New years with Russian Hippies

Obviously from the title I will talk about how I spent my new years
eve in Russia. First it is important to mention the importance of this
holiday here. In Russia the new year holiday is the most celebrated
and most popular holiday. The celebrations in many ways equal and at
times exceed that of Christmas in America.

This year I was lucky enough to be invited to join some local people
in Moscow. One of my friends I met on a previous trip to Russia was
going to be in Moscow with her friends to celebrate. I had not planned
on doing anything special for the day and had assumed all my friends
had plans to be with their local friends. Imagine my surprise and
pleasure when I was invited to partake in this celebration normally
reserved for only the closest group of friends.

When I met my friend at the metro she confided in me that she was
nervous about me being there. In truth I was very nervous as well.
While Valya is a good friend of mine I had no idea who she associated
with outside of the program I teach in. She had told me previously
that these people were "Russian Hippies". In addition to this, I was
to meet one of the people who lives at the flat I will stay at on my
extended portion of this trip. This means for me, if I do not make a
good impression then I would have to make other arrangements. Valya
told me she was not sure if we would all get along well.

To not leave you in suspense let me assure you now that my evening,
night, and morning were wonderful beyond belief!! This evening was so
much more than I could have hoped for.

We bought food on the way there and alcohol of course. We spent the
evening all helping to cook and sipping wine. It was a one room flat
with 7 people cooking and having fun. I was really made to feel like
one of the group.

As is often the case being the tourist, people will try to accomodate
me and make sure I am fully included in everything. This makes the
conversation less natural and more stressful. For this evening, I was
just another friend there to share the festivities. If I did not
include myself then I was left to myself.

This evening was one of those theoretical situations where the tourist
is instantly invited into the core culture and fully accepted one of
the group. It felt as though I was with a group of friends I had know
all my life and they treated me reciprocal warmth.

The conversation was challanging to follow but not impossible as it
was all in Russian. I helped cook and learned some new dishes I will
share. The food was out of this world delicious.

We (they) sang songs while Kola played the guitar. We all danced and
listened to music on the Internet.

We all finally left at 3 PM the next day.
This post is getting knd of long so I will follow it up with some
funny exerpts from the evening for your enjoyment. In a later post.