Camp 2!

Camp 2 was definitely one of my favorites. We only had 6 people on our American team, so I got to teach a pre-beginner English class and it was so much fun.



Me, Tyoma and Jake



Derek was so much fun! D-Core!



Justin and Nekita at the fountain at Independence Square



Oleg and his son, Yan.



Playing steal the bacon in English class.



Yura and Dima were definitely the two best players out there



My class played Jake and Carli's class. I'm not sure who won, but it was really fun.



Me and Big Yura.



My English class when Brian and Jessica came to visit. They were from team 3 and were learning about english classes.



Jessica, Masha, Lena, Sveta, me, Olya, Nadia, Dima, Yura, Yura, Brian, Yuraslav, Natasha, and Sergey



Me and Lena.



Kids praying to receive Christ during repentence night.



Me and my translator, Natasha. Natasha wasn't a Christian when she came to camp, but she accepted Christ later that week. It was incredible. She came back to visit periodically that summer just to see us.



This is the poster that Lori and Skeef's advanced class made them. It's hanging on Lori's wall. It's so awesome.



Me and Yura. He was probably my favorite. :0) I love him.



Sergey doing the camp dance. That was one of my favorite things to do at camp. It was so much fun.



Worship! Singing "Let Everything that Has Breath" in Russian. Derek, I want you to know that your Russlish version of that song is still being sung by the staff. "pu so so dicit"!



Oleg M. took the Administrative team bowling and it was soooo much fun. I hadn't gone bowling in like, 7 years, but it was still great. And on the way there we got to ride in a rollercoaster! Oleg drove the van around the cul-da-sac really, really fast and we went flying all over the van. It was awesome! This is Masha, me and Olya in the back seat.



We had a party the night before Olya left to hang out complete with chocoalte, dancing and translating.



Carli, Amberly and Olya



me, Lori and Veronica. It was late....



Zhenya, Tyoma and Tanya. Zhenya and Tanya are twins (obviously) and they were in Lori and Skeef's English class. They speak better English than both Americans and are absolutely hillarious. Their favorite phrases are "Hey, ya'll guys..." and "You're killin' me, Smalls!" We sang Newsboys songs together and took crazy pictures all week.



Anton came to visit one day! He walked up to me and said, "I'm looking for a kharoshee yozhek..." :0)



Me and Syoma



Justin and Derek lookin' hot in their sunglasses.



Anton, me, Lori and Daniel



Me and Sergey



me and the girlies from Odessa. I got to see them when we went to Odessa for the day.



Me and guys from my English class, Dima, Yura and Yura.



Me and Yura again



Me and Derek at 5:00 in the morning before they left. Gotta love Derek's hat. :0)

Pictures!!!

Hey, I'll kinda be doing this in shifts, but I wanted to put pictures on my blog, both for all of you so that you could see pictures of the trip, and for myself to serve as a short of journal so I wouldn't have to scrapbook everything. (It would take forever, cost money, and I really don't have that much patience to scrapbook all of this. I love blogs.)
So, here's camp 1!




Carli and Jake



Skiffy!



Me and Carli in the van



It's Lena! She's so beautiful!



It's me!



The original Mafia party!



How was I the only one who knew the Mafia was Andrey? I mean, come on, he looks guilty. This is Dima, Andrey and Tanya. They are pretty much the coolest people ever. Except that Andrey convinced everyone that I was the mafia, when really I was just an innocent civilian. Whatever, Andrey. :0)



Vita, me, Jake, Veronica, Lena, Justin and Braylon at the Arch in Kyiv. Each week we took the team of new Americans on a scavenger hunt in Kyiv.



Me and Vita at the Opera House



Skeef, me, Katie and Ben at the Orange Revolution "Museum". Needless to say, we didn't pay the 5 hryevnas to get in...



Team 1 in Kyiv



The translators from Team 1. Denis, Vita, Katya, Ina, Anya and Valya. Denis and Vita stayed all summer and they were awesome.



Ben, me, Skeef and Katie at Indepence Square during our scavenger hunt. We were demonstrating being "Free to Fly"



Lori and Roma



Josh and Robert. They were from Pensacola, from Mark's church.





Recreation!



Taras is one of the kids from the orphanage behind our camp. I met him last year and when I got to camp this year, he was here. That was pretty cool.



Olya, Ira, Veronica and Oleg



Me, Jake, Roma, Tyoma, Veronica and Ira



Mark and one of the kids from the orphanage. Mark and Jenn are getting ready to adopt kids from Ukraine. I'm so excited for them. :0)



Me and one of the boys from the orphanage.



Rec



Spirit stick! Fortunately, there was spirit in the stick on this day.



Amberly, me, Vita, Anya, and Masha.



Rasta Roma!



Denis and Carli announcing the team of the week



Vera, Tanya and I. Vera is the girl I wrote about earlier who is deaf. And Tanya is one of her counselors. They were so awesome!



Eduardo and I. Eduardo's father was from Columbia and he lived there for a while, so he spoke Spanish. It was fun talking to him, because when I didn't understand something in Russian, he'd try it in Spanish and I could usually catch most of what he said between the two. :0)



Josh looking oh-so-excited at his computer... He made the videos of the day for Party Zone. He did a great job.



Daniel was one of the kids I hung out with a lot from Camp 1. He was so sweet and he helped me practice my Russian.



Dan, one of the youth pastors that came from Team 1 decided to lip-synch to Toby Mac for Party Zone. It was hillarious.



English Class



Braylon, Anya and Justin



Tyoma, Lori, me, Vita and Roma

Talk about answered prayers...

Wow, God is incredible. Last night it was altar call night and about
100 teenagers gave their lives to Christ. I really don't have words
to type to try to explain what it's like to witness that. All I can
say is it was miraculous. Thank you so much for your prayers.
Monday I'm leaving, so this is probably the last blog I'll write from
Ukraine. I'm starting to tear up typing this. Okay. Anyway, I can't
believe how fast these 8 weeks have gone by. It's amazing how you can
be thousands of miles away from your house, your city, your church,
and your friends but still feel so much at home. People who don't
know Christ will never understand the bond that comes simply from
knowing Jesus. You can speak a different language and come from a
totally different culture, but the moment you find out you have Christ
in common with someone, it's like you're instantaneously connected.
Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for me as you
read the things I've been writing while I've been here. You've played
an important role in what God has done in Ukraine. Isn't that exciting?
And as I'm sitting here thinking about leaving Lori behind and not
seeing her until December, it's kinda sad, but it's so awesome to be
able to see how God has orchestrated everything so perfectly and we
both know that it's God's will for her to stay and me to go. I'm so
excited for her and I'm hoping to join her soon. :0)
I love you all and I'll see a lot of you on Monday.
Keep on praying!
Arrivederci!
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of
witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that
so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked
out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of
our faith..."
Hebrews 12:1-2

Privyet Everyone!

Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long. My email still isn't working, so
I've been using Lori's, but I think it might be working now
Camp 5 started yesterday and I have a feeling it's
going to be a really great camp. The team is awesome. There's Todd,
Tamara, Nicole, Jenna and Diane, of course, and then there's 21 people
from Charleston and one guy from Birmingham. They're so excited
about the kids, which is really cool. Be praying on Friday around
12:30-1:30 p.m. EST because that's repentence night and we could
really use your prayers. I'm telling you now because it seems like
whenever I remember to tell you guys when repentence night is they
don't send the email for a like, a week. so mark your calendars. :0)
Oh, speaking of calendars, you know how I always say my name's "like
calendar without the -dar?", well, Allen, a guy who was here last week
gave me an easier idea. My name's just Allen with a "C". But I kinda
like "calendar without the dar" better. We'll see. Maybe Jake, Lori
and I will conduct some experiments this week.
Last night was Taylor's last night here, so we decided to do one more
interview for you all.

