Shake Your Groove Thang

As a child, I was always somewhat skeptical of the idea of Santa Claus. Of course the elves and flying reindeer all seemed a bit too far fetched even for my imagination, but the most difficult thing for me to believe was that, in just one night, Santa could make it down the chimneys of children all over the world. When I was seven, I raised the question of Santa’s existence with my parents. That Christmas was my introduction to the infamous “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” letter. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this letter, it was written in 1897 by Francis Pharcellus Church (then editor of the New York Sun) in response to eight-year-old Virginia’s query regarding Santa’s existence. His response can be summed up in the sentence “He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.” This year, Santa Claus did not visit my house. In fact, I doubt that he visited many Russians’ houses this year, or any other for that matter, because Russians do not celebrate Christmas the way that we do in the United States. Even the Russian Orthodox Christians who do observe Christmas celebrate on the Orthodox Church’s date—January 7. The more popular winter holiday here is New Year’s. Families all over Russia spend the day cooking together, and spend all night eating together. After helping my host family to prepare an enormous feast, they sat me down at the table on New Year’s Eve and told me, “Now we will eat until morning.” Much like the winter holidays in America, food, numerous toasts, fireworks, and gift exchanges characterize the Russian New Year. Those last ten magical seconds of the old year are counted down here much the way that they are in America, but rather than watch a massive orb work its way down a skyscraper (a tradition that I have, admittedly, never really understood), here we listen to the president’s address to the Russian people. Never once during this holiday did I regret that a fat man dressed in red did not break into my apartment while I was asleep. Celebrating with my host family, I experienced so much love, generosity, and devotion, and I couldn’t have possibly asked for anything more.

            Since the university was on break for the week after New Year’s, I spent some time at a winter camp (much like an American summer camp) where Russian students go to rest, play, and prepare for their state exams during the winter holiday. While I was considerably older than many of the other students, this immersion experience was wonderful language practice and I certainly enjoyed the games, skiing, and a particularly interesting history class that I attended while the other students were preparing for their exams. The dormitory-style housing was not a five-star hotel, but it was certainly comfortable enough. I am generally not a very picky eater, but I was glad to have packed some emergency Snickers bars. When I was a kid, I used to love books about orphans (Oliver Twist, The Little Princess, Jane Eyre, and the like). The word “gruel” was used in all of these books to explain the food that the poor protagonists were forced to eat. I don’t think I fully understood the term “gruel” until I spent a week eating grey mush three times a day. Sometimes a small round black thing would appear in the middle of my bowl and, while I am sure that it was probably just a burned bit of something, I would wonder to myself “Is this a weevil? Because I’m not really sure what a weevil is, but I didn’t know what gruel was either until now.” Every evening after a full day of studying and activities was “discoteka”—a word that seems to describe any time a roomful of people dances for an extended period of time in the dark. Unfortunately for me, I have the moves of a middle-aged librarian, a problem that might be cured either by bigger hair or by a bigger bottom. Eventually the rich Russian cuisine might help the latter, but my hair is incurably straight.

            Well, after a fun week at camp, I am very happy to be home in Kazan. The new semester has begun and classes are going well so far! Best wishes to my friends and family back home!

Abby