D-Day Invasion- "Strange"-ly Imminent!! TRIP REPORT IS UP!!

[All7OfUs]

Oh Liesa, what an amazing event and milestone. I got very weepy reading it, I can't even imagine!

the car, oh no, the car!



Only you would think tarantulas are cool


point made



ooh, I missed that, must go check!

Yes, the car is about to go broke- like my checking account.

Frog pee is gross.

Tarantulas ARE cool. I would never actually TOUCH one though.

Okay; you've got me totally . I'm lost. What are we talking about? I hope I didn't say anything bad.

Not all who wander are lost.

No, not at all. It was about Liesa's post where she mentioned she was reading in the bathroom. I actually read it first in your quote of it since it appeared on the previous page and I hadn't backtracked yet. Sorry for the confusion!

I was just glad to know I'm not the only one who reads in the bathroom. We have Schott's Miscellanae in there.

Yep!
I love it!

Your love for it shows everyday in how hard you fight for those patients!

Wait for it.......



Wait for it......

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww​

What an emotional, adorable way to end an era! It's SO hard to move on. Don't go see Toy Story 3 now. You'd bawl your eyes out. That is... if you have any eyes left to bawl

Thanks, Jen!!! Hey, we have to get planning!!!

I've heard over and over about TS3. Guess it's a real tear jerker. I saw UP just after my grandma passed away last June, and I don't think I had cried so hard in years. Kinda bad (or good- depending on how you look at it) timing.

 

[All7OfUs]

Oh Liesa! My TR is up and running. Can I post a link here? Thanks! Knew you wouldn't mind.

The Moist Exhausting Free Trip Ever

Of course, you can post a link here! So glad you did. Might have been missed by some; I know for me because they were not announced I have missed some I've wanted to be in from ground zero!!

"Moist"?? Still need to read the first chappie of yours. Just getting on this AM and it's already HOURS old. I wonder how many pages it's already up to?

Good morning Liesa!!

Morning Tracy!!! Just finally getting on today. My dog is DELIVERING!!!!!

What a great reward for the long journey taken. What joy to see your baby become the man that our Father created him to be. What sadness to know that things will never be quite the same. Time to let him go and release him completely into His hands now.

love you liesa.

Yes, it's that time- You always wonder in their early years "what they will be" or "do". In so many ways, it's fun to finally SEE that.

Thanks for you wise words- love you too!

What an emotional roller coaster!! I'm only reading about it and I'm a mess!

Get ready for more...

DH went to Poland for duty a few years ago. He said the people were still not used to being free, and they spoke in hushed tones, always looking around and not making eye contact, as if they were afraid to really live!

They are just now climbing out of that devastating hole here. When we arrived in 2001, EVERYONE wore black, never made eye contact, and were just generally wary of everyone. It is still a rule of thumb that you don't talk on busses or make yourself stand out in public. I cringe when short-termers come over and make donkeys of themselves by being loud and obnoxious- as Americans generally do.

 

[jordanyosh]

It was your graduation update that almost made me regret not having kids...ALMOST.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

WOW! What a journey, in so many ways.

It is nice to know that kids are, well, kids. reminds me of a million really long road trips as a kid myself. You sleep. You kick your brothers legs off of you. You push your hot sweaty sleeping sister off your shoulder and onto someone else. And then you have to pee.

You do not, unless you are playing the license plate game or are in desperate need of the facilities and therefore scanning scanning scanning for any sign of "restroom next exit" or gas station or fast food indicators, actually paying attention to anything outside the car.

I've been nosing through your pictures this morning, hope to do more when I have more time!

I am just grateful you are back in one piece.

Hey! I didn't know you were my sister - but now I see you were on our road trips!

Ok - I have seen enough spiders on the internet today to last me a lifetime!! I am sure I will have nightmares tonight!!

I guess with over 30,000 species of spiders it is not easy to identify them. It could be a jumping spider, but I'm not sure at all. I couldn't find anything that looked quite like the one you saw - especially with four orange legs and four black legs! Oh well - I tried!!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

So thankful we were born in a free country!

I'm all caught up now. Your trip is excruciating! I loved the graduation ceremony and party. Looks like a wonderful group of kids! It is hard to let them go, but you've done a great job, so trust God, then tell me how!

 

[All7OfUs]

It was your graduation update that almost made me regret not having kids...ALMOST.

Not too late...

So thankful we were born in a free country!

I'm all caught up now. Your trip is excruciating! I loved the graduation ceremony and party. Looks like a wonderful group of kids! It is hard to let them go, but you've done a great job, so trust God, then tell me how!

Me too!!

The best piece of advice someone ever gave me was this:

Our main job is NOT to make them comfortable or happy; it is to raise and train them to be lovers of the Lord. The former is His job, and it's not always according to OUR definition of them. Of course, we need to provide for them and try our best to keep them safe the best way we know how, but ultimately they need to know that their peace and joy will come from somewhere else. One day at a time is the best approach.

 

[jordanyosh]

I refuse to go the Larry King route..

