It's the knitting...

Haha, couldn't help but share with you the thought that I am doomed to be a family man, wearing a knitted sweater whilst renovating a "ever falling to pieces" house...

Who said students can't cook!?

Well, life has seemingly begun once again... I've started my two year apprenticeship in thermal and sanitary conception (broader plumbing studies) since september in the student town of Lille (a town of about 250 000 people).

I'm actually doing this apprenticeship with the French train company SNCF which is 6 minutes from my apartment by bike! Why a train company you ask? Well it's such a big company that it needs people that manage just the plumbing coordinating of all their stations and buildings. It could be interesting but it's also a lot of office work... My tutors being gone doesn't help and things have been kind of slow, hopefully it'll get busier soon!

I've also appreciated the liberty of living alone, learning to cook my own food, taking bike rides in this city, doing my own shopping and such. I guess I'm pretty much learning to live a boring normal life! Lille is also a nice change from my little village... yet straight away there are bigger needs: beggars, immigrants and such are not uncommon.

I was recently blessed by the visit of a ship friend: Maria Derksen who came by for a few days, we were able to spend an evening with Ruben and Betsy, two more ship people! Considering everything going on it was really nice to be amongst people that understand what you're going through.

I have one week break right now, but I am looking forward to going back to school, I really appreciate learning new things!

My student room that I'm renting in Lille, apple green, such a nice color!

Living proof that students can cook... (pyrogies, a polish specialty) One of the train maintenance centers, right next to where my office is.

Somewhere in the heart of Lille.

Ruben, Betsy and Maria spending "ship time" together, we enjoyed a funny bollywood movie afterwards!

I thought I should share with you this special moment... The sign says: Today's Strawberries (open) Anyway.... :)

Big bike trip...!

I know it's been awhile, the reason being that there's too much going on. My older brother Stéphane got married in Germany last week- end, I've been working for a month on an agriculture farm and just went through medical examinations to get accepted by the french train company SNCF for my two year plumbing diploma.

Other than that, I just started Tuesday 2nd a big bike expedition with Ruben, a friend, going from Marseille (south of France) all the way1300km back up to Maubeuge, in the North. We're doing this to raise awareness in France about the Dalit situation in India and have been able to raise funds as well.

We have an official website that we keep updating, though it is in French, you still can enjoy the daily photos until the 17th of August (the end of our trip).

The website is: www.1300km.org

Feel free to contact me if you've got any questions! (jeremiekapi@gmail.com)

Flowers were hurt in the making of the following image...

Yes... weird. Well it started out as a Kapitaniuk picture taking outing, which proved to be quite long! I eventually lost it and took it out on a patch of daisies. I did come up with a scientific conclusion: Man was not meant to eat what cows do.

Check out the family photos here: http://fermekapi.blogspot.com/

Another exciting event has been the decapitation of our turkey, it got caught unguarded by a fox... it must have been having some sport, because it just took the head!

I requested the privilege of recuperating the kilos and kilos of meat.... (big bird)

I have been feeling a bit depressive since I've been back and have had to keep asking God to keep me by his side, not doing anything "specific" and exciting has been a hard blow for me.

Feeling useless and being bored are dangerous feelings for the human man (I can't speak for the ladies on this one, sorry).

I guess I'm still kind of hanging in here, waiting for June 13th where I'll be flying to Poland to visit and court "the one that makes me smile"...

I'll then work with Peter, my brother at some natural agriculture farm in Normandy for a month, attend Stephane's wedding (my older borther) and then I go on a crazy 1300 km bike ride from Marseille to Maubeuge!!!

I will be concluding this year with a family vacation and hope to start studies in September.

Yay! Well I guess life is about to get really busy... looking forward to that!

Back again, again... !

Well that was that, I will be going home in less than twenty four hours! I feel that what I was called to do here has been accomplished, most of the sprinkler system that had to be installed is now in place, I can safely say that the work done exceeded expectations! Easily done when you have ten hours of work per day... and you do a job that you thoroughly enjoy.

I still got to appreciate the Sri Lankan culture and style of life, the three wheeled tuk tuks, the wonderful pineapple and the comical head nodding to indicate "yes". People here are very curious yet respectful at the same time, I do wish I could have spent more time within the community, but that was not my duty for this visit.


In general, work has gone relatively well, but there have been some delays, yet the ship is already afloat once again and we should be out of this drydock berth tonight. The work will continue and may still take a few weeks before the engine is ready and reequiped to go on towards India!

(some of the engine crew involved in the ships' Dry Dock in Colombo, Sri Lanka)

The ship is ready for dry dock! No worries, it has a flat bottom and cannot fall over...

Sri Lankan dock workers starting work on the underside tanks.

