Coming home

It's been an excellent summer.
I am lucky that I've gotten to work with such great kids and women here in Russia. I'm also glad I've had the opportunity to travel, to meet new people from all over the place, and to work with the staff of CCS.
I'm so extremely fortunate, but I am also looking forward to going home. I'm excited to see everyone and to go back to school.
This will be my last blog post. I leave Yaroslavl in a few hours and I will land in Fargo Monday at 8:40 p.m. See you all soon. Take care.

Parrots

I can't think of a really great blog topic, so I think I'll tell a little story about the language barrier.
Yesterday I was volunteering at a city camp. City camp is pretty much summertime day care provided by the government for families with low incomes. The kids are pretty normal, just like any kids in the United States. We go there, do arts and crafts and play games. I've only gone to city camp three times all summer, so I don't have a whole lot to say.
Anyway, so we were working on our craft project and one kid held up a bag of feathers and said something to me. This is a bag of really colorful polyester feathers and I thought he might have been asking if he could use some. Of course I had no idea what he actually said. I was only guessing. And I said yes.
Later this really sweet little girl told me, with the help of our translator, that she had heard that we took feathers from parrots.
I'm guessing that is what the first kid had asked me. And I said yes. Oops. Accidentally lying to children in a foreign language.

1000 Years

I don't know why I haven't mentioned this yet. This year is the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Yaroslavl.
Legend has it that in the year 1010 Prince Yaroslav the Wise killed a bear on the confluence of the Volga and Kotorosl rivers and there he founded the city of Yaroslavl.
The city has been under construction all summer, fixing roads, building parks and hotels. There will be a big celebration for the millenial anniversary. I think someone told me that the Russian president will be visiting. Unfortunately the celebration takes place in September, just a few weeks after I leave.
Something that's interesting is that each ruble bill (Like dollar bills, but Russia's money is the ruble.) features a different Russian city and Yaroslavl is on the 1000-ruble bill. And it's 1000 years old. What a great coincidence.
Anyway, I think it is incredible that this city has been around for 1000 years. 1000 years. Sheesh.

Weekend in Yaroslavl

I had a nice weekend in Yaroslavl.
Yesterday I went to the Museum of Music and Time. This Russian magician traveled all over Russia and Europe collecting stuff and he made it into Yaroslavl's first private museum. I paid US$2 and they gave me a private tour (in English!) of all his clocks, gramophones, instruments, irons (hundreds of irons), and bells. It was pretty neat. Apparently the museum owner is a pretty weird guy.
Last night I went out with some other CCS folks to a restaurant that serves Uzbek food. It was really delicious. Middle eastern, but a little bit Russian. Tasty.
This evening I went to the Volga river embankment were a children's orchestra from Exeter, England was performing. They were good for tweens.
It was a good weekend. The weather has been beautiful. I did some school stuff but also took naps. Good weekend indeed.

Miscellaneous

A couple of updates:
The last two days have been nice. Finally the sky is blue, instead of a grey smoky haze. Also, it rained for a few minutes yesterday. A refreshing and fragrant break from this Russian heat wave.
This weekend I am staying in Yaroslavl. I think I'll visit a few museums and just take it easy.
I've read some Russian literature while I'm here and it has been cool. Reading Pushkin or Dostoevsky at home wouldn't have the same feel. It is cool to read about St. Petersburg after I've been there. It feels more meaningful and interesting. Plus it makes me feel like a terrifically snooty literature student. It's great.

