3 July my adventure to Russia started. We went by airplane to Sint Petersburg where Fjodor picked us up. Before we went to Lezye we first stayed for 2 days in Sint Petersburg. There we met the other participants from Germany and Belgium. We were a very nice group together and we had a very great time in Sint Petersburg. We even got an excursion program through Sint Petersburg. I visited Sint Petersburg before, but I saw a lot of new things during the excursion.
Monday we finally went to Lezye. When we arrived we got a delicious meal, made by our cook Valentina. We got Russian soup called borsht. I liked all the Russian soups but borsht became my favourite. In the afternoon we got an excursion through the Peace Park by Father Vjacheslav. He told many stories about the cemetery and the Peace Park. The stories made a big impression on me. Of course I heard about the siege of Leningrad in my history books, but being there and hearing the stories made it much more real for me. I will not forget Father Vjacheslav words that we should not forget history as it was and that we should remember all the names because otherwise history becomes like a fairytale. In the church there’s a small museum where you can read the stories of some soldiers. Family mostly wrote the stories. They also made a big impression on me. Some were only 20 years old and died as a young soldier. They make you realise that every soldier left a family grieving for them, parents, a wife, children, brothers, and sisters.
Tuesday was our first working day. There were several options. First option was building a teahouse. Later on also called partyhouse or beerhouse. The second option was building a bunker. Father Vjacheslav wanted to build an original bunker to let people feel how it must have been for a real soldier in that time. The third option was building a staircase next to a blue wooden house. Next to these tree main projects there were also some small jobs to be done. The first week also a small group of people from America and Canada came to help us. We played a lot of volleybal contests with the Americans. They were really good at it. I tried to play volleybal a few times, but after some local people laughing at me, I quit.
I did several jobs. Sometimes I assisted in building the teahouse, but I also helped setting up the volleyball field, a shower construction and a tent. Unfortunately our tent didn’t last very long, it collapsed the next day.
In the evenings we had a real Russian Banja. This was really one of the best things on the camp. Especially the first week we still had the white nights, when it does not become dark at all. We took Banja late in the evenings and when you came out you had a very beautiful view on Lezye and it was still light. In the beginning I thought the Russian ritual of hitting each other with leaves was quite strange, but I found out it’s really very good.
I love animals a lot and in Lezye there were a lot of animals. There were 3 big cats and a very cute small cat called Moezka. There also was a farm with a horse, cows, pigs, and chickens. Sometimes I helped feeding the animals. The fresh milk of the cows was delicious and Valentina, our cook, always gave me some fresh milk of the cows.
The first weekend we went back to Sint Petersburg. We could stay in a youth club and Yaroslav guided us around the city. We went to a boat race around the Neva and walked along the Nevski Prospekt. Sunday we went with Yaroslav to a big fleamarket in Sint Petersburg. We went back to Lezye by train together with Igor. On the train station in Sint Petersburg the police stopped Jorrit-Jan. The police wanted to know why he was in Russia and asked him to come to the police office. We were very lucky that Igor was with us, because he worked in jail. He showed his pass, so the police let him go. Now we had to run to catch our train. Vadim en Fjodor were already waiting for us in Mga, to bring us back to Lezye. Although it was a great weekend I was glad when we went back to Lezye again. It felt a bit like coming home and I really missed the Banja, the soups and the little cat Moezka.
The second week was a bit quiet without the Americans and Canadians. We continued our work on the teahouse. The floor was almost finished now and we started to build the benches. I also helped Fjodor, Gert and Jorrit-Jan to chop wood in the forests for the bunker. This was really hard work because it was raining a lot this day. The road to the forest became all muddy and wet. We went by car to carry the wood by car to the bunker. It was very difficult to come back because the road back was more like a river now. Fjodor was driving the car and he got stuck in the mud a few times. Me, Gert and Jorrit Jan had to push the car. When we came back we were all wet. In the afternoon we decided not to go back. Vadim and Igor did go to the bunker to work there in the rain. First I thought it was a joke, because it was raining so much. So I had much respect for their hard work at the bunker that day. At the end of the week we tried to make the tent again. Now we made a more solid construction and the tent is much better now.
I learned a lot of new Russian words this week. Vadim and Fjodor helped me a lot with all my questions about Russian language. I think it’s a very beautiful language. Still, there was a very funny incident this week. I always tried to talk to our cook Valentina. She is a very friendly lady and I always try to talk to her and understand what she’s saying. One evening we were eating something. I asked what it was and she said jodsjik. I tried to find out what kind of animal it was, but we couldn’t find it back in any of our travel dictionaries. Valentina tried to draw the animal and tried to act like the animal. Now the animal became more like a mystery to me. It did not seem like an animal you could eat. It seemed like a very strange animal to me. After a long time I discovered the animal was a hedgehog. I asked if she was sure that the meat was from a hedgehog. She said that I was right and it was a hedgehog. I still found it weird, because I think it’s quite weird to eat hedgehog meat. I never heard of people eating a hedgehog before. Until dinnertime I believed we were eating hedgehog meat. At dinnertime Vadim explained that it was only the name of the dish because the meatballs with rice look a lot like hedgehogs. So I will never forget the word jodsjik and the dish called jodsjik. I really liked the meal, but I was happy it weren’t real hedgehogs.
Misha worked in Lezye and he was very funny. He loved my music tapes from the Kelly Family. He especially loved the songs from Barby Kelly. I let him listen to the tapes for a while. Although we couldn’t understand each other because he doesn’t speak English and I don’t speak Russian, we could communicate now through the music. He wanted to hear all my music tapes and started to dance. It was really very funny. Valentina also thought it was very funny and called Misha Kosjol stari. I looked it up in my dictionary and it means old goat. After that I always called Misha old goat and we had to laugh about that.
