Yesterday, the group went to Selet, a Tatar summer camp for kids (ages 6-17ish). It was very entertaining, a tad overwhelming. .. and a little dirty ( I don't think this camp would pass American cleanliness standards..)
We were welcomed with a huge round of applause and were asked to introduce ourselves and say what state we're from. Of course California and New York got the loudest round of applause... I guess Tatar children aren't too familiar with the Tundra that is Minnesota.. I received some polite clapping at best. They split the kids into 3 groups, and each group had 25 minutes to ask us any question they wanted. (25 minutes is a LONG time to ask questions...)
My favorite questions were:
"Do you eat McDonalds here?"
"Are Russian people really different from American people?" (...Yes)
"Do you love Obama?"
"How do you like our vodka?" (the child that asked this question was no more than 10)
After a discussion of Twilight: "Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?" (congrats Twilight stars, you know you've made it when the children of Camp Selet, Tatarstan, know who you are and love your movies)
And my favorite: "Does everyone in America have white teeth like yours?"
After the each group, several of the kids wanted pictures with us. One even asked for my friend to sign his shirt! We were treated like celebrities... a little weird.
AND I made a new friend. Unfortunately I can't remember his name, but he is 9 years old and loves mermaids. He told me all of Ariel's sister's names by heart, and apparently all of them start with "A". He wants to be an oceanographer and randomly knows how to say "jellyfish" in english. He is fluent in both Russian and Tatar, and his English is better than my Russian... He also recited to me a Pushkin poem (by heart) about mermaids. I wish I could adopt him, but I'm only 21 and I think he has parents....
Some more pictures of my blissful 7 hours at Camp Selet:
Playing with the hose is a camp favorite at your local Camp Selet. ...
The lovely cafeteria...
My new friend!
Pretty fun time overall! Hope all is well in the States!
Loved your write-up.
ReplyDeleteDon's mom
They asked you about vodka? Wow, kids really are curious. Some say that "kids say the darndest things" (took that from a TV show, haha). Anyway, they might have asked you about your teeth because they might have observed something wrong with the teeth of people they usually see everyday.
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