February 24th through 28th, the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language of the South Ural State University’s Institute of Linguistics and International Communications celebrated the traditional eastern-Slavic holiday of parting with the winter.
‘Hooray! Maslenitsa is here! Spring is here!’ were the words that began the week of Maslenitsa at the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language. This traditional event was held for the second time with support from the Sociocultural Adaptation Centre. Over the course of the week, international students got to know the traditions of the most tasty and merry holiday in Russia.
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Various ceremonies and competitions were prepared for the international students. Students were excited to see the symbol of winter, a large stuffed doll. Many of them took photos with it.
“Our game of “Rucheek” (Russian for “rivulet”) became a real challenge: the students didn’t understand which way to run, what to do, and what the goal was. There were many competitions testing their speed, their coordination, and their wit. Everyone especially enjoyed the “Catch it First” competition: two participants were spun around at an equal distance from a prize and had to run to get the prize when they heard a whistle. This turned out to be not so easy: their heads spun, their legs were wobbly, and sometimes the players ran in the wrong direction,” said Irina Kislova, lecturer of the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language.
On Friday, the students were able to try bliny (something between a crepe and a pancake) served with sour cream, jam, honey, and condensed milk. The latter filling was the most popular one. Also, the Department’s lecturers held a master class on cooking bliny. After this, each student could cook him/herself bliny. By the way, the students did pretty well.