Apocalypse

I believe it was Day 4 of camp, maybe 5, you lose track of time when you are in the magical world of Alice in Wonderland (the theme of the camp if you don't remember). I was finally getting used to the chaos of camp, this day already feeling calmer than the previous ones. It had just begun and I was leading an English lesson. We all noticed the smoke rising from the woods off in the distance, so I thought all things fire and smoke related would make for an appropriate topic for my students.

Then a babushka (old woman) with a megaphone interrupted my lesson, yelling to everyone to collect their belongings and head to the river, so we did. I wasn't taking this threat of a fire too seriously a) because I was in Russia and b) because these things don't actually happen. But then I should have realized when dealing with a, b never really matters.

I walked back to my room, took out my camera and collected some essential items, leaving a ton behind. This is the view from my housing.



We stopped to make sure, we had everyone.



Then we made our way to the river. Two of the boys from my group, they were secretly my favorite.

Then we each took turns crossing the river.



Once we were all together again on the bank, we were instructed to start walking on a path in a direction opposite from camp. This is when everyone realized that we weren't going back. I helped carry bags of kids overburdened with luggage.




Camp was over. The true impact of this didn't settle until we finally took a rest. The kids began to cry about how much fun they were having and that they were going to miss us. In this time of sadness, we broke code, finally revealing our real names, so that we could be friends on vkontake (aka Russian facebook).


We found a clearing and sat, waiting for cars to pick everyone up and drive them out of the woods to safety. So I sadly said my goodbyes, letting the kids go first, while I watched the sky grow darker.

Then it was finally my turn to leave. I hopped in the car and began to cry, not believing that this was the last time I would see everyone. The good-byes felt short and rushed, but I tried to distract myself, by watching the people and houses I passed. Right when I felt eyes dry, to my surprise everyone was being re-located to the same spot, so I cried again, happy to be re-united with everyone again. But still a general sense of sadness still loomed.

Some kids just sat by themselves waiting for parents or for the bus to arrive, to carry them safely back home, while others sat in the arms of others, hugging everyone they could find.




***I'm placing these photos sort of out of order, but you can tell- the darker the photo is, the longer we were standing there**

This boy was throwing rocks.


These two are another favorite from my group. They are extremely smart, had a great sense of humor, and spoke English pretty well, well, way better than my Russian. And like the boy, most of the kids had wet t-shirts that they wrapped around their face to protect from the smoke. Also, you can see the wall of smoke slowly take over the sky.


A Russian counselor, Anton (aka Piram), making calls to the children's family.


Sam and I's general attitude towards everything, even this forest fire.


The bus that saved us!


Right before I stepped on the bus, I snapped this photo of the sun.


What an unbelievable ending to the four or five longest, weirdest, funnest, most unbelievable days of my life. And right when I got used to everything, it ended.
That's Russia for you.