Read Part 1 First Please!
So Callie and I started to feel better after talking with Dad and each other. The next few days were sooo much fun! We went swimming three times a day with the students and I got called “very sneaky” several times while playing cards or coming up behind people in the lake and scaring them.
We were discouraged the first few days we were there not only because we were sick but because we did not seem to be making friends and they didn’t seem very interested in our songs or games. However, one of the songs that we taught them, “Baby Shark,” haunted everyone’s sleep. The next day half the camp was trying to remember the words. “Baby Shark” became a favorite and now everyone knows it very well along with all the motions :)
Our lessons spanned first aid treatment and care, superstitions, fear, wealth, money, happiness, peer pressure, drugs and alcohol, and dreams for the future. We had a really good time with discussion after the students got to know us a little better. Our first full day of camp was Friday the 13th, hence why we talked about fears and superstitions. During our talk about money, I told the story about the Father who had two sons and the younger asked for his inheritance. I told it basically the same as in the Book, but in the end they slaughtered a nice juicy horse and made some bishparmak (the national dish of horse meat and noodles). They all loved the story and I think had a lot to think about. Gramma was so proud of me! She was so excited. She called me sneaky also hahaha.
They taught us a game called “This is so Much Fun.” Everyone repeats the phrase until they smile, then they are out. The phrase became integrated into daily camp language. In situations both enjoyable and not enjoyable, one student in particular would say, “This is so much fun.” In a very straight face of course. It helped to hear that when we would be out picking berries or cleaning berries and mushrooms.
We stayed up late the last few nights playing Hangman by the fire and singing “Baby Shark” and some songs that the students had learned from another group that had been their earlier. It was really cool to sing these songs with them because my Family sings them back home to thank our Father. It is also a camping tradition in my family to sing songs like these with my mom, so it was really cool to sing with locals. We had a brother and a sister among the ten, and one who is really close to becoming my brother. He was given a special book by the last team and has been reading it and said, “Every time I read this and sing these songs, I believe more.” We are asking that Dad would work in him.
It was cool to see our focus shift from, “Things are so inconvenient for me” to “what can I do to love and serve.” There were times when I dreaded the …interesting… camping squatty, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make to be there. It was so sad when we had to part with the students. Half of them left early in the morning and the other half left in the afternoon. Those that stayed were depressed about returning. One said, “I don’t want to go back. I want to stay here forever.” They all wrote letters in Russian about the camp, but each of them mentioned how much they loved us and cared for us. It was really encouraging.
After they left there was a fellowship group of maybe 15 that came for a short retreat. They didn’t speak any English. Gramma kept pointing out all the 45 year old single men that we should marry and winked as she introduced us. I feel like that has happened a lot since being here. No, it HAS happened a lot! At least every week there is an Aunt, Grandma, Mother or concerned adult who wishes to marry me off. Sometimes there is a guy, but most of the time is the mother figure.
Anyway, we had live accordion music and danced traditionalish dances in a circle while singing, or humming in my case, songs for Dad. It was really fun, but exhausting for my brain because it was trying to think so hard in Russian and most of the time, words just don’t come the way I want them to. We had shashlik which is their form of barbecue for dinner which was the best meal we had camping. Chicken kebabs and watermelon. MmmMmmGood.
However, when we got up the next morning, yummy goodness was not what was waiting for us. Instead it was this bowl of lukewarm soup that tasted like lake water. It had pieces of fish and some interesting herbs. Callie said, “It was soo delicious that we each had three bowls. Not…. Once in a lifetime experience.” We did have fish on several occasions, but there’s something to waking up to fish soup.
That evening was very peaceful. Gramma, Grampa, one of our brothers in the area who stayed after English camp, Callie and I played lots of games and had a lot of fun. We played Old Maid and some other games. It was the deep breath before the plunge! The next day over fifty people came for another retreat. At least half of them were kids! Callie and I made friends with a couple girls our age who spoke English really well. We played lots of games. There was a group of little girls who would ambush us by our tent or the toilet. It was really funny. They would ask us a question in Russian, we would try to answer, they would ask a clarifying question and then huddle and whisper about us, elect the next person to ask a question and the process would begin again. It was soo cute! We had fun with those girls!
Unfortunately the last day of camping Callie didn’t feel good and I didn’t feel great. Too many bitter cucumbers on my part, but we still had fun. One of our American friends came down for the morning. Gramma sent us all out berry picking with Grampa and our Bro. it was sooo hot, but we endured and picked a half a box of wildberries which became wildberry jam which is now in my fridge!! Omnomnom…
We were getting the linens out of the tents so the boys could tear them down when Callie looked at my face. (Let me preface what will happen next by reminding you that we have no mirror and have been in the wild for over a week, where mosquitoes roam free and eat your limbs off, horseflies come and take what they can, and spiders nibble on your feet while you’re sleeping.) She looks at me with a horrified gaze and says, “Gabi, you have a whitehead on your lip!” I go to pop it and she says, “No, don’t (She was standing right in front of me), I’ve already been pooped on by birds twice today!” Her story, ask her about it haha.) So then I say, “Okay, I’ll wait until we get home then.” “No,” she says adamantly, “You can do it, here, I’ll guide you!” Never had I seen someone so excited to help me pop my zit. Callie took two of my fingers and popped my zit right there in the wild! Yep.
We rode back home in the huge van that the fifty-some odd people had brought. I talked with one of my new friends the entire way. It was really fun. She helped me with Russian and taught me about some of the history of the country and the education system (she’s a primary English teacher). The Sunday after camp she invited Callie and I over to her house for bishparmak (yes, I have now eaten horse!). We saw all of her family photos, heard lots of fun stories, ate for six hours—I’m not exaggerating! Bishparmak, salad and bread. Then tea and cookies. Then more tea and cookies. Then sunflower seeds. Then more tea and cookies. Then nuts and dried apricots. Then more tea and candy.
We had a lot of fun and were so excited to be invited into a local home. We felt like honored guests. We greatly respect the hospitality of everyone here.
We had our closing ceremony for English Camp on Monday. We passed out certificates and had fun drinking juice and hanging out. While we were at camp, we put on several theatrical performances including The Three Little Pigs and A Day in Court. We weren’t able to tape the courtroom performance, so we did it again so it could be taped.
The students came up with a crime—a girl robbed Callie’s jewelry store and shot a bunch of old people. An alibi—the defendant paid off a witness to say she bought train tickets to go to a different city Evidence—videotape from the train station that had been doctored
Then we had the judge, jury, defendant, attorney, witnesses, security and Callie and me as the store owner and prosecuting attorney. The girl who was the attorney for the defendant should be a lawyer. She almost had me convinced I was fighting for the wrong side! However, justice prevailed and the defendant was sent away to prison for two years.
Tuesday we rode the train back to the city. We almost didn’t make our train because we ate lunch twenty minutes before our train left, but we got there in time and were able to say goodbye to some of the students who came to wave us off. They were so sweet!! The train took four hours and then we had another hour on a bus during rush hour. Fun Fun!!
Luckily, Gramma made sure we didn’t leave empty handed. We now have fresh honey, jam, garlic, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and cottage cheese bread.
Hospitality is awesome.
I hope this makes sense because I haven’t had much sleep lately! We sent off a group the night we came back at two in the morning and last night we sent off one of our dear friends at four!
