Last week my mom came to visit me! We hadn’t seen each other since August and I was so excited to show her around. Unfortunately, I got a nasty cold almost as soon as she got here. But we tried not to let that put a damper on our time together. We ticked off almost everything on her to-do list (including 3 ballets!), and we were both exhausted after our week-long “vacation”.
It was good for me to see Moscow and my time here through the eyes of someone taking it all in for the first time. Obviously, as my mom, she and I are going to think similarly about things. But it was also nice to have some things I was thinking validated and confirmed. My mom also thought it was weird that each escalator in the metro has someone employed to watch it…
Because my mom doesn’t speak Russian, I did almost all the planning and navigating around the city. Being here with someone who has the same knowledge of Russian that I did two and a half years ago made me realize that I really have made a lot of progress. Sometimes in a city full of native speakers it is easy to be overwhelmed by the mountain of Russian I still don’t know. Seeing how far I have come was encouraging.
My mom was also kind enough to help me cook a Thanksgiving dinner for some Russian and international friends. We couldn’t find a whole turkey, so we stuffed a big chicken and got a huge turkey leg! Everyone really enjoyed the food, and my host mom made the most beautiful pecan and apple pies that I have seen in any country. We even introduced some new foods; in this land of root vegetables, some of my Russian friends had never tried sweet potatoes! Although it wasn’t an exact recreation, I feel that we captured the spirit of the holiday. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it calls on us all to be grateful for what we have. If I counted my blessings, it would take all day, so I’ll just say thank you to my mom and all my friends, new and old.
Love, Emily
Russian word: Спасибо огромное (spa-see-ba oh-grohm-no-eh) Thank you so much
