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. =)