Putin sings "I'm an A**hole"

Today was a quiet day. I spent most of the day on my computer. Sam at the LT language school had told me about an idea he had to motivate his students to speak. He said that if you just ask the students to talk about themselves, they usually won't say anything. Sam had an idea to have the students take scenes from a movie, think up their own lines, and dub their own words into the scene, to create an entirely new  movie. This way, the students don't know that they are learning to speak English, they think they are creating a movie.

I played around with my computer, to get some practice before the classes on Monday. Here is one of my efforts, Putin singing "I'm an A**hole":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBxnDbwd0IY&feature=youtu.be

Next Sunday there will be a festival for the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God, to whom the church in Dravtsi is dedicated. There will be a huge celebration, with 15 priests attending, lots of food, singing. I should have plenty of audio and video for you to see and hear. Klara, Marta, and several other women spent the day cleaning the church; also Father Pavlo and some of the children.

Father Pavlo is the big guy in the center, wearing a Pittsburgh T-shirt. The older kid, dressed all in black, is one of the altar boys, Misha. Misha speaks pretty fair English; when I was here last year, Misha was one of the first people from the church brave enough to come and talk to me. He has to use crutches, because of a problem with his hip. He told me that he has had three operations, still not corrected. I'm just guessing that he might have some type of hip necrosis, because he told me he didn't have any accident. I feel bad for him, because there probably is a corrective treatment - he just doesn't have access to good medical care.

 The girl in the green shirt is Marta's granddaughter, Martuchka. All of the kids were interested in me, because I'm from America. They all want to go there. They invited me to go with them to a nearby lake to go fishing. Misha showed me some photo's of some big carp he caught there. 

Afterwards went exploring in the city again. Found an interesting old building, built in 1781. The sign says "Architectural Landmark - Barn and wine cellar - 1781". I don't know how it is used today. Maybe people are living there????

Cobblestone street:

On the way home, I saw a little girl with her face painted; don't know why.

Saw a horse grazing in the common field:

Stopped at Bela Vas'ko's house for visit. Bela had hung his corn up to dry. Had some wine, soup, sausage, tomatoes, and some very good apple kolachi his wife Anna had made. Earlier, Bela's granddaughter Olga was at his house; Bela was giving her a lesson in Ukrainian Language, to prepare her for college. Olga will be going to college in Prague next year. 

Tomorrow I will be going to Dovhe Pole, to see Etela Vas'ko, and attend Liturgy there. I went to one of the stores in Dravtsi, to buy a bottle of cognac and box of chocolate as a gift to Etela and Josef. While I was there, an old woman came over to talk to me,she knew Klara, and had seen me in church. I also learned that the salesgirl, Alla, was from Dovhe Pole, and knew Etela. Everyone here is very friendly; I'm sure there are idiots in Ukraine, too, but I haven't met any yet!