Merry (Orthodox) Christmas! I had a very busy past two days, so this will be short. Yesterday, two of the other teachers and I went to visit one of my students in his hometown of Murom, which is about two and a half hours from Vladimir by bus. Murom is a very old city: It was first mentioned in letopici--a type of ancient Slavic historical literature--in the ninth century, and there is evidence that people have lived on the territory of Murom since at least the fourth century. Murom is also very connected with Russian folklore, and the epic hero, bogatyr, and saint Ilya Muromets was, according to legend, born just outside the city. We went to a few museums, saw several of the historic churches that line the riverbank, and even played some billiards. It was a great day trip.
Today my host family went to a big park just outside Vladimir and had a Russian-style picnic in a snowy forest. I rented cross-country skis (I'm thinking of buying a pair), and we skied for a few hours. Then, after warming up with spiced wine and vodka, we had ykha (fish soup) and sashlyk (basically shish kabobs), which were both prepared over an open fire. After lunch, I skied some some and then got pulled around the park on an inner tube attached to the back of car--think of it as Russian water skiing. That was a lot of fun.
The park was packed with families relaxing and celebrating Christmas in true Russian fashion. In America I doubt many people would assemble their families and friends and have a picnic in a park on a cold (well, by Russian standards it was warm: 25F) and snowy day, especially considering that the roads all throughout the city are completely unplowed (if you don't have snow tires on your car you're in big trouble). But Russians love this kind of weather, and I even heard, as I was waiting in line for 40 minutes to get my skis, a big group of people singing a song that had to chorus: "Oh how we love winter--the best season of the year." It's a rare American who expresses that sentiment. Maybe we need to learn from Russia how to enjoy winter.
Sadly, I didn't take my camera with me to the park today, but here are some pictures of our trip to Murom:
1. The riverbank
2. My student and I standing in front of the monument to Ilya Muremets
3. How the city's name looks in Russian
4. A statue in front of one of Murom's monasteries
5. The Murom History and Art Museum
6. Christmas/New Years decorations on Murom's main street
Today my host family went to a big park just outside Vladimir and had a Russian-style picnic in a snowy forest. I rented cross-country skis (I'm thinking of buying a pair), and we skied for a few hours. Then, after warming up with spiced wine and vodka, we had ykha (fish soup) and sashlyk (basically shish kabobs), which were both prepared over an open fire. After lunch, I skied some some and then got pulled around the park on an inner tube attached to the back of car--think of it as Russian water skiing. That was a lot of fun.
The park was packed with families relaxing and celebrating Christmas in true Russian fashion. In America I doubt many people would assemble their families and friends and have a picnic in a park on a cold (well, by Russian standards it was warm: 25F) and snowy day, especially considering that the roads all throughout the city are completely unplowed (if you don't have snow tires on your car you're in big trouble). But Russians love this kind of weather, and I even heard, as I was waiting in line for 40 minutes to get my skis, a big group of people singing a song that had to chorus: "Oh how we love winter--the best season of the year." It's a rare American who expresses that sentiment. Maybe we need to learn from Russia how to enjoy winter.
Sadly, I didn't take my camera with me to the park today, but here are some pictures of our trip to Murom:
1. The riverbank
2. My student and I standing in front of the monument to Ilya Muremets
3. How the city's name looks in Russian
4. A statue in front of one of Murom's monasteries
5. The Murom History and Art Museum
6. Christmas/New Years decorations on Murom's main street
No comments:
Post a Comment