i-camp, Russia

Date	Place of exercise	Duration (min)	Description	½ lap breast stroke, ½ armless backstroke	Start time
21 Aug	Kashirski Rodnichki, Russia	25	Dancing/aerobics		8:05
22 Aug		28	Run stairs		8:10
23 Aug		38	Run and walking		7:34
25 Aug	Tirana	35	Swimming	9:28  2 laps=3:43.06	7:50

All through the summer, my muscles and joints were tough.  I also learned about a couple people who have stopped their running regimes because of the damage it was, or might be, doing to their bodies.  Therefore, on the last a camp in Russia, I sprinkled in some walking during the run.  The problem is that I cannot really build up enough energy and sweat when I am walking.

During the days of August 20-23, I was involved with I-Camp.  It’s something organized by Synergy University in Moscow for teenagers.  We divided into three teams and performed several activities.  There were hints of Camp Foster. Friendships were made, new things were tried.  I was there as “the native speaker.”  There were such natives assigned to each group—my role was to talk to the kids in English and to teach classes for two hours per day. I was super pleased on the last day to hear from one of my group leaders--a young 20-something college student who didn't speak English well--that she was happy with my performance.  She explained how she had worked with several 'Natives' in the past, and she had always needed to encourage them to talk to the kids.  She used the word дергаться, a word I had never heard before.  It’s most commonly translated as “twitches”.  In this case, I understand it to mean something more like prod or jerk—she needed to goad the native speakers into doing their job of conversing with the kids.  It was easy for me to talk to the kids.  I would begin, “So, tell me about your family.”  They were also eager to talk to me and practice their English. Lovely.

During camp, I was most impressed with the manner in which everyone worked together.  The kids were nice to each other—even the nerds, geeks, and dorks were treated well.

So, please don’t think I’m creepy, but we played a game among our group.  It was called, “killer.”  Everyone put their names in a hat and then drew one.  That was the person you were assigned to ‘kill.’  To kill them, we would have to kiss them on the skin somewhere.  I used hands and the back of the neck as skin locations for my kisses. I killed 10 out of 21 people before my victim had MY name.  Thus ended the game for me.  The kids had played it before so they were not generally very excited about it.  For me it was a new experience. 

Such a game would probably never fly in the US. Just the word ‘kissing’ carries a great amount of baggage that sounds terribly awkward to many people.  Especially absurd would be the thought of a 49-year-old man ‘kissing’ teenagers.  That’s what’s great about being outside the US…you can find some aspects of life where people are not so uptight.