Who Can It Be Now?

     That was the question today in the big event; the Living Library. But, unlike the story in the song, it wasn't a bad thing today. For those who don't remember or who don't want to dig through my backlog of posts, the Living Library is an event to encourage relationship growth between students and staff (both American and Ukrainian).

     After the morning's festivities (exercises, 2.5 hours of English, and lunch), we were given our directions for the two hour event labeled on the schedule as "Fun." There would be three stations. The first was table games, the second was the American staff, and the third was the Ukrainian staff. The color teams would rotate among the different stations every 45 minutes. And in both staff stations, the students would rotate among the staff for a chance to talk to whomever they wanted. With a total of 19 students this year, the ratio was really good for students to get a chance to talk.
     So the question, "Who can it be now," was just asking, "Who do I get to talk to next?" As we went through, I noticed a few common themes. Joan absolutely loved talking with the ladies. I heard plenty of giggling coming from her side of the room. Giulio loved talking about funny or embarrassing situations. I liked making my "reader" do most of the talking. Overall, it was fun. According to Zhenya, "it was really, really, fun."

Giulio holding court in the Living Library

     The rest of the day, besides English, was typical camp. Team time in the morning, meals, more evening team time, capture the flag and games.
     I want to interject, if it ever feels like this might be interesting to you, get in contact with one of us from the team and we can give you more information about joining the team next year.
     Speaking of the team, in general, we're all doing well. This morning, after the staff meeting, the American team had our own meeting. We went around the circle to talk about how we were feeling. The consensus seemed to be that we're tired but otherwise good. We all have individual challenges. But by the Grace of God, we seem to be handling it well so far. I'll keep you apprised as the week goes on.

These staff shirts are more comfortable than those from last year.

     Personally, I got more than 5 hours of sleep last night which I think is more than I had each night over the weekend. I was tired when I woke up but was feeling a lot better. I've learned over the years that if I get tired, I become short tempered and extremely sarcastic. The best thing I can do then is be alone and get some sleep. That's not always possible here at camp considering the intense schedule. Thankfully, I slept fairly well last night. It may not have been as much as I needed. But it was enough. That and the 6 cups of tea I've had today. Addendum, I thought I had 6. While I was typing this, my 6th disappeared. Later, I managed to drink a 6th around dinner time. Oddly enough, I felt like I got more energy as the day went on. Writing this now right before bed time, I feel wired like I won't be able to sleep right away.
     So with all that in mind, I have a couple of prayer requests from the team:

• Continuing strength, health and good sleep
• Mental fortitude to endure the challenges of camp
• Openness for students whom we talk to
• The right words for any conversations we have with students

      Back to the camp activities. Yesterday we were assigned a "secret friend" upon whom we have to bestow gifts and kindness. The only catch is that they can't know who it is. I already did one thing for mine. But I'll have to get creative to keep it going.
     It rained today. Like yesterday and every day this trip so far. Today was more of a soaker. It put the capture-the-flag field out of commission due to high sand content mixing with the rain. In lieu of that we played table games for a while. I got sucked into a Ukrainian version of Uno. It includes all sorts of extra rules that make for lots of laughing and mock hurt feelings. We played for almost 2 hours before getting kicked out to go to bed.

Dutch Blitz was a noisy game tonight.

That's Marusya my team leader with her tongue out.

     I'm finishing this off now so I can try and get a reasonable amount of sleep. It's 11:27 by the clock on my laptop and I still have an email to write and photos to upload. I'll see you tomorrow.