Christmastime in Voronezh

Well, in this post, I could bore you with details of how Larry met Larisa and how I met their children Gary, Barry, and Harry on my pillow (if you have no idea what I am talking about please read this post). Or how I, overtired and on cockroach alert, found a candy wrapper in a poorly lit corner of my room and convinced myself it was a dead mouse for about thirty minutes. Instead, let me tell you about the wonderful people and the festivities that have made December my best month yet in Voronezh. First, I got into the holiday spirit by helping Ira and her son Sasha put up their New Year’s tree. At first, I was nervous to help decorate their tree since I am chided every year by a certain family member for putting ornaments in the wrong place (love you, mama!), but it was a lot of fun. We watched the tradition Russian New Year film (Ирония судьби) and ate the tradition Russian New Year salad (салат оливье). I was even sent home with a tiny tree Ira’s father-in-law so kindly cut down for me in the woods in their village! But true to form,  my RA ladies wouldn’t let me take it up to in my room because it was a fire hazard (although they then told me I could take all the branches off the tree and that would be ok..). But I wasn’t too upset because Anastasia, one of my coworkers, made this tree for me out of garlands, ribbons, and Russian candies. I repeat she made this. How cool?

One of my favorite Christmastime traditions is seeing the Nutcracker. So naturally, I dragged Ira to the ballet with me. Ira, a Russian woman,had never been to the ballet. Yes, I was in shock, too. Ira told the eight year old sitting next to us that it was her first ballet experience. I wish I had taken a picture of the girl’s mouth drop and eyes widen in shock. We somehow got tickets in the first row, so during intermission we gave each other musical instrument vocabulary lessons and watched the drummers sneak fast food in under their seats for a snack in-between their numbers. 

We asked one of the babushki to take our picture with the whole Christmas tree. Here is the result.

The rest of my week was filled with many Christmas/ New Year celebrations with my students and colleagues. I watched Elf with my students (best decision: they loved it) and was showered with presents, including cakes, chocolates, books, mugs, and Golden Ring guidebooks. It was really difficult to have my last classes with the students because we don’t know my schedule for next semester yet or which students I will be placed with. I also had New Year parties with my faculty. This is the table with our first course. 

The four hour celebration included presents, speeches, karaoke, sparklers, poem recitations, and many laughs.

A few hours later I began my leisurely walk to the train, which I was boarding for Moscow for the start of my Christmas holiday. Thinking that I had 75 minutes until my train departed, it suddenly dawned on me that 22:00 (the train's departure time) is 10pm not 11pm. I thought I had mastered the 24 hour time thing, but I clearly chose a terrible situation to confuse it all.  With 15 minutes to make my train, I took to desperate measures and stuck my hand out to hail my first gypsy cab. A few minutes later, a man finally stopped, and I jumped in. Very flustered I explained I needed to catch a train in ten minutes, and he zoomed off in the direction of the train station. I asked how much he would charge me (is that gypsy cab etiquette?), and he laughed and said ,“As much as you want”. He then asked where I was from. After I told him he quickly exclaimed “From America? Then you do not pay!” I insisted that I had to pay something, so we agreed that I would meet him for tea and give him an English lesson sometime when I returned (note: don’t worry: he was very sweet, not at all creepy). Alyosha got me to the train station in 6 minutes which I didn’t think was even possible, and I leapt out of the car giving him my thanks, with plans to meet later when I returned to Voronezh.  Once I was inside the train station, I got a concerned call from Alyosha to see if I had made it alright. I said yes and hung up. Then, as I walked up to the tracks I saw Alyosha. When I saw him, he exclaimed “I wanted to make sure you made it. You told me you did but you’re still here!”. He grabbed my bags and my ticket, asked the lady where to go, and then proceeded to run with them down to the correct wagon. As always, I then thought that was the end of our meeting, but Alyosha then convinced the lady to let him on the train so he could show me my place on the train and get me settled. Another beautiful example of Russian hospitality I have received but this time from a very unexpected source.

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas/ New Years/Hanukkah  and will update at the end of January when I return to Voronezh, after my whirlwind travels through Europe and Russia.