After about two months of waiting to learn what this Crimean trip was about — from the time Arend Feenstra first mentioned it back in May, through their online apologies for not having reported on it sooner — I have assumed that the delay was caused by the need for official (i.e., governmental) editing and approval to ensure that no negative comments or unauthorized photos slipped through.

Finally, the first chapter of their Crimean adventure has aired on YouTube (and presumably elsewhere) and . . . well, I can best describe it as resembling those short movie travelogs they used to show in the theaters back in the 1940s and ‘50s before the feature film: filled with happy people, doing happy things, in a perfectly happy world.

Come to think of it, it was also like the old Soviet propaganda films of those millions of happy collective farm workers . . .

Well, you get my point. And that is not very different from what Arend, Anneesa, and the seven littlest Feenstras have once again shown us here.

Yes, I know there are eight children, but oldest son Wesley stayed behind to take care of the farm in Nizhny Novgorod. (Sorry, Wes.) And that makes me wonder what has happened to their tenants, the Pulleys, who proved themselves perfectly capable of managing things while the Feenstras were in Canada and the U.S. for four months. But that’s another story for another day.

So off they went. The majority of this first episode was taken up by the 45-hour train ride, which — having twice ridden the overnight train from Moscow to Kyiv myself in 1993 — I found mind-boggling to contemplate. I must say, their train was a huge upgrade from the ones I remember. But spending two days and nights in train compartments, sleeping four to a compartment, with several very young children, is not my idea of a good time. However, the Feenstras always try to make the best of everything, and Arend had nothing but praise for the train accommodations, this being their first such experience.

I should say here that the two “friends” they had mentioned weeks earlier who were slated to travel with them turned out to be a couple named Irina and Bradley from Nizhny. Their relationship with the Feenstras was never explained, but it appears to me that Irina is Russian, but Bradley — based on his name alone — is not. My guess: they’re the hired watchdogs, assigned to make sure everything goes smoothly. For the remainder of this video, they were out of the picture.

Other than a virtual tour of the train, and one stop at a station where they were able to disembark and buy some food and beverages, there wasn’t much happening. But you never would have known that, judging from Arend’s frequent comments about how wonderful and “gorgeous” everything was, how privileged they were to be taking this “trip of a lifetime,” and sending a big “thank you to everyone who made it possible.”

Now, about that: Just who did make it possible? You know that the hard-working, frugal Feenstras aren’t given to such extravagance.

That became the bigger question when they finally reached their destination in Crimea (the city was never identified), where they were met by a driver and a cameraman — yes, the video crew was ready and waiting — with a big van to accommodate everyone.

Then it was about an hour’s drive, with a stop for a romp in a field of poppies . . .

. . . to their ultimate destination — again not identified by name — where they were deposited at a multi-level guest house that blew them away. And quite frankly, I had the same reaction. There were pictures of the house and grounds:

Followed by a long walk to a nearby lake, with the cameraman never far behind:

By this time, I hear some of you asking, “What the hell . . . ?”

But any hope of an answer to that, I’m afraid, will have to wait for Chapter 2, which is already available on YouTube, though I’ve run out of time to watch it today. In the meantime, Arend did mention that two things on their agenda are a visit to a goat farm and another to a berry farm.

And why? I mean, this is a lot of time — and expense on someone’s part — for a little documentary about a Canadian farm family leaving their new Russian farm to tour even more farms in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

It’s clearly propaganda; I don’t think there can be much doubt about that. But to what end? Surely not just to show how well the Feenstras are being treated. Perhaps to entice other foreign farm families to emigrate to this paradise-cum-war zone? Or to give the impression that it isn’t actually a war zone at all?

In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, it’s impossible to be sure of anything. But I can’t wait to watch the next installment tomorrow. And of course, I’ll be back to you after that with an update.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/9/26