Something I noticed right away is the lavish culture of gift giving that is common in Russia. I’m not talking about the kind of gift giving that we’re familiar with: the harried, stressful hunt for the perfect Christmas or birthday present. No, what I’m talking about is the frequent exchange of physical tokens that set…

Sometimes walking through Slobodskoy feels like you’ve stepped into a Hunger Games kind of dystopia. Mud, dirt, soot, smoke, snow, ice, repeat. There are few colors to draw your attention in the dreary landscape. But the ensouled flesh and blood of our friends here make the Northern Lights that they saw here a few weeks…