for the first time in my life, i led a seder this evening. back at the hotel, after a long day's wandering with jess and krissy to the grand synagogue (this after walking through catharine the great's summer palace in pushkin). i bought a box of matza at the shul, exchanging a few words of hebrew with one man and yiddish with another, and determined that it didn't make sense to try to attend the seder tonite. we have to catch a train to moscow this evening; there simply wouldn't be time. disappointment carried me, and my box of matza, back in the street, which was at least blessed with quiet sunlit air. guideless and in a strange nontouristy area, werealized we were in russia -- russia -- for real. we made our way to a metro stop, wrangled the system until we finally made it work, and arrived back at the hotel around 5:45.

i've never been in this kind of situation before. i had no idea what customs to obey and in most cases how. but looking at the hotel buffet, i realized i could pull off some of the parts of the seder. i helped myself to a hard boiled egg and some gefilte-like fish. as krissy started asking me questions and showing interest, i invited her in and got more ambitious: garnish that looked like parsley served as green vegetable; cranberry vodka, free at the door, could be wine for the ten plagues. i told her the stories behind the objects which is a commandment in and of itself, only i'd never explained why these actions were traditional to someone who didn't know before. by the end, i was buoyant.
happy pesach everyone. four more days of this holiday in this country. hope i can do it; but at the moment, i'm optomistic.