My friend and Volunteer of the very 1st Buryatia Summer School which had happened in 2009, Kate Willison, sent me a message on FB telling her news and saying that she will soon learn how to make goat cheese…

That reminded me how much I love cheese, too, that I even made one myself (for the first time in my life!) in Yengorboy, one of the villages where the project takes place. I told that Katya (Kate) and even sent some pictures and thought, I might share it here as well. Some little story from Yengorboy…might be interesting for our readers :))

By the way, the 4th Buryatia Summer School will take place in Khamney in June, 1 – 14, 2012 and You are very welcome to apply! The application process has started and the application form is here: We’ll be looking forward to hear Your “cheesy” stories this time :)

And here is our FB page by the way: www.facebook.com/BuryatiaSchool – Like it to follow our news and stories! Thanks! :)

Getting to Zakamensk (from Ulan Ude) was surprisingly simple, I found. I was seriously impressed with how organized the main bus station in Ulan Ude is, too. It’s mostly just a parking lot neatly divided into sections based on destination region with a daily schedule on display. Only thing is the bus station isn’t very close to the train station. It’s maybe a 20 minute walk if you’re feeling up for it. Otherwise, you can take a local marshrutka (I don’t know the #s, alas), or if you’re exhausted, sweaty and carrying a goatload of stuff like me, splurge on a taxi (100 rubles if you bargain hard).

The ride to Zakamensk is relatively pleasant once you break free of the Ulan Ude traffic grind. In my marshrutka, fellow passengers were very nice and helpful (if in a slightly parental fashion, which seems to follow me wherever I go…), eager to know what this seemingly wayward foreigner had in mind to do in their remote village. For the most part, my mobile (Megafon) had service along the way, and it worked fine the whole time in the village. I’ve heard people say that Megafon works best in small villages, or at least those in southern Buryatia. I personally can’t compare it to other servers, though I’m inclined to believe other companies would suffice in the village, which hosts its own cell phone tower.

In Khamney village (my primary base of operation) I was very warmly received, and was deeply touched by the efforts everyone (especially the kids) took to welcome me; I only wish I could begin to pay them back in kind. I also wish in my mad dash to finish school, gather my bags & documents and head to Russia, I had taken the time to pick up some local (i.e. California) souvenirs to offer my wonderfully generous hosts. As it was, I left the US with a few American dollars and a fistful of coins. Since Zakamensk doesn’t get a lot of foreign visitors- especially from as far away as the US- a set of coins & a dollar bill served as mementos for my host families, the local school’s English department and the regional history museum’s foreign currency collection.

My host families were extremely hospitable, giving up what little free space in their homes they had to ensure I was comfortable. It really reminded me how absolutely spoiled and extravagant many Americans (including myself) are with the amount of living space we “require” (demand). If arranged for Buryat-style living, my parents’ house could easily fit two separate families, and my [2 bedroom] apartment could take a nuclear family plus grandparents and an unmarried adult child or two for a time as needed, for example. While the limits to personal space were a bit different from what I was used to, I never really considered it problematic. Since people are used to sharing rooms (and using those rooms for many purposes), no one seemed to mind if I read, took a nap, or other similarly solitary activities from time to time while I was in the room. It seemed most houses in the village had a satellite dish in the yard, and TV is both a hobby and a background/scenery augmenter whenever somebody’s home there. Internet is very limited, I should add–especially in Khamney. Since I was there in June–thunderstorm season–we lost electricity a handful of times, and a particularly bad storm knocked out the internet cable at the school (the fastest, most reliable ‘net source most of the time). Attempts at using dial-up only tried my patience before I ultimately gave up, information unattained. If anything, at least I entertained the people around me by carrying on a colorfully angry monologue at the computer.

Before arriving in Khamney, I had thought about trying to teach students some of the basics of ecology (and the English terms used). However, I soon realized that it would be far more appropriate to stick to English language practice, and in a more ‘fun’ atmosphere–it was called “summer camp” after all. Plus I primarily worked with kids 12 & under, since teenagers were generally busy working in the fields and tending the gardens. My ecology “curriculum” (as written in my head) was really designed more for kids with some jr. high/high school science classes under their belts- the idea was that I wouldn’t be teaching them tons of completely new technical material, but reinforcing what they’d already learned, and adding a socially-minded, eco-conscious (and hopefully fun?) twist to it. For my part, I really regret not learning the Russian names for more of the local plant-life; that would’ve been very useful.

