Young Man's Chronicles: July 2008

Russian Re-Union!

>> Saturday, July 26, 2008

Rina, Andrei, Marina and me

After I came back home after the birthday-party I was so tired that I was ready to do laundry before another week at camp quickly and go to bed. But then I realized...that my Russian friends arrived to Duane's place!!! That was such an awesome re-union. Andrei and Marina flew in here today, and Rina is already in Washington for 1,5 months, and so I thought we would meet next week, but they visited today, so we finally all met!!!
Next weekend we are doing something big together I think. Definitely something to look forward to:)

All of us together! A lot of Russians at the table ;-)(My face is so dark, haha:) as if I am tanning all the time:) lol:)

Samuel's Birthday-Party!

Today was so full of events and fun! We had an open-air birthday party for my friend Sam who turned 16! My present was the cool black t-shirt that Sam is wearing on the picture above.
It was a very good time, yummy food, awesome weather and we played a lot of volleyball which I really enjoyed even though I don't think our team won any of the games, but we were really close every time. And I saw tons of Russians in the park where we were today; actually, one of the teams on the volleyball consisted of Russians working for the Microsoft. It really looks like there are a lot of Russians living in this area of Washington.
Happy Birthday again, Sam! It was a blast today:)

Boeing Center Tour

>> Friday, July 25, 2008

Craig, Sam, me and Polina in Boeing Center in Mukilteo

In the afternoon we were joined by Polina, our friend from Moscow, who is working for Boeing in Moscow and now temporarily works here in Washington, for a tour around the Boeing Center. During 1,5 hours we were shown how the different models are being constructed and what the whole process is about.
The newest model is Boeing-787, it is sort of a super-plane, our guide was so excited telling us about it, that it really looks like it's going to be something cool. Unfortunately we were not allowed to bring our cameras inside the construction department, hence no pictures of the Future of the Flights Boeing-787. But it looks cool:)

Me and Sam inside the Boeing-model

Visit from Sam and Craig!

Today in the morning my friends Sam and Craig came to pick me up at the camp and spend Friday all together. It's been a little more than a month since I've seen Sam when we were spending 3 days in New York together, but for some reason it really felt like it has been a whole year. So many events and people, that's what it is I guess...
Sam and Craig are on a road trip around the western part of the States right now, and so this week they are in Washington, so we had a great chance to meet and catch up on everything and spend some cool time together. We went to the Boeing center tour and then had a good time and dinner together at the mall in Bellevue. I wish they could stay for longer and we could spend more time together. Looks like next time we meet will be in October in Moscow.
I realized one more time how much I actually miss all my firends from Russia now!

Highlights of the week

>> Thursday, July 24, 2008

I guess Thursday night will be my favorite night in the camp from now on, because on Thursday we have a dance-night. I absolutely love it and it feels like a good-quality work-out after. All that extra-energy leaves my body and I feel relaxed now.
Meanwhile, another cool thing this week was the skit-night on Monday. My group actually won the nomination as "The best skit if summer 2008"; the kids were doing parodies on some counselors in the camp, so one of the kids was imitating me doing my hair in the morning with gel and stuff, and I had a good portion of laugh watching that.
After the skit it was even more funny, as kids started asking me if I actually work as a model in Russia...haha:)
Besides that, it was more smooth this week, as I have Internet access and my laptop with me. so I keep in touch with all friends and try to be on the life-wave and know what's going on around in the world:)
However, I still feel a bit tired and really looking forward to this weekend. On Saturday I am going to my friend Sam birthday-party, so tomorrow on the way home I will actually have to go find a nice present for him.
Well, that's it for now. I am going to bed soon. I really need some good sleep:)

Soccer Camp Elite Week #2

>> Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Our Elite Week Counselors Team

Coaches and kids

Soccer Camp Fun:)

>> Saturday, July 19, 2008

Here is my group of boys ages 11-17. I had 28 kids; most of them,however, are 13-14. I really loved spending time with them,and I know they liked having me as a counselor too. Well, because I was so nice and kind to them and allowed them to have some real camp fun:) They were always telling me that other campers should be envious that only these guys have me. Even though this age group is supposed to be quite "loud" and "wild", we had a very friendly atmosphere in our group throughout the whole week, and I was witnessing how my boys were becoming friends with each other as well as with me. That was a really cool experience, and I even thought for a moment that maybe I need to work with teenagers age 14-15 in the future as long as I really like it. Yesterday in the morning, Denise, who is the director of the camp, even suggested hiring me for the next summer:) Well, we'll see how it goes...
And another thing that I really liked too was the last night on Thursday, when we had a dance-party and all the counselors were breaking the ice on the stage:) It was cool bringing "Sexy back" with Justin Timberlake and changing "Girlfriend" with Avril Lavigne. I think in the end of all the dancing my face was probably dripping and it felt like I just took a very wet shower:)

Here is a picture of me with a FIFA Champion EDU. Edu is a very well-known soccer-player, he is good friends with Pele, and it sounds like he won all possible championships. He is very pro-active and energetic despite the fact that he is in his 60s. This week at camp was one of the 2 Edu weeks during the summer, when Edu is an important guest at camp.

With one of my campers Joe James. He is extremely smart, and I was surprised how much he knows about Russia even though he never was there.

My group doing the Human Pyramid. Every morning we had the clean room contest when we had to present our clean room and prepare a skit or show or smth. That morning my guys made a Human Pyramid and also learnt how to say "Good Morning!" in Russian, and so we won the nomination "The Palace of the Day".

Final Day Awards Ceremony. I was so proud when our group won the nomination "The cleanest barrack of the week", because during the week we had several issues regarding our barrack being too messy, and some counselors were also telling me that my kids are not keeping the floor clean enough. By the way, one of the things I had to deal with in the camp and didn't like at all, was when other counselors were telling my kids what to do instead of watching their own group. Haha, well, it felt so good to finally beat everyone in being clean:)

Around the Camp

>> Friday, July 18, 2008

Our neighbors in the camp: American football camp. It was quite surprising to discover how much soccer and football players dislike each other. Honestly speaking, I didn't like football players too much either. My guys were often about to have a fight with the kids from the football camp. By the way, do you see all the fog in the picture? It's always this way on the island: a lot of fog in the morning, a lot of sun in the afternoon.