Camping- International Delegate Style

We left our brilliant Ganja host families after two short days, and once again filed into the bus we grew so familiar with. This time, our destination was a Ganja Summer Youth Leadership Camp. I was imagining some old cabins, a musky aura, and playing leadership-designed games in the woods.  ... Again, I really should have just given up with setting expectations. I was consistently wrong.

The pathway to the cabins

This camp was something else. We marched our belongings to the cabins, four people per building, and were pleasantly surprised by the temporary homes that awaited us. Beautiful log cabins, two bedrooms, a front entryway with a dresser, a decently sized and clean bathroom, and, my personal favorite, the front porch with the wooden picnic table. Yeah. Camping? More like luxury living. I'd move into that.

This is right next to the cabins. This. A flower meadow. A perfect, stunning, flower meadow.

 Once we were settled, we went to munch on a lunch (this is when I discovered my new life line, tendir, a type of bread I have yet to properly recreate) and begin our leadership training. Which, to my excitement, was taught by some members of the Peace Corps.

I'm actually going to make a separate post about all that was taught during these sessions.

Throughout these trainings we had several tea breaks. In the city they never took as much time for tea, so this contrast of a relaxed, non-urgent, and sweet down-time was much appreciated.

Besides tea, snack time included some funky fruit marshmallows, crackers, wafer cookies, and other assorted sweets.

 We had about four a day. Breakfast and lunch were usually among the same things: bread, jam, fresh honey, watermelon, and some meats. I'll be honest- I ate almost exclusively bread this entire camping experience. I never got enough of it. Dinner, on the other hand, was served in various ramadas throughout the plant-grown camp, usually consisting of dolma, chicken, juice, rice, and variously cooked vegetables. And the salad. More on that to come.

S'mores also happened, an American camping tradition Azerbaijan style. See, there aren't what Americans would consider "normal marshmallows" there, at least at the camp. Or graham crackers. Or even just generic, traditional chocolate. But the adaptations to the basic recipe of s'mores made it more special.

We gathered some square tea time cookies, similar to graham crackers in size, and some of the fruity marshmallows with the odd consistency. To top it all off, we had some interesting hazelnut chocolate, which was rather amazing and probably better alone than in the s'mores. Oh well. The overall concoction, after properly roasted marshmallows were added, was in the least eccentric. I had one and then myself and a couple others inched away to play cards. Eventually the rain poured down, and although there was a slight chill from the pouring rain and mountainous setting, the whole effect was perfectly cozy.

At certain times during the day, we were given free reign of the camp. There was plenty to explore- areas hidden with vines, a little waterfall and walk way with a bridge, playgrounds that were a bit sketchy but that's what added to the charm, and an overall sensation of serenity made for a constant crave for more free time.

An arch made by overgrown plants- I really like how that works out. 

 And although this wasn't the plan, we ended up all going on a hike. First we were following this dirt road, merrily singing along any Disney tunes that came to mind, and suddenly a Peace Corps member led us completely off the trail, into a seemingly random direction of the forest.

We hiked up, and I don't know if this was the original intention, but teamwork was displayed so often here. The slope made for a struggle for some to walk up, and the unpacked foliage made for unexpected avalanches of dead leaves and twigs. When one gained solid ground, turning around and helping those having difficulties became an unspoken expectation. Falling down, laughing, and trekking back up was common.

The flowers were gorgeous. 

... Good morning? The view made me speechless as I sleepily stretched the second morning at the camp. I think the word "camp" doesn't properly capture what this was. Not to mention scattered throughout were the orb lights. No matter what time of day, there was always a charming view.

Things I discovered about culture while at this camp: The buddy system is advised. Especially for girls, travelling in packs is safest. We weren't alone at this camp, and walking around as an individual, foreign teenage [girl] is probably not the best option.

People were interested in us, why we were there. Locals tried out their English on us (sometimes obviously parts from English songs, a lot of times inappropriate. There's no saying they understood what they were saying though, so we gave them the benefit of the doubt), and even if all they knew how to say was "Hi!" they became incredibly excited when we responded. My buddy-system partner during this was my friend Stephen, though, and it was interesting seeing how responses to our presence changed with a boy, and with a girl.

While with Stephen, the local boys talked primarily to him. They glanced at me, but never tried to correspond, they only talked to the boy. This wasn't just a "maybe they didn't like something about you" or "maybe they thought you were weird" thing, it was consistent among all the girl/boy American groups. I wonder what the exact reason is.

Also, if you get lost, asking for help may be pointless.

Two days at this camp wasn't enough. This was the perfect vacation time, and we had to leave too soon.

~Days 1 and 2 without shower access~