Welcome to Hockey on the Beach. It's Daria Mironova and it's time to discuss women's hockey.
Hayley Williams, US-born professional hockey player who travels around the world, fluent in Russian, plays for Hungarian national team and runs her own business called Hockey Worldwide. Here is her story.
Your second try in Russia. How different is this one?
Well, it's a lot different. I'm having a very different experience this season than I did the first two seasons I was here. And then obviously, you know, I left for two years and I was really excited to come back because I've learned the language and I was excited.
I didn't think that I was going to be able to come back and see my friends again. You know, it was kind of like a last minute thing with COVID that I had to leave and not play that third season here.
So my expectations were really great when I came back. I was really excited, like I said, but my experience now is not my best season ever. And it has to do with my relationship with the coach specifically.
So everything else is great. Like, I really love Russia. I like St. Petersburg. I have great friends on the team and everything, but we're butting heads a little bit with the coach here.
Like if we are discussing hockey experiences, you are just ahead of him. That's for sure. But that's the issue with the whole Russian hockey women's hockey system.
So how long did it take you to learn Russian? I mean, I'm really amazed because I know like I spoke Russian with you. You're really great at it.
Oh, thank you. Well, actually the last time we spoke in Russian was like I guess my second season in Russia. So I was only in my second year of learning the language.
But now I'm in my fifth year, I guess you can say, because I've continued to use it even if I had a lot of mistakes. And I still make a lot of mistakes when I'm speaking it.
But I can really have a conversation for however, you know, hours at a time. And maybe I have some mistakes with the endings of words and stuff like that.
But since I got back this season, I actually got a Russian tutor who's amazing. So she's been helping me with just like the grammatical part of Russian.
So it's my first time I've actually had any formal learning and it's really helped a lot. Can you write in Russian? I can write, but it's like a little kid that just learned like it's like, you know, it looks like I'm tracing the letters in the writing learning book.
You know what I mean? One of my teammates when I was playing for Gourney, she said that it was going to be impossible for me to learn it. Like you said, like Russian people make mistakes.
And so it was kind of discouraging to hear that. But at that time, I wasn't doing anything on purpose to learn. I was just immersed. So now I am actually trying to really learn.
So maybe I can use Russian in my career in the future. Maybe as like a translator or something just because I have this skill now. So why not use it? So yeah, it's good. Why not have a new skill?
Well, you know, you can work for CNN probably because you know about Russia so much.
So when I look at the results of the women's hockey league this season, I can basically see the same thing as it was three years ago.
So the Russian born girls, they don't really have any other place right now to get their international experience. So you are one of those people who can give it to them.
But when we talk about results overall, I can see that things don't change much in women's hockey. And that really makes me sad because just yesterday I was watching collegiate finals and I'm in shock.
It's crazy the way it becomes stronger and better.
Yeah, I agree. And that has to do with a lot of well, besides just having so many girls in North America that play hockey.
So there's a lot of competition, which automatically makes somebody compete more and get better.
In the sport world, it's not just like train, train, train until you can't like move anymore. There's a lot more that goes into it. You know, training, of course, training your physical attributes, your skills, and then paying attention a lot to recovery and also the mental performance part of it, which is really missing in Russia.
Yeah, there's a lot more growth in North America for sure. But I think there's potential in Russia. It's just that the people who are in positions of power are very old school minded. So right now, I think it's kind of a generationalized thing.
I think the next generation of coaches coming up who are like in their 30s and maybe 40s, but maybe 30s have a different mindset and are more willing to learn something new instead of just going in their old ways that they've
that they grew up playing underneath these Soviet Union coaches who are just, you know, kind of like train until you die. And that's all the equation for success.
Well, what language do you use when you talk to your coach? I'm sure it's Russian, right?
Yes, yes, Russian.
You are probably very intimidating for Russian men because they just do not accept women in power.
Yeah, you're not the first person to tell me that.
Because I am the same.
Yeah, you are the same way. I know you are.
A lot of lash back from that. But look at where you are now. You're all over there in North America, doing some great things.
Well, because I couldn't stand it anymore. When I first started to work in Russia, I really believed that I can change something. And in a way, I probably did. But I just like I was tired and I can see that at this point.
Nothing I can do anymore. I cannot break the system.
That is shocking and saddening because you have such a big platform. And when you're in Russia, you say your name and everybody knows who you are.
