So it’s been a while since I’ve blogged (there’s not much internet in the Ukranian backwoods) and frankly I have no desire to write this one. Thanks to the World Race, my internal body clock is totally shot and I’ve been awake since 5am. Needless to say, I’m not feeling particularly witty but I know that my mom is anxiously waiting for my next update so I’m going to bullet point my last two weeks in Ukraine.
- We were at a summer camp for local kids in the villages and nearby orphanages.
- The camp is an old Soviet bunker repainted with Winnie the Pooh murals and re-equipped with swings and slides… despite the pastel colors, it’s still pretty militant.
- We got to hang out with a way cool team from America and our translators were amazing. I had a ton of fun hanging out with them until 2am playing UNO… in Russian.
- I’m really good at Russian.
- I celebrated my birthday at camp. It started with a midnight shout out from all of my new Ukranian camp counselor friends and ended with a surprise gathering and presentation of a BigMak meal that had to be retrieved from the city (2 hours away). In between there were a lot of waist high hugs, Russian birthday songs, dozens of drawings from the kids, a slideshow presented to the whole camp, a birthday waltz with one of our soccer coaches, hundreds of homemade spanish flashcards made by my teammates, and probably the best birthday video (made by some of my favorite people) anyone has ever received.
Not much else to say about camp. We were only there for a short time but, like most summer camps, it was packed with camp games, arts and crafts, swimming in the river, questionable food, and new friends.
Oh, and we swam to Russia.
