Is fashion a duty?

Is fashion a duty? Apparently in Russia it is. We saw a short program on an English language Russian news channel (probably the best channel we have) on fashion and why Russian women are always dressed so well (ALWAYs... even in the grocery store). A fur-clad, high-heeled woman was interviewed and said something like this: "women have a duty to themselves and to others to be glamorous and it is an obligation to society to look your best..." If that is the case I am failing miserably. I wonder if that is the translation of the strange looks I receive on a regular basis: you are failing your DUTY... to yourself and to ME! EEK! There was no mention of whether or not men have any duty with regard to fashion; so Steve is in the clear and I, uh, must self-glamorize if I am ever to fit in here.

On another note, this is the first country that we've lived in that doesn't have any recycling services. In Greece we had to walk a few blocks to find the recycling containers, that were often half full of garbage anyways (recycling receptacle means garbage bin if it's closer to your apartment than the dumpster)... but at least there was an option. Here, everything is fed to the garbage chute including all glass, paper and plastics. As in most European countries, water isn't potable, and we go through a five litre jug of water every few days, producing at least three or four of these plastic containers a week... and we can't recycle any of it. I don't really get the impression that people here are overly concerned about it recycling let alone keeping garbage off the ground - littering is quite common. We've seen a few Greenpeace commercials letting us know that garbage goes in the garbage can and NOT on the ground. Unfortunately, people seem more concerned with looking good themselves.