I Survived

I've been home from survival camp for nearly a week, so I guess it's safe to say that I survived. Camp was a lot of fun. It wasn't the rugged adventure I was expecting, but it was still a great experience.

We ended up camping on the outskirts of a small town in western Ukraine called Kosiv. Kosiv is a two hour marshrutka ride away from the city of Chernivsti. It's on the edge of the Carpathian mountains.

There were eleven or so PCVs who worked at the camp. We arrived a day before the kids. All of us were expecting a fairly significant hike to our campsite. So you can imagine our suprise when our "hike" from the "trail-head" (AKA some family's front yard) to our campsite (AKA the field behind some family's house) ended up being a mere 15 feet. There were two potatoe fields on the hillside next to our campgrounds. We used well water from the houses in the neighborhood below us. One family lent us pots and pans, another family lent us blinkets and yet another family let some of the boys crash their house to watch Ukraine in a World Cup game.

The kids who came to the camp were great. They were mostly all university students with very good english skills. They had to speak english the whole time they were there. They were broken up into teams and speaking Russian or Ukrainian would lose their team points.

The team I counciled, team Explosion, came in dead last the points competition. As my co-counciler Jeff said, we were an Explosion of apathy. It didn't matter though, the kids still had a great time. My email is flooded with emails from girls who were at the camp all talking about how much fun they had and how much they miss it.

The best thing about camping so close to town was that we could go into town frequently and swim in the river. The river in Kosiv was beautiful. It was clean and deep in parts and fast. It was like paradise.

The kids learned survival skills. The only survival skill I was able to teach was the hemlick (which I know I can't spell). While I was teaching, I kept wanting to call it the heneiken. At least that I can spell. I learned a lot of survival skills that I didn't know before, like how to build a fire, tie knotts, and build a shelter. I feel ready to take on the wilderness now, for real.

One day we went on a hike. Our guide, Alexsander, took us straight up the side of the mountain. I was huffing and puffing. I didn't know if I could make it. Towards the end I was literally lifting my legs and forcing them to take steps. It was beautiful in the mountains.

This is a rather unfocused blog. I apologize for that. I'm writing it as fast as I can because I fear that my internet time will be up at any moment. I'll write again soon though, I promise, and regale you with tales of my exciting 4th of July swim with pond scum. Good stuff, so stay tuned.