Concordia Language Villages, part 4: A Day at Camp

This is post four on our family's recent experience at Concordia Language Villages' Lesnoe Ozero Russian family camp. My first post explained what CLV is and what makes it different from other language camps. In the second post, I shared how to prepare and pack for a week (or more) at camp. In my last post, I took you on a (short) tour of Bemidji, MN and the gorgeous Lesnoe Ozero Russian camp setting.

So, now that we are settled into our cabins, it's time to start learning a new language! As I mentioned in an earlier post, Concordia Language Villages offers immersion camps in 15 different languages (including English). Each camp varies slightly, but this is what a typical day looked like in Russian family camp.

That really clears things up for you, right? Welcome to the world of immersion! 

Fortunately for campers who are not part of family camp, there is a Russian-speaking (and reading) counselor in the cabin with them to let them know that 7:30 is the start of the day. ("Good morning" on the schedule above). For those of us in family camp, we either used or took advantage of the native speakers around us before we went to bed the first night or resorted to Google translate! 

This is a good time to mention that most of the families at family camp had a personal connection to a Russian-speaking country, whether a parent emigrated to the US, or because the family adopted a child from Russia. In either case, these heritage families came to camp to give their children (and American spouses) exposure to Russian language and culture. In our small group of new Russian speakers, we also had a dad who brought his family to camp as a vacation, bringing to mind the time he spent in Russia as an exchange student. Another father's child randomly checked out a video on Russia as a young boy. An obsession with Russia followed and now the family comes to camp together to nurture his interest. Our family came to Russian camp because Dutch--our family's second language--is not offered. We left the language decision up to our son. He chose Russian because of his love of  space and Russia's place in the history of space exploration. We heard that less-common languages share this trait. Spanish and French camps, in particular, are more likely to have families attending due to other motivations.

Between our utter lack of Russian exposure ("Sputnik" and "Vostok" are not so helpful in a meal setting) and my brain injury, we felt okay with sneaking peeks at Google Translate. But honestly, the staff do such an impressive job acting out and communicating their meaning that after that first overwhelming first day, I mostly only took my phone out to snap pictures, make notes, and look up recipes for the delicious food we were enjoying!

Speaking of food--my next post will be all about the food!--we didn't have much time between the start of the day and the raising of the Russian flag at 8am. While everyone at least changed out of their PJ's, camp in general, and mornings in particular, are very casual.

 

Throughout the day, we saw signs like this to reinforce the rhythms of the day. On the first morning, I couldn't read a word of this sign. By the end of the week, the unfamiliar markings on the signs turned into letters with sounds I could make, and some letters formed words I could actually recognize. That was a pretty exciting realization!

Because the immersion method at CLV is purposely evoking a sense of being abroad, we raise our host country's flag each morning and sing the national anthem of that country. I'm hoping that campers from other villages will eventually chime in, but in Russian camp, we used the Russian flag each day. I'm curious if in other camps, where multiple countries speak the target language, different flags are raised each day. 

As an international family, global citizenship is a character trait we value. Corralling an over-stimulated, sleep-deprived six-year-old is no easy task, but we did (mostly) manage to teach him to respect the flag and anthem time.

After the flag was flying, we headed in to St. Petersburg for breakfast. The dining room is decorated with Russian art and flags from Russian-speaking countries. 

Photo Credit: Lesnoe Ozero blog

At lunch, we sat with our family group and leaders. This is when mail is delivered, so we sit in our "houses" to make delivery easy. During Family camp there wasn't a lot of mail to deliver, but one day we did write a note to D, which he thought was really cool.

Most meals we sat next to the Moldovan flag at the front of the room. We hosted a student from Moldova last fall, so ti was a nice way to feel connected to him again. D was happy to wear his appliqued Moldovan flag shirt, just one in a growing number of flag shirts I have made for him. 

Each meal followed the same  routine. We were greeted by a few of the counselors, and we greeted them in return. We talked about the meal we were about to eat, with the staff acting out and showing each item. We sang a meal song and had a moment of silence for everyone to say thanks in their own way.

