Nicole and Ingrid are in Takhtamygda, in the provine of Amurskaya, in Siberia.  In Madalan they celebrated New Year's Eve together with Ekatelena, a 'babouschka' (Russian for grandmother) of 87.  On the menu was Belgian spaghetti, peaches and rice pudding.  The three of them cried at midnight: Flemish daughters who missed their mothers, a Russian mother who seldom sees her daughters.


On the last day of 2007 the two arrived in Madalan.  "A tiny village with hardly 17 houses",  says Nicole.  "The transit  from the old to the new year is a family happening, with lots of home brewed alcohol.  That's why we didn't set our tent up nearby the houses, but someplace else, far away from the noise and the music.  Here we would be safe ! We cut ice, melted it and marched back to our tent.

Here you don't walk, but march.... in a temperature of minus 35°C you don't walk !  In the bushes sat an old woman, ejecting. The three of us were surprised by this unexpected meeting.  We were embarrassed, all three.  But after awhile, the old woman, named Ekatalena, invited us to stay with her in her house.  She lived alone in a dark house.  She insisted that we stayed with her and spent the night in her house.  On a small table lay some bread and grease.  Ekatalena has two daughters, but they live in Moscow, 7.200 km from Siberia.  She hardly sees them.  We had our provisions and together we ate spaghetti, some peaches and rice pudding.  Ekatalena was over the moon with the food.  She hugged us constantly and together we shed tears.  She missed her daughters and we missed our family in Flanders. Too many emotions.
 

"Happy New Year to all of you !"