Topaz 2016 - Russia  Tuesday 18th October

http://www.volgograd-trv.ru/flashN.aspx?id=37238

A few days ago we did the TV interview and this is the address to view or download the interview as it went out to the 3 TV stations in Volgograd.

An early rise at 6.30 to find our bus to Rovnoe, which turned out to be a minibus but part of the public transport system.  A very hot journey and the road was pretty rough as we speeded to our destination.   

The Terrain was mostly scrub land with some areas of trees, the main road was metalled but you could see the unmade side roads leading off into the distance.

We past through small villages with traditional wooden or brick houses, some set in compounds.  An area where the red army was based was pointed out to us.

It is really interesting to get the perspective of our Girl Scouting leaders on the local situations, when talking about housing she told us most people would like to live in the city where there is more work but housing there is prohibatively expensive so in many cases families stay in more rural settings.

We arrived around 10.00 to a guard of honour as we walked all through the school which has pupils from 7-18 years, all children from the local areas attend this school.  The have a very strong sense of identity with the community and the school.

Tea. Chocolates,  fruit, and cherry cake were served in a sewing area.  It was interesting to see the lovely craft work of the pupils and how they are encouraged to keep up traditional skills.  The building was fairly old but apparently watertight, some facilities were rather different from the city schools !!!!

Headmaster, Victor. Bomzarenko. welcomed us warmly and gave the history of the school, ably interpreted by Marina and Katie.  He was very attentive and interactive all during our visit.

We set up for 22, A mixture of boys and girls aged 13-17 joined us for guiding fun. Session was led by the story of the “Scarlet Flower” and pupils did activities at a number of stations.  They were really responsive and thrilled to succeed at each activity.  Where spoken language did not work sign language, facial expressions and actions were really effective. some activities included food and we discover a much greater preference for sweet tastes.  Every event has included lots of photography, young people all have their phones,  even here.

We were entertained to a really interesting Lunch which included a  mixture of soups, savouries and fruit companied by locally made fortified 3 year old wine!!!  We only sipped a little of this. 

Now for the sessions with teachers, they seemed a little apprehensive at first but really threw themselves into the sessions learning about Girl Scouting, team building and parachute games in good suits and high heels.

The team followed this with a royal tea party with crowns and goodies from UK and specially iced cakes accompanied by stories of our Royal families connection to Guiding. 

During the tea party some pupils conducted an interview about our visit with Marina translating once again.  This was for the school news paper.  The girls asked a lot of very pertinent questions recording the interview on mobile phones. It would be interesting to see the outcome.

School has 600 pupils aged 7-18    some from Belarous / Korea / 

On our arrival some of the pupils wore cadet uniforms which they were very proud of.

We were taken on a tour of Rovnoe  a town with 4,000 population 

Head Teacher and Depute were very attentive, depute was Katia’s mum Marina

We saw the River Volga at its Widest point 12k, this can freeze over in the winter!!

We visited more Monuments but the most remarkable was the water melon Monument, we were all giver replicas of this to bring home to uk and a real one to take back to the hotel for breakfast, this was so big we could hardly lift it!!!  But it did taste good.

At the tiny museum  was saw rooms set up for the local historical, clocks, Germany and a Water melon display -  impressive but fun!!

The exhibition was started the ex head of school and the school staff are very proud of it.

The staff and teachers at the school were truly delighted that the Topaz team had taken time to go so far from the central of Russia to visit their real community.  We left feeling the future might be good for Girl scouting in this area.  

Marina became an honoured member of UK Trefoil making her promise in Russian

We returned on the rocky road to Saratov on the school bus taking about 21/2 hours then dinner and bed!!

Monday 17th October

We had a spell on our own this morning and people went in different directions to explore.  We found a number of impressive buildings on our own street housing the University, a military academy and the local prison.  We got a little braver and explored along a few street to find an amazing indoor / outdoor food market.  This was an experience of the senses!

There were many sweet and biscuit stalls, a beautiful array of vegetables and fruit, not all known to us, whole stalls of eggs, cheeses and honey.  Most of the the traders seemed pleased to see us and posed for photos.  After a little shopping for top up resources and coffee! we started back for the Panda Hotel through circus square where some miniature ponies gained a lot of attention. 

We met up with Katie and Ksucha, who were ready to show us their  version of Saratov, a city they are very proud of. We visited book shops and one of the team purchased a much sought after football shirt for her son.  At one book shop a lady brought her 8 year old son, Ilya, to us to ask if we could speak English with him, he had had 4 lessons so far but wanted the hear the real sounds of the language.  He was a delightful little boy and very willing to try out all he knew on us!

