The end of my journey here is a short 10 days away, and I'm so excited to go home I can hardly stand it.  At the same time, I'm already excitedly making plans for when I come back to Novorossyisk.  Here's a breakdown of what I'll be doing when I come back in early October:

The biggest part of my work will be coordination the winter English camp.  This means I'll be writing the curriculum and working to gather a team to come help at the camp (like I did in June!).  I am very excited to take my first crack at organizing something this.  It'll be a big jump from leading English Club to organizing a course, but I'm excited and ready for the challenge!

The Conference Hall at camp

 I can't give too many details about what the theme of winter camp will be, but I can tell you that it involves a lion, a witch, and a wardrobe (hint hint!)

Lets fill these seats!

The rest of my time will be starting up an English club of my own and helping Anya with hers.  Her English club is excellent for advanced speakers, but there isn't much in town for the intermediate range.  That will be me!

The camp director dressed as a communist, accompanied by the camp tractor

And now comes that part where you can step in.  Do you love what's been going on here?  Do you want to help?  Then please consider supporting me regularly through the year 2013.  I will be working at the camp as an employee but will not be making enough to live on, and I need people who are willing to support this work from October to next January when my first year-long work visa will expire (how exciting to not need to leave every three months!)

If you would like to support me, please send me an email at j_blevins_mt@yahoo.com.  Feel free to ask me any questions you have about my work here and the options available for supporting.  I estimate that I'll need $800 per month in support to pay for rent, groceries, transportation, etc.  Thank you for reading my blog and supporting me in your prayers, please consider supporting me through the next phase!

Пока ребята, Russian Jane

I love this camp

Oh friends!  I'm finally back from camp!  As I write, I'm laying on the sofa in the living room with a cup of tea close at hand -- almost all of the workers and half the kids got sick with some kind of summer cold.  Tanya just made me drink that awful-but-effective homemade cough syrup (the recipe can be found here) and hopefully I should be right as rain in no time.

So camp.  I think the people that know me well are probably in a bit of shock because of how much I love camp, because it's really unlike me.  Growing up I hated camp and campy things, and now I'm going to make a job out of it!  But more on that later...

This camp was Logos.  There were two sessions of 90 kids each, and I worked at the session with the older kids.  The theme was "The Armor of God".  Every day the kids had small groups as a cabin, and at the evening meetings there was worship and a message about the topic of the day.  In between that the day was filled with sports and trips to the sea (or movies when it rained).  I jotted down a few highlights from camp, because there's just too much to tell it all!

Vitya and Kostya, all geared up to help carry bags

Our camp director Andree adding a little Soviet charm to the opening ceremonies of our camp

The campers lined up for the opening ceremonies

Morning exercises!  That's Serafima on the left and Andree's wife Natasha on the right

Every morning we sang the camp hymn and raised the flag, then said the Lord's Prayer together

The camp's brand new climbing wall!  It was a total hit.

-- We had "trouble kids" from day one.  There were a couple of dudes who had no idea about Logos camp (16-year-old boys are the same all over the world; the simply failed to read the info they were sent or go the the website).  They promptly informed their counselors that they were here to relax and didn't plan on participating in the program. I asked them to help a couple girls with their suitcases and they didn't even dignify that request with a response, to give you an example of their attitudes.  However, they had a chit-chat with our director Andree that night, and by the end of camp they were laughing and participating just as much as anyone else.

-- Girls from Moscow.  "In Moscow we have this, in Moscow we have that..." They were kind of pills.  Most Russians who don't live in Moscow have a fairly low opinion of Muscovites, and generally regard them as snooty.  I didn't put a lot of stock in that until I saw a couple girls at camp who upheld the stereotype.  They were snooty and kind of rude, and didn't want to participate in anything.  However, our father is bigger than Moscow, and just like the two hooligans who didn't want to participate, by about day 4 or 5 they were loving camp as much as anyone else.

-- For a couple of days we had a girl name Gulya with us.  She was from one of the towns that was flooded and she and her family lost everything.  They immigrated from Kazakhstan a couple of years ago and Gulya is wheelchair and crutches bound because of a horrible infection on her leg.  In the end, the camp didn't have the permits they needed to take care of someone in her position and she had to go home, but we were able to take her to the sea for the first time and give her a little happiness in a time of loss.

-- One of our counselors was telling us about her girls; they were going around in a circle saying a little something about themselves by way of introduction.  "I'm 16 and I have a cat".  "I'm almost 15 and I have a hamster."  "I'm 16 and I have a little boy".  This was a very different age group to work with because they are old enough to have adult problems and to have already seen a lot of life, and not necessarily the good side of it.

The best part of camp, for me, was seeing how many kids from English Camp were there.  There were probably about 15 kids from English Camp at this session, and they told me there were more at the first session for younger kids.  A lot of these kids, a few girls in particular, were really against the idea of faith, but they came to Logos knowing full well what it was because they loved their time at English Camp.  It was amazing to see what happened in their lives while they were there, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them pop up in our director Andree's church here in Novorossyisk.

