There is nothing like a fresh start… The sense of renewal we get from turning a page on the calendar and entering a new year is recognized in every culture. Whether it is a family tradition, our sense of humor or an old superstition that makes us do unusual things on New Years Eve, the hope is the same around the globe: the New Year will make our wishes come true and bring us luck. That one night of the year we will eat strange meals, decorate our tables with mystical creatures, kiss strangers, tell fortunes, make impossible resolutions, throw dishes, light up the fireworks and stay up all night dancing. So, no matter where life finds you on this New Years Eve, rejoice in where the journey has taken you, take a long look at the people around you and dare to wish big while the clock is striking twelve. After all, as an old Russian saying goes: “The way you greet the New Year is the way you spend it”. Make it count! Cheers!

Learn more about the Unusual Ways People Celebrate The New Year
 

As organisations continue to expand beyond their home markets, they are faced with numerous challenges. While entering a new market is full of risks – whether the organisation goes it alone or collaborates with a local partner – there is much that can be done to minimise these risks. Learning from peers, adjusting your offer to the local culture and navigating the rules of doing business in the new country are just some of the ways that you can reduce the chances of failure.

Equally, any company will stand or fall by its employees. This is particularly true when a company looks to open new markets – be they national or international. Opening a new office, manufacturing plant or joint venture in any new country will inevitably lead to relocating tried and trusted staff to ensure a smooth launch. Equally, more and more companies are using international assignments as part of their employee and graduate development programmes.

It’s All About Speaking the Lingo, Right?

Speaking the LingoWhile millions (if not billions) are spent on new international ventures very little thought or investment is actually given to preparing international assignees to speak the language of the new international market. While the cost of relocating personnel is well documented (as is the cost of repatriating them…), why is it that companies often spend more on relocating a pet than they do on preparing their staff to speak the language of their new customers?

Many organisations make the mistake of thinking that learning the local language is not necessary for the newly arrived expatriate, especially if they will continue to conduct their business in the corporate language, most often English. Unfortunately for organisations with this mindset, expatriates do not spend all 24 hours of each day at the office and not all local employees speak English that well. Equally, they must also integrate with their new country and new community if they are to be a success.

Language learning can be time consuming, exciting and frustrating, especially if the employee is not motivated or has other priorities that they consider to be more pressing. However, forward thinking organisations also consider local language skills to be a necessary tool to improve the chances of the employee and their family settling successfully in their new assignment and home.

Poor Language Skills: Biggest Obstacle to a Successful Assignment

invest-in-language-learningIn a recent article published in The Telegraph, global mobility managers have identified poor or non-existent language learning to be the biggest obstacle to successful expatriate assignments – they believe this to be the case in over three-fifths of all assignments. In addition, the same managers recognise in more than half of all cases, learning the local language is critical to the success of conducting business abroad.

As an example, it would be deemed critical that an employee seconded to China learned Chinese even if English is widely spoken at work.

In other words, local language skills remain crucial to understand the local market, build rapport with colleagues and show and interest in the culture of your new country.

However, just over one third of employees interviewed reported that their organisation provided local language training as a part of their relocation package.

Investing in Language Training Saves Money

Although investing in language lessons may seem expensive on the surface, both in costs measured in time and money, the cost of a failed assignment is even more expensive: An expatriate family’s relocation expenses are quoted to come in at an average of $400,000. This figure is certainly more than most organisations can afford to lose on an otherwise preventable failed assignment.

Can your organisation afford to pay for failure?

Declan Mulkeen is Marketing Director at Communicaid, a culture and communication skills consultancy which provides language training solutions to corporations and professionals.

Multinational companies are fast realizing that they need to provide more comprehensive support for expat spouses. When trailing partners don’t get the help they need to transition successfully, international assignments run the risk of being cut short or failing. This has significant costs for the organization: wasted global mobility investment and difficulty attracting and retaining the best global talent. This well-researched BBC article by Ian Driscoll talks about the move-related issues that expat spouses face, the global mobility solutions  commonly used today, and where there are still significant unmet needs.  Globiana’s services are carefully crafted to address exactly these gaps by innovating the when, where, what, and how of effective expat spouse support delivery.

Before Jody Holland arrived in Shanghai in 2011, she and her family attended a two-day cultural immersion course in the UK, arranged and paid for by her husband’s company.

