OK, so backing up to November for a minute or two...what have we missed? Thanksgiving Russian style, here we go!
Well, we celebrated the sunday following actual Thanksgiving since we did not have a break during the week and were hosting some americans (other fulbright teachers) from out of town. In the true spirit of community everybody contributed food or drink, I was in charge of the stuffing (thanks for the help mom!) and it was well received. Instead of traditional turkey we had a couple absolutely deliciously prepared chickens (Thanks Brooke/Erin and whoever else helped!). We were also graced with some fruit salad, garlic bread, soup, and a home made pumpkin pie (alright Jordan!!) and plenty of sweets :) We had some regular spuds, since there are no sweet potatoes in Russia (apparently you can find them in rare and foreign grocery stores in moscow, peter, and maybe soon in kazan!). Actually, in my explanation of thanksgiving to my students and when we were talking about traditional foods I had to explain to them what a yam/sweet potato is! Upon displaying a picture of a raw yam one student exclaimed, "oh my god! what happened to that carrot????" The idea of a "sweet" potato was very strange for them, but now they really want to try it. So I will see if I can find some to share with them.
Fast forward to December...I realized that something was missing from my post-thanksgiving/now december winter life. Christmas music!! Christmas here is a religious holiday and is celebrated according to the old calendar (Jan. 7th I believe). They have a new years tree, and give gifts on new years, so many of the celebrations are the same in content just different in context. Unfortunately they have no dick van dyke new year's rockin' eve equivalent and "watching the ball drop" was another lengthy explanation, but I was ready for that one.
The academic schedule here brings the first semester to an official end near the end of January. However, January is mostly reserved for exams. In our languages department, since it is a minor concentration, we give our exams last week and this week so students have time to focus on their main course's exams in January (remember in Russian [read: "state"] Universities students can take 10 or more classes a semester). So I have given my exams (and graded them) and my students are preparing for their week long new years celebration, then exams.
This past weekend I was fortunate enough to go to a concert with some other Americans in Kazan. It was a ДДТ (DDT) concert and it was great! The lead singer of DDT is considered to be like Russia's Bob Dylan, so I was told. They played a long, almost 3 hour concert. The first hour and 20 minutes was their new album, but the last hour and then some was all their "classics" some of which are 30 year old songs that are very famous in Russia. Apparently he doesn't tour very often so this was an amazing opportunity for me! He's also a pretty politically charged figure in Russia right now, but I will leave that story to your google searches.
All in all it has been a pretty busy end to the semester, and I will be leaving soon to celebrate Christmas and the New Year in Brazil (Oi Fe!)! I will be back in Russia on January 3rd and will probably sleep for a couple of days before I start doing things again :) In January I should have some free time, so winter photos to be expected, and I will be going back to Moscow (another Fulbright "mid-year check" meeting/conference) So until next time, Happy Holidays to everyone and Happy New Year!! If you are traveling, have safe travels, and if not then enjoy so comfortable and relaxing days at home! Much love,
Geoff
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