Summer Camps, Summer Camps, Summer Camps, OH MY!

Well, I've finally been able to catch my breath from traveling. Last night, I was riding train number 696 (the Kyiv to Odessa train) and my scheduled time to arrive was 11:15pm. At 11:30pm, I woke up and wondered if we were running late because the providnik (1 person per boxcar who wakes you up when your stop is approaching) hadn't jolted me out of my sleep. I quickly walked to his sleeping quarters and inquired about my station. "It was the last stop, we already passed it," I gathered from his Russian. "What seat were you in?" My seat number? 19...why? "I came to your seat but I didn't see you," he replied. Hmmm... come to find out, I had been in the wrong seat. No wonder he couldn't find me! I quickly unloaded at the next train stop, went in (good thing it is a busy station), and was able to book a train ticket for 1:30am! Only an 8 hryvnia mistake (equivalent to about $1 USD)! Not too bad, if you ask me!

After finally arriving home at nearly 3am, I quickly snuggled into bed. This morning, I was able to catch up with Holly on Skype (her and Darren's wedding will be in January, so I'll be coming home again!), finish moving my things from the old apartment, catch up on some bills, and meet with teachers at school. It feels good to be at home and not be rushing around to catch the next bus or train!

Tomorrow, we will have a district-wide English teachers meeting. I'm looking forward to this because I have yet to meet other English teachers in the area. Hopefully, I'll be able to build some relationships with teachers for possible partners on projects.

Even though I arrived back in Ukraine on Saturday, July 18, I have been traveling ever since! Here are some pictures of my adventures within Ukraine.

FIRST STOP: July 20-August 7 - Camp Big Bang in Haivoron (Kirovogradska Oblast)

Camp Big Bang was a typical "summer camp" that you would picture in the states. Plenty of sunshine, many tall, green trees providing shade throughout the day, cabins scattered around camp, a river nearby to swim, a soccer field for morning exercises, and about 160 energetic kids constantly testing the camp rules. Campers had lessons daily in areas such as, Personal Development, Journalism & Photography, Dance & Music, Art & Culture, Ecological Exploration, Drama, Poetry, and Country Studies.

Here's a picture me with Samantha (top) and Dorothy...two other Peace Corps volunteers.



Rather than teaching classes, I was "team leader" of the Terminators. I would help them with team competitions, motivate, help with discipline issues, and make sure my campers were enjoying themselves. I enjoyed this role, even when I had to talk with campers who had been asked to leave the lesson... they were a fun group of students from all over Ukraine.



Peace Corps volunteers relaxing during a town hall meeting: Gretchen, Alia, me, and Sarah

TEAM TERMINATORS!

PCVs After Hours: The volunteers all lived in one house together...think: Real World - Peace Corps Volunteer Style. Here's a group of us posing during our "Pirates vs. Ninjas" party.


We also hosted a haunted house for the campers...



After the haunted house, we had to take a Kirovogradska Oblast picture (everyone in my oblast)! Greg, Christy, Gretchen, Ben, Alia, Jessica, and me


For many campers, it was their first time playing baseball - the classic American game!


Campers making friendship bracelets during free time:

Or playing volleyball...

In this picture, we were acting as a train for the "Mr. and Ms. Camp" Contest...

In a lesson...

Hey, it's the same group of counselors: Gretchen, Alia, me, and Sarah

Every night we hosted a disco (dance party) for the campers. Here I am, one of the last nights, with some of my Terminators, Yuri and Artur.

And with Jess, my kgrad buddy...

PCVs like to dance, too! Shaun, me, Seth, and Jess tearing up the dance floor! (In all honesty, this probably lasted fifteen minutes before some of us headed back to our volunteer house. We had "disco patrol" each night, where volunteers would dance with the campers. I was a huge fan of this job and often volunteered for it... in exchange for avoiding "washing dishes" duty. Can you believe there were many volunteers who would rather wash dishes as opposed to dance?!)

With some of my campers from the Terminators: Masha, Vlada, Ira, Ania, and Nastia

With Kostya (a student of mine from Novoukrainka) and Dennis (a Terminator).

With Yana, my Ukrainian counterpart to help with the Terminators...

Some other PCVs, Tenzin and Kelly...

