Archive by Author
Russian Easter. Can You Say “Христос Воскрес”? Posted by Jenya on Apr 16, 2014
This year Пасха (Easter) in Russia and Easter here in US coincidentally fall on the same day, so I decided to give you an overview of what Easter is like in Russia. First of all, forget the bunny; there is no Easter bunny in Russia. Also, forget the whole Easter basket for kids: Easter in…
First Time in Russia: an American Perspective (Part 1) Posted by Jenya on Apr 15, 2014
The other day, my husband and I were engaged in a conversation about his perception of Russia. This post became a natural extension of that discussion. What follows is my husband’s account of our first trip to my homeland together. In order to adequately describe the adventure, the story will be told in two parts…
Where are These Famous Russians Today? Posted by Jenya on Apr 9, 2014
Anna Chapman, Garry Kasparov, t.A.T.u, and Gorky Park – whether you are into sports, politics or music, you are most likely familiar with these Russian names. Over time, careers and audiences of these Russian celebrities have gone through major transformations but all of them remain in the public eye to this day. Ex-spy Anna Chapman…
A Remote Russian Village Isn’t the Place to Be, or Is It? Posted by Jenya on Apr 8, 2014
After going through the pictures from my last trip to Russia, I decided to put together a post about rural Russia. What is life like on the outskirts of Russia? What does a typical Russian village look like and what do people do there? If you want to find out, read on! As an…
Discovering Russia by Rail Posted by Jenya on Apr 2, 2014
The distance between Mogilev, the city where I grew up, and Orenburg, the city where most of my family live, is roughly 1250 miles. Every summer my parents and I would take a train there so I can spend the summer with my grandparents. The train ride was about 32 hours long but I always…
5 Most Common Russian Gestures Posted by Jenya on Mar 25, 2014
When you are lost for words, especially if we are talking about foreign words, it is pretty common to resort to gestures. With this in mind, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to shed some light on the most common Russian gestures. The information on their origin seems to be pretty conflicting. However…
Russian Verb Conjugations: Oh, Brother!.. Posted by Jenya on Mar 19, 2014
We all know that the way we learn our native tongue is very different from the way we learn a second language. A lot of research has been done in an attempt to make foreign language learning feel more natural, more enjoyable. The reason I am telling you this, as we approach the subject of…