Archive for 'Russian life'
Советские Анекдоты [Soviet Jokes] Posted by Natalie on Sep 26, 2011
«Дорогие друзья» [Dear friends], it is with great pleasure that I inform you that I am in an advanced Russian class this year. We have been reading «советские анекдоты» [Soviet jokes] in class and I want to share a few of them with you, as they are often quite funny. «–Цензурируется ли переписка советских…
19 Memories of 1991 Russia – Part 2 Posted by yelena on Aug 22, 2011
Quick Reminder Yes, the secret GIVEAWAY is still going on. It will close in just a few days, at 11:59pm EST on August 26th. So there’s still time to enter by leaving a comment either on this post or on my previous post. Remember, you can leave more than one comment. The more you comment…
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…
What Makes Russians Happy Posted by yelena on Aug 9, 2011
I’d like to thank Jarrod for the inspiring comment on our Facebook page and to Bob for sending me the infographics that started it all. Guys, you rock! A while ago one of the blog readers, Bob, e-mailed me the infographics you see at the top of the post. Honestly, while I really liked the…
Russian Names for Pets Posted by yelena on Jul 28, 2011
This is my cat Xander when he was just a kitty. On the surface of it, Xander is not a typical Russian name for a cat. Unless you know that I derived it from “Александр” [Alexandr]. Yep, every Russian woman has her Alexandr. Names are endlessly fascinating, aren’t they? Ok, maybe “endlessly” is a bit…
Most Popular Russian Names Posted by yelena on Jul 26, 2011
It might seem «невероятно» [unbelievable], but all through elementary and middle school I was the only «Лена» [Lena] in my class of 35 students, half of whom were girls. «Елена» [Yelena] was, until recently, one of the most common Russian names for girls. As for boys, back in the days «Александр» [Alexandr] was «настолько распространённое…
Soup And Salad All In One Posted by yelena on Jul 21, 2011
This summer’s «жара» [heat] and «засуха» [drought] are set to beat all sorts of records. While the «пессимист» [pessimist] in me frets over «мой огород» [my vegetable patch] and the «оптимист» [optimist] in me cheers that «вода в бассейне будет ещё теплее» [water in the pool will get even warmer], my inner «реалист» [realist]…