 

[Flossbolna]

They are just now climbing out of that devastating hole here. When we arrived in 2001, EVERYONE wore black, never made eye contact, and were just generally wary of everyone. It is still a rule of thumb that you don't talk on busses or make yourself stand out in public. I cringe when short-termers come over and make donkeys of themselves by being loud and obnoxious- as Americans generally do.

Not making yourself stand out in public might also be a cultural thing - Germans don't do it either and at least West Germans have been living in a free country for 65 years now.

But I once went to a very interesting talk given by a man who used to be a pastor in East Germany and then after reunification went on to be head of the agency which dealt with opening the files of the East German secret police. He explained how kids when they grew up learned how to live to seperate lifes: the private one and the public one and that these better be not mixed otherwise bad things might happen. I found this very impressive and also very sad...

 

[All7OfUs]

***I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures for this section… I’ll try harder with word pictures for you…***
Heads hung low, we crawled into bed, even more exhausted, now from cross-country marathon road tripping, a wonderful, yet very emotional graduation ceremony, and now impending doom with a broken down car.

Our oldest two kids needed to be at the airport the next night for a 3 AM flight, and to come up with a reliable taxi on such short notice was asking for the impossible; but we have a God who loves to deliver just that. So first thing in the morning, while Mike set to work on finding out what was wrong, I started making phone calls to various friends who live in the Big City. It came down to 3 options: 1 was busy and couldn’t, another didn’t want to try to find a new house in the dark and wouldn’t, and the last said it was too short of notice and shouldn’t – but would. So, we had a ride lined up; one miracle delivered.

WDW vs. Life in Central Asia: Help is just a phone call away (usually 1).

After spending the entire morning getting more greasy than the local food around here, Mike determined that an engine bearing had broken, causing the pulley to slip out of place which made the engine fan and A/C belt a whole 2 inches out of place. Now we knew why the A/C had stopped working, and why the engine made a banshee scream the next time it was started. It was more than he could fix on his own. The “evacuator”, which is what a tow truck is called here, came around 4:00 and towed it to a shop that had been recommended. They promised that it would be ready by late afternoon the next day. Now we’d just have to wait.

WDW vs. Life in Central Asia: If your bus breaks down, another one is right behind it.

That night, I went in with the kids to the airport. Security wasn’t going to let me through, but I whined a little, and told them that they were traveling alone, and that I had bought the tickets with MY credit card, blah, blah, blah. I’m sure the fact that I spoke Blankistani helped more than a little. Easy-peasy check-in, bags within weight limits, a quick hug and kiss, and a few more tears, I left with a lump in my throat. Another good-bye; a whole summer without those smiling faces. For those who’ve already done the “send off to college thing”, I now “get it”. For those of you who haven’t yet, brace yourselves.

WDW vs. Life in Central Asia: I cry when I have to say good-bye at both places.

Next day, I could sense that our host was needing his space. They have been through some VERY stressful, potentially life-changing carp the last few weeks (the wife hit a pedestrian and was losing her license, and the their 3 year old developed a swollen knee that is most likely turning out to be juvenile arthritis) and to have us around, overstaying our intended hostelling, was wearing on his nerves. He was VERY gracious, but you know when you get that vibe of “I’m done”. We started the decision making process of, “Do we go to the warzone, or do we hang out at a craptastic place around here”? As you all know, days before we left our city, basically a war (much more on this later) broke out in Kyrgyzstan. Mike thought things needed time to settle down before we waltzed on in and made ourselves comfy on the beaches of Lake Issyk-Kyl. Turns out, that wasn’t’ necessary, and in hindsight we should have gone on down. But my motto: Better to be safe, than sorry.

WDW vs. Life in Central Asia: No one minds if you stay an extra night. In fact, they’d love to hork your extra $150.

True to their word, the car was ready by 3:00 or so, and after shelling out $300 for them to fix whatever they needed to fix, we hastily packed up and got the heck outta Dodge. A quick stop at a market, we loaded up on all kinds of emergency foods. You never know when you’ll have to provide your own victuals.

A decent place was recommended to us, so we headed there. We were told it’d be about $50 a night for all of us. So we show up, and it’s gorgeous! We loved it! Problem was it was $50 for ONE room. On the WEEKEND. We needed 2, and it was NOT a weekend. We could not justify $150 for a night. However the restaurant was lovely, so we stayed for dinner while we formulated Plan B.

The only place to go was up--- up the mountain some more. To a place we’d been to before. Which was marginal at best. By now it was dark, and the guard came out and told us it’s a no-go. There were camps all week for youth, and they were not accepting other guests. Hmmmm… okay, up further. Next stop the (translated) “Apple Mountain” Sanatoria.

