Catching up, pt. 3: Moving Day

With the temperature clinging to negative F, our move was the most unusual I've ever had. But, it wasn't only the temperatures that made it so weird, though they surely added to the curiousity of the day. Indeed, it was not helpful to move in such cold temperatures, mainly because it was impossible to be properly dressed. In our balmy apartment it was rather warm, and hauling stuff down four flights of stairs (and starting with the two heaviest things we had--the washing machine and David's dresser surely didn't help) and then returning upstairs made it, or rather me, very hot very quick. Which was all fine and well until I went outside, dripping with sweat, into the -25 C degree morning. Then, I was freezing cold. So basically, I couldn't win.

But the most unusual event of the morning occurred when we (Pastor Sergei and Jaroslav helped in our move) moved the washing machine. We had no problems getting it to the van, which was basically a European looking 15 passenger van (like the one on the right, but in MUCH WORSE SHAPE), but then the problems started. The van was in less than idea conditions, and I am sure that the cold didn't help with the locks, because Sergei--our driver--had problems getting the doors open, both the two in the back and the side sliding door. Once he did, however, he inexplicably closed the side door again. So, when we were moving the washing machine into the van, I asked Pastor Sergei (our driver, Sergei, was at this time laying in the van sleeping) to open the side door, come in behind the washer, and help me move it to the front of the van. Well, a minute later, Pastor Sergei came back, told me the door wouldn't open, and as I looked, I saw that his finger was bleeding.

What happened was that when Pastor Sergei tried to open the door, which was locked, the handle broke off, cutting him. I think, in hindsight, that he thought that the door was frozen or something, that is why he must have kept yanking on the door even when it didn't open. Well, a this must have roused the driver Sergei from his attempts to sleep, because he soon woke up, got out and saw that his "whole door was broken and wouldn't work" (so HE said), he started getting into it with Pastor Sergei, who was already less than happy that this junker of a van had cut him. So, it quickly became a shouting match of the two Sergeis (this is a VERY Russian thing, to shout at others--kind of like people from NYC). Our driver was furious, wanting to know who was going to pay, while Pastor Sergei was furious, cause he felt that the disrepair of the van was the problem, plus HE was cut and so he didn't feel that we owed the company ANYTHING.

Well, here I am in the middle, seeing that this problem could quickly derail our whole morning. If the driver was mad, who knows what he might do. But, still, Pastor Sergei was graciously helping us, and I didn't want to offend him. In the end, I found myself yelling to both Sergeis to calm down (thankfully, I had learned how to do that already), and I told the driver that we would pay to fix the handle. Thankfully, the rest of the move went on without a hitch. I never did find out if we had to pay for the repair on the van, cause the driver never said anything else the rest of the time to us.

So, now we are getting to the point where we are settling in here. Most all of the boxes are unpacked, with the exception of our office supplies, as we are in need of a desk. We currently have rigged up a contraption to serve as a desk, consisting of our two end tables, two small boxes we bought from the post office, and a shelf from one of our cabinets. It works--for now.