Hello darlings,
MERRY CHRISTMAS ORTHODOX STYLE!! January 7th is Russia's Christmas. So God bless you all over again.
The title is just a joke. No, it's not the USSR; it's been Russia again for 20 years now... but they're still getting the hang of a lot of things. For those of you interested in politics, I didn't write anything about the meeting that took place Saturday, Dec. 25th. They were protesting against widespread falsification of November's parliamentary election results. The Kremlin party faked their huge lead, and didn't even bother to do a good job with it. The results are fishy to say the least, absurd to say the most. For example, in some precincts, add up all the percents every party got, and it comes out to 150% of the vote. Hmmm... So, they organized a meeting - a demonstration in the streets - to voice their displeasure. I was very proud of them. I myself was of course in the US that day (our Christmas.) But it went down well.
First off, no one got hurt. My friend Pasha went to the meeting, which was officially government sanctioned, and said it was exciting and interesting to be there. There was a good turnout, several thousand people, although I'm not sure exactly how many. It was like a rally or a concert in the street. There were stages and musical performances going on. Many people were carrying signs. What did they say? Well, the protesters weren't too sure of themselves. I mean, pretty much no one there (mostly young people) had ever done anything like this before. They'd never had the chance! Many carried signs saying "we're FOR honest elections." Some had banners against a certain person, such as "get out Putin" and other politicians. Still others had other agendas, but the fact that they were there, doing this at all, is a huge step forward. Pasha said he really didn't know what to yell out or chant, and there were many like him, who showed up, but then stood around not really knowing what to do. It's like, "o.k., our government blatantly committed fraud while claiming to be a democracy, and we don't like it. But we're not sure how to go about correcting the situation. (Who would be?) However, we realize we have a voice, and we want a better Russia!" He said there was an amazing sense of freedom and freedom of expression, of potential for the future, of empowerment. I was very, very glad to hear it.
I have made it, thank God, back to Russia, and am trying to get over jet lag. It's a lot harder to go West to East. I went to bed at 7:30pm, woke up at 3:30am, then couldn't get back to sleep until maybe 5:30, then slept til 11:30 and couldn't fall asleep the next night. But it's slowly working itself out. I'm giving all the gifts I brought from the U.S., unpacking, cleaning, working, preparing to go back to work on Tuesday. There will be a FULL load of kids, so get ready! The weather here is unusually warm for Russia in January and rainy. Yuck. After returning to Russia, I went to see the musical on ice "Sleeping Beauty" the next day. It was quite delightful. We also got rid of our now faded Christmas tree today.
That's all the news for now... still wishing you blessings, love, and success in the new year. Peace!
-Beth
MERRY CHRISTMAS ORTHODOX STYLE!! January 7th is Russia's Christmas. So God bless you all over again.
The title is just a joke. No, it's not the USSR; it's been Russia again for 20 years now... but they're still getting the hang of a lot of things. For those of you interested in politics, I didn't write anything about the meeting that took place Saturday, Dec. 25th. They were protesting against widespread falsification of November's parliamentary election results. The Kremlin party faked their huge lead, and didn't even bother to do a good job with it. The results are fishy to say the least, absurd to say the most. For example, in some precincts, add up all the percents every party got, and it comes out to 150% of the vote. Hmmm... So, they organized a meeting - a demonstration in the streets - to voice their displeasure. I was very proud of them. I myself was of course in the US that day (our Christmas.) But it went down well.
First off, no one got hurt. My friend Pasha went to the meeting, which was officially government sanctioned, and said it was exciting and interesting to be there. There was a good turnout, several thousand people, although I'm not sure exactly how many. It was like a rally or a concert in the street. There were stages and musical performances going on. Many people were carrying signs. What did they say? Well, the protesters weren't too sure of themselves. I mean, pretty much no one there (mostly young people) had ever done anything like this before. They'd never had the chance! Many carried signs saying "we're FOR honest elections." Some had banners against a certain person, such as "get out Putin" and other politicians. Still others had other agendas, but the fact that they were there, doing this at all, is a huge step forward. Pasha said he really didn't know what to yell out or chant, and there were many like him, who showed up, but then stood around not really knowing what to do. It's like, "o.k., our government blatantly committed fraud while claiming to be a democracy, and we don't like it. But we're not sure how to go about correcting the situation. (Who would be?) However, we realize we have a voice, and we want a better Russia!" He said there was an amazing sense of freedom and freedom of expression, of potential for the future, of empowerment. I was very, very glad to hear it.
I have made it, thank God, back to Russia, and am trying to get over jet lag. It's a lot harder to go West to East. I went to bed at 7:30pm, woke up at 3:30am, then couldn't get back to sleep until maybe 5:30, then slept til 11:30 and couldn't fall asleep the next night. But it's slowly working itself out. I'm giving all the gifts I brought from the U.S., unpacking, cleaning, working, preparing to go back to work on Tuesday. There will be a FULL load of kids, so get ready! The weather here is unusually warm for Russia in January and rainy. Yuck. After returning to Russia, I went to see the musical on ice "Sleeping Beauty" the next day. It was quite delightful. We also got rid of our now faded Christmas tree today.
That's all the news for now... still wishing you blessings, love, and success in the new year. Peace!
-Beth
Hi, Liza! This is Sergey, we've met the next day you arrived. Helen told me you enjoyed my dog Kiara :) Thanks, I'll let her know.
ReplyDeleteAs promised I'm reading your blog. Rather interesting. Please write more about our life as you see it.
Say hello to Pasha and kiss Lena, I can't do this by myself being far away from her :)
It was a pleasure for me to meet you. Hope to see you soon and talk a lot more.
Sorry for my english, it's not very accurate at the moment (got used to indians already, sh*t).