Keeping Dad.

Bypass surgery for my Dad had been on the backburner for a few months. He was not as energetic as usual and had to take things quite a bit easier. He needed bypass surgery but the process is so long and drawn out. He would be lucky to have it before Christmas, that is until his body said, no I need it now! The other week he started having some feelings he hadn't felt before and decided to go to Emergency. They determined it was serious enough to require his bypass as soon as possible. He was moved to Winnipeg to await surgery a couple days later. We drove out last weekend thinking he could go in immediately, then it was Tuesday, then Thursday, then finally he had it on Friday.

The whole family was out. I was pretty content and calm waiting for the surgery. My mind generally accepts that everything will always work out. It's not that I'm not realistic, but my mind doesn't dwell on the potential negative outcome. Sometimes handy sometimes not. I, and I believe most of the others, were most emotional upon being told that the surgery was over, went well and dad was doing fine. For some reason that's when it hit, what could have happened! What the doctor could have said! Thanks to God that the emotion we felt was relief and not grief.

The worst part was my first visit a few hours after surgery to dad in ICU. It wasn't the tubes and wires or bandages all over, it was seeing dad in a lot of pain. It was extremely hard. The pain was not unexpected to him and being a father/husband myself gives me the unique perspective that he decided to have the surgery not just for self preservation or a better quality of life, but probably more so, that we as the family would not go through the grief of losing him yet, or that someone wouldn't have to explain to all the very young grandchildren why they can't see Grandpa anymore. When I think about the possibility of being killed in an accident this is what hurts the most, the hurt that my family would have to go through. Anyway, I thank him for taking the steps necessary to spend a little more time with us down here on earth regardless of the pain it would cause.

Relief came on the second visit a few hours after the first one when he appeared much more comfortable then on Saturday we brought the kids in to see him, he was sitting in a chair eating supper and looked much better. We warned the kids that Grandpa wouldn't look well and had tubes and wires coming out of him, but they were helping him heal faster by going to see him. My daughter is still a little young I think and her personality is a little different she had no problems. My son was calm and glad he went in, but had problems looking at him.

We came home Sunday, and he came out of ICU that day and has been feeling better hour by hour. He has been up walking a little bit. We look forward to getting back at Christmas. We thank you for you prayers, we thank God for helping his heart start again after the surgery and we pray that the healing will continue quickly and fully.

City of Moscow (MOCKBE)

I'll be flying home in a couple of hours, so I'll post one last entry while in Russia. I have really enjoyed this city. I highly recommend travelling here if you have the chance. While the other cities in Russia may be difficult to travel on your own, Moscow is very easy. I actually find it easier than France. A lot of people speak English and those who don't, seem very used to dealing with English. The hotels all speak very good english and they will help you out with taxis, restaurants etc. Of course the souvenir stands all speak enough english to sell all their stuff to tourists. Everything is very updated and modern, but the city itself is the main attraction. It's a beautiful and very old city. I recommend taking a city tour by bus. It is a guided tour, about 3 hours long and takes you all over the city with several stops to get out, and take pictures or buy souvenirs. It ends up with a walking tour around Red Square. The sites are spectacular and trust me, my pictures or those you see elsewhere do not do it justice.





We found the people very friendly and tolerant to the lanquage barrier and those of us learning how things work. It can be an expensive city so you must plan carefully in advance to find the hotel. Your experience will hinge directly on your choice of hotel. Of the places I have visited, Moscow tops my list as a place to come back to with Melanie for vacation.

Tiresome Travelling

I'm almost done here. It's the last day and raining on the verge of snowing. I'm looking forward to going home. Today the mission of the day is to get souvenirs. I don't know how I'll get them home though.

I don't have much time, but I was going to mention what you have to go through to travel in Russia. First, ALWAYS have your passport. You need it to get into the country, but every night, whereever you are staying you have to be registered with the police, so we you check into your hotel, they need you passport. You also need your passport to fly anywhere or take the train. When you come in through customs you fill out a customs declaration. There are two parts, one they take when you come in and another you keep with you to show to police (if stopped) and the hotels need it to register you. You absolutely need this to get out of the country. You cannot lose this piece of paper. When you check out of the hotel they give you a registration paper that you need to fly out of that city. You also need it in case the police stop you.

All in all, the general rule of thumb is, that if someone out here gives you a piece of paper, keep it. Don't throw anything away or you may not leave the country, or have to pay off a police officer to stay out of jail.

Fun eh!

