Where are the Easter Eggs?

I have to report with sadness that chocolate Easter Eggs are not a thing here in Moscow. That was a bit of a shocker for us. For a city that has a sweet tooth in general with all the cakes, pastries and chocolates; it kind of left us in disbelief. Good thing we have connections in that Rosi's mom, good ol' Aunty Rensie, had bubble wrapped mini white eggs and had them sent over in a care package. For a group of people who share absolutely EVERYTHING, we adopted a bit of a each-to-their-own attitude regarding these treasurable (yes, I did just invent this word) eggs. Jackie also attempted to counter this egg situation by melting chocolates and putting them in an egg mould she bought. When this failed, she used our arrow-shaped ice trays which worked perfectly. We had arrow-shaped "easter eggs" for Easter...what did you do?

Never too old to paint your face with a Easter egg

 So how things work here on Easter is kind of like this:
Adults and children decorate and paint hard boiled eggs and bake a special type of cake that reminded me of the Italian Christmas cake. They then take these eggs and cake to church with them, where they are blessed by the priest with Holy Water. He also blesses the people with Holy Water, apparently until they are soaked. The people then at this cake and the eggs on the Sunday lunch where they congratulate each other and share a meal together.
I experienced this lunch first hand. I tutor for a family on a Sunday where I do a lesson with the younger son and then the older brother. In between these two, I was asked to join them for lunch. I was unaware of all the family members arriving at the house while I was playing playdough and snap with my first student so as I turned the corner into the dining area, I was met with a rather large group of Russian people who stared at me just as much as I was staring at them by this point. I tried to put my Russian lessons to good use and greet them in the politest way I know. This was met with a chuckle around the table so I sat in my place and tried to keep quiet. The father of the family continued to talk to me and explain all the customs and traditions, all the while trying to ward off his family members from overloading my plate with food. Everytime I spoke I was met with Russian versions of "oooo"s and "aaaaa"s which had me giggling internally. The people would hold up their egg sideways and then crack it, by bashing it against their neighbour's egg...the person whose egg cracked more, lands with worse luck, but it's more of a fun game really. I also found myself being extremely self conscious of how I was eating and knowing that the family was examining it too, me being from Africa and all, I ended up eating a piece of bread/cake with a knife and fork. Way to represent Ali... :/

Eventually I found my way home to the comfort of my own home where waiting for me was a wonderfully prepared roast by Matt, arrow-shaped Easter Eggs, a glass of wine and people who still laugh when you say the word "kak" (Sorry mom). As in kak deela (how are you, in Russian). We were later joined by our Englishmen and spent the rest of the day playing Catch Phrase, much to Jackie's delight, eating good food and being able to have sundowners with no coats on.
It seems rather fitting that Spring should arrive on Easter somehow