Верные Друзья???

In English, the title of this post translates to mean either* "Loyal Friends" or "Faithful Friends," which happens to be the name of the calendar that Emily (my roommate) bought for our kitchen.  Each month the calendar shows a picture of two animals, whose relationship supposedly reflects the spirit of the name and calendar theme.  

It was just three days ago that Emily showed me the calendar, and after some joint effort we managed to attach it to the wall.  We then stood back to admire the supposedly beautiful friendship between the two fluffy January bunny rabbits…only to realize that these creatures appear to be anything but friends.  They're shoved together in an artificial-looking still life with hastily bundled carrots and a background of hazy Christmas tree decorations.  On top of that, each appears to be only vaguely aware of the other's presence.  Emily was quick to point out that if the calendar followed the same theme, but with people, the equivalent photograph would be a picture of "you and your weird uncle standing awkwardly apart from each other in the same room.”  Whatever you might call them, these were NOT Верные Друзья.

We continued to flip through the pages in the calendar in search of absolutely верные друзья...only to realize that all of the animals appeared to be either entirely indifferent to each other, or were acknowledging each others' presence in the same way citizens of Moscow relate to each other on the metro: in a fleeting, noncommittal way.  We were disappointed to say the least.

However, rather than waste such a purchase we decided to rectify the creator’s mistake by adding dialogue to each picture in order to honestly represent the nature of the friendship being portrayed.  So I bought a pack of sharpies at Библио-Глобус, the fantastic bookstore near the Лубянка metro stop, and we proceeded to deface the calendar and wound up with the image below:

Only the day before our artistic addition, we also found an absolutely EPIC calendar featuring a single picture of Putin, decked out in full Moscow winter garb and staring beyond a pair of absurdly large binoculars into some distant future in which Russia has finally been given global appreciation for it’s victory in WWII**.  We managed to juxtaposition the two pictures in the kitchen so that Putin’s distant yet powerful stare would be directed exactly towards the picture of the animal “friends”.

(note...image has been edited based on a song from a 90s TV show that Emily and I sometimes sing)

While it’s only a small contribution to the décor of the apartment, I have to say it is by far my favorite.  Now, if only we actually used either of the calendars…

*An example of the difference between these two words: today during class we were practicing adjectives, and one woman described her husband as being верный, while another described her cat with the same adjective.  A crude example of the subtleties of translation...

**In both my and Emily’s experience, many Russians have demanded acknowledgement of their winning WWII as if...well, as if this was something we care just as much as they do.  Go figure. 

(BONUS PIC: look this is Emily!!!)