“We were taught business etiquette, how business operates, the importance of titles to people, the meaning of guanxi (the social connections and relationships that underpin much Chinese business activity), and other things we wouldn’t have been able to find out ourselves,”…

Read the full article here on the original site:  You love going abroad for work. Your spouse hates it.

You can take the citizen out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the citizen… or something like that. A thought-provoking and educational piece on what makes Americans so uniquely, well… American!

rising-tensions-rich-poor

America is a very different kind of place that has produced a very different kind people. Unlike any other country, it has been characterized as an idea more than a country; a work in progress that is evolving – through trial and error – since the band of 13 colonies declared independence from Great Britain in 1776.

Today, there are 50 United States of America including Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and over a dozen Pacific Islands. It is the world’s third largest country with over 3.7 million square miles. It has the world’s largest economy and is a constitutional government. It is also the oldest non-interrupted governmental system in the world.

Over the past 237 years, an enormously diverse America has been both admired and despised. Americans have a long and active history of fighting for freedom with the sense of Manifest Destiny on their side from the establishment of the colonies by religious refuges, to the Civil War of the 1860’s, two World Wars of the last century, and the recent war on Terrorism. Above all else, it maintains the position as standard bearer of democracy by people of all backgrounds, especially immigrants who felt welcome in a land that defended their individual liberties in the “land of opportunity”.

Young love hikingThus the fiercely independent nature of the American character was formed. This is the essential cultural value that sometimes runs counter to intuitive understanding because people are born naturally dependent and therefore, connected to others. This independence may be hard for most people to understand and achieve, but for Americans, it is very desirable. It can be perceived as being “selfish” but this is rooted in in self-reliance. It was a 19th century French historian Alexis de Tocqueville who acutely observed that the United States was “exceptional” in 1831 and 1840. He concluded that despite the individualistic nature of Americans, it was precisely the singular nature of the American character that fostered unity among all American citizens.

Americans take care of themselves and expect others to do the same. Films and TV show heroes, usually ordinary individuals, who save the day or the world by acting on their own, sometimes bypassing rules and authorities and ignoring group opinion.

personal spaceAmericans value privacy and personal space. Even when doors are open people ask before coming in. While friendly and helpful, they expect themselves and others to make their own decisions and do their own jobs. They don’t answer other people’s phones at work. Self-help books, groups, and do-it-yourself projects abound.

Each person frequently insists that he or she is unique. While protective of their children, most U.S. parents treat them like small adults. They ask children to make their own decisions from the earliest age. Children move away from home, usually after high school. Many children have their own phone, computer, TV set, and car at the earliest possible age. Being expected to care for themselves Americans have a low and declining level of social welfare, healthcare, and public services. Volunteerism for a good cause is common, but declining.

It has been said that America is great because America is good. If America ever stops being good, it will stop being great. No one knows for sure who said that but there are some who might say that “good” American values have changed, and not exactly for the better. However, because of “American exceptionalism” — that the United States is different from other countries because it has a specific world mission to spread liberty and democracy throughout the world – the burden seems greater to maintain standards of integrity. However, although current economic and political events have ethically stained some aspects of American institutions, we are not alone. Other countries and cultures have also experienced similar shifts in values.

Nonetheless, it was the revered civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. who said that the greatness of a nation is judged by how we care for the less fortunate. Many questioned the unrestrained actions of a few to achieve “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” at the expense of the nation, and subsequently the entire world economic system. Therefore, because America is often held to a higher standard, these events seemed particularly egregious.

growing up multiculturalTo the extent that heterogeneity influences the changing values of this mono-culturalist country may also be a factor in our changing values as well as an aging population. Whatever the case, we’re a “work-in-progress.” We discover ourselves through trial and error. What’s more, we are comfortable with taking risks and welcome reinvention. As a guilt-based culture, failure is part of us – but in a good way. There’s no shame in trying and we usually come back stronger. So even in this era of discord and uncertainty, we may be down but not out. In all likelihood, we’ll reboot thanks to our inborn “effort-optimism”. It’s our “hope and change” setting that motivates us to shine our light — our destiny – for humanity; a belief that hard work pays off well.

