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...