Our diary

Day one 27/07/2009 by Yeji, Korea.

I arrived to Dnipropetrovs’k in 7:30 after about 24 hours at journey. I was tired but also very excited to meet other people. I met Marina and Olga in front of the train station. I felt so relieved that I finally met someone who speaks English. After everyone arrived, we went to take a bus to go to the camp site. We got to know better each other on the way to the camp site. We had a wonderful traditional soup called borsch. It tastes so good. And the garlic food was great too. We also had a chance to know the local people (children). Even if we use different language, they were very sweet.
At night, everyone went to shower and it was very special. They had this sauna called Banya, which was pretty similar to with Korean sauna.
After we got back home from shower, everyone gathered around and had a time to get to know each other better. We did many games, activities, also made our own rules.
I am so happy to meet everyone. I am so excited about what is going to happen next!
Yeji, Korea.

Day two 28/07/2009 by Michal, Czech Republic

We didn’t start our first whole day at the camp place slowly as one would think because we woke up at 7:30. Our leaders were probably afraid that there wouldn’t be enough of work for us so the morning exercise took 30 minutes and … they were right! Locals just showed the place of work including a short practice of coloring a fence… hopefully tomorrow…
Also an excursion to a horse ridding school should be mentioned. Local horse farm is one of a few non private farms and perhaps because of this we had an opportunity to ride a horse (without any lost).
The only problem here is that there are no beer drinkers except me in our group so I had no mate to discover some of local pubs which are mostly concentrated at the crossroads (even after reading this post some people were saying the opposite . But honestly I hadn’t missed the beer too much because we spent a nice afternoon playing with the kids.
The rule that each camp is different is valid for this one as well. It is too early to evaluate the project but at least one thing should be mentioned – Toilets.
The most common here is so called “Turkish toilet” which is the healthiest according to doctors but not the best according to spoiled westerners… The most “magnificent” toilet is placed in a restaurant we go for an eating. I was wondering that they lock it because going there is a real punishment! Luckily the food is good so we don’t have to go there too often…
Michal, Czech Republic

Day three 29/07/2009 Thomas, Germany

The third day in camp was a very special day for me. It was my 22nd birthday. Right after getting up the people from the camp sang birthday songs for me in their native languages (e.g. Korean, French, Czech, Ukrainian). I even got a little present.
After the breakfast we took a little walk to the river. At around 9 a.m. we started to work again at the community dancing place. A lot of people, the most of them children, were already there. Someone must have told them that it was my birthday because I had to shake a lot of hands and they altogether sang a song to me in Ukrainian.
Don’t worry, we also worked We cut wood and painted it. We did our job well and I think the locals thought so, too.
The afternoon started with an interview with a journalist from the local newspaper. She asked all kinds of questions and was very interested in the participant’s different cultural background (especially the food). On this particular day we had to work the whole day. So shortly after the journalist had left we started to work again and finished the paint job. Right before dinner.
For dinner we had a watermelon that the head of the local government gave to me as a birthday present.
/pleade insert maryna’s picture no. 4044/
At around 11 p.m. a small group went to the disco that was organized in the rooms of the community center of our village. As you can imagine we were very exhausted when we finally went to bed…
Thomas, Germany

Day four 30/07/2009 by Valentine, France

DAY OFF !
But we wake up very early ( 7H ! Hard !) for original morning exercises. After, we had an at-home perfect breakfast and we preparing ourselves under rain for an excursion in a national natural park near to the camp. Even if the trip was quite frightening for the guys who were in the Alexis` Lada, everybody arrive at destination. Bisones, Horses, Muflones, Ostriches and other animals were waiting for us in a wonderful landscape.
The cultural aspect of the excursion wasn’t forget, with the visit of the Soviet Union fan club museum, before to play volley ball and to have a good traditional lunch with garlic bread, borch, carbage,…  In the afternoon, we started by a little sleep, then we continue the visit by a boat excursion to the Lenine`s Island, nice with its little house and the Lenine`s statue, with didn’t seems very happy to welcome us…
In the evening, we had a great picnic Lot of us slept during the return trip, then we arrive at home for a long free time: games, sleeps, readings, writing, bicycle racing,… Then, we had a great picnic all together in the garden, in front of the house.
After a small free time, we started a Olga-way game: draw with an only pencil for four people! The draw are now hanging in the house, witch really look like a kindergarten now! We continue with rugby, witch became a volley ball because we are dangerous guys. After the evaluation and the reading of the gossip box, always a funny moment, we went to sleep.
Ready for a new day !
Valentine, France

