Parents' Day!
Oh man, this is the day that all the kids look forward to, and none of the staff or counselors--there's so much more work involved when every kid's parents, brother, sister and whatnot is running around, asking questions and getting into general trouble. Since Desi and I took a 2-hour nap today, we didn't actually get involved in too much of the action. We sang our song again during the performance for parents--each group did their best song/skit again--and then we worked at the rock climbing wall until 1ish, when we broke for lunch. Many of our campers still jumped and waved hi when they saw us, and we got introduced to parents everywhere we went, but just as many also smiled shyly and just waved from their parents' arms. It was all very interesting to me--there were lots of people who had that "I'm just bursting to talk to you but I'm afraid you won't understand me/my language skills are bad/or you won't like me" smile, and all I could think of was how much more fun it might be if we were all a little less worried about what the other person might think. Those that I started talking with were very excited to continue, including the parents I belayed for on the wall--THAT was fun too, though they were a bit heavy.
The rest of the day we stayed around our dorm, doing last minute packing and cleaning our clothes. Right after dinner we leave for our camping trip, so everything's got to get finished in the next 15 minutes (another short post). My hair is French-braided, courtesy of Desiree, since I won't be able to wash it for two days. All I'm taking is my backpack, and I'm not sure if it'll be enough, by the way they're talking how cold it usually is. It's been getting harder and harder to find time to write in my journal, since everywhere I go kids are dragging me off to play Pioneerball, or Russian hand/card games (I finally learned a Russian card game! It's awesome and while I was learning I was like "This is so Soviet" since there's only one loser and all the rest are winners) or American ones. Last night we had another late night, where Desi and I stayed up talking with Ilya and Egor about everything--Misha, and how part of the reason he's so cold to us is that he doesn't like Americans, movies, everything.
Working in the pool yesterday was great--the kids got really into water polo and it was fun to not have to be careful around the older ones. Other than that, I can't think of anything else to write right now (but there's always so much I want to say when I'm walking over! Every day there's a hundred tiny memories that I'll never be able to hang onto all at once, and they're only going to pop up months, years later in the smallest slivers... and I'm sure whoever I'm with then will never be able to appreciate them--like here's one! Alyesya was talking to her mom while I was belaying, and all of a sudden I caught the word "Anglichanan" so I of course had to turn around and call "We're not English! We're Americans!" .. even that's not that interesting, but it's these little flashes that I don't want to forget... there's just no way to hang onto them all).
Desi and I were listening to one of my mixes today that had "Breakfast at Tiffany's" on it.. I love that song. And I know, in just another week, I'm going to be thinking to myself, "And I hate when things are over..." 7 days left!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
June 27, 2008 || First Late Night, Armor Class, Sword-Fighting
A quicksy post, since I've got to run and do things and I also posted late yesterday.
Last night, after horseback riding, there was anothoer show where all the groups performed little plays--most were song and dance routines, but some were absolutely ridiculous--one combined a magic beetle with Robin Hood and swordplay, another was a Paraguay-an folktale about a giant rabbit king, and I think my favorite part was just seeing Misha and Zhena in kimonos.
After, we watched Russia lose to Spain in the Eurocup semifinals (breaking the heart of nearly everyone at camp) and headed back to our dorm. Egor was watching cartoons and I couldn't sleep, so I sat and watched with him. Lo and behold, Adult Swim has made it to Russia. "Adult Swim! What does it mean?!" This was the beginning of a long night talking with Egor about a lot of different things--cartoons, TV in general, anime, then religion, history, language and so on. Kristina, Ilya, Nastya, and Valya eventually came from planyorka, and they all had fun teaching me knew Russian words. It becomes like a game, when we're trying to talk and I don't understand a word, for them to figure out how to explain ti to me. Then again, if I don't get it on the first try, it normally turns into a shouting match with each of them giving me different explanations at the same time, trying to talk over one another. So I picked up a little Russian slang, which is not to be used under any circumstances in camp, and we all had more than a few laughs at each others' expense and the differences in translation. It was one of those great exchanges that can really only happen at night, where you're sharing freely and everything can be funny.
Once I finally got to bed, it seemed like it was immediately morning. We were late (because we reported to the arms room only after Egor had been there) for our first lesson, but the kids were still suiting up for sword-fighting when we got there. Even though I ended up drenched in sweat by the end, it was probably my favorite lesson so far. We practiced fighting with the kids, and the main focus was holding our line--we held our shields like "fish scales," just like in 300 (I was so tempted to do the Spartan yell, but I didn't think anyone would get it). And then, of course, we proceeded to whack each other on the head with our sword-type things. Some of those kids can hit! For the first lesson, Desiree's team kicked butt-but during the second lesson, my Red Team cleaned up the court. It was a lot of fun and afterwards the little kids were all over us cheering and hugging. Egor worked really well with them, and I'm always surprised at how easily Russians switch between nice and caring and authoritative and strict--it's a balance that they maintain easily, without even thinking that the kids will get upset at them or whatnot. I kind of wish Americans were more like that--not really worrying about whether or not someone was going to "not like you" for doing your job and making them mind. After 2 hours of swordfighting we went to Armory Class, for a lack of a better name, and spent our time making chain mail. I've still got the piece I completed in my pocket--Valya let me keep it as a souvenir.
Soon we're supposed to meet with Zhena and plan out what we're going to be doing in the pool today, as we've two lessons to work there. I'm pretty excited, and would love to see how these kids play Marco Polo or Sharks and Minnows, as well as Water Polo. Then tonight we spend planning for parents day--tomorrow the children's parents can come and see what they've done, and in the evening the 1st Robin Hood group and us will be leaving on our camping trip (so no Internet, toilets, or shower for 2 days). That reminds me! I have to go deliver my letter to my little Misha friend today.
Well, thinking about that, this might be my last post for a few days. I'll have plenty of good stories to tell, I'm sure--just never enough time! I've taken something like 500 pictures so far, though, so that should help flesh out my tales better when I finally get to upload them back home.
Last night, after horseback riding, there was anothoer show where all the groups performed little plays--most were song and dance routines, but some were absolutely ridiculous--one combined a magic beetle with Robin Hood and swordplay, another was a Paraguay-an folktale about a giant rabbit king, and I think my favorite part was just seeing Misha and Zhena in kimonos.
After, we watched Russia lose to Spain in the Eurocup semifinals (breaking the heart of nearly everyone at camp) and headed back to our dorm. Egor was watching cartoons and I couldn't sleep, so I sat and watched with him. Lo and behold, Adult Swim has made it to Russia. "Adult Swim! What does it mean?!" This was the beginning of a long night talking with Egor about a lot of different things--cartoons, TV in general, anime, then religion, history, language and so on. Kristina, Ilya, Nastya, and Valya eventually came from planyorka, and they all had fun teaching me knew Russian words. It becomes like a game, when we're trying to talk and I don't understand a word, for them to figure out how to explain ti to me. Then again, if I don't get it on the first try, it normally turns into a shouting match with each of them giving me different explanations at the same time, trying to talk over one another. So I picked up a little Russian slang, which is not to be used under any circumstances in camp, and we all had more than a few laughs at each others' expense and the differences in translation. It was one of those great exchanges that can really only happen at night, where you're sharing freely and everything can be funny.
Once I finally got to bed, it seemed like it was immediately morning. We were late (because we reported to the arms room only after Egor had been there) for our first lesson, but the kids were still suiting up for sword-fighting when we got there. Even though I ended up drenched in sweat by the end, it was probably my favorite lesson so far. We practiced fighting with the kids, and the main focus was holding our line--we held our shields like "fish scales," just like in 300 (I was so tempted to do the Spartan yell, but I didn't think anyone would get it). And then, of course, we proceeded to whack each other on the head with our sword-type things. Some of those kids can hit! For the first lesson, Desiree's team kicked butt-but during the second lesson, my Red Team cleaned up the court. It was a lot of fun and afterwards the little kids were all over us cheering and hugging. Egor worked really well with them, and I'm always surprised at how easily Russians switch between nice and caring and authoritative and strict--it's a balance that they maintain easily, without even thinking that the kids will get upset at them or whatnot. I kind of wish Americans were more like that--not really worrying about whether or not someone was going to "not like you" for doing your job and making them mind. After 2 hours of swordfighting we went to Armory Class, for a lack of a better name, and spent our time making chain mail. I've still got the piece I completed in my pocket--Valya let me keep it as a souvenir.
