Tuesday, February 13, 2007

basketball tournament

To those who have been checking the site over the last couple of months expecting an update, I apologize for the delay. In an effort to atone for my lack of updates, this one will be a "double whammy." From now on I'll do my best to keep to my promise of one update every two weeks, or at the very least once a month, so keep checking.

First, I would like to say in my own defense that I do have some reasonable excuses for being a deadbeat blogger. Number one on my litany of excuses is my trip back to Wisconsin for the winter holidays. It was great to be back and see family and friends, drive a car, go to the movies, eat American cuisine (El Azteca, Sueanne's bagels - lord I missed those). Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures over break. I have a few pics that my mom took on my camera, but those are of - as anyone who knows Cindy Hanes should be able to guess - the dogs. No family, although technically Sam's leg is in a couple of those photos, so if I ever get nostalgic for the ass-kickings of my youth I guess these pics can help me out with that. My other excuse involves a trip to Kyiv in late January that I was obliged to make not long after my return to Velyka Lepetykha. So give me a break, I've been busy.

As you may have deduced from the title of this entry, I recently took part in a basketball tournament. This was a complete surprise to me; there was no mention of this earlier and I showed up Saturday morning expecting a pickup game as usual. If living in Ukraine has taught me anything, it is to keep a flexible schedule. I went with it. Tournament? Sure, let's go.

Two recent graduates from my school, three current students, the phys. ed. teacher and myself represented Velyka Lepetykha in a round-robin against three other teams from the region. One of those teams consisted of only five inexperienced high school students and had no coach, so I sat the bench for that one. The other two were from the same village, Rubanovka, the "A" and "B" teams. We made short work of the B squad and it became evident that this would be a two-team tournament. The final against Rubanovka A was a tight game and tempers were flaring. We had one ref, an older man who didn't know much about the rules of the game, and he took a good deal of abuse from players on both sides (although more so from their players, including their forty-something year old coach who has obviously never heard of "being the bigger man"). Our side played well and won the first half but lost our stride late in the third quarter and never got it back. We lost 58-42.

Our second place prize was a basketball worth sixty hryvnias (twelve dollars). Without discussion, we took the ball to the "supermarket," sold it, ad split the profits. I declined my share on the pretext that Peace Corps volunteers aren't allowed to earn money while serving (actually a rule) but they persisted. As much as Ukrainians are short of money, I find most of them scorn the idea of charity, which was what they saw my refusal as. I took the money and treated my teammates to a round of beers (NA for the minors), which was not below their pride.

This Friday we will be taking part in another tournament in Kakhovka. I'll try to remember to take my camera this time and take some pictures.

Concert

As I think I have alluded to in earlier entries, I take lessons at the local music school on the bandura, a Ukrainian folk instrument that looks something like a cross between a harp and a guitar. I have been going most days after school for about a year. I've played a few gigs at the village culture house and at my school, both solo and duets with my teacher, Olya. Last Wednesday we played a concert, although I'm still not sure what the occasion was. I think it had something to do with veterans. Here's us before the concert in our traditional Ukrainian costumes.



I have another picture but am having problems loading images, I'll try to get it up soon.