Day five 31/07/2009 by Lily, United States

Hi everyone! It’s Lily from the United States. On our fifth day in the camp we woke up at 7:30am as usual and did morning exercises. Then it was straight to work. We gave the benches a second coat of paint. The paint fumes gave me a headache but it was all worth it. And we know how to relax too, as you can see in the picture of our massage line.
/please insert Natasha’s photo DSCN7122/
For lunch at 1pm we walked to Café Marseilles, which we had never been to before. It was beautiful! There was even a fountain outside. I fell in love with the place (read: pictured having my wedding there) but apparently the others didn’t like the food as well as the other cafes’ so it seems that will remain our only visit.
During free time some of us sleepyheads went home, while most, including yours truly, took the trek to Pokrovka, the biggest village in the area, in search of an internet café. We had the friendly local Sergei to guide us. I adored the village and its cafes. We stopped in one for a glass of kvas (a Russian carbonated soda made from black bread, popular in the summer). The first internet café we stopped at had a 40-minute wait for a computer. The second one we went to simply didn’t have internet that day (don’t ask me how that works). So we returned to the first  and while Valentine surfed the web, the rest of us visited Lenin’s statue and the WWII memorial square. Admittedly it was a bit a frustrating to have to wait for a computer because a bunch of eight-year olds wanted to play CounterStrike, but we made the most of it. The next thing we knew, it began storming and electricity went out in the town. We stood helplessly in the café. Marina dialed Aleksei Vladimirovich to come pick us up. That man has taken such good care of us here since day one.
After that adventure, we relaxed at home with our usual dinner of fresh vegetables. Then Marina had a surprise for us. We walked to a local woman, Oxana’s, house and she taught us how to milk a cow. It was my first time and I kept thinking I was going to hurt the animal. When we left, Oxana gave us a big jar of fresh milk. I had some and it was delicious.
By the time we got home, we were quite worn out and just had free time, then evaluation and the gossip box. I think I speak for all of us when I say it’s one of the things I most look forward to every day. Tomorrow: day-trip to Zaporizhie and Khortitsa!
Lily, United States

Day six, 01/08/2009 by Natasha, Ukraine

This day was so beautiful, because we had a very interesting excursion to Zaporizhya. First part of this day we were on the way, because our bus was broken.
But when we have arrived we had an interesting excursion to the island Hortitsa by boat and saw a lot of beautiful landscapes. After that we walked around and city park. Later we went to the island itself and visited the museum of Cossacks.
In the evening our campleaders rented a flat where we stayed to sleep. It was very and very nice day, we got a lot of good impressions, but were a little bit tired.
Natasha, Ukraine

Day seven, 02/08/2009 by Anna, France

After the night passed in the flat of Zaporegia, Lily, Thomas, Marina and me went to see an Orthodox mess. It was my first time, so interesting to compare with catholic or protestant mess. There was lot of icons and colors, everybody stay stand up, every women wear a dress or a gown and a scarf [our clothes wasn’t adapted!!!], the pope wears a golden suit. He leads the mess just with the reading of his book (what’s this book?) and singing lot of sons (?).
After this discovery, we have accessed at internet, each of us could read and send their messages or other activities.
Come back in the flat, Valentine was sleeping again [Marmot!!!!]. 11h, she waked up, we took the breakfast together [pizzas] and then the group divided, a part went in the market to buy souvenirs, and the other part went to access at internet. Meeting point at 13h to return in the camp, it was okay!
Little visit of the city and markets, nice, nice. Yeji bought two Matriochkas. Me, I found a new fan because Yeji`s fan was broken, just a present =)
The meeting point is good, return with the bus, no car problem or other.
Before the dinner, we visited three farms which product vegetables. The bad point was the temperature, 38`C in the green gardens!!! The good point was lot of present, they gave vegetables, thank! After return at the camp, we shared the dinner and tomorrow is an other day with news adventures!
Anna, France