Somebody with such a wide range of renowned names can't even make the impact that's needed to give some more respect to women, I guess.
And I'm not like a feminist or anything. It's just like I am looking at this and it's like, I guess it is kind of like this old Russian man versus this young non-Russian girl.
So I don't know, maybe it is intimidation, but he's very, yeah, he's not very nice to me at all.
That's not nice. It's just like have some respect, but whatever.
Yeah, no, I believe it, especially growing up in Russia. You grew up in this culture, so you already had like a tough head.
You have to have a tough mind and everything. And then you obviously like are putting in the work to grow and learn more things and become better.
And I just think that people are kind of stuck in their ways here.
I don't know if there's like a language barrier thing where there's not information to be able to learn or it's just like a prideful thing where they don't want to because they think they know everything.
But there's definitely a barrier there when it comes to just like a growth mindset versus a fixed one.
So yeah, that's a lot of the older coaches that I've dealt with.
Or, you know, I guess I haven't dealt with a ton of coaches here, but my coaches in the first two years, I didn't speak much Russian, so I didn't understand it the way I do now.
But now I do and I see there's a big disconnect.
Do you blame to come back?
Well, I have a two-year contract here with Dynamo, but it's not going well.
Definitely, I'm going to be here for the rest of the season and I do have the second year contract, but if my coach, my current coach is here, I'm not going to be playing for Dynamo, that's for sure.
Like I've never once in my life had a problem with a coach.
It's not somebody I want to be around.
It's not a situation that I want to be in every day.
Very negative, very, you know, extremely high pressure.
Like hockey is already such a high pressure sport.
There's no reason to add this unnecessary pressure from the coach for no reason.
Like make a mistake in practice and he's like screaming at you and you're in practice.
You're like, OK, we're just trying to train here and get better.
Like this is the time we're supposed to be able to make mistakes, but we're not going to be able to play like 100 percent of our potential performance if we're not allowed to make a mistake in practice.
Try not to pay attention.
I know it's hard, but you know what scares me?
Yes, those old stubborn men.
But the way they teach kids in Russia, it's practically the same.
So there's still going to be a lot of younger guys who are just broken in their mentality because they're used to when coaches scream at them, when coaches hit them.
And it's not even better for the girls.
So I'm not sure if there is any light up front.
Yeah, I know it's it is sad for sure.
I've been doing a lot of self education, like buying courses and attending summits, mostly online because I'm in Russia, but about mental performance.
And there's like I said, like there's such a disconnect.
There's like four pillars of being an athlete, physical training, skills training, tactical training, and then mental performance.
And that's mental performance is like 90 percent of it.
If you've got all the rest of the skills and that you know, if you're strong and fast and you're skillful and you understand the game of hockey,
but you have no confidence in yourself because somebody is like killing you every day with their words and like just their actions and tell you that you suck and that you're nothing and you're a weak player and things like that.
Like you're not going to be able to perform and it's just not OK.
And yeah, I do feel bad about it, too, because it is, you know, it's like a Russian culture thing.
So some people are like, well, hey, you're in Russia.
That's that's the thing. And I'm like, well, no, because I've seen other coaches that actually do have a different mindset and do want to learn more things about, you know,
and it's not just like that. It's not just beat somebody down every day.
So it's not just because it's in Russia, like I said, like a generationalized thing.
And it's going to take a while for the.
The it's a change ultimately, but I think because of the Internet and things like that, there's more information.
You should be able to get easily.
You can get more information easily, so people do want to learn to have the opportunity to.
I guess I could thank my father because it was just different for me, like from the early childhood.
He would always tell me never let anyone to scream at you.
So I remember once in my school, the teacher was screaming and they still do.
And, you know, they call you names, they scream at you for no reason, because they're not happy with their lives.
And I had permission from my dad, so I just stood up and I left the class.
There you go. Yeah.
And it was I think like when I started to work in Russia, it was the same.
Someone called, so I answered the phone and I heard the voice and a man, he just screams at me like crazy.
So I hang up. I'm like, what? What is that?
No one's going to call me and scream at me for no reason.
And he would just go back, go back. I would never answer.
And it turned out it was like the major head boss of the Match TV where I used to work.
And I was like, I'm sorry.
Well, it was just his way to react to things and he didn't have enough information.
So he just reacted and he was like, you have no right to hang up.
