From Russia With Love: What exactly have I been doing?

Ah, a good question. Glad you asked! Well here in Kitezh, they like to keep as busy as possible. Kids, adults, and volunteers always have work to do. Now (slightly unfortunate from the Westerner point of view) they largely still believe in traditional gender roles. So while the men and boys are outside building houses, riding tractors, and transporting wood and debris, the women (myself included) have a very different work schedule.

So far, my time here has consisted of doing the following:

Weeding in the rose garden
Rinsing and chopping up all kinds of veggies
Washing dishes in the kitchen
Serving lunch or dinner in the dining hall
Sewing and ironing costumes for the role-playing game
Planting in the vegetable garden
Daily English lessons with a few of the kids
Baking cookies! (Just once though...)
Cleaning the house (as in sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, the whole Cinderella special)

Now, naturally, part of me is pretty ticked off that because I'm assigned all my work in the home or in the cafeteria just because I'm a woman. That's offensive right? But then after working in the garden and the greenhouse a few times, I realized that might be enough outside work for me. Basically, it gets really hot during the afternoon, and even worse are the mosquitoes. Five minutes out there and they'll eat you alive. Plus indoors I have the company of my fellow female volunteers as well as the adorable (and trouble-making) younger children. So, for now at least, I won't complain about the division of labor... for now. And although they are pretty traditional here about male vs. female roles, they are still open-minded enough that if someone asks to do work not typical of their gender, they certainly won't stop them.

Oh, and don't get the wrong idea that I'm here only working. It's true a large part of the day is dedicated to doing work, but the evenings (after dinner at 7) and most of the weekend is work-free. We usually play soccer (aka football), basketball, or frisbee (which I brought!) or walk around through the forest or play card games in our free time. Not to mention all the tea breaks, talking, and, for some people, drinking. (Hey, they are Russian after all.) Also, starting next week there will be trips to the lake to go swimming, and I might even get a chance to visit Moscow or the neighboring city Kaluga soon. So really, life's looking good. If only I didn't have to go back to sewing now...

Here's some pictures from basketball yesterday!