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Vroom, vroom, VOM! (Verbs of Motion on a Harley) Posted by Rob on May 30, 2012
Here in Washington DC and the пригороды (“suburbs”) surrounding it, канун Дня поминования (“the day before Memorial Day”) becomes the occasion for a really big event — a privately organized парад байкеров (“biker parade”), entirely на мотоциклах (“on motorcycles”)! In English, it’s called “Rolling Thunder”; in Russian, it’s been translated as Раскат грома (“A resounding…
Эта книга изменила мою жизнь… Posted by Rob on May 28, 2012
(“This book changed my life…”) …and it could change yours, too! No, I’m NOT talking about Dianetics, or Think and Grow Rich, or Lose Two Pounds A Day The Herbal Way, or whatever. Я имею в виду вот эту книгу (“I have in mind this book here”): ВНИМАНИЕ! Чтение этой книги может привести к новой…
Are You Ready For the New Year? Posted by yelena on Dec 16, 2010
The Russian New Year season is well under way. Yes, that’s right, New Year is more than a day, it’s a season. «Приготовления» [preparations] start early. Not as early as the Christmas frenzy in the US, but definitely by early December. There’s so much to figure out! «Где будем праздновать» [Where are (we) going…
Reading “Мастер и Маргарита”: Chapter 16 Posted by yelena on Oct 25, 2010
Through the first 15 chapters of Master and Margarita I hoped that it’d be Josefina’s turn once we get to «Казнь» [Execution]. But now that she’s «отошла от дел» [withdraw from business], it falls to me to write about Chapter 16 of the Bulgakov’s novel… Personally, I find it hard to write about the chapters…
Joy of Russian Appetizers Posted by yelena on Oct 15, 2010
Last week I went to a «русский пикник» [Russian picnic] here, in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was done “pot-luck” style, so I had to think of something to bring for this «трапеза на лоне природы» [meal in the open air]. As I was thinking up something «вкусненькое» [delicious], yet «быстрое в приготовлении» [quick to make]…
«Прощайте, дорогие друзья!» [Farewell, dear friends!] Posted by josefina on Oct 10, 2010
I would advice you all to continue doing what I always do – and sort of have instructed you to also take pleasure in – look for signs of Russian literature EVERYWHERE! I found this bumper sticker on a car in downtown San Francisco today: “What would Taras Bulba do?” [«Что бы делал Тарас Бульба?»]…
Reading «Мастер и Маргарита»: Chapter 13 Posted by yelena on Sep 6, 2010
This is mimosa, one of the first flowers that appear at Russian markets in late winter and early spring. There’s much discussion whether the flowers Margarita carried the day she met Master were indeed «мимозы» [mimosa flowers]. After all, Bulgakov never named them, not in Chapter 13 anyway. He only described them as «отвратительные, тревожные…