I’m fresh out of my first ‘serious’ conversation with my host family, and it was definitely eye-opening.In a rather roundabout way (via a character with a gambling problem on our nightly soap) we came across the topic of slavery while sipping our after dinner tea. Papa Nik said that his sister, who lives in New York, had said the all the black people there are criminals. Oh no, I thought, I’m about to have to relay an entire semester of Intro to Anthropology to my family with 3 months worth of Russian. And thus started a rather garbled explanation on my part as to why that was incorrect and a result of bad things that happened in the past. This little monologue was, like the good student that I am, mainly in Russia, save a few tough words like ‘inequality’ and ‘racism’ (though it seems like I should know them by now, as they are even more prevalent in Russia than at home). Mama Olga said when she flew into New York, all the workers were black, after which I had to explain that these weren’t the best jobs in the world. And of course, in my family’s unending quest to know the exact salary of every profession in the United States, they asked how much money black people make. After their surprise at $5.50 an hour, I began to realize how foreign a discussion like this must really be to them. Minimum wage here would go a really long way, and I’m sure most young people in Russian would be more than happy to secure a job at the airport. And of course they don’t understand why it’s bad to live in the ‘inner city’ or how one government funded school can really be that much different than another, despite its location. Conversations like this only reinforce the reality that even the people that are the worst off in America are so much better off than ordinary people in places like Russia (keeping in mind that blanket statement likes this are never entirely true, but you get my point). Keep in mind, also, that after over three months of living in Vladimir, my friend Amanda and I have collectively sighted five black people, and know of the existence of one more, in the entire population of Vladimir, a city of over 300,000. So topics such as tonight’s are foreign in more than one way.
On a lighter note, this past weekend included a quick trip to Moscow (to experience yet another episode of lovely Muscovite weather: read- cold and rainy) and well as celebrating Orthodox Easter. Thus, over the weekend I accumulated skills such as learning how to naturally dye eggs using only onions (and of course, a little oil, because it wouldn’t be Russian if it didn’t include oil), make Russian cottage cheese, and how to win the egg-smashing contest (yeah, that’s right, I beat the whole family, much to Vlad’s displeasure). I also got to accompany the family to the church on Saturday, along with what seemed like the entire population of Vladimir, to have our beautifully dyed eggs and giant cupcake like bread blessed with holy water by a priest. It was a really incredible experience, being in the church with so many people at such an important occasion (though it slightly resembled, or at least I thought, a giant birthday party, because everyone had their huge loaves of bread covered in icing lined up with a candle in the middle, and I half expected confetti to stream down from the church dome… alas). The actual Easter service involves processing around the church Saturday night between the hours of 10 and 4, along with a service and singing, but I was clearly not tough enough to endure this kind of Easter celebration, but I can report that there was a disturbingly large number of militia on hand the entire time (why so many people… perhaps on of the eternal questions I have of Russia). On Sunday, between what seemed like fifteen monstrous meals, I walked down to a square that was the site of an Easter festival. There was singing, and dancing, and people in giant chicken outfits, as well as free eggs over-easy and bread for all. And though it can’t make up for me missing Easter at home (and my family’s wonderful feast, which they cruelly sent me pictures of), it came pretty close.

we had a nice little sunset this evening, so the last two pictures are of the view from my bedroom window (though they may be too dark to look like much of anything)