Our meals were really, really, good. I'll devote a whole post to food tomorrow, but here's a peek at my favorite meal, chicken tushenaya kapusta (chicken with braised cabbage). Russian food includes a lot of beige: potatoes, bread, and sour cream are served at nearly every meal. But the flavor of this chicken dish was incredible. I've already made it once since we've returned home and it was a huge hit. Imagine chicken seasoned with paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic, and dill....Mmmm, вкусно!

After our meal, we sang a song of thanks. There were several, but this one was my favorite, perhaps because the tune ("Faith of our Fathers") was familiar. 

After our meal, staffers came up and acted out what the next few hours would entail. Every morning campers were challenged to put on a special name tag indicating that they would be attempting to speak only in the target language (again, English is acceptable in matters of safety). This was just one of the ways CLV caters to individual language levels. The "hero challenge" was a bit too overwhelming for our little guy, but many of his new friends took part. The rest of us sang a song to encourage the brave campers.

Photo credit: Lesnoe Ozero's Facebook page. 

After breakfast, we headed to our cabin for about 30 minutes to clean up our cottages (or ourselves)!  From there, we met up in Red Square before heading into our lesson time. 

On the first night, we filled out surveys on our knowledge of Russian language. Since we knew nothing, we were put with other adult absolute beginners. 

Photo Credit: Lesnoe Ozero blog

While camp is clearly geared to kids, adults are not an afterthought. The staff recognizes that many of us are using vacation time to be here with our families, but may not be able to be unavailable for an entire week. The staff leaves it up to each adult to participate as much (or as little) as they'd like. Many parents attended every session. Others enjoyed the beautiful outdoor office as they keep up with work. Some parents (hello!) took advantage of downtime not afforded at home in the summertime. 

Part of this grace shown to parents included the ability to use English during lesson time. We older learners don't learn as easily, so occasionally our teacher would explain the finer points of language in English. And give us cheats like this. 

For kids, language lessons were a total immersion experience that looked an awful lot like fun and games. In fact, when we asked our son what he did during lesson time, he just cocked his head, and said, "Well, we just played and had fun." 

Photo Credit: Lesnoe Ozero blog

We get a break in our lesson-filled morning for a snack. Most days, we are offered something healthy like a piece of fruit. One morning though, my Dutch husband was absolutely giddy to see that Russians also love oliebollen or as the Russians call it пончик (Ponchik). Perhaps world peace can be attained through donuts. 

During the break, we could see the kids running around, playing tug of war, jump road, exploring the caterpillars on trees, observing a mama turtle laying eggs (!), or playing on a giant chess board. 

After lessons, we head back to St. Petersburg for lunch and a preview of our afternoon, which includes my favorite time, тихий час (tikhiy chas), or  quiet hour. I usually napped or caught up on the world during this time. Other approved activities include reading (in the target language), writing letters, and other quiet activities. 

After the much-needed quiet hour, campers enjoyed 45 minutes of free time. The camp is set up to give attendees free time and down time...but not too much! There's plenty of fun things to do that take advantage of the lake setting and celebrate Russian culture, from swimming, boating, playing soccer, volleyball, badminton, chess, or checkers, reading a book from the library, practicing archery, painting nesting dolls, dressing up in costumes, playing music on the piano, hanging out with new friends, or taking a nap!

It was still cool when we were at camp, and we couldn't convince our son that no sharks were in the lake, but it was a beautiful beach to admire nonetheless. 

After free time, campers selected a cultural activity to explore. Cooking was very popular, as were the sports and arts. Parents were invited to gather at these times to learn about different areas of Russia, holidays, or to just compare notes on how we are raising global citizens.

Photo Credit: Lesnoe Ozero blog

After culture hour, campers gathered to sing Russian songs. This song about Grandma and her two geese was a favorite. 

