Archive for 'Soviet Union'
A Russian Small Town: «Верхний Тагил» [Verkhny, or ‘Upper’, Tagil] Posted by josefina on Jul 10, 2009
The last post about a trip to a «деревня» [village], or more correctly a «посёлок» [settlement] in the Russian region of «южныйУрал» [Southern Urals] is followed up today as we continue our exploration of a part of Russia that I’ve come to love dearly after three years here: «Урал» [the Ural Mountains]! Today’s journey takes…
«Выходные в деревне» [A Weekend in the Village] Posted by josefina on Jul 6, 2009
This big piece of metal and stone is, «разумеется» [naturally; of course], a «Памятник В. И. Ленину от трудящихся Челябинска» [monument to V. I. Lenin from the workers of Chelyabinsk], standing in the very heart of the city of «Челябинск» [Chelyabinsk]. This city with more than a million inhabitants is located in «Южный Урал» [the…
Russian Food: «Слава гречке!» [Glory to Buckwheat!] Posted by josefina on Jun 26, 2009
Introducing an essential part of Russian cuisine: «гречка»! «Гречка» is actually the ‘nickname’ («уменьшительно-ласкательный вариант» – don’t you just love the Russian language for applying diminutive even to such things as grains?) whereas the real name for buckwheat is «гречиха». In the stores you can also find it in boxes marked «крупа гречневая» [buckwheat] as…
Swedish/Russian Eurovision Skit: “Tingaling” Posted by josefina on May 17, 2009
This is funny because it is a true image of what most Swedes consider Russia to be like. But what are they singing? Here’s the lyrics in English, Russian and even with a little bit Swedish: Погриманский на здоровье [‘Pogrimanski’ (?) to your health] Глобоский гротески [‘Globoski groteski’ (?)] Наступающим! [with the coming!] (Tingaling, tingaling) (Tingaling…
Test Your Russia IQ! Posted by josefina on May 16, 2009
This is interesting: the travel site Travel all Russia has a timed test you can take to find out just how well you know everybody’s favorite “Родина Мать” [Motherland]: Russia IQ test – how much do you know about Russia? All you need to do in order to take it and try your knowledge about this…
Готовимся ко Дню Победы: [Getting Ready for Victory Day] Как носить Георгиевскую ленточку [How to Wear the St. George Ribbon] Posted by josefina on May 6, 2009
[I’m sorry that the problem with the pictures has not yet been solved, and that you have to visit my personal blog to see the pictures for today’s post. I hope that it will be solved as soon as possible, but until then – have patience! I consider my photos of/from Russia to be almost…
Reading Russian Literature: Иван Алексеевич Бунин [Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin] Posted by josefina on Apr 24, 2009
Out of the five Russian Nobel Prize winners so far – Бунин [Bunin], Шолохов [Sholokhov], Пастернак [Pasternak], Солженицын [Solzhenitsyn], Бродский [Brodsky] – the first of them, Иван Алексеевич Бунин [Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin], seems to have been almost forgotten after receiving the Prize in 1933. Everyone seems to be discussing Sholokhov and asking one of those…