Today is the last day of year 2009. And I am happy to be able to make a little present for all Zhenya’s fans – translation of this lovely interview (I thank Zoe for the link).

Zhenya talks about the New Year traditions, her school performances as a child and the presents she gives and gets. This time there is no place for trainings and competitions – only holiday mood! And I wish you all to get inspired by this magical sense and enter the year 2010 with happiness, joy and love!

Alyona

New Year is the time for wonders. The Rhythmic Gymnastics Olympic Champion Evgenia Kanaeva all of a sudden turned out to be a Snow Maiden, decorated our editorial office with her presence and received congratulations from Santa Claus.

– What a traffic jam there was! – said the gymnast as soon as she crossed the threshold of our office.

To tell the truth, we were waiting for Zhenya for a long time in the office. She doesn’t have much free time, and moreover it took her two hours to get here from Novogorsk. It is European Santa Clauses who can
fly by air on their deer relay and land on the roofs of the houses, but our
Snow Maidens have to put up with Moscow’s
terrible traffic.

HOME FEEDSTOCK

– How and where will the Olympic Champion celebrate the New Year?
– I am going to Omsk. Finally I will see everyone – my
granny, my mom and my brother. I am waiting for it so much, because I visit
home very seldom. Maybe I will even decorate the Christmas tree. I don’t know
why, but I feel that some surprise is expecting me at home.

– Maybe it is your favorite dish?
– Oh, I love fruit salad! But I will make it myself.
I don’t know what more will be prepared for the holiday table – my granny is in
charge. She is the chief cook and the main inventor.

– Unlike you, many sportsmen prefer to spend holidays on the sea shore.
– Oh, no! New Year is a family holiday; it must be celebrated within the family. You tell me they go to the sea together with their families? But there is no snow, no Christmas tree… I wouldn’t want to celebrate New Year somewhere in Australia or in Africa. Not in any exotic place, not
even in space. Only at home near the Christmas tree I can feel the real holiday
mood.

-Won’t you freeze in cold Siberia after rainy Moscow?
– I hope there will not be severe frosts. And I hope there won’t be such traffic jams like in Moscow.

CARTOON IN A FELT BOOT

-We already know what we shall wish you for New Year – to avoid traffic jams.
But what kind of present do you want to get?
– I always ask people not to give me any presents. But they never listen. Usually I get an animal toy – a symbol of the coming year according to Oriental calendar. I already have monkeys, rats. This year I will most probably get a tiger.

-Hopefully not a real one! Which present was the most memorable for you?
– I remember when I was a little girl, I don’t even know how old I was, and Santa Clause brought me and my brother a cartoon movie “Anastasia”. It was wonderful! That time I was dreaming of watching it! But our Santa Clause never left the presents under the Christmas tree. We had a little tradition to place a felt boot in front of the door. You know some people hang the stockings to collect the presents, and in Siberia we used to put out the felt boots. So our Santa put the film into the boot. We didn’t write any letter that year. Probably he could read our thoughts. He can do everything!

– And then you realized that it was your mom, and not the Santa…
– It happened later, at the age of 8-9 probably. My brother told me there was no Santa Clause but we would write a letter anyway.

– Zhenya, you came to us as a Snow Maiden. And who you used to dress up as at
school performances?
– Baba-Yaga. (*a scary old shrew – a character of Russian fairy tales)

– Really?
– Yes, really. All children dressed up as squirrels or snow flakes. We were staging a play and my teacher decided that I would be Baba-Yaga.

– And you burst into tears?
– Not at all! That time it made no difference for me who to perform as. They gave me some shabby old rags to put on. It was very funny. We used to play and dance around the Christmas tree.

– What did Santa give to you for that impressive character?
– Something sweet.

– Who would you, as a Snow Maiden, choose for Santa’s role? Imagine that all the
men of the world are in front of you…
– Hmm! Even if there were all the men, I would choose my brother Egor! He is three years older than me and as a child he used to put on Santa’s costume. So he has experience.

– Is he a sportsman as well?
– He is a student of Physical training department and he does wrestling.