From the large gathering room in St. Petersburg, we walked outside to lower the flag (and sing the anthem), before coming back inside for dinner. After dinner, had another selection of culture hour choices before our evening program. Our nightly activities included things like watching a cartoon or tv show in Russian, and learning about a holiday or important cities. 

One show that we really liked is called Masha and the Bear. We've been watching it a lot since we've been home, and it's easy to follow, even if you don't know Russian!

For adults, this clip from KBH (similar to Saturday Night Live) is a satire on the influence of friends in high places. 

The most exciting night for our son was the day we celebrated Soviet space history.

His other favorite thing was the campfire. Considering that our son gravitates toward indoor interests, we loved seeing him embrace the great outdoors. 

Photo Credit: Lesnoe Ozero blog

Other than the first day--when we arrived in the afternoon, settled into our cabin, enjoyed dinner, and toured the camp--and the last day, when we left around noon, most days followed this basic schedule. The one exception was the night we dressed up to celebrate New Year. Every camp has one dressy occasion, and it was nice to see everyone look a little more like what they probably look like in the real world (not me, I live in yoga pants!). 

At the end of each evening, we enjoyed a leisurely walk back to our cabins to end our day. 

You can see more photos of our week at Lesnoe Ozero on Facebook.

Other posts in this series:

Concordia Language Villages, part 1: What is CLV?
Concordia Language Villages, part 2: Packing!
Concordia Language Villages, part 3: The Setting
Concordia Language Villages, part 5: The Food!
Concordia Language Villages, part 6: What We Learned
Concordia Language Villages, part 7: Final Thoughts

If you have any other questions about Concordia Language Villages, leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer it.

I was not compensated for writing any post in this series. My motivation was to provide the kind of information I was looking to find. Consider this my very verbose evaluation. Keep in mind that our family attended the Russian camp, so some details may vary for those attending one of the other language villages. 

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Concordia Language Villages, part 3: The Setting

This is my third post on our family's recent experience at Concordia Language Villages' Lesnoe Ozero Russian family camp. My first post explained what CLV is and what makes it unique. In my second post, I shared how to prepare and pack for a week (or more) at camp. 

In this post, I'll give you a tour of the setting and what to expect when you arrive, including the city of Bemidji (or Brrr-midji, as we called it when I lived in Minnesota as a kid), the road to camp, common areas at camp, and our cabin. I hope you will find this helpful as you consider attending a CLV camp. I know I was curious what to expect when we were planning our week! Once again, I offer my standard disclaimer that CLV offers fourteen different languages at multiple settings in various formats. This was our experience, your may be slightly different. 

We opted to drive to Minnesota from our home in Ohio. We generally travel by car within the US and Canada because we like the freedom to stop and see friends and family along the way. We spent the night before camp in Hibbing with my aunt and uncle. From there, it was just a short couple hours to Bemidji.

We had a little time before check in at 2:30, so said our obligatory hello to Paul Bunyan and Babe before enjoying an excellent lunch at The Cabin Coffee House & Cafe.

After lunch, we drove the fifteen minutes or so out of town to camp. I was so excited when we saw this sign! 

I read that roads to the villages were purposely designed to give the idea of a long trek made to a far-off land. We certainly got that feeling after our long drive and traveling along this road. 

Just before we arrived at the main building, we stopped for a photo op at this welcome sign. 

We parked our car and headed to the main building, called St. Petersburg. This is where we check in, pick up our tablichki (nametags), go through customs, and exchange our money at the bank. Throughout the week,  this is where we enjoyed our meals, shopped at the store, and met together for singing, cultural activities, and large group gatherings. One of the first things we noticed about the building is the Russian architecture. Many (but not all) of the camps are designed to look like their host country. The Korean camps also meet on this sight, so Korean-language campers get a little bit of Russian flavor to their experience!

All of the buildings are named after cities in Russia. The other, smaller, activity building is named Moscow. The story we heard is that the larger building was built by workers from St. Petersburg, so they got naming rights! 

