by Michele A. Berdy, The Moscow Times, Russia - Happy International Women's Day!
My most miserable memories in Russia are standing with a smile frozen on my face as a male member of the (staff) spit out a patently insincere, totally improbable list of my supposed virtues. The more extravagant the praise, the more I felt the opposite. I'd go home with the depressing conviction that I was the most ugly, stupid, mean and cheerless woman in the world.