As it was, I worked mostly with kids age 8-12, some of which had no English background (namely the under 10 set) and others had a bit. Given the age of the students, their English language level, and that it was already summer vacation, I focused mostly on games I played at their age (using English words, of course), and teaching some simple songs. Some of the kids have beautiful voices, as was apparent when they sang in Russian, and even more so in Buryat.

Buryats make up the majority of the population in Khamney, though even among ethnic Russians there, my paleness sticks out like a sore thumb. I got the gambit of remarks from “wow, you are very white!” “why is your skin so pale? Are you sick?” “you need more sun,” “eat more blood sausage!” to “are you a vampire like Edward Cullen?” (the last was a joke, but a good one, I’d say). After one doozy of a sunburn at least the “more sun” demand died down a bit. For the sickness query, my response is “yes, I’ve been afflicted with English & Irish genes” (among others).

The blood sausage bit was a lost cause from the outset, pretty much. At home, I’m mostly vegetarian –fish and chicken on rare occasions, but never red meat–which was quite simply bizarre to locals in Khamney. While the extent to which they expressed their astonishment initially grew almost irritating, but I tried to chock it up to cultural differences. I reasoned that my own family and people I’m close with (many of whom are not vegetarians, I might add) would react the exact same way if a guest arrived claiming they didn’t eat any vegetables or vegetable-based products when possible: “Seriously? But they taste so good- especially when fresh,” “Almost all of our favorite recipes contain at least some vegetable products,” “growing vegetables is part of the local culture here, really,” “why don’t you eat vegetables? Is it for religious purposes?” “Some of the best vegetables in the world are grown here [central CA coast]- don’t you want to try any?” and, of course, “isn’t it unhealthy to never eat any vegetables?” Honestly, you could exchange the word “meat” for “vegetable” and “Buryatia/Mongolia” for “California,” and the sentiment would be exactly the same. Eventually people reluctantly accepted that I wasn’t going to eat the sausage links on my plate, and just ate around the pieces of meat in soups, salads & the like. Admittedly, Zakamenski raiyon is not an easy place to be vegetarian. Also, I am used to food prepared with lots of spices at home, and they often just use salt & pepper in preparing food. However, it seems almost every kitchen does have a trusted bottle of Chinese (or possibly Vietnamese?) chili sauce on the table, ready for use; these bottles became good culinary friends of mine.

As far as I could see, not very many people in the Zakamenski raiyon speak English fluently. For me, this was a blessing, since it allowed me to function entirely in Russian (an opportunity I rarely get elsewhere) though it could prove challenging for potential volunteers without a background in Russian language. I will say, for those with some knowledge of Russian, it’s a great opportunity for language immersion practice. Granted, for the few English speakers (especially English teachers at local schools), they’re desperate for practice with a native (or fluent) speaker of English, and it seems only fair to offer them the chance, as they get it so rarely. Also, if any EFL teachers out there without much knowledge of Russian want to challenge themselves, spending a few weeks teaching kids in Zakamensk would be great for skill-building, imho. FYI, Mongolian speakers could probably get by in the villages, too- in case you were interested.

Well, there’s my babbling for you. All in all, I really enjoyed my time in Zakamenski raiyon and hope to return ASAP. Spread the word to anyone you know with an interest in Buryat life & culture, work with enthusiastic kids, or just making a little difference in somebody’s life they won’t soon forget :-)

http://notesfrombaikal.blogspot.com/2011/06/backlog-entry-khamney-hs-graduation.html – little story from Khamney HS graduation. The full story of Rachel’s volunteering experience is coming up soon!!!

You can find our new poster on the website in the right tab or following this link. Please, print it out and hang it in your university or workplace, or even your door :) Just tell Your friends or forward the link to save the environment :)

Thanks to everyone!

It started on the day I found the project in Internet in March 2010. I was in Moscow, contacted Ayuna directly and we met to discuss my possible cooperation and help.

