International Women's Day 2017

Yesterday was International Women's Day! It's one of my favorite Soviet holidays which has turned into a worldwide holiday, and I just like it because it reminds me of the great, strong, inspiring women in my life who remind me that I was born to build.

But it also always, always, always reminds me of Ukraine, as that was the first place where I really celebrated it.

So this year to celebrate, I decided to throw a borscht party with some of my friends. A couple of weeks ago, I found out that a few other girls I know also loved Eastern Europe (one girl volunteered at an orphanage in Moscow years ago and the other girl had a sister who was a volunteer in Russia), and we wanted to get together and eat yummy Russian and Ukrainian food. I suggested March 8th, because International Women's Day is always a great reason to have a party.

And it was just really, really fun. There was a lot of good food: Ukrainian and Russian chocolates, juice (the kompote Chella brought was a.ma.zing.), pretzels, cookies, waffle wafers, and, of course, borscht.

[Ukrainian candies!]

[This is my favorite Ukrainian candy. It's just sooo yummy.]

[I was really proud of this batch of borscht. It was really good.]

Those who had lived in Eastern Europe/had ties to it spent a lot of time reminiscing and telling stories (as well as just basking in nostalgia--one of my favorite things was when people who had lived in Eastern Europe came in, their eyes got big with delight and memory when they saw the goodies on the counter). But it was also great because it was just fun. We were all friends there, so even people who had no ties to Eastern Europe really enjoyed just spending time with friends and trying new things and hearing stories about Ukraine, Russia, and the Baltics. (At least, I think they enjoyed hearing stories. They were nice to listen to them, haha.)

[So. much. food.]

[Friends.]

But in general, there was just a really good vibe.

(Which was improved by Russian music, haha. Because who doesn't like a good, catchy song with Russia's Zac Efron? Watch this video. No really. Just watch it. It is hilarious. And even if you don't speak Russian, it's just a fun song. And it makes me realllllly want to go back to Moscow.)




Anyway, it was just a lovely way to celebrate women, friends, and Eastern Europe.

Women's Day 2015 
Women's Day 2014 
(Apparently I didn't blog about it in 2016, but I know that I celebrated it by remembering Sojourner Truth and eating blini. So. It was a pretty good day.)