside, the person who doesn't understand what's going on. I guess maybe I've forgotten what it's like to have a head full of questions at the end of the day; maybe I would have done the same thing they do if I had had someone to talk to. I guess I was probably just as out of place as they seem when I watch them here. I guess maybe it all just takes time.

News. So what kind of exciting stuff has been happening? Well...(deep thoughts)...not much other than all the in-betweens that I left out of what I wrote about above.

Oh, wait! How could I forget to write about what happened yesterday? A few of the youth from the church decided to go swimming at the nearby lake which is called (no kidding) "Green Water"; it really is! O, M, and I went along. After we wadded through the bazillion people that were there (I was not having fun the minute I got there), we finally found a spot on the shore where there was enough room to park our bikes (in a bunch of stinging nettle!) and have a little room to breath. Then we got in the water; I did a shallow dive into the deepest spot with M following after I came up and said I didn't hit anything. I warned him that he'd still have to dive real shallow and he did. We then swam around for about twenty minutes. M, for one reason or another had gone up on shore and decided to get back in the water again by diving; this time he miscalculated something. He came up out of the water quite quickly and stated (with a laugh) that he had taken a "chunk out of the bottom (of the lake)". He put up the arm that had hit for me to see - that's when I was glad I didn't faint. He had, among smaller ones on the same arm and his stomach, a big slice in his left forearm. It was near his elbow and was about two and a half inches long. It was pretty deep as far as I could tell (easily a 1/4 in.), but then again it was hard to see through all the blood. I will try and make this a little bit shorter by just saying that he is all right now. We got it bandaged up there on the spot with the help of a first-aid kit out of someones car. I was in the act of pulling shoe laces out to use as a bandage holder-on-er when I heard someone behind me talking about maybe giving us a little assistance; something to do with a lot of blood leaking out between the fingers of a hand clamped around an arm. Cell phones are great and it's a good thing Zorka A. is a nurse! After she picked M up, she took him home, cleaned and bandaged him up, and then made him rest. Anyway...that was all pretty exciting!!

I'll just let you all guess as to what might happen in the second week of the new arrivals! As someone already said, "this might be a very long and interesting summer". Stay tuned!!!

O, btw, a thought for the day: Don't fling a mad dog into the air if he's got his mouth around your arm (it leaves holes).

I'll be back...

I've been really quite busy for the past couple of days. I'm in the process of moving (hurrah!) and I don't have an internet connection at the place I'm moving to. I'll try and post a little bit about all this once I have the time. Right now I'm trying to pack and my computer needs to go. This will be it for maybe a day or so (maybe not).

Work Pictures 0.0.2

Here's a picture of the box that I made for a ventilator fan. It took me most of yesterday afternoon to make and then to fit it. My hole-saw was 108mm big and the pipe I was trying to put in the hole was 110mm; 2mm makes a big difference. I ended up enlarging the hole using a drill-saw bit; it's made for using side-ways (like some people try to do with a regular bit). If you haven't ever used one of these you should try one, they're pretty neat.

Work Pictures 0.0.1

Here are some pictures of the windows that Daniel and I have been working on. You can see the burn marks on the wood. That's from when the torch was too hot or too close and a couple times from when I wasn't paying attention (I was "torching" and he was scraping). As you can see it is just the window frames that we are doing. I'm not really sure what we're going to do about the windows since there is the possibility of the glass breaking from the heat.

Something different

No windows today. I worked on some other small projects that have been waiting to be done. A good part of the day I spent working on making a box for a ventilator fan. It turned out ok and now only needs to be wired to see if everything works like we think it should, though this doesn't always happen (things working like they should). A few of us had a little BBQ tonight. We had slanina (like thick bacon which is really good), bratwurst, onions, peppers, rolls, etc. It was a good way to relax after a pretty busy week.

Sometimes it doesn't seem like much happens in a day, but when you're able to look back over a whole week it's different. Pieces come together and make a complete project, rooms look cleaner and emptier than they ever have ("book shop"), and I've slept good every night; which means, of course, that I've done at least something every day.

Tomorrow I'll hopefully be going to check out where I'll be moving to. I've been there a bunch of times before, but visiting and moving in are two different things. I've got to figure out where my clothes and other things will go. I think it will work out OK. I've become friends with the dog there, as long as I have a stick to throw for him to chase; that's about the only thing that I was really worried about (he looks and acts extremely vicious when he's happy).

