Piling Up
Thursday night began a downward spiral and I am not sure where this ride stops. As we returned from Zhytomir, we learned that our landlord might be mad at us about something and that we had lost the electric bill. The landlord was upset about that. Then, on Friday, I received an unsettling email from someone in America and I wasn't sure what to do. It was pretty upsetting and still aren't sure how to respond. An electric outlet at our apartment got broken and we still aren't sure how to fix it. Sunday we had to get up for morning assembly (which isn't our usual pattern) and my glass lens popped out. The repairman didn't really fix them Sunday afternoon but sure tried every way possible to make me feel guilty about breaking my glasses.
Sunday afternoon we also finally--after about 2 years of looking--bought a small office refrigerator for the UEC. Monday it was delivered and I spent about an hour cleaning the space for it, reading the instruction manual, and moving it around, measuring, etc. I find the plug and it's some kind of enormous plug I can't even begin to describe. Called the store. "Oh yeah, some refrigerators have that sort of plug. If you want a different kind of refrigerator, you will have to bring that one back." We did even bother asking why no one told us about this. "And you will have to come back to the store and we will give you a piece of paper to call a guy who will come and change the plug, if that's what you want." Oh, sure--I've got a couple of hours to waste. Misha went and they gave him the same lecture, about somehow this was our fault--never one word of apology. Preceding the refrigerator disappointment was a long conversation about a problem in managing the use of the church building. Sunday afternoon I had had a long conversation with someone about this and she turned to me to try to fix this problem. So I spent several hours on Monday talking to several different people, explaining, emailing, writing some suggested policies, etc. All about something I had absolutely no hand in.
Then, in the middle of these two messes, a fire inspector comes to the UEC. We have never been visited by a fire inspector. They insisted on seeing the Center, asking all kinds of questions. My Ukrainian readers know what that's disturbing. American readers are probably thinking what do you have to hide? Ah, cross-cultural communication. Ukrainians know that when inspectors show up without advance warning it almost always means they are trying to get money out of you on questionable grounds. It sent us all into a little panic even though as much as we know, we haven't done anything wrong. But remember those bullhorns in the parliament? The rule of law doesn't always trump the rule of greed. After the fire inspector left and some phone calls were made, we went to try to get some new classes. But the place closed at 3:00PM during the summer. Oh, and when we got back, a mirror in a downstairs bathroom broke in half! That just can't be good.
Pray for us.
Sunday afternoon we also finally--after about 2 years of looking--bought a small office refrigerator for the UEC. Monday it was delivered and I spent about an hour cleaning the space for it, reading the instruction manual, and moving it around, measuring, etc. I find the plug and it's some kind of enormous plug I can't even begin to describe. Called the store. "Oh yeah, some refrigerators have that sort of plug. If you want a different kind of refrigerator, you will have to bring that one back." We did even bother asking why no one told us about this. "And you will have to come back to the store and we will give you a piece of paper to call a guy who will come and change the plug, if that's what you want." Oh, sure--I've got a couple of hours to waste. Misha went and they gave him the same lecture, about somehow this was our fault--never one word of apology. Preceding the refrigerator disappointment was a long conversation about a problem in managing the use of the church building. Sunday afternoon I had had a long conversation with someone about this and she turned to me to try to fix this problem. So I spent several hours on Monday talking to several different people, explaining, emailing, writing some suggested policies, etc. All about something I had absolutely no hand in.
Then, in the middle of these two messes, a fire inspector comes to the UEC. We have never been visited by a fire inspector. They insisted on seeing the Center, asking all kinds of questions. My Ukrainian readers know what that's disturbing. American readers are probably thinking what do you have to hide? Ah, cross-cultural communication. Ukrainians know that when inspectors show up without advance warning it almost always means they are trying to get money out of you on questionable grounds. It sent us all into a little panic even though as much as we know, we haven't done anything wrong. But remember those bullhorns in the parliament? The rule of law doesn't always trump the rule of greed. After the fire inspector left and some phone calls were made, we went to try to get some new classes. But the place closed at 3:00PM during the summer. Oh, and when we got back, a mirror in a downstairs bathroom broke in half! That just can't be good.
Pray for us.
posted by Kyivmission at 1:14 AM
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