Soon we're supposed to meet with Zhena and plan out what we're going to be doing in the pool today, as we've two lessons to work there. I'm pretty excited, and would love to see how these kids play Marco Polo or Sharks and Minnows, as well as Water Polo. Then tonight we spend planning for parents day--tomorrow the children's parents can come and see what they've done, and in the evening the 1st Robin Hood group and us will be leaving on our camping trip (so no Internet, toilets, or shower for 2 days). That reminds me! I have to go deliver my letter to my little Misha friend today.
Well, thinking about that, this might be my last post for a few days. I'll have plenty of good stories to tell, I'm sure--just never enough time! I've taken something like 500 pictures so far, though, so that should help flesh out my tales better when I finally get to upload them back home.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
June 26, 2008 || Last Day, Karolina; Rock Climbing; My Misha
Today's been such a full day I can hardly remember yesterday!
Yesterday was our last day at Carolina camp, which is a bit bittersweet. Since we live with Robin Hood campers, we've already gotten to be pretty good friends with some of them, and now we'll be spending all of our daily activities with them too, which means we'll probably hardly ever see the Carolina girls. However, this also means that I'm trading Makeup Class, Catwalk practice, and Tea Ceremony for Climbing class, archery, shooting, and such, which is more up my alley.
Yesterday we went to a design class with the girls, and while they designed their kimonos, we made tapochki. I'm actually pretty excited about mine and plan on wearing them around the dorm. Also, yesterday I received a love letter from Misha in the second group of Robin Hood. Gleb and friends came running up to our table at dinner and asked if I had seen my letter. Well, I hadn't been back to the room all day so of course I hadn't, and he told me to look for the pink heart laying on top of the map (he actually meant cards, but the word is the same in Russian). Misha, Robin Hood Misha walked in while I was writing my reply, and he had quite a bit of fun thinking that I was writing my letter to him: "I live right next door! Don't write a letter, just come say hi!" Turns out Misha dictated, and Gleb translated into English--their group went on poxod last night, so I won't get to deliver my answer until tomorrow, and they also missed the disco--for that matter, Desi and I almost missed the disco too! We took our sweet time getting there and only danced for the last half hour, both to savve our clothes and our energy--for some reason we were both pretty worn out yesterday (oh! because we taught sport/aerobics yesterday, and aerobics kind of devolved into Pioneerball with Olga and I dancing to Aqua and the Spice Girls in the background). Later that night, we found out who our "Secret Friends" were--we all gathered in the auditorium and went around trying to guess--I was completely wrong, the music teacher, Svetlana Borisovna had me! I would've never guessed her, not in a million years. And Nadya, who I had, thought that Olga was her secret friend, so I must have been doing at least halfway decently in writing things in Russian. HmHmHm what else...
Oh, enough of yesterday. Today we did rock climbing! It was so much fun--the first class we climbed, to show the kids the right way to do so, and then we helped belay (excuse the spelling). Something that never ceases to amaze me about Russia is the general disregard for safety--Masha just showed me how to thread my lines, pulled my hand back, and then attached a kid to me. Did pretty well though, didn't drop anybody and we all had fun. Each time Igor and Masha would have the kids do amazing stretches, I have some video of them all dancing together. And when they got to the top, you weren't supposed to let them down until they answered a question, sang a song, or recited a poem--my kids all had to say Russian tongue-twisters, and I wouldn't let them down until they fairly yelled it out. We helped with three classes, and by the end my hands were black all over and starting to callous--but it was great. We napped most of Tixii Chas, and then we met at the front gates with a few other children to wait for our ride. We jumped in a truck and headed 30 minutes out of camp, passing hills, forests, at least one monastery, some markets, and finally stopped at a farm.
This was the best part of the day.
We went horseback riding! I can't tell you how excited I was to be there, just to pet the horses and be around them. I can't smell, of course, but somehow the air FEELS different on a farm. And the beauty of this place was just indescribable. The land spread out so far and gently rolling you could watch night walking toward you from miles away, and there were horses just running around, goats and cows and dogs. The kids rode in a general circle in the lone paddock out back, and after Desi and I got walked out to the woods and back. Sure, we didn't go riding like at Mackinac or anything, but just to BE on a horse made a world of difference (especially after that breakneck car ride, thought I was going to die, puke, or do both at the same time for sure. Apparently they don't pass in the other lane here--the car whose butt you're riding starts cruising on the shoulder and you kind of straddle the middle, so oncoming traffic isn't a problem--provided they take to the shoulder too). I'm such a little girl, still going crazy over horses, although it was a skosh scary--I wasn't afraid of the horses or anything, but I'm not used to a saddle without a saddlehorn--it wasn't quite English-style, but it certainly wasn't Western... and furthermore, they had us hold the reins very strangely.
Tonight... well, I plan on showering sometime today, and then Spain plays Russia (like Kat has said). It should be a pretty good match, and I'm sure we'll all be hoarse by the end of the night. Tomorrow, I'm pretty sure we're working in the pool all day, which also excites me, 'cause or Robin Hood that means one game: WATER POLO! ^_^
Yesterday was our last day at Carolina camp, which is a bit bittersweet. Since we live with Robin Hood campers, we've already gotten to be pretty good friends with some of them, and now we'll be spending all of our daily activities with them too, which means we'll probably hardly ever see the Carolina girls. However, this also means that I'm trading Makeup Class, Catwalk practice, and Tea Ceremony for Climbing class, archery, shooting, and such, which is more up my alley.
Yesterday we went to a design class with the girls, and while they designed their kimonos, we made tapochki. I'm actually pretty excited about mine and plan on wearing them around the dorm. Also, yesterday I received a love letter from Misha in the second group of Robin Hood. Gleb and friends came running up to our table at dinner and asked if I had seen my letter. Well, I hadn't been back to the room all day so of course I hadn't, and he told me to look for the pink heart laying on top of the map (he actually meant cards, but the word is the same in Russian). Misha, Robin Hood Misha walked in while I was writing my reply, and he had quite a bit of fun thinking that I was writing my letter to him: "I live right next door! Don't write a letter, just come say hi!" Turns out Misha dictated, and Gleb translated into English--their group went on poxod last night, so I won't get to deliver my answer until tomorrow, and they also missed the disco--for that matter, Desi and I almost missed the disco too! We took our sweet time getting there and only danced for the last half hour, both to savve our clothes and our energy--for some reason we were both pretty worn out yesterday (oh! because we taught sport/aerobics yesterday, and aerobics kind of devolved into Pioneerball with Olga and I dancing to Aqua and the Spice Girls in the background). Later that night, we found out who our "Secret Friends" were--we all gathered in the auditorium and went around trying to guess--I was completely wrong, the music teacher, Svetlana Borisovna had me! I would've never guessed her, not in a million years. And Nadya, who I had, thought that Olga was her secret friend, so I must have been doing at least halfway decently in writing things in Russian. HmHmHm what else...
Oh, enough of yesterday. Today we did rock climbing! It was so much fun--the first class we climbed, to show the kids the right way to do so, and then we helped belay (excuse the spelling). Something that never ceases to amaze me about Russia is the general disregard for safety--Masha just showed me how to thread my lines, pulled my hand back, and then attached a kid to me. Did pretty well though, didn't drop anybody and we all had fun. Each time Igor and Masha would have the kids do amazing stretches, I have some video of them all dancing together. And when they got to the top, you weren't supposed to let them down until they answered a question, sang a song, or recited a poem--my kids all had to say Russian tongue-twisters, and I wouldn't let them down until they fairly yelled it out. We helped with three classes, and by the end my hands were black all over and starting to callous--but it was great. We napped most of Tixii Chas, and then we met at the front gates with a few other children to wait for our ride. We jumped in a truck and headed 30 minutes out of camp, passing hills, forests, at least one monastery, some markets, and finally stopped at a farm.
This was the best part of the day.
