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Saturday, Feb. 26, 2000

Hi Family and Friends,

A week ago we sent a Diary about our building project. The note seemed to worry people (several questioned our mental health) But, I'm here to report that it's been a good week.

We started out with an amateur play. It was a British comedy but we managed to understand a lot of it anyway. Some of Marianne's kids were in it but my favorite was "Dame Babushka". This guy has a real future somewhere. The story was a spoof of Cinderella and, because it included several students from the school, attendance was mandatory. And fun too. Who says we ain't got no culture?

The work week was pretty normal. Marianne took the camera to school on the day her big kids (7th grade) have a session with little buddies from Grade 1. Pretty cute. (That's Marianne, not one of her 7th graders. Hard to tell the difference.)

My week was filled with meetings - like usual. I think the highlight of MY week was a picture-taking session before one morning meeting.

I walked through a park and the snow and the shadows made Winter more pleasant. It IS still winter here. Not terrible but we are all getting tired of getting our heavy coats on.

Today we went to an antique flea market (market for antiques, not for old fleas - although they were there too I'm sure.) No pictures because it was in a dark and very crowded hall and I felt intimidated by the crowds. The level of pushing and shoving was almost scary. There just wasn't enough room to move. And the antiques were mostly just small collectibles. Nice if you know the specifics of Soviet medals or old plates.

On the way back, we did run across the local chess club. These are the pros - or at least it would seem so since they are tough enough to sit on stone benches playing chess in freezing weather.

Eventually, we DID make it back to the new flat. I hadn't been there in a week. Last Saturday, there were almost no internal walls, except where the wall was cracking under the load from upstairs. It was not encouraging. But this week, it's different.

First, the crack is gone. Replaced by a double steel beam. I've added the extra detail on this feature so any engineer/architect friends can evaluate the strength of the beam. To me, it looks strong enough to hold up several buildings so I'm not worried.

The main room is shaping up. I can almost imagine how it will look. Almost. But it is encouraging that there were workers there today hanging wallboard and running wire. They may finish on time yet.

One task that has been completed is cleaning the ceilings. The "rosettes" in the middle of the ceilings had been so filled with old paint that the pattern had almost disappeared. After cleaning, they are glorious. We can hardly wait to hang good chandeliers under one or two of them.

Finally, the bathroom still needs some work, but we'll keep you informed about our progress.

Best regards and stay in touch.

John and Marianne