Jake: Just start typing.
Taylor: The vintage 21. There's this thing called Vintage 21, right.
Okay, guys...
Jake: Oh my gosh. My ear just popped! I was just laughing and...
Jake: It's a website. Vintage 21. Its' a website. Vintage21.com.
I said .com in the first place. Yes. So, it's Jesus, it's one of
those old Jesus movies with overdubbing.
Carli: Oh no.
Jake: And He (jesus) walks up to all the people, like the Sermon on
the MOunt and he says: "So many sinners..." but in a cheesy
voice, It's a christian website but it shows people's skewed versions
of Jesus. Like, what non-Christians think about Jesus.
So like I said, Jesus says, "So many sinners. There is no hope..." in
the cheesy/gay voice. Okay, so it's time for a change of subject.
Okay, so there was this one time when I was in California...
Taylor: Okay, Jake, I'm going to bed.
Carli: Good ngiht, Tay-Tay.
Jake: Fine, just go.
Taylor: I have to go.
Jake: NO, it's fine. Just go.
Taylor: Hey, I think I broke my pinky.
Jake: It looks like a normal pinky to me.
Taylor: I think I broke it like, last year, but then I banged it on
the table today.
Jake: Aren't you going to bed?
Taylor: Maybe I don't wanna
Jake: Carli wants you to go to bed cause she's the Rule Nazi.
Carli: Goodnight.
Jake: What were we talking about before Calyn came in here? Oh, tell
everyone this. Okay, read David Crowder's book, "Praise Habit". It's
so good, it's so funny and it's so good. That's 3 things: good,
funny and good. Can you say "good squared"? Can you just say it with
your mouth?
Calyn: Good squared.
Jake: Thank you. Yes, you need to read that book.
Taylor: Good night everybody.
*Looking longingly at the staircase and the first story far below.*
Taylor: Do you think I could jump that?
Lori/Carli/Calyn: NO!
Jake: YES!
Taylor: I just wanna try it.
Lori: Who's going to the hospital with you when you kill yourself?
Jake: DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!
Lori: Good night, Taylor.
*Taylor descends the staircase (on foot)*
Jake: Uh, I'm stuck with girls again.

Okay, well, there's the legacy of Taylor. He's going to bed. At
least he didn't jump down the staircase. That's a plus. I hope
ya'll have a great day. Arrivederci!

Where in the world is....TEAM 5?

Calyn: And now it's time for an interview with Jake and Lori.
Jake: Nothing crazy's happened to me lately. Like, I haven't been
kicked by a horse or anything.
Calyn: Where do you think team 5 is?
Jake: I know exactly where they are!
Braylon: At your mom's house?
Jake: No, lil' Bray-Bray
Braylon: What's she (Calyn) doing?
Lori: An interview. She's typing everything that you say.
Braylon: So, did she type that? OH AWESOME!
Jake: You shut up. This is my interview.
Braylon: Whatever.
Jake: Nyet! Braylon. Shut up.
Calyn: Where are they?
Jake: As I said, I know exactly where they are. They're in Europe.
More specifically, they're in the City of Love.
Calyn: The city of love?
Jake: You know it. With the boats and crappy music and... crap.
People kissin', people wearing white and black striped shirts rowing a
boat with a pole. How do you do that anyway, row a boat with a pole?
Lori: Pretty sure the pole hits the bottom.
Jake: I think the pole pushes off the bottom. So, that means it's
not very deep. So is it stagnant? And if it's not, if it flows, do
they have to row up river? Cause that would be hard.
Calyn: I think you should ask them.
Jake: Team 5?
Calyn: No, the people who row the boats.
Jake: But team 5 would definitely know, cause they're there
getting their love on.
lk (tyoma did that)
*Tyoma enters the room.
Calyn: Type, Tyoma.
Tyoma: I, don't know English.
Calyn: So, have you ever been to the city of love, Jake E. Poo?
Jake: Yes, many times with my many lovers. No, actually I've never
been. But I long to. Yes, I said, "long". It's a good word. I long
for you to ask me another question.
Calyn: ummm...
Jake: I'm gonna see how many times I can say "long" in my sentence to
answer your question. NO, don't tell them that.
Calyn: Too late.
Jake: Okay, shoot.
Calyn: Honey is the only food that doesn't expire. Why is that?
Jake: I have long since longed for a long answer to that long
question. Honey has a long expiration. period. Like the word.
Calyn: Okay.
Jake: Honey has a long expiration period. And it's because I long
for you to know this that I will give you a long answer. Deep in the
woods where the long trees grow, long haired bears with their long
claws and long arms reach longingly toward the long beehives and grab
a long handful of honey that they've longed for for a long time. YES!
Lori: That still doesn't answer the question.
Jake: So,
Lori: "So" really big with capital letters.
Jake: SO, SO, SO, it might please your longing to know, no, it might
satisfy your longing to know that there's a special chemical underneath
the long claws of the long haired bears. And the chemical is made up
of a long strand of complex... crap. And it is this crap that makes
honey last so long.
Lori: How many longs is that?
Calyn: Let's see...
Jake: That's a lot. It's a "long" list...hahaha. 23.
Calyn: wow.
Jake: that's a good number, 23.
Calyn: Yeah it is. Are we done?
Jake: Um, long, long, long. Yes. Now write, no wait, go to
parenthesis and write 26.
Calyn: Where?
Jake: Right now.
Calyn: (26)
Jake: Good. Okay. Goodbye.

That's all for today, folks. Hope you're having agreat day. Hope
team 5 makes it out of Paris... we'll let you know. Arrivederci!

