For my ethnographic experience I went to a Russian Festival at SMU. It was a very interesting celebration of the Russian Heritage. It had bits and pieces from different aspects of Russian life. There were different tables set up showing off all sorts of different things from Russia. Some had dolls representing the fashion of Russia. Others had food set out for you to taste the food that they serve regularly in Russia. They also had a Russian art exhibit set up for people to walk through and admire. Going through each of the tables and learning a little about each aspect of the Russian life took about an hour and a half. At this point we went into the auditorium to watch the show. The show included things like Russian Ballet and a Russian "Rock band." It also presented awards to different people who impacted the lives of Russian immigrants, and to Dallas' new sister city in Russia.
Russia
Russia
RussiaThe show in the auditorium lasted about three hours with a 15 minute intermission. Afterwards I talked to this very nice couple from Russia that had set next to me for about 30 more minutes.
At first I was a little scared about going to this thing by myself. I really knew very little about Russia or Russians, and to be honest it was about the only type of festival I could find that I had never gone to before. I mean I've been to Mexican festivals, and I've been to African American festivals, but never a Russian festival. I actually was still scared when I got there too. Partly because I was by myself and partly because a lot of people were speaking in Russian and I couldn't understand them. It frustrates me to not be able to understand people.