Thursday, September 1, 2005

Stopped to see some friends in Cataract, WI. I think I pulled in at around 1:00 pm, and was ready for lunch. After which, we drove around Sparta, and Jake introduced me to Culver's Custard. Not bad, if I do say so myself. We went to get hog feed and run a couple errands.

Friday, September 2, 2005

Since Sparta is the bicycle capitol of the US, we had to go for a bike ride. I think this is the first place they introduced the "Rails to Trails" program, where they take an old rail road line and turn it into a bike trail. It was a good ride, nice to get some excersize after sitting in the truck for a couple days.

Saturday, September 3, 2005

Joe and I started tearing the engine out of my truck. Just before we got it out (the starter and motor mounts only left to go), we called for a harmonic balancer and flex plate. We soon found out that the engine we had put in (and the one sitting there to put in) was the wrong engine. The parts guy made a mistake in getting us the right engine.

So, we just packed what we had done, and decided to wait till Tuesday when we can talk to Tim the parts guy and see where we can go from here. The plan was also to see if I can get my tranny done here as well, so that's something else to check out on Tuesday.

At suppertime (which was probably around 7:00) Jim saw a Red Tail Hawk land on his porch. He wanted a photo, so I did the best I could before it flew away.

Sunday, September 4, 2005

Basically helped Jim and Joe with getting the gable eaves ready to put the roof on next weekend.

Jim grilled venison, Joe made potatoes and corn, Beth had a killer salad and I did dishes. Bert was here all day working and so he stayed for supper.

After, Audrey, Joe, Douggy and I went to Slinger Speedway, the fastest quarter mile track in world.

Monday, September 5, 2005

Labor Day! We emptied the truck at Jim's office, stopped in Menards and got some fish stuff. Jim came home and graded the driveway, Joe raked and I tamped it all down. Then Dave and Audrey came over with steak and we ate real well again!

Tuesday, September 6, 2005

We called Tim today (the parts guy) and he realized that he ordered the wrong engine and got another one coming. He was saying either Wednesday afternoon or first thing Thursday morning.

So, with a day away, I worked with Joe in putting the GTO back together. My job(s) were to clean, sand blast, and paint parts. This included things like headlight bracket, bolts, clamps and whatnot.

Wednesday, September 7, 2005

Took the engine out of my truck today, and pulled it apart. I was hoping that the other engine would come in, so I could take things off one, and put it on the new one. It took most of the day pulling things apart and cleaning it up.

Thursday, September 8, 2005

I was expecting the new motor to come in this morning, so I helped Joe with odds and ends, expecting it to come in any time. I cleaned the bell housing and swapped tires on a Firebird 400.

Had lunch w/ Dave and Gracy next door - the had some pizza and had us over.

The engine came in at around 2:30, and seemed to be the right one. It was a 4 bolt main anyway. So, after the tires were done, I started putting the lower end together on the engine. Once I got that done, turned the engine over, I noticed that there was an extra hole in the block under the water pump. What this means is that it's an older block, as they didn't have that hole there after 95. Joe tapped it and we put in a plug, so I hope that will do it.

Oh, and I forgot to get a few studs out of the old engine, so we'll have to stop at the parts shop on the way to work tomorrow and pull them.

Friday, September 9, 2005

Stopped by the parts shop, and my old block was still there, so we were able to pull out the studs I forgot yesterday. It was a little out of the way, but not too bad.

Spent the morning getting the rest of the engine together. Then I got the engine back in (with some help from Joe) and put together and running. Everything checks out ok so far! It's so much easier to type that then to wrestle with the thing till 7:00 pm, but very thankful that it's running, and running well. Not like the last one, that's for sure. It does seem to have more power than the other, which is good.

To 'celebrate' we went to Leon's after supper.

Saturday, September 10,2005

Uncle Jim had a crew out today to strip the one side of the roof. At the same time I'm packing to go to Indiana. Wish I could stay and help, but I guess I'll have to pass this time. 2 layers of asphalt shingles on top of one set of wooden shingles. That'll be a chore- then they want to sheath it and put paper down. Tomorrow they plan on putting on the new shingles.

So, I left in the morning and drove to Andy and Marie's place. No work to do this time...

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Left at 8:00 am to PA. The tranny was acting up again, but finally figured out something that helped it stay in overdrive. Sure thankful for that! I arrived in Liverpool, PA at around 7:15. Took a tour of the place, had supper and settled in for the night.

