Archive for 'History'
19-20-21 Soviet Pop Culture Memories From 1991 Posted by yelena on Aug 18, 2011
This Friday, August 19th, marks the 20th anniversary of the Soviet coup d’etat attempt. I’m not going to do a history post because there are lots of sites online that do a much better job of it, complete with detailed timeline and analysis. Besides, I was just 13 at the time and politics was the…
The Polish Air Crash of 2010 Posted by Natalie on Apr 25, 2011
Well, «дорогие читатели» [dear readers], this is going to be a depressing post. It is about «авиакатастрофа в Смоленске 10 (десятого) апреля 2010 (две тысячи десятого) года» [the plane crash in Smolensk on April 10, 2010]. It made headlines at the time and a year later, people are still talking about it. Why? Read on…
How to Be A Cosmonaut for a Day Posted by yelena on Apr 11, 2011
Are you ready for tomorrow? You might be asking «а что будет завтра?» [just what will be happening tomorrow?]. A quick look at the calendar will tell you that tomorrow is «двенадцатое апреля» [April 12th]. If you enter this date into Google search you will see that, in addition to it being a «сто второй…
A History of Kiev, Part 4 Posted by Natalie on Mar 7, 2011
«Я знаю» [I know] that it has been quite a long time since I posted about «история Киева» [the history of Kiev]. You have been in so much suspense about what happens next, right? 😉 Anyway, today we are going to talk about «гражданская война» [the civil war], which is a very serious subject…
Russian Space Songs Karaoke Posted by yelena on Feb 25, 2011
Well, it’s «февраль» [February] and the weather is absolutely dreary. All around me – «снег» [snow] and «сугробы» [snow drifts] and freezing temperatures. So all I want to write about is tropical climes, but Russia isn’t famous for those. So instead, I’m going to talk about «астрономия» [astronomy]. «Сперва» [at first] I thought about…
Why Do Russians Call Their Astronauts Cosmonauts? Posted by yelena on Feb 10, 2011
Today, February 10th 2011 marks «столетие со дня рождения Мстислава Всеволодовича Келдыша» [one hundredth birthday of Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldish]. Keldish was a Soviet scientist without whose contributions many of «успехи советской космонавтики» [achievements of the Soviet cosmonautics], including Sputnik and the first manned flight would not had happened. Although his name rarely appeared in…
Russian Poetry: Летний сад, Part 2 Posted by Natalie on Feb 9, 2011
«Дорогие друзья» [Dear friends], I did something very bad this Tuesday: «я пропустила занятие по русскому языку» [I skipped Russian class]. I really did not want to, I assure you. «Но мне было надо написать письменную работу» [But I had to finish my essay (literally “written work”)]. But luckily, this does not mean I…