And I'm like, well, that's the way I was taught by my father and from in the country where I came from,
which I applied to the United States, that you cannot scream at a woman and you cannot scream at your employee.
So I'm like, I'm sorry. I don't care who you are.
You called me and you screamed at me.
But we got better. Like I can say we were friends, but he really respected me for doing that.
And I probably haven't met a lot of people who've done that.
Yeah. Well, you said it just now.
Like just the respect aspect of it, that's just like the foundation of any interpersonal communication in the world.
It doesn't matter where you're from.
You just need to respect the other person that you're around or that you're talking to on the phone.
And if you go into something just with just a little bit of respect, then you act differently to the person.
You know, we're all human. We make mistakes, you know, whatever it is.
You can be mad, but you can approach it differently if you have just a little bit of respect.
True. Do you think we'll ever get a female coach in Russia or if it's even needed?
I'm not. I well, I know there's been female assistant coaches in the in the Russian League.
I'm not sure about a female head coach.
No, no, no, no, no.
There hasn't been.
Yeah.
I think it's possible. I think it's possible, especially because, like, for example, Dynamo, Dynamo, the director, she's pretty young, you know.
So, like I said, I just think the older man, Russian man you are here, the more things won't change.
But if it's like somebody with a different demographic and maybe a little younger, maybe a woman, then then there's more opportunities for something else to happen.
But for now, I don't think so.
The problem. Yeah, the problem with those guys, because, you know, I've done a lot of research.
I've been working on that for a while.
They cannot get a job in the K-Chill or even Junior League.
So, you know, they find connections to get into women's hockey.
So they don't really treat treat this job respectfully because people just need to understand women's hockey or men's hockey.
It doesn't matter. It's hockey. You just do your job and you respect yourself and people you work with.
It's easy. And it doesn't matter if it's women's hockey.
You still want to achieve something because it's sports.
Yeah, I agree. And you're right. They do. It is like that.
I wouldn't be surprised if any coach in the Women's League got an opportunity in even the VHL, not even the K-HL.
You know, kind of like the equivalent to our Women's League that they wouldn't jump to that opportunity right away.
They will, because most of them yet tried because, you know, that's the problem.
OK, let's find the positive. Tell me more about your time in Hungary.
OK, yeah, that was I hope that was positive.
Yeah, no, definitely positive. I didn't.
So it was like a last minute thing, like I said in the beginning, because of COVID, just our team folded like at the end of August, Gourney.
And so it was like kind of like a panic thing. It was like, where can I go?
Because all the teams are full or yeah, like everywhere is full because the season is about to start in like two weeks.
So I'm like, all right. And then I remembered about the coach who had reached out to me before the season before to go to play in Budapest.
And so I reached out to him and he was like, oh, yeah, we have a spot.
So I went there kind of on a whim, like one week later, I was in Budapest, which was really crazy because I was really sad.
Like I wanted to stay in Russia and I planned to.
And I was learning things, you know, like in learning language, especially.
And I was having a good time here, you know, even with the kind of cultural differences or mental mentality differences.
But then I went to Hungary and well, not only did we win both seasons of the league, like we won the championship both seasons, which was awesome and fun.
Like during my first season, they they offered me to get my Hungarian citizenship.
So I was it was like really out of nowhere and quick.
It was really quick to have that offer.
I mean, the process wasn't quick. It was like a year.
But now I play for the Hungarian national team, which is really awesome.
Like I would think, you know, first I'm crying because COVID like kicked me out of Russia.
And now I'm a Hungarian citizen playing for the Hungarian national team, which in a week now, a week from today, I'm going to Brampton for the World Championships in Canada.
This is amazing. Yeah, it's really crazy.
So, yeah, I don't know. Life is really weird how it works.
But, yeah, of course, I wouldn't say no to the opportunity.
So now I'm an American Hungarian citizen and, you know, just expanding my resume here, I guess.
But it was really fun to be in Budapest, even just be a person in Europe because you can travel around easily on trains and buses to go around to different European countries and kind of just see what's going on in all the countries.
So my travel experience really what it added to my travel experience there.
Yeah, it was really good. But then, like I said, I was excited to come back to Russia.
The salary is better here than in Budapest. And the league is a bit stronger.
So those are my two biggest motivators to come back here.
You never know if it's going to be good or bad when you make a decision.
That's not true. Hey, you're into this mental thing.
Of course, you can say that it's going to be good for you. You just keep saying that until it's good.