Day eight, 03/08/2009 by Yeji , KOREA

Today, Michal and I was the duty today. I woke the girls up with my terrible back massage!! Haha  After we eat delicious breakfast, we went an excursion to the sunflower factory where they make sunflower oil out of seeds. It was very interesting to see the process that seeds became oil. and it smell so good that I didn’t want to get out of there. We also went to blacksmith’s working house. It was quite interesting to see the real blacksmiths and I really liked their work. It was beautiful especially the hanger looks like a tree.
After all excursions we started to clean around the dance place. It was very hot as usual, but I felt really great to clean the place with local people. We also repainted the benches and the doors  at the dance place. It was very beautiful after we painted it even if I didn’t like the rainbow colors.
Today’s highlight!/!!! NATASHA’s Surprise concert. !!!  I didn’t know she was planning the concert today. I knew that she is a Bandura player but I didn’t know that she is that goooooooooood. I was so surprised that she can both singing and play an instrument. Her song just blowed my mind.  It was AMAZING. Even if I could not understand the lyrics, I could feel the song. Her traditional Ukraine clothes were beautiful. I definitely want her CD before the camp is over. I love her so much *^^* I’m looking forward to see the gossip box now ! goodnight :p
Yeji , KOREA

Day nine, 04/08/2009 by Thomas, Germany

Hey it’s me, Thomas, again.
Today we left “our” kindergarten to live in the forest. We will stay there until the end of the week which will be also the end of the our workcamp.  We put all our belongings in our bags and threw them on a trailer. When we arrived in the forest we immediately started to settle our camp. Two workers from the village helped us to build the shower, the shower and the fireplace. A few minutes after we had finished to settle our camp it started to rain. Luckily it was only for 30 minutes.
The only work we had to do on this day was to collect garbage around our camp and to pull out a weed called “Ambrosia”.
Thomas

Day tenth, 05/08/2009 by Michal, Czech

Hello, actually due to a lot of activities we had in the last days I’m writing this when sitting in a bus to Dnepropetrovsk nevertheless I’ll try to summarize the whole day as if I wrote it immediately.
For me the forest is a symbol of nature and freedom and I can say that we found it here. I can’t say that staying in a village wasn’t nice but coming to a forest became quite refreshing…
We keep all the habits and rituals we were used to do in Aleksandrovka which means that morning exercise was included as usually. After breakfast we went on a tractor to the forest to collect garbage – perhaps the most useful work we did here.
The most common staff we collected were plastic bottles – half of lemonade half of beer. The same (half/half) for a glass bottles – beer remained but lemonade has been replaced by vodka.
Lunch was delicious! As we finally started to cook by our own Korean food prepared by Yeji was on the menu.
Before lunch we became 10 – Valerian has joined our project. His arrival was a matter of improvisation. We met on my way to Dnepropetrovsk during an ethno festival in Pidkamin where him and my friend I came with took a part on another workcamp. I spent three days on their project and now he came here. It seems that workcamps still keep the spirit of humanism and solidarity established in 1920 when the first French-German workcamp started – simply it doesn’t matter from where you are coming from, you are always welcomed.
In the afternoon we had to go to fight against Ambrosia again. This flower coming from America is everywhere here causing troubles to many people with an allergy.
Evening brought Ukrainian spirit to the camp. Marina, Olga and Natasha hold a presentation on Ukraine with an opportunity to learn some traditional dances followed by another night with campfire and the full moon.
Staying in nature reminds you that you are just a small part of something huge. The moon and the fire appeard at this place many times before we came and it will appear many times after we leave… but when everybody went to bed and I was sitting close to the fire watching the moon I felt a kind of equality with this two “guys”. Hopefully we will meet each other again only the place will be probably different.
Michal, Czech

