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.