March 8 Is My Birthday... and Women's Day

I'm not dead, yet. What a great way to start a blog post :) Last Sunday marked 32 years completed for me. 32 doesn't feel so bad, but then I haven't had much time get used to it. Sunday morning it was pouring rain, I got completely soaked on my 5 minute walk to the bus stop. Pastor Victor was the first to see me when I walked into church. He yelled "Happy Birthday!" in English and then gave me a huge bear hug. I tried to wave him off, but to no avail, and he was soon almost as wet as me. Victor had a small birthday present for me: a stick of deoderant. He was quick to explain that such gifts are common in Russia, I really didn't stink that much. Elena also gave me a card, which was nice, and someone had put a small birthday poster on the bulletin board for me.

March 8 is also Women's Day in Russia, a big holiday. It's a celebration for women, obviously, and not only mothers (like in America). After the service, 8 guys (including myself) got up front to read poetry to the ladies. The poems were in Russian, of course, and I spent most of the service practicing my piece. I notice that I was given the shortest piece to read:

Вы прелестны, словно розы,
Только разница одна:
Розы вянут от мороза,
Прелесть женщин- никогда!

The poetry was a big hit with the ladies in church. After the service, we had ice cream sundays for everyone. Yummy. Kolya and Oksana gave me a ride back to Su-Pseh so I wouldn't have to walk in the rain (very kind of them). We stopped by the flower market on the way home and I picked up some daffadils for my neighbors. Galina and Tanya have been very helpful to me here, so I thought I would do the Russian thing on Women's Day and buy them some flowers for Women's Day. 5 flowers, each. I'm told you're supposed to give ladies an odd number of flowers, you only use an even numbered bunch for funerals. I don't know why, that's just the way it is. I had shashlik again with Nikolai, Galina, Tanyan, and Kolya. Nikolai thought it was great that I had brought flowers for Women's Day and said that I'm now a Russian citizen. I wish getting a work permit was as easy as obtaining citizenship :) We had a good time together over some great food. We also had some of Nikolai's home made wine, made from the grapes they grow in the yard. All in all, a good birthday/Women's Day.