Masha Graduates from the Fourth Class

Today was graduation day for the Class fours at Masha's school.  All four rooms and over 100 kids of them.  Each room had their own grad exercises and we were treated to 1 hour and 45 minutes of non-stop dancing, singing, skits, poems and general carryings on, followed by the handing out of diplomas and class pictures.

Every kid had several parts in the activities and each one performed well.  Solo performances, small and full group performances...the kids and the teacher(s) went all out.  When one of the mom's on behalf of the parents thanked her, the teacher broke down and cried.

You see, she had been with this room full of kids since they started school four years ago and they were like family to her.  She will be starting with a whole new grou of kids next fall.  And this is the last time the children  will be together as a class, because now some of them will be going to different schools.

Masha's marks were good enough and she passed the entrance exam to go to the Zholti Vody Gymnasium, (which for non-Europeans, is a Social Sciences, Education, Languages and Literature prep school).  Other classmates will no doubt join her there. Another group excelling in math and sciences will go to the Zholti Vody Lytsee.  (Note: Ukrainian usage of the terms may not match German or French usage).

The remaining students will be regrouped into fewer rooms. Next year and in the years following those who make the grade or make up their mind, may also apply to the Gymnasium or Lytsee schools. And at the end of 8th class, some students will go to other schools in the system such as vocational schools.

Some of the girls performing

Masha (left) and a few class mates

Our Gun, a Wanganui Krupp Gun Story - a Book Review

Our Gun, a Wanganui Krupp Gun Story

By Geoff Lawson

Geoff Lawson, New Zealand black powder enthusiast and restorer of old firearms, set out to restore his biggest challenge ever. Krupp Number 4, a breech loading black powder 75 mm cannon of Boer War vintage that had sat out in the weather by the Wanganui Museum for over 100 years. He realized that the gun had great historical significance to New Zealand but found no one knew much about it.  This book, the history of Krupp Number 4, is the result of his research.

Lawson is a good writer and the story moves swiftly and smoothly.  In 96 pages with many photos, illustrations and a couple of maps, Lawson conveys a great deal of information.  No words are wasted.  In the first part of the book he outlines the events that led up to the war.  Most of the book is then describes in more detail the battles in which Krupp Number 4 participated.  Having waded through Pakenham's The Boer War, I was delighted to find that Lawson did not use it as a reference, instead using several other sources.  So I learned things that were not in Pakenham's book, always a plus for me. 

Krupp Number 4 was one of a number of cannon purchased from Krupp (see Manchester's The Arms of Krupp) by Orange Free State (Oranje Vriestaat or OVS) in the build up to the Second Anglo-Boer War.  OVS artillery under the command of Major Albrecht was part of General Cronje's Boer army on the western front. 

The gun participated in initial attacks establishing the siege of Mafeking and of Kimberley. The British sent a relief force under Lt General Methuen who planned to march up the railway to Kimberly pushing the Boers out of the way.  The Boers prepared to push back and the gun went with them.

Krupp Number 4 played a role in the battles of Graspan, Modder River and Magersfontein.  Magersfontein (December 11, 1899) handed the British a severe beating. The relief force ground to a halt and the two armies sat facing each other.

The Boer War was the first foreign conflict in which Canadian, Australian and New Zealand participated.  New Zealand was the first to volunteer assistance in case of war and the first colonial troops from the Dominions to arrive in Cape Town. The Colonials made the fight a little more even as they could at least ride and shoot.

Field Marshal General Lord Roberts, now in charge of the campaign set out to relieve Kimberley by going east outflanking Cronje.  Cavalry under French, including New Zealanders, had to gain control of the river crossings.  New Zealanders participated in the battle of Klip Drift on the Modder River, arriving just in time to drive off the Boers before they could set up their defenses and were first into Kimberley.

Cronje was now trapped between Methuen and French.  He and his army, including Krupp Number 4, tried to escape to the east and got as far as Paardeberg when they were surrounded and could go no further.  After a 10 day siege ending February 27, 1900) they were forced to surrender, the beginning of the end of the war and definitely the end for Krupp Number 4.

The cannon was eventually awarded to the Fourth New Zealand Contingent by Lord Kitchener (who took over from Roberts) and arrived in NZ in 1901.

The last section of the book describes the fate of the gun in New Zealand, the decision to restore it and the restoration process (no small task in itself), as well as a full list of references and bibliography.

Lawson published the book himself so it is available only from this website: www.ourgun.co.nz.  I suggested to him that he might consider converting it to electronic format to gain a wider set of readers, though one would perhaps lose the value of full page photos. 

I would certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Boer War. It was a fascinating read and took less than two days to finish; I couldn't put it down.