Monday, September 12, 2005

Spent the morning on the phone trying to get the last minute things in order. Some speakers were supposed to arrive last Friday, but they didn't show up. Come to find out they were shipped on Friday, UPS ground, scheduled to arrive on the next Friday. Well, we'll be over in Moldova by then. So, the lady helping with all this ordered another set shipped overnight early am delivery, and we'll just reject the 2 packages later.

Pretty well spent the rest of the day packing boxes. We did run over to Bob's place to help him take the back seat out of his mini-van. He's going to take us to the airport on Wednesday.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Packed. Again. The speakers came in today, which was very good. I was able to re-pack just about everything to make it all fit into 8 suitcases.

Later, Palmer, Bob and I went to the County Line Kitchen for supper. I had chicken stir-fry. It was ok, but different from what I was expecting. A little too much gravy for me, but it was good.

After we got home, Palmer followed me to drop the truck off, so Denny could rebuild it while I'm gone.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

No UPS today (before we left). Only thing we were expecting was a couple boxes of microphones. They can be mailed over later pretty easily.

Spent the morning finishing packing, while Palmer worked on getting his water tank situated at one of the other properties.

Bob took us to the airport, and we made it through check-in with no problems. They took all 9 bags (we were allowed 6) and didn't charge us overweight. I think we were allowed 50 pounds per bag domestically, but overseas I think is still 70. We were all under 70, so it wasn't too bad anyway. It sure was nice. We know the Lord can provide the money to pay the excess, but it's also nice not to go through that hassle.

Left Harrisburg and made it to Washington Dulles in about 20 min. We sat around there for a couple hours, waiting to get on the Vienna, Austria flight w/ Austrian Air. This was a good flight, though there wasn't...

Thursday, September 15, 2005

... a good place to sleep. I don't think I slept too much - maybe a half hour. The lady sitting next to me was crowding me some, which didn't help much. But I was thankful in one sense, because when we get to Moldova, I wanted to be good and tired so I could sleep when I should there (to help get over jet-lag.)

Vienna was interesting. From where I was, the airport seemed older, though it did run like clockwork. The planes were parked on the tarmac, and you were bussed into the terminal. We only had about 5 hours to wait for the next flight to Chisinau, and it was hard to stay awake during that time. I did manage to catch some sleep, and that was good.

It was a 2 and a half hour flight to Chisinau which was fine, though the plane for some reason was rocking back and forth just about the whole time.

Several people from the college were there to help pick us and the luggage up, which was helpful. I think we got everything through customs paying only $600. There was a chance we would have had to pay $4,000, so $600 was a welcome break. 2 bags didn't make it, because the flight was very full. We did, however, have a visual on them in Vienna as they were trying to get them into the plane when we boarded.

We drove to the college, and got things unloaded. Then they had a wonderful meal prepared for us - chicken and potatoes, bread, tomatoes and onion salad and apple cake. A welcome sight after eating 1 airline breakfast and a donut in Vienna.

Off to bed. I went to sleep at around 8:00 pm to wake up at 8:30 the next day.

Friday, September 16, 2005

Just found the internet connection, so I thought I should update this a bit, which I did.

Went down to the chapel to see what could be done with setting up the sound system. Really, the first step is to build a sound booth, and a desk / rack for the mixer, transmitters an to hold the receiver cases. I'm not sure who to talk to about this just yet, but will get on that sometime I hope.

I was told lunch is at 2:00, so don't want to miss that! But I am getting rather worn out already. Can't sleep, though, because then I won't be able to tonight.

After lunch I was going to go to the airport with Mihai (a very common name - there's several Mihai's here) and someone else to get my 2 boxes that didn't make it yesterday. Well, at about 10 to 5:00 we went flying through town, trying to get to the airport quickly (I wasn't sure if the lost baggage closes at 5:00 or what.)

We did make it eventually (it is only ~9 miles from the school to the airport). But no one was to be found. After standing around a bit and a few phone calls, we did find a lady that could help us out. She led me to the back of the airport, through a security check. I had my notebook and pocket knife with me (I wasn't thinking I would be passing any security checks.) Thankfully, the security lady let me take it with, which saved a lot of hassle.

We made it to the lost luggage locker, and I pulled my 2 boxes. Looked good. I did have to run them through another security machine. I was expecting some hassle here, because I understand that they like to get extra cash for more customs duty on things this way. I walked around the other metal detector here to avoid my knife making a problem, picked up my bags and went out. No communication or anything. I'm not sure how it all happened, but I was thankful to have everything once again.

