A Video Blog by B

This picture (of J and Martha at the beach) has nothing to do with anything, I just like it.

Really, this whole post is not really about anything in particular. Nothing exciting is going on in our lives right now except the same old language learning.

Because of that, I thought I would take this opportunity to post some videos of the kids that I have been meaning to post for a while. Some are a couple of months old, and some are really dark, so I apologize, but they're something at least.

The boys are growing up so fast! Steven definitely has a personality and we are trying to shape it the best we can. He is so funny and full of life. Matthew is sprouting up like a weed. This kid eats more food per meal than J does (this is no exaggeration). Apparently, J did the same when he was a baby so maybe Matthew will be the tall one. We will see. Anyway, enjoy the videos:

What's in a Name?

Would a rose by any other name really smell as sweet?

"Really, honey, come smell this footsweat. It's a lovely fragrance."

OK, so it's New Year's, and as usual that's a big deal here in Russia. I'll get to that in a sec. First, though, I thought some of you might be amused by the story of our conundrum with names here in Russia, and the way in which a cultural misunderstanding can lead to all kinds of confusion.

As most of you know, I grew up in Bolivia. Yes, my parents were both born in Bolivia and I was born and raised in South America, but technically we were still expatriates. Gringos. Yanquis. That means that I have a non-Bolivian name.

However, every expat I knew had a second name, a "Bolivian" name, if you will. My grandfather Wayne became "Guillermo," my father Dan became "Daniel," and my friend Chun Hsien became "Alberto." It's just the way things are done there. Part of adapting to the culture is picking a name that isn't impossible for the natives to pronounce, preferably one close to your real name if possible, and using it.

So, when we arrived here, I assumed we needed to do the same thing. It would be ridiculous not to have a Russian name, I thought. After a look online for Russian names, I decided that "Yefim" was fairly close to my name and that's who I would be. B would become "Suzana," which is her middle name, or close to it, since her real first name sounds quite a bit like the Russian word for "Granny."

Along the way, though, my Russian friends looked at me a bit funny when I introduced myself. "Yefim" was definitely not working, as it's kind of an older name and no one in this generation is actually called that, and fortunately I gave up on that within a week or so. Picture some Japanese guy trying to pass himself off as "Alfred" and you get the idea. After a few months of calling B by her real first name, we started telling people she would be "Suzana," which just confused everyone who already knew her as B.

The kids were even tougher. Steven is actually quite easy, but even calling him "Stepan," the Russian equivalent, gets some funny looks sometimes. The thing is, Russians expect foreigners to have foreign names. It actually confuses them more when we try to fit in by naming our kids something Russian. We didn't really understand this at all when we got here, since I was still operating in my Bolivian framework, and so we have pretty thoroughly confused our friends.

Matthew was even worse, since there really isn't a good Russian equivalent of Matthew (there is the name Matvei, but it hasn't really been used commonly for a few generations). We originally decided to use his middle name ("Alexander," extremely Russian) and call him Sasha, which is the Russian nickname for Alexander. This led to confusion when people would overhear B talking to him in English and calling him Matthew, then switching to Sasha a few seconds later when she talked to them in Russian. Since Russians are actually familiar with the name Matthew (from the actor McConaughey) they didn't understand why we would give up a perfectly good American name to use a name for him that wasn't even really his name, as far as they were concerned.

Really? This is the guy you want to name your son after?

So, now we've had to rethink the whole thing. Soon, we'll be moving to Siberia, where right now no one knows us. I'd really like to avoid the whole confusion out there, so we're trying to learn from our mistakes here. Then again, I really don't want to call our kids anything super-American when we're in public, since that just calls more attention to the fact that we're foreigners. I don't like shouting across the playground in English (also something I've carried over from Bolivia, but I can't seem to make myself just forget this one), and I just can't get past the fact that shouting a name like "Steven!" isn't much different. I know, it's not that big of a deal for the people here, but I just hate to call attention to myself as a foreigner every time we're out if I don't have to; I'd rather do that when I get to actually introduce myself and talk to people one-on-one.

