my russian new year

it started at exactly 8 pm for me. i rushed to tina’s house right after my 7 pm class. when i got there, my little russian elf kostic ran to greet me with a hug.his flour-covered face and hands left marks on my shirt and shorts. he was very into the let-make-dumplings-for-new-year family activity. retch and anjae, nelmar and tina were also all around the table, kneading flour, pressing the dumpling maker sort of thing ( i don’t know what the thing’s called).trays upon trays lay on the table. like kostic they also have flour on their noses, cheeks, arms, legs etc.etc. flour was obviously abundant.

i washed my hands to join the band of dumpling makers. it was fun.we were talking and talking, the kids and i. tina keeps saying we should make dumpling s in silence. i asked why? she said because dumpling making was a sacred act. we were quiet for awhile but being a bunch who were just excited and talkative we were again talking and talking like we have not seen each other in months. came the time for stuffing surprises in the dumplings, i made the mistake of placing one piece of raisin in each of the dumplings with mashed potato stuffing when the idea was actually to stuff with only raisins the dumpling surprises. anjae, for some odd reason thought like his tita ruth and stuffed a surprise wrapped in paper on a beef dumpling.imagine the horror on the face of the russian girl tina.

came dinner time, all we had were bowls and bowls of dumpling. we were really excited.these were the dumplings we made. the first dumplings i have ever made in my whole life. before partaking of the bounty, we had to recite a russian new year chant. it was cool.

much cooler was when we started opening the dumpling surprises. i got a dumpling with a key inside, a dumpling with a ring, 2 dumplings with buttons inside, and a dumpling with a coin. these each have corresponding meaning. the key means i am going to have a new house/home, the buttons means change will take in my life this year, the coin means money of course, and the ring a wedding. i was hoping for thread instead of the ring because travelling is what i want right now not a wedding. nonetheless, i had good surprise, ergo good fortune.

a very, very different new year indeed. and i’m glad to have been educated and pleasantly surprised.

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