We went horseback riding! I can't tell you how excited I was to be there, just to pet the horses and be around them. I can't smell, of course, but somehow the air FEELS different on a farm. And the beauty of this place was just indescribable. The land spread out so far and gently rolling you could watch night walking toward you from miles away, and there were horses just running around, goats and cows and dogs. The kids rode in a general circle in the lone paddock out back, and after Desi and I got walked out to the woods and back. Sure, we didn't go riding like at Mackinac or anything, but just to BE on a horse made a world of difference (especially after that breakneck car ride, thought I was going to die, puke, or do both at the same time for sure. Apparently they don't pass in the other lane here--the car whose butt you're riding starts cruising on the shoulder and you kind of straddle the middle, so oncoming traffic isn't a problem--provided they take to the shoulder too). I'm such a little girl, still going crazy over horses, although it was a skosh scary--I wasn't afraid of the horses or anything, but I'm not used to a saddle without a saddlehorn--it wasn't quite English-style, but it certainly wasn't Western... and furthermore, they had us hold the reins very strangely.
Tonight... well, I plan on showering sometime today, and then Spain plays Russia (like Kat has said). It should be a pretty good match, and I'm sure we'll all be hoarse by the end of the night. Tomorrow, I'm pretty sure we're working in the pool all day, which also excites me, 'cause or Robin Hood that means one game: WATER POLO! ^_^
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
June 25, 2008 || Vozhatii Zhaklin!
Alright, so I survived having a group of girls to control yesterday. It wasn't so much that they were badly-behaved (they weren't) but that I was constantly stressing that I would make a mistake, someone would be late to their photo shoot, or someone would accidentally get hurt. I didn't want to be the cause of anything bad happening, then they'd be like "Oh those darn Americans, you can't trust them with anything"--actually, they probably wouldn't have said anything like that since this place is nothing but a constant self-esteem drip, but you know.
"Try your best" really seems to count here--everything I've done, and for most of the girls, too, as long as we've tried, we've pretty much gotten standing ovations. Effort actually MEANS something here. In America, I often feel like when we say "Well, you did your best," there's an unspoken "but you lost anyway" tagged onto the end of it.
After I last posted, I ran around taking the girls to their photoshoots and catwalk class, and keeping the remainder busy. Part of that entailed letting them paint my nails all different colors. "Klyova," as they would say. Later I went to bed early, since it'd been a tiring day, after playing Skip-Bo with some of the girls next door. One of them, Natasha, was on TV giving an interview about Robin Hood camp yesterday! That was pretty cool, seeing Misha and Egor on TV and all.
Speaking of Misha, between him and Nastya and Kristina it seems that all of Robin Hood is sick. He was just walking around the dorm all day with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, and Nastya's had this nasty cold ever since we got here, so all I can do is try to choke down some airborne and hope I don't get sick.
Today we taught sport again,with the youngest group and then with one of the oldest. Poor Natasha! She's probably so far my favorite counselor, but running after 20 8-year-olds all day is hard work. It always seems like one is wandering off to go play in the dirt somewhere. Well, Natasha or our Olga, who helps us out all the time. She found a boombox for our second Sport class, and we kind of stood in the back of our Pioneerball team and danced to the Spice Girls and Aqua. I am soooo glad I made a 90s mix, let me tell you.
Gleb brought me his plate today, that was cool; then again, he brought it and then proceeded to tell me something else about how Misha still liked me, thanks buddy. Lunch was great today: I can't tell you how nice it is when all of the things line up. Desiree and I walk into each meal going "Okay, I hope we have the good tea--I hope we have the good soup--I hope we're eating something other than kasha" and then it's kind of a crapshoot as to whether we'll get anything we like. Days where there's good soup + good tea + good meal = a 5-star day.
Later tonight we've got another disco, to which Desiree and I plan on being a bit late, since constant dancing for an hour and a half is a little much, both for the body and for the class. Right now the staff room is very quiet, Misha's leaning back just watching things, Valya's checking out some websites, Victor's looking at his photos, and Igor's playing guitar over in the corner... quiet time (tixii chas) is probably my favorite time of day... you can walk all around camp and see the counselors/staff quietly doing their own relaxing things, you can hear the children talking softly out the windows, and everything is just... tixii, I suppose. Oh! And there's no music!
Have I talked about that yet? I apologize if I have, but you get to hear about it again. The Russians are crazy about techno. Now, I knew this, but I didn't realize it extended to camp life, too. Every morning at 8am we awake to hours blaring from the speakers. And all through the day, during lessons, in between lesson changes, we listen to the music Adir and Kostya choose to play.. which is basically the equivalent of what you'd find in a Russian club. It gives a very dream-like quality to the entire camp. I mean, how can you really feel like you're living real life when there's a soundtrack to it? Even at night, around 8 or so when I go out to write in my journal, there's still snares and synthesizers bouncing off the trees all around me. There's just absolutely no way of truly describing this to you... it gets under your skin, and you don't even realize you're swaying along to some woman just belting her heart out until the song's over.
Anyway, I think that's enough for today. I got invited to go visit some of the girls during their quiet time, but I think I'd better go catch a nap and work on my stuff for my "Secret Friend" first. Oh! That game is turning out to be a lot of fun, by the way. My friend gave me a "vase" (read: big plastic cup) filled with flowers, and a lovely note attached to a jar of "night cream" (I haven't quite figured out what to do with it yet, but I'm going to take my dictionary to its label tonight). I feel bad that I can't give Nadya anything aside from handmade signs--although I'm thankful to Vika and the Robin Hood group for helping us out--again, I'm sorry if I've already spoken about this, the ctrl+f search function isn't working, so I can't find what I've said and what I haven't.
Haha, Igor just strummed "Smoke on the Water"--it's so interesting to listen to people who don't know English sing English songs. I wonder how I sound when I try to sing along with DDT, Zveri, or Vysotski--probably pretty funny.
"Try your best" really seems to count here--everything I've done, and for most of the girls, too, as long as we've tried, we've pretty much gotten standing ovations. Effort actually MEANS something here. In America, I often feel like when we say "Well, you did your best," there's an unspoken "but you lost anyway" tagged onto the end of it.
After I last posted, I ran around taking the girls to their photoshoots and catwalk class, and keeping the remainder busy. Part of that entailed letting them paint my nails all different colors. "Klyova," as they would say. Later I went to bed early, since it'd been a tiring day, after playing Skip-Bo with some of the girls next door. One of them, Natasha, was on TV giving an interview about Robin Hood camp yesterday! That was pretty cool, seeing Misha and Egor on TV and all.
Speaking of Misha, between him and Nastya and Kristina it seems that all of Robin Hood is sick. He was just walking around the dorm all day with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, and Nastya's had this nasty cold ever since we got here, so all I can do is try to choke down some airborne and hope I don't get sick.
Today we taught sport again,with the youngest group and then with one of the oldest. Poor Natasha! She's probably so far my favorite counselor, but running after 20 8-year-olds all day is hard work. It always seems like one is wandering off to go play in the dirt somewhere. Well, Natasha or our Olga, who helps us out all the time. She found a boombox for our second Sport class, and we kind of stood in the back of our Pioneerball team and danced to the Spice Girls and Aqua. I am soooo glad I made a 90s mix, let me tell you.
Gleb brought me his plate today, that was cool; then again, he brought it and then proceeded to tell me something else about how Misha still liked me, thanks buddy. Lunch was great today: I can't tell you how nice it is when all of the things line up. Desiree and I walk into each meal going "Okay, I hope we have the good tea--I hope we have the good soup--I hope we're eating something other than kasha" and then it's kind of a crapshoot as to whether we'll get anything we like. Days where there's good soup + good tea + good meal = a 5-star day.
Later tonight we've got another disco, to which Desiree and I plan on being a bit late, since constant dancing for an hour and a half is a little much, both for the body and for the class. Right now the staff room is very quiet, Misha's leaning back just watching things, Valya's checking out some websites, Victor's looking at his photos, and Igor's playing guitar over in the corner... quiet time (tixii chas) is probably my favorite time of day... you can walk all around camp and see the counselors/staff quietly doing their own relaxing things, you can hear the children talking softly out the windows, and everything is just... tixii, I suppose. Oh! And there's no music!
