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.