“Do people in America kiss

According to her, that is how things are done in Tajikistan. Yet for all her romantic talk, she is quite a cynic where love is concerned, and not without reason. Masha was 23 when she fell in love with her husband. But shortly after their marriage-when she was pregnant with their son-he left for St. Petersburg to look for work. There he fell for a Tatar woman. At one point he told Masha that he wanted both her and the Tatar woman. Masha wrote him a sentimental poem in Russian that she pulled out for me to see-why it was written in Russian and not in her native language, I don’t know. Masha seemed convinced that he cried when he read her poem, though I’m not sure how she could possibly have known if he was thousands of miles away in St. Petersburg.

Gradually he stopped returning her letters. She waited for three years, but didn’t hear from him: no fight, no divorce, no money; just an ambiguous and unresolved situation. She said she heard from his friend that he now has a daughter with the Tatar woman. But Masha still loves him and claims the Tatar woman tricked him.

I took Masha to a restaurant that night. My most vivid memory is of us going to the bathroom. It was certainly better than pissing in a bucket: the walls were made to look like ivory, with brown circling lines painted on a cream-colored backdrop. The faucets were big and old-fashioned. The entire room smelled like wood. Masha wouldn’t leave. First she washed her hands for nearly ten minutes, scrubbing dirt out of the creases in her palms. But then she just stood there. She looked so out of place, yet so happy. I took a picture of her and promised to send it to her Tajikistan address. But if I do, she might never get it, seeing as it seems like she plans on staying in Moscow.