How do I describe a “sanatoria”? In Soviet times the “Sanatoria” were places that overworked commoners went to recover after the Soviet regime pushed them too hard with 12 hour, 6 day weeks. They would basically burn their workers out to the point of illness, then sent them to these places for barbaric treatments that included shock therapy, Russian massage, banya (google that one), and a regimen that swerved not ONE minute off schedule. They were given porridge in the morning, soup, bread and cabbage salad in the afternoon, and a lighter meal in the evening. At precisely 10:00 they consumed a glass of buttermilk with 2 cookies and sent to bed. Period. The doctors recorded your temperature at various times throughout the day, took the water temperature of the pool you dipped in during your sauna time, and gave massive amounts of injections in your hind end- so much so, that most (that we have talked to) could not walk out of the place when done.
WDW vs. Life in Central Asia: I think the spa treatments are a little kinder.
Now, most of these facilities have now been privatized and are turning into quite nice places for citizens to come and rest the real way. They are quite often in the mountains, and many come to ski, hike take saunas, sleep, play ping-pong, etc… But some have terrible managers, and have not been upgraded ONE LITTLE BIT. The Apple Mountain is one of those….

 

[jenb1023]

I think Maroo is right - you may need to write a book one day! The way you all face each challenging obstacle head on and find solutions instead of dwelling on the problems always impresses me. Maybe when you move back to the States you should teach a class on facing real obstacles and adversity around the world! I know a few people who could use that lesson - LOL!

I just saw TS3 and it was great! You will definitely need a box of tissues if you have a child going off to college, moving out, etc. It made me want to freeze Jordan and never let her grow up!

Looking forward to the continued saga!

 

[glennbo123]

True to their word, the car was ready by 3:00 or so, and after shelling out $300 for them to fix whatever they needed to fix, we hastily packed up and got the heck outta Dodge.

Probably a fair price. You would've paid at least that over here.

How do I describe a “sanatoria”?

The word sounds very similar to sanitorium. Coincidence? Probably not.

In Soviet times the “Sanatoria” were places that overworked commoners went to recover after the Soviet regime pushed them too hard with 12 hour, 6 day weeks. They would basically burn their workers out to the point of illness, then sent them to these places for barbaric treatments that included shock therapy, Russian massage, banya (google that one), and a regimen that swerved not ONE minute off schedule. They were given porridge in the morning, soup, bread and cabbage salad in the afternoon, and a lighter meal in the evening. At precisely 10:00 they consumed a glass of buttermilk with 2 cookies and sent to bed. Period. The doctors recorded your temperature at various times throughout the day, took the water temperature of the pool you dipped in during your sauna time, and gave massive amounts of injections in your hind end- so much so, that most (that we have talked to) could not walk out of the place when done.

Yikes! Sounds like people got better just so they could escape the treatments! They didn't know how good they had it back on the assembly line, or wherever. The ol' "the beatings will continue until morale improves" philosophy.

Oh, another chapter title idea for you....if you want to switch it up and get away from the "steppe" puns, you could go with something like "Make a new plan, 'Stan"

 

[All7OfUs]

My dog just bit my hand ------ badly!


Story and pix comin in a minute...

 

[Lady Lallie]

I really don't know how you do it.

 

[nodnol]

My dog just bit my hand ------ badly!

 

[All7OfUs]

ok, I should have known better! REally, I'm feeling like an idiot. And can't type worht a poop right now.

My dog went into labor this afternoon, and I erroneously thought she might need a coach. I couldn't have been more wrong. She wanted me out of her face, and NOT near her doggie palace.

I reached in, and she nailed me with 2 VERY deep pucture wounds. On the way in the house, I peeked inside and saw a shiny white (I can only best guess on this) sinew deep in my hand flesh.

I immediately called my AMAZING hubby to the rescue, and he washed it out. But that's when I started to pass out. He finished with our filtered water best he could at the bathroom sink, and got me laid down on the bed, where he continued to lavage it and apply Betadine. Where I again pleaded to God to just let me die. I almost passed out again.

For a while (this happened an hour ago) I just rested. Then called the medical clinic in the Big City. I am on a preventative antibiotic, but the more pressing concern is Tetanus. So, I will have to go to the local clinic in the AM for a shot. I am now praying they will not force me to check in for a series of shot in my butt for 10 days. PLEASE pray with me about this!!!







So, here I am. It hurts to type, really. So, I think I won't do a long update for a while. Depends on how it heals up. I imagine it'll be bruised for a few days.

 

[carissanboys]

Ouch, Liesa!! I'm sure there have been many human moms who wanted to bite someone while giving birth!

Hope your hand heals up quickly.

I didn't know you spoke Blankastani!

 

[reelmom]

Sorry you are hurt but I love the picture of you with your glass of wine.
BTW- Will you be taking said dog home with you to the states?

 

[Flossbolna]

Oh no!! I hope you will recover quickly.

However, I am amazed about you! You nearly pass out and then you start posting here on the DIS with a fully fledged update with pictures of wounds and of you recovering with some interesting red medicine (which looks suspiciously like wine)...

Lots of well wishes!

 

[TrayRene]

Wow - as I'm enjoying your latest update with my morning bana... wait, I don't want you to gag - I certainly didn't expect this!!

I'm so sorry!! That must have hurt! I am praying that you will not need any additional shots.

Hopefully the wine is helping to numb the pain. Seriously - hope you are feeling better now.

 

[nodnol]

Liesa, I wish you a quick recovery!