They say that good photographers always keep a camera close to them at all times.
Well I guess today was one of my “good” days.
I was invited to a wedding this afternoon.
And even though I correctly assumed that there would be a professional photographer and video guy covering this event..
My instincts still told me that I needed to pull out the ol’ Digital SLR and bring it along.
Well I’m sure glad I listened to Mr. Intuition today.
Because along comes a truly exotic young lady named Zarina who had traveled all the way from a remote and isolated little city in Central Kazakhstan to attend this wedding.
And of course as fate would have it.. she was exceedingly pleasant to socialize with even if she was a little on the shy side of the equation.
It turned out that this sublimely beautiful girl is also exceptionally talented and disciplined since she already speaks fluent English..
Oh and get this..
Because Zarina is about a third Asian with her nationality..
She has selected Mandarin Chinese to be ONE of her university majors and has set a goal to be completely fluent in it within 4 years which totally blew my mind.
Oh yeah.. her other major is going to be in Economics.
Can somebody say.. “These women are from a different planet?”
Oh and one more thing..
She’s only 19…….
Gee maybe there’s IS something in the drinking water here.
Soooooooo..
After some more small talk Zarina wanted to know what I did so I told her about my little hobby involving photography and this blog.
As you can probably guess she was genuinely interested because from her perspective I’m sure that bumping into some American guy living out here who does this in his spare time is more then a little unusual.
Naturally I politely asked to take some photos of her..
And after a few seconds of thinking…
She let a shy but lovely little smile slip out..
And softly said yes..
July 18, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Her eyes are extremely beautiful! (And great style). She sounds very sweet and endearing.
Mandarin is on my “to learn” list as well, but there are so many languages I want to learn that I fear I’m not being entirely realistic. We’ll see, I guess.
July 19, 2008 at 1:46 am
She is indeed incredibly beautiful and exotic looking too, with as Hazel pointed out a very good sense of style. I can picture her as a full professor of economics before she turns 35 at any university of her choosing. She also doesn’t exhibit the “stay away” and hostility filled body language many western women exude. Thanks for remembering to bring your camera along RW_Man……..:-) As usual, your pictures made my day.
Taras
July 19, 2008 at 6:27 am
Love that dress! She is stunning.
GL, not sure what your point is with women who study Mandarin Chinese and Economics being from a different planet… it seems a pretty straightforward combination to me and not particularly unusual at any good university.
Not to nitpick or anything
And yes, she’s another one who could easily be a model with her distinctive mixed looks.
July 19, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Thanks for the comments people..
Taking and posting photos like these is an incredbly rewarding experience. I had the chance to give Zarina a copy of her photos on CD and she was very grateful. Bright and modest young lady with an equally bright future I’m sure.
Dawn.. many girls here wear fashionable dresses like this during the warmer months. Zarina here is a great example of that.
BTW how many 19 year old girls do you know can speak a 2nd language fluently and are aiming for mastering a 3rd one within 4 years that is Chinese no less??
Not to nitpick or anything
July 19, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I assume that question wasn’t for me… It is not at all uncommon for young people here to speak two languages (or more) fluently.
July 19, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Nope it wasn’t for you Hazel.. and I was referring to primarily North America.
As you know it’s common for girls in this part of the world speak 2 or more languages.
July 19, 2008 at 6:47 pm
I know. My dad’s girlfriend speaks Russian, German and Spanish fluently, is near fluent in English and French and is learning Italian.
July 19, 2008 at 8:22 pm
What a cutie
You can see the the subtle asian features in her eyes and face as well. Subtle, yet you can see it.
Given that only about 30-40% of the US population has a degree now it does not suprise me to see other nations catching up to us in just about everything. Give Russia, KZ, and surrounding areas another generation or two and I bet they will rank high among the most and best educated in the world.
It’s amazing to hear the discipline and drive these girls have to get as much education as possible. I think they would go to school and learn their entire lives if they could. I feel lackluster with my degree in just one major
July 19, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Very nice. I really enjoy your photos. By the way, which Siberian would be the best for an American to visit? Novosibirsk?
July 19, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Hi Rich,
Thanks for the compliments on the photography.