In May I arrived in Ulan-Ude – it was right the time the future volunteers were taking their final decision to come here. Many wanted to spend some more time on Baikal, to visit Mongolia and China after – in other words to use this chance of being in the centre of Siberia. It is always difficult to plan your trip from far away – to gain info on tickets, visas, hotels, actual weather etc. So, we found out that it is possible to make a Mongolian visa in Ulan-Ude, a Chinese one in Irkutsk. Girls from Malaysia eventually made a trip to Olkhon island before the start of the project. As for me, I met everybody on 16 July’ early morning when they came by train from Tankhoy, the village on Baikal lake.

It was raining a bit (what a shame, as it rains rarely in Ulan-Ude) and we went to my home. Sakine from Berlin, Moscow medicine graduates Thiru and Kim from Malaysia, Pawel from Poland and Ayuna. [After we had a welcoming lunch at Irina’s place that she cooked specially for us (two types of soups, a cake, salads and humus) and it was so yummy, we headed to two Ulan-Ude orphanages. – Ayuna’s note].
There are children in need not only in remote villages but also in our capital. We visited children social rehabilitation centre and first ‘tested’ our educational program there.  It was fun going there as it is located a bit at outskirts but it gave our visitors chance to feel the city’s dimension.

The children were at first very timid but after a while they could not stop playing with Pawel and singing Malaysian songs. Then we went to children orphanage house. It was very emotional and I am sure even educational for us. Children there were younger and we understood that we can only play with them and give them our warmth.  The schedule was so tight on that day that we actually had no time for sight-seeing!We returned late in the evening and a big surprise was waiting for us – a dinner prepared by my father which we were able to enjoy while watching local 8 pm news with ourselves (http://buryatiasummerschool.org/we-are-on-tv). The volunteers went to meet their hosts and we planned to see each other in 2 hours – there was a huge party in the local night club that night ;)

The next day there was a big event: Ulan-Ude was hosting Surkharban tournament (Summer Buryat national games). Great opportunity to dip into local culture, enjoy nice weather and beautiful landscapes!!! We were filmed again and occasionally discovered a nice book about Buryat culture that I bought for my library as well))).

Then – coming back to our schedule – we still needed to prepare for the villages – buy stationary, gifts and souvenirs, mosquito repellents…thanks god, shops are open on weekends in Russia!!!

Well, two days just flew by! I spent little time with my family but enjoyed hosting a bunch of wonderful young people that became my friends. The project is evolving and I am happy that this summer I was in Ulan-Ude and participated in BSS!

————————

Ayuna’s P.S.: I would like to say here big THANKS first of all to Irina who was incredibly hospitable, helpful and committed to the project since the day we met until now, to Irina’s family and the families of Elena Golysheva and Zorik Dabaev for their willing to host Volunteers 2010 in their houses in Ulan-Ude and the hospitality they have provided, and to Valentina Badmaevna who helped to publicity of the project by arrangement of the other TV interview on Vesti Buryatia channel.

I have received several messages from some of you like that: “I’m not able to participate in the School this year unfortunately but I would like to send some books may be to the schools or help other way”. We hope next year you come and here are the addresses of the Schools and list of types of books that I found useful to send to the schools after teaching here a month:

What would be useful to send?

- Teachbooks and selfteachers for English and/ or German with the audio CDs for listening (at some of the schools there is either no English language teacher at all, either they have German so German teachbooks would be also useful),
- Subtitled movies on DVD in original English or dubbed with Russian,
- Social advertisement posters: eco, sport, healthy way of life, anti tobacco, anti alcohol, safe sex, etc.

For those who send from Russia:
- English-Russian / Russian-English dictionaries,
- Books in English for the very beginners with very simple texts, if it has Russian text on the other page it would be the best.
- Classical Russian or foreign literature books – so called ‘school programme’, the village libraries are poorly fulled. May be you could send some book(s) that have changed your life?? Anyway, if it has some very personal connection for you and if you write a memorative message and autograph on the first page, that would be great!!!!!
- Teachbooks, self-teachers, subtitled movies, social ad posters, etc, of course, too.

