{"id":983,"date":"2010-06-23T10:00:22","date_gmt":"2010-06-23T10:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=983"},"modified":"2010-06-23T04:06:58","modified_gmt":"2010-06-23T04:06:58","slug":"summer-weekends-russian-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/summer-weekends-russian-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Weekends, Russian Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m going to let you in on a secret\u2026 Move closer to the screen\u2026 Closer\u2026 Even though we just posted our guest blogger invite, we (Josefina and I) have been mulling over this idea for some time. We just needed a willing test subject (aka a guinea pig). Somehow our choice fell on Vicki, quite possibly because of the funny comments she left on a couple of our posts (told ya, we really read them). To make a long story short, we asked Vicki to guest post for us and she graciously agreed, possibly because we didn\u2019t mention anything about this being a test.<\/p>\n

So without further delay, let me introduce Vicki Boykis<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Born in Nizhniy Novgorod, Vicki moved to the US at the tender age of 5. Amazingly, she didn\u2019t stop speaking Russian! She currently lives and works in Washington, D.C and finds time to blog on her very entertaining blog<\/a>. You can also follow her on Twitter @vboykis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And now, in Vicki\u2019s own words:<\/p>\n

\u00ab<\/strong>\u0427\u0435\u043c <\/strong>\u0437\u0430\u043d\u0438\u043c\u0430<\/span>\u044e\u0442\u0441\u044f <\/strong>\u0440\u0443<\/span>\u0441\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0435 <\/strong>\u0438\u043c\u043c\u0438\u0433\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u0442\u044b <\/strong>\u043b\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u043e\u043c <\/strong>\u0432 <\/strong>\u0410\u043c\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0435?\u00bb<\/strong> [What do Russian immigrants do in the summer in the US?]<\/p>\n

Josefina and Yelena do an excellent job writing about what it’s like to live in Russia, so for this guest post, I thought I’d move a bit closer to (my) home, the Northeastern United States.\u00a0 It contains a lot of pidgin Russian words (italicized<\/em>) that Russian immigrants in the United States use…see if you can figure them out phonetically.<\/p>\n

In Russia, summer is often a time to be spent at the \u00ab\u0434\u0430\u0447\u0430\u00bb<\/a><\/strong> [dacha], \u00ab\u0441\u043e\u0431\u0438\u0440\u0430<\/span><\/strong>\u044f \u044f<\/span>\u0433\u043e\u0434\u044b \u0438 \u043d\u0430\u0441\u043b\u0430\u0436\u0434\u0430<\/span><\/strong>\u044f\u0441\u044c \u0443\u0440\u043e\u0436\u0430<\/span>\u0435\u043c\u00bb<\/strong> [picking berries and enjoying the harvest] and drinking cold beer.\u00a0 Tragically,\u00a0 Russians who live \u00ab\u0432 \u0438\u043c\u043c\u0438\u0433\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0446\u0438<\/strong>\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> [in immigration] and not in \u00ab\u0420\u0430<\/span>\u0448\u043a\u0430\u00bb,<\/em><\/strong> but either in the USA, Canada, Australia, or other countries, don’t have the chance to partake in this tradition because summer homes are quite expensive and in America might require a second \u00ab\u043c\u043e<\/span>\u0440\u0433\u0435\u0434\u0436\u00bb.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Often, summers in the United States revolve around \u00ab\u0448\u0430\u0448\u043b\u044b<\/span>\u043a\u00bb<\/strong> (shashlik, shish-kebab) with friends and family.\u00a0 Usually, the family will pile into a car in order to \u00ab\u0434\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0439\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> on the \u00ab\u0445\u0430<\/span>\u0439\u0432\u0435\u0439\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> to get to the house of the party. You can’t leave without \u00ab\u043c\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u0435\u043d\u044c\u043a\u0438\u0439 \u043f\u043e\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u043e\u043a\u00bb<\/strong> [a small gift] to give to the hostess – anything less would be rude.\u00a0 Usually it\u2019s a bottle of wine, chocolates, flowers, or often a combination of two of the three.<\/p>\n

