"Calyn is not yet dead"

I've been humming Ukraine's national anthem ("Ukraine is not yet dead," uplifting title, huh?) all morning and I figured I should let you all know that I too am not yet dead. My email at camp just started working again the day before yesterday so I am very sorry to you all for not responding to your emails yet. I will try my best to write you all back as soon as I can, but know that they are sooooo appreciated and they really make my day.

Let me just say CAMP IS AMAZING. This first camp was about the coolest thing EVER. The south carolina team left this morning from the airport and I don't think I've ever cried before when a team left, but that one I for sure did. They were an absolutely awesome team and we had such a great time together.

I wanted to share some pictures, but I dont' know if they will work or not...

Me and Leo, one of our translators, got to introduce a kid named Denis to Jesus this week. Please pray for him. He has an amazing youth pastor and that is good, but he really needs your prayers. This is him.





This is Lena. She was one of my campers last year and she is so sweet.





This is Madison and we're travel buddies!!! I love Madison so much and she's staying for camp 2! Heck yes!!!



This is Sasha and I swear she speaks english better than me. She's from New Life church and I'm pumped because I get to see her in the fall.



This is Alosha and he's a leader from New Life. Him and Carli are BFF. :0) He says "Hi," Carli. I get to hang out with him too. Yeeesssss.



This is me, Shleb, and some of our campers. Sasha is the one between me and Shleb and she really needs your prayers too.

This week of camp was just awesome and I am so excited about the second one starting tomorrow.

By the way...WORLD CUP FEVER, like all the way. It is so incredible to be in Ukraine while they're playing in the world cup. When Ukraine played last week and they won in overtime, the entire camp was screaming the national anthem and everyone was painting themselves blue and yellow and grabbing flags and it was just awesome. Tonight's another game, so I'm pumped about that.

Love you guys so much!

It's the Moment You've All Been Waiting For...

Pictures from Poland!

Before we get there, I would just like to say that oyster-bomb scares at the Tallahassee Airport are unacceptable on the day Jenna needs to leave to come to Ukraine. For those of you who haven't heard this story, Sappy tells it best. Here is his detailed report to me this morning:

hey! jenna got out GREAT! So, like there was ALOT of people waiting in the lines because there was the bomb thingy. So what happened (the bomb thingy) was there was a food reporter and she was doing a report thing and she had honey and oysters in a bag along with her camera stuff and they thought she was making a bomb in the oysters so they evacuated the building. and that was only half of the hold up. the other part was that there was a HUGE line outside the airport to park. so my dad and i were going and i saw the accident and i yelled "its diane!!!" because, like, diane ashburn got in the accident because someone in front of her slammed on brakes so she ran into him or her and he, like, messed up her front end so ya that was the hold up. And so then jenna's mom went to the front desk to ask the lady a question and for some reason she let us skip 25 people and go to the front of the line. then we did that and went to security...another long line. but it wasnt too long and luckily the flight was delayed an hour because of the honey n' oysters. But, like, mr. paul and mrs. lisa were like, "o my gosh i cant believe she made it" and all and if she hadn't cut in the line she wouldn not have. so hopefully she will not get any more delays!!

Unfortunately, Jenna was delayed a little more...We were supposed to pick up the summer staff at the airport at 10:30, but their direct flight from New York to Kyiv somehow ended up in Milan. Explain that one. Maybe they can catch a soccer game. Anyway, they should be here soon.

Now, Poland pictures!

Okay, well, the place I uploaded my pictures is being dumb, so if you just go to this link they will be there.

Sorry about that...

Here's a couple, though.



My name!



Flowers!



Lori and a fish!



Me and Lori



Dennis took us to the train station. Yay!

"Tch toe yest twoy Smok?"

"Yes. That's Polish they're speaking, and no, these kids aren't Polish..." (Remember the Muzzy commercials?) So that's my Polish phrase of the day. It means "Is that your dragon?" Apparently dragons are big in Krakow. There are statues of dragons, postcards of dragons, restaurants named after dragons...I like dragons. I think I may buy a stuffed dragon if I see one. POLAND IS AMAZING! I love it. Like, I would stay here for a long time. I highly recommend it. It's cheap, beautiful and everyone speaks English. Like, seriously.
After a 16 hour train ride we arrived in Krakow (I still haven't figured out if it's Krakow or Cracow...) and it's been raining ever since. But it is amazing so it doesn't even matter. I think we're going to the Pope's house tomorrow. (Not the Vatican. Like, the old Pope's house. John Paul. Known affectionately to the all-summer staff last year as "J.P." Thanks, Josh.)
One last thing- THERE IS HOT WATER!!! (And diet pepsi.) Uuuurrrrrraaaaa!

Yeah, you know you wish you had some clothespins

This is pretty much the best picture ever. I just love Lori's face. Me and Roma played with clothespins today. :0) It's pretty fun hanging out at the office. We're leaving tonight at 10:40 to go to Poland...yeeesssss.

Daniel is trying to update the Radooga website, so he was asking the Staff questions about themself to put on the website. He tried asking Lori and didn't get too far and then Oleg Magdych came in the room and so he decided to try him.









Daniel: So, Oleg, how old are you?
Magdych: 20-something.
Daniel: Okay, so 30. What is your position here?
Magdych: I'm standing upright.
Daniel: (trying a different approach) Why do they pay you?
Magdych: Because they're dumb.
Daniel: Okay...who's your hero?
Magdych: My son.
Daniel: Which one?
Magdych: Yan.
Daniel: How old is he?
Magdych: Looks desperately to me and Lori. Um...3...? Hey, do you know how to remember your wife's birthday? No? Forget it once.
Daniel: Okay, thanks for that.

