Yogurt? Chips? Hrushka?

For the past three days I have been working 9-10 hours per day in the kitchen of the Ukrainian scout camp where my kids are happily spending some time this summer.  I decided to subject myself to this endeavor for several reasons: to provide reassurance to my little daughter during her first time at sleepaway camp, to spend time with my sister and her family who also happen to be here for "bird camp" aimed for the littlest children, and to mindlessly repeat the same word over and over for two hours depending on which food item I happen to be dishing out to the endless stream of kids who come through the kitchen line. 

I am currently on a two hour break so I am not going to spend much time writing this. I just wanted to let my faithful readers (all two of you) know that I am still alive. I am appreciating many things right now, like how much easier it is to cook a meal for a family of four as opposed to a camp of hundreds. I'm also really happy that I have a job where I don't have to stand for hours on end and repeat mindless tasks over and over again, like rinsing dishes, chopping tomatoes and sorting silverware. Lots and lots of silverware. I have a newfound appreciation for the people who depend on jobs like this for their regular income - after all, I'm just doing this for a week and it's basically a volunteer job since I will probably get paid less than minimum wage for my efforts.

I'm not doing this for the money though. I'm doing it because despite the backaches and leg aches and the sheer exhaustion of toiling away in the kitchen, it's all worth it when I catch a glimpse of my kids when they come through the line to get their food. I enjoy the camaraderie with the other kitchen ladies (and men!), some of whom have been putting in up to three weeks of their time every summer for years and others who, like me, are doing this for the first time. I've learned many things in the past three days, like how to change the bag of milk on the milk machine and how to work the dish sterilizing machine. These are not abilities I will ever have to use again, but knowing how to do them makes me feel like less of an idiot when I'm wandering around the kitchen trying to be useful.

I only have an hour and 25 minutes left in my break so I'm not going to spend any more time on this post.  I think I'll pull my air mattresss out of my tent, lie down in the shade somewhere, and enjoy the sheer bliss of not having to do a single thing until 4:45 p.m. when it all starts again.