Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Small Victories: Trail Mix and Camp (July 6, 2010)

It’s all about the small victories!




One of the many (many, many) things I miss about America is Great Value brand mountain trail mix. My thoughtful parents know how much I like my trail mix, so they have sent me several bags of it since I’ve been in Ukraine. Every time I have received it, I have ripped into the bag and feasted until it was gone. The bag of trail mix, though it is admittedly a large bag, never lasts more than a couple days.



At the market right here in Lebedyn, I found a seller who has nuts and dried fruit. Today I bought 100 grams of almonds, 100 grams of cashews, 200 grams of sunflower seeds, and 200 grams of assorted dried fruits. I brought it home, mixed it all together, and made a delicious trail mix. And I feel like a champion! It’s all about the small victories.

Another, more significant victory which I accomplished today was finalizing my student’s travel logistics for Camp TOBE. I am heading up a boys’ camp this summer called TOBE (Teaching Our Boys to Excel). I tried and tried and tried to get my students to sign up and was baffled when no one wanted to go. Eventually, I got two boys to commit. I realize now that the summer camp culture of America doesn’t exist so much in Ukraine. I always looked forward to summer camp when I was younger. I loved it every year. But, in Ukraine “camp” usually means a dull day program at school. It’s not something the students get excited about. Now that I know this, I’ll approach the situation differently next year, and I’m sure I’ll have a whole gang of campers headed off to the various Peace Corps camps!



Anyway, back to my two brave pupils who did agree to go to TOBE this summer. In Ukraine, it is illegal for a minor to travel alone or with a foreigner. This wasn’t a problem for my boys because one of them just turned 18. He’s not a minor, so they were okay. At the last minute, however, he backed out. I was terribly disappointed, but he’ll be going to Kyiv during the week of camp for an appointment at a university there. It’s a big deal, more important than TOBE, so I’m happy for him. That left a HUGE problem, though. How would my other boy get to camp? It’s about a 10 hour trip by train from our town to the camp. After I tried so hard to get my students to sign up, he’s my lone faithful pupil who is committed to go. And, I depend on him to have a blast at camp and then tell all his friends about when he gets home so that more students will go next year.



I called Valeriy, a university student in Sumy, and asked him if he might be interested in staffing the camp with me. To my pleasant surprise he agreed! So the problem is solved. Camp is going to be great! I will leave this Thursday, arriving to camp early to get things set up. The camp will run from Sunday to Friday. I have staffed two other camps already this summer, and I have two more to go. But, this camp is the one that I am leading, so naturally it’s the most important to me. Send me some good energy for a successful week!

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