Probably what we're going to do is introduce ourselves by our first names, and just use Russian nicknames for our boys. They'll still be Steven and Matthew at home, but at school or on the playground or store they'll be Styopa (which Steven is already very used to) and Matveika (which is the nickname form of Matvei). Our poor friends here in Moscow that met him as Sasha, then Alex, then Matvei, then hear us call him Matthew just shake their heads and laugh at us now, so I'd like to avoid that in our future home at all costs! Thus are the perils of assuming all cultures will react the same way to a given situation.

So, that rabbit trail has gone on quite long enough. On to the New Year's pictures:

New Year's, as I think I've mentioned approximately 1000 times on this blog, is a really big deal here in Russia. It's taken very seriously, and most Russians will get together with their friends, have a big feast, and then go outside and watch some fireworks.

Last year, we made do by getting together with some of the other foreigners in town who weren't invited to a party and ordering a pizza, before going outside to destroy a few things with fireworks of our own (link here for the video if you don't remember how that went).

This year, we had similar plans, not having been invited to any of our friend's dos (American readers thinking "What's a 'do'?). However, at the last minute, our friends Delia and Nadira invited us over to their place, and we just brought along the pile of blini we had been fixing.

It was quite a spread:

Russians say that the way you "meet" or celebrate the New Year is the way you'll spend it; or the richer your New Year's table, the richer your year. Thus, it's important, even if there's only 6 adults, to have enough food to feed China for a month. This is just the food that fit on the table, there was also a huge stack of blini and a roasted chicked to add to this.

It was surprising to me that we didn't actually do a whole lot. We sat at the table, ate, and watched the Russian version of Dick Clark, a New Year's party on TV. It was much funnier than the American program, and we learned lots of interesting things about pop culture. Later our friends lit up these sparklers and put them in fruit to actually ring in the New Year. We then watched Medvedev's brief New Year's address and toasted the New Year. B and I didn't make it too much beyond that since we needed to take the boys home, but the fireworks kept us up until about 2 or so.

The Friday after New Year's my old language helper Andrei invited us to a combination Christmas/New Year's party. It's interesting to see how the family members want to return to a celebration of Christmas being really important, but since it was practically outlawed by the Soviet government, they really have little history of doing so. Nowadays they sort of mix the two together into one holiday, although the population at large cares very little about Christmas.

At any rate, we had a great time at this party. I, in particular, have always been hesitant to join into "worldview-type" discussions in small groups, etc, not wanting my poor language ability to interfere. However, I decided to go out on a limb after we read the Christmas story and told a little story about how a professor of mine had once encouraged me to read a different version of the story. I wasn't sure what he meant until he reminded me that the story about the dragon and the woman in the end of the Book was also about Christmas, told from a different perspective.

I basically challenged the partygoers to read it and see what they thought when they got home, not sure if I was communicating well. I was happily surprised when several of them said they were intrigued and insisted we track down the story and read it then and there. We then had a 20-minute conversation on the section and what it meant and how it should affect our interpretation of Christmas. I loved it! It was one of the only times I have engaged someone other than my language helpers on a deeper theme and communicated well enough to spark a real conversation. Obviously, I'm still a long way from "fluent," whatever that means, but it's encouraging to see signs of real progress.

Anyway, then we played a word game, which I thought would be pointless for me, since any vocabulary exercise difficult enough to be stimulating for a native speaker would probably be well beyond me, but to my surprise I actually was able to contribute. Not enough, as my team lost handily, but still!

Other than that, life is still very good. B found a recipe online for Krispy Kreme doughnuts, so she made those the other day - tremendous!

We got a Christmas package from Bolivia! My parents sent it, and I've been enjoying some home-dried mango. Steven, meanwhile, has loved the little "town" my mother created on a rollup mat, complete with bridge, railroad, and buildings (not shown).

And I think that's about it. It's been pretty cold for Moscow lately, -20° C, so we've been bundling up. Here's B taking the boys for a walk:

Soon we'll be heading out to Siberia to see some real cold, so we'll have to report then what that's like. It looks like we'll be making that trip sometime in earlyish to mid-February, so you can be thinking about that. We did get word that our documents are in the US, fully completed, so they'll be coming back with our friends David and Erin and that means that we should have all the documents we need for the residency application! Please be lifting that up over the next month or two.