This is an address of the school in Mikhaylovka, the best way is to print it out and stick to an envelope, to have Rus text is essential (!):To: Mikhaylovka primary school, Shkolnaya st, Mikhaylovka 671941 Buryatia republic of Russia
For: Ms. Galina Danzanova, head of the school, for Buryatia Summer School (Ayuna Shoyzhitova)
Куда: индекс 671941 Россия, республика Бурятия, Закаменский район, село Михайловка, ул. Школьная, Михайловская средняя школа
Кому: Данзановой Галине Доржиевне, директору школы для Летней Волонтерской Школы в Бурятии (Аюна Шойжитова).

This is an address of the school in Yengorboy, the best way is to print it out and stick to an envelope, to have Rus text is essential (!):
To: Yengorboy primary school, Shkolnaya st, Yengorboy 671931 Buryatia republic of Russia
For: Mr. Mikhail Dorzhiev, head of the school
Куда: индекс 671931 Россия, республика Бурятия, Закаменский район, село Енгорбой, ул. Школьная, Енгорбойская средняя школа
Кому: Доржиеву Михаилу Цыбиковичу, директору школы для Летней Волонтерской Школы в Бурятии (Аюна Шойжитова).

I would also ask you very much to contact me first when You will be going to send anything to the schools. During the last two weeks of September 2010 I was visiting and teaching at 9 other schools of Zakamensky district of Buryatia and discussing possible cooperation – read more about the change of the concept of Buryatia Summer School in the previous post. I feel that the situation with En books and dictionaries there is pretty much the same like in Yengorboy where only one student in the whole school had the dictionary. So, if you would send me a message in advance, we can distribute the gifts fairly between the schools. This would also help me to control if kids have an opportunity to use it. It will work this way: with some kids we have registered the mailboxes and trained them to use it, so I will send them messages “there is a package sent from Mr/ Ms with … (content of package). Please, inform me when it arrives and if you have an access to it”.

Thank you all very very much in advance for all your help and support!!!

Right after Berlin and one night in Moscow me and Sakine, Volunteer of 2010, found each other in Irkutsk where we met Kim, Thiru and Pavel. Lena at this time was in Germany, not far from the place where Sakine was born and grew up :) What a chain of coincidences :) !

Me and Max were exchanging news. Max has started up own business project www.doktor-berlin.ru (организация лечения и курортного отдыха в Германии) which was going pretty well. I was telling my latest news :), telling about Moscow orphanage educational project http://groups.google.com/group/Pereslavl-volunteering and telling about the Buryatia Summer School, this year volunteers, classes and plans.

Me and Max got to know each other before the 1^st Summer School has started and saw each other again in Berlin after the 1^st School has finished last summer. So Max is one of the people who are aware of the project from the very first days of its existence. Then there, sitting in a Berliner café, drinking Bionade, Max told me that he was thinking himself to participate in this year School. To say honestly I was surprised :)

Unfortunately Max had to work a lot and he asked: “So maybe I could contribute to buy some gifts to the kids? You say it was so hard to engage them last year and you had so few attendants. So may be if they would know that they get some prize in the end they would be more motivated? Let’s think what can we buy here, something which will not occupy much space in your luggage and something useful and interesting for the kids.”

Next day during the lunch break we met at the Potsdamer Platz and went shopping. This ended up buying 60 postcards with Berlin views, 15 caps with ‘Deutschland’ logo (which is very useful here – Buryatia is a very sunny region), and few magnets for our hosts in different cities and those who help our project along the way.

The postcards found different usage during the School: Sakine has used few for the German language classes (here you see different groups of kids in Mikhaylovka making puzzle of it and having after a story from Sakine about the Berlin Wall or city of Berlin or German history), then together with Yengorboy kids she has made a poster about Berlin and German language, but mostly it was spread as a lottery lot and gift at the last days of the School in Mikhaylovka and Yengorboy to all those kids who have participated the School this summer.

In both villages during the lottery it was announced that there’s my mysterious ‘friend Max from Berlin’ who has made these gifts for the School. Thank You very much, Max! ))

P.S. Herewith I would like also to thank Kollegiaten of www.Theodor-Heuss-Kolleg.de of this year for the collective 10,78 Euros contribution which was made in Berlin during the farewell party at Olympia Jugendstaette )))) Big Thanks to all those who have given their ‘1 Euro’ contribution, it has partly covered our expenses for the Bueromaterial/ stationery.

