July 2009

Looking back at our last update it seems most definitely time for a new one. Snow is a distant memory as we are now enjoying heat in the 30’s and loving being on summer holidays!

School

Well it felt like it took forever for school to finish but it did at last on the 26^th June after some very hot days in the classroom. Our new director has made some good improvements, so it was a little sad for me to leave, even so sometimes all we can say to some of the random stuff that happens at school is “this is Ukraine!”

Next Academic Year

Jon will carry on teaching there next year, starting September. He will be moving to teach a Year 5 class. The last 2 years we have had an apartment in Kiev, and traveled down to Rzhyshchiv most weekends, but this year we will live here in Rzhyshchiv and Jon will travel everyday to Kiev. It is just over an hours drive, but he says he won’t notice it because of the bonus of living in our own house and not in the city!

Car

Talking about driving, just before school ended we purchased a car, which was going to be a necessity for Jon to be able to do this. It is so good to be able to drive again and have the independence of just jumping in the car & going where & when you need to. We have bought it from Avis a lease company, it is only 2 years old, with very few kms and regular services, so here’s hoping it will last us a good while without having to try & get stuff fixed on it. It is a dark blue Ford Fiesta and runs very nicely, it was a very good deal and we feel very blessed.

Holidays

3 days after school finished we went to Italy (via Poland) for a week. We hired a car while we were there & did quite a lot of driving & sight seeing. We went to Venice & Rome and also spent 3 nights in a small medieval village in a lovely villa that my Aunty owns. It wasn’t really a relaxing time, but it was great to see the history of the country and just have a change of scenery. We especially enjoyed the Collesuem in Rome and marveled at the amazing lengths they went to build stuff!! My view of Italy is on my blog.

We are also heading off to Crimea (the Black Sea) at the beginning of August, so that should be a nice relaxing time for us before summer begins to slide away.

House

It is now great to be completely in our own house and slowly making it feel like home. I have started building some little things for around the house, like a towel shelf in the bathroom & bedside tables etc. I enjoy doing this and it keeps me busy. Our deck is mostly complete and we have a custom made BBQ that will keep us fed most summer nights. It has been great to have people over for a BBQ & just enjoy sitting on our deck, taking in the view & sipping wine!! I love summer!

My Study

I have officially started my study online with Waikato University. I will first upgrade my teaching diploma to a degree, and then continue on to get a Diploma of Sport & Leisure with the hope of becoming a PE teacher or something similar. So far I have found it stimulating and interesting. Apparently it should keep me busy for about 30 hours a week!!

We are still praying about heading home to NZ in Oct 2010 for at least a year if not longer. We are not really sure what lies ahead, but learning just to enjoy where we are for now.

Thank you for your prayers & friendship, we feel it & it is appreciated.

PS

We were both feeling the heat the other day, so took a bit of weight off by shaving each other’s hair. This is the result!!