On March 8, we celebrated Woman's Day. According to my host sister, Woman's day is a day that celebrates all women. Many former soviet nations still celebrate Woman's Day. There are banquets, feasts, and many toasts to women on this day, and people give chocolate, candy, cards, and flowers to female friends and family. I think of it as Mother's day on steroids. While people work on Woman's day, the day after is a day for rest and recovery. Or so claimed my host mother, who told me to go back to bed as I tried to leave the house for work earlier this morning.
Because of the day, I wanted to express my appreciation for the women here who had helped me so much. So, I phoned my first host family in Issyk, and said hello and did a mini toast to my first host mom and sister. Hopefully, I'll get to visit them in the near future, as I promised them that I would whenever I go back to Almaty.
For my current host mom and sister, I wanted to do something slightly more to show my appreciation. They have been awesome to me and I am currently living in my host sister's room (which makes me feel bad). I would have cooked something, but I feel self-conscious when cooking when my host mom is home because she is a cook and knows so much. Instead, I hung up all of the laundry outside (while my dirty puppy friend followed me and pulled down a couple of shirts) and then I decided to give them flowers.
While it seemed like every bazaar lady was selling flowers on the streets in Karabulak, I decided to make an afternoon of it by going to Taldy Korgan and meeting up with the PCV's there. We ate lunch at a local hamburger joint (yes, there is a hamburger place in Taldy Korgan. This is one reason why Taldy Korgan is one of my favorite cities in the world), and then went to the bazaar to find our gifts.
We found some nice sellers who had some great flowers. I only wanted to buy two white roses: one for my host mother and my host sister. However the vendor refused to sell me just two flowers, because she said two flowers were "bad". I ended up buying three. I asked my host sister about it later, who told me the rules of flower giving in Kazakhstan, and in particular on Woman's Day:
These are the rules for giving flowers in Kazakhstan (according to my host sister):
- You can't go wrong with giving flowers to women on Woman's Day. Or on their birthdays. Or on any other holiday. Or, on any random day. In fact, the direct translation of what she said was, "It's good to give flowers to women every day." I think the green eyed lady would agree.
- Numbers are important! Odd numbers of flowers are good for any holiday, occasion, or random day. Even numbers of flowers are given only in the case of death or funerals. This is why the vendor refused to sell me just two roses. She must have thought I was trying to buy the two flowers for one woman. The popular American custom of giving 12 red roses as a romantic gesture won't work in Kazakhstan. Unless you are taking your date to a funeral.
- On Woman's day, it is perfectly acceptable to give flowers to an acquaintance. It isn't creepy. For example, I gave my extra white rose to a lady that ghostied later on that night. Although I was uncomfortable with this because I just met her (I literally said, "hi! What is your name? Nice to meet you. Do you want a flower?"), it actually was a great gesture.
- The colors of the flowers don't really matter. I don't know what they mean in the US, but according to my host sister, the number of the flowers is more important than the color.
- And remember…giving flowers to women is great for any occasion.
