Day 20

I think we may have mentioned before the process of paying our bills, but I'll give a recap: Each month (on varying days) we receive in our mailbox bills for elevator maintenance, gas, electric, garbage removal/upkeep of the grounds around our apartment, phone (land line) and water (no bill for this, just have to keep track of it yourself in a little book). The bills are technically due the 20th of each month. You take your bills, money and go to your post office to pay for them. Or try to pay for them... On more than one occasion, Mike has been met with a locked post office (closed for lunch?), a sign saying the "bill machine" is broken, an angry post lady saying he cannot pay for them that day (why? not sure), it is after 4pm (no bill paying after 4!) or whatever else. Interestingly, it is usually the 20th of the month when Mike will go to the post office and the post ladies will say- no, you cannot pay your bills today. I think the post ladies do this on purpose, for fun. They tell customers their bills cannot be paid and then go into the back room and laugh (mwah ha ha), as the customer walks out, nervously trying to figure out when they can come back to pay before being charged a late fee. (I'm just kidding). Nevertheless, it is always an interesting trip. A few months ago, we decided that Solomiya must accompany the person paying the bills because the post ladies are much nicer to us when she is there.

So, this weeks bill-paying adventure. I took the bills with me yesterday, but by the time Solomiya fell asleep (strolling in her stroller- she was having a melt-down due to tiredness and the post office had to wait), it was the time of the day when the post office is closed for lunch. Today, Mike went to pay the bills, but it turned out he arrived too late- after 4pm. He did say that the post lady was very nice when she explained this to him.
We'll try again tomorrow.

Today, Mike had a teacher's meeting at the Hope & Life office at 12pm. Solomiya and I went with him and then I left at 12:10pm to catch a bus to see a lady for an OT session.
I met Mike and Solomiya back in town at 2:30pm and we then walked home after hitting up a stationery store. A tiny stationery store. Picture this- a tiny store, packed floor to ceiling with merchandise, no room to maneuver the stroller, lots of people coming in and out, a screaming baby- and it will be like you were there.
We bought a 2013 calendar for 21r (about $2.75).

Other activites included: Solomiya calling Grandma on Skype, eating dinner, folding laundry, cleaning the kitchen, Solomiya going to be.

Mike, however, had a very interesting evening. He left around 5:40pm to go to 'coffee house'. Our friend, Clint, (and fellow American) recently started a monthly coffee house geared toward reaching out to university students. This is Clint's blog: http://ministryhappens.blogspot.com/

And this is his blog directly concerning the formation and first meeting of said coffee house: http://ministryhappens.blogspot.com/2012/11/30-days-of-blogging-day-6-humble.html