The story that was recently covered by Le Figaro, has started in Moscow in around 2007 when Valery Alekseev decided to break out from his comfort zones, using the “Extreme Rhetoric” method by Olga Semenetz. To help people say goodbye to their complexes, Olga suggested to roll the toilet paper around their necks, to descend to the tube wearing a crown, or to ask silly questions to every other person. Valery went further: he put a sticker on the back of his car that read: “Searching for a wife”, with his phone number below.
Little did he know that, one, this attempt to liberate himself will become a starting point for a mass quest for one’s other half. And, two, that this is exactly how he’d actually find his wife. As we know, some things come dancing into your life when you know you want them but you are not actively searching. Alina Gryazeva, a Russian living in Germany, contacted Valery for permission to use his idea in her own country of residence, as a husbandhunter project. He agreed; soon Alina was inundated with calls from prospective German husbands… but decided to visit Valery first. After many days together, the couple decided to take the stickers off their cars: the hunt was over. They found one another and soon got married. Le Figaro reports that Hollywood is interested in adapting their love story to screen.
And in the meantime in Moscow people took the spousequest as a real way to find their other halves. According to Russian Reporter, not all phone calls or approaches are made by possible spouses themselves. Sometimes it can be a girl’s mother who enthusiastically “sells” her “article”:
“Are you being serious?” – a woman in her fifties asked. – “Very well then. I have a daughter to give away. She’s a very good girl, I can assure you. Yes, she was married. But – at least she’s got the experience. She’s got a baby, the baby is beautiful. The bride isn’t very young: she’s 32, but looks great. Besides, you don’t need a very young girl, anyway: how can she be a good wife?”
Other times a girl herself could be very straightforward:
” – What are you parameters?
– Well, you know, you’re not buying a sausage in the shop. Even if I told you my parameters, they’d hardly tell you anything about me as a person.
– Yes, you are right. In that case, please be honest and answer just one question.
– Sure.
– Are you fat?”
Funnily enough, for some onlookers these stickers have a helping hand, allowing them to break their own comfort zones. One business-lady decided to dial the number after she realised that she felt weak. Naturally, she didn’t like the feeling, so decided to confront it head-on.
Now that Russia and Germany have tried this, it may be the time for other countries and nations to have a go. I do wonder, though, what it would be like in Italy: I heard traffic in Naples was a murder…
