Victory!
Perhaps the most celebrated (and, arguably, important) day in this part of the world came and went on Wednesday, May 9th. Victory Day. Russia over the 'fascists'.
The amount of human sacrifice that went into this effort is staggering (13 million dead soldiers, 7 million dead civilians in the USSR: my Russian teacher told me last summer that 25 percent of the population of Belarus was killed). Not only are numbers like these hard to believe but one must also consider the impact on society that this loss of live incurred. When I was in Russia, for example, literally everyone I knew had a relative who died in the war, and there are literally countless stories of people going to villages after the war and finding one or two men under the age of 50. So as you can imagine, this day (and the war in general) is held rather dearly in the hearts of those who's soldiers served in it. As anyone who travels through Eastern Europe will quickly find, every village and city, no matter the size, has a WWII Memorial with something written in Russian, a statue of a solider with or without a pistol, and the names of those from the village who died. And every May 9th, the people from the village gather at this monument to remember the accomplishments of the veterans.
With strong interest I went to our ceremony that we held last week ago, and it was a good experience. Maybe 100 or so people were gathered at the monument in our village at 10:00 in the morning, almost everyone standing and with the nine living veterans from the villages around here all sitting on benches, some of the them still wearing uniforms. The day started with a speech from the mayor, then a priest showed up and changed some prayers for 20 minutes, then some more speeches and skits done by kids from school.
The whole time this was going on various old women in the village were passing around bread and wine for everyone and anyone who wanted it, with of course special emphasis placed on the veterans. This gesture was especially touching to see – my village is rather poor, and it's clear that these women don't have much. But nonetheless, they go out of their way to prepare something to honor not only those living who fought in the war but also, in a way, to honor those who died over sixty years ago.
And after the ceremony all the veterans were invited to our school where they had prepared a huge feast in their honor. I didn't go (veterans only . . . ) but our director told us a meeting today in school that all the veterans really liked all that was done. As my host mom would say, it's the least we (they) could do to recognize what they did.
Notes
- As you well know by now, spring is well in the air, and with this has come the birth of animals; earlier I wrote about the animals being born all around here. Well, this last week my host family hatched eggs, chickens and turkeys. They are amazingly small and delicate. While chickens require only feeding twice a day and can be left to roam around the yard all day, mother-hen in tow, turkeys require constant attention for their first two months They have to be fed every two hours so my host mom runs home twice a day between classes at school, and while they're out our their little pen they have to be watched closely because if one gets away they can very quickly – within minutes – die from the cold, even though the temperature is around 60 degrees. My host mom told me that's it's much better if they are born in March because you don't need to worry about temperature – they just sit in a pen under mom and are let out for 2 minutes to be fed.
They die so easily, in fact, that my host mom said she doesn't count them until they've been alive for a month. Sunday, for example, we lost six by 10:30 in the morning. I walked outside and saw all six bodies placed in a cardboard box, two of which were still breathing what was clearly their last breath. As cold as it sounds, you just get used to it. And it's important to keep in mind too that as small and cute they may all be at first, within 18 months the family will have used an axe, cut off the head, and eaten all of them. It's nice to keep a little perspective on things . . .
Speaking of the life cycle, however, last Wednesday, our cow gave birth – for the 14th time, I learned. Thankfully, I wasn't around to see the birthing process. But I did see the little lady (it's a girl) about a half hour after later, trying to figure out how walk. It's a sight to see.
- There is really no doubt that my English skills have slipped a bit. I've stopped using articles sometimes (there aren't any in Russian), and there have been a few times when I've absolutely forgot words. Once, about two months ago, my students asked me what a 'wild pig' (as they said in Russian) was called in English, and it took me a while to think of the word 'boar', and last Sunday I was on a bus to the regional center in the afternoon and a guy got in with a bundle of flowers. I could only remember that the flowers are my grandma's favorite but 100% forgot their name, and it took me literally 30 seconds before the word 'lilac' entered my head.
- Due to 1)The building of a new tower, and 2)My old cell-phone company being bought out and a new service provider coming in, I now have cell phone service in my village. So if the mood should strike anyone, feel free to call me at 011-373-698-258-27. Just don't forget the 8 hour time difference.
- Last Friday evening I was taking a walk through my village (my new habit) when I spotted a group of five guys sitting around in the shade – they quickly started yelling towards me and invited my to sit with them and drink a little wine.
Now, this is a situation that plays out quite often actually. Normally, however, it is a group of 20
– 30 somethings already very drunk at noon a Sunday, and always I refuse their offer. This time, however, was different – they were not drunk, it was clear they had just finished a hard day of work, just a bunch of blue-collar guys relaxing on a Friday afternoon (the Moldovan equivalent of American construction workers gathering for Happy Hour and dollar taps). Realizing all of this, I for the first time accepted their offer and ended up having a really nice time. I sat with them for a half hour, drinking a few glasses of wine and talking about life in Moldova. Good times all around.
- Best moment (it's actually happened many times): the mother hens are, naturally, highly protective of their young. The turkeys just ignore humans – we can do whatever we want – but the mom-chicken used to get a little excited and charge me when I got too close until I kicked it.
That taught the bird who's boss . . .
But the cats are a different story. There's nothing more entertaining than watching the cats accidentally wander a little too close to the roaming chicks then waiting for the birds to lower their poise and charge while the cats flee in terror. I could watch it all day and not get bored.