– Well, half of the girls of your age would choose Sergey Bezroukov.  (* very famous young actor)
– Well, I like actors of course, Richard Gere for example, and many others. But I can’t say that I bliss out about them. That’s why my brother would have to be Santa.

– To continue the movie theme, what is the main New Year film for you?
– Of course, “An irony of fate or Hope you enjoyed your bath”! (* a very famous Russian
comedy movie telling a funny story which happened once on the New Year’s Eve)
I watch it every year and it gives me the holiday mood. I also like the sequel
of it. So you were right to mention Sergey Bezroukov. (* Bezroukov was a star of the sequel)

– When did you make a snowman last time?
– Two years ago. It was during our winter camp. It started to snow outside and we decided to make a snowman with other girls. We made a pretty big one. But we couldn’t find a carrot to make his nose, so we used a cone. The coaches didn’t see us. If they did, I don’t know what they would say.

– Is New Year your favorite holiday?
– I have two favorite holidays – New Year and my birthday. But I like New Year more. You know I never celebrate my birthday at home. I am always at competitions or training camps. I have never had a celebration at home. But this year the girls from our team made a real surprise for me: while I was practicing, they blew up the balloons, put them into my
room and wrote a wish on each of them. It was really cool!

– What do you usually give as a present to the ones you love?
– Oh, I love to give presents! Even more that to get them. Once for New Year I gave my coach an embroidered picture. I did it myself. The present made with your own hands is always more dear. But anyway, any time you give presents, the person who gets them is happy. A person would never say: Oh, I don’t need it! At least, I have not met this kind of people
yet.

– Was it your mom and granny who taught you embroidery?
– No, some girl in the national team has started it and everyone “got infected” with it. But now there is no time for embroidery.

THERE CALLED THE SANTA CLAUS
Later our readers connected the conversation on phone, though they had already lost the hope to hear Zhenya after a long waiting.

– I am Victor Tambovsky from Chimki. Zhenya you are so young and beautiful. How is your life in Novogorsk, how do you spend your free time?
– Our sport complex in Novogorsk is really great. There are wonderful facilities for trainings, rest and rehabilitation. Maybe we even have the best conditions in the whole country. But I don’t have any free time. But if I have some, I try to sleep.

– A new device of bio circulation was bought for Novogorsk center. It has already
helped the players of “Rubin” football club to have a successful season. How
did you like it?
– It is a new device. I only tried it once. It is sort of special pants filled with air which changes the pressure inside. People say it works miracles. But the effect will be seen in a month.

Then there was a call from the main fan of the Snow Maiden. He lives in Great Ustyug and even has his own residence there. (* Great Ustyug – place on the north of Russia
where Russian Santa Claus is believed to live)

– Hello Zhenya, it is Santa Claus. I have just finished my meeting with
University students and I couldn’t help congratulating you on the New Year. I
wish you happiness and luck! Tell me, how did you behave yourself this year?
– Oh, what a surprise! Thanks for your wishes! I hope I was a good girl and I worked hard to reach the maximum result in sports.

– Then after a new victory I’ll be waiting for you at my home in Great Ustyug!
– Thank you! I am dressed up as a Snow Maiden now. But I don’t go to Ustyug; I’ll go to Omsk
to celebrate the New Year with my family.

Well, we will be waiting for this historical meeting of Santa Clause with his Snow Maiden after the first victory of the coming year. It won’t take long!

Remark: BIG BIG THANKS Alyona gave me these pictures
Picture of Snow Maiden

Picture of Baba Yaga

=======================================================
Chinese translated by WanWan

緊鄰聖誕樹的驚喜

新年是帶來驚喜的時候，韻律體操奧運冠軍 Evgenia Kanaeva突然化身為白雪少女/ Snow Madein (在俄羅斯Snow Madein一般說是聖誕老人的女兒) 以她的裝扮妝點了我們報社辦公室並接受聖誕老人的祝福。

