Spring is in the air!

After 3 or even 4 coldest months of waiting ever the SPRING is coming!
Yesterday was the 1st day of Maslenica, i.e. Maslenichnaya Nedelya, which basically means that people eat Russian pancakes bliny for the whole week until the very end of it. The highlight of the holiday will be on Sunday which is also called Proshenoe Voskresenie when everyone asks for forgiveness and eats bliny with spoonfuls of caviar washing it down with vodka. Those who have seen Sibirskii Cirulnik or "The Siberian Barber" know perfectly well what I'm talking about. Its an old Russian tradition!- we like to exclaim here. It all ends up the next day when the post (fast) starts. Maslenica means the end of winter and informally stands for the beginning of desirable spring. Its my favourite holiday and not only because I have a sweet tooth and adore Russian Bliny but also because, to my mind, its the only True Russian Holiday preserved since the old times when all people lived and celebrated it in villages. It still has the same flavour and the same idea which makes it extra special and loved.
Apart from lots of food to eat and lots of Vodka to drink we have all kinds of true Russian entertainments like going around the city in a troika (a team of three horses tied together), singing/dancing in a crowd of people, riding in snowmobile along the Volga river and burn the dummy represanting the winter which is also an old Russian Tradition. One of the most important conditions of spending the holiday accurately in the old Russian style is being out celebrating it, better with friends (the more friends the better!)
Have fun cooking bliny either this Saturday or Sunday! If you'd like a recipe I'd be glad to post one.
I also like this time of the year because of holidays going in a row. Although St Valentine's isnt really our holiday and the Orthodox actually have their own love holiday in July its still very nice to have it accepted and celebrated here. I personally enjoyed it a lot and am very thankful to someone special who has made that day very special and unforgettable:)
We also have two the so-called gender-holidays. There's one celebrated on 23d of Feb which is the so-called Men's Day (although originally its the day of Krasnaya Armiya establishment) and another one is the 8th of March which is the Women's Day (its also of some Soviet origin somehow connected with Russian feminism).
Love holidays!
Am looking forward to the time when snow will melt finally and I wont have to dress up like a snowman:( or even worse a snowwoman:(( Wish me luck and patience!

...puzzling...

If we all are the same, why are we so different then? We're of the same biological background, roughly speaking of the same social background, having almost the same value judgements, right? Then why do we differ in such things as attitude to each other? Why do we understand certain things differently and let this misunderstanding lead to the war of the worlds? And how can we shift these differences empoisoning our lives?Is it worth talking about after all?
But there's something even more important in this question: why does it happen that there's a person of a completely different social/racial background having absolutely different value judgements who surpringly enough understands us better than anyone else?

Viva la Musica!

Gosh! I'm in a summer mood right in the middle of the coldest winter that I've ever had in my life. That's simply amazing to be all smiley and dance-like when people around freeze with cold as stone dissatisfied face expressions. I only laugh and green at them when they try to convince me there's either no fun nor happiness midst the winter time. I feel like dancing every time the sun rises and goes down. The days are getting longer, gradually its getting warmer (well if you consider -28C is a good sign!) - are these not signs of the coming spring yet? Well, at least its already spring in my heart that makes me dance every time I hear a spanish song. It makes me think of days when I used to dance for hours not because I was freezing while waiting for public transport/taxi/friend.
What else can I add? Bailamos!