Land of the Free and Home of the Brave

New story today: just cereal. We met the group at a van stop near Vicily's house. Vicily is one of the youngest players at the camp; he is eight years old, can speak 3 or 4 languages, writes music, plays the piano, uses various computer software, paints, and plays basketball very well even though he is outsized.He always smiles and absolutely loves basketball. His mother is a painter and his father is a professional photographer. They showed us their beautiful home which they have remodeled to include large open living and woking spaces. They had numerous paintings and his father showed us a number of prints he had made. Vicily and I talked computers and movies, books and basketball. We had ice cream (yeah 11 am); then Vicily played some piano for us everything from Mozart to his own original work. He even sang one of the pieces as well. Jonathan showed off the song he knew how to play and Nastia played some of the pieces she knew. After Vicily's we went to one of the largest parks in Dnepropotrosk. We walked down to the beach enjoying the nice day. I haven't mentioned the weather yet, but it has been quite nice the whole trip certainly it got a little warm in the gym but that's to be expected. We've had rain at least every other day so it keeps the temperature down, but today was sunny with a nice breeze. We went to a Greek Orthodox church in near the park were one wedding was ending and another was beginning. I saw something that bothered me: there was a man standing outside the gates to the church with his hand out. what kind of churhc has beggars outside their doors. Shouldn't all of the beggars be inside? I saw two other brides that day as we were walking to the beach one in a photo shoot and another at a restaurant. The beaches were pretty nice and the water had about 5-8 foot visiblity, with a very inviting, non-radioactive feel.We walked further along and Tom wanted to find a place to sit back with the rest of the group, but Jon and I volunteered to press on with Greg (who wanted to explore the end of the point). It is on this walk that I first understood the misapplication of our song Star Spangled Banner, for this little stretch of beach is a little different than what we had seen so far. It a novel idea really, be natural in nature, but I think there is a reason God didn't not create natural man so old. I noticed one gentleman standing who appeared, from a distance to be wearing tan briefs, but at a closer range, well, I've never seen briefs so brief to the point of non-existance. Another gentlemen pointed us in the right direction, and the Saggy Bottom Boys were there as well; once we reached the end of the point and come to the conclusion that we would not cut our eyes out on the spot, we rejoined the group. We rode the ferris wheel there at the park and had chicken/pork and cheese sandwiches from the street vendor. We then met our van and picked up medicine and diapers for the children that the church sponsors at the orphanage. There are 100 kids at the orphange, but the church here helps provide for the 1 month to 3 year old group. We walked around and played with the kids for a very brief time. I got yelled at for almost taking a picture of some of the kids because (as I later found out when Ira came) that the kids weren't dressed presentably though I had already taken pictures of some of the other kids with no trouble. Could it be the dreaded-rich-American look I had going on with my long sleeve T and basketball shorts? Nah. Afterwards we went to church where we took the time in our class to introduce everyone and talk a little (trying to help them get to know each other better as a group). We then went to see Ira (not my interpreter) at her graduation; we met them outside told her congratulations and took some pictures. I learned a new word and will do my best to transliterate it: dzashishahushihsya. Croatia just scored the first goal of the game in extra minutes to go ahead of Turkey. yea. A sweet cross to a backdoor header. The word means "those who defend" Turkey just scored, squeezing a kick between two defenders and putting it into the corner.Then went to McDonald's, had the 9 nuggets, fries, and McFlurry with an iceless Fanta. Very American tasting. Back at the flat watching the game and listening to Jonathan snore just like every other night, all is right on this side of the world (or at least as it's been in the past). Shoot out time: Croatia first, miss wide right. Turkey, goal low and left. Croatia, goal misdirection right. Turkey, goal misdirection left. Croatia, wide left. Turkey, goal blip right. Croatia, shot right blocked by the goalie. Game over, for some reason the internet is not working (typing courtesy of Notepad), so sorry to those who read daily, I know there is quite a following, but I will see if it is up in the morning you can check around midnight to see.