Hospital for kids

I've recently been doing work at a psychiatric hospital for kids. This is a post about it.
We go to a hospital that helps kids up to the age of 15. They can house up to 50 kids, but right now there are only 13. They stay for up to six months, then go back home or back to their orphanage. It is not uncommon for the kids to return to the hospital, though. Sometimes more than once.
In theory, the hospital can serve kids who have all kids of mental difficulties. 90% of the kids there now only have behavioral problems and/or minor developmental disabilities. In fact, most of the kids seem quite normal, if a bit attention deficit. If a kid's parents, teacher, or orphanage staff thinks he or she needs psychiatric help, they send them for a check up with a doctor. That doctor can send them to a clinic, and if the clinic decides it is necessary, the kid will go to live at the hospital. While they are there, the kids undergo play, art, and conversational therapy. Most of them are also medicated. They spend most of their day hanging out, playing or reading, watching TV, doing lessons (during the school year), and doing chores. When we go to the hospital, we do a craft with them, play board games or card games, then some of them are allowed outside to play basketball, frisbee, etc. Some of them have to stay in because they have a history of running away (from the hospital, from home, from their orphanage, from wherever). It is a shame to leave the others inside, so when we have a lot of volunteers at the hospital, some of us stay in and play indoor games with the indoor kids. I think what we do is useful. The kids get an opportunity to socialize and to get out of the regular routine. They have fun. They also get hugs from us.
The hardest thing about going to hospital for kids is knowing that most of them have problems that could have been prevented. I think that most of their behavioral issues are due to the stress of living in a low-income household or with alcoholic or abusive parents. Most of them are genuinely normal kids. It sucks that they are institutionalized. I don't mean to suggest that in America we have a better solution for kids with similar problems. Though we don't necessarily have hospitals for them, they might go to homes for "at-risk youth" or something, and that is only sometimes better. I really shouldn't cast any judgment because I don't know much about problems common to adolescents and how to solve them.
Mostly I think they need to be treated like normal kids and allowed to have fun. I enjoy hanging out with them not just because I like playing Uno, but also because I think that casual socialization does them some good.

Back

Thought I'd let you know I got home from Moscow safe and sound. Though I smell like a campfire.

Smoke and Tolstoy

I have surprise internet access here in Moscow, so here's a blog post.
This city is unbelievably smokey. As I mentioned before, Russia's hot, dry summer has caused a fire crisis. Not only are forests burning, but also a lot of swamps that are full of spontaneously combusting peat moss. Don't worry. I am still not in danger. I will not go up in flames and neither will my stuff. However, I do have to see a lot of smoke. In Yaroslavl, everything looks kind of a hazy and the sky is blue-grey at its clearest. Here in Moscow, the smoke is so thick it stings my eyes. It looks like a dense fog. All the time. A lot of people are wearing masks outside. It's lucky I'm only here for a couple days. I'm sure breathing this smoke is not good.
In better news, today I went to the estate of Leo Tolstoy, one of Russia's most famous authors. He wrote War and Peace, in addition to other important literature. This year is the 100th anniversary of Tolstoy's death, so it was neat to visit his home. Tolstoy spent quite a bit of his long life trying to be a peasant. He had this idealized vision of how wholesome and pure it is to work long hard hours on the land, but over and over again he went back to his material pleasures. I don't think peasants are peasants because they want to be. Tolstoy didn't understand that. Silly guy. Anyway, his estate was really nice, foresty with a pond and apple trees and horses. The smoke (which wasn't quite as dense as it is in Moscow) made the woods look really hazy and mystical. He was born and buried on that estate and we visited his grave, which was very peaceful. It was a nice trip. Tomorrow we're doing a few more Moscow things then its back to Yaroslavl.

Moscow

I won't be posting for a few days because I am going to be in Moscow for the weekend. Just so you know.

Camille

It's been a while since my last post, so I feel like I should post something. Unfortunately, I can't think of anything other than the news that today is the birthday of one of my favorite babies at the orphanage. Camille is one today. Hurray! Happy Birthday, Camille!

Comparison

I can't help but compare this summer in Russia with last summer in Guatemala. Here are the main differences:
1. My organization here (CCS) puts a lot of effort into teaching me about Russia's culture. We have weekly lectures on a variety of cultural or historical topics and we also have weekly learning-and-fun-filled field trips. They also provided some Russian language classes. I have also paid for extra language instruction and have taken other trips during my free time. CCS has really made my time in Russia educational. When I was in Guatemala, the organization (GCP) did not offer formal learning opportunities. That definitely doesn't mean I didn't learn while in Guate. The learning I did was a result of experience and of asking my own questions.
2. I do so much less work here. With the GCP, I was able to put in 40 or 45 hours of volunteering per week. Here in Russia I do about 15. It's kind of funny that I do so little volunteering here. our time is limited, of course, by all the other stuff they have planned for us. Also, while I was in Guatemala, I had the opportunity to spend extra time (weekends or overnights, if I wanted) helping at Casa Jackson, the clinic for malnourished kids. Here it is much more difficult to arrange independent volunteering. Whenever I go to a placement with CCS, it is with a group of volunteers and a Russian translator. I read in one of my handbooks that I might be allowed to arrange extra volunteering, but it is a lot of work because of the language barrier and because I'd have to find transportation to the facilities. Work and home are much farther apart in Russia than they were in Guatemala. It might be possible that I could volunteer more, but I'm a bit too lazy to actual try. So here I am, working less than part time.
3. I feel like the people I helped in Guatemala had far greater need than those I'm helping in Russia. That is a crude statement. I know that in Russia, the women at the hospital benefit greatly from the therapeutic socialization and artsy work we do with them, and I know that the walks and hugs the babies get from us at the orphanage might help them stave off psychological problems in their adulthood. However, the kids I worked with in Guatemala were literally starving. Consider Maslow's hierarchy of needs. People need food before they can appreciate or even benefit from socialization. I don't think need is black and white, but I cannot deny the overwhelming feeling that volunteers are more necessary in Guatemala and with the GCP.
Those things being said (and rather thoughtlessly so), I kind of, sort of conclude that I like last summer better. I love Russia. It's interesting. I am doing good work. I am having lots of fun and seeing beautiful things. I am learning. But last summer was all of those things, and then some.
I apologize to anyone who sees this as the unappreciative, crude hogwash it is.
Oops.

