Dyevushka: (unmarried) girl (and a form of address)

I met Sophia last weekend, and although her English is better than my Russian, she was good enough to always speak Russian with me, showing extraordinary patience in the face of my accent. She introduced me to: her friends, blinis, the notion that both Luke Skywalker and Ramzan Kadyrov (who is he? -- no, really, this is an important link) could be considered hot, and a whole host of characteristics that fall under the general category of Russian womanhood (as far as I can tell, valuing female friendship, matchy-matchiness, generosity, importance of lipstick, audacity, posing correctly for photos, ability to wear fantastic -- verging on the Conradic indescribable/inscrutable -- footwear, and Pantene commercial-quality hair all belong there).

Our tour of Alexandrovsky Sad and Red Square was somewhat shorter than the usual tourists'; we hit 1. the gardens for pictures and 2. red square for pictures, 3. rolled in and out of a souvenir shop, 4. turned around well before Lenin's tomb, 5. attracted the attention of numerous babyshki in the shadow of the Kremlin with our conversations, 6. tried to go to MacDonald's (as usual, huge line) but settled for sushi, and then left.

Let's take a look, shall we?

Exhibit A:


Dark, somber dress
Genuine photo smile
Diffident, somewhat awkward pose
GIANT horse fountain in background








Exhibit B:


Bright, vibrant dress
More of a smirk, really
Badass pose (strictly standard, I promise)
Beautiful flowers in background







Dear readers, I can only propose that, in the interest of bridging this cultural divide, further research be done on the questions of blinis and relative hotness of world/galactic leaders (the Obama-Medvedev-Putin meetings should prove instructive); I will do everything in my power to retrieve the secret to the Pantene hair and footwear, although the latter may be sadly inexplicable.

In the meantime, happy Fourth to everyone (even you, Kanadka)!