Little Things

There are small events that occur here in Saratov that incrementally improve one's mood. Last week as I was walking to work, not yet on the Moskovskaya thoroughfare, I heard a man behind me exclaiming quite loudly, " мнжчина! мужчина!" Pronounciation roughly-- Moosheena. This means "man". Russians don't have anything that approximates sir, so when you speak to someone on the street, you address them as "man". I have a hard time getting used to this. At home I use sir and ma'am fequently. I can speak and understand rough Spanish---Russian to me, the longer I am here, sounds Spanish to some extent; the rolling "r"s, "a" on the end of things implying feminine grammar declensions at times. To me this sounds Spanish and feminine and when I hear it and it causes my brain to seize up often.
Anyway this fellow wants to know where he can catch a bus that goes up Moskovskaya. I respond with "московская улитца там"  and point him in the right direction. He thanks me.

Wednesday on my way home from the Institute at about 4pm, there is a guy walking in front of me with his son, they are slower than me and I don't like to pass on the ice---especially when things are wet. Ice is bad, water on top of ice is no good at all. I sort of slacken my pace to settle in about 10-15 feet behind them. He reaches over to put his arm around his boy and unknowingly drops some bills---a few hundred Roubles maybe(perhaps $10) in a little wad. I come upon the money, pick it up and say "мужцина!", he turns around immediately, I hand him the money, he smiles, thanks me. I pass them and continue on.  I'm in a good mood all the way home.