Ok first of all, sorry for the big gap in posts. This will cover a week's worth of time that happened two weeks ago. Good luck with that riddle. Also you should note that I've been lucky enough to extend my stay an additional two weeks because I'm physically unable to rip myself away from baby Sveta. Healthy. Anyways...
This week the new volunteers (made up mostly of cadets) arrived. Things we've learned from this experience:
1. None of us are that great with change, or at least not me or Mackenzie. This was made very clear by the tiny panic attacks we had upon their arrival and the fact that we couldn't move for about 4 hours after seeing the swarm of new faces. Clearly Russia has done something bad for my social skills that, believe it or not, were once bordering on normal.
2. We are all morbidly obese. Half of the new group is made up of cadets with the most intense muscles I've ever seen. Come to think of it the thought that half of my new roomies could now break me in half like a toothpick may have contributed more to my earlier panic than my horrible social anxiety. Even the girls are ripped. And what did these people want to do after traveling for an entire day? WORK OUT. True story. They got here and WENT OUT FOR A RUN. Our fat selves hadn't moved out of the home base all day long! Naturally to make up for our sandess at our bodies we ate more while they exercised (a habit that I can now say has not changed at all 3 weeks after their arrival. So much for good influences).
3. Ok there were really only those two things but I haven't numbered anything since Helsinki and I missed it.
MOnday we woke up ready to get back to our babies until we were met with the utterly devistating news that we weren't going to be able to go. Poor Natasha looked like she needed to go run and barricade herself somewhere when we heard the news. We were about ready to get on a bus or hitchhike there just to see them.
Instead, we went to one of the city camps and worked with a small group of kids there who were around 10... and one giant kid who was about 40... named Victor... who is our bus driver. Victor is probably the most hilarious person I've met in Russia so far. He's literally a child trapped in the body of an adult bear man who LOVES TO CRAFT (yell this like a WWF announcer would and you'll be able to get the intensity of this statement). A little girl was doing an extremely intricate craft project and he BEASTED her project. He was working on it with her like she was painting the next Mona Lisa. It was absolutely amazing.
The rest of MOnday is a confusing mess of panic and anxiety because I cannot deal with upheaval.
TUESDAY!
...
It was there too... I waited way too long to write this blog...
YES. Ok Tuesday we went back to babies and my heart sang with joy (but really I've never been happier to go anywhere than back to babies). The cadet girls came with us and we initiated them with a nice round of toxic wood stain that even mosquitos won't fly near.
I also attempted skipping lunch to be able to go to afternoon placement. Bad idea. The Russians threw a hissy fit. Skipping meals is NOT ALLOWED. I think I may need all new pants when I get home because of this.
In the afternoon I did my first afternoon placement at Leninsky Disabled. That is a group of HILARIOUS individuals. I've never seen so many people have such sass. We went around and told them all about our lives and they grilled us about everything we did. They could be world-class interrogators. Then we did musical drawing with them where you pass papers around in a circle and when the music plays you add to whatever drawing you have at the time and once your original drawing gets back to you, you admire the artwork the entire team has helped to make. They went wild with it and drew some awesome things. It got the whole room laughing. Next we played indoor games with them which turned into the most vicious game of Uno I've ever played. I never knew how horrible I was at Uno strategy and Russian smack talking (well maybe the Russian part I knew).
Wednesday we went to the military museum which was really interesting but also kind of strange to be there with a bunch of American cadets and Uncle Vanya, their kind... or commander... Ruler? Chief? Lord?
The rest of the week is filled with even more confusion, expecially since it has now been 3 weeks since it happened. I know we returned to babies one afternoon and got a double babies day which was literally the best day of my life. The guys all had to do manual labor and dig tires into the ground. Sveta, Masha, and I played Super Sveta and watched them. I would say those were pretty equal jobs, right? I also know we went to the mall with Asya and Big Sveta and I bought pants and they tried to convince us that Sveta does in fact really enjoy hanging out with a boiserous group of American volunteers and that we're not just forcing her to occupy her every weekend entertaining us. We also watched a movie called Moose: A Domestic Spider Cow that showed way too much about moose birth and moose suckling. That is the image I will leave you with. You're welcome.
