Åttende januar:
Belarus:
Everyone whom had met Natalya Arlovskaya wouldn't dream of calling her maternal; let alone think that she was midwife-material.
Only two nations, and her people, knew differently.
The latter was the reason that she'd been selected to act as representing the women whom practices midwifery; seeing as she did so herself on occasions.
There were many things to do throughout Babinden, and if Natalya had been so heartless as many of her fellow nations believed her to be, she would not have done them. But whether it was bathing of thrashing babies and anointing them or allowing herself to be led through rituals that the Babinden compromised of, she let them.
Because she knew that not only did, they need to feel that they weren't wasting away old traditions; it also made them feel better.
Other nations might've thought, if they'd known about this, that she was simply following orders, but as mentioned before, two nations knew differently.
The two nations knowing differently; Irina Vlad, Romania, her best friend and Toris Laurinaitis, Lithuania, her boyfriend.
International:
With modern technology being as it was, one could be in Jakarta and oversee a book signing in Dallas; in London and conduct a business meeting in Hong Kong; or attend the annual event that promotes accuracy, efficiency and speed among the public for their written communication in Malaysia, no matter where they physically were in the world.
Or, in the case of the Personifications of the Nations' case;
A Typing Competition with speed drafts of their resolutions, plans for the new year and how they'd managed in the year that had passed. Whomever managed the fastest, most accurate and the one which best described everything without elaborating more than necessary on their draft, won.
It was almost always England whom won, but since they'd never been able to agree what the price was going to be, he'd never gotten one.
Others:
It may have been in a political union with the United States and had even forged closer links with them, but that didn't mean they wouldn't be celebrating their own days.
So, US, shouldn't really have been surprised when Northern Mariana Islands was one of the people (or nations, depending on how you see it) whom weren't participating in the nations' own typing contest.
If one were to regard the commonwealth status as nations status, then Northern Mariana Islands was one of the youngest. They still had pride in their nation; which was mixed with a satisfaction that they'd managed to peacefully gain a certain independence when uniting with USA.
Russia:
Ivan didn't know much about the celebrations of a Babinden, as he'd never participated in one himself.
It was after all, a woman's feast.
But Alfred didn't need to know that.
So, Ivan simply told him that was why he was one of the three nations not participating in the Nations' Personal Typing Competition.
Author's notes:
I don't own APH (sadly, I might add)