HP

Happy Birthday, Harry Potter.

Weather and Land Pt II

A few more notes on my environment here:
You might think that Russia is cold, but that is not always true. I'm not really far north (though at a higher latitude than North Dakota), so it is hot in the summer. This summer, I've been told, has been particularly hot and dry. Every day I've been here it has been in the 80s or 90s. This week has been extra hot. Today's high is 100 degrees. I've seen rain only three times in my six weeks here.
On a related note, the nearby forest is on fire. I'm not in danger or anything. Don't worry. This is interesting, though. Being from ND, I have hardly any experience with forests, let alone with forest fires. I don't know how bad it is (I obviously haven't seen the actual flames.), but my town and the surrounding area are hazy with smoke. It smells like campfire all the time. Very weird. No one seems to be too worried about it. Again, Russia is 80% forest, so maybe a forest fire isn't very interesting or distressing for the Russians.

Orphanage

For the past two weeks I've been doing my volunteer work at an orphanage. The orphanage currently is home to 130-ish kids ranging in age from newborn to four years old. Like I said before, some of the kids are orphans by the conventional definition while some are social orphans.

Every day I get to the orphanage at about 9:45 and go straight to Group #4, which is home to about 10 kids aged 3-ish to 24-ish months. I hang out in the room for a bit, playing with the kids, sometimes feeding them. Usually the women who work there feed them. Then I am sent outside to walk around with one or two of the babies until noon. We just walk around the facility, and back and forth in the shade. Sometimes I take a break, sitting on the curb talking to my babies and pushing their stroller back and forth. I also sing to my babies a lot. I love the babies I work with. I really do. They are beautiful and funny and it's great to talk to them and give them hugs and kisses, knowing they don't get enough of that. I think the stroller time is good for them, that they don't have much opportunity to get fresh air during the winter months.

Maybe here is a good place to mention that Russians are very good at protecting kids from the sun. All kids, maybe up to age 10-ish, wear hats when they are in the sun. We are instructed to keep the kids as much as possible in the shade when we are walking them in their strollers. Throughout my life I've had enough blistering sunburns to make me an adamant supporter of how seriously the Russians take skin damage. Anyway, back to my daily orphanage routine.

I bring my first baby back from our walk at noon. I then hang out in the room for a bit. Again, I sometimes am allowed to feed one of the kids. Then I get two or three more kids and I walk with them. Don't worry, they have a two-seated stroller which fits three well enough. I bring those babies back at two and I'm done for the day.

The orphanage facility is a nicer environment than I expected. It's pretty clean. The food looks alright, though lacking in fruits and vegetables. The women who work at the orphanage are nice with the kids, talking and singing to them. Often they are rougher feeding or picking up the kids than I would be, but the kids seem okay with it. I'm not sure about the diaper policy at the orphanage. I obviously understand their need to conserve diapers because disposable diapers are so expensive. However, it is weird that most of my group's babies usually aren't wearing diapers. They just pee in their clothes then the workers change their clothes. I haven't witnessed it, but I imagine the same policy holds if a kid poops in his or her clothes. When I bring kids out to walk, the staff usually put a diaper on them so they don't soil the stroller. Meanwhile, another volunteer who works with another group said that her kids always wear diapers. Maybe the diaper policy varies from worker to worker. Though not using many diapers is weird, I can understand why they do it, and it seems to work out alright for them. The worst thing I've noticed at the orphanage is that the kids don't cry much. I think that because there isn't enough staff (I'd approximate a 1:6 staff to child ratio.) for the kids to always get attention when they cry. In this way, the kids eventually learn to be helpless. They usually don't cry anymore, even when they want something. This at first seems like it is a good thing, but really that learned helplessness likely sticks with them for the rest of their life. Even the nicest orphanage ever is not a good place to be raised. The psychological problems kids face because they lived in an orphanage can be pretty serious. Kids need homes. Real homes.

