This is my third time celebrating New Year in Russia and every year has its own story. The first year I lived here, I was kind of surprised by how Russians celebrate one of the most important dates in their calendar. As I am used to living in Indonesia, where you are given the freedom to choose whether you will celebrate New Year’s Eve or not (normally I take option two: not celebrating, as I always fell asleep before midnight), in Russia I experienced something which is known as culture shock. I had no choice but to celebrate it, because they do! From the second week of…

In March last year, I attended one of the most popular celebrations in Russia, which is called Maslenitsa – Pancake Day. At first, I had no idea what that was. What I knew was in that day, people ate too much pancake along with the side dish : vareniya a.k.a jam made from fruits. I didn't even know the history behind it until finally, I tried to read it in my book, which later I regretted as it was a really bad decision (my Russian that day was not as so ...... as today - now I don't even know how to describe about my Russian level). So, based…