Hey everybody! Camp 4 is well underway and I can't believe that team
5 (complete with Todd, Jenna, Diane, Tamara and Nicole) comes
tomorrow. This has gone by so fast. It's been really fun this week,
because my friend from camp one, Tanya, who was a counselor with a
group from the first camp is back again. Last night me, Vita, Justin
and Cliff went and hung out with her after lights outand had a chocoalte/tea
party.
Tanya wanted to share her testimony with us and I thought I would
share it with you all because it really touched me and it showed me
how incredible our God really is in what he brings people out of.
Tanya was born in a nice family but for whatever reason, she never
wanted to be at home, so she would always go out with her friends
whenever possible. When she was 12 some guys from her school asked
her to go to a movie with the two of them, so she went. While they
were at the movie they got really bored because it was a stupid movie
and so they snuck out of the movie and went to this park. Tanya woke
up the next morning and found she'd been beat up and raped. To make
matters worse, the guys who did that to her spread the news all over
her school and she lived in a small town so she was pretty much
shunned from her town. So when she was old enough she ran away to
Kyiv and got involved in drugs, drinking and sex. She stole what she
needed to survive and was arrested three times. The third time she
was sentenced to five years in prison. Right before she got out she
met this guy and when they both got out of prison they began to date
each other. She ended up pregnant and he left her. Fortunately,
Tanya's family offered to help her raise the baby, so she moved back
home and had her daughter, Lena. Tanya told us that she wanted so
badly to love her baby, but for years and years she'd blocked out her
emotions so much that she really didn't feel any love for her own
child. She decided that it would be better if she wasn't around at
all, so she tried to poison herself, but it didn't work. so, one
night she went out on the highway and was determined to run out in
front of a car and let it hit her. She'd decided that if she killed
herself then she could quit feeling all the pain and hurt she was
feeling and
her family would be better off without her. But right before she was
about to do it, a man in a car pulled over and asked her if she needed
a ride. She told him no, but he noticed that something was seriously
wrong, so he asked her if she'd like to come in the car and just sit
for a while. She told us that she had no idea why she said yes, but
she did and so she got into the car and began to talk to the man. She
began to pour her heart out to the guy and tell him everything about
her life and everything she was feeling. She said it was the first
time she had cried in eight years. As she was sobbing in the car the
man told her that he was a Christian and that he knew a place that
could help her. It turns out the man went to a church that had a
special drug rehabilitation center, and not only did he know how to
get her in, he offered to pay for her treatment.
Tanya went and God totally changed her life. The church that she goes
to has a congregation that over 90% of them are former drug addicts
and they are such an incredible group of people.
She is such an awesome person and what's even more cool is that she's
only just become a christian and she's so excited about what God's
going to do in her life. As she was telling her story I
couldn't help but to think about what an awesome God that we have that
would send someone to find Tanya only moments before she was going to
end her life. I'm so blessed to have gotten to know her even if it
only is for a couple of weeks. I can't wait until we get to heaven
and we have all the time in the world. It's gonna be incredible!
Well, I'm gonna go to Late Nite now. I hope you all have an awesome
day!
Arrivederci!

Okay, I'm here with Jake, Lori, and Taylor, a.k.a-Dropship and we're
going to have an interview today.

Calyn: So, Dropship, how'd you get that name?
Dropship: Ask Jake, he knows.
Calyn: So, Jake, how'd Taylor get his name?
Jake: Um, (laughing) there was a, uh, ship, like a boat ship
Dropship: back in the day. Hey, say back in the ady.
Calyn: Okay.
Jake: Um, there was a ship back in the day off the coast of Maine
(pause) called Dropship ship.
Calyn: Dropship ship?
Jake: yes. It was carrying a load of Yozheks from the southern coast
Dropship: YOZHEKS! That means hedgehog.
Jake: Yes, Taylor. It was carrying a load of yozheks, um, to port
Aranzas. That's in Maine. And um, it blew up
Dropship: So, I'm gonna die? Why?
Jake: Shut up. It blew up and all the people discovered Yozhek stew.
Dropship: Yozhek stew!
Jake: So we need to blow Taylor up and eat him
Dropship: That's our "something big". We can blow something big up.
Jake: Okay.
Calyn: Okay.
Jake: Next question.
Taylor: I have a question. no I said "next" question.
Jake: Yes!
Calyn: If you could visit a planet what one would it be?
Jake: Uranus! Most defnitely Uranus!
Lori: How did you not see that one coming?
Jake: They say Uranus is only a planet of gas, and that gas is
methane.
Dropship: Are you a nerd?
Jake: Maybe if you were in chemistry...
Dropship: No, stop now.
Jake: ...you'd know that farts are methane gas.

*There's a filter in this interview so pieces are missing. This is
rated G, people.*

Jake: what's that?
Calyn: An asterisk.
Dropship: What's an asterisk?
Jake: What's an asteroid?
Dropship: Yes!
Lori: Focus, people
Jake: Hey, yesterday I met a girl and I "aster" a question! Get
it?
Dropship: Hey, I've got a joke.
Lori: Is it rated G?
Dropship: It's rated under G. Why is it dangerous to take a test in
the jungle?
Lori: We know that one.
Dropship: Crap, Jake.
Jake: I already told 'em.
Dropship: Cause there's a bunch of cheetahs!
Jake: (laughing)
Dropship: You think this is funny to anybody else other than the
people in this room, cuz I mean, they weren't here or anything.

*cliff enters the room

Dropship: So, Cliff, how's your mom?
Jake: Tell your mom I said hi. Okay, shut up everyone, this is an
interview. So, Cliff, what's with your girly belt?
Cliff: Your Mom's a girl belt.
Jake: Okay. Say something, Cliff.
Cliff: Gobble-dee-goop. Type that. I wanna see you spell that.
Jake: It's so in cyberspace. You can say anything you want.
Lori: What time is it?
Cliff: Time for you to get a watch.
Jake: We'll be back later tonight. Wait til we're really tired,
jacked up on coffee
Lori: Yes! Is it coffee night?
Jake: Yes, Lori. We can have coffee night.

mailto:calyn@radooga.net

Privyet Rebyata! sorry it's been so long, our email hasn't really
been working. I'm trying to remember the last thing I wrote you guys.
Hold on, let me check my "sent mail"
folder...checking...checking...wow. July 4th, holy cow. Okay, so it
really has been a while. They hadn't done email in like 5 days, so
when I checked my email today I had like 10 messages. It was very
exciting. And the best one I got I just have to share with you. I
love the Myricks. They're the best. Here's what Jenna, Chris and
Brandon wrote me:

"Calyn!!!!!!!!
I miss you
soooooooooooo
much! I'm so excited though, because we leave for Ukraine in four days. I can't wait. Well, I've been praying for you
guys and it seems like everything is going well and God is working at Radooga. You're coming
to the airport to greet us when we come, right? I sure hope so. I want to see you as soon as
possible. Everyone else is like "it's not fair that you get to see Calyn and Lori before we
do." And I'm thinking "basically I payed $1,650 to see them before you do, so yes it is to
fair." but all I ever say is something to the effect of "well, I'll tell them you said hi" or
something sweet like that. Okay, well, I think Chris has some things to say to you.

Hey this is Chris. I miss you a lot. Like this much
[________________________________________________]. Last night I had this really weird dream
where we were at the Fourth of July thing and somehow you were back. And I went up to you and
I gave you a hug and I was like "Calyn, I'm so glad you're back." And for some reason in my
dream I didn't realize that it was like a month earlier than you were supposed to get back.
And then everything was all fuzzy and I woke up and I was like "Man, this stinks, Calyn's not
here!" and then I went back to bed for a while and I woke up to Brandon sitting on top of me
saying "Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey." And I was like "Are we having eggs and bacon?" And
Brandon was like "Well, it's like 2 so you already missed breakfast and lunch, so you'll have
to wait until dinner." and I was like "Brandon, I had a dream that Calyn came back." and
Brandon was like "That's great, I'm getting in the shower."
I've been missing you at Rec ROCs lately because no one wants to start a game of ultimate.
And I was going to write you a letter and I had this interesting/funny stuff all planned out to
tell you but then I forgot it all. Okay, bye I gotta go cut my stick again.

Here's Brandon to talk to you now

Hey its your favorite fourteen-year-old kid who lives on Tallapoosa ct. who's name is Brandon
Paul Myrick and has long hair that nobody really likes and has a minor stuttering problem that
his sister tends to make fun of and also has a tendency to wander off subject and forget
completely what he's talking and is also kinda getting this weird rash from sitting down too
long and... oh yeah, hey Calyn! I miss you bunches. Yeah Jen and Chris already stole two ways
of telling you they really miss you and I can't really think of another one, so yeah. I'm sure
your having a blast at Radooga. It must be real cool to be around so many animals (specifically
hedgehogs, and/or ants), and meet celebrities like the pope... candle... It's so cool that you
get to share the gospel with people outside of the country that don't even really speak english.
You know I was thinking Radooga is a pretty cool word...er Russian word... It's like rad like
radical, and then oo like someone saying "ooh, aah" and then...ga like... I don't really have
one for ga.
So Yeah. I can't wait till your back. Have fun for however long is left, I don't really know,
but that long.

Okay it's me again. I love you and I miss you and I'll see you soon. Don't forget about me
while you're meeting cool Russian people and hanging out with all your Radooga buddies. I
think I would cry and I'd have to start a search for a new best friend and that would be way
too time consuming and I wouldn't like any of them as much as you and now I'm rambling so,
yeah, bye!

I love you,
Jenshka "

I love the three of you so much. Brandon and Chris, I wish you were
coming, because I miss you bunches, but Jenshka, I'm so excited I get
to see you in 4 days. That's so weird. Yesterday we got to go to
Oleg and Lena's apartment (me, Carli, Cliff, Amberly, Denis, and
Justin) to take a break after camp 3 and we watched The Last Samurai
(bekah, I watched it!) and we went to this Georgian (the country, not
the state, just so you know) restaurant taht made shishkabobs and had
really good Georgian bread and it was so awesome. So we were chillin
at Oleg's apartment and at their apartment they have two rooms and
Oleg and Lena have a big bed, and then their kids have a big bunkbed
in the other room and then there's a couch in the living room. Well,
there were 3 guys and 3 girls. and the girls claimed the bed because
we don't mind all three of us sleeping in the bed. However, skiff and
Justin and Denis decided they wanted the bed just to be punks.
Because there was no way 3 big guys were gonna sleep in that bed.
Skiff just came up here and he says, "I say you're all a bunch of
losers. Everyone who reads your blog needs to find something better
to do with their time. now they're all gonna hate me. You can email
any complaits to cliff@radooga.net" That's so sweet, Skiffy.
So we decided to fight it out. Me and Amberly went to find ammo which
was a giant stuffed platapus/moose thing and Skiff kept us at bay with
a mop. He says that they won a bunch of different times, but that's
balogna. "My balogna has a first name it's M-E-Y-E-R..." Anyway,
Denis decided he wasn't going to speak English anymore because it was
his day off (Denis is one of our translators) so he told us all that
all he could hear was "Blah, blah, blah". So then the boys are all on
the bed and cliff ahs a mop in his hand and so we all leave, but then
he decided he was gonna lock the door, so then we all came back. And
then we threw our ammo, which did nothing and we managed to steal the
mop and we all jumped them. And then while we were fighting, the
teapot went off, so Denis left to go make tea. Then Denis came back
and took a picture and let me just say "blackmail". The guys ended up
surrendering. Justin says that's crap because they just felt sorry
for us and didn't surrender nothin'. Whatever, Justin. YOu know we
won. So then we got up and went to church thsi morning. We went to
Hillsong in Kyiv and it was pretty interesting. And then we went and
ate at Zdoravinky Booli, which is the best restaurant EVER and
Jenshka, ya'll get to go there.
Good news. I got a new name tag. Carli made it for me and I haven't
had one in two weeks because Alosha broke mine. but tomorrow is the
funeral for my old name tag. Oleg is giving the speech, Jake's making
a headstone and Amberly's singing. We're burying it by the ghetto
lake. I'm a little shook up, but I'm okay. Oleg's giving me therapy.
Pray for us cause camp 4 starts tomorrow. Fun stuff. It's gonna be
awesome.
Love you guys! Thanks for all the emails. David, we will combine our
powers of coolness to take over all inferior family groups. We will
rock! Arrivederci!

It's only July 3rd, but I'm thinking this probably won't
get sent til July 4th, so I'm wishing you a happy July 4th anyway.
Most of ya'll will probably be helping out with the thing at
Northwoods. I'm sure it will be awesome. We're probably gonna do
some silly late-night thing reenacting the war between the british and
the americans. It should be exciting. (memories, Lauren... :0)
This camp is going pretty good. 80% of the students here aren't
Christians, so it's definitely a different type of crowd. But I'm
excited about it. I mean, what would happen if 80% of the people we
took to Student life camp weren't Christians? (Okay, so we'd probably
more people home than we did last year...but, hey) Wouldn't that be
awesome? There's one youth pastor here who brought 32 kids with her
and not one of them is a christian. I'm so pumped.
Hey, Lauren! Guess what? Doctor Dima is back! He waltzes in the
office and is like, "Hey you. You look familiar." And then just
walks away. It was awesome. He's his same, sarcastic self.
Lori and Jake and Roma went to church this morning at New LIfe, which is this
really awesome church in Kyiv, so I'm kinda jealous of them, but me
and Carli and Amberly are gonna try to go next sunday. A lot of the
campers from the past camp go there and it's a really cool church.
And they're going to the store afterwards and Lori's buying me a new
towel because mine got stolen out of the bathroom. Go figure. And
it's my pretty pink and yellow and blue striped one. Sad day. But
now I will have a cool Ukrainian towel, which will be cool. I'm sure
Lori and Jake will find a good one. Well, I'm gonna go now. I hope
ya'll are having a GREAT day! Sarah's always making fun of me and
saying I'm obsessed with the 4th of July, so I thought I should at
least tell you all Happy Independence Day! We've been watching "the
patriot" during orientation because it's about freedom and the theme
of camp is "free flight" so I've had my fill of patriotic stuff. Love
ya guys!
Arrivederci!

Hey everybody! Camp 3 officially started today! I'm up here in the
American office drinking a Coke Light (much better than diet coke. I
think you will like it, Todd.)
So, most of you know that I'm a big fan of hedgehogs. I mean, Sonic
is my favorite video game and the name of my blog is karoshee yoshek
(which is pretty hedgehog in russian for those of you who don't know).
Well, last night I wasn't feeling so great, so I went to bed at 9:00.
and at about 11:30, I hear a knock on my door and it's Lori and Jake
and they said, "Hey Calyn, we've got a yoshek." I replied
"eeeeehhhhhh" because I was half asleep and I was kinda thinking they
meant it was like a mole or something. It didn't really register what
a hedgehog was. Then Jake was like, "I have it right here" and I was
like, "Is it nice?" And they brought it in my room. Now I will
interview Jake about Herman:

Calyn: so, Jake, how did you find Herman?
Jake: He was just chillin' in the courtyard next to the steps. I
dunno.
Calyn: Wow, what did he look like? It was kinda dark in my room last
night.
Jake: well, at first I was kinda scared because I was kicked by a
horse yesterday. (see Lori's blog for details.
beautifullfeet@blogspot.com) i wasn't too happy
with nature. So, I bent down and picked him up. And he was really
nice. And he has a very soft belly. But he had the hiccups last
night, so when he hiccuped, he kinda poked me.
Calyn: How do you think hedgehogs get hiccups?
Jake: Well, considering this is a huge hedgehog and he's probably
from Chernobyl (west side of course) he probably had the hiccups from
some radioactive ooze that he ate in the sewer.
Lori: So what you're telling me is that the hedgehog was radioactive,
much like calyn was when she came to Ukraine last year.
Jake: Yes, that is what I'm telling you. Wait, yes.
Calyn: So, how did he get the name Herman?
Jake: It starts with an "H". How do you think? No, actually, my
great-great grandfather was a soldier in Ukraine and his name was
Hughbert Herman Hoffleman.
Calyn: closing question. So do you have a new perspective on nature
now that you've met the nice hedgehog after being kicked by the
demon-possessed horse at Peregova?
Jake: Actually, it was satan-possessed, not just demon-possessed.
But yes, I do have a new perspective. The animals that look nice are
really mean, and the animals that look mean are really nice. and
radio-active hedgehogs have hiccups.