To end on a happy note, I've been told that 90% of the kids at my orphanage get adopted. This is because they are so young. It is harder to convince people to adopt a school-aged child. The 10% who don't get adopted eventually move to an orphanage for older kids. Every day we see future parents (usually Russian, sometimes American) at the orphanage, visiting their future children or even picking them up to take home. The baby I walk with every day, Lena, was actually just adopted today. It's a little sad that I won't see her again, but that would have been the case regardless when I leave Russia in a few weeks. It is really, really great that Lena is going to have a home.

Banya

Today I went with six other volunteers to a Russian banya. The banya is a traditional Russian spa. There are lots of public banyas, and I think going there is a relatively popular activity. We had reserved for us a private banya, which was really nice. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

So basically going to the banya consists of going back and forth between a super hot sauna and a nice cool swimming pool. I'm not much of a sweater, so in the sauna I was the sweatiest I think I've ever been in my life. It felt really good actually, knowing that you had the release of the pool waiting for you. I don't know how hot it was, but the longest I could stay in the sauna was maybe 15 minutes.

While in the sauna, we spent a little time whacking each other with birch branches. This is also traditional, and not as painful as it sounds. The little branches still have leaves on them and are soaked in cold water, so it feels nice to have a cool bunch of leaves slapping at you. We also rubbed a mixture of salt and honey on our skin, which had a little of an exfoliating effect. There was also a sitting area in our private banya, with tables and chairs. We had tea and snacks. We spent three hours at the banya. It was a really great experience. Kind of funny and very relaxing.

Oh, I should probably mention also that Russians often go to the banya nude. Because we were a mixed-gender group, we wore suits. Thought I'd make that note in case anyone went googling and wondered.

So that was my afternoon. The Russian banya is excellent. I highly recommend you try it.

Learning

One of my favorite things about my being in Russia is that I am studying Russian. I take (surprisingly inexpensive) private lessons three times a week. My teacher, Irina, has a PhD in teaching Russian as a second language. She is actually in the process of publishing a book on Russian grammar. She's really great and I feel like in less than five weeks I've learned quite a bit.
Before I came here, my friend Shaun helped me get started, teaching me the alphabet, how to write in Russian (because the letters are not the same as in English handwriting), and a few words and phrases. Since I've been here, I've learned enough that I can almost sort of get around independently. I'm far from holding any complicated, interesting, or philosophical conversations, but I can communicate a bit. I've only learned a tiny chunk of the entire language, but I am excited at even that amount, which seems like a lot. I am lucky that I have studied other languages (especially Latin) because it has helped me learn Russian. Irina is terrifically patient and she tells me I am good - that I have a "phonetic gift." Now I am just bragging, I guess, so I'll be done. Hope everything is happy at home. I'll be there before you know it.
P.S. I would display my prowess with the Russian language by typing something in Russian, but it is a pain to pick at the Russian keyboard and my Russian spelling is pretty bad. You'll just have to talk to me when I get home.

Back in Yaroslavl

Just a quick post to say I made it home safe and sound. St. Petersburg was good. It's a funny city. Peter the Great built it to imitate great European cities. So although the people and the language are very Russian, the city is very not. Funny city.

St. Petersburg

I'm traveling to St. Petersburg this weekend. I'm leaving in an hour or so and I'll be back Monday morning (which is Sunday night for the American Midwest). I probably won't be posting during that time. Just so you know.

Kostroma

Today we went on a field trip to a Kostroma, a nearby town. We went to a moose farm. We went to a monastery. We went to a linen and birch bark museum. We went to a church. Good trip. The Russian word for moose is los.