Yeah, that's true. Well, that's the thing. Like, even if it's bad, you say, you know, I'm not really sure if it's bad yet because something else is going to happen that's going to be good.
And if I wasn't going through this situation now, then this next great thing might not have happened.
The one thing that's kind of kind of a challenge for European countries is that the countries are so small.
So the numbers of the girls that play is not it's not a lot of girls.
Like, I don't I don't even know the amount of registered girls hockey players in Hungary.
It's got to be like barely a few thousand if so.
And if you're looking at like the U.S., there's like seventy thousand or something like that.
Like, there's like a huge difference of the amount of girls playing hockey.
That's just because the countries are so much smaller and there's a lot less people.
So the growth of it, I mean, everybody, I think everybody in any country in the world who cares about women's hockey is trying to grow it in whichever way that they can.
So I think that everybody's kind of on the same page.
If you are passionate about women's hockey and want is that's kind of one of your goals.
Everybody's trying, but it's kind of like how do we do it depending on your geographical location or something like that.
That's where that's where you can step in.
Yeah, yeah, no, I I want to and I plan to.
But I, you know, I'm still playing hockey, so it's kind of like it's kind of hard like I play and I also coach.
But I coach do most of my coaching the off season.
I can't be full time in like the coaching yet because I still don't I still want to play until at least the next Olympics, because I think we have a chance to make it in the 2026 Olympics with Team Hungry.
So that's my goal.
Oh, no, in 2026, I'll probably, you know, focus less on my playing career and focus more on my coaching career, whichever opportunity comes, you know.
That's amazing. You should totally do that. I will support you all the way.
What about your summer plans? Tell me more about your hockey school.
Yeah, I am. Yeah. So before our podcast right now, I was like sending emails and everything.
So I'm like I said, I'm still playing, but I run my business and I also am a director for another company with the CCM selects spring and summer organization.
So I'm the girls program director. So I'm like really actually busy, but my work is all online when I'm overseas.
So it's really a good balance that I'm able to do it whatever time I have free and on my computer.
So but when I go home, we have the World Championships, April 5th to 16th in Brampton, Canada.
And then I go home and that week I start right away and I have 17 events.
April to July. So it's like if you look at my calendar, there's it's like in July, there's not one day off.
Not one day. But if you look at my calendar, there's not one week or weekend off of for the entire April, mid April to well, I guess, beginning of April.
Because we're at the World Championships until the end of July. It's it's like and I'm not just like in one place.
I'm going around, you know, from different states to like Chicago, Michigan, Wisconsin, Boston, going to Edmonton, Minnesota.
I'm actually going to go to Budapest in July as well for training. Well, I can't hear I can't hear Florida.
Where's Florida? Oh, I'm not going to be in Florida, but I am going to be in Charleston, which isn't that far away.
Like just recently, PWHPA was here in Tampa, Florida.
And it's all about the girls classes and meetings. Seriously, I just felt like my son was left out.
He was always around the women's hockey, men's hockey, and he's really open minded.
So he was like, why I cannot practice with the girls because I really want to do that.
It's OK that I'm going to be the only boy. Why I cannot do that.
So I feel like, you know, we're still divided because it's like only focus on the girls now.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's true for sure. My all of my programs are girls as well.
We don't have boys anymore. When I first started it, I had boys in my programs.
But I mean, I think, you know, because of the divide, like you're saying,
it's nice for parents to hear when they have a girl player that the program is focused only on girls
because that's, you know, it's a different narrative than it's been for however many years that, you know,
it's always boys first when it comes to hockey. So, I mean, yeah, it does kind of change.
It's just kind of reverse the roles there and makes now your son feel left out, which that makes me sad too.
Yeah, I'm like, I was like, oh, let's see what Haley has. Maybe we'll visit her.
And it's like all the girls. Yeah, yeah, it is.
All right. Well, maybe I'll add a coed next year just for your son.
How you prepare yourself for the games in Russia, because I know it's like like all the things,
all the stories that you said, and I know it's difficult to because of the weather.
Yeah, it is. It's actually starting to get warm here today. I went to the gym and it's not too far away.
So I'm able to run there or walk if I don't feel like well, actually, that's that's the only way I go there.
I wouldn't go like on the in a car on the bus because it doesn't make sense just the way that it's like 15 minutes in the car or the bus.
