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| The students and staff from my little Girls Leading Our World/Teaching Our Boys to Excel seminar I ran in March |
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| Rehearsing a skit. They're pretending to be babushkas |
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| Learning about HIV/AIDS, sexual health, gender issues... |
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| ...how social gender roles limit people, stigma and discrimination, and more |
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| Presentations and whatnot |
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| Staff (L-R): Michelle, Irina, Catherine, Patrick (kneeling), Angela, Chris, me, Anand. Chris is from the UK and teaches English at a private school here, Irina is from Pavlograd, the rest are volunteers |
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| Last Bell, or graduation for the 11th grade. They held it indoors this year due to rain |
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| School principal addressing everyone. He is flanked, for some reason, by 7th grade girls in dance uniforms. |
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| Releasing balloons to celebrate... |
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| High-flying balloons |
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| And they finished it with a waltz |
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| From my trip to Russia, in June. Me, Warren, and Dara in front of the Kremlin at Red Square in Moscow |
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| St. Petersburg (all of the following photos from Russia are also St. Petersburg, except the last 2 in Russia, which are back in Moscow. Just go with it) |
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| Spilled Blood Cathedral, or something like that |
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| The Hermitage |
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| Stage set up for Russia Day (June 12) |
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| Gopnik impersonation |
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| A gopnik is basically a Ukrainian lowlife who drinks beer, smokes cheap cigarettes, wears knockoff Adidas track suits, constantly eats sunflower seeds, and squats like this everywhere. Similar to English chavs. |
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| Look, it's the Hermitage again! |
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| Russian fast food...blinchiki, basically crepes. Delicious. |
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| Cathedral of Spilled Blood-or-whatever |
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| Our only day of clear weather while in Russia (while I was there at least) |
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| St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow |
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| boat tour on the Moskva River in Moscow |
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| park |
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| church |
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| synagogue |
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| Vienna, in July! No photos from Budapest, I was lazy |
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| Austrian parliament |
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| penguin fountain in a Viennese park |
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| statue of Empress Maria Teresa |
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| At Camp Mandarin in Crimea (still July) |
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| no cabins at this camp, just dormitories [read: madhouses] |
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| me with Nastia, my amazing co-counselor at Mandarin |
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| CAMP REPUBLIC! I had spent a good chunk of the year planning it, and the directing responsibilities found their way into my hands as well. Mine, Courtney's, and Blakely's, at least. |
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| some staff talkin' 'bout stuff |
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| our campground in lovely Borova, Kharkivska oblast, Ukraine |
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| dining hall. the food was better than it was last year at a completely different place |
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| This was a sign in the camp auditorium. It says "I LOVE CHILDREN!" |
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| Biggest hit of the week: watermelon polo in the river, with a greased-up watermelon |
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| That's that, this is this |
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| Camp Republic was mainly a chance to learn history and what-have-you through reliving it. We lived as ancient Romans in the Republic. Note the togas. |
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| Courtney and I discussing "game" issues. Throughout the week, the campers (split into factions) wrestled for control of the Senate and Rome through addressing different issues every day. |
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| The American staff with our 2 Ukrainian cooks |
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| the Senate in a special evening ceremony |
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| Mark Antony and Sextus Pompey squaring off, with me (Fate) officiating |
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| the death of Caesar, which opened our week |
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| the drum signaled the convening of the Senate (i.e. GET OVER HERE) |
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| more watermelon polo |
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| our map of the Roman Empire, ca. 44 BC. Different groups had control over certain provinces and legions (chess pieces) |
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| TALLINN. beautiful city |
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| my partners-in-crime in Estonia and Finland--Anand, Catherine, and Kurt |
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| eating reindeer meatballs in Helsinki |
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| Anand enjoying a bowl of elk soup in Tallinn for only 1 euro |
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| modeling my new sweater I bought in Tallinn (it was cold there, and I didn't bring anything warm) |
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| our awesome guide on our free walking tour |
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| elk soup kitchen. we returned numerous times for the cheap and hearty soup. also, it was elk, how awesome is that? |
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| Helsinki harbor |
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| awesome cafe spot on an island park in Helsinki |
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| strolling through Helsinki |
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| the Estonian parliament, which, according to our guide, is a "manly shade of salmon" |
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| island park in Helsinki. Kurt wanted to start a kissing booth, but no one came |
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| rain damage in August. A massive storm broke something on the roof of my apartment and then dumped rain on us for three more days |
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| living room door |
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| living room window. the sunscreens there stick to the glass from the humidity inside my apartment |
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| living room light |
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| bucket in the living room door catching a leak. needed to be emptied every few hours |
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| living room light switch, where I was shocked about four times |
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| kitchen wall |
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| kitchen wall |
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| hallway to the bathroom/dry part of the house |
