The Last Days

With the 2-day hike over, we began the more sedentary portion of the camp. This is not to say that we stayed put or inactive, there were many strenuous physical activities planned for the next few days. Rest assured the kids were very well exercised by the end of camp.

I should mention that I too was given a nickname. Australians have a propensity to give everything nicknames, those these are usually contractions of the longer names. For example, an "ambo" is an ambulance, "Baz" is Barry, "footy" is football, among many others. Unlike Pyro, Stacks or Princess, I was given the more poetic, though slightly longer nickname of "Encyclopedia Romanica", apparently because I seem to know a lot about Australia, and a few other things. I told the kids there are only 2 things you need to do to learn: pay attention when needed, and take the trouble to find out. It was great having this reputation because even when I was making something up, it came across as fact; it proved great fun later.

The day after we returned from the hike, the campers were divided into 3 teams (Red, Yellow and Blue) in preparation for a competition. There was some balloon popping tag where I managed to get kicked in the shins by Pyro, which ended up being a recurring theme at camp. Over the next 2 days there were also activities involving canoeing, such as capsizing and mid-water position changes. The weather was perfect, with 30C temperatures and sunny skies.

Every few nights there is a communal bonfire called a "vatra" (VAH-tra). The first one of these I had the privilege of leading with 2 minutes notice and a quick program guide. I think I pulled it off alright in the end, though. As is customary, there were skits and songs and I just had to do a bit of filling in between them.

In Australia, most Ukrainian scout camps are run across New Year's so that there can be a party at camp New Year's Eve. This December 31st, there was a vatra followed by a dance party. That morning, though, for exercise, 2 of the instructors dressed up in spandex and took on the roles of Hans and Sven, 2 Swedish aerobics instructors. It was a very entertaining beginning to the last day of the year. The party itself wasn't large and was held in the patio of the dining hall. We rung in the New Year with cheer and stayed up until about 01:00. The theme of New Year's was "orange", since we were near the town of Orange, I guess. I wore my "TAK!" Orange Revolution t-shirt and my AFL umpire cap; a good mix of Ukrainian and Australian to my mind. Coming from a place where New Year's is a winter event, celebrating it in summer, outside and at camp was quite the experience. I can understand why Australians are such a happy bunch of people.