Found a McDonalds within walking distance - 3 miles. and have a GPS coordinate for it too. It might become necessary to find it someday, though the food is grand.

Had supper with all the English teachers, about 8 of them. Mashed potatoes, fried chicken, cabbage salad and cake. Tea and water.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Last night we determined that Mihai would come and pick Dave and myself up at the college at 9:00 am, and then go get Jeff at the hotel. Well, at around 9:30, Mihai showed up, and we went to the restaurant to order food for the evening supper. We pulled in there at oh, quarter till 10:00, and they said they don't open until 10:00 so we had to wait.

Well, we finally got out of there and went to see if Jeff was still waiting. He had left to go shopping, so we left without him. In one sense it was nice because it would have been a very cramped trip if we had one more person along with us.

The drive was good, though it was hot. Mihai was mentioning that they planted walnut trees all along the roads, and anyone can go harvest them. A lot of people were out doing this, and it was hard to find nuts, especially in the towns. I thought it was a good idea, but it does seem that they are a little close to the road - a hazard for a sleepy driver.

We finally made it to the farm, but not without a speeding ticket :( The combine was up harvesting sunflowers, and we went straight to the pond where they could start fishing for us.

With a gill net, they started. One fellow threw a rock w/ a rope to the other side of the lake, and a boy there pulled it across while the net was let loose and straightened. Then they got in the boat and started across, pulling out the net and getting the fish that were caught. I thought there would be more than what was being caught, but for whatever reason, it wasn't as many there than what I thought would be.

We watched for a while, then headed up to where the combine was working, to take some pictures as well as see the operation. At the time, they were harvesting for a neighbor, for about $25 and acre I think it was ($50 a hectare.)

Back by the lake, they finished up fishing and we had a snack before heading home. I'm not sure what kind nor how many fish the caught, but it was enough to fill a 5 gallon bucket nicely.

We stopped at a Baptist church in the village there before heading home. They started building in 1990, finished in 1994.

The trip home was just like getting, except for the ticket. Rather warm today - close to 90 with also being humid.

Once home, we changed and got ready for supper (was at 6:30). We piled in the van with all the English teachers and headed to The Grill. The caption on the place mat was "We make vegetarians predators." Supper was grand, with many salads and then shish-ca bobs and steak. Very good if I do say so myself. There were a few things that I stayed away from, but not too much.

Then we all came to the college and had an introduction to the school as well as an introduction to the English course.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Dave, Penny and I were out front at 9:30 to be picked up by the van. We waited patiently, passing the time by talking and telling stories. At about 10:30 we decided that it was a good chance that someone forgot about us, because church started at 10:00! We went to my room so they could check their email and whatnot, and then we went down to the grocery store to so some shopping.

I bought breakfast stuff, as did they, and caught a taxi back to the college. There we met up with the rest of the group, after making some phone calls, and I exchanged some money, we all went out for pizza up by the hotel by which many were staying. It was thin crust, but it was good. I split one with Reed. The exchage was 12.53:1

Coming back to the college, I continued working on the photos taken the day before at the farm, while the English teachers were getting ready for starting to teach classes the next day. Towards 6:30 or so we decided to go to McDonalds and have supper there. It was pretty much what you would expect, and worked out ok.

Back home, I finished up the pictures, and got them ready to put up on the web. I think they uploaded over night, though the html files didn't. The connection has been very slow today. I do hope it's not a normal thing.

Monday, September 19, 2005

The morning brought some different odds and ends helping the English teachers get the last minute things done. I met with Palmer and Mihai concerning what to build for the sound system. We talked things over and came up with some ideas, drew some plans and then broke for lunch. After lunch, a couple fellows came over who will be the ones working on building what we need (sound booths, carts for the mixer and another for the receivers / headphones.)

We met with them for a couple hours, and after I came and updated a couple days worth or journal here for you.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Worked on the Closed Captioning of the Stranger DVD - getting text files ready for people to translate, so I can import subtitles of diferent languages.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

The guys started welding a room in which to lock the equipment over the summer. Not much I could do, but to walk over every now again and smile, nod and utter a few English words that were met with another smile. This entry is short basically because I forgot the details!

Thursday, September 22, 2005

The morning was doing odds and ends.

Afternoon I took a walk with Dave around the city. Interesting trip. I could tell you all about it, but to save a lot of typing just look at the pictures.