We were greeted by friendly staffers dressed in traditional costumes. Since this is an immersion camp, they only spoke to us in Russian. Between gestures, pointing, and signs with symbols, we were able to figure out where we needed to go and what we needed to do.

Like any entry into a different country, there was a good bit of waiting in line. First, we stood in line to check in our American names for a week. In exchange, we were able to pick out Russian ones. A name can only be used once per camp session. We had looked at a Russian name website before we arrived and were relieved that the names we had picked were still available. I'm not certain, but I think the staff has a list of culturally appropriate names if someone didn't have a Russian name in mind, although if you didn't know any Russian coming in to camp (like us), it would be hard to know how to pronounce the names on a list! At any rate, for the next few posts, you can call us Аня (Anya), Олег (Oleg), and Даниил (Daniel).

Once we were newly named, we stood in another line to get our passports stamped and get our cabin assignment. Then, we went to another line to exchange our money from dollars to rubles.

At this point, we went back to our car to get our luggage. We had to do a little bit of sorting because of our travel the past few days. I think most people drop off their luggage first. The staff will go through the bags of the kids for contraband (English language resources, food, technology, etc.) The parents are given a pass. We were told to expect to carry our own luggage, but our bags were delivered to our cabin. I'm not sure if that was because of family camp or our Russian camp site, but we sure appreciated not having to make that ten minute walk with luggage!

Map in hand, we started our leisurely walk across camp. My grandparents lived about twenty minutes from Bemidji, so I spent many summers in the area. I was excited to show my boys the beauty of Northern Minnesota. Nature did not disappoint. 

Halfway to our cabin, we came to our last checkpoint, the medical cabin. Each family or camper went in alone for privacy. For medical issues, as well as safety issues, English is always acceptable. Sasha went over our health forms, took meds from non-family campers (she distributed medicine to campers throughout the day as prescribed, and was able to administer first aid as needed). Everyone was also checked for lice. Our son had his favorite stuffie, Laika, with him. Laika got checked for fleas. Once we passed inspection, we were on our way. 

Up the hill, past the medical cabin, and before our cabin, we saw the back side of the Moscow cabin. On the front side of Moscow is Red Square where we met up with our small groups each day. Inside Moscow is a small meeting area, costumes, books, a piano, and the arts & craft area.

Our cabin, Murmansk, was the furthest one away, which gave us a few extra steps for our FitBits, and also landed us a beautiful private spot with a view of the lake and campfire.

I think before we got to camp, my biggest unknown was the sleeping situation. Sleeping at camp is a totally different beast when you are a teenager compared to a mom traveling with your family. I knew that we would have bunk beds and that the cabins weren't air-conditioned, but I didn't know how much privacy we would have, how far we would be from the bathroom, how primitive the cabins may be. As it turned out, I was unexpectedly pleased.

Our first surprise came when we walked in the door and saw the full kitchen. I had pictured a cabin of just bunks. There was also a dining area with Russian games. Some were familiar, like checkers/chess. Some were sort of familiar, like the game of Risk...in Cyrillic. And some were completely new to us...and in Cyrillic.

The second thing we noticed is that everything was labeled. I can see how these labels would be a huge help in an immersion environment!

When we arrived at our cabin, there wasn't anyone else there yet. In addition to the common areas, we saw that there were two bathrooms and four bedrooms, each with two sets of bunks, a nice size closet, one small four-drawer dresser, one two-drawer night stand, and a fan. (Remember pack smart and pack light!)

We chose an upstairs room next to the bathroom. As it turned out, there was only one other family in the cabin, so we had the bathroom to ourselves, which was very nice! Both bathrooms were very similar with a toilet, counter with drawers and space under the sink, a liquid soap dispenser, paper towel dispenser, and hooks for towels. The main difference is that the downstairs bathroom that the other family used had a shower/tub combo. Our bathroom had a shower only, with a little shelf in the space that would have been taken up with the tub. In hindsight, the tub bathroom would have been better with our son (who has some shower fears), but we made it work.

