January So Far...

Hot topic: Weather. 

We have snow, then it melts, freezes, melts some more, freezes, snows some more...the cycle continues.

Most days lately have been around +2 degrees Celcius. Checking the forecast we saw some +11 days coming up but they have since been downgraded to around +5 with rain, rain and more rain. There are a TON of puddles, we might start the hunt for some rubber boots for Dez soon. 

The (slightly) blue doors on the (bottom) right side of this building is New Hope Center, where we have been attending church:

 This is our friend Yura who was teaching us Russian while being home on his break from Lithuania Christian College. 

It was great to spend so much time with him, unfortunately with him being in Lithuania it's like we may as well be in Canada for the amount of times we'll get to see him! We think that maybe at the end of summer we might get to see him again. 

Steve with the boys.

One of the more...interesting...cooking-related things I've tried my hand at while being here has been grinding my own meat. At certain grocery stores we've been at, ground beef/pork comes in really small pre-packaged amounts or you can buy it fresh and they measure it out and weigh it for you. Now that sounds like a great option but if you've ever stood in line somewhere in Ukraine you would know that just because you're in the line doesn't actually mean you're going to get served at some point. And our apartment came equipped with not one, but two meat grinders and I'm up for trying anything once! 

 Results: it was okay. I only ground it once with the bigger...disc...thing...with holes in it and I think to have greater success I should have ground it again with the smaller holes. Will I try it again? I don't know - thankfully the store that we go to the most that is really close to our place sells larger pre-packaged amounts.  

Steve had an interesting opportunity this week. We have become friends with a guy named Bailey who is serving with the Peace Corps here in Zap. He was contacted by the American Embassy last week and was asked if he would be able to help out an American football team that plays here in the city. Bailey called Steve who was on board right away (he's desperate to play sports) and they went for the first time on Monday night. Now, this team has been in existence for about two years and in that time they have played one, yes ONE game. They still however practice every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, go figure. Steve said that there were ten guys there and they did drills and a scrimmage and he had a good time. It's guys who are 18-25 so Steve is hoping to go back a couple times a week at least to meet more guys, build some relationships and get some physical activity.

 Steve (right) with two other football players. 

We have officially started Russian lessons with a teacher!

Bailey got us connected with a woman named Tatiana (Tanya) and she came for the first time on Tuesday for a lesson. I almost died. Okay not really, but she spoke to us mostly in Russian which was really overwhelming because we had to spend extra mental power figuring out what we were supposed to be doing before actually having to do it. Halfway through I felt like I was going to have a mental breakdown but by the end of the lesson we both felt pretty good. It's probably a good thing that she speaks Russian to us right off the bat - it gets us right into it and we'll probably get further faster this way - at least that's what I'm telling myself. She is coming again tomorrow so I hope I feel good after the next lesson is over as well! 

And now for the Quirk of the Day:

You know me, I love my manholes - especially ones with make-shift covers (better than no covers, I always say)!! 

Manhole just waiting for it's next innocent victim.