Have I talked about that yet? I apologize if I have, but you get to hear about it again. The Russians are crazy about techno. Now, I knew this, but I didn't realize it extended to camp life, too. Every morning at 8am we awake to hours blaring from the speakers. And all through the day, during lessons, in between lesson changes, we listen to the music Adir and Kostya choose to play.. which is basically the equivalent of what you'd find in a Russian club. It gives a very dream-like quality to the entire camp. I mean, how can you really feel like you're living real life when there's a soundtrack to it? Even at night, around 8 or so when I go out to write in my journal, there's still snares and synthesizers bouncing off the trees all around me. There's just absolutely no way of truly describing this to you... it gets under your skin, and you don't even realize you're swaying along to some woman just belting her heart out until the song's over.
Anyway, I think that's enough for today. I got invited to go visit some of the girls during their quiet time, but I think I'd better go catch a nap and work on my stuff for my "Secret Friend" first. Oh! That game is turning out to be a lot of fun, by the way. My friend gave me a "vase" (read: big plastic cup) filled with flowers, and a lovely note attached to a jar of "night cream" (I haven't quite figured out what to do with it yet, but I'm going to take my dictionary to its label tonight). I feel bad that I can't give Nadya anything aside from handmade signs--although I'm thankful to Vika and the Robin Hood group for helping us out--again, I'm sorry if I've already spoken about this, the ctrl+f search function isn't working, so I can't find what I've said and what I haven't.
Haha, Igor just strummed "Smoke on the Water"--it's so interesting to listen to people who don't know English sing English songs. I wonder how I sound when I try to sing along with DDT, Zveri, or Vysotski--probably pretty funny.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
June 2_, 2008 || Nervous and Amused
I forget today's date and the computer's having one of its fits where things aren't working quite right.
This'll be a quick post because I have to go pick up my group in about 10 minutes--MY group! Taya went home for the day because, I think, her birthday was yesterday and she deserves a break, and that means with Olga working at the pool all day, the 3rd Group needed a counselor... soooo apparently I'm in charge. Does this strike anyone else as absurd? If the kids really wanted to, they could get me to do whatever they want, since I can't understand everything someone is saying to me. Thank god they're good--they're actually the mod group, the ones that crush us with hugs every time they see us. Things have been going fine so far in the morning--we went to the pool, then rested and now they have theater and choreography, and later I have to take them to "catwalk" and some other class, I can't remember what. Interesting curriculum, nyeh? Hopefully Olga will take over during quiet hour, I could really use a nap. Last night we played volleyball for roughly 3 hours straight--first we got invited by the kids to play Pioneerball, which morphed into volleyball--
Oh, time out. I've got a boyfriend here. We walked out of dinner and a bunch of boys ran up to us shouting "He love you! He is love you!" and they were pointing and then this boy took off chasing another one shouting "I'll kill you!" in Russian. Took me awhile to figure out Misha, who's probably 10 years old, apparently has a crush on me. A group of 5 kids dragged him over later when I asked if I could get a picture with him, and one little boy kept saying "Give him a kiss, give him a kiss, it'll make him very very happy." ...we'll see about that, don't want to be leading anyone on. =P And then a group of the counselors and staff played volleyball together. I was surprised at how seriously some of the older men took it, and how good they were! Zhena, our pool friend, also played, and man can he wail on the ball. He spiked it, Volodya caught a piece of it on his elbow, and then it ricocheted right into my face, so I can definitely speak from experience. Aside from the minor cuts all down my le from the hard court, it was definitely a good time.
Okay, I think tomorrow we have another disco annnnnd I can't think of anything else to say and I hear my group trickling out of theater so I'd better go pick them up.
Thanks to everyone who left comments!
This'll be a quick post because I have to go pick up my group in about 10 minutes--MY group! Taya went home for the day because, I think, her birthday was yesterday and she deserves a break, and that means with Olga working at the pool all day, the 3rd Group needed a counselor... soooo apparently I'm in charge. Does this strike anyone else as absurd? If the kids really wanted to, they could get me to do whatever they want, since I can't understand everything someone is saying to me. Thank god they're good--they're actually the mod group, the ones that crush us with hugs every time they see us. Things have been going fine so far in the morning--we went to the pool, then rested and now they have theater and choreography, and later I have to take them to "catwalk" and some other class, I can't remember what. Interesting curriculum, nyeh? Hopefully Olga will take over during quiet hour, I could really use a nap. Last night we played volleyball for roughly 3 hours straight--first we got invited by the kids to play Pioneerball, which morphed into volleyball--
Oh, time out. I've got a boyfriend here. We walked out of dinner and a bunch of boys ran up to us shouting "He love you! He is love you!" and they were pointing and then this boy took off chasing another one shouting "I'll kill you!" in Russian. Took me awhile to figure out Misha, who's probably 10 years old, apparently has a crush on me. A group of 5 kids dragged him over later when I asked if I could get a picture with him, and one little boy kept saying "Give him a kiss, give him a kiss, it'll make him very very happy." ...we'll see about that, don't want to be leading anyone on. =P And then a group of the counselors and staff played volleyball together. I was surprised at how seriously some of the older men took it, and how good they were! Zhena, our pool friend, also played, and man can he wail on the ball. He spiked it, Volodya caught a piece of it on his elbow, and then it ricocheted right into my face, so I can definitely speak from experience. Aside from the minor cuts all down my le from the hard court, it was definitely a good time.
Okay, I think tomorrow we have another disco annnnnd I can't think of anything else to say and I hear my group trickling out of theater so I'd better go pick them up.
Thanks to everyone who left comments!
Monday, June 23, 2008
June 23, 2008 || Fitting In.. Laundry, Games, Theater Class and Tea Ceremony
So all day yesterday Zhena was walking around in his Russia sweats get-up (there's a picture of his coat towards the end of the Carolina pictures for day 5, near where Desiree and I are singing our song on stage--THAT was fun) because Russia defeated Holland the night before. Next they play Spain, who defeated Italy (when I heard that I immediately started talking about Davide, and let me tell you, if it sounded funny when Nana said his name, the first few tries for these Russian kids was hysterical), but I'm not sure when. I'd really like to actually watch a whole match one of these days. Anyway, so when we asked Zhena if he'd gotten in trouble, he just kind of shook his head and said "Everything's cool." which doesn't really tell us whether or not he got busted, but he's still talking to us, so that's a good thing...
I did my first load of laundry yesterday. Kind of. I stuffed my sock in the bottom of one of the sinks in our bathroom and filled it up with my clothes and warm water, then dumped a ton of detergent in there. A stream of girls was coming in and out, since it was the time before svechka, and between Vika and Rita (campers) we covered a lot of ground... and they saw most of my underwear. Oh well. I'm pretty sure most of it didn't get all that clean, especially since (being a complete idiot) the socks that I played Pioneerball in were the first things to get thrown in, little pebbles, pieces of grass and all. I strung up my clothesline under Masha's bunk in our room, but there was no way my t-shirts and things were going to fit on there, so I just put my underwear and socks on the line (slava Boga, I was down to my last pair of "nickers," as Sam would say). I took my t-shirts and such to what I've started calling "the Hothouse." It has a boy's side and a girl's side, this low brick building whose doors are always unlocked. The room inside is super super hot, and I'd imagine it smells pretty bad. There are a bunch of metal racks on which everyone lays their clothes to dry. It works like magic--after morning exercises today I popped back in and my clothes were completely dry! Better than the Cavanaugh driers, half the time. My socks are still wet, but I've gotten used to wearing and rewearing some things. My Hot Hot Heat shirt feels like cardboard, though, and has some lingering white marks (probably from all the soap I used).
Our dorm room feels a bit like home, now, too. Masha let us hang extra pictures of hers over the bed, and she is great to talk to (something about Mashas--they must all be good people). She even picked some wildflowers and set them in a cup of water on our table. My clothes are all jumbled into my closet, with some of them hanging off of various things in our room. Worse than that, by far, are my notebooks and books and borrowed Russian fairy tales, all scattered everywhere. There's so much to write down! Songs from camp, my own thoughts, new words I should learn, the daily schedules, I just don't have room for it all! And just like at school, we keep our doors unlocked. I don't even know HOW to lock our doors, come to think of it; but you don't worry about that sort of thing here.