The upstairs also included a loft with an end table and futon. The futon seemed to be broken (we couldn't get it to convert to a sofa because there's a crack on one side), but it was a fun checkers nook for the boys. 

From the loft we could look down over both the dining area and the living area. We didn't need the stove this week, but the camp is rented out for retreats year-round. I'm sure it is appreciated on cold winter days!

For family camp, care is taken to place similar families together. I would imagine that could be trickier with small camps like ours, but we bonded well with our cabin mates, a Russian-American family with two older boys who took our son under their wing. 

We didn't have long to unpack before it was time to head back to St. Petersburg for dinner. I'll talk more about the food (spoiler alert: delicious!) and meal times in future posts. Stay tuned!

Photo credit: Lesnoe Ozero blog

You can see more photos of our week at Lesnoe Ozero on Facebook.

Other posts in this series:

Concordia Language Villages, part 1: What is CLV?
Concordia Language Villages, part 2: Packing!
Concordia Language Villages, part 4: A Day at Camp
Concordia Language Villages, part 5: The Food!
Concordia Language Villages, part 6: What We Learned
Concordia Language Villages, part 7: Final Thoughts

If you have any other questions about Concordia Language Villages, leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer it.

I was not compensated for writing any post in this series. My motivation was to provide the kind of information I was looking to find. Consider this my very verbose evaluation. Keep in mind that our family attended the Russian camp, so some details may vary for those attending one of the other language villages. 

Concordia Language Villages, part 2: Packing!

Our family just returned from a week of Russian family camp in Bemidji, Minnesota. I can't stop talking about it, so I'm writing up a series of posts about the experience. In my previous post, I introduced readers to the wonder that is Concordia Language Villages. This post will cover everything you need to know before you head to camp.

A few weeks before camp, we received a stack of papers, including a welcome letter, health survey, packing list, transportation reservations, and our passports!

We are an international family, so passports are not new to us. But it was pretty exciting to have these arrive and realize that camp was coming up soon! 

Unlike real passports, we get to use happy, smiling photos of ourselves.  

Campers arrive from all over the world, so it's important that the transportation forms are filled out and returned three weeks before camp begins. You can drive yourself, or, for a fee, someone can meet you at either Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, Bemidji, MN, or Fargo, ND airports. From there, you can take advantage of a chartered service to get to camp. Either way, you'll need to let the camp know how to expect you.

The health forms are typical of forms you fill out for any other camps. For our family, we have two medical issues to work around. First, our son is allergic to dairy. This was our opportunity to let the camp staff know that he cannot have uncooked dairy. I called the health department and was happy to learn that soy and coconut milk would be available at every meal, and that dairy-free alternatives would be available when foods containing dairy were served. 

Our son usually drinks almond milk. At first we understood that almond milk would also be available, so when we arrived, we tossed the almond milk we had be using on our drive to camp. At our first meal, when we were offered soy and coconut milk, I was a little frustrated, but my son loved both so it turned out to be a non-issue. If you or your child can only have almond milk, you will want to make sure that your needs are met. (And perhaps bring some shelf-stable almond milk with you!) 

The second medical issue we explained was my brain injury. I had a moment of regret as I filled out the form, wishing that I could fully jump into this experience. However, if I wanted to make the most of camp, I needed to be upfront and realistic about my limitations. I need to listen to my body (and my husband, who can see when I need a break before I do), get as much rest as I can, and avoid situations that can be dangerous to me. The hardest part was being tempted by this sand volleyball court all week. I really wish my favorite sport wasn't on my no-no list. Sigh...

The main sacrifice I had to make going to camp as a person living with brain injury is that I wasn't able to participate in the afternoon cultural hours. After the morning language classes, my brain was full, so I turned тихий час (quiet hour) into quiet hours. I took a nap during the cabin time/quiet hour/activity time. However, I still had a fantastic time and would go back without hesitation.