SECOND STOP: August 8 - August 16 - Camp I Know in Alushta (Autonomous Republic of Crimea)

Now this was some real camping! I picked up two of my students in Novoukrainka and we drove to Kirovograd to pick up one more student, meet Jessica (along with her students), and catch our train. At 5:30pm, I boarded my first overnight train headed to Simferopol! After realizing we didn't have any cards, I ripped out some paper from my notebook and proceeded to make them (the students were surprised, but quickly joined in the effort). After some cards and introductions to Jessica's students, I slept well for the twelve hour train ride. Once in Simferopol, we guided our students to a bus destined for Alushta. After a two hour ride followed by a two hour walk with all of our belongings, we finally arrived to our campsite in the "Valley of the Ghosts." To give you an idea about the type of camping we were in for... we had to dig a hole for an outhouse, fetch water in buckets from a nearby horse farm multiple times a day, cook on an open fire, and walk forty minutes to the nearest transportation. My students had never even slept in sleeping bags before, let alone camping! They were in for a treat!

This camp focused on the environment, in particular, how we can design and implement projects to educate and make a difference in our communities. My students and I will likely create an afterschool club in Novoukrainka to develop a project and carry it out (at least I'm hoping the students will still want to start this). Overall, it was awesome to see my students' leadership capabilities grow and become more aware of how our actions now will influence our world. Both sets of parents have told (today actually, I spoke with both of them) how much their children enjoyed the camp and that now they are living differently as a result. This was probably my most rewarding work thus far as a Peace Corps Volunteer...

Here we are climbing the mountain near our campsite...

Sasha and Zhenya had ran ahead and you can see the Black Sea in the background...

Here are the students I spent the entire week with (yes, even in the same tent): Sasha (9th grade), Lena (11th grade), and Zhenya (10th grade from Kirovograd). They thought they were so cool with their beer-like bottles, but filled with lemonade...nice try, kids!

One night, the girls and I had a night filled with capturing crazy pictures! Here's one of those with Sasha being goofy in her sleeping bag.

Before we went to the sea, we completed a zoo clean up! It was a lot of work and we were exhausted from the heat and hiking to scour the hillside for garbage. We ended up filling over fifty bags of garbage...and there was a television news crew to record the event!

Looking down from the zoo...

Taking a water break...

My hardworking team!

After our hard work, we enjoyed relaxing on the Black Sea...

Exploring around Alushta...

As part of learning how to design a project, students interviewed community members to determine the environmental problems and needs of Lucheesta (the nearby village). The campers decided that a clean up of town, along with some posters to encourage community members and tourists to keep the town clean, would help with the environmental problems in this town. We only had two days to complete the project, so the campers executed a project in the short timeframe. Now that we have returned to Novoukrainka, my students will carry out the same process to determine the needs and then implement a project. I'll certainly keep you updated on their project!

After our project, we traveled by bus to a local park for a BBQ celebration!

Once at the park, we explored our area and found some waterfalls...

And we had watermelon eating contests - here are some pictures from the craziness:

At Camp I Know, we really had a fun time and I appreciated the time to get to know my students on a more personal basis. I'm looking forward to the project the students will come up with this Fall - we'll see how it goes!

THIRD, FOURTH, AND FIFTH STOPS: August 17 - August 24 - Kyiv, Baryshivka, and Nedryhayliv (Sumska Oblast)

Once back in Novoukrainka from Camp I Know, I needed to move most of my personal belongings from the apartment in the center of town to my new apartment that same day. After completing laundry and beginning to settle into my new-old apartment (it was the first one I lived in when I came to Novoukrainka), I began packing for my next destination: Kyiv. With my counterpart, Lena, we traveled to Kyiv to attend a training titled, "Volunteerism Strengthening as a Tool of Sustainable Grass-Root Development." It was so beneficial to have this planning time with Lena in order to establish project ideas for this academic year. With my mid-service mark right around the corner, it's time to buckle down, identify some needs, write some grants, and get some projects funded for Novoukrainka!

After the training, I spent some time at Tanya and Ania's house (my host family from Baryshivka). It was wonderful to catch up with them! I always feel like I'm home when I'm there...

The following day, I traveled to Nedryhayliv to visit some friends before they started a summer camp. It was energizing to spend time with volunteers with positive attitudes before beginning this next school year. Here are some of them in the picture below: Alex, Emma, Abbey, and Grace.

What happened to summer?! I'm not quite sure how the time slipped away from me so easily. Thanks for following my blog and hope to talk soon!

Love Nat.