As for me, I had a long talk with Andree and his wife Natasha, and another camp leader named Serafima about what I could do at camp.  As it stands now, I'm going to be the coordinator of the English program starting in January.  I'm going to prepare the curriculum for English camps (one winter session, now TWO summer sessions!) and help organize teams from America.  Starting in January I'll be an employee of Mountain Springs camp (if the hiring process goes well, it's a little tricky to hire foreigners) and be able to stay for a year.  It'll be pretty full-time job, and I can't tell you how excited I am.  I'll give you all more details later when I'm not feeling I was hit by a train.

Well folks, that's the list from camp!  I'm happy to be home in Novorossyisk but I miss camp already!  Here's a few more photos.

My countryman Madi, who took photos.  Get it, girl!

I finally saw a wild hedgehog!! These kids thought I was out of my mind, because it would be like someone coming to Montana and freaking out about seeing a squirrel, but it made my day nonetheless.  Haters gonna hate.

Jousting on bikes with pool noodles?  Don't try to tell me camp isn't awesome!

One of my favorite people, Lyuba, with the sport director's kid Arsenie.  Lyuba was a counselor with me at English camp, and worked as a counselor at both sessions of Logos.  Arsenie was the cutest, and a well-behaved little kid to boot.

Two of my favorite Russians, Andree and Senya, getting ready to head to the beach in the trunk of a car the day after the kids left.  I was jammed in the back seat with four other people.  Russia.

Пока ребята, Russian Jane

All I do is camp

Well everyone, I'm back from camping and in about a half hour I'll be off to go camping!  Ah!

This weekend was the annual church camping trip.  To be perfectly frank, I don't like camping; I've given it many a shot, and it's just not my scene.  However, these kinds of camping trips are great times to get to know people better and grow closer, which is why I opted to go the weekend before Logo.

To give you the long and short of it, it was a good experience.  Yes, we had to hike through a rocky canyon in the dark for three hours.  Yes, I had to do the whole thing in Keds because I left my hiking boots in America.  Yes, everything was covered in dirt and my hair still smells like smoke.  But, overall, it was good.  Just like I hoped, I got to know the people better, and that made it worth it.  Plus, there was a banya.

A banya is a traditional Russian sauna.  It's like a sauna, but usually hotter, and once in the sauna (usually in a group) you whack each other on the back with damp birch branches, though any kind of leafy tree branch will do if birch isn't available.  Then, you jump into some kind of cold water.  Repeat.  It's really fun and really refreshing.

Our banya was built in a rocky canyon below a series of waterfalls.  The boys built a rock pile and built a fire inside of it, then built a kind of tent out of sticks and a tarp.  Once the tent was built they poured boiling water on the hot rocks and voila!  Instant banya.  In traditional banyas, boys and girls go separately and everyone is naked, but of course this was not that kind of banya; we were all in swimsuits.  This was actually kind of nice, because everyone could go into the banya together.  Once in the banya everyone is howling about the heat and whacking each other with branches, and whenever someone pours more hot water on the rocks everyone moans and screams "why??" but it's all in good fun.  Then when you can't stand it anymore you hustle out and jump in the cold stream and it's a chorus of "ahhhhhs".  It's wonderful.

I have to scoot and eat lunch because I'm leaving in about 20 minutes, but there's a little idea of what camp was like.  Pictures later.  I doubt I'll have internet the next ten days, but I'll try to drop y'all a line if I do.  Goodbye for now!

Пока ребята, Russian Jane

Camp around the corner...

Hello friends!

I'm here to report that I don't have much to report, except that CAMP IS COMING!

On Saturday, my buddies Yuri, Semyon (the sassy-pants), Mozart, Andree and I went to visit camp.  Right now, Logos is happening.  There are two sessions, the first for little kiddos and the second for youth.  I'm going to be at the second session, along with Semyon and a few other friends.  We all became buds at English Camp, so I'm excited to work with them again at Logos.

This time around, I'm not going to be a counselor, I'm just going to bop around and help where needed.  And believe me, there is plenty of bopping around to do.  I have no worries about keeping myself busy.

Lucky for me, I'm once again going to have an American to pal around with.  Madi, whose family has been in Russian since the 90's, is going to be there doing media.  She and I were chatty Cathy's last Saturday; it's a real relief to have someone you can really talk to.  When I speak English here, even with people who speak it very well, I don't speak in my own vernacular; as I explain it, I talk like a text book.  So, when I can freely speak my own kooky English with someone, I jump at the chance.

Other than that, things have been pretty normal here.  It's been sweltering hot here but I haven't melted yet; we poured a new cement bridge and did some minor repairs to our ditch; I still teach English.

Just a reminder, if you haven't yet considered making a donation to the Ivanenko family, please do.  We need to get them a car and help them rebuild the neighbor's ditch!  When Ilya rebuilt our fence, he left a little gap so that we could keep talking with our neighbor's and getting to know them; rebuilding this ditch would be another great testimony.

Well, th-th-th-th-that's all, folks!  Thank you for your support and prayers!

Our yard is now a construction site; check out that new green fence!

Our friend (another Semyon) decided he was a cowboy

This is my kitten; I've become a shameless cat-person

Cooking spaghetti; we do manage to have some fun here

I whipped up spaghetti for a cement-pouring party

The cement truck arrived around 11pm

Ilya's brother came to haul the Nissan away; it died an honorable death

This kid's name is Ulysses, his dad helped us with the cement project and when we asked him to smile, this is the face we got. He has a tape measure because he wanted to measure the sky.  Thank you.

Пока ребята, Russian Jane