Life in Ukraine - The law does not have to make any sense

We have been without a car for over five months now.  Our Kia Carens had 150,000 km on it and was in excellent condition with about $1500 worth of maintenance (mostly suspension related) plus new tires in the past year.

Front view of damage

About three weeks after his brother's untimely death, Andrei tried to make a clean sweep of it.  He and a friend were going somewhere at night in our car.  I made an agreement with him to look after maintenance, put gas in the car for his use and pay his share of repairs until he could afford to buy his own car. My Tanya was NOT in favour, let it be said, for the record.

Andrei said he was going 75 kmph and a tire blew when he was turning the corner.  That put the car into a skid which blew both tires on the driver's side and hit a tree at an angle. The front door post fortunately took most of the impact but the car is pretty much a write-off. Good thing Kias are built solid. The policeman at the scene, a friend of Andrei's, agreed and absolved him from all responsibility for the accident in his report.

Andrei had a couple of broken/cracked ribs and his left knee was badly banged up and may yet need an operation; not enough to warrant hospitalization at least.  His friend was thrown across in front of the steering wheel into the windshield, smashing his arm in three places and also breaking a vertebrae.  He was taken to hospital in Krivii Rih. Neither of them were wearing seat belts, though it is the law.

There was no insurance and even if there was it would have done us no good.  For a couple of years we carried insurance that basically would fix the car if we were not at fault.  We had one claim and by the time we made trips to Dnipropetrovsk and all the red tape, we could well have paid it out of pocket.  Saskatchewan style no-fault insurance with ample liability coverage is either unknown here or priced so high, no one uses it.

Andrei's friend had two operations in Krivii Rih to repair his arm and his back.  He is walking again but his arm did not set right and he needs further operations in Kyiv.  Andrei paid for the operations in Krivii Rih, as far as we know.  The operations in Kyiv will cost $4000.  We have no further information than that, though we have asked repeatedly.

The car was towed to P'yatikhatki. Because someone was seriously injured a criminal case was opened and professional investigation experts were called in.  In order to stop this procedure, you have to have enough money to buy off the chief prosecutor for Dnipropetrovskaya Oblast. Lawmakers make stupid laws because they know that they themselves will never be subject to them.

The official investigation of the accident said Andrei was going too fast for road conditions (100 to 120 kmph at night in fog) and did not see the corner in time, and threw the car into a skid which blew both tires. (This sounds a little more plausible to me as I know Andrei but that is neither here nor there).

If Andrei's friend signed off that Andrei is not responsible for his injury and for all future medical costs then the case will be dropped.  So the car sat in the police compound for over two months, waiting to see if the friend recovered from his injuries.  When it was obvious that he would not recover and would not sign off, the case proceeded further and mechanical experts (for which we paid their gas bill from Krivii Rih) came to examine the car to ensure that there was no mechanical reason for the accident.  For example if the tires had been poor, my Tanya, the car's owner, would suddenly have been on the hot seat.

The car was eventually released with a clean bill of health and towed back to Zhovti Vody where it sits in storage.  We cannot do anything to it until the case is decided which could take a year or ten years for all we know.  It will depend on Andrei's friend's recovery.  if he is unable to use his arm for life (especially if no one has $4000) that will impact the severity of the judgement against Andrei. The car may be again called into evidence if the case goes to court ie if Andrei fights it.

The documents about the case are 80% complete but there have been two murders in P'yatikhatski Raion and the local investigation people are busy with that.  Next week they will send the documents to Dnipro to be completed by someone with some spare time.

In the meantime our car sits. We could sell it for parts or if the frame was not bent, it might be reparable given that labour is so cheap.  But the longer it sits the less it is worth.  One learns about the law the hard way, it seems.

And then there were only two

Lina moved back to her flat about three weeks ago and on Sunday, took Krastoka home with her.  And Vovochka, not Bonifatsy (Bonya).

She kind of liked the evil looking little runt with all his antics and curiosity.  She also felt we would have a better chance of finding a home for Bonya or Tigritsa.  Krasotka was glad to be home after almost 4 and a half months away.  Vovo explored everywhere and settle right in.

Bonya and Tigritsa did not do so well the first few days as they kept looking for their mother.  Especially Bonya who tended to be a bit of a Mommy's boy anyhow.  Tanya became the comforter and he would climb on her lap to go to sleep.  Tigritsa was more independent.

The kittens stick pretty close to us.  If we are upstairs, they come upstairs and if we are down stairs they come down again.  But they are actively playing together and curl up together for naps. I bought them four little ping pong ball toys with rattles inside.  They would play keep-away with one of the balls at a time until eventually they ended up where all good toys go - under the couch where they can't reach them.

