The most important Russian holiday, New Year, has just passed. Millions of people all over the country sat by their tables with friends and family, ate tons of olivye and watched goluboy ogonek – a tv programme recorded every year, where the same celebrities sing the same pre-recorded songs, tell the same bad jokes, drink champagne and keep being scaringly happy for four long hours.

Last year has finished with a technological disaster for me – trying to learn how to use a new computer, I deleted most of the photographs and recordings I made since I arrived to Moscow. Luckily, I managed to retrieve most of them, but I will definitely have to improve on my back-uping techniques: and here you go, New Year’s resolution.

31 December was never a very significant date for me – I cannot remember a year when it would bring any visible change. It is a nice symbol though, a refresh button which we all sometimes need. I would like to wish you, dear readers, a lot of courage and persistence to do exactly what you want to do. Dreams don’t just come true, they need a significant amount of help. I also promise to be more present here –  I have a few posts in mind and a lot of work underway: here you go, another New Year’s resolution.

Happy New Year!

P.S. In case if you were curious, this is part one of this year’s goluboi ogonek.