March 8th

Did you know that March 8th is set aside by the United Nations as the International Women's Day? I didn't until I googled the holiday to find out what other countries celebrate it. This is a link to the the official website for the holiday.

Chris previously told me that celebration of International Women's Day was a Soviet Union (and now former-Soviet Union) thing. He is mostly right. You can follow this link to the Wikipedia page on the holiday for some basic info.

March 8th is International Women's Day in Kazakhstan.

To be honest... I really like this holiday! Duh, right? Well, you might be surprised by some of my reasons... In the States, Mother's Day is the holiday for women geared towards mothers. I know that for the past years of my life I have felt a little awkward on this holiday when people included me in the celebration. I always understood that as a woman I am inherently a mother, even if I didn't have a husband or children, but I still felt silly (aka uncomfortable) being "honored" when I was unmarried and childless. I think some of my single girlfriends would probably say "Amen" to that statement... So, what am I getting at, right?

Since the holiday is Women's Day it means if you are female you are celebrated--regardless of age, marital status, and/or womb experience, or lack thereof.

Yesterday, our branch had a celebration in honor of Women's Day. It was planned and executed by the men in our branch and it was great. The program started later than scheduled (not unusual) so there was a lot of greeting, mingling, and conversing going on in the foyer. It was really fun to see women of all ages excited to honor each other and be honored themselves. The primary girls and youth were nearly as excited as the adult women, and at the end of the program all were given a gift of a red carnation and a scarf.

The men performed a few musical numbers, spoof skits, etc. My mouth practically dropped when I saw this person in a wig:

Chris performed in a skit where he was pulled over by a cop for making an illegal driving maneuver--passing another car in a no-pass zone. The excuse: the sign showed a red and a black car and Chris("tina") felt the law didn't apply to "her" because "her" car was blue.

This is our dear "Brat" Ku (Brother Ku) who is a hoot! In this skit Brother Ku portrayed a woman who is having trouble starting her car. A mechanic comes to "her" rescue, assesses the problem, charges her $400, and then sends his worker off to fill up the tank of the "broken" car.

They sang for us too...

This skit doesn't translate well/easily into English, so I won't even try. I will say though, that the boy on the left, Sasha, reminds me of my brother Ben when he was a child/preteen.

Handing out the gifts:

There was also a very thoughtful and sincere powerpoint presentation about the value of women. Before it was shown Anya noted, "Our men do not love us." (Because of all the silly skits.) The presentation was proof that they do! =) It was a very good ending note for the program.

One of the funniest testaments to the contributions of the women in the branch would have to be that the dinner planned wasn't started until 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the activity. The main dish (plov) wasn't ready to be eaten until half an hour or so after the program ended. Chris kept noting that things weren't running as smoothly as they usually do, because only men were in charge. =)