Halloween

This week, I hosted my first holiday party. I decided it would be fun to throw a Halloween-themed party for my Russian and international friends. Halloween is growing in popularity in Russia every year but only in a few specific aspects. For instance, more and more Russians celebrate Halloween by going to costume parties at friends' homes or to bars and clubs. However, some American traditions haven't carried over, such as trick-or-treating and carving jack-o-lanterns. In fact, for a few of my groups, I devoted a whole class to Halloween. On Monday, I met with Niklas and Dima (his roommate) to discuss possible party ideas and to create a guest list. On Tuesday, I went with Niklas to pick up a few items, the most important of which was the pumpkin for our jack-o-lantern. While searching for these miscellaneous items, we also picked up a few tickets to a DDT concert. DDT is a classic Russian rock band and they're coming to Tyumen later this month.

Classic Design

Wednesday was the big day. I had one class and basically spent the remainder of the day getting prepared for the party. Some guests started showing up a little after 5:00pm and the majority starting coming after 6:00pm. The list of those who arrived includes: 2 people from American corner (Roman and Olga), one of my students and her friend (Nadya and Katya), 4-5 Chinese girls who also live in my dorm, Sasha, Niklas, Dima, Nikolai, Iona (the English girl), and... I think that's it. Overall, it was a lot of fun. Honestly, almost nothing about the party indicated that it was a Halloween except for the jack-o-lantern and the fact that we had my room lit only by candles for a little bit. Oh, and Niklas also tried made a sort of "soup experiment" with some of the extra pumpkin from the carving. It wasn't incredibly popular. Besides the pumpkin soup, we had a lot of cookies, some homemade food from Nadya, and some peanut butter & jelly sandwiches from... well, I think it's obvious who prepared those. Everybody brought something unique to add to the food and drink supply. We played one game of "стикери" which is when someone writes a famous person's name on a post-it and sticks it to your forehead. We go around in a circle asking yes-no questions until everyone has figured who they are. Iona made me the Queen of England. I found out very quickly who I was. The English connection made it easier. We also spent some time playing and singing classic Russian rock and folk songs. I'm not much of a singer, but it was a great activity for the group. All-in-all, I think it was a big success and I'm pretty certain everybody had a good time. The only "problem" is that I was left with a pretty absurd amount of sweets that will take me a long time to get through.

Left to right: Niklas, Sasha, Iona

Left to right: Dima, Roman, Nadya, Katya (and others)

And then came Thursday and Friday... These are the two busiest days of my week and they seem to get busier every week. I spent all Thursday morning preparing for my afternoon classes. I spent those classes talking primarily about how the U.S. presidential debates and election processes work. Speaking of which, I'm pretty anxious for election coverage to start. Classes ended at 6:30pm, I had a quick dinner at home, then went with my colleague, Svetlana Sergeevna, and Niklas to Metro (the huge Sam's Club-type store) to pick up some groceries. The only thing really noteworthy that I bought was probably chips and salsa. I nearly missed the tortilla chips altogether because there was only one kind. Similarly, there were only two levels of "heat" for the Heinz salsa that I found. I made sure to try it as soon as I got home. It wasn't exactly the best salsa I've ever had... but I suppose when in Russia, you've got to make compromises. I spent the remainder of my evening trying to throw something together for my two Friday classes. I decided to stick with the American election theme and organized an activity for my students to hold in-class presidential speeches/debates and elections for President of Russia.

Getting up for my 8:00am class was miserable as usual. The class, however, turned out to be a pretty great success. I paired my six students into three pairs to act as presidential and vice-presidential running-mates. They all gave short speeches. Acting as a mediator, I asked them each some questions. Then, we held a secret ballot which resulted with the victor giving a short thank you speech. It's good to see students enjoying class that early in the morning. Before my afternoon class, I had to update Irina with some of my textbook research progress. That same afternoon, I had to give a presentation about myself (in English) to a group of high school students participating in a Model United Nations competition. They were very competent with English and asked some very good questions. Before the presentation, I helped Irina (Different Irina; this one is Katya's sister. From now on, she'll be known as Ira) transcribe a video in English so that she could translate it into Russian subtitles for the Model UN students to watch on Saturday. So, after giving my presentation, I rushed back to give my final class of the week. Because there was an uneven number of students, I had no choice but to participate. I acted as a vice-presidential candidate. Unfortunately, my running-mate and I didn't win...

After a busy second half to my week, I got a chance to relax. I spent Friday night with Niklas, Dima, and some of Dima's friends at Niklas' place. We had dinner and chatted. Admittedly, I was pretty exhausted and not as full of energy and enthusiasm as I would've liked. As a result, I slept that night for about ten and a half hours.

I didn't do anything on Saturday except attend the closing ceremony to the Model UN that Ira invited me to. It was pretty neat to see all of these accomplished Russian students in suits promoting more education and beneficial activities like the Model UN. Other than watching the closing remarks, I basically just munched on some post-ceremony snacks and tea. I also got a free children's book about the negative elements of nationalism out of the deal.

My Sunday was basically a lazy day when I rested in my room. However, I did make a very tasty goulash which, as easy as it may be, I was quite proud of.

There no classes for any university students on Monday because of a holiday. I'm still not entirely sure what kind of holiday it is, but I think it's somehow connected to WWII. Anyway, I've spent most of today getting prepared for Tuesday's class. I went out for coffee with Nadya and her friend Katya to chat in jumble of English and Russian. It was good practice for everybody, but it was pretty hard to predict when one language would resurface over another. We went to Traveler's Coffee, which I still regard as one of the most comfortable places in town.