Sum- Sum- Summertime!

8/19/2010

Boys in the group that I stayed with all summer. 

Great group of kids, endless amounts of energy!

    This update has been ready ready for a while, but I just got around to posting it now.  So what have I been up to this summer? Well, school ended at the end of May and the whole orphanage picked up and moved to our summer location. We have a summer camp on the outskirts of Petropavlovsk. The kids live there from June to August. There we have a pool, basketball court, soccer field, and a makeshift disco. There was even karaoke one day, where I did a lively rendition of YMCA.  Don't judge -- my choices of English songs were limited!  My job is to teach English classes and to do other activities with the kids. I've played a lot of volleyball, frisbee, UNO, red light-green light, and duck, duck, goose.  The kids are crazy for UNO and it's going to be a while before I will be able to look at a deck of UNO cards again...

               

The girls in the group I stayed with:

                                                             Pasha and Vanya at camp

After breakfast every morning the kids have a work period where they have to do chores such as sweep the living quarters, help in the kitchen, clean up the grounds, etc. I was given duties in the vegetable garden. It's pretty cool. We have beets, potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, and herbs. We water the plants, pick the weeds, and so on. I think it's cool that they try to grow a significant amount of their own food to feed the kids.

    This past year, I set up a pen pal program with a teacher from the school I used to work at in Massachusetts (Thanks John!). His kids wrote us letters in April and we responded in May. I got their replies in July and my kids will write back in September when everyone is back at school.  They asked every day about the letters, and it was hard to make them understand just how long international mail takes to arrive.  They were so excited when the letters finally did arrive and can't wait to resume letter writing in the fall.   

Kids at camp in Presnovka saying thanks to the sponsor of the camp

     In addition to the orphanage camp, I also had the chance to go to two camps put on by village volunteers in our region. One I was only at for a few days in Bulaevo with my friend Brendan and the other I was at for one week in Presnovka, with my friend Patrick. It was my first time at both of these sites and it was neat to see the villages. We did English grammar, played games, played sports, did art projects and had a lot of fun. The kids were pretty enthusiastic and the teachers we worked with were also glad to have the chance to interact with native English speakers. I was impressed at the work my fellow volunteers did to organize their camps and I can't wait to help again next summer!

Our Bulaevo crew walking to camp pausing to take a photo
near the grain elevator...Patrick, Niall, and Brendan

Wearing traditional dress with Niall at the Museum in Preznovka. 

Students ready for camp in Bulaevo

Here are some photos of my summer and the people who helped make it great. The woman standing is one of Patrick's counterparts from Presnovka (he has two). Her name is Rosa and she hosted 6 Volunteers at her house for a whole week. She cooked for us, chatted with us, played cards, and we had banya everyday. She was amazing and I hope I get to go to camp there again next year!

Our Preznovka crew at the Shykhov Museum
Local friend Ayala, the museum curator, Patrick, Niall, Denise, me, Brendan and Patrick's counterpart

My friend Katie at camp in Presnovka.
A man representing the local Cossacks presented us with this hat.

Brendan in action at camp in Bulaevo

Russian language camp

I also took a week in July to go to Russian Language Camp.  Brendan, one of the village volunteers in my region organized a week long language learning camp in Petropavlovsk.  We had Russian classes for 4 hours every day and then did activities in the afternoon.  We cooked, saw Toy Story 3 in Russian and went to the art museum.  I thought my Russian was getting better, especially since at the orphanage camp I speak only Russian.  However, Russian Language Camp taught me that I still have sooooo much to learn about the Russian language.  It was a really great week, but at the end I had was definitely on Russian language overload!

So what now?  I finished with camp two days ago.  Tonight, I take the train down to Almaty. My parents, sister, and friend Stacey will arrive in Almaty on August 22^nd and will be here for two weeks. I'm beyond excited for their visit and have a pretty packed itinerary. There are many people here who can't wait to meet my family and it will be great for everyone to get acquainted.

Sorry for the long break in updates but camp barely had cell phone reception (though the outhouse was suprisingly conducive--many a text message recieved in there!).  I had limited email access all summer, though things will improve markedly now.  School starts on September 1st, while my family is here, and then I have a training in Almaty on September 6th for one week.  There probably won't be any more blog updates until mid-September. Thanks to all who read and post comments if you can.

Stay tuned to this page in September, for pics from the Johnson family's visit to Kazakhstan. There are sure to be some stories...