Tigritsa could play circles around Bonifatsy as she was faster and more agile.  He is bigger and slower.  She performs flawless jump spins and jump somersaults while he is mostly Thump and Bonk. He loves to climb and jump down - thump - and is constantly running into things - bonk.

They play outside in the morning while we drink our coffee on the landing.  Kuchma is usually around and will give nose-to-nose greetings if pressed but mostly ignores them.  Bonya wants to play with him so badly.  Yesterday he pounced on Kuchma's tail.  Kuchma spun around and cuffed him into the middle of next week.  Poor Bonya.

Puh-lease, we are TRYING to sleep

Bonya the carpet climber

Tigritsa is not to be outdone

Spring Dance Festival

The 2013 Spring Children's Dance Festival was held in Zholti Vody over the weekend.  Tanya and I went Saturday morning to watch Masha's performance.  The theme of the first groups of dancers seemed to be traditional Ukrainian and Russian dances.  The costumes were beautiful and certainly a great deal of effort had gone into the training of the kids who appeared to range in age from about 5 to 17 years.

Masha did the same routine as previously, a solo Turkish dance, but in a brilliant yellow costume and she had several new moves.  I asked Tanya why she danced solo and it is because she loves to dance but her left leg, a problem since birth, will not allow her to do the fast footwork, splits etc of the traditional dances, so they give her one with less footwork.  At any rate, she was invited to a competition in Kyiv.

We only stayed two hours and after Masha was finished we took her for pizza.  I asked Masha when she was going to Turkey to live in a harem and she laughed and laughed.

Not knowing anything about choreography, I supposed many of the groups could be doing the same routines as last time but just in different costumes and different music.  They are complicated enough routines that it would make sense.

A word about the red boots.  These were THE height of fashion in "the olden days" and the Cossack warrior who could bring his girl a pair of red boots was certain to win her heart.  The things you learn from watching Ukrainian cartoons.

The MCs

Masha performs

Ukrainian costumes and dance

These gals are steppin' out

Too cute for words

The Finale

Red boots

Russian costume and more red boots

Ukrainian costumes and dance

Life in Ukraine - The Vegetable Market

The wet market in Zhovti Vody is located behind the shopping centre Devyatya (Nine or Ninth) and has a small outdoor market attached to it.  We do not often buy meat at the wet market, preferring the quality at the grocery supermarket Velika Kshenia "Big Spoon" but we often buy vegetables and eggs at the little market as the quality is good and the price is somewhat better than "Big Spoon".  One person owns two stalls there, employing two sales staff and kept busy all day long hauling boxes from his truck to keep their stands full.

Tanya, pictured below, is my favourite to buy from, mostly because of her personality.  She has been there for all the years we have lived here and NEVER stops talking to her customers, NEVER stops moving and ALWAYS suggests further purchases.  There is always a line up at her stall. She could make a fortune selling cookware at an exhibition.  I asked if I could take pictures to post on my blog and she agreed.

Tanya wanted to pose for one picture

Hard at work, bagging, weighing and keeping a running total on the adding machine

Customers bag their own from boxes close to the front of the stall

Produce comes from Turkey and Crimea mainly.

My New Toy

Yesterday I bought a brushcutter (translation of Motokoca), a heavy grass and brush cutter run by a 2 cycle motor, complete with harness to help lug it around.

The shoulder harness snaps on halfway between motor and handles

It comes with the 10" blade shown for heavy grass, weeds and small brush; a 10" carbide tip blade for larger trees, up to 4"; and a fishline grass cutter.  All for less than $200.  We had been needing one for a few years now and finally made the plunge.

We planted grass seed about five years ago under the trees all across the back of our yard.  The package showed a nice green lawn but the seed was actually wheatgrass, both slender and intermediate.  These are bunch grasses, not creeping rooted.  The grass grows 2 feet tall which is fine if we are cutting hay but if just left to go to seed, it looks like no one cares.

So a month too late to try to turn it into anything resembling lawn, we are mowing it down.  The hay will go for the dogs to sleep on this winter.  I cut under the walnut trees across the street from us and half the back yard on 3/4 litre of gas.  The brushcutter and I ran out of gas at the same time.

Tomorrow at 6:00 am I will finish the back yard and start on the abandoned garden behind Babushka's old cottage.  If I cut it back about 2 or 3 meters along Tanya's kitchen garden it will keep weeds from spreading into the garden...we hope.  Our neighbour's two goats can keep the rest of it down. Then I will do Babushka's yard, to keep it from looking like a jungle again.

Next spring I want to get a lawn mower.  Between mower and brush cutter we should be able to make our grass look like something other than a hay field.

Looks like something the goat chewed.

Uncut.  Tomorrow morning's chores.