A fabulous holiday

March 8th is  International Women’s Day. According to various websites, International Women’s Day started off as a political movement, and is celebrated primarily in Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet Union. March 8th is important. It’s huge. It’s an enormous holiday. I don’t even know how to emphasize how big of a holiday it is. This year, it fell on a Thursday, and since Russia realized that everyone would be too hung over to work the next day, they made Friday a holiday day as well. Judging from what I saw, Russians go around and give presents and flowers to their mothers and other important women in their lives. To help facilitate the flower giving, there were buses working as flower stands parked along the sidewalks. Flowers and chocolates were overflowing in stores, and people were rushing around last minute to buy presents and alcohol to celebrate accordingly.

My holiday weekend (more like week…) started off on Wednesday and ends today. On Wednesday, my colleagues and I gathered in the International Languages Department and drank a lot of tea (read between the lines) and gorged on caviar and beet salad.

I love my colleagues. What’s so great about them is that they don’t treat me any differently just because I have absolutely zero experience teaching English, and from day one, they were so welcoming. These women are so much fun to work with, and I’m grateful that they have taken me under their wing and help me become a better teacher.

In the same way I feel about a lot of these holidays (Valentine’s Day, for example), I appreciate Women’s Day, and it’s nice that men treat us to chocolates and flowers on this day. However, men should show their appreciation every day, not just one day a year. And vice versa for women on men’s day. Just my two kopeeks.