Smokin'

     Don't worry, I'm not smoking. It's the temperature this week that is. It's 32C outside as I write this. We're preserving. Luckily the forecast for the remainder of the week is much cooler.
     So, the first day of Liberty English camp is finally here. After months of planning and hard work, we are finally neck deep in the details of actually running the camp. I'm writing from my phone so don't expect an amazing post. But I'll do my best.

     We're at a place south of Kiev called Жовтен (Zhovten). It's a sanitarium in the full sense of the word. The staff and campers are sharing space on the territory with people who are recovering from injuries and surgeries as well as pregnant women. The facility provides a "comfortable" place to rest while they work on getting back to normal life. So our presence is unusual and causes many strange looks. Not only from our purpose, but from our staff as well.
     I mentioned that we have two foreign teams helping here this week. Jerry Rahm, who I met last year before the Big City retreat, brought a team from his church. Sam, Jim, Paul, Hannah and Jerry flew all the way from Austin, Texas to help. And they are very American. Rachel and Elliot, whom I met a year ago, came with Andrew, Tallis, and (another) Rachel  from Manchester in the UK. Minus the British accent, Andrew would be a perfect fit with the Texas team.
     This first day of camp got off to a very rough start. Almost nothing was ready for us here, facility - wise. Eventually we got things sorted out. Like in the past, the facility isn't exactly certain what to do with is. I was told they are still of the Soviet mindset where customer service is concerned.
     Our main purpose today is to get everyone into the flow of camp. Icebreakers, rules, instructions, games and the first English lesson and spiritual talk. So far, despite a few rough starts, we've prevailed and made a fun day.
     Lunch was good. Typically Ukrainian food. I didn't get to ask the rest of the team what they thought of it. But here was a joke from Vova that we'll be eating dill for lunch. He wasn't wrong. It was on the potatoes.
     English is always tough on the first day. The students don't know what to expect and the teachers are still trying to get a feel for the skills of the students. The beginner group had a rough start. Fortunately I was there to provide some ideas and moral support. The rest of the session went much better. Tomorrow's plan is different because the schedule is closer to normal. We'll have two hours of academic English and then an hour of fun English.
     My task this year is much closer to an advisor than teacher. And I'm glad of it. It allows me to float around to different classes to get and give ideas. It also means I can relax a bit. After completing two English camps already this summer, I need it. The Texas and Manchester teams prepared all their own lessons. I only need to fill in or help when they need it.
     After English, Max rolled right into his series of talks this weeks. He got a lot of good interactions from the students. I think they mostly like hearing what he has to say. The focus today, if I'm following the translation, is the meaning of life.
     We finished off the day with dance class and opening ceremonies. Yeah, it's a bit odd to finish the night with that, but that's how the schedule dictated things go. We showed the introductory movies from the different teams. The Texas and Manchester teams finished theirs on Sunday. Tim and I thought we were free from participating but Vova roped us in on a break.
     That's all I've got for now. Time to rest and get rid of this headache. I'll try to write more tomorrow. For now, enjoy some pictures.
     Also, I've posted a few pictures on Instagram of some of the interesting things here. If you want to see them, look for @paucmarc there. I'll also continue adding to the "What I've Seen" page so check those out.

Max's van packed to the gills.