Happy International Women's Day!

Happy International Women's Day! Today, March 8th, is known as International Women's Day, although as far as I've been able to tell, by international they mean (essentially) Russia and the other post-Soviet countries. If you're interested in reading about the history of this (originally) feminist/socialist holiday, please click here. I find it fascinating to read about the history of IWD, and it's kind of disappointing to see how it has evolved. On one hand, I got chocolate, cards and potpourri from various people all because I am in possession of a vagina. Easiest chocolate I've ever received. Plus, March 8th is a national holiday, meaning no work at the AH :-) And it's a less obnoxious holiday than Valentine's Day (let's just say I've never received a damn thing from someone who wasn't a friend or family member on that day - blah!). But the You have a vagina; have some chocolate thing seems a far cry from the original goals of IWD. It's also interesting to note that February 23rd is Defenders of the Fatherland Day here in Russia, another national holiday set aside to honor Russia's armed forces veterans. Now, why is this interesting? Well, Russia (or to be more accurate, the Soviet Union, in its early days) had an astonishing record for women serving, fighting, killing and dying in their armed forces - especially during World War II. Nonetheless, DFD has evolved into what is essentially a Men's Day here in Russia. I suppose there's nothing wrong with having a Men's Day if you're going to have a Women's Day, but does it have to be done in such a way that it excludes the women of Russia's armed forces from being honored on the Russian Veteran's Day? Anyway, now that you've had my two cents on the politics of IWD and DFD, let me tell you how we here at the American Home celebrated "Men's Day" and "Women's Day." For starters, we celebrated both a few days ago (Saturday, March 4th) with a dinner at Traktir (the restaurant nextdoor to the AH). The women gave the men thermoses and cards; the men gave the women scarves and roses. We all drank copious amounts of booze. Traktir put on a dance show for the guests. It began as traditional Russian folk dancing, and devolved into an erotic dance show, with the performers donning skimpier and skimpier outfits for each number. There was even a belly dancer (who we all watched closely, having had another Layla-led belly dancing lesson that afternoon. My conclusion? Layla was better! Of course.) Anyway, the evening was a lot of fun, although I must admit that I didn't leave my apartment all day the next day. I might have been a tad hungover. Maybe.

J, Me, B, Y

Lena and B

Me and Y

Me, Y, Lena

K and Nelly (Nelly is my Russian teacher)

I think at this point, the booze was starting to kick in.

Me, Y, B: All slightly happier

Me, Y, Lena
Notice the slight blurriness of this photo...

M and J
This picture is priceless.

Although speaking of priceless...
Vanya talks to M in his usual animated way :-)

Y and B
Y redeems herself for this one...

And B takes her place.
(I'm completely expecting an utterly horrific shot of me
to appear on one of their blogs any day now!)

Ira and M..... teeheehee :-)