CAMPING: Day 1 at Южный Буг

Well, it’s official. I survived my trip to Южный Буг (pronounced Yewj-knee boog)! There were definitely times that I wanted to be home, but overall it was an experience that I know I wouldn't be able to have anywhere else in Ukraine. It really put things into perspective for the first time how alone I am when I am with a group of Ukrainians. This is not their fault, nor is it my fault; it is simply due to the fact that I have limited Russian and they have limited English...and sometimes those paths simply do not overlap. The entire reason for me going on the camping trip was to speak English with the kids.

The trip started with a nice, long four hour bus ride on which I knew nobody. But first, I need to tell you about my adventure to get to the building where I work...where I needed to be by 7:50 am on Friday, July 1st. I am very lucky with the placement of my apartment because there is a bus stop maybe 2-3 minutes from my front door. There are marshrutkas that stop every 1-3 minutes at this stop that all go to the center of town and then onto their respective routes. I can take any one of these buses to get to the center, but then it's another 7-8 minute walk to my work. However, there is one bus that comes by every 5-10 minutes (still haven't nailed down that number yet) that takes me almost directly to the building where I work. Since I had a lot of stuff to carry (water, suitcases, purse), I was hoping to catch marshrutka number 134 that would take me directly to my building. I went outside at 7:20 am to make sure that I'd be able to catch a bus and make it to the building early. Wrong. I stood there until 7:40 am...and then had to call my boss in a panic because I realized I was not only going to be late, but that I would also be having to haul my stuff on the 7-8 minute walk. Awesome. I ended up getting to my building at 8ish and we didn't end up leaving until 8:45, so it was all fine and dandy in the end. Now, back to the four hour bus ride...

We stopped twice to have potty breaks on the side of the road, much like we did when we were on choir tour in Eastern Europe 7 years ago. Girls on the left, boys on the right. I didn't drink water the entire way there, not wanting to have to go to the bathroom in the middle of a forrest. Ya know, I never got a final number how many people were on the trip. We had 2 buses, but they were not full-size 50 seaters. I think we were somewhere in the range of 40-45 people on the trip. Upon arriving at Южный Буг, which is actually the name of the river that we camped by, we began unloading pounds and pounds (or maybe I should say kilograms and kilograms because I am in Europe now!) of camping gear and food.

This was the first time (of many) on the trip where I would simply have NO clue what to do in order to help out…nor did they want the “American girl,” as I was dubbed, to help. I was their guest, and they wanted me to enjoy my experience. More about being a guest in Ukraine later.

We unloaded the two buses and were up on top of the valley. This was the view we had at that moment.

I was wondering where we would do our actual camping…and that was when we started grabbing our stuff to haul down the mountain. A five-minute walk down a path took me to our future campsite. A small brook babbled along the path…and made me decide that I would love to have a river like that by my house someday. There is simply nothing like going to sleep with the sound of moving water close by. In addition to my suitcase that I had packed (with air mattress, sheet, blanket, and pillows…all of which I was VERY glad I brought), I was also handed a sleeping bag, sleeping pad, tent, and a piece of tarp to go under my tent. I have always been a person to make more than one trip rather than hurting my hands carrying way too much. And it was good exercise. I left my big suitcase to bring down last, and the lady in charge of the whole trip (Natalia Constantinivna) informed me that one of the boys would bring it down for me. Awesome! This was the first glimpse of just how polite boys are in Ukraine…more about that later.

We arrived at the bottom where we would be sleeping…and I again, had absolutely no clue what to do. I put my stuff down and wondered if I should start putting up my tent, but I didn’t want to take somebody else’s spot if they had already claimed it. I walked around and tried to find the source of the water that I heard, but was instructed by the kids not to go down to the river yet. That would be later. Finally, my suitcase was brought down by Edward (who the kids joked about the Twilight movies then…) who had also taken it upon himself to put my tent up for me.

Here’s where Lydia wished she would have had a few pointers before she set up camp.

1) Don’t put your tent in the sun if at all possible. Come afternoon, it will be like a sauna.

2) Go ahead and splurge for a tent that you can stand up in. By the end of day 7, you will be tired of wiggling into your clothes while laying down on your air mattress.

I can’t complain though because I was graciously given my own tent to sleep in, which I was very thankful for. And I would learn those lessons later on during the trip…not on the first day.

I don’t even remember what else happened the first day. I helped setup lunch, which was бутерброц (sandwiches) that different moms had made and sent along with kids. I also gathered that kids were supposed to bring a loaf of bread, a head of cabbage, and maybe some tomatoes and cucumbers; they collected all of these items before we left Kirovograd though. If my memory serves me right, I also helped peel potatoes and carrots for dinner. That was where the first group of girls befriended me and I actually heard some English for the first time. Very, very exciting.

During my 3+ month span of being in Ukraine, I have used my Kindle on and off. There are times when I am super busy and don’t have time to read, but there are also times when I am super bored and might read 3 books in one week. Let’s just say that I was very glad I fully charged my Kindle before we left because I may or may not have read 2.5 Harry Potter books. {Sidenote: our campsite did not have electricity, or bathrooms. More about the bathroom later.} Since the new HP movie is coming out soon, I decided a few weeks ago to start reading the books over from the beginning. I never actually read past book 4 when I was reading these books years ago, though I cheated and have seen all of the movies, so I know what happens.

Well, that gives you a sneak peak of what my camping trip was like :) I will be sending out some parts of the story that are better not to be shared on the public blog, so if you would like to be included in those excerpts, send me your name and e-mail address and I will add you to the list :) toodles!