The Last Worthless Evening

     It seems I forgot something this week. The 25th happened on Monday. That was the day I should have realized that I've been here for six months. And like usual, I forgot and it passed like any other day. Not that it's super important to remember. But it's interesting to note. This is the point in my original plan where I'd start packing up my things and saying goodbye. As it is now, that won't happen for another seven months.

     I actually had a very busy weekend. I think that's why I forgot. Last week, Dasha from church asked me to make a big, last-minute project for a conference that's happening this weekend. She asked me to build a large labyrinth puzzle for use in a team-building activity. The idea is that ten people at the same time have to roll the ball around the maze without dropping it down a hole. So I spent most of Saturday's and Sunday's afternoons building this. I even had to go back on Monday to finish it up. But it works. It's a little too easy with just two people but I think ten might make it more difficult. The other option is to use a smaller or heavier ball.

It's 1.5 meters square.

     It was fun to finally get to build a project again. Woodworking was my hobby before I got here. I was glad to get glue on my hands and the smell of wood in my nose after so long. I've been watching woodworking videos on Youtube and it's just not the same as creating something from raw materials with my own hands.

     Anyways, my real reason for this post is on a different topic than how long I've been here or my projects. First, a bit if history. After they started in September, the Liberty team meetings were about 80% in English. Pastor Max decided that everyone on the Liberty team should have practice speaking in English (which I appreciated greatly). From my perspective, they worked well. I was able to help by giving input and ideas. The people who don't know English (or can't speak it well) could say what they needed to in Ukrainian/Russian and then it would be translated for me.

     But then out of the blue, two weeks ago Max decided they would go back to having the whole meeting in Russian. So I basically sat there for an hour and half playing on my phone waiting to be asked something. And when I was asked, it was basically to confirm that I understood that I was the butt of a joke*. So that's something I've been praying and thinking about. Why hang out there when I can only understand about 20% of what they are saying? Translation wouldn't help much either because then we would have two people talking at the same time and causing confusion/disruption.
     The other side of the argument is that it's more convenient for them to have the meetings in Russian. It's what they all speak fluently and can best articulate their ideas in. I'm just one American in a group of at least ten Ukrainians. I'm just glad they were willing to change their meetings for me for those few months.

     David Pervis used to go to the meetings before I got here but stopped because they were mostly in Russian then. I wonder if I might end up doing the same. I want to be involved. That's part of the reason I'm here; to be a member of the Liberty church planting team. But if I'm sidelined because I can barely understand or speak, what use am I? Hence the need for thinking and prayer. 

     Right now, I'm leaning towards continuing to go to the meetings. My reasoning (and the suggestion of a good friend) is that I could use the practice. Russian is a hard language to learn. The only way I'll get better with my comprehension is by listening to it. Yeah, I hear it almost every day. But that's no substitute for sitting and focusing and listing.

     At the meeting last night, I realized that if I go into it with a good attitude, being the odd man out and just listening isn't so bad. I've said it before but I do understand a lot from context. Thanks to that, I was able to follow the general flow of the meeting. The little decisions and questions, those I couldn't follow. But with practice, that'll come easier. I can choose to look at the meeting two weeks ago as the last worthless evening at the Liberty meetings. I can choose to make those two hours a time to learn or I can choose to sit at home and waste time watching videos on Youtube.

     So, please keep that in your prayers. I really want to be part of the meetings but it's tough when I'm unable keep up with the conversation. I'll let you know how things go.

*One of the other jokes they always come back to basically goes like this. "[conversation in Russian] лец дискус катс анд догс анд менчун зе наме Brian ту месс вит хим, блах блах блах  блах....HAHAHAHAHA." Everyone is tuned to hear their name in conversation. If it's the only thing you hear, you immediately know they were talking about you. Even if they are speaking in another language, it's the first word a non-native speaker will hear and understand. That joke was funny exactly once. Sunday, July 26th, 2015 was that day. Now it's got the played-out quality of a Top 40, One-Hit-Wonder from 1993. Everybody's heard it a million times and it just needs to be lost to the sands of time.