The amount of human sacrifice that went into this effort is staggering (13 million dead soldiers, 7 million dead civilians in the USSR: my Russian teacher told me last summer that 25 percent of the population of Belarus was killed). Not only are numbers like these hard to believe but one must also consider the impact on society that this loss of live incurred. When I was in Russia, for example, literally everyone I knew had a relative who died in the war, and there are literally countless stories of people going to villages after the war and finding one or two men under the age of 50. So as you can imagine, this day (and the war in general) is held rather dearly in the hearts of those who's soldiers served in it. As anyone who travels through Eastern Europe will quickly find, every village and city, no matter the size, has a WWII Memorial with something written in Russian, a statue of a solider with or without a pistol, and the names of those from the village who died. And every May 9th, the people from the village gather at this monument to remember the accomplishments of the veterans.
With strong interest I went to our ceremony that we held last week ago, and it was a good experience. Maybe 100 or so people were gathered at the monument in our village at 10:00 in the morning, almost everyone standing and with the nine living veterans from the villages around here all sitting on benches, some of the them still wearing uniforms. The day started with a speech from the mayor, then a priest showed up and changed some prayers for 20 minutes, then some more speeches and skits done by kids from school.
The whole time this was going on various old women in the village were passing around bread and wine for everyone and anyone who wanted it, with of course special emphasis placed on the veterans. This gesture was especially touching to see – my village is rather poor, and it's clear that these women don't have much. But nonetheless, they go out of their way to prepare something to honor not only those living who fought in the war but also, in a way, to honor those who died over sixty years ago.
And after the ceremony all the veterans were invited to our school where they had prepared a huge feast in their honor. I didn't go (veterans only . . . ) but our director told us a meeting today in school that all the veterans really liked all that was done. As my host mom would say, it's the least we (they) could do to recognize what they did.
Notes
- As you well know by now, spring is well in the air, and with this has come the birth of animals; earlier I wrote about the animals being born all around here. Well, this last week my host family hatched eggs, chickens and turkeys. They are amazingly small and delicate. While chickens require only feeding twice a day and can be left to roam around the yard all day, mother-hen in tow, turkeys require constant attention for their first two months They have to be fed every two hours so my host mom runs home twice a day between classes at school, and while they're out our their little pen they have to be watched closely because if one gets away they can very quickly – within minutes – die from the cold, even though the temperature is around 60 degrees. My host mom told me that's it's much better if they are born in March because you don't need to worry about temperature – they just sit in a pen under mom and are let out for 2 minutes to be fed.
They die so easily, in fact, that my host mom said she doesn't count them until they've been alive for a month. Sunday, for example, we lost six by 10:30 in the morning. I walked outside and saw all six bodies placed in a cardboard box, two of which were still breathing what was clearly their last breath. As cold as it sounds, you just get used to it. And it's important to keep in mind too that as small and cute they may all be at first, within 18 months the family will have used an axe, cut off the head, and eaten all of them. It's nice to keep a little perspective on things . . .
Speaking of the life cycle, however, last Wednesday, our cow gave birth – for the 14th time, I learned. Thankfully, I wasn't around to see the birthing process. But I did see the little lady (it's a girl) about a half hour after later, trying to figure out how walk. It's a sight to see.
- There is really no doubt that my English skills have slipped a bit. I've stopped using articles sometimes (there aren't any in Russian), and there have been a few times when I've absolutely forgot words. Once, about two months ago, my students asked me what a 'wild pig' (as they said in Russian) was called in English, and it took me a while to think of the word 'boar', and last Sunday I was on a bus to the regional center in the afternoon and a guy got in with a bundle of flowers. I could only remember that the flowers are my grandma's favorite but 100% forgot their name, and it took me literally 30 seconds before the word 'lilac' entered my head.
- Due to 1)The building of a new tower, and 2)My old cell-phone company being bought out and a new service provider coming in, I now have cell phone service in my village. So if the mood should strike anyone, feel free to call me at 011-373-698-258-27. Just don't forget the 8 hour time difference.
- Last Friday evening I was taking a walk through my village (my new habit) when I spotted a group of five guys sitting around in the shade – they quickly started yelling towards me and invited my to sit with them and drink a little wine.
Now, this is a situation that plays out quite often actually. Normally, however, it is a group of 20
– 30 somethings already very drunk at noon a Sunday, and always I refuse their offer. This time, however, was different – they were not drunk, it was clear they had just finished a hard day of work, just a bunch of blue-collar guys relaxing on a Friday afternoon (the Moldovan equivalent of American construction workers gathering for Happy Hour and dollar taps). Realizing all of this, I for the first time accepted their offer and ended up having a really nice time. I sat with them for a half hour, drinking a few glasses of wine and talking about life in Moldova. Good times all around.
- Best moment (it's actually happened many times): the mother hens are, naturally, highly protective of their young. The turkeys just ignore humans – we can do whatever we want – but the mom-chicken used to get a little excited and charge me when I got too close until I kicked it.
That taught the bird who's boss . . .
But the cats are a different story. There's nothing more entertaining than watching the cats accidentally wander a little too close to the roaming chicks then waiting for the birds to lower their poise and charge while the cats flee in terror. I could watch it all day and not get bored.
posted by Andy Buchanan at 2:09 PM
3 Comments:
What does a turkey egg look like?
Rob
Buckster,
you think we could get a picture of what the inside of a store looks like?
Andy,
I seen a few pictures / videos of the May 9th ceremonies and what you described seemed to capture the moment. "Ivan" was the one weapon the Germans could never figure out a way to overcome, in fact, I think there is a book by that name on the same subject. It is a shame - is it in Estonia ? - that the very same type of Great Patriotic War monument you were seeing in all of the villages and cities was removed a few weeks ago (timing not coincidental) and since there are big protests outside the Estonian embassy in Moscow everyone was expected trouble to peak on the 9th.
I guess after a few generations pass no one remebers..., even the boulevard in front of our house which is a memorial to the dead from the World War I, apparently doesn't mean much to many people, for they drive thorugh it a high speed with their boom boxes blasting away.
See you, and the critters, soon !
Dad
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