Once you come to the house of your host, you’re asked to take off your \u00ab\u0441\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u043a\u0435\u0440\u0441\u0438\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> and given some \u00ab\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u043f\u043e\u0447\u043a\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> [slippers] from the host’s stash.\u00a0\u00a0 You’ll offer to help out of politeness but the hostess will refuse your help and tell you that her husband is outside, \u00ab\u0433\u0440\u0438<\/span>\u043b\u0430\u0435\u0442\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> the shashlik and will be done in a minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the meantime, you mingle with the other guests before the \u00ab\u0437\u0430\u043a\u0443<\/span>\u0441\u043a\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> [appetizers] are ready.\u00a0 You politely ask, \u00ab\u043a\u0430\u043a <\/strong>\u0434\u0435\u043b\u0430<\/span> \u043d\u0430 \u0440\u0430\u0431\u043e<\/span>\u0442\u0435?\u00bb<\/strong> [how’s work?] and they’ll tell you that \u00ab\u0431\u0438<\/span>\u0437\u043d\u0435\u0441 \u0438\u0434\u0435<\/span>\u0442 <\/strong>\u0445\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0448\u043e<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [business is going well] or that they’re not happy with job and are updating their \u00ab\u0440\u0435\u0437<\/strong>\u044e\u043c\u0435<\/span>\u00bb.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 They’ll ask you in turn about your new job and congratulate you on your new \u00ab\u0431\u0435<\/span>\u0439\u0431\u0438\u0447\u043a\u0430\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> if you’re a parent, or on the good \u00ab\u0434\u0438\u043b\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> if you just bought a new car.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eventually, it will come time to eat and the same customs that are observed in Russia are observed in the immigration – vodka and zakuski first, then first course, then desert.\u00a0 All the while, people are toasting \u00ab\u0445\u043e\u0437\u044f<\/span>\u0435\u0432 \u0434\u043e<\/span>\u043c\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [the owners of the house] and socializing.\u00a0 The conversation might turn to whether it’s dangerous to own a \u00ab\u0441\u0435<\/span>\u043b\u0444\u043e\u043d\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> because of the possibility of \u00ab\u0440\u0430\u043a\u00bb<\/strong> [cancer], or whether a certain child is getting good \u00ab\u043e\u0446\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u043a\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> [grades] at \u00ab\u043a\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u0435\u0434\u0436<\/em>\u00bb.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you’re at an extra-special meal, you’ll get the chance to eat some real American \u00ab\u0442\u0443<\/span>\u0440\u043a\u0430\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> while washing it down with \u00ab\u043a\u043e<\/span>\u043a\u0430 \u043a\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u0430\u00bb<\/em><\/strong>, or you might just get all of the Russian dishes-salat’ olivye and cold summer borsch.<\/p>\n

The meal usually ends as all Russian meals do, with \u00ab\u0441\u043b\u0430<\/span><\/strong>\u0434\u043a\u0438\u0439 \u0441\u0442\u043e\u043b \u0438 \u0447\u0430\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> [desert and tea] including a nice cake that the hostess might have lucked out and bought \u00ab\u043d\u0430 \u0441<\/strong>\u044d<\/span>\u0439\u043b\u0435\u00bb<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 When it’s already past midnight you’ll start to leave and your hosts will remind you \u00ab\u0434\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0439\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> \u00ab\u043e\u0441\u0442\u043e\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0436\u043d\u043e \u0432 \u0442\u0435\u043c\u043d<\/strong>\u043e\u0442\u0435<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [carefully in the dark].<\/p>\n

You’ll drive home and think to yourself, \u00ab\u043a\u0430\u043a\u043e<\/span>\u0439 \u043f\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0442\u0438 <\/em>\u0445\u043e\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0448<\/strong>\u0438\u0439 \u0431<\/strong>\u044b\u043b!\u00bb<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ok, so it’s not exactly summer in this picture. But it was very hot on that spring weekend in New York. And this is a Russian partycomplete with shish-kebabs, salads, appetizers and a jug of “\u043a\u043e\u043c\u043f\u043e\u0442<\/strong>” [a cold drink made by boiled fruits and berries with some sugar]. And yes, it was an awesome party!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

I\u2019m going to let you in on a secret\u2026 Move closer to the screen\u2026 Closer\u2026 Even though we just posted our guest blogger invite, we (Josefina and I) have been mulling over this idea for some time. We just needed a willing test subject (aka a guinea pig). Somehow our choice fell on Vicki, quite…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8,7827,913],"tags":[9653,7432,1211,1248,9654,9655],"class_list":["post-983","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","category-russian-life","category-traditions","tag-english-russia","tag-guest-blogger","tag-russia","tag-russian-language","tag-russians-in-america","tag-vicki-boykis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=983"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":987,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions\/987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}