And as a work-in-progress, the USA is re-booting. The teenage innocence of mid-century America has been replaced with a maturing nation, one that reflects the events of 9/11 terrorist attacks, a world-wide financial crises, climate changing calamities, and crippling gun tragedies. We have been hit hard by a job drought, debt hangover, banking crisis, real estate depression, health-care implosion and a runaway federal deficit. We face increasing disparities of income, gender, and race that belie a vulnerable society. American ethics that were once the benchmark standards of the world are now blurry and what’s most troublesome is that the American Dream — once available to everyone – now seems on hold for many. But that’s not the finale of our story. If you know anything about us from TV and movies, we like happy endings.

start your own businessAbove all, Americans certainly don’t sense they’re at the story finale. After all, we’re a culture of future optimists and no other nation is better suited to handle these arguably daunting challenges than we are. So we say, for anyone who is thinking about working with us, we’re open for business. We welcome you and your ideas, your industriousness, and spirit. That’s how we have always bounced back. Not in spite of ourselves, but because of ourselves. Revolutions, Civil War, two World Wars, an economic Depression and The Great Recession are just points in time. Anthropologist Margaret Mead observed that righting the wrongs of the world was not a job for Americans alone, yet they must see it as America’s responsibility, and they continue to do so in spite of their own recent shortcomings.

American is experiencing great challenges, but we view them as opportunities for improvement and spin them into gold. “Our greatness lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in the ability to repair our faults.” Yet, it is a country and a culture that epitomizes the full spectrum of humanity, complete with all of the exhilaration of achievement and the inevitable sorrow of failure. Americans take comfort in the idea that they can be counted on to tackle a goal worth fighting for. They believe that things are bound to improve or that they can improve, despite the odds.

As for the future, the youth of our nation has enough bandwidth to see things as they are. In their eyes, the lines of adversity and diversity are not just blurred, they are clear and acceptable. There always room for improvement and more time than Americans think to accomplish it. After all, it was Scarlett O’Hara from the famous American novel about the fall of the Old South in Gone with the Wind who said, “tomorrow is another day”.

“It is all in the eyes of the beholder”- No phrase describes the differences in the trailing spouse experiences better. Is following your husband’s career around the globe a perfect recipe for the spot in the “graveyard of ambition” or is it the unique opportunity to live your life to the fullest, discovering your many skills and talents? What is it in your eyes?

My mother was a trailing spouse. She followed my father through Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe. She sewed shirts for lepers in Mexico and helped women market their crafts in Colombia. But mainly, as the blogger said, she kept the show on the road.
When there was no doctor to call in up-country Burma, she read Dr Spock and became a doctor. When her children didn’t show up at the airport as scheduled and there were no means of communication, she became a detective, analyzing all the travel possibilities and determining what the outcomes could be eventually meeting the right plane. When she was stranded in Liberia for four days because the plane broke down, she befriended strangers and learned to survive. When there were shortages in Nigeria and the electricity went out during important dinner parties, she improvised.

Read the full article here

The 4th of July in the United States is the day that marks the birth of the nation.  It is celebrated throughout the country, and is celebrated in a similar manner in most places.  Most businesses are closed on the 4th of July.

Communities and neighborhoods are a big part of the Independence Day traditions and celebrations.   A typical community will start the day with a parade.  The parade will be full of local groups walking in it.  Many community 4th of July parades will begin with the children of the community riding their bicycles.  It is typical that the kids will decorate their bicycles with red, white and blue streamers.  Fire trucks, local school bands, and local politicians are also very common in the 4th of July parades.  Many communities also include a group of veterans in the parade.  When a veteran’s group is passing your area, it is customary to stand up as a sign of respect.

All of these activities are very inclusive and are a great opportunity for an expat spouse to meet new people in the area.  Decorate your kid’s bike and join the celebration!

For the remainder of the day, many people enjoy getting together and having a picnic or a barbeque.  Many communities will have a festival, with bands, children’s games, and food.   The general theme of the day is to get together and enjoy the company of friends, neighbors and family.  Families will set up lawn chairs and blankets to sit on, so that when dusk arrives, they can sit and enjoy a fireworks show.

The United States is a very large place, and there are many regional customs.  However, the 4th of July is celebrated in much the same way throughout the country, and is a time to show pride in our nation.

You resigned from your job, sold your house and said goodbye to your family and friends. Your partner got this assignment in the US and it’s a “once in a lifetime” opportunity. You decided to follow and uproot the whole family. The children will become fluent in English, you’ll get to know another culture, you’ll visit new places.

A unique adventure.

Upon arrival, you work hard to settle in: finding a new house, an appropriate school for the kids, securing a car, a bank account and an internet connection, re-creating routines, filling the necessary paperwork, networking with other families, taking care of household chores.