The packing list is laid out with checklists to help all campers--forgetful or not!--know what to bring, what to leave at home, and what to bring back from camp. As much as you can, try to bring things that can pull double duty, like convertible pants, for example. During our family camp, we shared a cabin with one other family. We had the upstairs two rooms with a bathroom to ourselves and the other family had the two rooms and bathroom downstairs. As it was, we didn't have much extra room. I can only imagine how much less space the regular campers have! Pack light and pack smart!

The camp will send back items left behind if they are labeled, so take a few extra minutes to label everything. (This is a good time to mention that I love my label maker!) 

We followed the packing list pretty closely, but would recommend two additions. 

First, in addition to buying the recommended 30% DEET insect repellent, we also brought Coleman Naturals Insect Repellent Snap Bands, Granted, we were at camp early in the season, but we didn't have a single bug bite the entire week! I liked being able to just slap on a bracelet instead of spraying all over. In fact, we never even used our spray. 

Secondly, because we had a 6-year-old, we highly recommend bringing a stick of stain remover! We had planned for each shirt to be worn twice, and each pant or short to be worn three times. While that worked great for Niels and I, it was a pretty lofty goal for our son! I tried to wash shirts and pants with dish soap in the kitchen sink of our cabin, but I suspect some of our son's clothes will have permanent reminders of camp. 

Something else to keep in mind while packing is that you should only bring what you are able to carry. We were told that we would need to be able to carry our own luggage. As it turned out, our luggage was brought up to our cabin, but this may be unique to Russian camp. Plan to be able to carry your own luggage. If you are flying, this is likely less of an issue because airlines limit what you can bring onboard already. 

Also, campers will go through customs, that is, the camp staff will check your bags for contraband--electronic devices, alcohol, tobacco, items in English--so pack smart and leave those things at home. Of course, family camp is a different story. The staff recognized that for many parents, this is vacation, so we have a little more freedom. Some parents need to be available to their employers, so the camp staff requests that computers and phones are not used in sight of the regular campers.

One way to simplify your bedroll is to roll up your twin sheets inside your sleeping bag. The bag may be too thick to use the straps attached to your bag, so use a belt to hold everything together. I'll talk more about the cabins in a future post, but keep in mind that while they are not air-conditioned, but fans are provided and the temperature does drop quite a bit at night. Our family was quite comfortable with each of us using a twin sheet and sleeping bag used as a blanket. Well, actually our son only used his sleeping bag and fitted sheet because he used his flat sheet to make a secret fort for privacy. (It's secured with my ponytail holders). Shhhhh....you can't see him!

When selecting your toiletries, Concordia requests that you bring items that are free of phosphates and other not-so-earth-friendly ingredients. We brought Burt's Bees shampoo, conditioner, and body wash and I was so pleasantly surprised with how they made my hair and body feel that I think we will keep on using them now that we are home. 

Don't forget to pack one dressy outfit for special night. At Russian camp, we celebrated New Year's with an incredible banquet. It was pretty fun to see everyone all dressed up after a very casual week!

Finally, you'll want to bring some money. You won't need to buy anything while you are at camp, but each camp has its own store stocked with food, clothing, books, music, and other items that you won't be able to get at your local store at home. Any cash you bring will be converted into "local" money at the beginning of the week and used in the store. Our son had fun paying with rubles. At the end of the week, your money will get changed back into dollars...if you have anything left! 

You can see more photos of our week at Lesnoe Ozero on Facebook.

Other posts in this series:
Concordia Language Villages, part 1: What is CLV?
Concordia Language Villages, part 3: The Setting
Concordia Language Villages, part 4: A Day at Camp
Concordia Language Villages, part 5: The Food!
Concordia Language Villages, part 6: What We Learned
Concordia Language Villages, part 7: Final Thoughts

If you have any other questions about Concordia Language Villages, leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer it.

I was not compensated for writing any post in this series. My motivation was to provide the kind of information I was looking to find. Consider this my very verbose evaluation. Keep in mind that our family attended the Russian camp, so some details may vary for those attending one of the other language villages.