Day eleventh, 06/08/2009 by Valentine, France

Today, we worked the morning with the tractor, the tractor driver and his daughter. We pick up lot of garbage but it was quite hard because we stopped at 2 o’clock and there was a lot of sun, but we survived.
For lunch, we had good Germano-American dishes prepared by Thomas and Lyly, with cheese, potatoes, tomato soup,…
In the afternoon, we had a long free time, and then we went to the river thanks to Bogdan and his car. We were 8 inside, with German music and open roof: good atmosphere! It was cool to swim in this wonderful landscape.
After another free time and an excellent Armenian dinner, we played a geocache game with a local team. The game was very interesting but we lost, subbing! Lucky, we were consoled by another Armenian dinner, YOUPI!
To finish, we spend the evening around the camp fire, it was nice.
Valentine

Day twelve, 07/08/2009 by Lily, USA

It’s Friday and our last full day in Kolomiytsy, as we decided yesterday to make an excursion to Dnipropetrovsk this weekend. We woke up at 8pm as usual and did morning exercises and took showers. Then the tractor arrived at 10 and the others went off to clean the forest. I stayed back at camp with Marina and Natasha because I was sick. I slept for an hour, then helped prepare vegetable soup for lunch. After an hour-long break, we heard electronic music blaring through the forest and a black SUV rolled up – Bogdan’s signature entrance. It was time for our football (soccer) game against the locals!
We arrived at the local field and warmed up, then split into two teams: 9 volunteers versus 5 local males, mainly Bogdan and his friends. We played like this for half an hour and the score was tied at 4:4 when more locals arrived, including Olga’s quirky former hiking instructor, who simply went by Ivanovich. At this point we re-divided teams equally and began anew. My team won 6:4 ☺
We went back to camp for dinner. Ivanovich and local youth Anya and Vova joined us. They played soccer with some of us while the rest got ready for the diskoteka’s opening party at 8pm. Again the 11 of us piled into Bogdan’s SUV, we’d become experts at it by now. He seemed to enjoy our screaming during the ride through the forest and villages as he began fishtailing on purpose to elicit more of it.
We arrived late, slightly battered but energized, in time to hear Alla Gonchareva, director of the House of Culture, present our volunteer camp. We were awarded diplomas for our participation in the aforementioned and some local singers performed. They were quite good. Finally the diskoteka began and local youth piled into the open-air dance floor that we had spent a week renovating. Mostly ‘80s Soviet dance classics and some modern ones kept us moving. We were constantly dancing in circles and, to our delight, the local youth were eager to join us.
Finally we left at 11:30pm. I was so tired and tomorrow we were going to Dnipropetrovsk!
Lily

Day 14, 09/08/2009 by Anna, France

The last day…Valerian and Thomas went yesterday. Lily and Olga too, they went together to discover Crimea during a little travel. =)
Michael, Yeji, Marina, Valentine and me, have slept in the Natasha’s home. No time to wake up, first night in the bed after two weeks in the camp. Yeah!!!!
11h30 wake up; we took the breakfast [lunch] and hop hop, we went in Dnipropetrovs’k to internet, to find some souvenirs, to take trains. It’s the end…
Yeji went with Natasha to Kiev at 17h. There was only Michael, Valentine, Marina and I, the atmosphere was sad… But Michael decided to invite us to restaurant in (I don’t know the park name?)!!! Gentleman             Thanks!
The time pass, Michael’s train is at 19h30, run!! To go from park to train station, we took a taxi, my first time in Ukraine. Then, Michael ran to take his bags and with Valentine, we offered him a beer, a ice cream and water to his trip, Good Travel Michael =)
French girls were the last! To begin and to finish this camp, we have taken the same train. More funny =)
During the waiting, we have sung because French girls are crazy, no!??
It is the end of beautiful trip, thanks everybody!! Lot of souvenirs, lot of pleasure, lot of happiness!
This first experience was wonderful
Anna, =) !!!!!

