Romashka

It’s July and the weather is finally hot! The average temperature is high 80’s to mid 90’s with clear skies. Since we last wrote we visited a “rest camp”, met the mayor, attended graduation, and went to Kharkiv for Peace Corps technical training and Ukrainian language refresher classes.
The “rest camp” was exactly that, a camp where children go and have rest. The name of the camp is Romashka, which translates to daisy in English, is located about 40 minutes from Zalischyky. Romaska sits on a section of land in a picturesque valley surrounded on all sides by rolling hills and is within a five minute walk to a powerful waterfall. The waterfall was once part of an electrical station that powered the area. Sitting outside at night when all the children were sleeping we could hear the rush of the water against the stones. Before Romashka was ever a thought, a magnificent castle stood on the land. Remnants of the castle and of a church still exist to explore. We imagined a castle where a large family lived off the land, surrounded by the beauty of nature. Romashka truly sits in a magical place.
We spent four days at Romashka going on excursions to the waterfall, playing football (soccer), attending concerts and helping staff with activities. Every night from 8:15 until after 11:00 the camp used the main pavilion to host a disco that all the children eagerly attended. Basically 4 songs were played over and over again as we danced in a large circle holding hands. How the disco worked was 6 children with scarves would choose their partner by presenting a scarf. Then the couple would do a little arm in arm dance in the center of the circle while everyone else danced in a circle around them. A kiss on the cheek completed the dance. Whomever was asked would then get the scarf and choose their next partner. It was quite cute to see Scott dancing arm in arm with girls that barely came up to his waist!