Sunday morning we had brunch with the Crowe family and then headed out on the road by about 12:30. Getting to and around Kiev was slow but the highway all the way to Zhytomyr was absolutely beautiful. We're flying down this major highway doing 120 km/h and there are people all along the sides selling things! This lady was selling branches that you hit people with in the banya of all things!!
We arrived in Zarichany which is just on the other side of the river from Zhytomyr just before the rest of the team did so we waited in the town and then followed them to the camp. We would have never found it by ourselves - it was way down this gravel/dirt road through a forest and then suddenly there was this big beautiful camp complete with a church in the middle. The camp was made by a Catholic organization called Caritas and they rent out their facility to groups like YFC. We met the team of eight Americans and the few Ukrainians that we didn't already know. We knew Sasha who is the YFC Director in Ukraine and Zhenya who we met when we arrived in Kiev 3.5 years ago when we moved here, and who works with YFC. The American team was three couples (Mike and Judy, Randy and Vicki, Pastor Steve and Mary) and two single girls - Sandy and Katya who was born in Ukraine and was adopted by Mike and Judy when she was 8 years old. Mike and Judy lived in Kiev for 10 years until 2012 so they spoke some Russian although most of our Russian was pretty useless because everyone was speaking Ukrainian. Katya was great though because she is 19 and still speaks Russian and Ukrainian fluently.
We chose our room which had 5 beds and our own bathroom (which we haven't had at the last two camps we've been to) and there was a fridge right outside our door.
After a big group meeting to schedule the week and get everything ready, we did some exploring of the area. Most camps have an outdoor washing area, usually near the kitchen - this one was old, in a back corner and wasn't really used for much but it still worked.
One of our main concerns for the camp was that we were doing sports with kids in +30 degree weather....was there somewhere for the kids to cool off/swim. Oh yes, the camp is on the river! We were told......and then we got there, went to the river and found this massive chain link and barbed wire fence with SWIMMING FORBIDDEN in big letters.
Our second major concern with camps is the food. We hate grechka which is basically cooked grains, usually buckwheat which is the WORST. Of course the FIRST meal they feed us leaders is GRECHKA! Steve and I just looked at each other with concern.
The first evening we drove out to a nearby gas station to grab some drinks and we came back through town right when the cows were coming home. I snapped this picture of this man walking his cow home for the night.
The sunset over the river.....I reached high up above the barbed wire.....
Checking out some paths around the camp:
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