For Christmas, I wrote a post about how women always want a relationship during the holidays. Just as I completed this essay, Cheque d’Out at Spawny’s Space invited me to be a contributing author there. So in the spirit of giving, I decided to post this essay at Spawny’s Space. I feel that the topic and style of writing of this particular essay is very appropriate for Spawny’s Space, and I’m sure it will receive much discussion there.
Spawny’s Space: On Prancer and Vixen… (2019 December 27)
On to another gift…
I had to share this. I haven’t been this excited about a Christmas present in years!
The Saturday before Christmas, my wife and I were touring a day market close to our home. We met a Kazakh from southern Russia who was selling the famously iconic Russian dolls.
What are they called?
A Russian professor from Voronezh once told me that these are called Madrashka’s, and since he’s a professor, I’ve chosen to go with that. But since I’ve adopted this term, other Russians have argued with me, insisting that they are called Matryoshka’s or Babushka’s. Their profanity-laden arguing amongst each other over the name of this toy have continued to amuse me to no end.
Anyhow, we found one that has pictures of the United States presidents, and their corresponding Russian leaders. I really liked this one, so my wife bought this for my Christmas present.
Five piece Madrashka – The height of the largest piece is 11.3 cm.
Note: In the background, you can see my home office workstation where I write posts. I use a 32″ monitor which allows me to view many windows (e.g. webpages, documents, photos) at once. You can also see a nautilus shell and a glass paperweight that resembles a persimmon.
I like how it has the names of each leader written down the side. The American president’s name is written in English, and the Russian leader’s name is written in Russian script.
Donald J. Trump – 45th President of the United States (2017-present)
Vladimir V. Putin – President of Russia (2000-2008; 2012-present)
William J. Clinton – 42nd President of the United States (1993-2001)
Boris N. Yeltsin – First President of the Russian Federation (1991-1999)
Ronald W. Reagan – 40th President of the United States (1981-1989)
Mikhail S. Gorbachev – General Secretary of the Communist Party (1985-1991)
James E. Carter Jr. – 39th President of the United States (1977-1981)
Leonid I. Brezhnev – General Secretary of the Communist Party (1964-1982)
Nikita S. Kruschev – General Secretary of the Communist Party (1953-1964), and John F. Kennedy – 35th President of the United States (1961-1963)
I’m surprised this last photo came out so well. This piece is only 1.8 cm. high.
My wife found some earrings she liked, so I bought those for her.
Related
- Σ Frame: Trump Appeals to Dignity, Not Racism (2016 March 7)
- Σ Frame: The Trump Look (2018 June 15)
Σ Frame 
I’m playing at learning to read Russian. So far, I have a few words and I can read the printed Cyrillic alphabet. I can tell you that the hand script is very different from the printed version, and the same letters in italics is a compromise between the two. I can usually pronounce their words if I see them in print, and матрёшка is definitely “mat ryosh kah”.
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It’s possible that I misunderstood the professor. Matryoshka sounds like madrashka to a non-native listener when spoken quickly and fluently. There could also be some regional dialects at play too.
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i love those, Jack.
my first Husband and i bought each of our girls a set when they were little, and we were still married. somehow, in the midst of the divorce and each of our moves, they’ve disappeared. sigh. so much loss in divorce. but they were stunning. we’ve seen videos on how they hand paint them.
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Really beautiful gifts!!! Thank you for sharing this!
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