Our main motivation for going up to Lake Tahoe was to get some taste of the winter season, because Southern California is not doing it for me right now. C took his snowboard along, and we had plans of renting cross country skis or even getting ski lessons for me. We were also excited about spending New Year's Eve with a big group of people. (In C's family, they tend to go to bed by 10 ...)
There was a thin cover of snow all over when we arrived up at South Lake Tahoe on the 29th. The day after however it started raining really hard and the ski lifts closed down. The Russians partied all the harder, now that they didn't have to wear themselves out during the day skiing ...
I was a little puzzled as a I realized that at ten o'clock in the morning they were already drinking Bacardi and playing poker. The drinking went on throughout the day, interrupted by sumptuous Russian meals, each time with more dishes than could possibly fit on the dinner table. With dinner they drank vodka straight, but during the day they sipped different combinations and cocktails based on vodka. Each new person to join the party brought a gallon of the magic drink. I was quite intimidated. I don't think I drank vodka straight since that graph theory conference in the Tatra Mountains in 1993 ...But, it was a lot of fun. We played games at night, usually until I managed to sneak out to go to bed. During the day we went for walks in the rain. On New Years Eve it snowed though, and everything took on a magic white coat. C and I went on a wonderful walk in the woods. As we came back around five in the afternoon, we dressed up and made ourselves ready for dinner, only to find out that according to Russian tradition, dinner on New Year's Eve is served just before midnight!
The girls had been up all day, preparing traditional dishes. Baking, cooking, marinating. Around six o'clock however they all disappeared and for the following four hours we heard showers running, hairdryers blowing and people running back and forth between bedrooms and saw glimpses of them in different outfits. On average, I believe each of the girls changed clothes about three times before they finally showed themselves in their final New Year's dress. And they all looked gorgieous.
For a Russian New Year, you are supposed to wear something red, orange, brown or golden. But that's not all. The end of the year comes with a lot of traditions and rules to obey. Luckily, our hosts were in charge of the protocol and we only did what we were told to do ...
A Russian Feast, like I said before, involves a lot of drinking. It also involves a lot of toasts. Toasts to the year that's gone by, toasts to our successes, our failures and sorrows, toasts to friendships. And toasts to drinking. Maybe the drinking has to do with digesting all the food that is served: Cold meats, rich salads and pickled everything-you-can-imagine. Russians like Vodka, they like toasts and they like pickles!
Once the year 2006 clocked in, I could note a little drop in the tension and the energy. I think the Russians were a little exhausted from drinking. And when I went to bed around 2:30, I could swear they were almost done partying ...
On New Year's Day it rained again. So, skiing never took place. On the morning we left however, on the 2nd, it was dumping snow. We had to put chains under the cars to be allowed through the mountain pass from South Lake Tahoe to Sacramento. The drive went well but it was long and rainy on the freeway. Between Stockton and the Grapevine pass we were attacked by charades of tumble weed and the traffic slowed somewhat down. That was nothing though. Worse was when a traffic sign flew right past our window! I guess we could have been decapitated there, both of us ... I probably never saw weather like this in California. Big areas were flooded, both up by Sacramento and further down in Central Valley. The coast was probably hit even worse. But weather is what I have been missing in San Diego, so I won't complain ...Happy New Year !
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