Archive for 'Culture'
Once, at Summer Camp… Posted by yelena on Jul 10, 2010
Summer in Russia seems to be a theme for most of this week’s posts. So it only makes sense to «выразить поддержку» [express support] by writing about my summers growing up in Russia. For me, summers were like «американские горки» [roller-coasters]. First, there was excitement of the last day of school, of returning textbooks to…
A summer in Russia Posted by josefina on Jul 8, 2010
We spent two years in Russia, when I was Naval Attaché in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, 1981 to 1983. Here are some of my memories of summer there: «Белый пух» [white down; fluff; fuzz]: Summers in Russia are short, but intense, and sweet. In Moscow, our first memory of summer is «белый пух» [white…
Reading: Master and Margarita – Chapter 5 Posted by yelena on Jul 4, 2010
Don’t know about you, but with all the summer fun and travel I find it hard to find time to sit down and read even a few pages of the Master and Margarita. But a few paragraphs here, a page there and next thing you know you’re in Chapter 5 already. It just so happens…
Reading “The Master & Margarita”: Chapter 4 Posted by josefina on Jun 30, 2010
In chapter 3 of «Мастер и Маргарита» [”The Master & Margarita”] we read about how «Берлиоз» [Berlioz] lost his head and died as a result. Chapter 4 is called «Погоня» [1. pursuit, chase; 2. pursuers] (think of the verb «гонять» which is the imperfective and indeterminate ‘friend’ of the verb «гнать» meaning ‘to drive; to…
Meet the Verb: «собираться»! Posted by josefina on Jun 25, 2010
Maybe somewhere in between all the recent posts by Yelena on our blog – as well as Vickie’s excellent guest post two days ago – you might have asked yourselves: «А где же Джозефина?!» [“But where is Josefina?!”] I know there’s been a significant gap without me posting here about the wondrous world of Russian…
Reading: Master and Margarita – Chapter 3 Posted by yelena on Jun 19, 2010
Weekend is a great time for catching up on our big summer reading project – Mikhail Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita. Guess what, we are on Chapter 3 already! But before we dive into the review, let’s do the Readers’ Mail (look at me, I sound like a real National Public Radio show host!). So…
Reading «Мастер и Маргарита»: Chapter 2 Posted by josefina on Jun 14, 2010
Where has your copy of «Мастер и Маргарита» [“The Master & Margarita”] been this week? I brought mine with me to the «университетская столовая» [university canteen] where I read it together with «кофе» [coffee] and «корзиночка со сливками» [lit. ‘little basket with cream’] a very tasty Russian pastry. Chapter 2 «Понтий Пилат» [“Pontius Pilate”] of…