My Adventures Where in the world is ….

June 6, 2018

Door to Nowhere?

Filed under: Adventures Intro — admin @ 9:42 am

So, if you read my last post you read about the Door to Nowhere – in Winchester House and here in Dnepropetrovsk.  We pass this house every morning and usually every evening.  A few weeks ago we noticed they were cleaning up the area under the door and putting in boards that looked to be preparing for concrete being poured.  Sure enough in time there was concrete poured and then it sat and sat and we wondered why they had poured concrete and what they were planning.  Renovations perhaps – another entrance to the apartment perhaps.  Then last week one day they started building with concrete blocks.  So here is the door originally.

The Door to Nowhere

Then the new construction:

Building outside the door to nowhere!

Close up of the construction.

Yesterday afternoon we did not go home our normal way.  We went out to eat with another senior couple who were visiting here (Historians from the Kyiv Mission – Elder and Sister Humpherys)  and came home a different way.  As we walked past the house on our way to work this morning we were surprised that the construction (which had been completed up above the door and was enclosed so we had no idea what it was for) was GONE!  The only sign that it had ever been there were some marks on the walls.

Later I was reading the local news and found this article with accompanying photos.

First, here is the article:

“In the Dnieper bulldozer “saved” the last wooden house in the city.

“On June 5, an illegal annex was demolished, adjacent to the only wooden house in the city, which is located on Krutogornaya Street.

“This is reported by the press service of the City Council of the Dnieper.

“The wooden house was built in the end of the XIX century and is a historical monument.

“In the hands of the residents there, and there can not be permits for an extension. They showed us only a technical report on the condition of the load-bearing structures of the house. Therefore, we decided to dismantle this structure. They have no options: the house is an architectural monument. For completion, you need to get a lot of documents. And the residents can not decide for themselves that a toilet made of aerated concrete will be built near the house, “said Mikhail Lysenko, deputy mayor of the Dnieper.

“Illegal completion was made by the owners of the apartment, who bought housing in December 2017. In it they wanted to place a toilet. According to the owner of the apartment Anna Nikolaevna, they decided that they can build, because there is an extension on the plan. However, according to Mikhail Lysenko, this is not enough and for construction it is necessary to have permission from the State Architectural Construction Inspection.”

Historical?  Wow, that was interesting to read about.  So here are the photos that accompanied the article:

Demolition – 01

Demolition – 02

Demolition – 03

Demolition – 04

Demolition – 05

So that is the rest of the story.  Imagine they were adding an “outside” toilet!  There is always something exciting.  The bad news is we might have seen it happening had we walked home our usual way.  The good news is after our shock at seeing the house this morning we were able to learn about what happened.

May 12, 2018

5 May 2018 – Happy Cinco de Mayo

Filed under: Adventures Intro,Our Mission — admin @ 6:28 am

Well, we had enchiladas the week before and finished them up on Friday night so no Mexican food for us today.  We did however go on another walk and although I am posting this almost a week later it will give you some more flavor of what life is like here in DnepropetrovsFirst, a little history.  Elder Morgenegg and I celebrated our 20th anniversary with a trip to San Francisco and we included a trip down the Monterrey coast to San Jose.  There one of the things we saw was the Winchester House.  You may know the name Winchester as associated with rifle and guns but after he died his widow moved to San Jose and built a very interesting and very strange house.  It was there for the first time I saw a door that went nowhere.  It was an outside door and you would expect it would have a balcony or stairs outside but in this case there was nothing.  I believe it was on the second floor but it may have been higher.  Here is a picture I found on line.  I have wonderful pictures in storage but no access to them now.

Winchester House door to nowhere

Up the hill we walk every day there is a building with a similar door to nowhere.  They have recently dug up the ground beneath the door and poured concrete.  We are interested to see what happens next – assuming it is completed within the next five and a half months – you never know how long things will take here.

Door to nowhere

Like last year the tire planters here are now blooming.  What an ingenious way to use old tires!

Tire planters outside our apartment.

Next to our apartment building is a very nice nursery/kindergarten school.  There is an entrance from our parking into the school.  We often say we could cut some time and walking off our route if we could just walk through the school – but we never do.  Here is a picture of this back entrance.

Back entrance into school.

So last Saturday we took a walk to see a mall that Elder Morgenegg has been wanting to see.  It is called the Grand Plaza Mall and is next to the Dnepropetrovsk Grand Hotel.  Here is picture of the outside.

The Grand Plaza Hotel

Inside it is even more exclusive than the mall where Le Silpo (the upscale grocery store is.  Here are some pictures of the inside.

