Let's start with the 16th of April, my Birthday. Nastya was away on yet another business trip and so I was left alone to celebrate. Now here in Russia if it's your Birthday you are almost obliged to have some sort of shindig. No flying under the radder here, as someones Birthday is yet another excuse to crack open a bottle and party! Interestingly here is where the cultural difference comes in. If it's your Birthday you must do everything. Meaning, you must cater, pay and organise the whole celebration. No splitting up the bill at the restaurant, if it's your Birthday you pay for all the guests.
The same follows at work, where the tradition has been set that if it's your Birthday you must hold a party and therefore do all the catering. At EF, just about every week, a staff member has a party and out come all the goodies and grog. Each persons do tends to run the same course. The catering is rather predictable. The same old food platters with kolbasa, cheese, ogurets, fruit, cake and champagne are has regular as the buses around here. Something needed to be done to break this monotony.
Enter the Aussie twist to the compulsory Russian work Birthday party. On the 16th out came the snags, white bread, tomato sauce and beers. You ripper, it was a little bit of Australiana right here in Vladiviostok. Not too sure how it all went down, although everything that I provided was gobbled down in the blink of an eye.
Once the food was set then the toasting began.
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