July 24, 2017- Здравствуйте
By the way, if you didn't see Joel's video log from the flight over... it's here.
From Mr Binder:
Now, don't adjust your glasses... the topic is in Cyrillic. It's a different way of saying most letters that you know, and it's something I worked hard on being able to read before we came over here. You pronounce it: Z'dravst*voo*cha . It means "hello!" Though I can read it, it's been a struggle to remember it, and I have still yet to master such a simple term. But I'm working hard on making an effort.
I thought it this was an appropriate term because today was the day we said "hello" to our Russian hosts for the first time.
Yesterday, I was reflecting on how much the world has changed since I was in high school... and as I reflect on today, three people from our adventure today come to mind.
First, it was a simple, yet busy day, as we headed about 1-2 hours outside the city to Ramenskoye:
From Mr Binder:
Now, don't adjust your glasses... the topic is in Cyrillic. It's a different way of saying most letters that you know, and it's something I worked hard on being able to read before we came over here. You pronounce it: Z'dravst*voo*cha . It means "hello!" Though I can read it, it's been a struggle to remember it, and I have still yet to master such a simple term. But I'm working hard on making an effort.
I thought it this was an appropriate term because today was the day we said "hello" to our Russian hosts for the first time.
Yesterday, I was reflecting on how much the world has changed since I was in high school... and as I reflect on today, three people from our adventure today come to mind.
First, it was a simple, yet busy day, as we headed about 1-2 hours outside the city to Ramenskoye:
In this town at the Sports Palace, a championship game for football was taking place. It was the Russian Championship for football for the blind.
Dmitri is the coach of one of the teams, and he was more than gracious in allowing us to film the match and talk with the athletes afterwards. If you are curious how it works, the two goalies are able to see and yell out commands to their teammates. The ball has a metal rattle inside to allow the players to locate it. Still, it was a challenging match, but the team from Moscow ended up beating their rivals by a score of 1-0. Even though the championship just ended, and the awards were just handed out, Dmitri came to us and insisted on giving us each a blindfold and giving us a "master class" in how to play. I can't express how difficult it was. Try closing your eyes right now, getting up, and running full speed into the next room. Even though you've done it every day, it's going to be hard and maybe a bit scary. While I'm not the most agile person, I would imagine that I would have easily injured myself simply running around the field by myself, let alone finding the ball and kicking it towards a goal just using my ears to locate it, and doing it all while other players were doing the same thing. One of the students today said "I didn't realize how little I've done with my life until I tried to do this today." In the future, the winning team of the event we witnessed today would represent Russia in the Paralympic Games. Most of the players were not blinded at birth, so, Dmitri is changing the world by enhancing the lives of his players and their families, by giving them an opportunity to reconnect with a game they grew up with and thought was lost to them.
Dmitri is the coach of one of the teams, and he was more than gracious in allowing us to film the match and talk with the athletes afterwards. If you are curious how it works, the two goalies are able to see and yell out commands to their teammates. The ball has a metal rattle inside to allow the players to locate it. Still, it was a challenging match, but the team from Moscow ended up beating their rivals by a score of 1-0. Even though the championship just ended, and the awards were just handed out, Dmitri came to us and insisted on giving us each a blindfold and giving us a "master class" in how to play. I can't express how difficult it was. Try closing your eyes right now, getting up, and running full speed into the next room. Even though you've done it every day, it's going to be hard and maybe a bit scary. While I'm not the most agile person, I would imagine that I would have easily injured myself simply running around the field by myself, let alone finding the ball and kicking it towards a goal just using my ears to locate it, and doing it all while other players were doing the same thing. One of the students today said "I didn't realize how little I've done with my life until I tried to do this today." In the future, the winning team of the event we witnessed today would represent Russia in the Paralympic Games. Most of the players were not blinded at birth, so, Dmitri is changing the world by enhancing the lives of his players and their families, by giving them an opportunity to reconnect with a game they grew up with and thought was lost to them.
The second person is Olga (pictured above in black). She accompanied us on our journey to today's match. In talking with her, I learned she is a journalist by training. Through her journalism, she learned about persons with disabilities while reporting on the Socci Paralympic Games, but she became frustrated that her editors wouldn't give her an opportunity to give the athletes a voice in their reporting. So, she decided to do something about it (or in her words "I couldn't just try to write about it, I felt I had to *do* something." She quit her job and started a program with the goal of connecting people with disabilities with sports teams much like the one we saw today; a service that is not available in Russia. Again, another selfless act is making a big difference to people who need this help. (You can see her site and have google translate it at samesport.ru)
Finally, on our return to Moscow, the van we were in blew out. So, Igor, our van driver then proceeded to jack up the van and change the tire...
with all 8 of his passengers inside.
He was apparently embarrassed that he would not be able to keep us on schedule and didn't want us to wait outside in the heat. Now, while it might seem odd that I will include our van driver as person #3, it was just another example of someone showing kindness to his international friends.
Through these three people and their acts of kindness to strangers, I guess it's a lesson that while one big gesture can change the world, it will also work with a lot of small ones. "Hello" Russia, and thanks for sharing your kindness with us today.
Finally, on our return to Moscow, the van we were in blew out. So, Igor, our van driver then proceeded to jack up the van and change the tire...
with all 8 of his passengers inside.
He was apparently embarrassed that he would not be able to keep us on schedule and didn't want us to wait outside in the heat. Now, while it might seem odd that I will include our van driver as person #3, it was just another example of someone showing kindness to his international friends.
Through these three people and their acts of kindness to strangers, I guess it's a lesson that while one big gesture can change the world, it will also work with a lot of small ones. "Hello" Russia, and thanks for sharing your kindness with us today.
LINKS: