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