Trampolines in the playland at the Grand Plaza Mall

More of the playland

The second floor of the Grand Plaza Mall

There are three levels in the mall. In the basement is a great bookstore. Although all the titles are in Russian it was fun to look and to see familiar looking covers.

After leaving the Mall we took the tram down to the Renok where I wanted to see if they had currants yet.  We walked on the opposite side of the street from the Renok because it was a very warm day and that side was shady and so it was cooler.  We found an interesting alley to walk in.  It ended but it was interesting to see.

Nice looking alleyway.

We also saw a renok that had bedding plants and vegetables.  Lots of bedding plants and it was very busy with people buying vegetables, flowers and herbs.  Wish we had a place to plant something maybe we could try them out but alas we do not.  Sister Sullivan told me that she tried to grow tomatoes on the balcony at the office her first year here but it was not successful.  Perhaps someone with a green thumb would be able to as it seems a great place to grow things.

I took some pictures of the ATB, Eva (kind of like a Walgreens without the pharmacy), Central Renok, and the Priozerny Mall before we crossed the street to go to the Mall.

Priozerny Mall and the Central Renok

Center Renok and Eva

ATB – a grocery store that is kind of a low end cheaper store – it is where you can buy a packaged ice cream cone (with ice cream) for about 3 grivne about 10 cents

Then we went to another mall, the Priozerny Mall.  It is five stories high and has a gym on the top floor, a bowling alley and a butterfly museum on the forth floor, a children’s party and play land on the third floor and shopping on the other floors including a grocery store on the first floor.  It was interesting to see it all.  There is an escalator that goes up (but not down) as well as stairs.  We saw an elevator and used that but it only goes all the way to the first floor and doesn’t stop in between – there are buttons but it doesn’t stop.  Here are some pictures I took.

Bowling alley through the glass windows

Playland

More of Playland

This is harder to see as all my pictures were through the glass – if you can see the boy – he is on a zip line. There are trampolines in the back as well.

After the mall we went to the Renok and I bought a bag of red currants.  We also got two big boxes of strawberries and a piece of pumpkin.  I froze the currants.  We finished the strawberries with our breakfast this morning.  I cooked the pumpkin (in my crockpot – who knew you could do that.  Just put it in and walk away and the next day it was so easy to get off the skin) which I used to make pumpkin apple bread.

We had a good day and it was nice to get out and see some new things in places we had been before but had not stopped to look.

It is good to get to see so much of the wonderful city we live in.  There is much more to see – more than we will see I am certain.  What a great blessing to have time to do all we have done.

May 4, 2018

April 28 2018 – A Saturday Adventure

Filed under: Adventures Intro,Our Mission — admin @ 5:57 am

Last spring we were out and about a lot and saw a lot.  This year we have not done as much but this last Saturday I decided to take a vacation.  We had enough left overs to eat and we decided to buy bread so I didn’t have to bake and we decided to go exploring.  We walked the entire time.  We went to the mall where you can catch the tram up the hill or out to the branch and the train station but we kept walking across Yavornyskova Street and see what was there to be seen.  It was a little hill but not too bad.  At first it was not very exciting or different but we managed to see some interesting things and had a good walk.

Here are some things we saw.

You can see the domes of this Church from the mall and I have often wondered what Church it was. We found out it is this beautiful “Holy Trinity Cathedral.” An ornate Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

Here is a close up of some of the art work on the front. We did not go in but even if we had we would not have pictures of the inside.

On the corner of the street across from the Holy Trinity Church is this equally beautiful building which is headquarters in Dnipro of Eparchy of the Dnipro Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate

Close up of this building has the words “Christ is Risen.” A common greeting at Easter time in Ukraine – before during and after Easter.

This very interesting “statue” on top of this building is a black horse and chariot. No idea what it means and the building is not marked – not even sure it is in use.

This is farther away and yes that is a “Beer Bank” Bar and the next building is a Sports Center then the unknown building. Notice the cars – new and old cars here and not much in between.

We found an ATB store and went in for ice cream (small cones for just about 3 grivne (about 11 cents) – when we came out I took pictures of the building across the street – it looks like a studio front – you can see the sky behind it through the windows. At one time this was probably an amazing building but now it is falling down.

The other end of the building seems like it might still be in use.

We walked to a bridge that is over a gully where there are people living and old falling down buildings as well.

Beyond the gully you can see the tall apartment and business buildings that are newer in the city.

Some buildings are falling apart – literally.

Close up of one

Then we walked down the hill and went to the Cascade Plaza – buildings on both sides are part of this last mall. The balls on the wires overhead are lights and the wires have hoses that sprinkle mists on very hot days. The balls on the ground are concrete and you can sit on them. You can also see the carousel and the buildings in the center which are restaurants and bars. The upscale grocery (Le Silpo) that we sometimes go to for specialty things is on the second floor of the building on the right.