This week the new volunteers (made up mostly of cadets) arrived. Things we've learned from this experience:
1. None of us are that great with change, or at least not me or Mackenzie. This was made very clear by the tiny panic attacks we had upon their arrival and the fact that we couldn't move for about 4 hours after seeing the swarm of new faces. Clearly Russia has done something bad for my social skills that, believe it or not, were once bordering on normal.
2. We are all morbidly obese. Half of the new group is made up of cadets with the most intense muscles I've ever seen. Come to think of it the thought that half of my new roomies could now break me in half like a toothpick may have contributed more to my earlier panic than my horrible social anxiety. Even the girls are ripped. And what did these people want to do after traveling for an entire day? WORK OUT. True story. They got here and WENT OUT FOR A RUN. Our fat selves hadn't moved out of the home base all day long! Naturally to make up for our sandess at our bodies we ate more while they exercised (a habit that I can now say has not changed at all 3 weeks after their arrival. So much for good influences).
3. Ok there were really only those two things but I haven't numbered anything since Helsinki and I missed it.
MOnday we woke up ready to get back to our babies until we were met with the utterly devistating news that we weren't going to be able to go. Poor Natasha looked like she needed to go run and barricade herself somewhere when we heard the news. We were about ready to get on a bus or hitchhike there just to see them.
Instead, we went to one of the city camps and worked with a small group of kids there who were around 10... and one giant kid who was about 40... named Victor... who is our bus driver. Victor is probably the most hilarious person I've met in Russia so far. He's literally a child trapped in the body of an adult bear man who LOVES TO CRAFT (yell this like a WWF announcer would and you'll be able to get the intensity of this statement). A little girl was doing an extremely intricate craft project and he BEASTED her project. He was working on it with her like she was painting the next Mona Lisa. It was absolutely amazing.
The rest of MOnday is a confusing mess of panic and anxiety because I cannot deal with upheaval.
TUESDAY!
...
It was there too... I waited way too long to write this blog...
YES. Ok Tuesday we went back to babies and my heart sang with joy (but really I've never been happier to go anywhere than back to babies). The cadet girls came with us and we initiated them with a nice round of toxic wood stain that even mosquitos won't fly near.
I also attempted skipping lunch to be able to go to afternoon placement. Bad idea. The Russians threw a hissy fit. Skipping meals is NOT ALLOWED. I think I may need all new pants when I get home because of this.
In the afternoon I did my first afternoon placement at Leninsky Disabled. That is a group of HILARIOUS individuals. I've never seen so many people have such sass. We went around and told them all about our lives and they grilled us about everything we did. They could be world-class interrogators. Then we did musical drawing with them where you pass papers around in a circle and when the music plays you add to whatever drawing you have at the time and once your original drawing gets back to you, you admire the artwork the entire team has helped to make. They went wild with it and drew some awesome things. It got the whole room laughing. Next we played indoor games with them which turned into the most vicious game of Uno I've ever played. I never knew how horrible I was at Uno strategy and Russian smack talking (well maybe the Russian part I knew).
Wednesday we went to the military museum which was really interesting but also kind of strange to be there with a bunch of American cadets and Uncle Vanya, their kind... or commander... Ruler? Chief? Lord?
The rest of the week is filled with even more confusion, expecially since it has now been 3 weeks since it happened. I know we returned to babies one afternoon and got a double babies day which was literally the best day of my life. The guys all had to do manual labor and dig tires into the ground. Sveta, Masha, and I played Super Sveta and watched them. I would say those were pretty equal jobs, right? I also know we went to the mall with Asya and Big Sveta and I bought pants and they tried to convince us that Sveta does in fact really enjoy hanging out with a boiserous group of American volunteers and that we're not just forcing her to occupy her every weekend entertaining us. We also watched a movie called Moose: A Domestic Spider Cow that showed way too much about moose birth and moose suckling. That is the image I will leave you with. You're welcome.
OMG claire. i have just completed your trip blog thus far and it is absolutely hilarious. i had no idea you were such a talented writer and comedienne! the moose stuff is too funny and all the other stuff sounds like felini-was-here.
ReplyDeletewe all send you our love xxxoxoox and big tessa hugs!