A White Thanksgiving

During the last few days winter has really come in full force.  Tuesday night brought my first (and looks like last for a while) blizzard with nearly constant snow, temperatures in the 20 and at time quite high winds.  Luckily I have been able to w slowly adapt to the weather from the 40s in September to now the teens or single digits forecasts this week.  Most scary of course is the prospect of -1 F, which is forecast as Sunday night’s low. I do not intend to go out into that low, but I have been enjoying the snow.  

The type of snow here is a lot like sand, so I have had very little difficulty walking over it thanks to all my time walking and running at the BEACH.  (And yes I really want to see the sun and the beach at this point)  Here are some pictures I took when we want out to look at the snow after class today:

The Reason we have Double windows!

But of course today is Thanksgiving and like all Americans everywhere, we celebrated!  While we did have to go to class, and of course Russians do not celebrate it, Thanksgiving is far too important to miss and or Resident Director (although she is British) did not let us down.  This evening we went to the American owned restaurant in town called “The Other Side” and had a Thanksgiving dinner.

The food was pretty good, but not as good as it would be at home of course.  They did a good job doing the traditional American food s but still with Russian aspects. After we all had a toast with some pretty good Russian champagne, we had turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing and corn for the main dish and followed it with a very good pumpkin cheesecake.

While it was a good evening, I would have of course preferred to be home with my family for thanksgiving, and to see my friends who have returned home for the break as well.  But I will have to settle with the thought that I celebrated a very American holiday in a very American way in Russia and from this point on every thanksgiving I can look back at today and remember my time in Russia. 

I have had quite a lot going on this year and much to be thankful for but, as always, it is the people in my life for and to whom I am most grateful. After today I have only 16 days left in Russia and only a week more of classes before the all important finals week (the “study” in Study Abroad!).  While Russian history and language will occupy much of my free time after this weekend, I am still going to make time to visit and experience as much as possible.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

~Matthew