Russia

I'm sitting here in Moscow this morning, finally in a nice hotel room. It's been a tiring week of travel. Since I left Moscow just over a week ago to travel around the country, I've covered over 9000 miles (not km's). Almost every day has been another city. Here's the 3 second itinerary: Fly from Moscow to Omsk (Siberia), fly back to Moscow to catch a flight to Orenburg, overnight train to Samara, fly to Moscow to catch a flight to Voronezh, fly back to Moscow to catch a flight back over Voronezh to Stavropol, then back to Moscow. At each city we met with a farm and in most places our distributor as well. Here's the short version, you can talk to me for more details if you wish, when I get back.

• Moscow is modern and rich. Same as any city in North America except more expensive cars on the streets.


• Most places have somone to speak English (in Moscow), I'm glad we had an interpreter at the other cities


• The other cities, are pretty poor except Voronezh which is little more of a resort city.


• Hotel rooms are really iffy. When you have hot water, that's clear, you take the opportunity.


• Always grab a bottle of still water to drink when you see one. The common bottle of water is carbonated "with gas".


• All hotels will access prostitutes, or have them standing in the lobby. Just to be clear, I did not utilize this feature! Some of the people we had supper with mentioned that most women, will either go with you for free or not much money.


• This one is for Melanie, almost all women wear high heel boots that come up almost to the knee. Any shoe or boot shopaholic, would get overload over here.


• Cokes come in bottles that are WAY TOO SMALL!!!!!!!!


• Driving in Russia is a quick way to die. Most farms and businesses we visited had professional drivers drive us. Dotted lines seperating the lanes, just mean that 2 lanes are actually 3 and whatever way you can move up is acceptable, even if it means taking the ditch and forcing your way in front of a car. I'm shocked there isn't more head on collisions.


• Travel documentation is checked everywhere. Never throw out a piece of paper that the airline or hotel gives you, because you will probably need it. Everywhere you go, you are registered with the police. Most of the hotels do this for you. You will find youself in jail if you do not have your immigration card you got when you entered Russia, your passport with travel visa, your airline ticket you used to get to whatever city your in and the registration paper from the hotel you last stayed in or are currently staying in.


• There is unreal security when you travel to and from the South (which is close to Georgia and Chechnya (or however you spell it).


• The people are pretty friendly and very hospitable.


• Unlike, North America, out here you don't want to finish your plate unless you want more food. An empty plate means either you are not enjoying yourself or you want more food, and it seems to come out of no where.


• They are very disappointed when you don't drink Vodka with them, but most seemed to understand (and the other guys on my team took the bullet for me).


• This place has a HUGE amount of farmland. The furthest place we flew was to Siberia, a 3.5 hour flight and it was farmland from takeoff to landing. If they ever get to full production, they could feed to world themselves. There're perfectly positioned to feed the two biggest populations in the world, China and India.

Here are some pictures. I have to do some work now, but I'll try and add a couple more entries on the travel challenges, my impressions of each of the cities I visited.

Dosvi' daniya (Goodbye)

Fish Head soup

Well, anyone who knows me, knows that when it comes to food, I'm not the most adventurous person, so I was a little nervous about coming to Russia and getting enough to eat. I have to say, I have been able to fill up at pretty much every meal I've eaten. You usually can't go wrong asking the interpreter to just order my some meat and fried potatoes (french fries).

That's not to say, I haven't eaten any meals that I probably won't be in a hurry to eat again. Take for example Fish Head Soup! We went out to see a smaller farmer in Voronezh (south of Moscow). When I say smaller, he was trying to squeeze out a living with about 8000 acres! Anyway, he was so excited that some Canadians from the Flexicoil Plant would come see him, he had to treat us to a Russian picnic. It was a little cold but a different experience.

On the table he had caviar, sausage, fruit, bread, Vodka (of course), juice (luckily) and on the fire was some pots. One pot had a rather tasty lamb soup and the other was, yes, Fish......Head.......Soup!

Believe it or not, I did try it. I figured I had to, since I wasn't sharing 4 shots of Vodka. You have to have at least 4 shots, each with a toast. The first to whatever, usually thanking us for coming. The second had to come immediately following. The third one is to the women and the fourth one is for the horse (or getting home safely). At most farms this was followed by another 4.....................................BOTTLES!

Any way, I tried the fish head soup and aside from the fish, it tasted not to bad. By the way, for those who are wondering, yes it is whole fish, they catch them cut them into about four pieces and throw them into the pot. I didn't have the guts to try the cavier. I probably would have if we could take just a little bit, but he already had it spread whole pieces of bread and I knew I wouldn't eat that much. The sausage was good and their fruit and juices was amazing.