But after the excitement of the first months, you’re missing something. While you’re in good health, have a roof on your head and enjoy a pleasant neighborhood, you’re not happy. When you were preparing the move, organizing farewell parties, supporting your partner and children, you forgot someone. Someone very important: yourself.

Before the move, you were so excited. You didn’t think about losing your financial independence, your social life, your colleagues and your friends. You didn’t think you’d be drained by the efforts required to live in a completely new environment: learning a new language, paying attention to local customs, or drive on the other side of the road. Worse, you didn’t expect to do it all alone.

Just arrived, your partner has been working 10 to 12 hours a day and traveling regularly. You’re mostly on your own. You left because it was required by your partner’s corporate function. You work your tail off to ensure a successful relocation. You play a key role for the family’s well-being – a stable presence amidst a sea of changes. You’re key in enabling your partner to be fully dedicated to his work. And how is it acknowledged?

Your name appears merely as a byline on a health insurance plan, an addendum to the visa, a sentence in the expat contract. You’re not even able to open up a bank account without your partner’s presence (he’s the one earning the money!), to get a credit card on your own merit, to enroll for a phone plan without the authorization of your partner. You’re stuck. It’s frustrating and humiliating. You’ve become… a child. So what can you do? Ask for a spouse stipend.

What is a spouse stipend, exactly?

The spouse stipend is a portion of the expat assignee’s salary, directly paid to the accompanying partner. The exact percentage is to be defined by each company. I would suggest between 10 to 25%. In some cases, it can even be an extra amount of money to the normal expat package. But companies already offer cross-cultural trainings and language courses.

Why should they provide accompanying spouses with extra money?

Because you, as a trailing spouse, work hard to support your partner, ensuring thus that working corporate employees perform at their best. Because you have the right to decide for your own well-being: whether this means more cultural knowledge or a subscription to the gym, a fancy haircut or a new dress! Because you don’t have the network, the cultural knowledge, the language proficiency to apply for a job two weeks after arrival. Even worse, in many cases, you are not even granted a working permit!

Without a source of income, you’ve become fully financially dependent. In a society where money plays such an important role, you’re not equally valued. This is a major change in identity and sense of self-worth. Add to it what expats already have to go through: grieving losses, managing culture shock. Without a source of income, you lose your freedom: freedom to enroll for a yoga class or for IT lessons. Freedom to support a local charity or participate in a running competition. Freedom to invite a friend for lunch. Without a source of income, you’re limited in your participation. Hobbies, transport, networking are all involving some money spending, even minimal. Why should you work so hard and be penalized?

Identity, participation and freedom are not frivolous wishes. They’re part of our 9 human fundamental needs according to economist Manfred Max Neef. He also adds subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, creation, leisure to the mix. Subsistence obviously is the first condition for life. But when this need is fulfilled, there is no priority order for all the other needs. “On the contrary, simultaneities, complementarities and trade-offs are characteristics of the process of needs satisfaction” says Neef. A spouse stipend can definitely help to fulfill those conditions. Last but not least: some people may argue that the move was a couple decision. And couples may have found a perfectly fine financial agreement between themselves.

Why should corporations mingle into family life and couple arrangements?

 

  • Because the imbalance in the couple is so strong and so brutal that it destabilizes both spouses. It places the accompanying partner in a very vulnerable position.
  • Because many people don’t think to discuss it beforehand.
  • Because an unhappy wife greatly increases the risk of a failed assignment costing corporations even more money wasted, time lost and organizational chaos.

 

Is the spouse stipend really revolutionary? Paying somebody for a job isn’t. But the spouse stipend remains very seldom. It’s not wide-spread. Far from it. So in this sense, it’s revolutionary.

Finally, is the spouse stipend the ultimate solution to trailing spouses happiness?

The answer is a resounding no. Money can’t buy happiness … that’s for sure, but it lets you choose your own form of misery :)

In that sense, it’s an empowering tool!

Now over to you: what do you think? For or against the spouse stipend? Do you have examples where it can be applied or where it could have changed your life?

Speak your mind in the comments!
Anne GillmeBio: Anne Gillme founded Expatriate Connection, a free online resource for what’s missing in expatriates’ lives: how to deal with loneliness, expat grief and uprooted children. She has been living abroad for 20 years but she’s constantly looking for more answers in the latest developments of psychology, anthropology, social and behavioral sciences. Her dream is to build a thriving and supportive online expat community and make the world a more sustainable place. She’s got 4 children but only one (Muslim) husband.