Today I went to Theater class and Tea Ceremony practice--I think Alyona might be my favorite instructor (tea ceremony, karate) even though I'm not entirely sure how she feels about me. I THINK she likes me, but I can't tell if it's Russian politeness or genuine interest. I feel that way about more than one of the instructors/staff, even the other counselors. One of the Olgas (okay, from now on there's blonde Olga, who teaches Theater and speaks English; Olya, whose apartment we lived at; Director Olga, who seems to be in charge of all Robin Hood camp; Our Olga, who helps us with our lessons and also works at the pool, and Pop Rocks Olga, who dresses like a fashion star and is about as sparky as you can get), blonde Olga, really knows her stuff for theater--getting the kids to warm up, act things out, be creative. I feel like I could just bring a notebook to her class and jot things down for my own benefit, to use with kids later. Today was the first day I've really seen her since the Camp Introduction meeting--she's another "Polite, but not sure how much we have in common" instructors/counselors.
Oh! I shouldn't make it sound like we're being ostracized, though. Last night, Nastya (our roommate), Masha, and Kristina were sitting around eating these delicious chocolates (zefira-filled, if I remember correctly) and they invited Desiree and I both to have a chocolate and to play in a game with the other Russian counselors. I forget what the game is called, but it's kind of like Secret Santa--you draw a secret name, and for a few days you leave them small gifts--maybe candy, an extra piece of fruit, or something small like a song or rhyme. At the end of the week or whatnot, you get together and have to guess who your person was.
Personally, I think this'll be a challenge for Desiree and I, since we're pretty obviously not Russian AT ALL, but Kristina suggested asking the kids for help, which was a great idea.
Anyway, for the rest of the day we've just got choreography--and I'm pretty sure we're supposed to be teaching the girls dances. This ought to be interesting.
Personally, I'm going to go wash some more things and maybe squeeze in a nap/shower during quiet time. After last night's performance (we sang a song with the kids, part of it in Russia, part of it in English, about friends across the sea and stuff) I'd like to just chill and play Pioneerball for the night. We'll see.
Oh, and if you have questions about anything, please ask! Slash, say anything at all. Being so far away, in terms of distance AND time (it's 12:30 here now, which means back home it's 4:30 in the morning), I feel completely disconnected from everyone back home. =)
I did my first load of laundry yesterday. Kind of. I stuffed my sock in the bottom of one of the sinks in our bathroom and filled it up with my clothes and warm water, then dumped a ton of detergent in there. A stream of girls was coming in and out, since it was the time before svechka, and between Vika and Rita (campers) we covered a lot of ground... and they saw most of my underwear. Oh well. I'm pretty sure most of it didn't get all that clean, especially since (being a complete idiot) the socks that I played Pioneerball in were the first things to get thrown in, little pebbles, pieces of grass and all. I strung up my clothesline under Masha's bunk in our room, but there was no way my t-shirts and things were going to fit on there, so I just put my underwear and socks on the line (slava Boga, I was down to my last pair of "nickers," as Sam would say). I took my t-shirts and such to what I've started calling "the Hothouse." It has a boy's side and a girl's side, this low brick building whose doors are always unlocked. The room inside is super super hot, and I'd imagine it smells pretty bad. There are a bunch of metal racks on which everyone lays their clothes to dry. It works like magic--after morning exercises today I popped back in and my clothes were completely dry! Better than the Cavanaugh driers, half the time. My socks are still wet, but I've gotten used to wearing and rewearing some things. My Hot Hot Heat shirt feels like cardboard, though, and has some lingering white marks (probably from all the soap I used).
Our dorm room feels a bit like home, now, too. Masha let us hang extra pictures of hers over the bed, and she is great to talk to (something about Mashas--they must all be good people). She even picked some wildflowers and set them in a cup of water on our table. My clothes are all jumbled into my closet, with some of them hanging off of various things in our room. Worse than that, by far, are my notebooks and books and borrowed Russian fairy tales, all scattered everywhere. There's so much to write down! Songs from camp, my own thoughts, new words I should learn, the daily schedules, I just don't have room for it all! And just like at school, we keep our doors unlocked. I don't even know HOW to lock our doors, come to think of it; but you don't worry about that sort of thing here.
Today I went to Theater class and Tea Ceremony practice--I think Alyona might be my favorite instructor (tea ceremony, karate) even though I'm not entirely sure how she feels about me. I THINK she likes me, but I can't tell if it's Russian politeness or genuine interest. I feel that way about more than one of the instructors/staff, even the other counselors. One of the Olgas (okay, from now on there's blonde Olga, who teaches Theater and speaks English; Olya, whose apartment we lived at; Director Olga, who seems to be in charge of all Robin Hood camp; Our Olga, who helps us with our lessons and also works at the pool, and Pop Rocks Olga, who dresses like a fashion star and is about as sparky as you can get), blonde Olga, really knows her stuff for theater--getting the kids to warm up, act things out, be creative. I feel like I could just bring a notebook to her class and jot things down for my own benefit, to use with kids later. Today was the first day I've really seen her since the Camp Introduction meeting--she's another "Polite, but not sure how much we have in common" instructors/counselors.
Oh! I shouldn't make it sound like we're being ostracized, though. Last night, Nastya (our roommate), Masha, and Kristina were sitting around eating these delicious chocolates (zefira-filled, if I remember correctly) and they invited Desiree and I both to have a chocolate and to play in a game with the other Russian counselors. I forget what the game is called, but it's kind of like Secret Santa--you draw a secret name, and for a few days you leave them small gifts--maybe candy, an extra piece of fruit, or something small like a song or rhyme. At the end of the week or whatnot, you get together and have to guess who your person was.
Personally, I think this'll be a challenge for Desiree and I, since we're pretty obviously not Russian AT ALL, but Kristina suggested asking the kids for help, which was a great idea.
Anyway, for the rest of the day we've just got choreography--and I'm pretty sure we're supposed to be teaching the girls dances. This ought to be interesting.
Personally, I'm going to go wash some more things and maybe squeeze in a nap/shower during quiet time. After last night's performance (we sang a song with the kids, part of it in Russia, part of it in English, about friends across the sea and stuff) I'd like to just chill and play Pioneerball for the night. We'll see.
Oh, and if you have questions about anything, please ask! Slash, say anything at all. Being so far away, in terms of distance AND time (it's 12:30 here now, which means back home it's 4:30 in the morning), I feel completely disconnected from everyone back home. =)
Sunday, June 22, 2008
June 22, 2008 || First Disco & Some Funny Stories
Soooo last night was the disco.
You have no idea.
I was soaked with sweat after. Literally soaked. I had sweat marks on my stomach and everything! It was pretty gross, but I figured out why the other counselors wore black. We crammed all those kids into the disco hall and then Adir played all sorts of music. Most of it was techno or house in style, which is pretty much all Russians listen to. Even during the day, music is normally played over loudspeakers so that students know when their lesson is over or when it's time to go to lunch, et cetera, and if it's not camp songs that everyone can speak together it's normally techno (occasionally there's an opera lady singing, but I never realize it's her until I'm swaying to the music). Howeeeeever Adir did play some American music--he really likes R&B and his favorite artists are Eminem, 50 Cent, those sorts of musicians. Imagine my surprise when the "Apple-Bottom Jeans" song came over the speakers. We could sing and dance along! But when the kids asked us to translate American songs, we were both like "Nooo way."
Anyway, after we were done we fond Zhena, master of the pool, and asked (mostly joking) if we could go swimming. He responded with "You want to? Now?" and of course we said yes, so we ended up going to the pool. It was kind of sort of not allowed, so we had to be really quiet and didn't stay too long, but he was really friendly and we talked a lot. We came back to change and watch Russia play Holland for EuroCup, but Desiree and I had to go planyorka instead. We thiiiiiiink Zhena might have gotten in trouble for letting us swim, since we walked back in with wet hair, clutching towels, and all the kids could clearly tell we'd been in the pool. But we haven't seen him since, so we can't really ask.