Friday, September 23, 2005

Both in the morning and afternoon, I went around taking pictures of all the English classes. The Russian speakers take English in the morning, and the Romanian speakers have theirs in the afternoon. And of course, after shooting, it takes time to transfer files and convert to JPG. When it's all said and done we'll either burn a CD with all the photos for everyone or put it on a flash card and just transfer to everyone's computer that way.

After supper (chicken and pasta) we heard a testimony from one of the students.

Then all of us piled into the bus and we went to Dema's house for desert. It was very good, and it sure was nice to get out and hang out, outside!

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Spent the morning updating this site.

After that, I hiked down town headed for McDonalds. I arrived at 11:30, the team was to arrive at 12:00, eat lunch and head out on the college bus. I sat outside and waited. At about 10 after 12:00, I got to thinking that I was at the wrong McDonalds (there are 3 in this city.) I knew where the other was, and from the GPS, it was only about 3/4 mile away. So I started hiking. I ran into Dave, and we were close to the hotel were everybody else stayed, and no one was around. It was then that the waypoint on my GPS was actually the hotel and not the other McD's. That was another 2 miles away - so we decided to go back to the McD I was at earlier.

Dave ordered for me, and he asked me if I wanted a Menu. No - just a Quarter Pounder with a drink and fries. "That's a menu." Ok - um, yes, then I guess that's what I was looking for. Interesting terminology.

Come to find out, the rest of the team must have pulled in at 11:29 or something, and headed upstairs to extra space for hanging out. No worries. It was then we heard word that the bus was going to pick us up at the college, so we packed up and walked the mile I think it is back home.

The bus we at the airport, and a family was having trouble getting into the country. That was the reason for the delay. But it did come, and we piled in to go the monastery.

The drive was long and slow, reaching 45 mph a couple times. The bus wasn't the most accepting to the bumps as would a smaller car would be.

Eventually, we did get to where we wanted to go. We did have the privilege of having one of the professors of the college come and tell us about it. He didn't speak much English, so Lydia came to translate. We also had a Russian speaking missionary, so we were in good company.

The holes in the rock were made by monks - but I don't know the whole story. You can log on and find out more. Another page from the area.

Since I don't remember the history and events, I guess the next best thing is to page the pictures.

On the way home we decided to go to Andy's Pizza, and we each had something good. I only ate half of my pizza (pepperoni) and took the rest home. Not bad for $3 and $0.50 for a Pepsi to go with it.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Serghae came over to pick me up at 7:45, and took me to his house. I met John and Janice, then we packed all of us in his Audi (he and his wife, myself and their 3 kids.) I had a front seat, for which I was thankful!

We drove about an hour and a half to the small village of Serengeri Noi, where Serghae grew up. I was going for a wedding! (I thought it would be a neat cultural experience, as well as a good photo opp.) On the way, I learned that about 100 people from the church that Serghae pastured were going in a big bus as well. We passed the bus on the way.

The village was quaint, narrow dirt roads and picket fences down both sides. Electricity and gas ("gaz") are piped throughout the village. We arrived in good time, but not too early. The people that were inside were singing, but to me it appeared at the time to be just like prelude music.

I met a few people, most of which didn't speak English. I met Serghae's parents, and got a good kiss on the corner of the lips from his father complete with the stubble! Now that was an interesting experience, so it was, and there wasn't much I could do about it - it all happened so fast. But it was soon over, hopefully not to be repeated by his mother. Maybe the look on my face gave way to the fact that this foreigner didn't take to culture as good as any 'real' missionary would have. I really didn't think I had that look, but I do remember trying to not looked surprised. I may never know what was showing there...

Anyway, back to the story. The service took about 2 hours, and I was thankful the church was full. I had full reign of the church (I had permission to go up front to take pictures as well, of which I only did through a side door so as not to interpret the service.)After being there a while, I realized that it probably wouldn't have bothered anyone, because people were going in and out constantly. The upstairs and main floor were full (remember most of the church from down south came too.) Some people spent the time outside. I came in and out several times to make sure I didn't miss anything.

The service started with the bride and groom coming in together, to the seat specially prepared for them up front, just below the choir. Then the service started, being preached both in Russian and Romanian. It was not translated - just 2 different messages to the congregation. Most people understood both, but some would know only one of either. People stood up to pray, and the choir sang many numbers. I think it was all accapella, though they did have a piano to the side.