Have you ever noticed how contageous the negativity can be? Particularly when you feel lonely and any kind of a conversation is better than none? Before long we find ourselves pulled into emotions of the negative neighbor or a person next to us in the supermarket, trying on their situations and judgements, venturing deeper into what’s not even our true feeling…  Just remember, it is always your choice!  Here is a great recent piece from personal development coach Manuela Pauer on negativity:

For some reason, I have been noticing a lot of negativity around me lately. There are updates on Facebook with various complaints, meetings in which people focus on all the things that are going wrong, and even when walking Rafa (our doggie) the other day, a regular park patron greeted me with “You are late!” rather than a “Good morning!”

Maybe you have noticed this phenomenon as well or have even felt more negative about things yourself. Why is it so much easier to be negative and how can we change it?

Over our lifetime we all accumulate various memories – some good, some bad. However, even when we have more positive experiences than negative ones, we remember more of the negative experiences. This is because our brain has a preference for recalling and reacting to unpleasant memories. This is called the “negativity bias” and it has an important evolutionary reason: To help us survive by avoiding danger and keeping us out of harm’s way.

The problem is that luckily most of us don’t have to deal with daily life or death situations, so this bias for negativity is causing us needless suffering. While we often cannot prevent negative experiences from happening altogether, we CAN create much more balance by fostering positive experiences and really internalizing them.

In the book “Buddha’s Brain”, Rick Hanson suggests a 3 –step process for focusing on the Positive:

1. Actively look for the good and positive every day

Every day, there are positive things all around us – someone is nice to us, we see a beautiful flower, the smell of an orange, interesting clouds in the sky, we finish a project – but we just let it roll by. Instead of just letting those moment go by, bring mindful awareness to them. Open up to them and let them affect you.

2. Savor the experience

Really stay with the experience for 5, 10, even 20 seconds – don’t let your attention wander to something else. Focus on your emotions and body sensations and let the experience be as intense as possible. Pay attention to what is rewarding about it (for example, how good it feels to get a great big hug from someone you love.) All of this will help strengthen the implicit memory so you can carry it inside you and remember more easily.

3. Fully absorb the experience

Imagine or feel that the experience is entering deeply into your mind and body, like the sun’s warmth that is soaking through. Keep relaxing your body and take in all the emotions, sensations, and thoughts of the experience.

The good news is that there is plenty of opportunity to practice – every day we experience 20,000 moments! What positive moments are you noticing and savoring today?

About Manuela Pauer

manuela pauerManuela is a Certified Professional Coach and workshop leader. Her passion is to empower women to find more meaning, balance, and success, and to finally be happy with themselves and their lives.

Manuela loves helping professional women bring more balance, happiness and success into their lives! Visit Manuela’s Website for Professional Life Coaching and Powerful Workshops.

When is it not all about the kids? The smallest change in routine or surroundings can send a child into a tailspin, let alone a complete move to a new country. Living Abroad explores some of the details we need to keep in mind when shifting our children in a new and confusing place.

Everyone would agree that finding the right school is one of the most important pieces of a family relocation. But what about other aspects of your child’s life abroad? How can you make the most of life in a foreign country, with experiences that are not necessarily taught in school?

A new language

One of the first things to consider, before you move, is what language is spoken in your host country. Even if your native tongue is widely spoken, learning some of the local language will make your child’s experience infinitely richer. Imagine the satisfaction of being able to understand what is spoken and written around you, as opposed to relying on others to speak your language. Most home country libraries and bookstores offer many language books, videos, and  CDs. Websites and online programs are other options. Instruction is available for all age levels. Early exposure will heighten your child’s experience and ease assimilation.

Full story at Living Abroad.

Image by Pixabay.

Easter is the most holy of Christian celebrations, marking the resurrection of Christ. Christian Americans celebrate Easter in the church, but Easter has also become a holiday celebrated by people of all faiths in America, with a non-secular tone.

The non-secular mascot for Easter in America is the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny is a fictional creature, similar to Santa Claus. On the evening before Easter, children will set out baskets for the Easter Bunny. When the children sleep, the baskets are filled with treats and hidden somewhere in the home.  In the morning, the children search through the home looking for their baskets. Many parents allow their children to believe that the Easter Bunny is real.  The Easter Bunny is depicted as a large rabbit, usually wearing clothes, carrying a basket full of treats.