The bridge over the Volga at Saratov is very impressive at 2.8 K long and it was decided we should take a bus across, another new experience, the buses were pretty old as they had started life in Germany then Moscow before being sent “down” to Saratov.   Lace curtains in the windows was a quirky addition to the experience. We viewed the bridge from all sides before exploring another little cafe!

We returned to the hotel to review our notes for Tuesday’s sessions and pack the resources for our early start tomorrow.  This task takes some time, it is the equivalent of planning an in depth training at home to train and enthuse leaders, including sessions which give them an understanding of the ethos of the organisation, ways to work with the girls and have some fun at the same time.  We have been providing different taster sessions for leaders and girls and need to be prepared to adapt quickly when needed.

An early start tomorrow.!!

Topaz Russia Blog  Sunday 16th October

We arrived in Saratov after a rather restless night on the train.  While trying to settle our luggage under the seats the lights kept going out, then it was making up beds and back to the climb up to the top bunk for some!!

In the late evening Vasily, a young boy of 11 came to visit us.  He was a superb English speaker and was really keen to show off his skills.  He told us about his fishing trip with his dad and his plans to study English for a year at a school in Brighton.  He was a delightful young man and shared some chocolate with us before going back down the carriage to his dad with a promise to return in the morning. 

We rose early to prepare to disembark and watched the sun rise and a shower of snow as well as some interesting countryside, we sorted our luggage in our tiny cabins before our young friend returned to continue our conversation.  We heard about his school life and when he left us on the platform was delighted to tell us that his very smart coat and hat made him look like Sherlock Holmes, and he was right!!

We unloaded the cases with lots of help, met up with Marina’s friend Kate and struggled up the ramp on the steep station stairs.  We think Russia needs to think about a conveyor belt or some lifts in their stations!!!

A walk to the hotel and we found ourselves sorting the the entry system before a few more stairs to reception.  The conveyer belt is beginning to sound a really good idea!!

Sucha and Dasha, local University students and girl scouts  now joined us and we were whisked off by cars, driven by Boris and Sucha’s dad as well as a taxi as we now numbered 12. Arriving at  Victory Park where the lanes were lined by trees interspersed by WW2 Military Guns and vehicles and a giant hospital train was on display.  The focus point of the park was the eternal flame and a tall monument to the fallen.  this was situated at the top of the hill where we could see across all sides of the city and the Volga river with Longest bridge spanning 2.8 kilometres.

We now can really feel the cold and are ready for the thermals, in fact we had two short snow showers today.  

Our next stop was to a Lemonarium!!! A new concept for us all.  It was a large hot house which grew an interesting assortment of many species of lemons and other citrus fruit as well as some other unusual tropical fruits.  Our guide was very knowledgable and enthusiastic, he also introduced us to an impressive iguana,  some scary tarantulas and the occasional rabbit which ran past our feet.   

It seemed appropriate and timely that we got another fix of our TOPAZ zest and we brought some home to our hotel for an evening drink.  We arrived back at the hotel and were allocated our rooms before getting together to do some work on our plans for the next sessions in Saratov and Rovnoe.

We are using our resources but the bags don’t feel much lighter!!

A stay-in meal this evening as we were all needing an early night ready for a busy day tomorrow.    Elizabeth and the team

Topaz Russia Blog

Saturday 15th October - Astrakhan

A later start today and because it is Saturday we had no Guiding / Scouting session to do.

Susan and Elizabeth set off hot foot to visit the historical wooden house at the edge of the city, let loose all on our own with a trusty map!  We followed the route past the amazing opera house, this like so many buildings are very large elaborate structures for such an apparently minor city.

W were welcomed at the Lovely wooden house like special visitors,  and the history described thoroughly!  It was built by a wealthy shipping merchant who brought salt in great barges into the city.  The house is now a museum and a centre for crafts.  A teacher was set up to teach quilting to a group that morning.  It also housed a collection of theatre costumes and hats much to Susan’s delight.  We were introduced to a fearsome looking bear, a reminder of the traditional hunting and fishing done in the area.  We were both given little home made gifts to take away from our visit.

A quick march back to the hotel to meet the others who had been supermarket shopping for resources for the next days sessions.

