Quote Originally Posted by mishau_
Well, from what Russian linguists say, as Russian language requires that each noun, each object has its own gender, we, Russian speakers, feel rather uncomfotable if we can't detect the gender or sex. Especially while speaking to a person. For English speakers, however, such a problem apparently matters less. Therefore, they communicate in a way that is different from ours. They start to chat with a preset idea that they do not know their new counterparts' gender like we do not know about ages of new people who we start to chat with. So there's a behaviour pattern that can seem weird for us, but might be quite fine for English speakers. And I want to learn it.
Well, if you chat in Russian without using the past tense or describing yourself, you could get the same effect. But I see what you mean, I guess it does create a different cultural behavior pattern , and maybe explains some of the differences between Russia and the West?

Quote Originally Posted by mishau_
Kalinka means small California (маленькая Калифорния)
Really? First I have heard of that!