I'll leave you with Matthew's first sledding experience, and his rather nonchalant reaction:

Christmas Sickness (a blog by B)

Well, Christmas has come and gone and I'm just now getting around to posting this. Don't worry, there is a very good reason for this delay. I'll get back to you with the reason as soon as I can think of one.

I guess for one, we have been very busy with parties, eating, presents, family, friends, and of course puking. Yep, you read correctly - puking. We had plans for friends coming over Christmas Eve and then on Christmas day. Unfortunately, Tuesday night Steven decided that the walls in his room were too plain and needed a little decorating.

Around 10:00pm I heard him making some weird noises. When I went in to investigate, he had added several pieces of undigested food not only to the wall, but all over the mattress, pillow, his clothing, and even poor Puppy (the stuffed animal he sleeps with).

Once I stuck my head out of the window for some fresh air in order not to puke myself, Jesse and I proceeded to clean up. Thinking this was a one time deal, we went back to bed just to hear him throwing up again 30 min later. So, once again, we cleaned up and I decided I would sleep with him in case this throwing up continued. Good call. It went on all night. Neither of us got any sleep and by the time Jesse woke up the next morning we were both exhausted.

Jesse took over the morning shift as I tried to get some sleep. Luckily, Steven stopped throwing up but just lay around all day not wanting to do anything (this was Christmas Eve). That evening, we had a few friends over for supper which was a good distraction. By the time Christmas morning came Steven was back to normal and raring to go for the presents. That morning we had a Christmas brunch that included blueberry muffins, eggs, biscuits, gravy, bacon, hashbrowns, and juice. It was only lacking grits (which I ended up getting for Christmas thanks to my family).

Later that afternoon we skyped my family and opened gifts. It felt like they were there with us. Skype is the best invention ever!

After the gifts were opened, the boys crashed and Jesse and I lay around like slugs. It was a great Christmas. Then on Friday, we had our team Christmas party at TGI Fridays.

We had such a good time and I even got to wear my red boots that my sisters sent me last year. My feet suffered greatly but at least I looked good (hahahaha). The food was wonderful and I enjoyed every bite.

Unfortunately, it is not as good coming back up. Yep, that's right - Friday evening it was my turn to throw up. That night was spent hugging the toilet (and not because I needed to be comforted). I was glad at least I was the only sick one in the family. Right? Wrong.

When I fed Matthew early Saturday morning, he started throwing up and crying because he wasn't feeling good. I was so glad I had a strong, healthy husband to take care of the kids so I could get some rest. Right? WRONG AGAIN! Saturday morning I woke up to Jesse throwing up. So, here we were. Steven going mad because he still wasn't feeling good and he had not been out of the apartment in 5 days, another child who wanted to be held all the time because it hurt his tummy to lay down, me who could barely walk, and a husband who was throwing up and stumbling back to the bed. Times like these make me wonder "Is it worth it"? Being here with no family to help out, not able to give my kids lots and lots of toys, going without the comforts I am used to?

With much debate, :) I've decided that it is. No matter what we go through, anything is better than what he went through for us. There is always someone worse off than me. So, as I talked to him I thanked him for what we did have. A wonderful family with two beautiful sons, a beautiful apartment, food, clothing, friends and family. When I'm tempted to give up or start complaining, he always seems to remind me to look around. What I see are people with so much less than me. Old women standing on corners in rags begging because they can't work, men stumbling in their drunkenness and hopelessness, people living in a hole in the ground so as not to freeze in the winter, people lost in their desperate search for something, and they don't even know what it is. Like every big city in the world, Moscow has its share of hurting people.

Even if I don't have anything else (no food, clothing, friends, family, shelter, love), if I die alone with nothing to my name, I still have him. I think of what my life will be like after I die. Then everything I have (or don't have) here seems unimportant and insufficient. I am privileged to know him. If nothing else, I will always have that and that is all I need.