Packing for the next stage of the journey reminded us of how heavy our bulging cases were,  we placed them into the hotel storage for the day before stopping no. 1c bus to the City Kremlin.  We  started with a little light lunch at our favourite cafe.

We headed out on an expedition along the impressive embankment of the Volga river.  We were the only people there until we met our special friend Cyril and his wife once again and took a few more photos.  Our next encounter was with some local fishermen who too great delight in showing us their catch.

We crossed the canal a number of times on ornate bridges where we encountered at least 5 bridal parties having romantic photos taken.  There was a suggestion that we should join up with one but no invitations came up. 

We visited a select supermarket where we bought Russian chocolate and dried fish!

We found a lovely artisan Russian craft shop where a number of purchases were made - more weight for the cases!!  Then stopped again for late afternoon tea at “The Veranda” where Muriel tried out a bike which did not take her very far!

As we started the journey home we Visited the Cathedral, dedicated to the Bishop Vladiir who brought Christianity to Russia in 10th Century.   The attendant read out loudly from the bible all during the visit while mobile phones rang out in the background.  - not ours!

Swans seem to be a important symbol for Astrakhan and found these on our journeying some more real than others.

Major restoration works have taken place in Astrakhan in the past 5 years, much traditional housing had been replaced by modern blocks funded by business / organisations who also funded the waterfront developments.

Like other days on our visit we have been made feel really welcome by the people who have befriended us along the way.  Lots of little kindnesses have made us feel so welcome.

We walked 15K today and were quite glad to get back to the hotel for an evening meal before loading our cases onto the train with much help from Marina and friends and some fishermen returning home with their catch.  Another sleepover on a train!

You will be pleased to see I have learned a new skill, uploading photos to the blog!!

Topaz  Blog  Friday 14th October

The day started with a final planning and training session for our event at Gymnasium No4, A school we visited today to support Marina in her quest to set up new Girl Scouting units in Astrakhan.

Three of us had a bit of excitement on our erratic journey to the school when the taxi driver was pulled over by the police and following a heated argument taken off to the police vehicle, he eventually returned with his tail between his legs and deposited us at the school a few minutes later much to our relief!

We were welcomed by school staff and met 30 students aged around 16-18 years. Based in a classroom we presented an information session about WAGGGS and did team building activities and a question and answer session. Marina Interpreted for us as we discussed the ethos of girl Guiding / girl Scouting.  This session was designed to enthuse adults to become leaders of new units and younger people to become members of the association in Astrakhan.

The pupils participated enthusiastically in the activities and challenges and were a joy to work with.  It took us ages to get away as they all wanted photographs with the team.

After lunch with Marina we had a very intensive afternoon of planning for our next sessions in Saratov and Rovnoe.

During our stay we have been sharing the hotel with a number of Russian Gymnasts, here for their national championships, so we decided to visit them at the competitions and were enthralled by the skill and agility of the girls.  We did discuss trying it out as a new TG challenge!

Tomorrow we pack up again and head for Saratov by overnight train.

All for now.

The team

Photos from yesterday!!


    

Astrakhan Thursday 13th October

We arrived at the Astrakhan Kremlin by bus 1c. ( a very dilapidated mini bus)


A very old and elegant walled area of the city. The white buildings and walls reflected the sunshine and stood out against a clear blue sky.

We visited a beautiful Catherdral after climber yet another steep flight of stairs, but it was worth it!!

Ladies were expected to cover their heads and noticed another visitor choosing the correct colour of scarf from those on hand to suit her outfit!!    Around the gardens we saw Clergy in traditional golden robes.

We really wanted to climb the 300 steps up the tower but unfortunately it was locked!!  - NOT!!

This morning we made friends with Cyril in the hotel and in the gardens of the Kremlin we met him again and he invited into an international exhibition he was organising to promote Social Responsibility in trade in Russia.

He fed us Savouries and cakes, tea and coffee and we visited the exhibits including artisan pottery making, weaving, dollmaking and other crafts.

This was a wonderful impromptu experience for us all.

Marina took us to a Grand Cafe for a very elegant light lunch.

Some of the team went in search of shops and visited Tetu Shinoff house, a traditional wooden house with exciting dressing up opportunities!!

Accompanied by Marina some of us visited hospital following a mishap to one of our members.  All was okay but we were really impressed by the speed of service.  50 Minutes for registration, consultation, x-ray, consultation and treatment.

One staff member wore a delightful combination of flowery dressing gowns and hat!!

Re- united at the hotel we did the planning for tomorrow and found a very slow bite to eat.

All for now.