A good study abroad experience is just like this; the cover closed when you said your last goodbyes and boarded the final plane home, but the sentiments that remain are not ready to be put on some shelf as a collecting space for dust. Not yet. You hope never. And that's why I somewhat dread the wrap-up blog post. To wrap something up means to stamp a concluding statement onto an experience and then mail it away. Memories are already so flighty, so temperamental, that we already have a hard time keeping valued moments alive and accurate in our minds. Memories drift away from reality and become more and more dreamlike with every passing day. Only the pictures that we take and the stories we share that can keep them somewhat grounded.
This is one of the reasons I chose to create this blog; not only did I want to open a portal through which I could share my thoughts and observations about my time in Russia, but I wanted to have a place to preserve these thoughts and observations and attempt to keep the experience alive. I also want to add that I intentionally gave my blog the name "Janet explores Russia" as opposed to "Janet goes to Russia/Moscow/whatever," because though I am back in the States, my exploration of the Russian language and culture has nowhere neared its conclusion. I fully intend on updating this blog throughout the year as I continue with my classes, and then hopefully in a year if I am accepted into the yearlong study abroad program in St. Petersburg. So this is not the last you will be hearing from me! muaha. It might be one of the more cheesy, corny type things I've written in this blog, but I did promise that this post would be about food, so you can't exactly say I didn't keep my word..
But due to the fact that this was one of my heavier posts, I thought I'd reward those of you who actually finished reading it with some lighthearted hooligankery! The following video is part of a collection done by these three Soviet comedic actors: Yuri Nikulin, Georgi Vitsin, and Yevgeni Morgunov. Together, they formed a very famous trio, known as the Fool, the Coward, and the Experienced, respectively. This short film is about a group of moonshiners or bootleggers or whatever you want to call hooligans who try to get rich by making the very illegal home brewed samogon (moonshine) and this dog who is always causing trouble for them. You don't even have to know Russian to enjoy it!
Samogonshiki, 1961
PS: the actual food blog post is in the works so stay tuned! :)
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