Gilles and I had a bit of time to ourselves so we headed to the center to look around and maybe buy a thing or two.
We discovered this very nice coffee/sweet shop. The place was called Veronica's. The desserts were calling our names so we went in and sat down. We ordered our coffees and our early morning dessert!!! It was 10:30 a.m.....good time for some food. We didn't know just how happy we would be that we had this "energy food".
The weather was surprisingly warm (+20). After a while, we went on our way, mindful that we had to be home in good time because we were having seven guests for supper. At three o'clock we got on marshrutka #138 to head home since we read on the side of the bus, without any doubt, the name of the street just adjacent to ours. So we got on this extremely crowded bus. Much to our surprise, it was not at all going in the direction of "home". Since we were sure, "without a shadow of a doubt" that we were on the right bus, we stayed on the extremely crowded bus as it wound its way through the downtown core. Now anyone who knows Kapuskasing will know that we don't have a public transit system. So, what difference would it make if we took #138 on "this" side of the street or on "that" side of the street? After the crowd started thinning out and we had taken a few turns too many in the wrong direction, we started seeing signs for the airport! & the big box stores on the outskirts of town. When we saw the runway for the airport, Gilles went to the front of the bus and asked the driver about Pasitchna Street, where we wanted to go. Now, you have to appreciate the problem with asking the simplest of questions in a language you aren't fluent in. Add to this that most people have a scowl on their face and don't answer in a very friendly tone of voice. Well, Gilles came back and said he thought we needed to get off and wait for another bus. At this point we are out of town, 6 miles out of town to be exact. Then we turned off the highway onto a secondary highway. Since there were only three people on the bus at this point, Gilles, myself and another man, I went to the front to ask about our street again. My sentence sounded like this "Which number - Pasitcha?" He looked at me, took the bus number off the window and pointed to it!! Was that simple enough? We finally stopped at a corner store .... (company is coming for for supper @ 5 o'clock??!!)
The driver was having a cigarette, went to get some water and finally we were on our way again. We went through the whole route again, thankfully heading in the right direction eventually. When we got to the street we wanted, he was kind enough to tell us we were there. We got off at this point, still about 1/2 mile from where we wanted to go. We walked the rest of the way, wondering where that early morning dessert had disappeared to. By this time it is 4:30. I had tried to call Jean who was at the apartment but the call was not going through. So I was very happy to arrive to the smell of the spaghetti sauce warming up and the spaghetti cooking. After catching our breath the rest of the company arrived and we enjoyed our meal very much.
One cherry danish in the morning and spaghetti supper at 5:30. Is it any wonder I could hardly stay awake during the meeting at night.
Thursday was spent getting all the food needed for the conference on the weekend. It really did take the better part of the day. To avoid anyone having to make supper, all nine of us went down to the center (by car this time) and had something to eat in one of the many restaurants to choose from. It was a perfect end to another good day. The weekend is ahead of us with much food to prepare for the meals of the conference. We are expecting approximately 60 people. Should be a wonderful time...can't wait to hear the singing. Ukrainians can sing!!! Will add more on Monday. Have a good weekend everyone. It is a balmy +20 here again.
We discovered this very nice coffee/sweet shop. The place was called Veronica's. The desserts were calling our names so we went in and sat down. We ordered our coffees and our early morning dessert!!! It was 10:30 a.m.....good time for some food. We didn't know just how happy we would be that we had this "energy food".
The weather was surprisingly warm (+20). After a while, we went on our way, mindful that we had to be home in good time because we were having seven guests for supper. At three o'clock we got on marshrutka #138 to head home since we read on the side of the bus, without any doubt, the name of the street just adjacent to ours. So we got on this extremely crowded bus. Much to our surprise, it was not at all going in the direction of "home". Since we were sure, "without a shadow of a doubt" that we were on the right bus, we stayed on the extremely crowded bus as it wound its way through the downtown core. Now anyone who knows Kapuskasing will know that we don't have a public transit system. So, what difference would it make if we took #138 on "this" side of the street or on "that" side of the street? After the crowd started thinning out and we had taken a few turns too many in the wrong direction, we started seeing signs for the airport! & the big box stores on the outskirts of town. When we saw the runway for the airport, Gilles went to the front of the bus and asked the driver about Pasitchna Street, where we wanted to go. Now, you have to appreciate the problem with asking the simplest of questions in a language you aren't fluent in. Add to this that most people have a scowl on their face and don't answer in a very friendly tone of voice. Well, Gilles came back and said he thought we needed to get off and wait for another bus. At this point we are out of town, 6 miles out of town to be exact. Then we turned off the highway onto a secondary highway. Since there were only three people on the bus at this point, Gilles, myself and another man, I went to the front to ask about our street again. My sentence sounded like this "Which number - Pasitcha?" He looked at me, took the bus number off the window and pointed to it!! Was that simple enough? We finally stopped at a corner store .... (company is coming for for supper @ 5 o'clock??!!)
The driver was having a cigarette, went to get some water and finally we were on our way again. We went through the whole route again, thankfully heading in the right direction eventually. When we got to the street we wanted, he was kind enough to tell us we were there. We got off at this point, still about 1/2 mile from where we wanted to go. We walked the rest of the way, wondering where that early morning dessert had disappeared to. By this time it is 4:30. I had tried to call Jean who was at the apartment but the call was not going through. So I was very happy to arrive to the smell of the spaghetti sauce warming up and the spaghetti cooking. After catching our breath the rest of the company arrived and we enjoyed our meal very much.
One cherry danish in the morning and spaghetti supper at 5:30. Is it any wonder I could hardly stay awake during the meeting at night.
Thursday was spent getting all the food needed for the conference on the weekend. It really did take the better part of the day. To avoid anyone having to make supper, all nine of us went down to the center (by car this time) and had something to eat in one of the many restaurants to choose from. It was a perfect end to another good day. The weekend is ahead of us with much food to prepare for the meals of the conference. We are expecting approximately 60 people. Should be a wonderful time...can't wait to hear the singing. Ukrainians can sing!!! Will add more on Monday. Have a good weekend everyone. It is a balmy +20 here again.
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