Towards the end of the service, the bride and groom stood and the pastor seem to be addressing them. (I had no interpreter.) Then they got on their knees, the bride prayed, followed by the groom, and then the pastor. He took their hands and held them together and said something, and I think it was over, because within the next 30 seconds, the church was empty. Almost Literally. Within a couple minutes all the decorations were down and the bus was packed. Next destination was a large meeting place (I forgot to ask what it really was) that had room to house everyone for lunch and the reception program. But either I missed something, but I didn't see the rings thing, or vows, or signing the marriage certificate, or lighting the candles, or even a kiss.

The reception was more of what I would be used to in the West, though it did have it's differences. The bride and groom came in, stood by the door and had a reception line as people came in. Once the gifts were given and the money basket was utilized, the people sat down, most of which wouldn't move for the next 2-3 hours. Really - if they wanted to it was a major feat.

The pastor again gave me free reign to go anywhere and shoot anything I wanted (through an interpreter.) He gave me a special seat right at the end of a table surrounded with young folk most of which could speak English, though some were timid at first to use theirs. One problem with the seat, however, was that it was about 15 feet away from one of the speakers. And if you know me, loud noise is not really an option. Because of this, I actually spent a lot of time outside because the whole program was one song after another, most of which (like 85%) was live talent. The music was really very good, only for me it was too loud. I SAID IT'S VERY GOOD!!! That's the way it is over here - even in restaurants - they like their music loud. I SAID THEY LIKE THEIR MUSIC LOUD!!

There were dramas and choir and solos and instrumental / vocal. Very beautiful people and voices. I really wish I had a recording of the program. I SAID I WISH I HAD A RECORDING OF THE PROGRAM!! I do plan on getting some CD's of the local talent, sure hope I don't forget that.

Well, we said good by, stopped at Serghae's father's place to pick up some potatoes. I toured the house quickly, which was comfortable, small and again - quaint. There was a bedroom that was wall to wall bed - a community effort to catch some ZZZZ's. The fence kept in the chickens and pigs, and I think there were goats as well. The people here all grow their own corn, wheat, and raise their own meat.

The drive home was good, no incidents. Supper was at Serghae's house with John and Janice, Jim and Leslie. Later, after visiting with some folks that stopped in, Serghae drove me back home. It was about 9:30 when that came to.

Monday, September 26, 2005

Spent the morning helping Nicholai get the wiring in the sound booth for the translator's headsets. After lunch I took the mixer over and hooked things up to make sure it would all work as planned. In doing this, I noticed that the mic is quiet, as well as the headset - doesn't seem to be loud enough. Something we need to look into, because they need to have a good signal both in and out. Might need a pre-amp or something like that. Nickolai will look into seeing what he can find this afternoon.

It really is amazing to me that I could forget what I did today, not less than 6 hours after. After the stint with the mixer, I headed to my room to transcribe the Keys Ministries video on Moldova. This would give me some help in putting a Powerpoint presentation for us when we go home. We had supper with the English teachers, and I headed to the motel with Jeff to get some pictures from the 10th floor balcony.

Catching a cab was interesting, if you like to feel stupid. I had a hard time talking with the lady behind the counter, but she did call a taxi for me, though I didn't remember the address I was going to. 5 min. she said - Taxi 1448, in a Daewoo car.

I walked outside, and there were two taxi's from 1448 company, and one was a Daewoo. I asked if he was there to pick me up, but he didn't understand anything I said. I handed him the paper with the address and the name of the college (in English) and he basically shrugged his shoulders. He got out and talked to the other taxi driver and went back to his car. I thought maybe he was here for another called ride.

Later, a couple ladies came out, got in the Daewoo taxi, then changed to the other and took off. I'm just standing right there waiting for my taxi to show up. Finally, one of the hotel porters came out and said this was my taxi. We finally got things figured out and I was on my way. Not knowing the language makes the simplest things very difficult. If I was to stay here for any length of time, I would have great incentive to learn something!

Got home, and put together a puzzle used as a visual aid, then typed in the last couple day's events. Hopefully I'll be able to get the photos to match the stories - but we have a lot to do the next couple days, so we'll see.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Took the morning and went around to shoot photos of the classes - as group pictures.

At about 10:00 or so, we (the GoodSeed team and a couple directors from the college) hopped into 2 cars and headed down to the farm, the second time for me. It was another good opportunity to get some photos again, although it was a trip that wore us out. The roads here aren't as smooth as back home, so even a 3 hour drive (round trip) takes it's toll on you.