The weather today was not so nice, so we had our "Sport" class inside. We played Uno and Twister, Hand-Clap games and 7-Up, and I busted out my Blink! cards too (which was definitely a worthy buy in New York). Sometimes it's hard to play when you've got kids hanging off of you who just want to be on your team--then you have to figure out how to say "No teams! Everyone for themselves!" in Russian. I think I'm getting better--my ability to speak in Russian for longer periods of time is improving. After our lessons, a bunch of the girls swarmed us, asking for our e-mails and our "Avtographs," which I thought was pretty cool. We're basically stars. =P Not, but it was really cute. We traded e-mails with Taya (Tasya? Taya is maybe an even shorter name?) and Olga our helper, who asked if we could take Uno or Blink! to planyorka next time. Answer: Of course! It's really great knowing that something we showed them or brought is interesting enough for them to want to borrow it.
Tonight we have our song, and the other performances to watch, but we're pretty much done for the day, which is nice.
I feel like there's more that needs to be said, but I don't know what. I think about the other groups a lot, wondering how they're doing further out in Siberia, wondering if anyone is down to building houses out of mud and sticks. We've got an auditorium, and a ropes course, and a photography class--we're pretty freaking well off here. I would love to know how they've been: if Zack is just wowing kids with his Russian, if Sam is still arguing (by the order of Her Majesty the Queen) that potato chips are really called crisps, if Jacob let his kids shave his head. I suppose I'll find out soon enough.
[Aside: Misha (hard-ass Misha) is playing Mortal Kombat 3 right now and I'm sure he's losing, which is hysterical]
Finished The Poisonwood Bible. Highly recommended for any Book Club (or general self-improvement). Read Heart of Darkness first, and then watch Apocalypse Now after.
For the most part, I'm okay with being misunderstood. Every day there's a new story. Such as:
1: Nelli was handing out scarves to all the girls at the meeting, giving them pink ones. We'd been told we'd wear blue, since we're not quite counselors and we'd be working with both camps. I tried to tell her that we were getting blue scarves, but it just came out as "Blue for us" or "To us, blue" which, considering that "blue" is slang for homosexual, came out as "Her and I are gay."
2: Wandered into the wrong dorm and spent 10 minutes wondering how they had moved all our stuff out of room 4 and moved in another group so fast, and why we didn't recognize anyone, until a group leader told us to go up to the 4th floor and then we realized we had an entirely wrong building.
3: Instead of saying "Those boys I saw writing last night," I put the accent on the wrong part of the verb and said "Those boys I saw pissing last night."
4: When Egor offered us a candy with iron to make children strong, like bulls, and all I caught were the words "blood" and "bull" and thought this little candy bar would start bleeding bull blood as soon as I cracked it in half.
5: Accidentally implying Misha (Robin Hood) is a girl every time I talk to him.
You have no idea.
I was soaked with sweat after. Literally soaked. I had sweat marks on my stomach and everything! It was pretty gross, but I figured out why the other counselors wore black. We crammed all those kids into the disco hall and then Adir played all sorts of music. Most of it was techno or house in style, which is pretty much all Russians listen to. Even during the day, music is normally played over loudspeakers so that students know when their lesson is over or when it's time to go to lunch, et cetera, and if it's not camp songs that everyone can speak together it's normally techno (occasionally there's an opera lady singing, but I never realize it's her until I'm swaying to the music). Howeeeeever Adir did play some American music--he really likes R&B and his favorite artists are Eminem, 50 Cent, those sorts of musicians. Imagine my surprise when the "Apple-Bottom Jeans" song came over the speakers. We could sing and dance along! But when the kids asked us to translate American songs, we were both like "Nooo way."
Anyway, after we were done we fond Zhena, master of the pool, and asked (mostly joking) if we could go swimming. He responded with "You want to? Now?" and of course we said yes, so we ended up going to the pool. It was kind of sort of not allowed, so we had to be really quiet and didn't stay too long, but he was really friendly and we talked a lot. We came back to change and watch Russia play Holland for EuroCup, but Desiree and I had to go planyorka instead. We thiiiiiiink Zhena might have gotten in trouble for letting us swim, since we walked back in with wet hair, clutching towels, and all the kids could clearly tell we'd been in the pool. But we haven't seen him since, so we can't really ask.
The weather today was not so nice, so we had our "Sport" class inside. We played Uno and Twister, Hand-Clap games and 7-Up, and I busted out my Blink! cards too (which was definitely a worthy buy in New York). Sometimes it's hard to play when you've got kids hanging off of you who just want to be on your team--then you have to figure out how to say "No teams! Everyone for themselves!" in Russian. I think I'm getting better--my ability to speak in Russian for longer periods of time is improving. After our lessons, a bunch of the girls swarmed us, asking for our e-mails and our "Avtographs," which I thought was pretty cool. We're basically stars. =P Not, but it was really cute. We traded e-mails with Taya (Tasya? Taya is maybe an even shorter name?) and Olga our helper, who asked if we could take Uno or Blink! to planyorka next time. Answer: Of course! It's really great knowing that something we showed them or brought is interesting enough for them to want to borrow it.
Tonight we have our song, and the other performances to watch, but we're pretty much done for the day, which is nice.
I feel like there's more that needs to be said, but I don't know what. I think about the other groups a lot, wondering how they're doing further out in Siberia, wondering if anyone is down to building houses out of mud and sticks. We've got an auditorium, and a ropes course, and a photography class--we're pretty freaking well off here. I would love to know how they've been: if Zack is just wowing kids with his Russian, if Sam is still arguing (by the order of Her Majesty the Queen) that potato chips are really called crisps, if Jacob let his kids shave his head. I suppose I'll find out soon enough.
[Aside: Misha (hard-ass Misha) is playing Mortal Kombat 3 right now and I'm sure he's losing, which is hysterical]
Finished The Poisonwood Bible. Highly recommended for any Book Club (or general self-improvement). Read Heart of Darkness first, and then watch Apocalypse Now after.
For the most part, I'm okay with being misunderstood. Every day there's a new story. Such as:
1: Nelli was handing out scarves to all the girls at the meeting, giving them pink ones. We'd been told we'd wear blue, since we're not quite counselors and we'd be working with both camps. I tried to tell her that we were getting blue scarves, but it just came out as "Blue for us" or "To us, blue" which, considering that "blue" is slang for homosexual, came out as "Her and I are gay."
2: Wandered into the wrong dorm and spent 10 minutes wondering how they had moved all our stuff out of room 4 and moved in another group so fast, and why we didn't recognize anyone, until a group leader told us to go up to the 4th floor and then we realized we had an entirely wrong building.
3: Instead of saying "Those boys I saw writing last night," I put the accent on the wrong part of the verb and said "Those boys I saw pissing last night."
4: When Egor offered us a candy with iron to make children strong, like bulls, and all I caught were the words "blood" and "bull" and thought this little candy bar would start bleeding bull blood as soon as I cracked it in half.
5: Accidentally implying Misha (Robin Hood) is a girl every time I talk to him.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
June 21, 2008 || First Day of Our Class: Sport
Took too long of a nap yesterday--didn't fall asleep nearly early enough. Yesterday we performed out fan dance in front of Robin Hood and Carolina again, and saw Robin Hood's plays as well--it was pretty funny to see half the staff dressed up like knights, Robin Hood, foreigners from Palestine, and sorceresses; I'll have to see if I can find pictures [http://www.robincamp.ru/summer2008.htm?id=79 we're in 12].
The kids are really eager to talk to us, which is awesome--we sit at the staff table for lunch and every time a group walks past, there's someone who shouts hello (either in English, Russian, or Japanese, since that's the focus of Carolina camp) or wishing us Bon Appetit in Russian. Even cuter is when children who haven't eaten any of their meal bring it over for us (nothing goes to waste in Russia). Normally they give it to their camp counselors or the other staff, but it's really cute when they give it to us. Desi gets it more than I, probably 'cause they're worried about her wasting away. Olga (different from Olya) caught me snacking on peanut butter today when the maid was washing our floor (there's still a lot of purple marks from earlier scraped elbows and the like). We talked a long time, making it quite impossible to read (I am THIS close to finishing the Poisonwood Bible, then on to fairy tales by Tolstoy), but it was really quite nice--I love talking to pretty much anyone here. It came up later when at lunch Taras stopped by to ask Desi and I if there was anything we'd like to eat that was American food--hamburgers, cheesburgers, anything from McDonald's he could bring for us (awesome, innit, that they all think we eat at McDonald's even though I can't even remember the last time I was there). I talked with Desiree, and we decided the only thing we might need is more peanut butter, if he could find it when we finished ours--which, Olga jumped in, would be very soon at the speed I was eating it out of my jar with my finger!