Arrivadercci (this is lori, if that's spelled wrong...Calyn had a
meeting to be at, so I finished up for her)

hey, well, this still is in my inbox, so it hasn't been sent yet, and
so I'm going to spell arrivederci correctly. (valient effort, Lori.)
It's 12:30. I'm going back to my room now. Hopefully the movie's
over. Lori, Carli and Jake are watching "What about bob?". that's
such an awesome movie.

Arrivederci!

Oh, I hate it when camps end. Camp 2 ended today and it was very sad.
These kids were so awesome. well, all the kids are awesome, but you
kinda get attached, you know? All of ya'll have seen the Sandlot,
right? well, Lori and Cliff taught an advanced class this week (and
when I say "advanced" I mean that they speak english better than me,
which makes teaching rather difficult.) And one day in class, Skiff
said, "You're killing me, Smalls", which is from the Sandlot and so
their entire class started saying that and it's kinda been the quote
of the week. That and "Let me see your funky chicken!" At random
times someone would just yell "Let me see your funky chicken!" and
then everyone would yell back, "What did you say?" Then, "Let me see
your funky chicken!" "what did you say?!" Then, "I said, ooh, ahh,
ahh, ahh, ooh, ahh, ahh,..." You get the idea. Everyone would dance
around like a funky chicken. Then we'd switch it up. "Let me see
your funky Jake!" And "let me see your funky Cliff" and so on.
Oleg Jr. (the other Oleg) took the administrative people to Kyiv
today and we went bowling, and I was so scared because I suck at
bowling, but it turns out pretty much everyone else did too so it was
okay. :0) I wasn't as bad as I thought I'd be, cuz I haven't bowled
in like, 7 years or something. Olya and I were the only girls on our
team, and I'm pretty sure we won. The reason I'm not sure is because
at the very end of the game we were in a rush because our time was
almost up and Serozha got a strike and we forgot that you get to go
again, so Olya went and she got a strike, but it went to serozha's
points, so we're not real sure who won. But we said that girls rule
anyway. I love Olya, but she's leaving tomorrow which is really sad.
Olya doesn't speak English, so she always talks to me in Russian and I
love it because I get to practice with her. And she's really good at
finishing my sentences for me. :0) I wish she didn't have to leave.
Team 3 is here and they're really awesome. Most of them are from
Tampa, so it's nice to have some Florida people here. It seems like
everyone who comes is from Texas. well, not really, but a lot of
them. Well, I'm about to go have a "we need a break/goodbye/we're
awesome" party with Olya, Veronica, Amberly, Lori and Carli, so I bid
you all adieu.
Arrivederci!

mailto:calyn@radooga.net

Okay, awesome story for the day.
Every team that comes from america is paired with a team of
translators. Usually there are about 7 or 8 translators that come and
they help with Recreation, teaching english and stuff like that. All
of the translators who come are Christians. This week, there was a
translator who came who wasn't a Christian. Her brother is a strong
Christian and is friends with a lot of Radooga staff. when Natasha
applied, they rejected her application because she wasn't a christian,
but her brother called Oleg and asked if there was an opening if she
could please come. well, this week there was an opening, so Natasha
came. She was my translator for English classes and she is such a
sweet person. We'd been praying for her to come to Christ and
yesterday, Betty, one of the ladies here, got a chance to share her
testimony with her and stuff like that, and Natasha didn't make a
decision, but Mrs. Betty told me to keep praying for her and stuff
like that. This morning, Mrs. Betty ran up to me during Celebration
and told me that Natasha had accepted Christ!!! So this morning in
English class it was so cool because natasha is so excited about it.
I got to share my testimony with my English class and afterwards,
Natasha gave me a big hug and said thank you and stuff. It's really
awesome. There just "happened" to be an opening this week for an
extra translator and that just "happened" to be Natasha. Gotta love
it. tonight the speaker is going to ask if anybody wants to accept
Christ during evening program so be praying about that. God is doing
so many cool things here. I found out that 90 teenagers accepted
Christ at our first camp. How cool is that????
I taught my english class the hokey-pokey today. that was exciting.
and today we're going to the airport to pick up team 3. Most of them
are from Tampa and their youth minister J.J. was here last year. He's
really cool.
Shout-out to my buddy Sarah Wirgau! Happy happy birthday (I realize
it's tomorrow,but this might not be sent until then. I LOVE you
Ponch!
"This is my birthday song....It isn't very long..........."
I miss you guys and I can't wait to see Jenshka, Todd, Diane, Nicole
and Tamerica! I'm so glad ya'll are coming. :0)
Arrivederci!

mailto:calyn@radooga.net

It's rated RRRRRRRRR!
How much does corn cost a pirate?
A buck-an-ear.
Oh, you know it's funny. Don't even pretend like you're not laughing.
We told other pirate jokes yesterday, but I don't remember them all.
The Ukrainian staff didn't find it quite as funny as me, Jake, and
Carli did, but we cracked ourselves up anyway.
Last night we had another meeting in the van, and it was very awesome.
We made a stop at McDonalds where I got a sundae and then we went to
the grocery store to buy ant killer, milk and coffee. I think the
ants know what's coming to them. They've been very solemn today. I'm
giving them 24 hours to vacate the premesis, and then, raid bug spray
is raining down upon them. Speaking of vacating, in English class
this morning the topic was travel and my class and Jake and Carli's
decided to go on vacation together to Italy. We lined up outside our
building, I collected tickets and they all boarded the aircraft. I
got to be a stewardess ("stewardesses" is the longest word you can type
using only your left hand. Bet ya didn't know that. Yeah, you're
trying it right now. If you have a keyboard like Shandra's it's best.)
and I said, "thank you for flying Radooga airlines. Please fasten
your seatbelts and make sure your seats are in the full-upright
position." Hey Sarah, "I got my tray table up! And my seat in the
full-upright position! Got my tray table up!!!!" Then, with Jake as
our captain, we flew down to the soccer field (Italy) and then exited
the aircraft and swam the rest of the way. We then played volleyball
because some of the constuction workers that live near the camp were
off today and they were playing soccer on the field. (And one was in
a speedo. Ain't nobody wanna see that. So we stayed far, far away.
Italians. My goodness.) Other than the dress, our classes decided
Italy was a very nice place with nice weather. We enjoyed our
vacation and then flew back to our English classes. It was awesome.
Well, I've gotta learn my game for Rec. Wish me luck. Hey, what's a
pirate's favorite letter? RRRRRR!!!!!!!
Arrivederci!
(Hey, that's Italian! We all learned how to say that!)