After getting back, I was still full. Becka said that she needed the pictures I took asap so she could get them printed for her class. Then she said they were going to a Mexican restaruant for supper. So, looks like I was going with them so I could convert the photos to jpg and get them ready for her. I didn't order anything until desert came around. So I had a sundae to you know, help fit in with the team. They said it wasn't real Mexican, but a good attempt.

After supper I went back by cab to the hotel so I could exchange another $50. I gave the man my bill, he typed it in and quickly, professionally counted out my money and handed it to me. I paused, asked for a receipt, and counted it against the total on the receipt. He was 100 Lei short (about $8 US). I pointed this out, counted it in front of him, and he apologized and gave me the extra 100.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

In the morning, the students had finals for their English courses. So that took them most of the morning to complete. I was working on the sound system, getting things geared up for the afternoon, where we were to start teaching at 2:30. I didn't get the transmitter running today, just focused on the speakers up front, mixer, mics and other odds and ends.

I was able to record the singing - on DAT and on my computer for some songs. Unfortunatley, I think I have some trouble with my cables going to the DAT, so I went for the computer. Here's the Russian and Romanian songs - about 1.5mb each, Russian is mono, and I switched and the Romanian is stereo.

After lunch (chicken and pasta I think it was today) we started teaching. John did the introduction with a Powerpoint presentation that was translated into Russian, and then we did the same again in Romanian. This class, plus the conclusion, will be done with separate language groups. The rest, however, will be done together, starting tomorrow.

Supper was chicken and potatoes I think. (I'm writing this 2 days later, so I forgot what went with the chicken.)

After supper, Ruth, Jeff, Cathy, Pal and Joan were going to a restaurant for desert, so they asked if I wanted to go. Sure. We walked up to almost as far as the Mc Donald's, and there's a little cafe place we stopped at. Of the 10 or so deserts they had on the menu, only 3 were 'in stock'. We all ordered ice cream sunday's, some with nuts and others without. All with hot chocolate on it. When the order came, 4 of us had hot fudge sundays, the other 2 just had a cup of hot fudge! We ordered them some ice cream, and that took care of that. Not sure what got mixed up with the order, but not knowing the language does pose a problem - and Jeff even had enough Romanian to get around.

Jeff stayed with me tonight, as he didn't want to pay hotel rates for just himself, as most of the English teachers went home today.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

The morning started out a little busy because we needed to get everything running today. Some may ask, why wait for the last minute? The main reason was waiting for the sound booths be get finished, as just about everything works around that. But it worked out just fine. While I was working and doing some soldering, everyone came in for a chapel period, which was neat to sit and watch. Someone would speak in Russian, and then get translated into Romanian (or visa versa). The songs were really neat to listen to as well. I always enjoy that.

Today was the first day that we actually used the sound booths and transmitters. All went well, considering no one has done this here before. It did take a while to get things organized and under way, but I do think it will work, and better yet - work well. Sure is an answer to prayer!

But once the confusion was over, we did make good progress. At the end of 4 slated hours for teaching, we were 20 min behind schedule. Considering we are talking to 2 languages with equipment and technique never used by us before, I think that is remarkably well.

The biggest drawback I can see to the whole works here is that the room only has 2 windows, both on the ground floor, for a room that holds 250 seats. What that means, is that after 200 people sit in there for 4 hours, it does get to be quite warm and stuffy. The students are doing better then I in this situation, which is good.

After supper Jeff and I talked a bit and hit the sack.

Friday, September 30, 2005

Jeff left at 4:50 this morning. Now I have the place to myself, which is both a good thing and not. But no worries, there are plenty of people around with which to associate. Breakfast of porridge, and I did my laundry this morning today as well.

Morning was spent trying to figure out what to do - with getting my computer hooked up to the internt. They disconnected the DHCP server, so I lost my connection. The fellow that runs that came and hooked me up so hopefully we'll be in good shape from now on. I'm not saying that the connection will be a good one all the time, because it's still shared with everyone else, just that I'll be connected all the time.

Lunch (chicken and rice) was good again, and then I went to get set up for the afternoon class. It went well in that sense, but the class was a little discouraging. By the time class was over, there was only about 50 students left. It is very apparent who is interested and who isn't. I think there was something else going on this afternoon, so I'm not sure what that is.

I'm so thankful for the people who are interested- those are the ones we want to teach. It does make it hard to see so many people miss out on some really important information.

Today it was sunny during the day, but when it came time to teach, it was overcast - at least where the sun was so it wasn't strong during the teaching. It was much nicer than yesterday, and for that I was very thankful. Thanks to those who prayed for this!

Was exhausted, went to bed early tonight.