Monday May 26, well actually it’s Thursday now. We arrived on Tuesday, safely and about 15 minutes late. Not bad for an 8 hour trip that started 40 minutes late. Gail Oliver took us to the airport leaving her family behind, on Memorial Day no less. What a servant’s heart she has.
The plane ride was very uneventful and even quiet. Pam likes the aisle and I like a window, so we had an empty seat between us… for about 10 minutes. Then our seat neighbor arrived. I found out later in our conversations that he was from Kosovo but had moved here to the states about 15 years ago. Actually he said that he is Albanian, but had moved to Kosovo because of the war.
I broke out the world map that was in the airline magazine and ask him many questions about that area of the world. Someplace in my ancestry besides being Italian, I am also a little bit Albanian. So I pronounced the one word that my father had heard from his father and was told that it was a mix of Albanian and Italian. He then looked at me with a grin on his face and then pronounced something very similar and said that it was what a grandmother would say to a child when she wanted to scold him. Leave it to my grandparents to pass on a word like that!
Today is Thursday and it seems like we have been here awhile now, even though it’s only been two full days. We are staying in the Gate Haus. As you can see it’s not very big. It has a kitchen (rather small), full bath and living room downstairs, and a bedroom and half bath upstairs. The ceiling upstairs… well let’s put it this way, I can touch the ceiling. It’s like a big doll house. The Sattelbach is just on the other side of the road. We can hear it all the time.
Yesterday we had a cook out for anyone that wanted to. We met the new family here at TCMI, Justine and Beth Higgins. Beth’s parents, Jim and Peggy Conner were a part of the TCM family back in the 70’s-80’s. Jim was also on the TCM board and currently teaches for TCMI as an adjunct professor.
Saturday I go and teach a Worship Seminar for CIG, International Christian Fellowship. It’s the church Pam and I attend when we are over here. The lead pastor Rob Prokop and his wife Mary sometimes attend MCC when they are back in the states.
Well, that’s it for now. We are here safely. I’m reading and studying for the worship seminar and my first class in Belarus.
John
This is the front of the Gate Haus. This is the side from the road
Sattelbach stream
across the road
from the gate haus. Stair case leading to the bedroom. I'm at the far wall.
As you can see, it's quite small, but it works for us!
jts
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