400 People

Tuesday afternoon, after Daniel and I finished yet another window and we were "off" for the day, we decided to go on a bike ride; he, Roman and I. It ended up being quite a trip, totaling altogether about 21 km of pavement, dirt, mud (it rained that morning), lots of rocks, hills, bigger hills (we were riding in the White Carpathian range), and one really steep descent. I'm not joking about it being steep; we couldn't even ride down it, but that was also because it just happened to be a hiking trail (not accommodating bikes very well). We accidentally took the wrong path and didn't figure that out until it was too late to turn back. We slid our way down, over rocks and around trees (usually), with many a slip and slide, held onto our bikes as best we could and generally just tried to find the best way to take a bike over a trail that is purely for hiking. I think each one of us fell at least one time, but we couldn't do much except to just keep pushing ahead and down; actually it was more like holding back and skiing, except that there wasn't any snow. I really wish I had taken a camera with me.

Wednesday - another window. We also worked more on cleaning out the "book store" room.

Today - yet another window, but now we are finished with five out of the seven! We also found out today that we will be scraping paint off of a couple doorframes as well. This will probably be easier since there aren't so many small surfaces as there are in the windows. I'll try and remember to take a picture of our work so far. More work was done in the "book store". We took a couple of the bookshelves upstairs and put them up in what we call the "first office". We also hauled some of the books up there to go on them once all the working stops and the dust settles.


Roman and I went and rode bikes this evening just for fun. When we arrived back in the city we saw a big procession of people; I'm talking somewhere in the number of 400. I'm not sure what it was all about (and neither does anybody I've asked), but it seemed to be just about the whole Catholic church observing some kind of holy day or ceremony. We were just right by our church, since this was all happening in the square, so I ran and got my camera to take some pictures. It sure is a strange feeling to have almost every other person out of a crowd of 400 either stare at you or give you a hard look.

Roman, who was standing next to me all this time, was able to kind of wrap up what my thoughts were as I looked at all this going on: "...a lot of lost, confused people."

This is the kind of car I'm looking at getting right now. It's Russian made, built like a tank, can be driven like a tank, get's better gas milage than a tank (about 25-30mpg), is four wheel drive with transfer case and low gears (plus the all time best thing, locking diffs!), can hold four people, has a great reputation of being reliable (with those that know how to turn a wrench) and are cheap. Any other reason to get one? The kinds of cars I look for are like the shoes I wear: they go anywhere and don't make much of a fuss.

Yesterday

Ok, I'll also tell you a little about Sat. and Sun.

Saturday, after I made the last post, I spent some time looking for a car on the internet. I then decided that I was really in need of some fresh air so I went for a bike ride to one of my new favorite places. It's up on a hill that overlooks a grape vineyard and in the distance are more hills and valleys. I just love the outdoors! It's also such a good environment to think in.

Sunday was church as usual with a soup/stew/leftover food from the wedding lunch right afterwards. There was also an abundance of sweets leftover from what was not eaten on Friday. It still makes me queasy when I think about it. After this, a bunch of people headed over to the A.'s house for a nap/chat or the trampoline. I finally figured out how to do a backflip and land on my feet instead of my head!

Yesterday Daniel and I were back upstairs working on the windows. We've kind of got a pattern down so work is now progressing at a little faster pace - one and a half windows a day. We haven't burned anything up yet and we only lost a couple pieces of flaming paint flakes out the window. We then, after completing our quota for the day, came downstairs and helped pick and choose items to go to the trash from the "bookshop", which also doubles as storage and the outer room of my inner room. We're cleaning it out so it can be prepared and used as one of the rooms in the church that will be devoted to the Manna project. This is also why I will be moving out sometime soon. My room is going to loose two of it's wall in order to make one big room that will be much more useful.

Work and a Wedding

This is Saturday. Yesterday was Friday, before that was Thursday, and Wednesday always comes before all these...... It's hard to catch up when you get behind. I know because that's where I am right now; still catching up.

On Wednesday Daniel and I spent the first couple hours of the day working upstairs on the windows. We didn't get very far, but at least we got started. The paint on this second window turned into a glue like substance whenever we put the torch to it, and thus it slowed us down considerably, seeing as how the putty knife we were using would get all gummed up after moving only a couple inches. The wood that the windows are made out of also helped impede our work since it is soft, which means the knife digs in all to easily (and it burns quickly!). At about 10:00 a.m. the dumpster finally came that we had been waiting on and, after changing into our work clothes, we started at the pile out in the courtyard. It pile wasn't junk as in "trash", rather it was a lot of stuff that just needed to be hauled away. There was some trash, but there were also leftover building materials, plaster that covered one of the walls in the basement, old (but cheap) pictures and picture frames, broken appliances, a busted door, dilapidated counter/drawers, etc. We were able to take care of just over half the pile before the dumpster was full to its limit. This was at about 2:00. The rest of the afternoon, which was kind of mine, I spent striping old paint off a chair that I pulled out of the junk. It was still usable, and underneath the pealing paint it was still plenty sturdy enough to be used without fear. That evening we had church, but I forgot when it started.

