I've been traveling for quite a while, and in the mess that is my life abroad I have been lucky enough to return multiple times to what have become my very favorite places on earth. One of them is Lake Baikal, another will always be Kiev, and of course my very first love: Moscow's Red Square. I can't fully explain my love for this place --- Maybe the connection to my first trip abroad? Or perhaps its the general sense of awe that one feels while walking across the expanse of smooth, wide-set cobblestones towards this immense, iconic cathedral. Maybe it's the sense of peace as well, because when you enter red square all of a sudden everything becomes quiet, seperated fom the noise of the street vendors and traffic just outside the gates, with red walls and churches surrounding you on three sides. Night trains to Moscow arrive before 7am, which means I usually get to see the square at Sunrise, when St. Basil's is back-lit and beautiful. I take a mandatory picture with the cathedral, and then continue to the small street that runs to the left of the square and walk past some of the most beautiful little churches that line the path all the way to my favorite sandwich place in Kitay-Gorod. It makes sense that during my one-day layover in Moscow, I went to Red Square multiple times, and it seems that most of the pictures I took there feature the square as well... #sorrynotsorry. Enjoy one of my favorite places on earth, everyone. I'll write very soon about how amazing Petrozavodsk is!
Happy International Women's Day! March 8th is a very important Holiday in Russia (and everywhere around Eastern Europe, in my experience). We were treated to a student concert, with lots of variety:
Women have been hearing wishes of good health, happiness, and love from EVERYONE this weekend. Even strangers in the street will wish us a Happy Women's day when we walk by, it's that well observed here. It seems like we have been wishing everyone a "Happy Holiday" of some sort the whole time we have been in Tambov, because last weekend was (if you remember) MASLENITSA (pancake week!)
Maslenitsa originated as a pagan tradition celebrating the beginning of Spring: The pancakes resemble the sun, and a large doll is burned as a symbol of the end of Winter. The celebration also marks the period before fasting, and the last day of that period is the last day you can have butter (which, along with meat, is off-limits until Easter during fasting time) --- hence the buttery pancake indulgence!
This doll is burned to signify the end of Winter
People of all ages gather to celebrate Maslenitsa in the Park
Standing in line for pancakes (which we never got, because the line was too long)
And besides that, there was also ANOTHER sort of celebration --- the Olympic torch was brought through Tambov on its way to the Paralympic games in Sochi:
...We stood there for a long time waiting for them to come by. I've never been that into the olympics, but still, how often do you get a chance to see the olympic torch? I snagged a quick vid. (p.s. This really was the most exciting part, it was kind of anti-climactic.)
In other news, we have been visiting so may educational centers, youth groups, universities and NGOs that I can't even keep them straight sometimes. We will have a final team meeting in a few hours to go over all the material we have gathered here and figure out what we can do with it --- and then it's off to Petrozavodsk via train, where we will have a 15-hour layover in...
omgIcan'twaitI'mgonnapeemypantssoHAPPYYYYY
For those of you who don't know anything about me (but perhaps read the first few posts on my time in St. petersburg), I'll tell you right now that most often my unhappiness in St. Petersburg is caused, very simply, by my NOT being in Moscow... because I find it inherently BETTER in almost EVERY way. So yeah, I'm pretty happy about it.
That's all for now, next post will be from Karelia!
The title of this post is a Russian saying, which translates as "The wolf from Tambov is your comrade." From what I understand, it's supposed to be ironic --- but people in Tambov have been wonderful so far! :)
We are continuing come research which we started in Samara, looking at different models of collaboration between youth, schools, NGOs, and service organizations.We are mapping out three main models so that we can analyze them based on criteria such as project sustainability, application in an American context, and possible partnerships with U.S. organizations. We love charts!
Otherwise our first day in Tambov was a bonding day at our host organization, the Center for Youth Initiatives. Our colleagues here often lead master-classes on decoupage, so they invited us to create our own little projects --- they turned out quite nice, I think.
We talked out our whole schedule for the week and the next day met with a fabulous artist Nikolai Nikolaevich at his studio inside a local school. The school accomodates regular students as well as students with hearing impairments. Nikolai has been teaching life skills through art since the early 90s, and his philosophy on the benefit of art is quite inspirational.
We met with 4th-grade students and asked the what they like to draw most. The girl on the left said "Girls, with pretty outfits, from cartoons and things"; the second girl answered: "Dogs. My dogs, and me!"
In more general news, we are finally starting to feel productive with our project, things are falling into place, and this weekend is Maslenitsa! It's sort of like Mardi Gras, marking the beginning of the lenten season when orthodox believers start their 40-day fast until easter. It is sometimes referred to in English as "Pancake Week," so you can guess what I'll be eating on Sunday ;)