P.P.S. To all those who would like to contribute  (in case you can’t participate personally) – currently we have problems with the PayPal donate button, it’s not eligible for Russian accounts. We are working on solving this, and if you have any tips, it would be very much appreciated!

As the 2nd Summer School in Buryatia has finished, I was as usually desperate. “No other School”, – say I to myself at the very last day of the School each year ))). And then I continue doing it.
Having hunger to hear opinions about the School, I was asking local people but most of them in Yengorboy were quite iterndifferent. I was thinking: “Nobody needs my project, should it all exist then?”. Desperate. I think for the first time in my life I was in the place where I had no samethinkers at all. I was missing much my wonderful-15 mio ppl-Moscow where is my family, my Summer School team and so many other people and where I would always find some little understanding.

Future of the project? I did hesitate if it should exist. If I have courage for it. If I’m enough strong for it. If Summer School should be focused more on anti-alcoholism social ad or on language classes/ games/ perfomances in English, Buryat and Russian in order to raise awareness of cultural education and make children be involved into teaching, too.

We (Volunteers 2010) were also discussing that the School is too short. The School didn’t work like I have thought it out – like a big motivation for the kids to study hard the whole year after, study languages and look for education opportunities using Internet. In this way my School did not work at all. I could not involve kids from alcoholic families and the School itself was just fun than education for the kids.
I’ve made a decision to stay in Buryatia till the beginning of September, to wait for the start of the school year and to offer the schools in Yengoroby in Mikhaylovka that I could teach English, Journalism and Internet in each village for 2 weeks.

I’ve also made a post in our blog inviting those who happen to travel through Buryatia with free schedule to come to the villages to teach English or whatever and experience living it here. I thought that nobody would come as I have made this post in the beginning of August which is too late I thought but… Tereza, Katia from Czech republic and Felix from Germany have arrived! Fascinating!

When I offered my classes to the School on an absolutely voluntary base in a sense that I did not ask a pay for my job, they were not enthusiastic much. In Mikhaylovka the director of the school has said: “One thing when you do it in the summer time, another is when it is about school time. It is serious. What you gonna promote there? Talk first to RUO (education department of Zakamensky district of Buryatia republic of Russia which means ‘their bosses”) ” . Desperate. To talk to RUO – no problem, but the attitude! The director of the School who is not interested in my kind of initiatives. Should my School exist if nobody wants it there? Should it exist when it is all so hard?
In RUO, thanks God, I found understanding and they offered me an opportunity to give a speech about the project at the ‘august conference of teachers’ before all the directors of all the schools of the district and many teachers of various subjects. I’ve told about what we did during two Summer Schools and my message was “I’m looking for the samethinkers. If you think that what we do is useful and you want to see us in your village and in your school, I’m open to all your suggestions, ideas, discussions. I don’t believe that in whole Buryatia I won’t find some active people who are ready to do a bit more than their main job”.

This is how It has turned out that since 15th till 30th of September me and Felix were travelling from village to village, giving free classes and communicating to kids: one day – one school. That was very tiring and challenging but also very interesting, of course. In many of the villages I was for the first time in my life.
I think that long-term volunteers would be more efficient and useful in a sense of achieving the aims we are pursuing. The questions are: where would they live (willing families) and what for (finances)?
In each school I have visited I asked the kids: “Would you like that some foreign Volunteers if they come here live at your place?”. Some of them said ‘yes’. Let’s hope ))

Ideas for solving financial issue:
- Some schools might provide salary on a monthly base in an approximate sum of 130-300 Euros.
- Contact international organisations like Peace Corps, AISEC, SCI a.o. and discuss possible cooperation, sending Volunteers here and financial support. If you could share some links, contacts, ideas or useful tips, please, we would appreciate it very much!
The other idea for the Summer School format is to do it in the other village(s). Some schools have their own summer camp where the two-weeks-Summer School is possible, for example.
So, if you are thinking of coming to Buryatia (Summer) School in the coming year or today :), please, feel free to contact me and we will discuss possible options: there are 11 schools to choose in 10 villages and 1 town of Zakamensky district of Buryatia!

Thank you very much,
Ayuna