Today we led our first classes, too. We taught the kids "Animal Farm" (where you make animal noises to find your group with your eyes closed) and "Steal the Bacon;" with one of the groups we also did the human knot activity, and gave out stickers to the winners of each. Invariably, they ended up wanting to play Pioneerball (as in old Soviet Pioneer camp Pioneerball), which is played on a volleyball court. You throw the ball back and forth and the other team scores a point when you drop it. The only catch--after you catch the ball you can only take 3 steps before throwing.
It's interesting--with the younger groups, the more players you have the worse you do, since they're all jump at the same time and the ball STILL hits the ground.
It's going to be hard to remember everyone's name, so I think I'll make a quick post for those I can remember. It'll help me keep in line counselors and staff and all the rest.
As for today, we have one more lesson, and then I hope mom'll call tonight, even though we have a discotheque (for all you old French speakers out there) and we're going to planyorka too. Oh! And tomorrow Desi and I have to have a song memorized (in Russian AND in English) to sing for Den' Mira. (Day of Peace)
[PS. Carolina--day 3, picture 59 (sitting at Karate) and 15 (origami--ps do they pick the worst pictures on purpose? =P I'm just thankful to get in a shot here and there so mom knows I'm alive)
Also--Olya went to Moscow today, and all I asked her to buy me was a roll of toilet paper and some detergent for washing clothes. Living the simple life. =) ]
The kids are really eager to talk to us, which is awesome--we sit at the staff table for lunch and every time a group walks past, there's someone who shouts hello (either in English, Russian, or Japanese, since that's the focus of Carolina camp) or wishing us Bon Appetit in Russian. Even cuter is when children who haven't eaten any of their meal bring it over for us (nothing goes to waste in Russia). Normally they give it to their camp counselors or the other staff, but it's really cute when they give it to us. Desi gets it more than I, probably 'cause they're worried about her wasting away. Olga (different from Olya) caught me snacking on peanut butter today when the maid was washing our floor (there's still a lot of purple marks from earlier scraped elbows and the like). We talked a long time, making it quite impossible to read (I am THIS close to finishing the Poisonwood Bible, then on to fairy tales by Tolstoy), but it was really quite nice--I love talking to pretty much anyone here. It came up later when at lunch Taras stopped by to ask Desi and I if there was anything we'd like to eat that was American food--hamburgers, cheesburgers, anything from McDonald's he could bring for us (awesome, innit, that they all think we eat at McDonald's even though I can't even remember the last time I was there). I talked with Desiree, and we decided the only thing we might need is more peanut butter, if he could find it when we finished ours--which, Olga jumped in, would be very soon at the speed I was eating it out of my jar with my finger!
Today we led our first classes, too. We taught the kids "Animal Farm" (where you make animal noises to find your group with your eyes closed) and "Steal the Bacon;" with one of the groups we also did the human knot activity, and gave out stickers to the winners of each. Invariably, they ended up wanting to play Pioneerball (as in old Soviet Pioneer camp Pioneerball), which is played on a volleyball court. You throw the ball back and forth and the other team scores a point when you drop it. The only catch--after you catch the ball you can only take 3 steps before throwing.
It's interesting--with the younger groups, the more players you have the worse you do, since they're all jump at the same time and the ball STILL hits the ground.
It's going to be hard to remember everyone's name, so I think I'll make a quick post for those I can remember. It'll help me keep in line counselors and staff and all the rest.
As for today, we have one more lesson, and then I hope mom'll call tonight, even though we have a discotheque (for all you old French speakers out there) and we're going to planyorka too. Oh! And tomorrow Desi and I have to have a song memorized (in Russian AND in English) to sing for Den' Mira. (Day of Peace)
[PS. Carolina--day 3, picture 59 (sitting at Karate) and 15 (origami--ps do they pick the worst pictures on purpose? =P I'm just thankful to get in a shot here and there so mom knows I'm alive)
Also--Olya went to Moscow today, and all I asked her to buy me was a roll of toilet paper and some detergent for washing clothes. Living the simple life. =) ]
Friday, June 20, 2008
June 20, 2008 || Origami, Full Day
So we skipped out on morning exercises today to sleep in (you only have to go if you're leading the exercises, like Desiree and I are tomorrow). It's a good thing, too, because after planyorka yesterday we needed the extra rest.
Planyorka? After all the campers go to bed, the counselors get together and plan out the next day. This is planyorka. Yesterday our meeting started around 11, but I didn't crawl into bed until almost 1. We planned out the day, then sat around having tea and syshki while playing a game of Jenga that lasted, no joke, at least an entire hour. I've never met people so good at Jenga, either! Then again, we were playing for who would "rover" the kids during quiet time, making sure they were taking naps.
Anyway, back to today. I got my first gift at breakfast! From a little girl with whose group we sang yesterday. As far as I can tell it's a bundle of grass tied with another piece of grass, but I am actually really thankful for it--it was one of those "I don't really know what I'm eating for breakfast and I'm still tired and there was no toilet paper in the bathroom" days that instantly turned into "Ah! I'm making friends! They like me!" kind of ecstatic days. Hopefully I have more of the latter and less of the former.
After breakfast Desiree and I sat in on 3 origami lessons--I've gotten pretty good at the paper crane, if I do say so myself, but the cobra was beyond me. Furthermore, one pocket of my coat is stuffed with paper hearts and cranes and such that some of the other girls gave me--again, making me feel like this going to be a great experience. After that Sergei showed us how they make chain mail--they roll metal into coils, then clip the coils and somehow join them all--17,000, he said. He took us to a room in the back of the Club building, where we foud Masha, our new roommate (she's really cool and has done a lot of things--she hung pictures she'd taken over her bed and let us do the same with her extras, and cuts her tape on a hiking knife), a few other people, and all the climbing gear--and of course, the chain mail. On one wall hung at least 20 gas masks--I can't ever get over how eerie gas masks are. And in a setting like this, it reminded me of "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" and Omon Ra all at the same time. I don't know. Between the gas masks and Sadako I wish there was no such thing as war.
After this we'll have karate, and then we'll perform our fan dance again (you can see a picture of us in costume at that link I gave for Carolina/Girl Camp on day 2, page 4 I think--we're all in kimonos, that should make us easier to spot). I'm not sure where the rest of the night will take us, but tomorrow Desiree and I are leading a class, titled simply "Sport." It's so weird to think that I've only been 8 days gone.. it feels like a lifetime, if only because I'm so removed from everything back home (hint, hint... comments/e-mails would make me super happy).
Alright, I'm going to go grab a nap before night activities/karate, and let Desiree get online. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze out a little bit of time online every day. =) But then again, it's Russia, so the Internet is prone to stop working for no reason all the time.
Planyorka? After all the campers go to bed, the counselors get together and plan out the next day. This is planyorka. Yesterday our meeting started around 11, but I didn't crawl into bed until almost 1. We planned out the day, then sat around having tea and syshki while playing a game of Jenga that lasted, no joke, at least an entire hour. I've never met people so good at Jenga, either! Then again, we were playing for who would "rover" the kids during quiet time, making sure they were taking naps.
Anyway, back to today. I got my first gift at breakfast! From a little girl with whose group we sang yesterday. As far as I can tell it's a bundle of grass tied with another piece of grass, but I am actually really thankful for it--it was one of those "I don't really know what I'm eating for breakfast and I'm still tired and there was no toilet paper in the bathroom" days that instantly turned into "Ah! I'm making friends! They like me!" kind of ecstatic days. Hopefully I have more of the latter and less of the former.
