A Successful Morning!

I went out shopping this morning for a little birthday present for one of my students, who turns 21 today. She doesn't drink, and even if she did, I wouldn't want to give her alcohol, so that eliminated the obvious gift. I thought about a book, but they make your suitcases heavier. Amara suggested something Tatar, but all the souvenirs I've seen are either cheap-looking, made of plastic and synthetic fabrics, or else intolerably "Eastern," like belly-dancing sashes or knick-knacks with faux Arabic script all over them. (That is, Cyrillic script made to look like Arabic. So horribly cringe-inducing.)

So I set out with no clear idea in mind. By chance, I wandered by a little square where some old men were sitting out on benches selling things. I walked a few steps past them before I realized what it was they were selling:



Znachki! Znachki are little pins that seem to have been incredibly common from the 1960's through the 1980's, as you can now buy them from old men at flea markets in pretty much any city in Russia. There are all kinds of znachki: sports-related, commemorative (of city anniversaries, international conferences, sports contests, etc.), military, Soviet (hammers and sickles, Lenin heads, etc.), and znachki from specific places (cities, regions, Soviet republics). I sort of collect them, but to avoid buying every znachok that strikes my fancy (they are incredibly cheap), I stick to the ones bearing the names of places I've been.

I broke that rule today; the upper right znachok is from Uzbekistan, where I have never been. (Yet!) But I couldn't resist the little white puff of cotton, so innocent-looking, and yet symbolic of such terrible things: imperialism, an incredibly destructive monoculture, child labor. (The Soviets really messed Uzbekistan up with cotton.) The other four are Kazan (for the birthday girl!), Yelabuga, Murmansk, and Tallinn. Tallinn appears to be from some sort of sailing competition in 1980, and Yelabuga commemorates the city's 200th anniversary.

I hope my student finds her new znachok as charming as I do!