“好擁擠的交通!” Zhenya一穿過我們辦公室的門之後立刻如此表示。

說實話，我們在辦公室等Zhenya等了很久，她沒有太多的空閒時間，且由Novogorsk訓練中心到這裡要花兩個鐘頭。只有歐洲的聖誕老人才能駕著麋鹿在天空中飛行，並且降落在屋頂上，但我們的白雪少女必須得通過莫斯科恐怖的交通。

家庭特殊料理

–奧運冠軍打算如何跟在哪裡慶祝新年呢?
–我要回OMSK，然後我會見所有人–我的外婆，媽媽跟哥哥。我非常熱烈期待這次返家，因為我待在家的機會很少。也許我會裝飾聖誕樹。不知道為什麼，但我感覺有驚喜在家裡等我。

–也許是你最喜歡的料理?
-嗯，我喜歡水果沙拉，但我會自己做。我不知道還有什麼會出現在慶祝新年的餐桌上–這是由我外婆負責。她是主廚跟主要的發明家。

–跟你不同，很多運動選手喜歡去海邊慶祝節日。
–不，新年是屬於家庭的節日，一定要跟家人一起慶祝。你說他們跟家人一起去海邊渡假? 但那裡沒有雪，沒有聖誕樹…我不想在澳洲或非洲的某個地方慶祝新年。不要在任何奇異的地方，即使到太空我也不願意。只有在家裡緊鄰著聖誕樹時，我才有那種過節的心情。

–陰雨的莫斯科之後接著到寒冷的西伯利亞，你不怕凍壞了嗎?
–我希望不會有很嚴峻的冰凍大雪。而且我希望那邊的交通不會像莫斯科這樣擁擠。

毛氈靴裡的卡通片

–我們已經知道該給你什麼樣的新年祝福–避開擁擠的交通! 但你希望收到什麼樣的禮物呢?
–我總是跟大家說不要送我任何禮物，但沒有人聽我的。通常我會拿到動物玩具–根據農曆，隔年的生肖玩具。我已經有猴子跟老鼠，今年我非常有可能會拿到老虎。(明年是虎年)

–希望不是真的老虎! 你對那個禮物印象最深刻?
–我記得當我還是小女孩的時候，不記得是幾歲，聖誕老人送我跟我哥哥”Anastsia”的卡通片。真是很棒的禮物，當時我一直夢想著要看那部片! 但我們的聖誕老人不會把禮物放在聖誕樹下。我們有個小傳統，把在房門前放一個毛氈靴。你知道有的人會在聖誕樹上掛襪子收集禮物，但在西伯利亞，我們習慣放在毛氈靴裡。所以我們的聖誕老人把影片放在靴子裡。那年我們沒有寫任何信。可能他能讀到我們心裡在想什麼。他能做到任何事!

–之後你終於知道那不是聖誕老人，而是你媽媽?
–恩，在之後，大概是我8、9歲的時候。我哥哥告訴我沒有聖誕老人，但不管如何，我們還是會寫信。

-Zhenya，你裝扮成白雪少女來找我們，請問在學校表演的時候你通常打扮成那個角色?
-Baba Yaga (一個嚇人的女巫婆，俄羅斯一個童話故事裡的角色)

–真的嗎?
–是的，是真的，所有的小孩打扮成松鼠或飄落的白雪。我們在表演一齣戲劇，而我們的老師決定讓我演Baba Yaga。

–你因此哭了嗎?
–一點也不! 當時演什麼角色對我而言都沒有差別。他們給我一些破舊的抹布，讓我穿上。那非常有趣。通常我們會圍繞著聖誕樹玩跟跳舞。

–因為那印象深刻的角色，聖誕老人送你什麼禮物呢?
– 一種糖果。

–身為白雪少女，你會挑選誰扮演聖誕老人? 想像一下全世界的男人站在你面前!
– 嗯…即使有全世界的男人讓我挑選，但我還是會選我哥哥-Egor! 他大我三歲，在他孩童時期，他經常穿上聖誕老人的服裝，他有經驗。

