Archive for 'Uncategorized'
The Russian Ironic T-shirt Posted by josefina on Dec 12, 2008
Walking down Yekat’s answer to Moscow’s Arbat – улица Вайнера – I came upon these two t-shirts on an ad for a souvernir shop. The first one says: «Лето на Урале было! Но я в тот день работал» [There was summer in the Urals! But on that day I worked.] The second one says: «Екатеринбург…
A Great Russian Writer: Варлам Шаламов [Varlam Shalamov] Posted by josefina on Dec 7, 2008
Though it’s been over a month since I finished reading his masterpiece «Колымскиерассказы» [“The Kolyma Tales”] I have not yet been able to let go of him as a writer. Not only the fate of Варлам Шаламов [Varlam Shalamov] but also his person has stuck on me for good. I wanted to write about him…
Introducing: «Советский анекдот» [the Soviet Joke] Posted by josefina on Nov 29, 2008
Russia is not only terribly fascinating just because it is the wildest, most chaotic and most unpredictable place on the face of the Earth, but also because it was once home to another country – yes, you guessed it – the Soviet Union. It is difficult to sum up the Soviet Union in a short…
Introducing: «Единый день народных сметанников» [United Day of People’s Smetanniki] Posted by josefina on Nov 4, 2008
Hello gorgeous! Шесть свежевыпеченных сметанников (из магазина) [six freshly baked ‘smetannikis’ (from the store)] and the celebration of November 4th can begin! This morning when I woke up late there was but one question on my unglossed lips – how should I celebrate today’s beautiful holiday? «Сегодня всё-таки “День народного единства”!» [Today is after all…
There’s Something Right About This Picture… Posted by josefina on Nov 3, 2008
By the time everyone guessed right – to which I must say «молодцы!» – my Korean roommate counted just how many new words she’s been learning a week, and fixed it in the following manner: «160 (сто шестдесять) новых слов за неделю!» [160 new words a week!]. Now is there anyone out there prepared to…
What’s wrong with this picture? Posted by josefina on Nov 1, 2008
My Korean roommate put up this piece of paper on our wall about a month ago. Only a few days ago did I realize that it is not a correct message in Russian grammatically speaking; no matter how great and ambitious it may be generally speaking. And so I was forced to accept the bitter facts…
Word of the Week: пить [to drink] Posted by josefina on Oct 29, 2008
The word of the week today is a part of a delicate subject. I know. But this is Russian language and since some people tend to consider this language to have as many words for sipping drinks as the Eskimos do for snow, then I would like to set the record straight and clear up…