This June, I had the chance to experience summer camp for the very first time and I was a kid again! I made friendship bracelettes, lived in a girls only "cabin," made up dances for night performances, and laughed every single day. This post is about the first camp I attended (Severyanin), which recycled all the tried and true traditions of the soviet pioneer camps of yesteryear. Everything was extremely organized and planned out. (The second camp I went to was not as organized. That deserves a separate post.) Severyanin schedule, every day, to the beat of the same drum:
Wake up music from the PA
Morning Exercises
Breakfast
English Lesson 1
Beach Time
Lunch
Quiet Time (тики час)
Snack
English Lesson 2
Beach Time
Dinner
Nightly Performance
Discotek
Bed Time
It was nice to have a routine, and one that worked so well. The camp counselors and directors were amazing, too. They work so hard all summer long.
Let's see. I'm a loser for not posting this earlier and I'm trying to remember everything we did at camp. Logan and I judged a beauty contest, which was a very strange experience. It was for boys and girls and they would come up to the judge area and look right into our eyes and then we had to score them. I felt really uncomfortable, so I just gave really good marks to everyone and extra points to the ones that stood out with wink, or a kiss, or a song, or a 10-year-old with high heels. Ouch.
Logan and I sang some songs for the night performances, so that was fun. Also, I got to know my colleagues better and met Melitopol's youth. It was so nice to be so close to them. I sound like I was at some kid zoo but I mean close as in connecting with students face-to-face in a more intimate relaxed summery environment. So nice.
One of the best parts of summer camp--and there were many, because every day was wonderful--was hangin' with the girls (you know who you are) in the room and just laughing at silly things. A lot. Yea yea, the boys were awesome too. And all of them so good looking, wink! Here are some photos:
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| Girls, Beauty Contest |
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| Boys, Beauty Contest |
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| Discotek! |
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| "If you want to be OK, study English every day!" |
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| Volunteers, Director, and Bears |
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| Football Match |
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| Go team go! |
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| Seaside Ladies |
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| Hip Action |
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| Performance |
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| We played Family Feud and Bailey and Logan were the Vanna Whites of the show. |
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| Volunteers! |
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| At the Azov Seaside |
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| Last day of camp |
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| Last night of camp with an amazing kid! And I'm not just saying that because he made Kerry and Logan signs... |