Novosibirsk is certainly not bad. You can also give, Yeketrinburg, Chelabinsk, Tyumen and Omsk all a shot as well. Don’t forget Ukrainian cities either.
Zarina here is from Kazakhstan so you might even try your luck there too.
Good luck,
GL
July 20, 2008 at 10:07 am
What a lovely young lady, exotic. Doesn’t think her looks will carry her through life, and preparing for the future.
I have a degree in economics and I taught it at the college level for three years, never met a girl that spoke several languages. Taking on Mandarin is a big deal, even immersion doesn’t get good results, I know people that have lived and worked in China for years and can barely order lunch.
I couldn’t help but laugh to myself imagining what going up to a young lady like that in the States would be like. If you asked if you could take her picture she would have almost certainly have two responses:
1) “F” you, don’t talk to me - 25% chance
2) She would immediately pull all her clothes off and strike a pose - 75% chance
July 20, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Is this true?
http://petepatriarch.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/more-people-waking-up-to-legalized-misandry/#comment-389
July 20, 2008 at 10:54 pm
“BTW how many 19 year old girls do you know can speak a 2nd language fluently and are aiming for mastering a 3rd one within 4 years that is Chinese no less??”
Since I live in Europe, if the question were “How many 19 year old girls do you know who can speak 3 languages fluently,” my answer would be…’Um, all of them’?
Don’t know if any of you read Rachel Lucas.com site, but she recently had an interesting post on why it’s unfair to expect Americans to speak more than one language. I have fallen into the trap of calling monolinguals ‘lazy’ in the past, but this post made me reconsider.
http://rachellucas.com/index.php/2008/07/10/you-need-to-make-sure-your-child-can-speak-spanish/#comments
July 21, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I was going to say, “it’s mostly her eyes,” but it’s really not. She is simply stunning, as a whole - and that’s before you find out how brilliant she is as well!
July 21, 2008 at 7:00 pm
She’s adorable. Do you know by chance if she has Tatar blood in her? She looks like that a lot.
July 21, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Dawn..
I stand corrected for the region that you are in.. But I’m still accurate with what I talk about as far as N America is concerned.
Kisha..
That was the first question I asked her. To see if she was Tatar or not.. Apparently not.
She’s got a mix of Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakh in her.
And it’s true.. She’s way adorable..
GL
July 27, 2008 at 5:53 am
Hello pretty russian women–would you like to go my way?
July 27, 2008 at 5:04 pm
really cute shots, the girl is lovely - good luck to her with her studies and a happy family life later on!
August 15, 2008 at 11:50 pm
I sure don’t know, #12. I do know around 80 or 85% of sex abuse accusations during divorce in the US are false. Ten or fifteen years ago, the social worker lesbians even admitted this.
I worked with a man whose stepdaughter filed a false sex abuse charge against him, one night when she was late getting home at the scheduled hour, and he shouted at her over the phone. Almost immediately the law enforcement folks knew it was false.
He was involved in MRA public activism, and two daughters of militant DV man-haters were with her and told her what to say on the phone.
He and his wife,her mother, packed her off to live with her dad for some years.
He found out his name had been placed on the sex offenders registry, though the charges were found to be false. He filed suit, and the stupid judges ruled his reputation had no value. I am not making this up.
This was in the paper, along with the clear statement that it was a false charge. Several years later, a woman commented about Larry having abused his step daughter. I told her it was not true at all. She shouted at me that I was wrong, that she knew he had.
I brought in the N.W. 2nd Court reporter and showed her the state appeals court had ruled he had not.
This imbecile was totally surprised. Like many stupid people, she did not read the articles.
I cannot say the truth in this case. Not everything people believe is true, nor are all accused men innocent.
To publicly call a man guilty when the courts did not find him guilty is sure pushing things. That man who said he KNOWS this man is guilty must have been there, yes? Well, then he was also guilty, yes?
August 15, 2008 at 11:52 pm
I forgot the rest of the story. Ten years later,he learned both of the daughters of the lesbian social workers, the girls who told his stepdaughter what to say, had married black men from the local slums, and were regularly and methodically getting their rear ends pounded into the ground. He was manic for days.