–他也是運動員嗎?
–他是體育訓練系，他是摔角選手。

–有一半你這年紀的女孩會選Sergey Bezroukov (俄羅斯很有名的年輕男演員)。
-嗯，當然我也喜歡演員，譬如: Richard Gere，還有很多其他人。但我對他們沒有感到那麼狂熱/ 欣喜若狂，這是為什麼我哥哥必須當聖誕老人。

–繼續電影的話題，哪部片是你新年時主要會看的電影?
–當然是-“An irony of fate or Hope you enjoyed your bath”!
(非常有名的俄羅斯喜劇，是描述發生在新年前夕的有趣故事)。我每年新年都看，它帶給我節慶的心情。我也喜歡它的續集。所以你提到Sergey Bezroukov是對的. (* Bezroukov是這系列電影的明星)。

–你最近一次堆雪人是什麼時候?
–兩年前。是在我們冬令營的時候。外面開始下雪了，我們決定跟其他女孩一起堆雪人。我們做了一個很大的雪人。但我們找不到紅蘿蔔來當雪人的鼻子，所以我們用圓錐體代替。教練們沒看見我們在幹嘛，如果他們看到了不曉得會怎麼說。

–新年是你最喜歡的節日嗎?
–有兩個節日是我最喜歡的–新年跟我的生日。但我更喜歡新年。你知道，我從來沒有在家裡慶祝生日。我總是在比賽或者在訓練營。我從來沒在家裡慶祝過。但是今年，我們隊上的女孩們給我一個很大的驚喜: 當時我在訓練，她們吹脹很多個氣球，在每個氣球上寫祝福的話，然後把那些氣球掛在我房間。真的很cool!

–通常你會送什麼禮物給你愛的人?
-哦，我喜歡送禮物，勝過拿到禮物！有一年新年我送給我的教練自己親手做的十字繡圖案。自己親手做的禮物總是更珍貴。但不管如何，每次你送禮物，收到的人都是會開心的。沒有人會說: 哦，這東西我不需要，至少我沒碰過這樣的人。

–是你的媽媽跟外婆教你十字繡嗎?
-不是，是我們國家隊裡有個女孩開始做十字繡，然後每個人都著迷了。但現在我沒有時間做十字繡了。

聖誕老人來電

不久，我們的讀者call in進來了，雖然經過漫長的等待，他們幾乎喪失能聽到Zhenya聲音的希望。

–我是來自Chimki的Victor Tambovsky。Zhenya，你是如此年輕又漂亮，你在Novogorsk的生活是怎樣的呢? 空閒時你都做什麼?
-Novogorsk綜合訓練中心真的很棒，有很棒的訓練、休息跟復原的設備。也許我們擁有全國最棒的環境。但我沒什麼空閒的時間，如果有我會試著利用這時間睡覺休息。

–一個新的促進循環的電器設備被送到Novogorsk訓練中心，它已經為”Rubin”足球俱樂部帶來一個很成功的賽季。你覺得這個設備怎麼樣?
-它是新的設備，我只用過一次，那是一種特殊的充氣褲子，會改變內在的壓力。據說它會帶來奇蹟。我們將在一個月內看到成效。

然後一位白雪少女的重要粉絲打電話進來了。他住在Great Ustyug，甚至在這裡也有住所。(* Great Ustyug –在俄羅斯北部，傳說是俄羅斯聖誕老人居住的地方)

-Zhenya你好，我是聖誕老人。我才剛剛結束跟大學生的會晤，而我一定要來跟你說新年祝賀的話。我希望你快樂跟好運! 告訴我你今年表現怎樣?
-Oh，What a surprise! 謝謝你的祝福。我希望我是個好女孩，而我很認真訓練以便在比賽中取得好成績。

–那麼在新的勝利之後，我會在我Great Ustyug的家中等你!
-謝謝你! 我現在裝扮成白雪少女，但我不會去Ustyug; 我要回OMSK跟我的家人一起慶祝新年。

嗯，我們將等待歷史性的會面，聖誕老人見她的女兒-白雪少女。在來年的第一個勝利之後，這不會等太久。

Note by WanWan: 我終於趕在台灣新年之前將這篇非常溫暖充滿節慶氣氛的訪問中譯完成了。