After breakfast Desiree and I sat in on 3 origami lessons--I've gotten pretty good at the paper crane, if I do say so myself, but the cobra was beyond me. Furthermore, one pocket of my coat is stuffed with paper hearts and cranes and such that some of the other girls gave me--again, making me feel like this going to be a great experience. After that Sergei showed us how they make chain mail--they roll metal into coils, then clip the coils and somehow join them all--17,000, he said. He took us to a room in the back of the Club building, where we foud Masha, our new roommate (she's really cool and has done a lot of things--she hung pictures she'd taken over her bed and let us do the same with her extras, and cuts her tape on a hiking knife), a few other people, and all the climbing gear--and of course, the chain mail. On one wall hung at least 20 gas masks--I can't ever get over how eerie gas masks are. And in a setting like this, it reminded me of "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" and Omon Ra all at the same time. I don't know. Between the gas masks and Sadako I wish there was no such thing as war.
After this we'll have karate, and then we'll perform our fan dance again (you can see a picture of us in costume at that link I gave for Carolina/Girl Camp on day 2, page 4 I think--we're all in kimonos, that should make us easier to spot). I'm not sure where the rest of the night will take us, but tomorrow Desiree and I are leading a class, titled simply "Sport." It's so weird to think that I've only been 8 days gone.. it feels like a lifetime, if only because I'm so removed from everything back home (hint, hint... comments/e-mails would make me super happy).
Alright, I'm going to go grab a nap before night activities/karate, and let Desiree get online. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze out a little bit of time online every day. =) But then again, it's Russia, so the Internet is prone to stop working for no reason all the time.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Robin Hood/Carolina Camp
Well, I'm back in Russia. It's a year later, but everything is quite as I remember it: the weather surprises me on a daily basis (I'm glad I brought an umbrella, jeans, and t-shirts), the candy is wonderful, and the people are as nice as can be.
I think it hit me sometime last night, how different I still feel here. Now, keep in mind, I was up on stage with a pair of Japanese fans covering my face, while Japanese music played in the background. Over the music, children were crying out "Ross-i-ya, Ross-i-ya!" which is how they say Russia in Russian. Like any non-Americans, they were going crazy for their soccer team--Russia was just about to play Sweden in the EuroCup finals (they won, by the way).
Darn! I've got to run. I had a friend looking over my shoulder and trying to explain other things to me--he's one of the photographers, and totally cool, I can't help but lose time writing here to talk to him. =) Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to add more to this later--or at least my own journal!
Alright, back for a bit. So last night we were practicing our Japanese fan dance while they were projecting the Russian football match on our faces. Why? Because even Russian children get to stay up late to watch their favorite team play football. Today we performed the fan dance in front of all of Carolina camp, and also we performed a traditional tea ceremony. I don't know how I ended up there, but I was the leader of the tea ceremony. Does anyone else feel the irony in this? An American girl serving as a Japanese tea ceremon-ist in a Russia children camp? Love it.
Anyway, today was our first full/real day of camp. We woke up around 7:45 so we could make morning exercises at 8:10--surprise, we got to lead them! Basically there was a lot of jumping around and waving of arms just to get the kids' blood flowing for the day. Then they had to go back and clean their rooms for inspection while we took a shower. Only about an hour ago, when I went to the cafeteria for dinner, did I notice that near the door there's a list for each group's room, and next to it a neutral, sad, or happy face, and the nearest little girl explained that that was for their room inspections. Desiree wants to get on the computer too, so quickly: we also played Pioneer Ball with a group of kids, sat with the youngest Carolina group (our first week here is all with Carolina, the second all with Robin Hood) [girlcamp.ru and robincamp.ru] during a music lesson, where we sang a bunch of different songs--and we're preparing one to sing at the closing ceremony, with English and Russian, and one about Sadako (you remember, Sadako and her paper cranes... although it was a touch awkward listening to a lecture about Hiroshima and Nagasaki with a bunch of 8 and 9-year-olds). This was also the first place we made some friends--for me, Dasha, Nina, Sveta, Dasha again... and I can't remember all their names. A little girl crawled into Desiree's lap, very tired, and told her "I love you" in English, which made us all who understood laugh. What else, wha--oh! We did the opening ceremony for the camp, where all the groups got together in a sort of parade and showed off poems they wrote, signs they made, and the names they gave their groups, and we danced a bit again (had our first discotheque last night), and raised the Russian flag. Later tonight we will judge drawings of "Russian rooms" and announce a winner... and go to our first counselor planning meeting. I think I'm going to get very used to little sleep and eating peanut butter out of my jar.
More when I have time... but I don't feel like I'll ever have enough time to tell you all about it!
OH! And before I forget.... check these website often, you can see pictures of Desiree and I on there:
www.robincamp.ru >> (the photo site:http://www.robincamp.ru/summer2008.htm?id=10)www.girlcamp.ru >> (the photo site:http://www.girlcamp.ru/photos/summer2008.htm)
Look under "CMEHA 2" and then each day: DEHb 1, 2, 3.." etc.
(for day one on Robin Hood, we're aroud pictures 3, 39-42ish, and 46... this is also a great way to see what our camp looks like)
I think it hit me sometime last night, how different I still feel here. Now, keep in mind, I was up on stage with a pair of Japanese fans covering my face, while Japanese music played in the background. Over the music, children were crying out "Ross-i-ya, Ross-i-ya!" which is how they say Russia in Russian. Like any non-Americans, they were going crazy for their soccer team--Russia was just about to play Sweden in the EuroCup finals (they won, by the way).
Darn! I've got to run. I had a friend looking over my shoulder and trying to explain other things to me--he's one of the photographers, and totally cool, I can't help but lose time writing here to talk to him. =) Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to add more to this later--or at least my own journal!
Alright, back for a bit. So last night we were practicing our Japanese fan dance while they were projecting the Russian football match on our faces. Why? Because even Russian children get to stay up late to watch their favorite team play football. Today we performed the fan dance in front of all of Carolina camp, and also we performed a traditional tea ceremony. I don't know how I ended up there, but I was the leader of the tea ceremony. Does anyone else feel the irony in this? An American girl serving as a Japanese tea ceremon-ist in a Russia children camp? Love it.
Anyway, today was our first full/real day of camp. We woke up around 7:45 so we could make morning exercises at 8:10--surprise, we got to lead them! Basically there was a lot of jumping around and waving of arms just to get the kids' blood flowing for the day. Then they had to go back and clean their rooms for inspection while we took a shower. Only about an hour ago, when I went to the cafeteria for dinner, did I notice that near the door there's a list for each group's room, and next to it a neutral, sad, or happy face, and the nearest little girl explained that that was for their room inspections. Desiree wants to get on the computer too, so quickly: we also played Pioneer Ball with a group of kids, sat with the youngest Carolina group (our first week here is all with Carolina, the second all with Robin Hood) [girlcamp.ru and robincamp.ru] during a music lesson, where we sang a bunch of different songs--and we're preparing one to sing at the closing ceremony, with English and Russian, and one about Sadako (you remember, Sadako and her paper cranes... although it was a touch awkward listening to a lecture about Hiroshima and Nagasaki with a bunch of 8 and 9-year-olds). This was also the first place we made some friends--for me, Dasha, Nina, Sveta, Dasha again... and I can't remember all their names. A little girl crawled into Desiree's lap, very tired, and told her "I love you" in English, which made us all who understood laugh. What else, wha--oh! We did the opening ceremony for the camp, where all the groups got together in a sort of parade and showed off poems they wrote, signs they made, and the names they gave their groups, and we danced a bit again (had our first discotheque last night), and raised the Russian flag. Later tonight we will judge drawings of "Russian rooms" and announce a winner... and go to our first counselor planning meeting. I think I'm going to get very used to little sleep and eating peanut butter out of my jar.
More when I have time... but I don't feel like I'll ever have enough time to tell you all about it!
OH! And before I forget.... check these website often, you can see pictures of Desiree and I on there:
www.robincamp.ru >> (the photo site:http://www.robincamp.ru/summer2008.htm?id=10)www.girlcamp.ru >> (the photo site:http://www.girlcamp.ru/photos/summer2008.htm)
Look under "CMEHA 2" and then each day: DEHb 1, 2, 3.." etc.
(for day one on Robin Hood, we're aroud pictures 3, 39-42ish, and 46... this is also a great way to see what our camp looks like)
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