Thursday, after the previous dumpster was hauled off, dumped and brought back, we went back to work shoveling and wheel barrowing stuff out front. We had gained a man, which helped, so now we were up to a work force of four. This made it nice; two would shovel while two would sit, then the reverse - two would push wheelbarrows and two would sit. We were actually able to get some work done and finished cleaning out the courtyard that day. What a sight to behold! An empty courtyard! So now what? Well, we started looking at and thinking about the possibilities of finishing the cleaning and then building a sort of privacy fence/gate to cut off our little bit from the part that is not ours. Then we could put chairs/benches outside, set up some kind of grill and actually use the space for something usefull. Right now it still doesn't look like much, but most things don't when they are still in the evolving stage. After doing I don't know what, Daniel and I set out sound equipment for the wedding reception the next day.

Friday, yesterday, the day of Daniel (Dixi) A.'s wedding (NOT mine!). Daniel V. and I took the sound equipment to Piestiany where the reception was to be held later that evening. After doing this, we headed home and prepared things here at the church. The wedding itself was held in the Evangelical church, but the bride and groom's families were meeting here out our church. I got ready and left to walk the 1/5th of a mile to the Evangelical church. I got there with plenty of time and found a good spot to be able to take pictures from. The actual ceremonies were short and sweet and everything only lasted about forty minutes, but then came the congratuatorial line; this lasted for another forty minutes. It did help that, as everyone was waiting there turn, refreshments were being served by some young hands. This was great and I about stuffed myself on all the homemade sweets as well as some rolls that were just wonderful (Yugoslavian recipe). Then, after congratulations were given, everybody that was going to Piestiany tried to find a ride. I ended up riding with R&D* and we got there just as everybody else was arriving. To make a very long evening short (I wished) I will just say that there was lots of food, some nice live piano music (from Daniel A.'s cousin) plus ours, some "games", etc. It was enough to wear anybody out and that's just the way I felt when we left at midnight. Wow, I was able to make over six hours fit into two sentances!

And, my reader might wonder, what about today? I can't say because it's not over yet.

I've just got to start

Ok. This'll be my second post and hopefully the start of posting on a regular basis. I've just got to do it or it won't get done.

But start where? I've been trying to decide whether or not to try and fill the readers in on the days that I have missed or just to start with today. I'll just start with yesterday, and if I have time I'll try to hit on the highlights of this past week.

Yesterday was a "work" day, meaning that I wasn't free to do what I wanted, but worked on the list of things that need to be done around the church here. I started out working on finishing a bed that I've been working on for the past week. The frame was there but I have put boards on the bottom and sides to keep the mattresses in. Daniel V.* and I also made some extentions so that two beds could be put together as a bunk-bed. Yesterday I finished up making the ladder, but forgot to make the railing so I guess that'll happen today.

After this, or rather while the paint was drying, Daniel and I went upstairs to scrape paint off of window frames (while they are still in the wall). This took us most of the rest of the day to do, and all we got done was one window! Not much to show for a whole days work. The paint was old though, and kept gumming up like glue, as well as catching on fire, which happens when you have to use a torch that has very little regulation. We still have about seven more windows to do, so maybe we will learn as we go and get more done in a day.

The rest of the evening was spent setting up a trampolin at the A.'s and then jumping with their kids until we were all really tired (Roman* came near the end). Then, since two or three jumpers had almost ended up in the neighbors yard, or to be more exact, in their garage, we were told to put up the netting walls that are supposed to go on trampolins now adays. We never did figure out how it went up, and since it was dark, we decided to wait until some other time to do it.

So there, that's about it for Yesterday. I'll try and post an update from today sometime later, probably this evening.


* If you don't know who this is, please let me know with an email and I will try and tell you a little about them.

First Try

This will be my first try at blogging. Please bear with me as I learn the ropes.

It may be some time before I actually start posting things here on a regular basis, so again, you'll just have to wait until I learn how everything works.

I am planning, once I get going, to post daily my thoughts/news for that day; kind of a journal of sorts for those that are interested. The gaps between posts might get bigger as the weeks go on, but that will be because I will have limited access to the net.