Still the Same

The view north towards Padol on the Dnipr.

     I'm not sure what I was expecting when I came back to Ukraine. Would things be the same? What will have changed in the months since last September? To be honest, during all the preparation, neither of those questions ran through my head. But now that I'm here, I'm constantly seeing things that have changed, been upgraded, or improved. And yet, so much is still the same. The Rodina Mat (Motherland statue) still stands guard over the city. Street vendors still hawk their wares from nearly every street corner. And the marshrukas still worry the inexperienced.


     Where I'm going with this is that I am definitely not "still the same" compared to just a year ago. Look at what's happened so far. I spent thirteen months of my life here. I learned how to be an extrovert. I have changed so much and now I'm leading a team (with help) of Americans to teach English to college students. Try telling the Brian of even five years ago that things would turn out that way.  He'd probably laugh in your face. To prove my point, I'll give couple of examples.
     This morning for breakfast, our camp leader Zhenya walked with us to Puzata Hata. I should do a quick rewind. We were supposed to be out of our rooms at 9AM to meet and walk to the restaurant. I missed it but not by much. Two of the team overslept and had to come along later. So Zhenya had to walk back and get them after they finished getting ready. He leaves us at the restaurant with something to the effect of "Can you help them get through the line," directed at me. I say sure and he heads off. My initial feeling was that of being tossed in the ocean and being told "Swim." We managed. No one went hungry. In fact it was a very good breakfast. It's just that you never know what you can or can't do until you try it (within reason of course). I even ordered tea for myself without hesitation.

Aijalon and Austin

David, Gretchen, Bryson, Megan (hidden) and Brandon

     Example number two. This one really isn't that strange for me. But what did surprise me was my comfort level with it. After breakfast we needed to get to the church quickly. So Zhenya called a pair of taxis to get us there. Three people went with me in the first. I'd had taxis called for me before so that part wasn't weird. But having three people that I barely knew in the back with me didn't bother me. I guess the "different" thing here was confidence. Again, tell that to the Brian of five year ago and scoffing would ensue.
     One thing I've been very happy to discover on this trip is how quickly the American team is making friends with the Ukrainian team. It may have happened in years past but I probably just didn't notice it. Those two pictures to the right aren't really good examples. I caught them before many people were at church. Aijalon is very quickly expanding his Ukrainian vocabulary. He's been asking lots of people how to say different things in what I think will be his third language. Bryson is doing much the same only with the Russian language. The girls, Gretchen and Meagan, also seem to being bonding well with the girls of the Ukrainian team. Multiple times I've heard unbridled laughter coming from their little clique. And that's absolutely a great thing.
     For things that haven't changed much, I have plenty of examples. The metro is still loud. The office looks the same as it did before. White kvass still tastes awesome. And Ukrainian pizza is still...interesting.

Dima and his camera, Sasha picking apart a banana slice, Austin learning how to bend time, and Bryson being Bryson.

     After church the whole of the camp staff made their way to the office for the first full team meeting. Like every good meeting, it started with food. Ukrainian pizza, when you're not ordering a simple version, will come in all sorts of strange combinations that less adventurous people might find disturbing. Ginger and chicken, pineapple and chicken, jalapenos and cheese, sausage (Ukrainian) and onions and yellow peppers. What I'm saying is that you need to have a life-changing experience like I did and visit Ukraine to try all these wonderfully eclectic combinations.
     The meeting went very well. It was mostly about laying out the schedule for the week as well as what teams we'd all be on. I'm very interested to see what this week brings. For the past three summers, I've been a part of the Liberty camp. This time around, I'm helping out with X-way. There has been some overlap of staff but not much.
     I think sharing some prayer requests is in order. The whole team is tired. Some aren't showing it very much but we all are. The past two days felt like one long, 48 hour day without much sleep. Please pray that we have energy to keep up and participate in all the activities this week. Also pray that we stay healthy too. Its too easy to get sick or hurt in an unfamiliar environment.
     Now that the meeting is over, we are back at the hotel trying to catch what rest we can before an American team meeting to finalize our plans for the week. That'll happen in a few minutes. Time enough to finish off my daily write-up. I'll leave you with this photo. I SAW A UNICORN YESTERDAY!!! I know it looks like a Jeep and that there are more in the city but I actually saw this one. Excuse the blurry picture. I was using my phone with the digital zoom. Not the best but it worked for this.

A Jeep TJ in the Ukrainian wild