Daniel gave up shortly after that. Check that website to see if it ever gets updated...
I'll try to take lots of pictures of Poland. I know, I know, me taking pictures...sounds crazy, huh?

Sunday!

Yesterday was a very exciting day. We went to our friend Roma's church and after running around like chickens with our heads cut off (because we slept through our alarms…both me and Lori's…pathetic, I know) we made it to the church and we were late, of course, but we snuck in and there was a spot for the two of us and when I sat down I noticed I was sitting right next to my friends Larry and Elaine that I got stuck with in Paris! I could see the little Dutch kids in my head singing "It's a Small World."
So after church we met some people that go there and hung out with Larry and Elaine and they introduced us to their friend Cliff who is a full-time missionary here and he said he would let us know if he had things we could help them do in the fall. Larry and Elaine are on a train to Mariupol right now to work with 2-week teams of Americans in orphanages doing vacation Bible schools and such down there. They said that when I finished doing camp with Radooga I could come down and help them and I think that would be AWESOME! I'm excited about that.

Lori, Amberly and I are going to Poland on Thursday so Amberly can get her visa renewed and then when we get back the American summer staff will arrive. (Most of you know what that means- JENNA!) We move to camp on the 16th and I am really excited about moving to camp for one reason- hot water. I have yet to experience the joy of hot water since I've gotten here so I'm looking forward to a hot shower. Our hot water was supposed to be turned back on in our apartment but I have a feeling it might be a while.

Here are some pictures from Sunday. :0)




Me and Roma at Nikita's house



Ronald the Cat. He's not mean even though he looks mean.



He just needs his apron to say "Kiss the Cook."



Wow, check out the hotdogs.



Nikita "cooking."



This is Larry and Elaine, the couple I met in the airport in Paris. We missed our flight together and ended up at the same church on Sunday. It's a small world...



Nikita trying to rip apart the bag Carli gave me. I yelled at him, Carli.



That's sweet, Nikita.



Us scarfing ice cream.



Me playing Nikita's guitar. David said I looked Spanish.

Saturday Strolling

Me and Lori at the Levoberezhna metro stop.



Check out the guy behind Lori. He looks like he's about to kill her.



GUESS WHAT!? Today was the day of the Ukrainian Icecream Festival. Why? We don't know. But we're not complaining. Roma and Lori posed for a picture. Look how sweet that is, him trying to snatch her icecream. Awww, Roma.



The stage where a band was playing songs about...I don't know...I don't think icecream, but maybe.



Me, Roma and Lori walked around and stopped at the lookout point near the big arch.



Roma and Lori



The Dnipro



Me and Lori



OH MY GOSH!!! We saw a camel!!! John will be so proud. :0)

We went to New Format's youth group and after the youth service we all went to Pyzata Khata for dinner. Fun times.



Me and Anton



Syoma



Syoma in his amazing Poozata Khata hat. Oh yeah. He's cool.



Me and Lori practicing our Lerah-picture-taking skills



Alex is one of the cutest kids ever.



Me and Lori in Pyzata Khata hats. We are cool too. Lori wants me to point out that she "is cooler than Syoma." So there.

More pictures!!!

I love pictures. Do you know that? Probably. Anyway, I actually remembered my camera today so photos for all.



This is the view from the Radooga office. It's on the 24th floor. How cool is that?



This is the other side. It was rainy today so it doesn't look that pretty, but it usually is.



Lori in awe over the new tea maker. See the red light coming from it? It's like Paul's frisbee. It turns red, then blue, then green. I love it.



This was our party last night for Dennis. It was his last day working for Radooga so we made him pictures and wrote letters and made cake. Yeeesss.



Me and Lori




Our cakes. We had to bake them in 2 pans because we didn't have a pan big enough for them to cook in. Oh, and that whole "preheat oven to 375" thing? Yeah, that doesn't happen either. :0)



So pretty.



Dennis is very excited about his cake. :0)

Today I bought a green umbrella from a lady in the metro. It is amazing. It's, like, iridescent and it was raining today so I was happy to have it. I didn't want to drown my laptop. That would not be a good idea.
I need a name for my umbrella. I am taking suggestions.

Hasha Kvartira

Alrighty people, the moment you've all been waiting for! Pictures! I admit that I have been very slacking on the picture taking and it's not on purpose it's just that I keep forgetting to take my camera places. I know, pathetic. So here are some pictures of my roommies and our apartment. :0)



Me and Amberly.



Me and Lori's room (and pictures everywhere. Yeeesssss.)



Me and Lori's beds. Mine is the one with the blue blanket.



My bed. Complete with the Steeler's towel that I have yet to find a place for but I'm working on it. Oh, and my "This Present Darkness" book on my bed, yeah, that's a funny story. (Not the book. My story. That book is awesome if you've never read it.) I've read it like, 8 times and I've always gotten it from the library but Miss Cindy had it at her garage sale, so I bought it. Well, I was reading it the other day on the airplane and I got to page 143 and when I went to the next page nothing made any sense anymore. Well, I realized it skips from page 143 to page 193 and then repeats the 50 pages over again. Oh well. I guess after the 8th time I should know what's happening. It was rather sad, though. I finally have that book in my possession and it's missing 6 chapters.



This is really late and I'm playing with my camera. Lori is being very productive working on her computer, don't you think?



This is our kitchen. It is so cute.



This is us having a dance party in the living room. Those are light up microphones they're holding. Yes they're awesome. They're from the Ukrainian dollar store. Well, more like the $1.58 store.



Me singing oh so pretty.



Oh, what's going on there? Oh, what? Cooking! Yes. Cooking, Carli.

Alright, well that is all for now. I will keep you guys updated. :0) Arrivederci!