Camp Bereg: Day 1

I figured since I didn't get to do any blogging while I was in Sergiivka (too many things going on!) at Camp Bereg, I would start at the beginning.

I arrived in Odessa on Tuesday morning around 5:30 am...I found the place at the train station where you can leave your luggage for a small fee (12.5 greiv, aka under $2.00), so I checked my hiking backpack there and headed to McDonald's. One of my friends Kym (she was in the Kozelets cluster--my link cluster) was on her way to Odessa too...but her train got in at 9:30 am, so I had a couple of hours to kill. After my breakfast of coffee and a MakToast (a hamburger bun turned inside out that is then grilled with cheese in the middle), I skyped with my parents since it was night time in OK. After that, it was time for some Odessa exploring! I had already been to Odessa earlier during the summer but had yet to see the Potemkin Stairs in the day light, so I looked up how to walk there on my Iphone (thanks for the wifi McDonald's!) and was off.

The city was absolutely deserted this early in the morning and I LOVED it. I walked around like a tourist and didn't care. The walk itself was about 3 km one way. I passed so many stores that I wanted to shop in...good thing they were all closed because I'm sure I could have done some MAJOR damage :)

The streets were deserted...

What kind of cars are those you ask?

Very expensive ones...

The view from the top of the stairs...

And the view from the bottom of the stairs. My knees hurt SO bad for the rest of the day after walking up and down the stairs.

I liked the fact that they had unique drains :) weird, I know.

Around 9 am, I headed back to the train station to meet Kym. We then headed to McDonald's for her first breakfast, my second :) They were serving fries by this time...so I couldn't resist!

We had a bit of an issue finding the correct place where to catch our marshrutka to Sergiivka (the town 2 hours south of Odessa where the summer camp is)...so it took a phone call to my clustermate Jamie to find out exactly where to go. We finally found the right area and got on our marshrutka. It was a typical summer ride in a marshrutka: cramped, sweaty, and smelly. BUT, we've gotten used to this (pretty much), and it is always MUCH better to have a friend along for the ride. When we finally saw the Black Sea, I squealed with delight just because I was so glad to finally be there. However, the guy sitting next to us must have thought that I had never seen it before...because he then pointed it out every 20 yards when a little patch in between beach houses could be seen. Super creepy.

Our marshrutka--this is a "nicer" looking one

Me and my bag--picture courtesy of Kym :)

We finally arrived at camp and I was able to take a breath, realizing that I didn't have to travel for the next week. We arrived when it was rest time...so let me take the time now to explain a typical day at camp:

8:00 am--breakfast

9:20 am--ferry leaves from dock and crosses lagoon to get to the Black Sea

11:30 am or noon--ferry takes us back across the lagoon

1:00 pm--lunch

3:30 pm--English lesson

4:30 pm--campers choice (kids get to choose what activity they do...sports, drawing, making bracelets, etc.)

7:00 pm--dinner

8:00 pm--evening activity (group skits, disco party, free time, etc.)

9:00 pm--counselor's are free

This is where all of the kids stayed--called a sanatorium. I've heard rumors that it used to be a resort, or that it used to be a school. So you can decide for yourself what it used to be! There are many wings throughout the building that different summer camps have reserved for their children to stay in. For instance, there was a giant karate camp (maybe 100-150 campers) going on at the same time as Camp Bereg (an English camp) with maybe 50 kids. There has also been a group of orphans that have stayed there all summer--they live in Chernigov (a big city close-ish to where I trained) during the school year. More about them later...

Here's a view from the second floor of the building looking out over the grounds. That is the lagoon in the picture, not the Black Sea. We took a 20 minute ferry ride every day to get to the Black Sea which is probably way off in the distance in this picture...

So, the first activity I got to be a part of was teaching my campers a dance that they would be judged later on. I got to camp when it had already been going on for a week, so I joined up with Nicole, another PCV, and the Pink Elephants (our 7 campers) to learn the dance to COTTON EYED JOE :) It was pure coincidence that I found the Pink Elephants who actually needed another PCV...and that they were doing a country dance. I may have gone a bit pom coach/dance teacher on them, but they did incredibly well during their performance :) If you didn't get a chance to see the video of all of the dances that night, check this blog post to watch it! I guarantee a laugh...and if nothing else you'll get to hear me die laughing at parts.

And that, my friends, was my first day at a Ukrainian Summer Camp. I'm sorry it's taking me so long to get these posted but being out of town doesn't make the process easier!