Thursday, July 15, 2010

Day #7 - Syem (s'ehm') Band of Brothers

BAND OF BRATYA
The four brothers plus an honorary brother: Sasha, Vanya, Sergei, Gena and Volva
Happy birthday to Sasha & Vanya




A new soccer ball, two decks of playing cards, sugar babies and mike & ikes!





Today was an OUTSTANDING day. While nothing was really out of the norm, it was a total blast. Constantine, our trustworthy taxi driver arrived right on time at 10:00. I had a lot of stuff to pack into the car today because I was bringing birthday gifts, a full cake and my usual Trader Joe's bag full of stuff. We headed off to Camp Alliance in a slightly new direction. I think he was trying to avoid some pot holes in order to preserve the cake which was sitting on my lap.

Sitting in the front seat offers an entirely new perspective of the country roads in Ukraine. Frankly, I am thrilled to graduate from the back seat where I had to focus on the horizon in order to avoid getting car sick on a daily basis. The front seat however, is not for any lightweights. The first order of business is to alleviate your fears of speed. Check--no problem. The second bit of business is to toughen up your skills at playing "chicken". I am not exaggerating when I tell you that the potholes are so bad, a small car could get lost forever. There are so many large holes that cars zig zag to avoid them. It doesn't matter what is coming towards you or how fast you are moving, you just need to avoid them and let the on comer deal with the tight squeeze.

I arrived at camp and was greeted by Vanya, one of the birthday boys. He guided me back to Sergei's dorm. When we found Sergei, he rounded up the four brothers Gena, Sasha, Vanya and Volva. Sasha & Vanya were turning 14 today. The six of us went into the dorm, put 14 candles on the cake, sang happy birthday and then I got them to make a wish. Sergei and I quickly jumped into gear and realized that we could cut the cake AND make plates out of the cardboard from the cake box. The boys all enjoyed a big honking piece of chocolate cake.

We took tons of pictures with the brothers and their fifth brother as they refer to Sergei. I know the five of them look out for one another and their love for each other is completely evident. They invited me in for some of the pictures as well. Afterwards, Sergei resized the cardboard box and tucked the cake into a cubby for a snack after swimming. As I have mentioned before, they are resourceful and they are creative!!

The pool water was recently replaced and it was clear and clean. The kids were having a blast and calling my name to take more pictures. After a while, they were egging me on to join then so I figured why not. At the next go round, I joined in the orderly decent and swam in my clothes. Of course Sergei, Mr. Competitive wanted to race his mama. He had a little speedo on and I had a cotton t-shirt and shorts that weighed me down a few pounds. No problem for the mama. It was fun, I think they were totally surprised I went in and it was a perfect dip in the pool.


Afterwards, we headed to the dormitory to get a comb and dry off a bit. I was walking slightly behind the boys when I heard quite a bit of yelling. Little did we know that while we were swimming, the cleaning crew had discovered the crumbs from the cake that were on the floor. Tonya, their counselor had them lined up against the wall and was yelling at them. To me, Russian sounds angry much of the time so I was not certain how much trouble they were in. I did feel responsible for the incident, however. Once she was finished talking with them, I looked at Sergei and we got the giggles. After all, it was a b-day celebration. I couldn't find Tonya to apologize and fess up so I asked that Sergei follow up on my behalf.

And as Pat & Evan used to end their stories..........THE END.

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