Archive for 'History'
First Time in Russia: an American Perspective (Part 2) Posted by Jenya on Apr 22, 2014
Hello everyone! Here is the second part to the story we started last week (you can find part 1 here). Our first full day in Mogilev saw us getting my visa stamped, grocery shopping, and walking around town. Downtown Mogilev was a very beautiful city and the cloudy weather did not spoil it. The city was…
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…
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…
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…
What You Didn’t Know About Ethnic Heritage in Russia Posted by Maria on Feb 27, 2014
Talking about identity and ethnicity is probably a can of worms for every country. Russia is no different in that respect, and национальный вопрос (ethnic question) is a very щекотливый вопрос (touchy subject). However, the dynamics of ethnic relations in Russia may differ from how they work in your country, and I’d like to point…
Serfin’ the tide of Russian history Posted by Rob on Jun 13, 2013
Since I’ve done a number of vocabulary and grammar posts recently, I thought that this week, for a change of pace, we’ll take a look at Russian history. And, more specifically, the history of that peculiar institution known as крепостничество (“serfdom”) — which for hundreds of years was the curse of the Russian poor and…
Sing-a-long with Khan and Igor! Posted by Rob on May 8, 2013
I’m not much of an opera fan — because most of them, in my opinion, have maybe 5 or 10 minutes of musically entertaining sections heavily padded with hours and hours of shouting and warbling. The typical opera is like one of those pop-music albums that contains exactly ONE hit anyone wants to hear again…