N. and I were celebrating our third wedding anniversary at this really cool new restaurant last night. Of course, we both speak Russian to each other but it’s a different kind of Russian. Since I’m Ukrainian, I speak very emotionally, rapidly and my voice is very inflected. There is also a lot of hand-waving and many different facial expressions. N. is “a real Russian”, so his way of speaking Russian is slower, has flatter intonations, and sounds less emotional. It is also much quieter.
A waiter observed me talk to N. about the elections and finally decided to interfere.
“Is he in trouble?” he asked, pointing at N. and looking at me with reproach.
I had to explain that everything was perfectly fine and I was not scolding N.
It is kind of annoying to think that I come off as a nagging wife to strangers who don’t understand what I say but it’s good to see an instance of male solidarity.
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