I Can't Dance

A dramatic reenactment of my waking movements this morning.

     Thus the last day of camp dawned; with yawns like caverns and skies like slate. Is it really Friday? I suppose it is. A friend asked me if this camp was going fast for me. Throughout this whole week, I've only had this concept of Friday in my head as a distant thing. I've been trying to take the events of the week one thing at a time. When I start thinking too far ahead, I begin to get overwhelmed by the number of things on my plate.
      If you want to do anything like this, the key is to take things one step at a time. Don't rush ahead and focus on one big task while neglecting the others in between now and then. Don't think too much about the difficulties. You have enough to think about today and even this hour. 

³⁴ “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:34

     You might be wondering by now about that title. Dancing and worrying aren't usually in the same thought process. What it is related to was Friday night's disco tech. But let me back up.

Jesse leading Friday's devotion.

     Morning came way too early. I finally rolled out of the team gathering around 1:15AM. I felt like I wanted to stay. But I knew if I was there any longer, I might not be able to function for a long time in the morning. It was a lot of fun spending time like that with fellow believers, both Ukrainian and American.
     Jesse led the morning devotional during the team meeting. Did I mention those before? The whole staff meets at 7:30 from Tuesday to Friday to discuss a few details about the day and to share some quiet time before the craziness of the day takes over our concentration. It's a good time to wake up slowly. I like to have one or two cups of tea during that time to usher me out of my nightly stupor and into full cognitive abilities. A good black tea with some sugar. Add some milk to bring the color to a light brown. It gives it a creamy, earthy flavor with just enough sweetness to smooth things out.

Мой чай с молоком (tea with milk)

     The staff meeting was followed up by morning exercises and breakfast. I usually skip exercises to work on the blog and to continue waking up in my own way. That nectar pictured to the right is a big help on tired mornings after a long day.
     Today on the schedule was a time labeled "worship." Over the week, we've been showing bits a pieces of who we are as Christians to the students. After the performance last night, the next step was showing how we worship on Sunday. The worship time today was a truncated version of the standard Sunday format. Big City's worship team led three songs and Rich gave a short message. Looking around, I think I counted six students who joined us. Unlike every other event this week, worship was not mandatory. The staff didn't want to force their faith on anyone. Yeah, I know. But what about the Way Home lectures? Way Home isn't preaching. It's a logical presentation of faults and fallacies while presenting a faith-based alternative.
     Immediately following worship was our final English lesson. I did this last year with my group and wanted to try it again. For the first half, we just talked. I asked questions designed to get them to converse and express their opinions. Mainly it was an interview about their feelings from camp. Interestingly, every student vigorously answered yes to the question, "Would you recommend this camp to your friends who are learning English?" Things like that make me feel a lot better about the energy expended in pursuit of this camp. My main goal on the last day was to gauge their improvement (largely due to increased comfort with speaking) as well as encourage them to continue their learning.
     For the second half, I taught them how to play Spot It. That drew a lot of laughs and enjoyment. The games this week during the active part of English seemed to be more interesting. In the future, I'll have to figure out more ways to integrate the active and instructional parts.
     It was kind of a bittersweet moment. I knew it was the end of class and was glad. But at the same time, I wouldn't have minded a few more lessons. Particularly if I could have helped them with their reading comprehension a little more. There is almost always more we could do. In the end though, we do our best and then have to move on.

Bryson, Max, Dasha, Nastia, Sergei, Austin, Misha, Tanya, me and Yulia

     But move on we did. The rest of the afternoon passed relatively quietly. Too quietly it seems because I almost fell asleep twice. Lunch, dance lessons, Way Home, and then dinner. I did start zoning out hard during the pre-Way Home discussion. And then came the closing ceremony.
     Wow, was that fun and interesting. The camp photographers put together a video of the first 4 days of camp that was awesome. They even caught my knee slide on the quest and me juggling frisbees. We also gave the students their gifts. It was a backpack that held their diplomas, a Pez dispenser, a notebook and a few other little things. Plus we had an open mic time for people to express their thanks to staff and students alike. Most of the Americans who spoke said something in Russian. Although I messed up and said "I want to sleep" instead of "I want to say." Oh well. I blame the lack of sleep and being put on the spot. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

     Preceding and following the closing ceremony was a chance for people to take pictures in their disco getup. Even though I didn't dress up, I did get in on the fun. There are probably going to be some awkward photos floating around. If you see one with me in it....umm, it was the delirium from not sleeping much last night.

     Speaking of disco getup, Kristen and Joan spent probably an hour helping people do their hair and get done up for the dance. The fruits of their labor are displayed above, including Giulio's fro. Joan was kind enough to wash and clean my comb that she borrowed. There were untold layers of hair spray and other cosmological chemicals on it before the cleaning.
     It's been my goal this trip to write and publish one blog post every day. So far I've be successful. Although tonight I think I'll have to finish this one off tomorrow. This has been a packed day and it's still going at 11:10 PM. The schedule still has a bonfire on it so I think that'll be going late too. Without the hard lights out, it'll be a late night. I'll talk to you tomorrow. For now, enjoy these funny pictures.

Zhenya, Phil, and Sasha

Detective Natasha

Jesse getting his shoes tied together.