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.