Sorry to go off like that. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with how much I have been given! Anyway, Saturday I called a friend who so graciously came over to take care of the kids so Jesse and I could rest. By Sunday, we were all feeling much better and by Monday, back to normal. So, all in all, we had a great (yet challenging) Christmas. I will wait to write about New Years in the next post which will be soon so keep checking. Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Enjoy the photos!

A Russian Christmas decoration:

Jesse reading the Christmas story:

Just some cute pictures:

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Yep, it's Christmas. My favorite time of year. That is why I'm writing this blog. J will do good to remember to say Merry Christmas at all (poor boy). Our tree is up, our decorations are all over the apartment (although J did have to restrain me from buying more). It is so nice to see decorations up all over the city. I don't have pictures yet so I might post those later (and yes, there will be another Christmas blog).

For now I will just tell you what we have been up to. After our late Thanksgiving party, we settled back into our language studies and normal life. A few weeks ago a woman I know asked me if I would be willing to make some Christmas cookies for a party our family group was having. Of course I said yes! But I had to remember my promise to J that I would not go crazy in my Christmas baking this year. So I was stuck only making peppermint fudge, peppermint chocolate, peanut butter fudge (thanks mom), Russian Tea Cakes, and (of course) Christmas cookies. Nope. I didn't go crazy. Right?

But my instincts were right, as it turns out. When I arrived to help set up for the party, Connie (the woman who asked me to make cookies and the organizer of the party) was frazzled because she forgot her 250 cookies at her house. But, I saved the day with my many, many treats! When she saw it, she sighed in relief and thanked me for what I did. So, I guess I will have to always go crazy in my cooking because I just might save the day again. In fact, I'm sure she would have had a heart attack if I didn't show up with my treats. You could definitely say that I saved her life. So, in retrospect, it's clear - my cooking saves lives!. So, it only seems logical that I must always cook more because it just might save another life. Right?

I know. I might be a bit delusional, but a girl can dream, can't she? Anyway, J stayed home with the boys so I was able to enjoy the party without any interruptions (I have the best husband). I needed the break as Steven has officially entered the terrible twos. HELP! My beautiful, perfect son has been abducted and a something scary has taken his place. He does it all: scream until he turns purple, kicks, stomps his feet, throw himself on the floor.... the works. Any suggestions? We have tried it all: spanking, talking to him, holding him, spanking, time-outs, spanking. Nothing seems to help. Is this normal? I always thought children who act like this were spoiled. We are pretty strict with him but always try to show our love to him. Anyway, I'm open if you have any suggestions.

OK. Moving back to happier topics: CHRISTMAS! I fixed my first batch of eggnog yesterday and it was delicious (thanks, Gudrun, for the recipe). I'm also trying to fit in with the Russian culture as much as possible. I've decided to learn some of the Russian Christmas carols. The following is of me singing (or I should say trying to sing) a popular children's Christams song. Forgive me for hurting your ears. I messed up a few times but it was the best video I could get, so enjoy:

This is how it's supposed to sound, as performed by Дед Мороз and Снегурочка (Father Frost and the Snow Maiden):

Here's Steven in full "meltdown mode":

One of our few snowy days so far this year:


And just some cutesy Christmas pictures for your enjoyment:

So, that's about it for this week. Hope you have a great week and a Merry Christmas, and we'll see you again next week!

Thanksgiving Dinner!

I know, I know. You're thinking "Thanksgiving? Didn't that happen a couple of weeks ago? Why are we still talking about it?"

Technically, you're right, too. However, in an effort to catch up on my email correspondence, I've gotten way behind on blog posting. We usually try to post on this once a week, but as you can see, it's been two since our last post. It's just, well, I don't know - too much writing to do in too short of a time. By the way, if you're one of those we haven't written in a while and you're miffed, just drop us a line and we'll be sure to get back to you! Nothing makes us happier than seeing a note in our inbox. (See what I've done there? I've subtly made it your fault that we haven't written you? Wasn't that clever?)