Hey guys! Camp 2 started today and it's gonna be so awesome. I'm
teaching an English class (pre-beginners, pray for me!) that starts
tomorrow and I'm pretty excited about that. I hope I do okay. Some
of the campers I've known for the past 2 years are here again, so
that's pretty awesome. One of them is even a counselor this year and
I thought that was cool.
And guess what???? 8 people have already signed up for Camp 7! And
more are thinking about it! Thanks for praying!!!!!! That's 2 people
more than we have this camp, so it's so great!
Cliff says hi. He's busy eating coconut chocolate. Hey, Lauren, we
cannot find pineapple chocolate ANYWHERE. It's so weird. I have no
idea what they've done with it. But they have some new kinds now.
They have like dark chocolate and they have like this
caramel/butterscotch stuff and it's pretty good. No pineapple,
though. I'm sorry. We'll keep looking.
Last night we (amberly, cliff, justin, carli and I) stayed at Oleg and
Lena's apartment and me and Carli made pelmeni and it was sooooo good.
And we went to the Fershet store and bought chocolate, cereal and
bananas. All the essentials. We made scrambled eggs this morning and
drank grapefruit juice. Very exciting.
well, I've gotta go to a meeting now. And later I'm doing the camp
dance! It's sooo awesome! I can't wait. I didn't know Sergey could
write a better song than last year but he has done it. Arrivederci!

Privyet Rebyata! God is so awesome, God is so awesome, God is so
awesome, God is so awesome, God is so awesome. I wish I had time to
write you all and tell you everything that's happening, but I'm afraid
you'll just have to take my word for it. Last night so many campers
accepted Christ. I'm not sure how many, but it was a lot. I've
gotten to hang out with a couple church groups and get to know their
campers and couselors and its' so awesome. I'm going to go with my
Mafia teammates, Dima, Tanya and Andrey to their church group time
today and I'm really excited about that. It's so exciting to see how
God totally transforms youth groups and then they get to all go home
together and continue to grow.
I'm going back to the English class I taught the fruits of the spirit
song today. They're so awesome. There's akid in the class who lived
in Columbia for a while, and we were able to have a really cool
conversation because he knew a litle english, I knew a little russian
and then when i didn't know words, he could say them in spanish and I
was able to figure it out.
Instead of Late nite, we had worship zone last night and it was so
awesome. If heaven is just a fraction of what happened last night, I
would be satisfied. (What's great is I know it will be all that and
more.) So many of my friends from last year came to visit last night,
and it was bizarre because it was all on the same night. I got to
catch up with some of them and it was cool.
Team 2 arrived safely yesterday. They were pretty tired, but nobody
got left in Germany, so that was a plus. And I think all of their
baggage made it too. and team two brought a big package of oreos,
which are being greatly enjoyed by the summer staff girls. :0).
Jenshka, I'm getting requests (one of those requests is mine) for some
mint double stuff oreos when ya'll come. Oh, and Alec Waller, when I
send you emails it comes back saying something like "Your email could
not be sent to the intended address because the addresse has some
stupid spam blocker thingy and it doesn't recognize my address. so
stick me on your list! spaseeba!
Alright peoples, I'm going to go to my english class now. We named
them all after cities and theirs is Boston. (Home of my favorite TV
show, which I haven't gotten to watch yet, but will very soon. I
think it's almost time to bust out some Cheers and Boy Meets World.)
Please continue to pray for a group of Americans to come Team 7 (we
have some people who are thinking about coming, they're a group from
texas, so please, please, please pray for them)!
Arrivederci!

Privyet Vsyem! I hope you all are having an absolutely wonderful
week. I can't believe that camp one is almost over. It's so weird.
This is going to go by so fast... Sad day. Tonight (well, at 12:00,
lunch time today for all you EST zone people) we're going to have
repentence night at camp. I'm so excited. Oleg, our speaker (not the
Oleg I always talk about, but one of the many other olegs) is so
awesome and the kids like him a lot. So be praying for that. This
camp has been a lot different than the otherones I've been to because
the majority of the kids at this camp are from orphanages all over
Ukraine, so it's definitely different dynamics. I mean, they actually
go to bed at lights out. Weird. The first night of camp I walked
into me and Lori's room and I was talking to Amberly, and it was
11:28, two minutes before lights out, and one of the youth pastors
came out of their room and asked us to be quiet because all of their
kids were sleeping. We were shocked. Late night doesn't get over til
11:00 anyway, so they're fast little guys. they're kinda quiet and so
well behaved. I think we're gonna be in for a nice wake-up call next
week.
Fortunately, so as not to get bored, not all the groups strictly obey
the rules. Last night, Dima, who's a youth pastor on our floor asked
if me and Cliff and Jake and some of the other Americans wanted to
come hang out with him and his counselors in our lobby after lights
out. Party?, heck yes. so, we busted out the peanut butter, gummy
worms and chips, and Dima and his gang brought cookies, apricot jelly,
bread, and, wait for it, get ready, okay, HORSE salami-type stuff.
You know what was scary? It was good. So, I am now a new fan of
eating horse. Okay, well, maybe not on a regular basis, but at least
I can say I've had it. Dima and his couselors were soooo funny. And
andrey, one of the guys, didn't speak any english except for the words,
"chicken" and "very good". And he liked to use the english he knew,
so he found very creative ways to put those two phrases into
sentences. We decided to play a game of "Mafia" so we all sat down on
the floor and passed out the cards. I defnitely was NOT mafia. I was
just an innocent civilian. But when it came time to pick the mafia
person Andrey said, "It's definitely Calyn, it's Calyn." And I was
like, "why me?" and he said, "Because she's always smiling." I tried
to explain that I'm always smiling, but he would hear none of it. He
just said, "это не "very good", это не "very good". ("это не" means,
"it's not", )So, they killed me and I was just an innocent civilian.
But next they killed Andrey, who was also just a civilian, so we made
a pact after that. we totally knew who it was after that, but we
couldn't say anything. Oh well.
Anyway, by the end of our party we were being so obnoxiously loud that
we had to go to bed. But it was a great party. I think we'r ehaving
another one tonight. :0) Me and andrey have to win Mafia.
Well, I'm gonna go now and teach the fruits of the spirit song to
Ben's English class.
Arrivederci!

Okay, I was going to be the very first person to wish James a happy
birthday, because it was only 4:00 a.m. in the morning where you
people are, but then my email wouldn't work, so I couldn't. But let
me just say that at 4:00 this morning I was thinking about you, James,
and I hope you're having a very happy birthday!
The first day of camp was today. It's a really small camp, there's
only about 175 people, but that's probably good since it's the first
one. The weather's really nice, but it rained this afternoon for
about an hour, right during Rec, of course... The drama for camp this
year is so AWESOME! I think it's much better than the student life
drama. But I'm a little biased. Todd, Nicole, Tamara, Diane and
Jenshka, you can be the judge of that. And the camp song this year is
so much fun too! I have to start learning the words. I haven't
decided if it's better than last years, but it's certainly close if
not better. The dance is so much fun.
Sashka the cat was very busy this year while we were gone, so there's
5 new sashkas at the camp. They're all very sweet and I've been
saving my salami for them. ( I don't like salami.) I would take them
home, but I think Dad would kill me. Ukrainian cats are much more
polite than American ones. Just a variation on a theme, I suppose.
Well, I'm gonna be polite and let someone else check their email.
Arrivederci prinsepesas! I hope Vacation Bible school was awesome
this week!

