I get a little confused on days like this. Today is Saturday, a regular weekend day. But, the ladies at work asked if I could come into work today to celebrate. Of course I said yes. What are we celebrating? International Women's Day.
With a name that starts with International, I'd think that the 8th of March (the official day of the holiday) would be something I knew more about before I came to Russia. I'd heard that the day existed and knew that March is considered Women's History Month in America, but that's about it. For me there was no big fanfare or hurrah. Here, there's no way anyone could not know about it. In fact, International Women's Day is a national holiday--which basically means no school, no work. Leading up to the holiday, I am congratulated everywhere I go with a "Happy Upcoming Holiday" (you can't say "Happy Women's Day"-- or any other holiday or birthday for that matter--until the actual day of the happening) and sometimes a tulip or two.
The holiday itself wasn't what confused me. What confused me was why we are celebrating today--the holiday isn't for another 3 days. When I was invited into the office, I thought we might collect on the weekend solely to party in celebration of us-women. Maybe we'd run free through the halls of our institution like rebels on an off day just because we could. What I didn't realize until midnight last night when a friend said he would need to go to bed to get enough sleep before work, was that today is a work day. An official work day for all. That's why I was invited into work today.
So, my daydream of women bouncing off the walls of an otherwise empty large Soviet-style cement building on a Saturday did not come true. The logic of the Saturday workday is this--if everyone goes to work today, then no one will have to go to work on Monday. And, as we already have Tuesday off because of International Women's Day, we can all have a three day weekend: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
And, regardless of work, we also partied. At noon in the international office we ordered a 2 kg pizza from the cafeteria on the basement floor of the building and loudly celebrated. Nadya and I then took a taxi over to her husband's work where there was a large performance of singers, dancers and jokesters. We had to show our passports to get into the business building. The guards looked at mine, said, "what is this?" then asked me to show my Russian passport, not my American one. After this performance, we booked it back over to the university by hailing a car to take us over. A man pulled over, took us to the main campus and only made us pay 40 rubles. A formal taxi in Ukhta charges 60 rubles ($2 American). At the main campus, we had our third party of the day--sushi and tea with co-workers of an office connected to ours.
Women worked a half-day today, men a whole day. At least for workers at the university. (Teachers are probably an exception, working all the time).
So, now I still have three days of weekend ahead of me. I didn't know it was coming. On Tuesday, the 8th, I will go to the Miss University competition held at Ukhta's main performance center: "The Palace of Culture." The girls competing have been preparing for months. For the university, it's a big event. The rector with be on the judge panel.
With a name that starts with International, I'd think that the 8th of March (the official day of the holiday) would be something I knew more about before I came to Russia. I'd heard that the day existed and knew that March is considered Women's History Month in America, but that's about it. For me there was no big fanfare or hurrah. Here, there's no way anyone could not know about it. In fact, International Women's Day is a national holiday--which basically means no school, no work. Leading up to the holiday, I am congratulated everywhere I go with a "Happy Upcoming Holiday" (you can't say "Happy Women's Day"-- or any other holiday or birthday for that matter--until the actual day of the happening) and sometimes a tulip or two.
The holiday itself wasn't what confused me. What confused me was why we are celebrating today--the holiday isn't for another 3 days. When I was invited into the office, I thought we might collect on the weekend solely to party in celebration of us-women. Maybe we'd run free through the halls of our institution like rebels on an off day just because we could. What I didn't realize until midnight last night when a friend said he would need to go to bed to get enough sleep before work, was that today is a work day. An official work day for all. That's why I was invited into work today.
So, my daydream of women bouncing off the walls of an otherwise empty large Soviet-style cement building on a Saturday did not come true. The logic of the Saturday workday is this--if everyone goes to work today, then no one will have to go to work on Monday. And, as we already have Tuesday off because of International Women's Day, we can all have a three day weekend: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
And, regardless of work, we also partied. At noon in the international office we ordered a 2 kg pizza from the cafeteria on the basement floor of the building and loudly celebrated. Nadya and I then took a taxi over to her husband's work where there was a large performance of singers, dancers and jokesters. We had to show our passports to get into the business building. The guards looked at mine, said, "what is this?" then asked me to show my Russian passport, not my American one. After this performance, we booked it back over to the university by hailing a car to take us over. A man pulled over, took us to the main campus and only made us pay 40 rubles. A formal taxi in Ukhta charges 60 rubles ($2 American). At the main campus, we had our third party of the day--sushi and tea with co-workers of an office connected to ours.
Women worked a half-day today, men a whole day. At least for workers at the university. (Teachers are probably an exception, working all the time).
So, now I still have three days of weekend ahead of me. I didn't know it was coming. On Tuesday, the 8th, I will go to the Miss University competition held at Ukhta's main performance center: "The Palace of Culture." The girls competing have been preparing for months. For the university, it's a big event. The rector with be on the judge panel.
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