I went to Russia in June and July with an intention of teaching english to russian children.I figured that this is a great way to practise Russian, clock some "compulsory" volunteer work hours required by my university and have some fun.
The kids at the orphanage go to the country side during the summer season.They stay at a sanatorium complex in the Leningrad Oblast which is 1.5 hours by marshutka ( minivan ) from the 2nd last metro station on the blue line in Saint Petersburg.To add to the pain , our russian organizers were unable to pay for the transport cost.that will be 200roubles per trip (SGD10).The money wasn't an issue for some volunteers, but the travelling time was ridiculous because we came with an impression that the children will be in the city.
The first orphanage that we, 8 international volunteers went to was not what we expected.The "orphans" were 15-16 year old boys who didn't care about learning english.We were expecting children ( 7-12 years old )
There were about 15 boys sitting on the bench waiting for us.We introduced ourselves to them and gave them candies.I have no idea why we had to give candies to 16 year old boys but the ukrainian intern,Natalia bought them and insisted that candies have to be given.
During the introduction session , as we shared with them something interesting about ourselves and our countries.a few boys left us and went off on their own .
The international volunteers and Vitalik, the birthday boy.
After finding out that i practise yoga ,Vitalik asked if i have been to "the other side" through yoga.He claimed that he had been there when he was in a coma a while back.
We ended up just playing sports with the rest of the 8-10 boys after that.
There was this very sweet little girl , Lisa who was extremely keen on learning english.But the strange thing was that she is a 6 year old girl hanging out with the 15-16 year old boys.We later found out on the 2nd trip there that she was only there for one day.
On this trip , we played Charades with a twist
Ie.
An old grandmother running after Putin and poking him with a stick.
Mafia that drinks milk and fart non stop.
The good thing was that the 4 boys who participated had a good laugh over the things that they had to act out.
The organizers ( 19 year old students ) promised us russian speaking students who will work as translators when we were at the orphanages.But promises were broken.Out of the 8 people who went,all of us were international volunteers and only the ukrainian intern speaks russian.
This is my first taste working with young russians on a project.And it was a disappointing start.
The kids at the orphanage go to the country side during the summer season.They stay at a sanatorium complex in the Leningrad Oblast which is 1.5 hours by marshutka ( minivan ) from the 2nd last metro station on the blue line in Saint Petersburg.To add to the pain , our russian organizers were unable to pay for the transport cost.that will be 200roubles per trip (SGD10).The money wasn't an issue for some volunteers, but the travelling time was ridiculous because we came with an impression that the children will be in the city.
The first orphanage that we, 8 international volunteers went to was not what we expected.The "orphans" were 15-16 year old boys who didn't care about learning english.We were expecting children ( 7-12 years old )
There were about 15 boys sitting on the bench waiting for us.We introduced ourselves to them and gave them candies.I have no idea why we had to give candies to 16 year old boys but the ukrainian intern,Natalia bought them and insisted that candies have to be given.
During the introduction session , as we shared with them something interesting about ourselves and our countries.a few boys left us and went off on their own .
After finding out that i practise yoga ,Vitalik asked if i have been to "the other side" through yoga.He claimed that he had been there when he was in a coma a while back.
We ended up just playing sports with the rest of the 8-10 boys after that.
There was this very sweet little girl , Lisa who was extremely keen on learning english.But the strange thing was that she is a 6 year old girl hanging out with the 15-16 year old boys.We later found out on the 2nd trip there that she was only there for one day.
Volunteers with Danni and Lisa
Acha teaching Lisa dancing
For the 2nd trip to the orphanage, out of the 10+ boys , only 4 turned up to entertain us.The lady watching over the boys changes every week and she asked us what was our purpose of befriending the boys since we were not teaching them anything useful.This left us extremely confused.A huge mix up, confusion, awkwardness and money wasted.Our russian organizers didn't turn up on our first 2 trips to this orphanage either and that was extremely frustrating.On this trip , we played Charades with a twist
Ie.
An old grandmother running after Putin and poking him with a stick.
Mafia that drinks milk and fart non stop.
The good thing was that the 4 boys who participated had a good laugh over the things that they had to act out.
The organizers ( 19 year old students ) promised us russian speaking students who will work as translators when we were at the orphanages.But promises were broken.Out of the 8 people who went,all of us were international volunteers and only the ukrainian intern speaks russian.
This is my first taste working with young russians on a project.And it was a disappointing start.
