I'm trying. She taught me about history of ballet slippers, and how they went from being handmade things of beauty to impersonal, machine made "objects" and I easily (selfcenteredly) likened it to bicycle frames. I think the best ones were Italian made, too, so that's another connection in my head for us to bond over. Ballet is cool I guess. I like Russian stuff too, and she can help me pronounce all the names in my dear Pushkin, Nabokov and Tolstoi.