Turkey and Pumpkin, Russkii Style

Privet!

I have meaning to write for a while about my Thanksgiving adventures and am just getting around to it now. I used to think that Thanksgiving was by far the worst holiday to be away from America and in particular to be in Russia, in part because it is nearly impossible to find a single turkey in the entire country. Thanksgiving 2006 Ekat-style, however, has changed my mind.

The highlight of my Thanksgiving by far was a presentation/craft-session that Danai [the American English Language Fellow in town] and I organized at the American Center. The American Center invited about 20 middle and high school students who study English. Danai gave a presentation about the history and traditions surrounding Thanksgiving in America and then we made hand-turkeys and little pilgrims with the kids. It was hilarious to watch teenage kids get excited about American-style crafts! Danai and I even managed to produce a pumpkin pie that we had made from raw pumpkin the night before—I didn’t even know this was possible.

In addition to inviting the students, the American Center happened to invite the press to the event. And, since I was the only Russian-speaking American present that day, I ended up on not one, but two regional news programs. The conversation went a little like this “You are Beeetsy [insert Russian accent here]?”. “Yes, I am.” “Great! You speak Russian like a native [based off of “Yes, I am”]. Can we please interview you?”. “I guess. But if I does makes much mistake while I talks, please, does not showing them at the public through the means of television.” And thus we started. About midway through the interview, I glanced at the microphone and realized that this was for one of the major news stations in town…And thus, for the last two weeks I have been running into people who saw me on the news. When I rolled into Alfina’s parents last weekend, her dad greeted me with “You didn’t tell me you were famous!”.

We followed the presentation up with dinner at one of the US consulate worker’s apartments. It was a bit strange to have Thanksgiving with ten people that I didn’t know, but I was nevertheless in heaven with a spread of all American food. Pictures from the presentation, mainly of the cute little Russian munchkins, are up on the facebook.

Since Thanksgiving, I have been busy both with work and school. That said, there have been a lot of moments lately when I have remembered just why it is so interesting to live in this country. I sat in a café for two hours on Monday with a new friend/coworker who talked to me about everything from Chicago architecture to the Russian draft [which he is dodging] to the disgustingly low pay of teachers and doctors in Russia [the highest paid surgeon in Russia makes no more than $350 a month. Teachers make significantly less]. At the same time, the last week has been blessed with lots of moments where I wonder “exactly why did I come here again?”. After spending the last blog describing the wonder and pain of Russian winter, the Urals decided that it is not, in fact, winter just yet. Carrie Miller arrived on this past Thursday and was greeted by a country of mud. We have been trudging through ankle, calf, and thigh deep puddles all week J More to come on the dirt and our Russian adventures in tourism to come.