Shelter

Here is a blog post about one of the facilities where I work. Once or twice a week my group of volunteers is sent to what we call "shelter." It is a temporary home for children who've been taken from unstable families. The kids live, sleep, eat, and play there. If they are school-aged, they go to school during the school year. I haven't been inside much, but I get the idea that it's like a daycare center, plus beds for nighttime. There are about 10 to 15 kids living there, aged about three to ten.
How do the kids get there, you ask? I am still learning about social services in Russia, but this is what I gather. A family might be reported by neighbors or someone who notices kids who are not in a good situation. (And maybe there are other ways they pick families to check.) A state-sponsored social worker makes a surprise visit to the home and evaluates the parents according to a number of criteria, such as the sobriety of the parents, the amount of food currently in the home, and whether the parents know the whereabouts of their kids. If the home is decided to be a bad environment for the kids, the kids are sent to shelter. The live there for about six months to a year, until their parents get it together or until the kids ultimately go to an orphanage. I don't know the official count or anything, but some kids do get to go home again. They do not all end up in an orphanage.
So what we do at shelter is just hang out with the kids. The weather has been pretty nice so we have played outside every day. We do a craft project, play games, color, do puzzles, play on the playground, etc. Playing in the sandbox is my personal favorite activity. The kids there are great. They act just like normal kids, even though I'm sure they're feeling confused (and who knows what other feelings) about why they aren't with their parents. One day one of them, a five-ish-year-old boy named Vasily, talked about his parents a little. The translator told me that he said his mom and dad were coming in an airplane to visit him. (This is wishful thinking, because his parents probably live here in Yaroslavl.) Vasily said we could not see the airplane in the sky at that time because the airplane was taking a nap. Or drinking milk. Funny, I know. Well, funny and sad. The translator also told me that a psychologist thinks Vasily has a psychological disorder. I think maybe he has some form of autism. The shelter is an interesting place. I guess the kids just need love and socialization, and I guess we provide that for a few hours every week.
I should probably say a bit about Russian orphanages. Something interesting I learned is that many of the "orphans" are not orphans by definition (i.e. having dead parents). Many of the orphans are actually social orphans, kids whose parents don't take care of them. The translators here have told me that most of the kids in orphanages won't get adopted if they are older than a couple years old. In that case, they stay in the orphanage until they are 18, at which age they are given an apartment from the state and a small amount of money to live on or study with. I can't really say much more because I haven't seen an orphanage here (or anywhere, I guess). All I'll say is that that must be a terrible way to grow up and it is likely that not many orphanage kids are primed to become normal, healthy adults. I'm guessing. Let's be honest - I don't know any grown-up former orphans.

Eclipse

I think it is a good time for a thoughtful reflection on service learning and social issues and stuff here in Russia. However, I don't totally feel up to it. Instead, I will let you all know that I just saw Eclipse (dubbed in Russian) in a Russian movie theater.

Weather and Land

At the request of my Gramma, I'm devoting this blog post to some info on my current environment.

I am living in Yaroslavl, Russia. It's about four hours to Moscow and twelve to St. Petersburg by train.

So far the weather has been pretty warm. My first week every day was in the high 80s or low 90s. Lately it has been probably in the 80s. The skies are usually clear or partly cloudy. It's not very windy here. I once saw about 15 minutes of rain. Apparently it rained for a week straight just before I got here.

My area of Russia looks like Wisconsin. The countryside is slightly hilly with plenty of forest and a little prairie/farmland. There aren't many lakes, but the big Volga River runs through town. Of course, the landscape here could be very different than other areas of Russia. Russia is the biggest country on earth (nearly twice the size of the United States, including Alaska), so the climate and land can really vary from north to south and from east to west.

It looks like my area, around Yaroslavl, is pretty nice. People are waiting to use the computer behind me so I'll finish up here. Things are going well and I'm still safe and healthy.

Back from Moscow

Just a quick note to say I made it home from Moscow safe and sound. It was a good weekend. We went to Red Square, where we saw St. Basil's Cathedral and Lenin's body in his mausoleum. We also went to a flea market, a Russian Orthodox Church service, a cool sculpture garden, and Novodivichy cemetary. Pretty great weekend. Hopefully this week I'll get back to writing about volunteering and other important stuff.

Weekend plans

Tomorrow night I am going to see Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters" in Russian. I am not sure if it is immediately obvious, but you should know that this is way seriously exciting. Super famous and important writer. Super famous and important play. In its original language. Of course, I won't understand the words, but I'll brush up on the plot beforehand and it'll be fine.
I am spending Saturday and Sunday in Moscow. It's a four-hour train ride away, which isn't bad in a country as enormous as Russia. I am going with Sarah, another of the volunteers here at CCS. We have some good stuff planned. I'm sure I'll blog about it when I get back.
Also, here is an addendum to the last post: While I say that many Russians do like the mullet, I do not mean to imply that they are behind or backwards or something. In fact, they may be ahead. I'm pretty sure the mullet is coming back. You know that way that some American girls do their hair right now? Short layers or poufiness on top with long straight layers in the back? That is a mullet in disguise. Also, some hipsters wear mullets with the intention of being ironic but with the result of bringing in back in fashion. I've also heard that the mullet is not uncommon in France. The mullet will be stylish again. You heard it here first, folks.