And it's like 20 minutes if I run. So it doesn't make sense to take transportation.
I'm like running through all these puddles. I'm like, oh, no, because it's getting warm and snow is melting.
But yeah, it is definitely a different mood when it's freezing and snowy than when it's a little bit warmer outside.
But to prepare for the games, I just, you know, make sure I'm well rested and make sure I have been focusing on my nutrition for a couple of days before the game.
And definitely I always try to get the right mental headspace for the games because nobody else is going to try to help with that.
That's an individual thing. But I mean, there's some natural adrenaline when it comes to game day.
Obviously, that's what we train for to compete, you know, have the game.
So I wouldn't say I do anything super special when I'm going to prepare for a game,
but just to make sure that my body's ready and recovered, then it's usually a good day for a game.
What can we do to make it better for you in Russia, for your experiences, for the women's hockey overall?
I mean, just to talk about it more and let people know that that we have it.
I think when people know that it's an option to watch women's hockey or to go to the game or I mean, the games are on YouTube.
So any game is watchable for free, you know, so just to and actually, if you look at the YouTube,
like if you look at the games that are on the YouTube, it'll be like, you know, three thousand people watch the game because it doesn't on YouTube.
How many how many views? So it's, you know, it's not like nobody's watching.
You know what I mean? So I feel like there is a good good fan base. It's just not as, you know.
Put out there in the media, I guess you can say. Oh, that's totally true. I know.
What about the attendance this season? Can you see that it's different from two years ago?
No, it's not too much more, especially because we play at UB Lainey, which you've been at many times.
So we play on the Mala arena, which is has just the one side of the stands pretty much.
So when we're on there, you know, it looks like we've got a good amount of fans.
But if if there is a day where we can't play on that one on our normal rank, then we play on the on the Glawney Arena,
which is a way bigger bowl of stands. And it looks like nobody's in the stands at all.
So, I mean, it's not like there's the tickets. There's it's free to go to. It's just I don't there's not really any marketing about it around the like I was like I said, I go to fitness house here, not far away.
And inside there, they have like posters on the wall with Dynamo VHL guys inside the inside the gym. So we don't have that.
And it's also interesting because Dynamo is like a big system. It's not just our team is its own entity.
It's like we're connected with the guys teams so they can use the same type of marketing dollars to kind of push our games out there even more, you know, to make it more desirable and just even known to be able to go to the game.
Well, I guess it's very important that you say that. So people because so many people still don't understand how things are different in Russia for men and women.
I am back to school and I just once again I see the way athletics is treated over here in the United States. It's pretty amazing.
And surely I feel like I want to make sure that students, athletes in Russia know about it.
And if the age will allow them, they should come here. They should try harder just to experience different life because they sit there and they do not know that things can get better.
And especially for the girls, that's practically the only way right now how they can grow their game.
I actually have very strong feelings about this.
When it comes to Russian, well, I'm specifically about Russian girls who play hockey because I'm in this niche of life.
You know, I'm with the Russian girls who play hockey and, you know, there'd be like 14 year old who's got her first contract in the in the Women's League here.
And it's like for five thousand rubles a month.
And you know, excited because she's in the professional league and she's getting paid and, you know, she's going to have five thousand rubles for the month.
But now automatically she's just she's just deleted any of her chance to be able to go to the U.S. and play NCAA hockey, for example, because if you've been paid as a professional player, then this this voids out your chance to be able to go there.
So the reason why I have this feeling is because I saw this when I first came here and then the girls will ask me about it.
And they'll say, you know, I want to go there and study and play hockey. And I'm like, well, you get paid like is this part of your you have a contract with the team.
Yes, you get paid. OK, well, you can't like but they can go play club hockey technically.
But but that's there's no scholarships or anything. So when it comes to the financial part of it, now it's going to be now they have to go over there on all their own money, plus pay for extremely expensive schooling, which, you know, obviously, the way different cost in the U.S.
than it is in Russia. So it's kind of like impossible almost for most because of just the expenses that go into it.
So I've been thinking about it for like five years now to have like a little kind of I guess agency would be the way to say it, but some sort of like just educational thing for girls to know their options so they don't get stuck.
You know, and I don't want to say stuck in because that makes it seem like it's negative. But there are, you know, even just to go play in the U.S. and learn the language just from America is like nobody speaks English because they don't need to.
They're in Russia and just learn a different culture, learn new things like just grow as a human, but they don't really have the chance anymore.