Work in progress.

Sri Lankan "Astronauts" sand blasting the ship.

Lets get it up and running!

Well I safely landed in Colombo, Sri Lanka after an approximate 12 hours of flight...! Walking out into the striking sunlight I was immediately rewarded with a heavy, muggy sensation… The heat combined with the dampness of this country have made is into a giant steam kettle! (Yet this is the “cool” season) Being onboard the ship as a "project worker" is in itself an entirely different experience. I am a stranger to the fifty new recruits yet everyone else on the ship knows me, making them the strangers! Dry-dock is special as well, in the sense that yes, you mostly work: you shake your self awake to eat at 6:30 am, sort of stumble into your job at 7 am and then regret having to stop around 6 pm. (with the breaks that makes it ten hours of work a day) Once we get into our dry dock berth (we're sailing there now) we'll learn to work alongside the dock workers of ill reputation (it is said that they steal everything from under your nose, even your moustache!). We’ll still be living testimonies for them through the way we work and interact alongside each other. We are about 180 people whom have stayed behind on the ship, (the 220 other having abandoned ship to rest, minister and serve in various other ways) the most left behind being from engine or deck department. Strangely enough I get to work in a fresh and clean environment; I've been given the job of modifying specific branches of our Hi-Fog system (fire prevention sprinkler system) to make them more effective. I love what I am doing (it IS different from working with loads of… well… other stuff.) and am soon done with the first big project; I'm looking forward to be able to work on some other Hi Fog areas around the ship!

I'm outta here!

All packed and good to go! I'll be leaving Friday the 1st of April with a flight from Brussels (Belgium) to Colombo (Sri Lanka) via Doha (Qatar). I don't need to take much with me on this trip so I thought I'd stick to the strict minimum: me!

Please pray for the countries that I'll be flying over, remembering that there is major chaos going on at this time in the arab world... In countries like Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Marocco, Oman, Bahrain and Syria!

I'm back! Must re-turning back?

Yup! I got home towards the beginning of February, finishing my two year commitment on the Logos Hope! It was a good two years, with its ups and downs, its people and experiences... I still am having a hard time digesting everything; what I need to remember and apply in my everyday life!

Things at home haven't changed that much, the big changes being our "changing room" (used to be where the baby's diapers were changed) has been redone and Peter has definitely grown taller than me (he's only 17!).

Going from the average 22 degrees Celsius of Dubai to the piddly 2 or 3 degrees in France was heart colding and I had to adapt (therefore the coat in bed).

What am I doing now you ask? Well, quite a few things, procrastinating for one, thinking back about all the things I went through, helping out at home with the wood, learning to drive again, signing up to schools to study plumbing and helping out in the garden with the spreading of manure!

Conclusion: I've ended up right back where I started! Shoveling poo! (for those who didn't know, I enjoyed being a plumber on the ship and yes I did get to play with crap quite a few times!)

Most importantly, after getting the ok of my supporters I will be returning to the ship the 1st of April (no it's not a joke) and will stay the whole month, returning home the 1st of May. Why? Because I will be assisting during the dry-dock (when we take the ship out of the water to do repairs for the coming year), working on various piping installations and helping out wherever is needed! The ship will not be moving at this time and will be berthed in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Thank you for your prayers for me at this time.

Salem Ya Allah

« Entah azim ya Allah ! », You are great oh God ! Allah is a God of many names…Actually He has 99 names according to the Quran and folk tales have it that the camel is the only one to know the 100th name, which explains the smug look he has on his face!These Arabic countries we have been to and have learned to get know are quite a change… We’ve entered a whole new culture: the Islamic culture. As a child you can do pretty much what you want, as an adult you must act responsibly, modest women is a good thing and honour takes the head of the family.
Something I cannot manage to understand is the mentality of neglect for their own country, I though my small French region was quite unclean, compared to most of these places it is a very clean region!

It’s strange to think that we went to places like Libya, Egypt and Oman where at this point in time things are falling apart!

Come to think of it, when you have a closer look at these countries all you find is people… that feel oppressed, are frustrated and just want to make friends with the outside world.

Behind every Mohammed you find a lonely person like you and me, trying to make his place in the world. I’ve stayed in contact with some guys from these countries, and what they tell me is that this is for the better of their countries!

I’m not the type to adopt a “total tolerance bill” just for the sake of claiming to be culturally sensitive. But I do wish we’d change our perception of the Arab world, it’s not one big

mass of terrorist active people. It’s a group of countries like any other, with their advantages and their disadvantages, nothing less, nothing more, a people.

Pray that during this time of transition this part of the world would change and open up to the outside world. Not that we can overcome them with our materialism (which we will, and already have) but that we can build long lasting friendships with another part of the world.