100's of Pictures
- madisonunderwood93
- Sep 10, 2017
- 3 min read
100’s of pictures, 80 hours on trains, 60 hours on buses, 8 books, 6 camps, 2 USA visitors, and so many memories - this has been one hell of a summer. I haven’t updated my blog all summer because I’ve been constantly on the move.
This summer I was able to work at some different youth camps, host youth camps, travel some, and even get to improve on my language skills.
This summer started with about 250 young kids dancing around in our schoolyard for morning exercises for a camp at our school. We played in the park, made up chants, and learned new games.
Right after that was a 17-hour train ride out to the Carpathian Mountains for a camp on journalism for about 50 Ukrainian youth. It was a great time and I got to teach about photography and blogging.
Two Peace Corps volunteers came to help at an English camp at my school where we had the kids running all over the place following clues around my small city.
I spent a weekend in Lviv with some friends and was thoroughly shocked with how different the cities in the west looked than the cities in the northeast (where I’ve lived).
I then spent a couple weeks in a city Ternopil not far from. This was a camp for older students to learn about how to implement small community projects and affect change. It was so inspiring to work with so many youths that cared so much about their country and wanting to do everything they can to improve life for everyone.
Next up was a language camp for me. It was nice to be able to practice Ukrainian in a way that was helpful, where I got to choose classes that would be most beneficial.
I spent only a few days at home before I was on the move again – this time to Chernihiv (not far from where I lived during training). I was volunteering at a camp with the youngest children I had worked with all summer, having art therapy lessons with children ages 8-10. It was a lot of fun having water balloon fights, bonfires, discos and of course sharing the important American food: s’mores. It was one of my favorite memories of the summer.
Not long after that I was welcomed 4 more volunteers in Romny to help out with an American Sports camp. We played football, baseball, kickball, and ultimate Frisbee. And let me tell you – trying to explain the rules to football to kids who have never seen a football before let alone watched a game is pretty damn tough.
One of my other favorite memories of the summer is when my Aunt and her friend Kristina came to visit. Seeing family for the first time in over 11 months was awesome. I got to show them around Kyiv, experience Chernobyl with them, and then show them more of what my daily life is like in Romny. We spent time with my teachers and got the special tour of my school.
And then because I only had one long weekend left of summer I decided to head to a city on the beach, Odessa. I spent time with friends, read some books, laid on the beach, went to a fancy beach club, went to the ballet, and ate some really good food. It was the perfect way to end my crazy summer.
