Archive for 'Culture'
Russian Fairy Tales From A to Z – Part 1 Posted by yelena on Sep 13, 2010
For the past couple of months we’ve been concentrating heavily on just one book – Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita. How about we switch gears for now and take a short break from the novel. I’m inviting you «в гости к сказке» [to visit fairy tale land]. Let’s start with the beginning. Russian fairy tale land…
«Прости» [Sorry] Seems to be the Hardest Word Posted by josefina on Sep 8, 2010
«В северной Калифорнии» [in northern California] where I’m presently living «не купить Ленина в шапке в стиле Санта-Клауса» [(one cannot/it is not possible) to buy Lenin with a hat in the style of Santa Claus]… This picture is yet another nostalgic trip down Ural Memory Lane – the «я люблю Урал!» [I love the Urals!]…
Russia Cannot Be Understood by the Mind Alone… or Can It? Posted by yelena on Sep 3, 2010
The infamous line “Russia cannot be understood by the mind alone” is one of those must-know Russian phrases that comes up pretty much constantly in many situations. It lends itself happily to a collection of jokes and funny images that, like the photo above, seem to confirm that Russia is indeed a land of…
Celebrating the First of September Posted by yelena on Aug 30, 2010
I live 5 houses down from «начальная школа» [an elementary school]. It’s a pretty useless piece of trivia, except that every year since we moved into our house, I have had an acute case of «ностальгия» [nostalgia] at about this time of year. «Моя ностальгия – по Первому сентября» [I am nostalgic for the First…
«Ненастоящие друзья» [False friends]: part II Posted by josefina on Aug 18, 2010
Not everything in a foreign language is difficult. If you feel like calling the vehicle above «мотоцикл» [motorcycle] in Russian, then that’s okay and even correct. But that doesn’t mean you can go ahead and assume that a bicycle is «бицикл» in Russian because really the word for it is «велосипед» [bicycle]. Today’s post is…
Reading «Мастер и Маргарита»: Chapter 10 + 11 Posted by josefina on Aug 12, 2010
And this week «мы читаем Булгакова у бассейна» [we’re reading Bulgakov by the pool]. «Да, да, знаю, знаю» [yes, yes, I know, I know] – it has been almost two months since we all started reading «Мастер и Маргарита» [“Master & Margarita”] together and we haven’t made it further than chapter ten. «Честно говоря» [honestly…
There Is More to Sundress Posted by yelena on Jul 13, 2010
Time flies and it’s already mid-July. Can you smell the winter frost in the air? With the thermometer stubbornly in the 90ies (Fahrenheit), I personally can’t. And yet, while the summer is in full swing, there are many signs pointing to the approaching winter. I have at least 3 of these signs in my own…