An interesting sculpure at the mall.

Elder Morgenegg with the statue man on the bench.

Sister Morgenegg with the statue man on the bench.

Since this is Saturday and it is near the synagogue we often see Jewish families walking home. The synagogue is actually in the stair step building on the right about a block from the mall.

A yellow marshrutka bus. We have only ridden a marshrutka twice. Once with Pavel on the way to his apartment to have dinner with him and his wife and once home from his apartment. We usually walk or ride the tram.

So that was our walk.  We sat at the mall for a while to rest and then we walked home – about a mile or so from here.  We walk past the synagogue and through a small park and then to our apartment complex.  It is the route we often take after Church on Sundays and other days.

There are still things to see here but this was mostly just a relaxing walk to see what there was to see.  Love you all.

April 27, 2018

Odds and Ends

Filed under: Adventures Intro,Our Mission — admin @ 11:50 am

So I have assorted photos that I thought I would add to my “history” blog.  Because they are assorted they are not in any particular order and perhaps they may not make a lot of sense but I hope they might be of interest anyway.

After our big snow they shoveled the snow away from the edge and away from the building and it looks like a really big pile – not sure the picture shows it all but it was a lot of snow and I wondered how much stress it was putting on the balcony.

This was the first time Anna cooked for a mission event. She made a torte that was too pretty to cut with a map of Ukraine in Ukrainian blue and yellow and poppies. It was delicious to eat as well. Tortes are very popular here and most cakes have many layers not just two or three.

For our anniversary we went to Black Sheep Noodle Bar. Elder Morgenegg had coconut pork and rice. The pink egg is their trademark. It was really good.

At Black Sheep I had the spicy noodles. The side bowl is extra spicy sauce. I added it. It really cleaned out my sinuses but it was delicious.

A tribute to our mission driver, Aleks, by our very creative missionaries. The sisters wrote a poem and the elders acted it out with lots of adlibing. It was so funny everyone, including Aleks, was laughing.

More of Aleks.

Who knew Aleks could put up both his hands and his feet. Yes, there are actually two missionaries acting out Aleks.

For those who didn’t get the note in the fall last year this tree has what we thought were black walnuts. Turns out they are “conkers” and they are poisonous to us but they fall all around. There are lots of trees with these in the fall. Be careful though as they could cause quite a conk on your head. In the past there was some game using them on a sting. They are very pointy.

I bought this cereal the first time on a chance it would work with some marshmallows I found. Now from time to time I buy it and make the missionaries Rice Krispy Treats – Ukrainian style. It takes two packages to get enough. They only come in chocolate but I never hear complaints. The Ukrainian missionaries love them and one in particular is I think addicted to them. It is a new novelty for them.

On groceries – this is a box of lasagna noodles. Just like home – these are the ones you don’t need to cook first. It is the only kind I have seen here.

This is the only salsa I have seen. It is very inexpensive and fairly spicy. It has good flavor so I keep it on hand to make Mexican dishes with.

For Easter a sweet young woman I know in the other branch made me a little bag of gingerbread cookies.

Here are the cookies out of the bag. They were delicious so I asked for the recipe. She told me it was very complicated and took a long time to make but she sent it to me. It is very complicated and will take time to make but they were so good I want to try it anyway. It has sugar and honey and many spices. You actually cook the sugar until it melts (nothing added – just sugar) and makes a caramel sauce. I will let you know what happens and if I am successful.

Hatuna is a recent convert. She actually has a twin sister named Nastia (short for Anastasia). She always has a huge smile and is so friendly. She understands more English than she will let on though so it is funny to talk to her. She is darling. This was taken before her baptism.

In one of the tire planters outside our apartment they have pussy willows growing. Earlier they were the furry blossoms – I had never seen them later after the paws changed- they are feathery and soon turn to leaves and look like any green branch.  Here the Russian word translates “Kittens.”

A close up of the pussy willows.

Here they have walk signals that have a countdown on them (the traffic lights for cars also have this countdown – and it is for red and green lights) – this is how long til the light turns green.

This is a green walk signal with count down until it turns red. They also have a yellow warning signal with the green light before it turns red and before it turns green with the red light for the cars.

Today it was rainy in the afternoon and again after we got home but then we had a rainbow over the apartment buildings across Polia from us. Here is one side.

Here is the other side. If you look really close (assuming you can make it big enough) you might see a swift or two. We have been waiting for these amazing little birds to return and today we saw them for the first time.

So there are some assorted pictures that I have collected.  I hope you enjoy them.

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