Garry was hoping to move the students and family into the new house this week, as the week progressed the target date was changed from Wednesday to Friday to Saturday.
In the morning I had my doubts, but he started moving mattresses and piles and bags of stuff after lunch, and they were popping popcorn for their weekly movie night by six pm. Honestly, I don't know where all that stuff was stored in our house (and summer kitchen).
Here are a few photos taken in the last couple days. There are still a few things to finish in the house (and out), but they are in their own space before we get a few more students on Tuesday, September first. Classes will begin the following week.
 |
| Wednesday ... not quite ready |
 |
| Friday... stove hood up |
The kitchen is ready, although the stove is gas and the gas is not hooked up yet. However, late Saturday Garry connected the power to the electric stove on the family side, so they can cook on that one for now. All the plumbing was finished for the sinks on Friday, if not before.
Friday morning we bought divans (couches), and Ukrainian style, so everyone of the three can turn into a bed. They were delivered that afternoon. Garry had ordered some before I came back, but they were not going to be ready on time, so the order was cancelled.
 |
| three couches for lots of seating |
 |
Had to unstack the bunk beds in this room, for safety,
still waiting for some bolts |
 |
the table on the parents side assembled
this is a typical Ukrainian kitchen table (it flips to get twice as big) |
 |
| Garry trimmed a door in the morning, more to do later... |
The big project of the day was to finish the
tuba... underground water pipe that will connect to the village water system to fill the cistern for the technical water (washing, flushing, showering) in the warm weather months. So after the boys showed up early, Garry went outside to work. He had promised them a pay bonus if it was finished on Saturday.
 |
| Sasha hard at work |
 |
| digging through the cobblestone road |
 |
| Andrey, the new student |
 |
| it continues around the front of the house |
 |
| and the side to the cistern |
We'll have to dig a well for filling the cistern in the winter. The well water is "salty" so soft water from the river is used the rest of the year.
 |
| Kolya and Valera working |
 |
| finished under the road! |
The boys will be getting their bonus. The water was pumped out of the cistern. It's the new one that was dug this summer, and a big concrete cover was made a few weeks ago.
Maria, Garry's trade school assistant/translator got to climb down and clean it out after the water was out and I have a photo! Later in the afternoon, fresh water went in the cistern.
 |
| there she is! |
 |
| the washing machine will go between |
I did some cleanup in the bathrooms, scraping paint that had splattered on tiles, washing the ceiling in one (instead of acoustic tiles in the drop down ceiling like in the rest of the house, the bathrooms have green water resistant drywall cut into squares and painted white) and patching up the grout in the same bathroom. I also got to caulk the two showers with silicone. Maria kept opening windows, concerned about the fumes. I will say it did get pretty bad inside the girls' shower cabinet, when I had the shower door rolled shut! They can't use them until Sunday afternoon, so most of them were back at our house to shower that night.
The girls were busy packing up, washing sheets and cleaning the new house, sweeping, and washing bathrooms and floors.
 |
| Masha (Maria) was washing doors and windows |
Beds are made... except the one below, we dropped it off around six, apparently the girl coming on Tuesday is going in a different room! The girls picked their own roommates, after living together for a month.
Garry drove between the houses a number of times, with stuff packed in and a single twin size mattress over the back seats. Karina (second year student) was his helper for most of the trips. I went along to make beds (I was hunting through our bedding for suitable sizes while keeping
most of the ones I wanted), and some of the girls helped with the dishes and fragile items.
I did take a number of photos to show you what happened, however, I missed the photo of the day when they moved the king size mattress for the group home parents on top of the car, with Karina riding on top of it. Luckily Larissa (the group home mom) got a picture of it.
Yes, no one was injured in the process of moving. However, one of the girls did get a small burn on her chin eating my pizza the night before. I made pizza twice in the last week, other than that my kitchen was their kitchen.