Anyway, so, what have we been up to in the past two weeks? Of course, as usual, our days are occupied with language and culture study. I feel like maybe I'm finally getting past the plateau where I've been for a few months, so that's nice. However, we've had time to get into a bit of other things as well in that span. We had originally planned to have our Thanksgiving feast on the Saturday after the official holiday, but our family group was having their birthday celebration that night:

We went to that, which was a good time, even though it seemed to be rather more sparsely attended this year than last. The kids weren't really up for an hour and a half of sitting quietly through the program, so we ate and left.

Back at home, things are running pretty smoothly, with both kids seemingly now settled into the new schedule. Steven certainly knows how to relax:

And I promise we'll get to the Thanksgiving party, but I did want to prove to everyone that Matthew really is standing up now! At 7 months, he's pretty early for this, but he doesn't seem too bright about it sometimes (it's all well and good being able to pull yourself up, but when you lack the balance required to lower yourself without bumping your head on the ground, it's bound to end painfully.)

Since the big Russian holiday is New Year's and not Christmas, they usually don't put up their trees and such until halfway through December, if that early. I had originally made B promise not to put up ours until after the party, but when the party was delayed a week, she couldn't hold back.

She and Lena set up the tree during one of their language sessions, which made for a cultural exchange on what Americans do vs. what Russians do to decorate the tree.

The finished product is below. Interestingly, Russians weave their lights up and down instead of round-and-round the tree, which B likes better. Maybe it will be her decorating choice in the future as well.

Steven really likes being a big brother, I think. When we first brought Matthew home we worried that he would be jealous or resentful, but he has proven to be a really thoughtful big brother. He takes care not to play rough with Matthew, though occasionally he gets excited and forgets. Here he wanted to feed him after watching us do it so many times:
I think we ended up having 20 or so adults plus 4 or 5 kids for the Thanksgiving dinner in the end. The food, as you saw at the top of the post, turned out great. We were going to make it just a chicken dinner, since turkey is so expensive here, but B's language helper really wanted to experience the real thing so she bought us a turkey to fix. It was truly delicious! Everyone chipped in and made stuff, so this year B wasn't responsible for everything - sort of a potluck Thanksgiving.

After the meal we just sat around the living room and chatted. We were able to show them a few American traditions, such as sharing with everyone what you're thankful for ...

... and even breaking the wishbone (Julie won, but she forgot to make a wish, so I guess that particular bit of animism won't be affecting our lives this time around).

And that's about it. Sorry I don't have any new videos or Russian cultural notes for you this time around. Hopefully you'll make up for it by going out and researching how to prepare borshch or learning how to make a fur shapka or something.

I'll leave you with Matthew's post-Thanksgiving thoughts (he crawled his way under his Mom's bedroom table and fell asleep during the party).

С Днём Рождения, Стёпа!

Do we have a post for you! Snow, birthdays, three videos - it's like a blog extravaganza! Or maybe a blog marvel, or perhaps a blog spectacle. For sure, it's at least a blog performance. I've run out of synonyms for extravaganza moving down the scale of impressiveness, so we'll have to move on to something else.

The latest news with us is that we have received our visas for another year here! It was a struggle, and we jumped through a lot of hoops, but it looks like we're set. We'll be helping out with a language school teaching English when everything's finally up and running, so you could be thinking about that and the relationships we form from that. And that's about it, apart from our continuing language studies. Let's go right to the pictures:

Well, it took quite a while, but the snow finally has arrived in Moscow. Usually it's quite a bit before now, but it looks like it's here to stay for now. That means bundling up the boys a bit more, so that we travel everywhere like this, which Sasha obviously loves:

Since it's Steven's birthday and the rest of the post will probably be about him, we had to at least put Sasha in here somewhere. He's started to crawl everywhere, and now he likes to sit up as well. Here he somehow managed to work his foot out from his high chair, and his mom snapped a pic of the funny pose.

So, today was Steven's second birthday, and I thought we'd put up a few pictures of the party. A couple of guests, including Steven's friend Pasha, weren't able to make it since they had last-minute guests show up, so he had to be content as the only child at his party (well, I guess his brother counts too).

B made some delicious pizza, which was heartily enjoyed by the guests who did come. We had our language teacher Viola, coworker Julie, and a couple of friends from family group (and their Mom, who had flown in from Uzbekistan for a visit).