Mullets

Everyone should know that in Russia, mullets are so very stylish and popular.

Tolga on the Volga

We have the weekends off from volunteering, and yesterday I went on an excursion. Here at my homestay (the apartment where all the CCS volunteers live) there are usually 25 or 30 of us. Most of the volunteers went to Moscow for the weekend, so the three of us who stayed behind went on an afternoon trip. We took a boat about an hour up the Volga river to a place called Tolga. I'm not sure if I can call it a town. All I saw there was beach, countryside, a monastery, and a bunch of tiny dachas (Google it). I put my feet in the Volga, but I didn't swim. We had a picnic in the shade and spent the afternoon reading and relaxing. It was great. A vacation within my vacation. The boat rides there and back cost a total of only 30 rubles (a little less than a dollar). Again, it was great.
To finish, here is a Russian fact for your day: As far as I can tell, most Russian men wear speedos and almost all Russian women wear bikinis.

Women's hospital

The organization I am working with is called Cross-Cultural Solutions. CCS send volunteers to programs all over the world, each of which are partnered with local health, education, or social service institutions. Here in Yaroslavl, Russia, I'll have the opportunity to work with women with mental illnesses, the elderly, school-age children, and babies and infants. I think I'll blog about each of those facilities at some point this summer.
Twice now I've gone to the hospital for women with mental illness. Honestly, their situation is pretty crappy. The hospital used to be a prison, and it still has that prison-y sort of feel about it. The building smells like cigarettes and stale people stink. From the sounds of it, the women don't get much opportunity to get fresh air outside. When you walk into the building, you are reminded of everything that has ever been wrong with psychiatric care in the United States. The hospital is very One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
That being said, I should clarify that I am not condemning the hospital staff. It might be that the women don't get outside because the hospital is understaffed. That may also be the reason for the smell. Or, it may actually be a social resistance to helping people with mental illnesses. I really don't know enough about the situation to draw any firm conclusions about why the hospital is such an ugly place to live.
However, I think I can confidently make some statements about the women that live there. Contrary to what is easily imaginable when one thinks of mental illness, the women we work with don't seem to be unpredictable, violent nutcases who deserve a smelly imprisonment. When we go to the hospital, we just hang out. The 20 or so women work on craft projects, look at magazines, color or play games, listen to music, and sometimes dance. I've spent hours playing checkers with one of the women, and I've only won twice. (And I know one of those times she let me win.) In general, I can see that life probably sucks for a lot of the women in the hospital, and I'm glad I have the opportunity to hang out with them and just treat them like normal people.
Okay, so looking over this post I am realizing that there are a million and a half other things to say on this topic and it was kind of silly to try to write a short blog post on it. I'm tired of typing, so I'm going to just summarize the message I could spend pages writing on: People with mental illnesses shouldn't be defined by their problems. Sometimes they are treated very unfairly because of their (sometimes very minor) mental illness. It is good to treat them like normal people as much as possible, because--let's get real--they are people.
Bleh. I am frustrated by my internal conflict between wanting to say a lot and being too lazy to articulate it all. So frustrated that I can't think of a way to end this post. Er... Hm.

Sleepy

Not much going on here. Still in Russia. Yesterday I chipped paint at a school for kids with learning disabilities. I am still working on my jet lag. I am so tired. That is all.

I'm here!

I've arrived in Russia, safe and sound. Today we had orientation and a little tour of our city, Yaroslavl. There are about 25 or 30 volunteers here, and it has been fun meeting all of them. (Fun fact: Even though my organization is a national one, five of the volunteers are from or study in North Dakota or Minnesota. The upper midwest is awesomely over-represented.) I don't really have much to say and I'm pretty tired, so I think I'm going to head to bed early. Volunteer work starts tomorrow. Get excited. I'll let you know how it goes.

Bri in Russia

Since I'm traveling to Russia, I'm going to be posting to my blog. I leave the U.S. on June 19th and will be back August 23. I'll try to update every other day or so so everyone can know that I'm doing fine, I'm having fun, and I'm learning lots of stuff. My only comment for today is that I am excited for the trip!
My next post will be from Russia!
Until then...