Мы сегодня заглянули на место проведения вместе со съемочной группой редакции Студенческого телевидения Днепропетровского Университета Экономики и Права. Смотрите ниже фотографии с места проведения.

В доме, где живут волонтеры рады всем

Была составлена географическая карта мест проживания участников проекта

В доме никого не оказалось кроме Франческо, работающего «в офисе»

и мы пошли искать волонтеров во двор где встретили Сабину, которая заплетала традиционным методом лук

Сабина рассказала, что ей жутко понравились новые идеи полученные от нахождения в украинском селе. Она продемонстрировала нам ранее заготовленные вязанки лука и чеснока и рассказала, что точно также хранят лук и чеснок и во Франции, Италии и в Марокко

еще Сабина сказала, что загорелась украсить свой дом во Франции в традиционном украинском стиле. Волонтеры во время проекта научились и «обмазали» бывший курятник на заднем дворе «Дома у озера», который по задумке должен будет стать музеем.

сами же куры переехали в новое жилище  на место с лучшим видом на озеро

недалеко волонтеры помогли подготовить площадку и установить бассейн!!!

Так же преобразились задний двор и WC

На заднем дворе был положен бетонный фундамент для строительства класса на открытой террасе

WC теперь выделен как отдельный архитектурный элемент. Он теперь гордо стоит посреди заднего двора.

а так как театр начинается с вешалки, то волонтерами уже почти завершен проект мини-парка на подъезде к «Дому у озера»

молодая зеленая травка уже пробивается, чтобы стать газоном, который был создан руками ребят приехавшими со всей Европы

а Анна и Андрей из редакции Студенческого телевидения Днепропетровского Университета Экономики и Права успели познакомиться и взять интервью у участников и организаторов проекта

As maybe you don’t know, I joined this group only on August the 5th, coming a long way from Kyzyl, through Central Asia and Russia, as I have been spending this summer as a long term – EVS volunteer in the Russian Federation. I am working here in my 6th work camp and, as I already have learnt, every group I join makes me meet new people and face new tasks and common duties.
By the way, my delayed arrival just threw me into this project in medias res, without knowing exactly what would have been the schedule and the whole outcome of the working activities themselves. Now, after a few days working with locals and other international volunteers, I can see more clearly the whole idea of this eco-touristy project, and also the first, satisfactory outcomes of our job.

In this first week of work camp the free-time activities were also quite various, as you may have understood.
Today’s schedule, for example, foresaw a tour of the city of Dnipropetrovs’k followed by a night at the disco. Both things gave us more time to stay together and know each other: I find this group of volunteers extremely lively, various and colorful.
Everyday life never stops giving us occasions to practicing our irony and good mood.
I would say today has been the “day of records”: first, at the Historical Museum, also pressed by the delay we accumulated in the previous hours, we had to face (probably) the fastest and most hurrying guided trip ever. Over a couple of hours, our Speedy Guide machine-gunned our brains with a storm of dates, names, faces and facts.
Still amazed by the overwhelming quantity of words produced by Hurrycane (I thought this could be a good nickname for him), in the late afternoon we started thinking to the club for the night which, I have to admit, was really surprising: five floors of human flesh (basically young ladies) dancing, drinking, smoking, moving around…
Coming from a country where usually discotheques rank among the most immobile, V.I.P.pish and uncommunicative in the world, I was inevitably impressed by this… sight.

H 04:00: Closing Time, at least for us, pretty tired by the whole day around the city.
So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits… (I’m pretty sure you remember this song).
Fortunately, at Nikita’s place we found a precious roof over our heads, so that we could have a little rest before the morning come, tomorrow.
And it will come soon.
I’m sure it will.

Francesco