Katrina Got a Car!

Yes, I'll do it this time. I'll write about the same identical topic that is on my co-worker's blog. The biggest reason is that this took up a major part of our week, outside of school.

Monday we went to Nikolaev to the bank to get some wired funds. There was a hold-up. A paper had to be written that indicated the funds were for personal use, not investment. AND it had to be proven that Katrina was actually living in Ukraine. That is the subject of her fifteen step blog. The bank was supposed to call us.

We were getting ready to head out to the village on Tuesday. Instead our Ukrainian friends advised us to return to Nikolaev to the bank. It's a good thing we did. Another hold-up. A date in the paper we wrote was wrong so it had to be re-written.

Wednesday we finally got the funds from the transfer and some dollars from another account.

Thursday we went back to Nikolaev to get more dollars. (There's a limit to how much can be withdrawn in a day.)

Friday we headed to Odessa to meet with the seller. After waiting from about noon until 4 pm for the seller to do his paperwork, to get the car out of his name, everyone was getting tired of waiting. Allona and Vova were restless and almost wishing they hadn't come. Katrina and Seth were talked out. I had done all the sudoku I could ever wish to do at one time. Alyosha, the Ukrainian with us had taken two or three naps and was tired of sleeping. We watched others.

These fellows finished their business, got into the car started it, took time to smoke. It died or they turned it off. They ended up pushing the car out of the lot of the Ukrainian "license branch."

The owner of this big yellow jeep got stuck inside. It took him a bunch of tries to get the door open. We debated about going to help him from the outside.

Finally the moment came. Katrina paid for the car and got the keys! As she came back to the car playing with the alarm system and electric locks, she had a broad smile on her face. I tried to get a picture. Here's what I got: Alyosha doing an ecstatic jig, the seller and Dave showing off the temporary license plates!

At last she's behind the wheel ready to head back home.

On the way home, in the middle of the thriving metropolis, we spotted this donkey. The owner was excited when I tried to get a picture. "It's great advertising!! Come ride it sometime!"


Other than the car activity, we've been working with people and . . .

Dave got one section of the fence up. Seth worked on spackling in his room. Dave finished the wallboard in the closet.