Traditional treats for an Easter basket include Easter Eggs, jelly beans and chocolates. Easter Eggs are traditionally hard-boiled eggs that have been dyed various colors. The chocolates are often made into shapes of eggs and bunnies.

Many communities will host Easter egg hunts for children. At these events, children bring their empty baskets, and look for treats hidden by the event organizers. Candy and other treats are often hidden inside hollow plastic eggs.

American families will have special meals to celebrate the Easter holiday. The traditional Easter meal includes ham. Side dishes that go along with the ham dinner are not as typical from family to family, but usually will include potatoes and vegetables. Many restaurants will have special brunch menus on Easter. It is customary to dress nicely at Easter.

The traditional colors for Easter celebrations consist of pastel blues, pinks, purples and yellow.

It’s easy to label an effort or a person as successful or unsuccessful, but isn’t that a little too black and white? Measures of success are many and varied, to the point where it’s sometimes best to have an internal measure. Decide what success means to you, and measure yourself against it as often and as strongly as you think appropriate.

Last year I was asked to give a one-minute speech with a tip on how to be successful. So I started to think about all the things it takes to achieve success: determination, focus, perseverance (especially when there are setbacks), discipline, taking risks and being willing to fail, adaptability, being authentic, asking for help, believing in yourself, enjoying what you do, being responsible and reliable, great communication, being likeable, etc. When I shared my thinking with a friend, he asked: “Well, what does that even mean – “to be successful?”

I realized that this was actually the key question – because you can do all the things I just listed and more, but if you do it in pursuit of the type of success that others value, only to find out that it doesn’t really matter to YOU, then what is the point?

I had given this question quite some thought over the years, so MY definition for success looks something like this: 1. Be authentic, stay true to my values, and don’t pretend to be someone I am not. 2. Pursue a purpose that is meaningful to me. Right now my purpose is to love myself so I can love my life and to help other people do the same.  3. Enjoy time with my friends and people who I care about, talking, laughing, sharing and supporting one another. 4. Be comfortable financially: Live within my means, be in a comfortable living environment and be able to travel. 5. Continue to learn and grow.

Now this list will look different for everyone, and there is no right or wrong, since it’s about what is important to YOU, and it may change over time. But here is the hard part: Even if we have a clear idea about what success looks like to us, all the messages we see around us every day may point towards a different definition of success. Whether it is commercials on TV, ads in magazines, news stories, TV shows, going to networking events, seeing other people’s updates on LinkedIn or Facebook – it’s easy to believe that we need to achieve more, get “there” more quickly, be “better”, and be happier in the process. =)

That’s where we come back to loving ourselves. Accepting ourselves the way we are right now. Being compassionate with ourselves. And empowering ourselves by remembering our definition of success and what is truly important and meaningful to us. This is not a one-time exercise, it is a practice. But each time we practice, we are one step closer to making it a habit. So I choose to remind myself again, today, that I am here to love myself and help you do the same, so we can lead happier and more fulfilled lives. And I remind myself that today, I want to savor and cherish my interactions with everyone I care about. That is success to me. What does success mean to you?

About Manuela Pauer

manuela pauerI am a Certified Professional Coach and workshop leader. My passion is to empower women to find more meaning, balance, and success, and to finally be happy with themselves and their lives.

Manuela loves helping professional women bring more balance, happiness and success into their lives! Visit Manuela’s Website for Professional Life Coaching and Powerful Workshops.

Do you have space for pancakes? If you live in the UK, and love Russian culture, you are in for a treat as Maslenitsa and Pancake Tuesday line up rather nicely this year.

This year the UK is in for a sweet treat. From 24 February to 2 March, Russia celebrates Maslenitsa, a traditional holiday that marks the end of winter and the arrival of spring. With Pancake Tuesday falling on 4 March, this gives Londoners the perfect excuse to indulge in pancake-eating for almost ten days.
In Russia, Maslenitsa – also known abroad as Russian Pancake Week – is a colourful and family-oriented celebration which sees people take a break from the gloom of winter and engage in fun activities, from sledding and snowball fighting to dancing and singing. This joyful carnival anticipates the Lent period and is symbolised by blini, the Russian pancakes. This is the last chance to enjoy these traditional pancakes before Easter, as meat, fish, dairy products and eggs are forbidden to Orthodox Christians during Lent.

Full story at The Kompass.

Image By WikiImages.