We also had a big shaslick party in the teahouse this week. Igor made delicious shaslick. Now we could use our teahouse for the first time. It was still raining outside but we could stay dry in our teahouse and still continue our barbecue shaslick party. We really had a great time together.
Time flies when you’re having fun so It was already time for our second weekend. We went to Petrodvorets/Peterhof. It’s a very beautiful palace of the tsars at the sea. Next to the palace there is also a beautiful cathedral in the city of Petrodvorets. When we went back by train to Sint Petersburg a Russian boy who was totally drunk started to talk to us. He was talking all kind of nonsense about music and even started to sing to Nele. In Sint Petersburg we took the metro and saw him again. Now he was even more drunk and wasn’t able to talk anymore. He probably still remembered us and sat next to me where he fell asleep in a few seconds. I decided to change my place and he almost fell on the floor and just slept on. The next day we stayed in Sint Petersburg to buy some last things. For me the Russian bookstores are a paradise to me. There are so many beautiful books and they are not very expensive. I wish I could read Russian so I could read all these books. I bought myself a dictionary and an atlas with a star map in it. We had to go back to Lezye a little bit earlier because in the evening a new group arrived in Lezye. They were going to help us as well. There were a lot of Russian people in the group, but also 2 girls from Hungary called Milka and Dorka, and a boy from the Philippines called Hector. I was very glad to be back home in Lezye again and it was very nice to meet all the new people. Milka was a teacher of Russian language in Hungary and she also helped me a bit to learn some Russian.
The third week we continued our work on the staircase, the teahouse and the bunker. I worked mostly on the bunker together with Jaroslav, Igor, Hector and Tom. We needed to dig some canals, so that the water can flow away and we needed to saw a lot of wood. We also went back into the forests to chop some wood and carry the wood to the bunker. The work at the teahouse went very good. The last day we could already paint the teahouse.
Monday we had a special excursion to one of the places where there was a lot of fighting in the Second World War. It was along the Neva. Father Vacheslav told us again a lot of interesting stories that really made a deep impression on me. There was a small wooden cottage that was full of bones found in the area. Along the river you could still find a lot of things that were from the soldiers like shoes, gas masks, mines and other things. I found this one of the most interesting excursions during the whole camp. After the excursion we also cleaned up the graves. There were a lot of plants growing all over the place and we all removed the plants. In the afternoon we went swimming in a lake nearby Lezye because of the good weather.
On Wednesday we had another shaslick party. Because Igor had to work he already had to leave us. This time he could not make the shaslick. But still the shaslick was very good this time as well. But it was sad that Igor could not be there at the shaslick party. The last week we were very lucky with the weather, it was very warm and sunny, so we could sit outside. At night you could even see some stars, but still it didn’t became dark enough to see them very good. But still I saw the summer triangle for the first time again this summer. The stars must be very beautiful here in the winter.
Thursday in the afternoon we had a special afternoon with real Russian dances and music. We also had several workshops and I made a fresco. It is the same fresco that you can see in a church in Stara Ladoga. Ilias explained us how to make it and he had some very interesting books about Stara Ladoga and the frescoes made in the church there. Some of the patterns really look a bit like Celtic patterns and I think they are really beautiful. After our workshop we danced a lot of traditional Russian dances and we had a really great time. At dinner we sung very beautiful Russian songs and we had samovar herb tea that was very nice. I liked the Russian songs a lot.
Thursday evening Suzi, Andrea and Fjodor were already leaving. We had a small goodbye party at Thursday evening. They left at half past three in the morning. We bought a lot of drinks and we stayed awake until they had to leave. We had a great evening. We even celebrated my birthday and Jane’s birthday a little bit. They sung for me and I got a balloon. I thought it was really special and I was really happy. I didn’t like to say goodbye to Fjodor, Andrea and Suzi. I didn’t want them to leave already. It was a difficult goodbye and the next day it was really quiet without Fjodor, Andrea and Suzi. The next day we didn’t work a lot. I was still very tired from yesterday evening and also a bit sad about leaving. I helped a bit to paint the teahouse. At 3 Nele, Tom and Mirjam had to leave as well. Now it became even quieter. In the afternoon we went to the lake again. It was very good weather and I slept for about an hour. We had to leave Saturday morning very early at 4. We made a big campfire the last evening with a lot of drinks. I had a very good last Banja with all the Russian traditions, with the steam and the Fjeniks. It made me feel a lot better, because I felt really sad about leaving. After the Banja we still had a very nice time together at the campfire. At 4 Nikolaj brought us back to the airport. Valentina came back in the morning especially for us to say goodbye. She even gave me a present. She was a very special lady and I won’t forget how nice and friendly she always is. It was very difficult to say goodbye to all the people from Russia.
Now I’m back home and I still miss Russia a lot. I miss all the friendly people from Russia. I miss the interesting discussions I had with Vadim and Fjodor. I miss the delicious soups and meals Valentina made. I miss the fresh milk of the cows Valentina gave to me. I miss the real Russian Banja we had every night. I miss the little cat Moezka. I miss the peace and quietness of the little village Lezye.
I’m still very surprised and happy about how much everybody tried to do for us. I didn’t know the Russian people were that hospitable and friendly. They really tried everything to give us a good time. And I did have 3 wonderful weeks in Lezye.
In these three weeks I became to love Russia even more than I already did and I’m sure that I will return to Russia one day. I’m really glad that I could participate on the peace project because I really believe in it. Father Vacheslav changed my way of thinking about peace. I already thought peace is very important, but Father Vacheslav made me realise why it is so important to remember the history as it was and how this contributes to peace in the future.
Ellis Veen
Hilversum, 28 July 2004