Of course, I'm not sure if Steven really understood the concept that it was his birthday, but he definitely enjoyed himself regardless. After all, he got to eat a chocolate cupcake, and we even gave him a few sips of Coke. Here he's blowing out the candles on his cake, and just generally enjoying being the center of attention.

B had a novel idea when it came to giving him his gifts on how to create a distinct family tradition that the kids would enjoy. She decided to blow up a bag of balloons (well, decided to assign her loving husband to fill up a bag of balloons would be more precise, but who's keeping track here?) and put them in the living room. Then, Steven's presents would be stashed around the room under a carpet of balloons for him to find. The result, as you can see below, was total bedlam - he didn't even care about the presents, but the chance to run around in a room full of balloons was another matter entirely!

So, when he finally did get to all the presents, the adults who were a bit bored watching him have all the fun decided to get into the act. Somehow a full-fledged balloon war broke out! I'm happy to report no casualties, except perhaps our neighbors' peace and quiet for a few minutes.

One of the presents Steven got tonight prompts this week's Interesting Russian Cultural Note. He received a stuffed Krokodil Gena, which is one of the characters of an old Russian cartoon.

I've always liked Krokodil Gena, because he sings a lot of the children's songs on the radio (I listen to the Kids' Radio Station a lot for Russian practice), and in particular is known for singing the most popular Russian birthday song. To me it's fascinating to see the difference in the birthday songs of the US (which, admittedly, has been adopted here as in so many other places and "Happy Birthday to You" is just translated and sung) and Russia.

In this birthday song, the crocodile named Gena is singing about his birthday. It's not really a happy song as such, though (and I apologize if my translation isn't entirely accurate):

Пусть бегут неуклюже                              Let them run awkwardly
Пешеходы по лужам,                               The pedestrians through the puddles
А вода - по асфальту рекой.                  And the water over the asphalt like a river
И неясно прохожим                                  It's not clear to the passers-by
В этот день непогожий,                           On this bad-weather day
Почему я веселый такой.                       Why I'm so happy

ПРИПЕВ:                                                    CHORUS:
Я играю на гармошке                              I play my accordion
У прохожих на виду...                             In view of the passers-by
К сожаленью, день рожденья -           Unfortunately, your birthday
Только раз в году.                                  Only comes once a year.

Прилетит вдруг волшебник                  Suddenly a wizard flies in
В голубом вертолете                              In a blue helicopter
И бесплатно покажет кино.                   And shows a movie for free
С днём рождения поздравит                Wishes me a happy birthday
И, наверно, оставит                                 And maybe, leaves as a gift
Мне в подарок пятьсот "эскимо".       500 "Eskimos" (a kind of ice cream)

In other words, his birthday has happened to fall on a day where the weather is terrible, which is too bad. His response is to try to be as happy as possible, and daydream about what would have really made it great, since it will be a whole year before he gets another one. To me, it's brilliant - not at all what you would expect to hear from a birthday song, but still very good. Plus I really like the tune.

I'll leave you with the video to the crocodile singing the song. Maybe sometime I'll do a bit on the actual cartoon that this clip is from, since it's very popular and pretty much every Russian knows it (maybe like Pooh in American culture). You can click on some of the other links on the right if you go to the youtube page directly and see some of the other songs and stuff from the show.



OK, that's about it for this week. Hope you're doing well, and thanks for keeping us and our continuing study of Russian in your thoughts!

Back At It

So, we've now long since passed the point at which we can still post pictures of our Germany adventures and call them "new," so we're back to finding something interesting out of our language study days to tell you about.

In short, everything is going along much as it was before we left. We're back into our routine of classes every day, it's getting colder, and there's really not a terrible lot to tell you about. I (J) have been finding it harder to study as much in the afternoons now that there are two kids to look after, but we feel that it's more important for B to catch up some, so we're going to continue to have her go to class 5 days a week. You could be thinking about both of us, me especially, as I feel like I've hit some kind of ceiling and am plugging along lately without feeling like I'm making much progress.

