3 weeks in Siberia

---

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, and were taken on an excursion to the mountains. All in all a good start to our project.

We returned to Novokutznesk on another overnight train where we spent a few nights in homestay in Malinofka - a small town. This was pretty hard due to the lack of English speakers, but we coped fine and began to love the place and the people we had met.

We met up as a group a few times in homestay and were shown some of the local sights such as the town's mine, a church, the supermarket and had a BBQ by the lake.

Week 2 -
Camp began and we were staying back in the 'special house' which was odd because we thought we would be camping. All the campers arrived and ranged in age from 5 to 50. During our time at camp we :
- Ran trainings for everyone there on leadership development, teamwork and healthy living which were enjoyed by all
- Climbed a mountian Siberian style and fell back down the other side which was a waterfall!
- Tree climbed
- Performed a traditional dance for everyone to join in with at a cultural evening
- Enjoyed the delights of Siberian Camp food....Hmmmmmmmmmm
- Learnt Russian scout songs around huge campfires
- Made our Siberian TV and Radio debuts at different times during the camp
- Had the pleasure of using Siberian camp toilets - a hole in the ground, smelling like a farmyard
- And much, much more...which you will the pleasure of hearing all about when we return!

Week 3 -
Left camp and headed back to Malinafka to rest for the night. Had a feast at an Old Lady's house which was great.
Next day set off to go to Rubsovk on an 8 hour bus and 5 hour train journey. The bus drivers found us hilarious cos they had seen us on Siberian news....so we were local celebrities!
Arrived in Rubsovk and did 2 days training at a church who were aiming to set up a scout group in the area. After our brief stay we were back on a 14 hour train to Novokutznesk for our final few days.
Our final day in Novokutznesk was spent with the people we had got to know most, and we went to a shopping centre and did some more sightseeing.
Our final night was very sad - we were all sad to be leaving the people we had got to know so well 😞
We had to get up v early the next day to catch our flight back to Moscow as our time in Siberia had come to an end. There were lots of tears at the airport, both Russian and English and we said our final goodbyes!

Random Highlights -
- Various shapes and sizes of squat toilets
- The variety of mush that can be served 3 times a day
- Beating each other with Birch branches in Russian Sauna's
- Stefan Schumacher and his taxi rides
- Generally being left at random peoples house who didnt seem to know why we were there - and we didnt seem to know why we were there. Generally they didn't speak English!
- Supermarket trips and stocking up on Lay's crisps
- Larisa pulling a WHOLE watermelon out of her rucksack and then proceeding to feed us the whole thing
- Our attempt to perform London's Burning in front of the campers fully dressed in GOLD shirts and skirts, and burst out laughing due to the fact we performed after some half naked dance act
- Dancing to Boom Boom Pow in our Russia 2009 GOLD Pants
- Spending endless nights on trains - but loved the rocking motion to help us to sleep
- Being witness to a Scout Promise ceremony which differs immensely from what we consider traditional
- Our arrival being the biggest thing to happen to Malinofka in a long time - possibly ever?!
- Stefan break dancing in a pair of our team pants!
- Interviews for Russian TV and Radio - which made us local celebs
- Generally not ever really knowing what was going on - but we were happy to go with the flow so coped!

I'm sure we will tell you a lot more when we arrive home - but keep posted for more info on post project travels.

---

Comments

[Ganet]

Sounds .......... interesting. Love the random highlights .. brightened up an otherwise extremely dull day at work! A never-to-be-forgotten experience I'm sure! Ganet xxx