GOLDRussia2009

We arrived in Kiev after what seemed like a very brief journey and found our hostel easily. It was pretty basic, but did us for the 2 nights we were there. Whilst we were in Kiev it was Ukranian Independence Day where we spent most of the day at a free open air concert which had more Ukranian trashy pop and traditional singing than you can shake a stick at!! People everywhere were shouting 'Slava Ukrainia' and everyone was generally having a party on the main road which had been turned into a walking plaza. The day ended with a spectacular firework display. Also, whilst in the city we visited the Chenobyl museum which was very insightful even if it was filled with scary dummies wearing gas suits! We also went into some caves beneath a ... read more

The three of us departed Moscow on Tuesday evening, having said our goodbyes to Jill, Anne and Rachel. We set off in the pouring rain and headed for our overnight train to St. Petersburg. We departed the city at 1am and arrived in St.Petersburg at 9.45am. The train journey was the best so far - the train was nicer, the toilets were nicer and we all got a good nights sleep. We arrived into the city centre and got our bearings whilst heading for the hostel - even though this did involve getting on a bus in the complete wrong direction - we made it in the end!! Whilst we have been here we have visited the Hermitage (Winter Palace)- an amazing building filled with collection upon collection of art work from different historical periods and ... read more

So, after 3 weeks at camp, we have arrived back in Moscow. We are spending a few days sightseeing as a group before Jill, Rachel and Anne fly back to the UK and Emma, Amber and Susannah continue their travels. We arrvied early on Sunday morning after a great flight from Novokutznesk. We flew low over Siberia, so the views were brilliant. We are staying in the same hostel as before so it was easy to get our bearings once back in the city. The things we have done here so far include... - Red Square - Park of fallen Heroes - Lenin's Morsoleum - Convent - Underground shopping mall - Cathedral of Christ the Saviour - St. Basils Its a great city and the metro system is beautifully decorated with each station having its own ... read more

Hi Everyone, We've spent the last 3 weeks on project in Siberia. Apologies for the lack of updates, we didn't have any access to internet whilst in Siberia, but now you can follow every step of the journey. Week 1 - Arrived in Moscow and flew onto Novokutznesk in South East Siberia. Warmly welcomed at the airport by the Regional Commissioner, our translator Inna and Stephan and Iona - who were both involved in scouting. We headed to a 'special house' where we stayed for one night, and then later for the duration of the camp. We were shown the city before jumping on an overnight train to another city - Abakan. Here we stayed at a camp where we trained a small group of leaders and members. There was a lovely lake to swim in, ... read more

Hello Everyone, Well we have all made it to Russia in one piece!The flight was good, however we were checked to see if we had swine flue by a man with a laser temperature gun. We all passed the test thank goodness. The weather is a lot warmer than most of us were expecting. The hostel is clean and feels safe - aways good! Moscow is a very busy city where the traffic is mad! We have already seen some interesting sites including an old lady with a big dog on a lead and some kittens in a cage. Today we have planned out all out trainings and later on we are off to the airport to fly to our next destination - Abakan. we are leaving Moscow at 10.30 in the evening after a 4 ... read more

Team Russia's Newest Recruit Today we are proud to announce the newest member of our team... This is Pops...and he's a monkey!! Pops was rescued, only a week old, on the side of the road in Salima, Malawi. He arrived at the Centre the day after Coco, very distressed, and he took to his bottle immediately. He is now quite a greedy little guy and calls for his bottle as soon as he thinks he might be starting to feel hungry! Pops is very independent and doesn't really like being cuddled, although he does not move too far away from his carer. He adores his big adopted brother Coco and always goes to sleep holding his teddy with one arm and Coco with the other. Pops is not used to strangers, though, and will go to ... read more

2nd Briefing Weekend Our second meeting as Team Russia was in Chingford, Essex from the 3rd - 5th April. This was our opportunity to take our planning a lot further and make solid plans. We now each have our own training sessions to plan, badges to sell and fundraising to continue with. Although we still don't have much information from Russia, we are going ahead and making plans which can be altered accordingly if need be. So far we have 3 possible destinations where we will be camping for sometime. These are all in Southern Siberia - which apparently is suprisingly warm in the summer! Our training sessions will be on the following topics: Recruitment, Retention and PR (Anne and Rachel) Leadership, Development and Training (Jill and Susannah) and Healthy Lifestyles, Songs, Icebreakers and Games ... read more