Neither Fluff nor Feather!

One idiom that students of Russian almost always learn is "Ни пух, ни перо" (neither fluff nor feather), which means, in a roundabout way, "Good luck." The proper response to this statement is "to the devil!"

Speaking of fluff, around this time last year in Tomsk, the streets were covered in cottonwood down. The effect was visually magical, if a little irritating . . . the stuff would stick to clothing and hair, and I inevitably inhaled it during daily walks to the university. The snowy down gave the impression of snow in summer; it was a reminder that winter would be blowing in after my departure, which meant weather 45 Celcius degrees below zero and a drastic change from the breezy way of life that made Tomsk so charming in August.