Hello Peoples! I just got back from the great city of Kyiv where we
showed 13 new Americans all the cool sights. I think if I see st.
Michael's cathederal one more time...
The team is really great, I think, and our orientation has been going
pretty good. Okay, I've gotta tell you about the Pope. Josh, one of
the summer staff guys, bought a candle from the dollar store that has
a picture (a really tacky one) of the former Pope, J.P. II, as we call
him. He has become our mascot, the eleventh All Summer Staff
(abbreviate that for fun. It's what Oleg calls us anyway) and goes
with us everywhere. Josh is very protective of JP, (Astarozhna!
Careful! He always makes us use 2 hands to hold him) We have
pictures of the Pope brushing his teeth, holding the spirit stick,
drinking kvass (this drink that's kinda like root beer, but grosser.
JOsh loves it and so does the Pope.) taking a nap, taking a shower,
chilling in the freezer, riding the metro, playing the drums,
sliding down the slide, and tomorrow he's going to address the
multitudes from our balcony. He's very excited about tomorrow.
Okay, well, the Pope needs to go to bed. And he needs to prepare for
his speech tomorrow.
So I will leave you now.
Arrivederci!

Disclaimer- For those Catholics who may be reading my blog, those of
us at Radooga camp really do respect the Pope and all he has done. We
are in no way dissing the Pope or his legacy, we are only making fun
of the Dollar Store and it's cheap wax representations of great
historical figures.
mailto:calyn@radooga.net

Hey everbody! I'm sitting here getting a massage, and it is very
nice. So if I fall asleep and the rest of this email just kinda
trails off, you'll know why. Zzzzz....
Tomorrow the first team of Americans come. (Hopefully) That's very
exciting. HOpefully they will all make it.
Oleg and Lena took us to Kyiv today and we had so much fun. We got to
eat at this place called "Be Healthy" and they have really good food
there. I got to see sveta, my friend from the last two years and she
hug out with us for the day and we randomly found Nadia in a store.
Talk about a small world. A city of six million people and POOF!
there's Nadia. I really missed both of them. We walked around and
went in some stores and tried to get tickets for the Dynamo Kyiv
soccer game, but unfortunately, it's tomorrow and not tonight. Sad
day. I've never been to a professional soccer game. Maybe one day.
Alec would be so proud of me.]
Well, I'm really tired, so I'm gonna go to bed now.
I love and miss you guys!
arrivederci!

--
С уважением,
calyn mailto:calyn@radooga.net

Hey everybody! I'm here in the Radooga office at 8:34 p.m. and we're
having a great time. Well, actually, we're all just sitting here
about to fall asleep, but if I told you that you'd think I was really
boring. So I won't. I'm reciting my colors to Roma right now. He's
trying to teach me Russian, but I think I'm failing miserably. I
learned how to say some slang today. Fooflo is "bad stuff", but it's
slang, so it's cool.
So, there's no hot water in the camp except that Lori got a hot shower
today. Go figure. Right after I got out, of course. That's where
baby wipes come in quite handy. It's like 60ish degrees in the
afternoon and it's coldish at night. I can see my breath. that's
very awesome.
Okay, we had a break there to discuss the meaning of the word "bug".
Apparently in Russian the word "bug" (zhook) only refers to creepy
crawly things like roaches and anything that looks likes a beetles.
roma was freaking out because we call butterflies and
dragonflies and mosquitoes "bugs". This is not okay in Russian. But
we've convinced him that bug can be used for anything. Okay, well, I'm
going to go sing with Sergey now.
Arrivederci!

Well, at long last I'm in Ukraine and it's so exciting! I miss you
all already, but I'm having a great time. It's been raining the past
2 days, but today the sun came out and it was absolutely beautiful!
We had a volleyball tournament and my team won both times, which was
very awesome. I've learned all sorts of new words and phrases like,
"awesome", "I swept the auditorium" and useful things like "fork" and
"cup". We've also brought back some great past ones like, "spaseeba
za kharosheva yozheka!" Veronica got here today and she's staying in
our room for the week. (hooray!) Most of the old staff is still
here, but there's some really fun new people too, and I like them
a lot.

Roma says, "I love orange juice!" That was his shout out for you.

Okay, well, I'm gonna go to bed right now. It's like 11:38, and I'm
pretty tired.
Talk to ya'll later! (by the way, I can't check my comments, so if
you want to leave a comment, that's cool, but email them to me. ;0)
calyn@radooga.net (in case you forgot)
Arrivederci!

Of Rice and Zen

Today I woke up and went to go help Shandra at Northwoods, which was bittersweet, because I love Shandra and I will miss her lots and lots. But, she took me to my favorite restaurant, Taco Bell, and I ate a mexi-melt and it was awesome. Lori and Diane met us there and Lori was getting stalked by the Wal-Mart photo guy, so she was a little bit disturbed when she came in. He was weird. She almost used her secret ninja moves on him, but she felt sorry for him and so she spared his life.
Then after that, what did I do after that? Oh, then I went home and packed some more and I put on Pirates of the Caribbean (again) because that is one of my favorite movies and I want to be just like Jack Sparrow when I grow up. (Except, I don't want to steal things because I don't think I'd be able to live with myself, so I'd probably have to sell pizzas or Amway on the side to be able to keep up my expensive hobby of being a pirate.) I need a cool name, though. Anybody got any ideas? Me and Lori and Lyndsey went to St. Andrew's State Park in Panama City yesterday and we got to go on a Pirate Cruise with Lori's elementary school that she works at and it was so much fun. Only, those pirates had dumb names. They were trying to go for cool alliteration, but it just wasn't working. Cutthroat Christy and Rotten Rob and some other stupid ones that I can't remember because I tried to block them out. And their costumes were definitely not as cool as me, Lori and Lerah's. I decided that one day I should work on a pirate ship. Of course, that's after I take over the world and eliminate garlic bread and speed limits and change all the stop signs to yield signs and make a magazine and put Pauls on my list of most awesome people. Then we went to the beach and there were some way cool waves. Probably the biggest waves I've gotten to play in. We'd jump into them and body surf and they'd flip you over and drag you halfway back to shore. It was so great. I got really sunburned. Surprise, surprise. I think somewhere there's an alien sitting up in space holding a magnifying glass over me and watching me burn. That has to be it because I put sunscreen on multiple times and I still get fried. Like those aliens at the end of Men in Black that are playing marbles with planets. Maybe it's like that. Speaking of Men in Black, Will Smith (probably the coolest Hollywood person ever) was on Jay Leno tonight and I love Will Smith. He's so awesome. If I can't be like Jack Sparrow I want to be like Will Smith. But I can't rap or dance or act and I'm not really buff so it might be kinda difficult. Alright, moving on.
So, I got to talk to Todd and Jenshka and Pauls and someone else...who was that? I can't remember. Sorry person I talked to. I got to talk to them and they were touring Washington, D.C. and Jenshka took a picture of her and the phone (the phone representing me) in front of the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, so now I can say I've been there. I want to go to Washington D.C. so bad. If I could go anywhere in the U.S. it would be there. If they had a SeaWorld, it would be perfect. At least they have Taco Bell.
So after I got to talk to my friends I gathered up my Zen garden and took it to Jenna's house because Jenna's taking care of it for me while I'm gone.



