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Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Dorm

I've been in Austin for exactly one month! Okay, minus the week I went home, and then there's that other weekend I went back for a doctor's appointment, and then there's that time my brother and I went back during Labor Day weekend. But yeah, one month celebration! So after living in Austin for such a long time, I think I've figured out the surrounding establishments for comfortable living: H.E.B., Wal-mart, Target, good Thai food, good Indian food, and a Hong Kong food market. I've gotten more used to the traffic and the highway doesn't freak me out as much anymore. Ish.

Well, nothing interesting really happened today, except for a couple of minutes as I was walking to Dobie (my brother's dorm). I saw a little old lady walking across the street while a huge Ford truck was headed toward her at about 35 mph; in a split second my sixth sense took over and I lunged across the street, flew through the air, and pulled the lady to the sidewalk in just the nick of time.

Eh....yeah, if you believed that lame story, I'm sorry to have to tell you that you're pretty gullible. I actually had to walk past a car garage, and as not to get run over, I waited for the SUV to pull out of the garage after the driver stuck in his paid ticket. I figured I might as well take the safe and efficient route by walking behind the car. So, I go on my merry way and suddenly WHACK. After a little one-two with an unknown assailant, I sheepishly admit that I completely got owned by the wooden security gate arm that had saluted to the SUV coming out of the garage.

Here is the outcome:

Ouccccch. It still hurts.

We're home!

Day 40: Kiev, Ukraine

Currently, we are in Kiev, Ukraine waiting for our train to leave to head to Poland. Yesterday, we said our goodbyes to the camp and a more heartfelt farewell to our translators, and I am now wondering how to report all the happenings in the next 20 minutes before my internet time runs out.

Since my last post, a new batch of kids arrived at the camp and knowing how to intermingle with them became a bit easier than the week before. All the kids seem to know "Hello", "What's your name" and "My name is" and I am greatly amused by their shocked expressions when I can peck out a few Russian phrases. This past week was very similar as before in terms of Bible lessons; however, the crowd of kids grew lesser every day. Although this seemed to be disheartening at first, as the group became smaller, we were able to focus more on the kids who wanted to learn and wanted to play games with us which turned out to be so much more enjoyable. By the end of the week, we gave out all of our five or six boxes of Bibles and I was encouraged to see how some kids would tell their friends who would tell their friends about where to get these Bibles.

We have more or less gone to the beach every day, and now I look like a walking chocolate bar. The campers usually go to the beach in the morning when the heat doesn't penetrate down so intensely, so a group of us will usually follow them into the cool waters of the Black Sea. I didn't realize how many ways exist to build a sand castle, but the creativity of the kids is really quite impressive. Even though the architecture is not very intricate, the structures are adorned in seaweed, broken seashells, damp sand, dead jellyfish, and all kinds of other treasures found on the beach. I saw mermaids, dolphins, castles with moats and I even saw an Egyptian landscape (complete with a Sphinx and Great Pyramid). On one of our trips, our AFCEE group composed a trumpet, a guitar, a sea urchin, a seahorse, and a mermaid without arms.

I wish I could write more, but my time has run out. Hopefully, I'll get to update at least one more time before we leave, but until then, thanks for your prayers until we come back on Thursday!

Day 33: Kurson, Ukraine

The title of this entry is a bit misleading. It should actually read:

Day 33: Camp (With a Russian Name I Forget How to Pronounce), A Little Village in the Middle of Nowhere but a 5 Minute Walk to the Beach on the Black Sea, a 30 Minute Drive to Another Small Town with Internet Connection, a Place Where Time Seems to Disappear and Vampire Mosquitoes Attack at Night

After days on a train (literally), we finally arrived at our destination and are currently shacked up on the third floor of a three story building, occupying the whole floor in six bedrooms. Our five translators joined us in Mariupol, so our AFCEE team has now grown to thirteen. If you're not a number person, here's what our situation adds up to:

   8 Aggies
   5 Ukranians
   6 Bedrooms
   3 Bathrooms
+ 1 Working Shower
   Lots of Bonding Time

Our basic strategy at this camp has been to mingle with the kids and teach a one hour Bible lesson each day. Our group broke up into two smaller groups where Traci, Meredith, Andrew and Jeff taught the younger kids (12 and below) and Jessica, Brett, Sarah and I taught the older campers. Each smaller group was then broken into an even smaller group so that two Aggies and one translator were in charge of teaching about 15 to 20 kids.

The number of students varied each day because attendance was optional during a camper's free time, so even though our lessons had to compete with football (soccer) time, beach time, t.v. time, and just general hoarsing around time, by the third lesson, I was encouraged to see a handful of eager familiar faces continuing to appear in our classes.

The hour usually began with "big group"time where we would teach an English song such as "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "Peace Like a River" and/or play a group game such as "Ëlbow to Knee" or "Birds and Cages". When we broke into smaller groups, for the older kids, each day we focused on a character trait such as courage, responsibility, respect, and kindness and illustrated each theme with a Bible story. Somtimes the kids would act out the stories and one day we had the kids chalk out their interpretation of kindness on the sidewalk. The hour then usually ended with some sort of craft using the materials that were donated to us and brought over.

The experience in the Ukraine has been an interesting contract to Romania, no one that is good or bad but only different. Our Russian-speaking Ukranian translators have been fun to work with and they seem to mesh with our group well. Our AFCEE team is also doing well despite the remnants of a cold virus going around, and Lord willing, we will all be ready to work this next week when new campers begin to trickle into the camp. Until then, thanks for your prayers and see you all at home soon!