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well, we're finally back in civilisation and survived our 6 days of armenian camp!!
seems so long ago i can't actually remember whether i managed to write a blog before we left for camp, i think the computer kept playing up and i never got round to it!
so anyway, we arrived safely and then on the first full day that we had here we had a wander around the city and went up a feature called the cascade which is a big stairway, 841 steps to be exact. from the top we had a fantastic view of the city and of mout ararat! it was brilliant, and nice and warm!
on the thursday we then travelled to the national camp in dilijan. we arrived at an abandoned yard next to the side of the road with a few empty half falling down barns, slightly different to cowley and cranham!!!
tents were kept up using boulders to hook the guy ropes around as the pegs wouldn't go in the ground, and tina got a tic in her arm within about half an hour of us being there!
on the friday we went for what they called a hike but was actually just a 4 hour walk up this hill to see some old churches and then back again, via a little shop.
most days we had soup for lunch which we were expecting from harriets experience the previous year, and we were expecting it to be far too hot for soup, however, 80% of the time it was more like camping in England! hoodies and long trousers were well needed and we had plenty of rain!
we did our training sessions on saturday, sunday and monday and they went really well. we did one on leadership skills, self esteem and programme planning each day. we had a few issues with translation but generally the end of day evaluations were very positive! :)
on the last day, yesterday evening, we did a 'cultural exchange' after the training sessions. kate, catherine and i ran the singing and group by group the participants went off to the other 3 to make union flags, friendship sticks and try kendal mint cake, humbugs and sherbert lemons. this was by far the best night and it was really nice to do something will all 85 people at the camp.
the camp was very different to how we do it in england, the kids seemed to have a lot of free time and left to fend for themselves. however when they did do activities in groups with the leaders the leaders like to take a lot of the control. was quite frustrating to watch at sometimes.
everynight one group had to stay up all night and keep the fire going to keep intruders and animals away, quite reassuring but not great when u want to get out in the middle of the night for the loo! surrounded by loads of people! :)
talking of the toilet... no toilet tent and portaloo, a pit in the ground with an old gate with a whole in the middle over the top and surrounded by blue tarpaulin held up by branches more like. to start with it wasn't so bad, but after 6 days, filled up more and more each day it got just a little bit gross and made you gag!
so you can imagine, when we arrived back at the hostal this afternoon to a flushable toilet, hot running water and a shower it was like heaven!
chilled out afternoon this afternoon, going to see th fountain display in republic square later tonight. we're going to try and find a pool and go to the post office tomorrow, nightime tour of the city tomorrow, resources shopping during the day thursday, out for dinner with the armenian national guiding council in the evening, 8 hour tour out of the city on friday, out for a few cheeky vodkas on friday night, preparation on sunday then down to sisian on sunday to start the activity days.
be in touch, please leave me messages :)
xxx
ps forgot my memory card thing that i took to south america so can't add any photos, however been tagged in a couple of camp ones on facebook
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