Archive for 'Uncategorized'
Crime & Punishment – A New Take On An Old Book Posted by josefina on Dec 9, 2007
There’s a witty scene in a Woody Allen movie where he says: ”I took a speed-read course and read ‘War & Peace’ in twenty minutes. It involves Russia”. I’m sure that if he had been forced to read the equally important and famous classic by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky he would have put it something…
The Russian Emotion: Indifference Posted by josefina on Dec 3, 2007
Watching the evening news in Russia can be an adventure all in itself – try to imagine a 30 minute sum-up of what has happened on one sixth of our planet – and you will easily be fooled into thinking that there are mafia bosses in black Armani suits, starving orphans and bombs going…
The Russian Emotion: Sickness Posted by josefina on Nov 14, 2007
As opposed to many languages, such as, for example, my native language of Swedish and the world language of English, Russian language regards diseases as something coming from the outside the organism, not from inside. The vocabulary used for talking about ailments in Russian clearly points out that not only is the sick person…
Helsinki – Saint Petersburg Posted by josefina on Nov 9, 2007
[August, 2004] Already in Helsinki, as I step onto the train that in about eight hours will reach Saint Petersburg, I can sense Russia. Feel her. Russia is in the brown cloth on the seats, in the green, thick curtains hanging in front of dusty windows, in the once upon a time shiny samovar with…
Why Russian? Posted by josefina on Sep 28, 2007
If you are wondering where Russian found me, you should look to a basement at Beloit College. This basement housed classes in many languages, but I spent most of my early time there on Ancient Greek, which I was sure I wanted to continue through college. It’s one goofy language. But that first year, I…
New Station on the Moscow Metro Posted by josefina on Sep 10, 2007
The trains in the Moscow Metropolitan runs over 9000 trips on a given day, and now those trains can run to a new station, “Trubnaya.” They quit working on this station about 20 years ago, but now they’ve refurbished it and opened it to the public. It’s stylized after a Moscow street from the 20s…
Weird Russian Fruit Drinks Posted by josefina on Sep 6, 2007
This is compote, or rather, компот. Don’t be afraid of it! Compote is not a thick fruit desert, but a watery fruity drink with fruit on the bottom. It’s like juice, but lighter. You boil fruit in water with sugar to make it. The fruit on the bottom looks suspicious, but it’s good. I’ve seen…