So I've been like thinking about how can I start something like a program for girls to just at least learn about and then help them get over get overseas to actually be able to play like NCAA D1 hockey, for example, there's definitely talented girls in Russia that would be able to have the potential to do that.
But they've already they've already diminished their chance to be able to do that because they get paid. Yeah, I've had the conversation many, many times that like, you know, I, you know, I totally would have helped you, but there's not going to be a way.
It's against the NCAA rules. Well, I actually been thinking about that, too.
Like I try to show that in my stories. I'm sure a lot of people hate me for that because I show that just to, you know, to everyone, to the girls, to the boys, because they need to experience life and they need to understand that things will get better.
Because when you play for juniors, you like your first contract, you might be happy for a year or two. But what's next? So you really have to consider your perspectives. And over here, you still going to school.
So you're going to get the best education ever. So again, that was like my my question was long, but I've been thinking about that, too.
Like how can I start bringing girls over here looking like I was going through our bless you photos, photos and videos like from your first season when you just came to Russia and the way you are right now.
I mean, you are hard as stone. So like at that time, it was probably a good option to come to Russia, you know, to travel, get the new experience and make money.
Like, would you suggest your American Canadian colleagues to go to Russia? No, like hockey.
Yeah, I don't know if I did it all over again. Well, I don't want to say if I did all over again, I wouldn't change anything. It's just like if I thought back to when I first came here and what I've done, like what I've gone through, like, like you said, like, like, I don't know how I don't know.
Like, it's not like I came to Russia and played on the Chinese team, which is like many, many imports and they speak English, you know, the coaches American or Canadian, you know, it's like that. But I like came right dead into like the middle of Russian culture with nobody speaking English around me and not knowing a thing about Russian.
And like, I, I don't know. I don't know how I did that. And I don't think that anybody, I don't want to say I don't think that anybody could do that. Anybody could do that if they wanted to. But it's just like, you really do have to have like a perspective of like, I have no idea what's going on around me at all every single day, but I'm just gonna do it.
And let's see what happens, you know, and it's been, you know, it's been a great experience for me. I wouldn't change it at all. I'm really, really happy about my life the last five years, but I, yeah, I wouldn't, I'm not going to stay in Russia for the rest of my life.
I think I'd be here one more season maximum next season, and then go back to the pH of probably. And I just wanted to say one other thing about I wanted to say one other thing about what we're talking about just now with the girls not having opportunities to go study in the US, or just not knowing about the opportunities is this is another thing with like the Russian education system.
They've got athletes who, you know, they play their sports, so they don't even have to go to school basically their teachers like sign off on their report cards and nobody's learning anything so it's like, you've got nine teams of girls in the Russian League right now that I don't want to say everybody but
a large majority of them have not had any like post secondary education at all, and it's like what are they going to do after the drum playing hockey, like what what kind of specialization are they going to be able to be and like they don't really know anything about like what's next.
After hockey, not just in life. Yeah. Yes, in life. So it's kind of like, kind of scary so I could see like, like, what are they going to do like I'm not saying anything bad if you go work at the grocery store but that the skills required it, you know, it's like simply, you know, you're going to say like I play professional hockey
for 10 years and now I work at the local grocery store because I don't have any other skills or education to do something else.
That's totally true and you still have to remember that here in the US people earn different wages for working in the grocery store. It's good.
I'm comparing that to Russia because in Russia it's poverty. So you only go work to the grocery store yell if you don't have any other options and you're not going to make much you just going to try to survive.
This is horrible but you're so right, like 100% about the education and chances. Totally true.
I was trying to make this one positive, and I think it is.
It is a positive one. I mean it's a learning experience.
I'm just still like amazed that I mean you're still there. It's, it's just, I don't know. It's amazing. You need to get a medal. You need to get a medal for that.
For the longest time living in Russia if you were not Russian.
Yes, and especially nowadays when it's even harder. It's even harder when you're Russian American, you cannot live in Russia, and you still there.
That's pretty amazing. Okay, I wish you luck just you know stay strong, powerful, mental health is important but I know in Russia no one cares about that and they say you're a psycho if you even talk about it.
Well thank you. Yeah, it's been nice to talk to you. I'm glad that we can catch up again. Maybe I'll run into you in the United States soon.
I hope so and let's do that again after your finals.
Okay, yay. Okay, thank you Haley.