Monthly

THE SEASONS

Summer is over. I received an SMS that said “someone turned off summer”. We are having cool nights; the leaves are turning brown and even starting to fall. Holidays are over, school is back. You can feel, even smell the change in the air.

Change comes to us all. Sometimes we welcome it like a breath of fresh air. Other times we resist it – even detest it. But life goes in seasons and we must adjust. I can’t blindly refuse to acknowledge winter and go on wearing shorts and singlets just because I love summer.

UTSIM

WATCH THIS SPACE

This month has turned crazy. I feel too busy and too tired to write something inspirational, challenging, motivating or even funny. I can’t tell you all that is on my mind. I’m not sure I can even understand myself – but next month . . . .

UTSIM

There’s not a lot to talk about for UTSIM in the month of July. Basically the main activity is the documentation process required for some teachers who we are inviting to come and work with us in the coming school year. I have some documentation issues regarding my University degree. It has been lost in transit while I was sending it away to get an Apostil required for authentication here in Ukraine. I will need an authenticated replacement before September or October.

LIFE OUTSIDE OF BUSINESS

TARAS AND TASHA

STOP TO SMELL THE FLOWERS

I’ve got nothing to write. No great quotes, no special illustrations from life. It’s late and I’ve been sitting in front of the computer wondering what is special that I can share. The only thing I can think of is spring. Spring is pretty special here in Ukraine. After a long harsh winter – the waking up and coming to life of so many trees and flowers is special. But I thought that was a bit boring to share with you. Then I realised – it is only boring because we have made it boring. We live fast-paced, modern technological lives. We update our Facebook statuses, we listen to our iPods or play doodle jump on our iPhones . We forget to look at the grass, the flowers, the trees, the bugs, the bees, the river, the clouds etc. Spring is beautiful. On Friday night the trees on my street were so laden with white blossoms that in the headlights of my van I almost thought it was winter and the snow had returned. I hope I don’t get so busy or so distracted that I forget to enjoy the miracle of spring.

HOUSE WIFE FOR RENT

A while ago I watched the movie Julie and Julia. I’ve discovered how therapeutic cooking can be. On the odd occasion that I don’t eat up the road at Ruth and Jon’s, I’ve enjoyed trying to cook with a bit of creativity. Last week I decided to make bread. It came out perfectly. Nice fresh homemade bread – it rose so high it nearly hit the top of the oven. So today I tried again. Igor and I ate a slice of the rocks I produced. What went wrong? I don’t know. I used the same recipe, same ingredients. I tried to copy exactly the same methods as last time – but this time it all went pear shaped.

I think tomorrow I’ll bake a cake.

UTSIM

It’s hard to believe that we are less than three months away from completing our second year. We have 79 students at last count.

Our new replacement teacher, Zhenya, has fitted in like a glove and I am thankful. Sveta has made it back to NZ for a second year of music study and Simbo and Asia have had a baby girl all safe and sound and praising God.