Football.

Have I ever told you how much I love football (soccer)? I really love football. In any form. As a player taking on the field, as a coach jumping up and down with excitement on the side line or as a spectator in the stands rooting and cheering on my boys to victory. I even like sitting in a pub with a bunch of rowdy hooligans watching the footie on the big screen!

Some of my favourite times during college were traveling on a big yellow bus, coaching my girls in their game and then getting back on that bus to go home together. High school girls are quite fun ... very dramatic but pretty funny, most entertaining and never boring!

Well, move over high school girls and make room for those middle school girls. Today I found myself self on yet another yellow bus (really it was a marshutka) en route to yet another football pitch.That is right, dudes - I am coaching again! I took on the head coaching position for the middle school girls at Kyiv Christian Academy (one of the international schools here in Kyiv). It is their first year to have a middle school girls soccer team and the potential for our season is good. Today was our first game. For some of these girls it was there first experience of ever stepping on to a football field. We were the newbies for sure ... but the girls played hard and gave it everything they had. It was fun!

Sunday.

It is Sunday here ... and sadly all the flowers are drying up, withering away and leaving nothing beautiful for me to be amazed at on my walk to church. Since I am not quite ready for winter - I managed to find a flower pictures that I have not posted yet. Nothing like the bright sunshine yellow of a sun flower to warm your day.

To Funny.

Yesterday, I left the seminary by way of the green front gate. As I walked through the gate I passed two people having a conversation. It was S (a seminary student who speaks English) and some random, strange guy. When I passed them, S said good-bye to me (in English). He and this man continued in a conversation about learning English ... or something like that. I only caught a bit of the communication as I passed.

I did not think much of it as I walked up the street to catch my marshutka home ... except to think ... how glad I was that it was S who got caught having to talk to the guy and not me! At the corner I turned right to cross the street. The little green guy was still "walking" and so I walked. I only made it across half the street before the little man changed to red. So I waited. Do not worry, there is an island in the middle of the road - I was not randomly standing in the middle of the road.

As I was standing there waiting for the light to be green again, I noticed a man walking toward me. It was the same strange man that had been talking to S. I could not figure out how he got all the way up the road so quickly - but whatever. I went back to watching the traffic signals. Then the man came right up to me. He said (in English) "Excuse me, do you speak English?" I looked right at him and shook my head no! Then he said (in Russian) "Thank you" and walked away.

What?! Of course, I spoke English. I knew what he had asked, did I not?! And S spoke to me in English as I left the seminary?! Haha.

This one has made me laugh quite a bit ... honestly though, I am glad it worked.

Small Successes.

I often wonder why even the smallest successes can sometimes come with the biggest feelings of guilt, failure or even feeling lack of success.

Take this morning for instance. I was waiting outside my flat building waiting for the marshutka (bus) that I ride into the seminary every morning. A woman walked up to me and asked me if this was a marshutka stop and if it was what numbers stopped here and where did they go? I actually understood everything she said to me ... not the usual two or three words that I piece into a conversation ... and I was able to answer her that yes it was a marshutka stop, numbers 407 and 45d stopped here and they both went to the Kharkivska Metro station and beyond.

Then she wanted to talk. And I did my best. She wanted to talk about my accent. I didn't sound Ukrainian but I could British. Was I British? American? We talked about where I was from in the States. I got the standard Las Vegas?! Wow, response. We talked about the different sizes of both Kyiv and Las Vegas and she was shocked that Kyiv was bigger (by population) than Las Vegas. Then she asked what I was doing in Kyiv and I tried to tell her. I ended up reverting back to my standard answer of "teaching English" because that was all I could think of to describe what I do that I could actually say! I was so thankful when the marshutka showed up and we got on. She sat next to some other woman and told her about just meeting an American girl from Las Vegas, who was here teaching English! When she exited the marshutka she looked back at me and said "good day" with a smile.

As the marshutka rolled away, I though man that was cool! Which was immediately followed by the thought, man I should have been able to do so much more! Maybe it is my perfectionist personality or just a genuine desire to communicate with random people like this woman - but either way I still feel like after seven months here I should be able to do so much better. I am trying to hold on to the positives that I actually understood most of her questions and conversation and that I was able to respond in an appropriate manner - but its hard when I wonder have I really applied myself hard enough to learning the language? Have I really done all I can to learn to speak?

I suppose those feelings come as a reminder to apply myself to things I want to feel successful at - or even as a prodding to get back on track with what my goals and desires are around here. My goal for the morning is not to loose the pictures of her smiling face and her willing heart to talk to me.

Geese.

I discovered this gaggle of geese (being raised for various forms of consumption) during a random free moment when I was out in Eastern Ukraine. They were most entertaining and quite photogenic! Although, if I got to close they were quick to snap at me. Haha.

Random Musings.

I love running through neighborhoods in Vegas because every now and again I catch the scent that billows out of dryer vents as the dryers work overtime to dry the freshly laundered clothes. Dryers are pretty non-existent in Ukraine and if you have one its a "vent-less" dryer that does not actually omit any wonderful scents of freshly laundered clothes.

I love running on the streets of Kyiv because there are people on the streets. Inevitably, when I pass a group of these people someone will have showered in cologne. The scent of them lingers in the air as I run though; leaving me with something nice to smell for a few steps.

Back to school here is so much fun. All of the students wear uniforms to school and so each morning as they are boarding their various modes of transportation the neighborhoods are littered with kids wearing dark suits, crisp white shirts and dress shoes all while toting along their bright pink princess backpacks (do not worry ... the boys are not carrying pink princess backpacks!)

My flatmate has been laughing at my marthastewartness lately. I suppose this is because of all the cooking/baking/back porch gardening I have been doing. Only, she quit laughing when I gave her the coffee cake. She now only makes the marthastewart comment in hopes that something equally delicious is coming out of the oven soon. Just wait till my mint plant roots and I make her a cup of piping hot fresh mint tea ...

Such A Cutie.

This weekend I rode the metro into downtown to tour one of our visiting professors around the city. As we were lurching along, my eyes were drawn to the cutest little blonde girl sitting across the car from me. (Side note: It looked like she was going into first grade because she and her mum were looking at her new big "first grade bows." It is a tradition here for all the girls to go to first grade wearing big white bows.)

My heart nearly skipped a beat when the sweetest little white chihuahua popped its head out of her bag! The two of them were so cute together. She would sit there and stroke the puppy's head and whisper in its ear - telling it all kinds of stories and wonderful things. She sat kicking her legs back and forth with the rhythm of the train and every now and then she would pull the dog up to her and snuggle it under her chin and kiss its sweet little forehead. And the puppy just cuddled right down into her arms. As we rode along they would yawn in unison and as time passed they both snuggled into the mum's arms and fell asleep.

They were just simply to cute for words or pictures ... yet I have tried to share both. It made me think of the sweetness of my Brain. Sometimes there are moments of precious memories here. This will be one of them.