The Brighton Beach trip is officially on! Unfortunately, availability to participate in the trip is now closed because we had to rent vans in advance and can no longer procure another one.

We are meeting PROMPTLY at 7:45 AM at Public Safety and departing soon after.

Stopping at Dunkin’ Donuts or maybe Breuggers’ for breakfast, and hitting the road first thing in order to spend the maximum amount of time in NY. Bring a headscarf and warm clothes so that you will be able to go into churches or mosques should the need arise. I would also advise picking up some grab and go food to have as munchies. Try to pack lightly, as you probably won’t want to leave anything in the car in Brooklyn.

The official list of attendees is: Nina, Liza, Lara, Katia, Sonja, Em and Sofi.

We intend to arrive around lunchtime and head to Primorski’s, where Russian Club is going to pay for lunch. The rest of the afternoon will be spent wandering the shops, beach and various attractions of this “Little Odessa.”

At five o’clock we’ll leave back to Smith, and be in by 9:00 PM. Get excited!


It’s that time of year again: budgets are due soon and the transition from one executive board to the next will take place mid-April. Your current executive staff consists of your president, Em Bush (yours truly) and your treasurer, Lara Woodard. I’m happy to instate new positions, like website manager or sustainability representative. Elections will take place on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 6:00 PM in Seelye 211 before the talk by Professor Glebov. If you wish to run for a position, shoot me an email at ebush@smith.edu and prepare a brief speech (less than five minutes please) about why you think your position is important, how you are qualified, and how you would run Russian Club in the future.

It’s been my pleasure to be the president of the Russian Club.

Kindly pass the word along (TELL YOUR CLASSMATES! TELL YOUR FRIENDS! TELL YOUR EXTENDED FAMILY! WRITE IT ON YOUR FOREHEAD!) about the following two events:

1. Professor Glebov will be speaking on Tuesday, APRIL 7th at 6:30 PM in Seelye 211. He will probably be talking about his research in Siberia!

2. Professor Goldstein (Russian Politics teacher) will be speaking on Tuesday, APRIL 14th at 6:00 PM in Seelye 211. This historical talk is going to discuss the movie we are showing that night, Burnt by the Sun.

Don’t miss out on these wonderful opportunities!

P.S. This afternoon the Russian Club purchased a samovar similar to this one:

Hopefully that will arrive within the next week so we can enjoy tea and cookies at our get togethers!

An important day for Russian Club. In custom with the tradition started last year, Russian Club gave out carnations in the Campus Center from 10-1. For future reference, we bought 180 stems from Stop and Shop. We set up camp at the table in front of the post office on the lower level with the informational poster and handed out carnations to the passing students. Most looked confused at first, “Wait, do I have to pay?” but then overwhelmingly pleased. An excellent outcome, I’d say.

In the evening Ruth, Shana, Nina, Sofi, Liza, and Lara gathered in Talbot basement for the Russian banquet. The main dish was chicken grilled and then boiled with plum tomatoes, tarragon, Spanish onions, garlic, basil, parsley and cilantro, and was accompanied by the traditional staple- pilaf. The vegetable dish was asparagus with lemon juice, butter and garlic sauce. Mmm, garlic. The asparagus turned out nice and tender, and the lemon juice wasn’t too overpowering. Dinner was followed by Russian baba cake, which was covered in a syrup of Godiva liqueur, and accompanied by maple walnut ice cream. All in all, a delight to behold.

This evening the group gathered in Seelye 211 and learned the card game “The Fool.” Relative fun was had by all.