WE ARE ALL FROM CHILDHOOD

___ In anticipation of vivid impressions, I had the opportunity to plunge into my childhood and spend a whole day in nature and soak up the smoke of a fire to the incessant sounds of a guitar in the Orthodox tent camp "Star of Bethlehem". The electric train Taiga-Bolotnaya quickly drove to the Tutalskaya station. Father Mikhail met on the platform and we hit the road.
___ In the nineties, Fr Mikhail served as the rector of the church and led the Sunday school at the church in the city of Seversk, Tomsk region. Once he got the idea to organize outdoor recreation for his pupils. Having settled all the formalities, he opened an Orthodox tent camp and named it by analogy with the star that led the Magi to Christ - "The Star of Bethlehem." The main goal is to help difficult teenagers. Here, children learn to interact, adopt positive experiences from each other, share impressions and emotions. They learn in practice not only basic survival skills, but also the secrets of making a fire in rainy weather, orienteering, get acquainted with such tourism directions as rock climbing, diving, parachuting and various types of martial arts.
___ Before I had time to lay out my things and decide on a place for a future overnight stay, I heard a loud call, echoing with a booming echo from somewhere in the depths of the forest:
"Guys, who wants to dive to the bottom of the sea and sniff the air from the cylinder ?! I'm waiting for you with the counselors at the dining room."
I could not miss such an interesting offer. Alexander Gorbachev, instructor of PS and PDS, Vosvoda and Dosaaf of the city of Tomsk, specially came for a day to give master classes in diving and parachuting with children.
I looked at the happy faces clumsily floundering in the water under the vigilant watch of the rescuer of the children. They were eagerly awaiting their turn to try on real diving equipment and swim with an instructor on their first underwater 100-meter trip.

___ After being initiated into divers, everyone went to a parachuting lesson. The guys "excitedly" listened to the instructor, because already in the coming weekend some were planning to make their first jump from a height in their lives. Every day in the camp is planned out. Tricky games, Zarnitsa, air gun shooting, speed races, and if it's a rainy day, a lot of time is spent talking. The evening ends with prayer and traditional debriefing around the fire.
After tasting delicious buckwheat porridge with stewed meat, I went to bed.
___ I woke up from the singing of birds and the booming sound of rare drops of rain on the roof of the tent. Life in the camp was in full swing. The kids flocked to the sink in a flock, in a hurry to brush their teeth in anticipation of a delicious breakfast. Everyone in the morning was busy with their own business. The "stove" ran with firewood from the field kitchen to the camp stove, on which a kettle was boiling with a funny whistle. Two already quite adult boys deftly wielded with axes, storing fuel for future use. "Hairpin" hosted the kitchen, deftly slicing bread and laying out on plates. Younger children did exercises.
- What are these strange names - "Stove", "Hairpin"? - I asked the guy who was running by.

“Oh, that's the whole story,” he replied, smiling. - Better ask Bati, he will tell you everything himself.
“Giving nicknames to each other is an old tourist tradition. And we must understand that a nickname is not a nickname, but a name given to a person because of his characteristic features.
For the children, I am Dad. In principle, I communicate with them on "you", giving them the opportunity to feel on an equal footing, to understand their importance. When climbing a mountain, it is very important to trust your companion.
He loves to heat the "stove" of the stove. A guy came to us, neither rock climbing nor parachuting inspired him much. And by lighting the stove on which lunch is prepared for the whole camp, or by melting the stoves in the girls' tent so that they can dry out after the rain and feel the comfort of home, the Stove feels like an important and necessary person here.
Yes, we have a lot of such stories. We have a proper. He got his nickname after I once forced him to clean the field kitchen for some violation. I come back an hour later, he is covered in soot from head to toe, tied a sponge to a stick and cleans the oven from the inside, not realizing that he only needed to wash it outside. We laughed, and the nickname "Mr. Proper" remained with him for many years. We also have our own "Yudashkin" - he dresses children in sports equipment before going to the mountains. And even his own "Zeus", the keeper of "Olympus", - continues, laughing, father Michael. - Olympus is a tent where we keep all the inventory, but Zeus is the manager, who is responsible for all this good. "
“There are a lot of funny stories here,” adds Shpilka. - For example, we have a "charger for blondes" - a socket screwed to a birch. And you will not believe, in every season there are sure to be several who want to recharge their cell phones from it. "

___ While we were chatting lightly, it was time for breakfast. Father Michael built a camp, checked the cleanliness of his hands and utensils for eating, and began a common prayer.
After a snack, everyone began to gather in the mountains. There were enough pioneers on the rock.
___ Holding my breath, I watched the little kids bravely climbing to the top. At the same time, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of fear for them, and some kind of pride. Pride from the fact that there is still courage and recklessness in our children, pushing them to such risky adventures. That not everything is so bad, and the World Wide Web of the Internet is not so completely involved as it seems lately. Having overcome the fear of heights, I myself am already standing on the top of the mountain, not quite understanding how I climbed it. Breathing in the fresh, heady air, I look around with delight. The height of the mountain is rather big, about 40 meters. From its top a landscape of stunning beauty opens up - a blue sky covered with white clouds, mountains covered with mixed forest, herbs of a flowering meadow and a river floating beyond the horizon ... Only for this it was worth climbing here!
Descending is much easier. You have to completely trust the person who insures you below. When a few meters remain to the ground, everyone who first climbed the mountain will receive a rite of initiation into climbers - you need to sing a song, otherwise the belayer will not let go of the rope. I was very happy to hear the songs of my childhood. It turns out that today's teenagers know them well and sing with great pleasure.
___ Time ... It always flies unnoticed. A whole generation has already grown up in the camp. Someone is now sending their children here to rest. Someone himself comes as a counselor, bringing with him for the whole season not only wives, but also small "tourist larvae". This is what the camp kids call two toddlers, one and a half years old, smartly sparkling with bare heels across the territory in their little toddler concerns. And someone, once in a camp as a difficult teenager and after years becoming a fully-fledged person who headed a serious construction business, contributes to the upbringing of the younger generation - helps financially, buying camping equipment and sports equipment for the camp.
___ So the time of my business trip has imperceptibly come to an end. How you don't want to leave! How you want to stay in childhood even for a while!
All the same electric train mercilessly takes me back to normal adult life. But I go to it with a light heart, knowing for sure that there are still such amazing places as the "Star of Bethlehem", where I want to return and plunge into childhood!