I decorated it all nice and wrote "I love Jenshka" in the sand and put all the rocks in a balanced manner so that it would be zenish. I'm not sure if zenish is a word, but I'm sure it means something in Japanese. Unlike this picture, I have 5 rocks and two seashells and two rakes and my zen garden is bigger. For those of you who have never played with a zen garden. No, excuse me, worked in a Zen garden (I don't think you play with them) they are like the coolest things ever. I saw one in the Discovery Channel store years ago and I told my mom I wanted one for Christmas having never worked on one, and she got me one a couple of years ago and man, those things are relaxing. I mean, you start raking the sand and creating all sorts of little designs and stuff, and, it just, starts...putting....you to ...sleep......... zzzzzzzz.
I love mine. But Jenna asked if she could take care of it for me, so I left a brief instruction list with Brandon (who also very much enjoys Zen Gardens). It simply listed all things you need to do to properly care for my zen.
First, you must never water it. It doesn't like to get dirty and putting water in it makes it all muddy. Plus, the rocks and sand are perfectly happy without water.
Second, you must rotate the rocks and rearange them periodically to keep them happy. The rocks get tense and stiff if you leave them in one spot too long. Rotate them on their sides and put them in different places in the garden. They like change.
Third, the brown rock loves to be by the big seashell. However, never put the two seashells together because they don't get along at all. The little seashell called the big seashell's momma a conch or something and he never really got over it.
Fourth, if it starts looking unhealthy, it loves sunshine and Lord of the Rings music. Especially the elf songs.
Fifth, the garden must always be balanced and thus fulfill the law of Zen.
I left my emegency email number: calyn@radooga.net and if I could not be reached there, I told Jenna to call Todd, because he likes symmetry and would probably be able to fix it. I have full confidence in Jenna, though. I know my garden will be perfectly fine until I get back.
After dropping the garden off and saying goodbye to some of my favorite people, the Myricks, (and indubitably messing up their calendar) Lori and I drug our suitcases to Publix, where we weighed them on the scale being quite sure they were over 70 pounds, but it turns out mine was only 59. I immediately began thinking of all the other things I could take with my eleven pound bonus and I think more green beans and jello are necessary.
We then went to Kenley's house where Shannon, Gaby, Diane, Lerah and Linda were (followed by a brief tarriance from Katie) were watching my *cough* favorite movie, Phantom of the Opera, not! I think I may be the only one of my friends who really, really didn't like that movie. I just thought it was soooo boring. Regardless, it was a lot of fun making fun of it. There's a part in the masquerade party where that guy that owns the operahouse is wearing like, goat horn things and I was like, "Those are awesome!" I want some of those. Lerah did too. So I went in the kitchen and got aluminum foil and make goat horns (you know, the kind that curve around) out of it. THey were so cool.



Like these.
Anyway, Gaby and Diane cooked dinner, watermelon chicken (weird name, really good) and rice. They're such great cooks.
Well, it's like, 1:00, so I'm gonna go to bed now. I've written for entirely too long. If I don't write until I get to Ukraine, da svidaniya, and I will talk to y'all from there. I'll miss you guys! Arrivederci!

Look at me! I can use technology!

Hey, I just figured out how to email my blog, so now, despite the fact I will have little to no internet access in Ukraine, I can still update my blog! How exciting! Arrivederci!

While Todd's Away, at ROC We Play

Todd's off galavanting around Maryland and Virginia, so all of us awesome college peoples were in charge of ROC on Sunday and it was really fun.



Here are Alec and Sarah



I couldn't find Christian and realized he was in the trash can. Yeah, why didn't I think of that before, right? So, Sappy picked up the trashcan and put it on his skateboard and wheeled Christian around the church. They are so awesome.



I asked Kevin to smile, but I guess he couldn't bring himself to it since Christian was about to chop off his head with his lightsaber.



I wish I were this cool.



If I didn't know them it'd be a little scary, but being that they're some of the nicest kids I know it's pretty darn funny. Kevin's about to send laser beams out his eyes.



And here's some of the gang. Anna W., Sarah, me, Anna J., Brandon, Christian, Lori and of course, Alec

Arrivederci!

And Now it's Time for the 12:43 News on channel 6 1/2

Well, since most of my blogging friends are far, far away, biking down (or up, I don't remember which) the C&O Canal, I haven't been too inspired to blog, but since my mom says she only knows what I'm doing when she reads my blog, I suppose I'll write a few lines. Let's see what's interesting in the news today.
The guy who ratted to the Washington Post about Nixon's Watergate scandal was identified today. On the radio I heard one of the news guys say, "We all remember "Deep Throat"..." But I was thinking, since that was like, 35 years ago, no one under the age of 45 probably remembers it all that well. Ah, well, what do people under 45 know anyway, right?
Paris Hilton announced she's engaged to some guy named...Paris, of all things. At least she's marrying him for love. Oh, wait. Paris Latsis is a Greek shipping heir whose family Forbes Magazine listed as the 54th richest family in the world with assets valued at 7.5 Billion dollars. Scratch that one. Although, what's a couple billion to Paris Hilton?
A New Jersey aquarium has started a Swimming With Sharks program. Adventurous visitors grab a snorkel and jump into a tank of sharks, some weighing 700 pounds, complete with a couple thousand teeth and enough jaw power to eat a small submarine. (not the sandwich.) The most amazing part is... People are stupid enough to pay to do this. That's right. In other countries this would be classified as cruel and unusual punishment. But not in America. Here we gladly throw money at those who would have us risk our lives to jump into a swarming pool of death filled with carnivorous, blood-thirsty fish. But, hey, why not? How long do people really live in New Jersey anyway?
Apparently it's pick on Orlando Bloom week in Hollywood. Sylvester Stallone, star of Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, and wait, there's something else. Oh yeah, Rocky V, was quoted as saying, "Today's idea of an action hero is Orlando Bloom. Orlando Bloom? Give me a break." I'm sure Mr. Bloom is shaking in his boots (Boots made at least 100 years ago, but some have estimated to date back to the ages of ancient Greece and even Middle Earth). As we all know, "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy "Troy" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" have done terribly at the box office and aren't even worthy to be mentioned next to Rambo 12. Mr. Stallone then commented, "I'm still in my prime and I look forward to showing fans the real action hero again." Heaven help us. Rocky VI? Todd will be thrilled. Mr. Stallone then had to take a moment to re-adjust his dentures and pop his hip back into place.
Hayden Christensen, who is obviously prejudice against Pirates,Trojans, Catholics and Elves as well,(though he apparently loves Keebler cookies) said, "A film is a product and as an actor you can only sell it if you sell yourself. You don't get to sit at the table before you're ready to give away your integrity. Maybe it works for Orlando Bloom. It doesn't work for me." Gee, Hayden, what did Mr. Bloom ever do to you? Maybe he's just upset because James Earl Jones and that kid from the Sixth Sense will probably be remembered as being Darth Vader before he will. His name is much too long. And besides that, George Lucas, though he's trying, won't be able to come up with another sequel to Star Wars, and every other director knows Mr. Christensen can't act worth anything. (Sorry to all you star wars fans. You have to admit, the acting is terrible. The only ones who are worse than Anakin are Natalie Portman, followed closely by Jar-Jar Binks and Yoda, and oh, nevermind. They're all bad.)
The most exciting piece of news is that I leave for Ukraine in 4 short days. Oh and I found my Kenny Chesney CD. That's exciting. I've started packing and, although I'm sure I'll forget something incredibly important, I feel as though I've remembered the necessities:
Batteries
Toilet Paper
Cheese-Itz
Well, Leah is fast asleep in my room and I oughta go to bed because I have a dentist appointment in the morning. I hate the dentist. Arrivederci!