Monthly Archives: March 2006

I’m Here!

It is hard to believe but I found an Internet Café in Chausy! Obviously there is tons of info to pass on, but I will save most of it for when I return and can share the video (I have taken 5 hours worth already). The 5 containers have been unloaded (1 1/2 into the School number 1 gym) but they are all still in bond. We are hoping to have them released in time to start delivering aid tomorrow.

My family (we all refer to our hosts as our families … my Dad … my Mom) is great. Sasha and Sveta are wonderful parents and are treating me like family, Kristina (11) has a bad cold but was very happy to see me. She will be returning to our home this summer for 10 weeks. Although I don’t speak Russian and they don’t speak English we have a lot of fun communicating, both with gestures and our russian/english dictionaries. There is lots of laughing and we are having fun in the evenings. I won’t go into great detail but there is no running water, and the house is heated with a pechka (a cement wood-burning stove that goes from floor to ceiling). The house is always very warm and comfortable. The toilet is semi -attached to the house, I guess you would call it a squat outhouse … you figure it out!

I have had tours and met people at the Chausy Orphanage, the Chausy Hosptital, the Mogilev Orphanage for girls and been shopping in Mogilev. We have had a reception with the Mayor of Chausy (they served Capaccino that was just like going to Tim Horton’s for French Vanilla Capuccino!) travelled to the “Dead Zone” (an area of extremely high radiation that is off limits), attended a party for disabled children (in Belarussion terms), spent an afternoon exploring Chausy (and getting lost … but that is another story), met and had dinner with the Director of the Chausy Orphanage (this involved Vodka … but that too is another story) as well as visiting a couple of families that have been helped by CAC. This morning we attended a concert at the Chausy Orphanage that was excellent. The children are very talented and put on a great show.

I will try to get back here to post again before I go home (I’m here for another week) but no guarantees as ours schedule is very busy and changes constantly.

Stay tuned … das va donya,

Eric