But, aside from dry, boring language stuff, what do we have to tell you about? A few things come to mind, actually. Matthew has started to crawl, which is neat. B tried to get a video of that, but you know how hard it is to get kids to cooperate with cameras. Steven's big news is that he's making progress with the potty training, and has managed to go in the potty at least once or twice a day for the past few days (a little M&M bribery doesn't hurt, of course)!

Also, last weekend, the local school for foreigners' kids had a "Fall Festival" at which there was a yard sale of sorts, and some games for kids. We went with the kids, and despite it mostly being geared to pre-teens, we did find some things for them to do. Steven decorated (with help) and ate (without help) his own cookie, as illustrated below.

Actually, Steven's gotten into helping Mommy cook lately, and we've been putting the apron that his grandmother made him to good use:

Then, later Saturday afternoon, I went downtown for a meeting with the newly founded "Expat Book Swap Club." Those of you that know me well know that I love to read, and it was nice to get some variety in my library. I traded two books and about 5 DVDs that I hated for a huge bag of interesting-looking books! OK, I know you don't care, but for me the opportunity to have new and interesting English-language books is huge.

And that's about it, I guess. Since this post is so short, I thought I'd introduce a possible new segment of the blog for your perusal: Interesting Russian Cultural Note of the Week. If it gets good reviews, maybe we'll try to come up with something on a regular basis, so be sure to let us know what you think in the comments. We've pretty much given up on finding more of those What Is It? items for you, as we've gotten so used to most everything that it's hard to remember what seemed strange when we arrived.

This week, our IRCNW is based on a movie I had to watch for a recent assignment: Ирония Судьбы, или С Лёгким Паром (Ironia Sudbi, ilyi S Lyogkim Parom), which could be translated "The Irony of Fate, or Have a Good Steam." We had heard a lot about this film since we got here, as it's probably by far the most famous Soviet film ever made, and is sort of the Russian version of It's a Wonderful Life, the beloved classic film that gets shown every holiday season.

I wasn't sure how much I'd get out of it, since we didn't have it in English and the dialogue moves quickly but I loved it! If you can track down a subtitled or dubbed copy, go watch it - it's brilliant, and has lots of good Russian cultural things interspersed! And with none of the stuff that makes it impossible to recommend any film made these days (unless some lighthearted drinking would bother you).

The basic story of the film is this: in the Soviet Union, party planners have designed everything to be mass-manufactured, including housing. As a result, all the houses look identical (remember your comment when we first got here, Rich, about how the buildings in our pictures looked "just like where Jason Bourne was filmed!" That's because all buildings pretty much everywhere in Russia look like that.) The first few minutes of the film are a cartoon reminding people about just that fact, and I tracked it down on youtube for you:



Anyway, the main character Zhenya is getting ready for New Year's night, which he's going to spend with his almost-fiance Galya. Before they meet, however, he goes to the banya to steam with his buddies in their annual New Year's Eve tradition. While there, they toast the new stage in his relationship and they all get quite drunk. They go to the airport to see off one of their number to Leningrad, but by mistake Zhenya gets put on the plane in his place.

When he wakes up, he's in Leningrad, but everything looks so similar and he's so hungover that he doesn't realize it. He takes a taxi to "his" address, which looks exactly like his real address in Moscow. His key even fits in the lock, and he collapses on the bed. Of course, when the owner of the apartment (Nadya) gets home, she freaks out and orders him to leave. He won't leave what he thinks is his own apartment, and they argue. Then her boyfriend shows up and wonders why there's a strange man in her bed. In their attempt to explain it to him (and on the phone to poor Galya, who's sitting in the apartment back in Moscow convinced that Zhenya is off womanizing, especially when he calls from some woman's apartment), they end up wondering if maybe fate brought them together for a reason.

I won't give away the ending, but it's very good. The New Year's night definitely is a memorable one for everyone involved, and their lives change. If you get a chance, and want to watch something a bit different from your typical Hollywood fare, give it a try.

OK, so that's about it for this week. And for you grandparents and really close friends who read the blog, here's a cute little video of the boys to make your day: