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From the Mendeleyev Journal story, In Russia it's all about the chocolate (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/its-all-about-the-chocolate/).
Sitting on a plane making ready for takeoff from Atlanta some few days ago I listened to a guy in the row behind me wax eloquent on the glories of Russia to his seatmate. I kept quiet -- nothing ruins a good conversation like input from someone who knows what they're talking about -- and listened with a smile.
To hear it from this fellow, all the ladies in Russia have blonde hair and blue eyes and the food is just like American cuisine; in fact, he seems to believe that most Russians eat at McDonalds every day. Perhaps he is right and I'm just blind to it all.
That is okay because he did get it right in one area...the chocolate.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/chocolate-2-1778.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/chocolate-2-1778.jpg)
Oh boy, especially that European dark confection that causes a diet managed diabetic like myself to risk it all for just a taste. While no one is watching, of course.
So much chocolate, so little time!
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/chocolatenitza-2-866.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/chocolatenitza-2-866.jpg)
There is even a fast growing chain of chocolate oriented stores that serve great chocolates along with tea and fruit drinks.
What a country!
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What I enjoy most about Russian chocolate is that it's not too sugary and you can really get into the taste. Russian ice cream is also the best.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal section on Russian cuisine: main dishes (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/russian-cuisine-main-salads-soups-desserts/main-dishes/).
The Russian word for eggs is яйца (YEEt-sa).
That part is easy. The hard part is figuring out why most egg cartons come with 10 eggs instead of a dozen.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/eggs-brown.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/eggs-brown.jpg)
If the expression cheaper by the dozen is true, then I'd like to know why do stores sell them by 10 instead?
Supermarkets and medium sized neighborhood markets package eggs in styrofoam cartons like most other places in the modern world, but in a group of 10.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/egg-carton-001.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/egg-carton-001.jpg)
As eggs are not a breakfast staple in many homes, Russian housewives use them for cooking and baking and perhaps that is why they don't come in a dozen. I asked one time and the blank stare and shrug of shoulders clued me in that not only did the shopkeeper not have an answer, but neither did she share my curiosity about how eggs are packaged.
To be fair, in the small markets and kiosks you don't have to purchase eggs in a carton. Just like potatoes, you can ask for 2 or 3 eggs. Or 4 or 5 if you'd like. They'll be put in a small plastic bag, tied tight at the top and you are responsible for getting them home without breaking.
The news today says that hurricane Rita could impact more than a dozen cruise ships and that the Texas drought could force the relocation of more than a dozen buffalo. Well, why not just write that more than ten cruise ships would be impacted or that more than ten buffalo would be located?
If it is so danged important to group buffalo by the dozen in Texas then surely someone should suggest to the Russians the idea of cooperating with the rest of the world and sell eggs by the dozen!
Then again, some ideas just aren't that important. :)
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Eggs are in ten because Russia uses metric system for ages. I am sure you know this really:-)
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Eggs are in ten because Russia uses metric system for ages. I am sure you know this really:-)
Are you sure thats the reason?
What in your opinion, would be the reason for eggs to come in a dozen/12 per carton for Standard measuring countries? 12 has no significance.
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Yes it is. Firstly US together with Liberia and Birma have never accepted metric system at all.
Secondly although USSR only accepted metric system in 1920 the government just ordered shops etc to use it. As the shop belonged to the country/goverment anyway they just started selling milk in litres,(it's not metric but agreed by international convention to use together with metric) sugar in kilos and eggs in tens regardless of how unhappy the customers might have been. And because all shops did it at the same time people had no other choice as to get used to it:-) So we are happily buying eggs in tens and have no probelems with it :-)
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Are you sure thats the reason?
What in your opinion, would be the reason for eggs to come in a dozen/12 per carton for Standard measuring countries? 12 has no significance.
The reason eggs come in dozens on other countries is because the customers prefer it because they used to dozens. We in the USSR were made to get used to tens.
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Are you sure thats the reason?
What in your opinion, would be the reason for eggs to come in a dozen/12 per carton for Standard measuring countries? 12 has no significance.
Yes, 12 has significance. If you try to carry a gross of eggs, they are too heavy.
Thus people started asking for the square root of a gross.
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The reason eggs come in dozens on other countries is because the customers prefer it because they used to it. We in the USSR were made to get used to it.
Yes it is. Firstly US together with Liberia and Birma have never accepted metric system at all.
Secondly although USSR only accepted metric system in 1920 the government just ordered shops etc to use it. As the shop belonged to the country/goverment anyway they just started selling milk in litres,(it's not metric but agreed by international convention to use together with metric) sugar in kilos and eggs in tens regardless of how unhappy the customers might have been. And because all shops did it at the same time people had no other choice as to get used to it:-) So we are happily buying eggs in tens and have no probelems with it :-)
I was asking because I honestly did not know. I do know that 12 has no significance in the Standard weights and measures. It is just a preferred number and apparently there is no where in history anyone can direct to where 12 or a dozen became the preferred way to buy eggs. A little factoid of modern times is even though they are sold in cartons of 6, 12, 18 or 24, they are usually sold by weight.
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Yes, 12 has significance. If you try to carry a gross of eggs, they are too heavy.
Thus people started asking for the square root of a gross.
The practice seems to have developed centuries ago in England. So you think it is safe to say subjects of the King of England were using their calculus to buy eggs?
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Eggs are in ten because Russia uses metric system for ages. I am sure you know this really:-)
:) You are a smart lady, Ranetka!
Btw, I think that you are each correct.
The metric system deals with powers of 10: However, as Manlooking points out, a gross which is the basic bulk unit of measurement in the metric system is a group of 12 (12 in each group) equaling 144 individual units.
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:) You are a smart lady, Ranetka!
Btw, I think that you are each correct.
The metric system deals with powers of 10: However, as Manlooking points out, a gross which is the basic bulk unit of measurement in the metric system is a group of 12 (12 in each group) equaling 144 individual units.
Gross is not a part of a metric system.
By metric system I mean SI (international metric system or metric for short) rather than imperial system.
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I always knew Russians were a couple eggs short of going to the top of a six pack.
The sheer variety (and taste) of the chocolate is amazing... and I am not sure if this is Russian or Ukrainian ice cream, but Plombir completely rocks the planet.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal section on Russian cuisine: main dishes (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/russian-cuisine-main-salads-soups-desserts/main-dishes/).
The Russian word for eggs is яйца (YEEt-sa).
That part is easy. The hard part is figuring out why most egg cartons come with 10 eggs instead of a dozen.
Mendy, I'm surprised you didn't figure this out. What measuring system they use in Russia? Metric or English?
There's your answer.
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Non-decimal system based on dozens came from before RoImans, back to 12 Zodiac signs etc, 12 months. I do not think there is a universally accepted theory where this system came from but the word dozen (Russian дюжина - dyuzheena) came from Latin.
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Okay, okay. Back to Russian chocolate. Mmmmmm Yum Yum
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Gross is not a part of a metric system.
Thank you, Ranetka. I am not a mathamagician but if correct then here is another thing to admire, an excellent basic educational system!
Mendy, I'm surprised you didn't figure this out. What measuring system they use in Russia? Metric or English?
Muzh, Metric.
But it makes for interesting writing, yes? :)
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Non-decimal system based on dozens came from before RoImans, back to 12 Zodiac signs etc, 12 months. I do not think there is a universally accepted theory where this system came from but the word dozen (Russian дюжина - dyuzheena) came from Latin.
And it is enunciated almost exactly as in Spanish. ;D
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Muzh, Metric.
But it makes for interesting writing, yes? :)
And who's complaining? I love your posts. ;D
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I always knew Russians were a couple eggs short of going to the top of a six pack.
The sheer variety (and taste) of the chocolate is amazing... and I am not sure if this is Russian or Ukrainian ice cream, but Plombir completely rocks the planet.
Plombir...Oh yes. We need to thank Nikita Chruchstev for that, the reciepy (sorry I can not spell it) is based on the french ice-cream however adjusted by his personal taste. According to urban myth or is it really true? when he visited America he liked that they sell ice cream eveywhere but he wanted the taste reacher so they found French receipy and change it to make more to his taste.
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To kill this thread off completely :-). If anyone is interested.
To be totaly and absolutely fair SI or metric system only define units to measure things like lengths, weight etc. So it is not about how many things, it is how long, how heavy etc...You can not say 10 belongs to SI and 12 does not as these numbers are not units of measure, they are just numbers.
However SI is based on decimal measuring system where all measurements are in tens. So we count things in tens in Russian. We do however still have sayings in Russian referencing dozens, like devil's dozen for example. (bet this expression came from Latin too as it is the same in English)
Well this is it.
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Who said ice cream?
Good choice!
Russian's don't just love ice cream, it would seem as if they lust for it.
Ice cream for breakfast?
In a heart attack, oops, I meant in a heart beat.
Since Russians/Ukrainians don't usually have a predetermined group of "breakfast foods" anything is fair game at any meal. So, if you've not yet experienced ice cream for breakfast just call my MIL. She makes some of the best blini (small thin, crepes/pancakes) on the planet. Layer in some berries and then ice cream. Fold over with the berries and ice cream inside and what a treat!
You'll hear a lot of expressions sounding something like очень вкусно from everyone around the table. The term вкусный is "tasty/delicious" and here is a quick tutorial:
очень "OH-chen" is the word 'very.'
вкусно "f KU-sna" is tasty.
Notes: The B (veh) is converted to an f sound because of consonant clustering but it should be felt and not really heard very distinctly. In кусно, the O is spoken as "ah" because it is an unstressed vowel.
With our language and grammar lesson completed, we need to find a place to grab some мороженое (ice cream), ma-RO-zhinaye. (Again you've noticed that each unstressed letter O has been converted to 'ah' sound.)
мороженое (ice cream) is sold all over the place and not just in supermarkets. You can find it in almost any restaurant from a local Russian cafe to the new McDonald's on the block.
Or, from sidewalk kiosks like this one.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/ice-cream-025.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/ice-cream-025.jpg)
(Click on photo to expand.)
This little sidewalk kiosk will do a brisk business year round--even in the depths of winter!
Meantime hold that thought -- Пойду за пломбиром.
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Daveman, as you like Пломбир ice cream, I think you'll enjoy this link from Dr. Don Livingston from the Arizona State University Slavic languages department. He has a great blog and the 27 July 2010 edition has photos and an explanation about how Пломбир got that name.
http://shininghappypeople.net/rwotd/blog4.php/2010/07/27/-471
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I do not think there is a universally accepted theory where this system came from
From an ancient population with 6 fingers on their hands ;D?
but the word dozen (Russian дюжина - dyuzheena) came from Latin.
Indirectly IMO since 12 is duodecim - more likely from some Latin-derived language (dozzina in Italian, douzaine in French, dozena in Spanish, etc.)
BTW, what's the word for 5 dozens :D?
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From Wiki
A dozen (common abbreviated doz or dz) is a grouping of approximately twelve (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_%28number%29). The dozen may be one of the earliest primitive groupings, perhaps because there are approximately a dozen cycles of the moon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon) or months (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Month) in a cycle of the sun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun) or year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year). The dozen is convenient because its multiples (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_%28mathematics%29) and divisors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divisor) are convenient: 12 = 2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_%28number%29) × 2 × 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_%28number%29), 3 × 4 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_%28number%29) = 2 × 6 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6_%28number%29), 60 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60_%28number%29) = 12 × 5 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_%28number%29), 360 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/360_%28number%29) = 12 × 30 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30_%28number%29). The use of twelve as a base number, known as the duodecimal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodecimal) system (also as dozenal), probably originated in Mesopotamia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia) (see also sexagesimal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagesimal)). Twelve dozen (122 = 144 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/144_%28number%29), the duodecimal 100) are known as a gross (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_%28unit%29); and twelve gross (123 = 1,728 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1728_%28number%29), the duodecimal 1,000) are called a great gross (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_gross), a term most often used when shipping or buying items in bulk. A great hundred (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_hundred), also known as a small gross (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_gross), is 120 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/120_%28number%29) or ten (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_%28number%29) dozen (a dozen for each finger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger) on both hands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand)). A baker's dozen, also known as a long dozen, is thirteen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_%28number%29), while a decimal dozen is only ten.
Etymology
The English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language) word dozen comes from the old form of the French (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language) word douzaine, meaning "a group of twelve" ("Assemblage de choses de même nature au nombre de douze" - (translation: A group of twelve things of the same nature as defined in the eighth edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionnaire_de_l%27Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise)).[1][2][3] This French word [7] (http://www.patrimoine-de-france.org/mots/mots-acade-30-14691.html#mot-2) is a derivation from the cardinal number (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_number) douze ("twelve", from Latin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin) duodĕcim) and the collective (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_number) suffix (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix) -aine (from Latin -ēna), a suffix also used to form other words with similar meanings such as quinzaine (a group of fifteen), vingtaine (a group of twenty), centaine (a group of one hundred), etc. These French words have synonymous cognates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognate) in Spanish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language): docena,[4][5][6] quincena, veintena, centena, etc. English dozen, French douzaine, German Dutzend, Dutch dozijn and Spanish docena, are also used as indefinite quantifiers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantifier) to mean "about twelve" or "many" (as in "a dozen times", "dozens of people").
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I guess 12 eggs is about the best any chicken will lay in two weeks.
Thus you buy a dozen eggs.
Here in Europe 10 eggs in a package is standard.
Guess we're getting ripped off a bit.
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6 or 12 in the UK. Or 15 for some reason.
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I guess 12 eggs is about the best any chicken will lay in two weeks.
Thus you buy a dozen eggs.
Here in Europe 10 eggs in a package is standard.
Guess we're getting ripped off a bit.
Thats the way I felt in Russia with the 10 egg carton. I was like "WTF"?
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You're all welcome to you're arguments regarding measurements, frankly I don't care providing any visitor coming to stay with us from Russia brings at least a
kilogram or 2.2 pounds sch!tload of Russian chocolate - I was hooked within a week of being in Russia many years ago and I've never wavered, it's unmatched.
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I knew mama liked me when she sent me a "care" package from Khabarovsk and in that package was a pound or so of the Russian candies (The kind in the wrappers you mix & match and pay for by the weight) , sushki (сушки) and some other things. I love the chocolates, sushki and salty tomatoes and whenever we go to visit mama she always has salty tomatoes and сушки. I am truely a fortunate man :D
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I am having ALL the Russian chocolates our Russian agent sent to us no-one in the office likes it, silly people, all the better for me!
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I've never tasted Russian chocolate yet - or eggs, for that matter :D - but I wonder whether my taste changes are shared by others: I remember that, as a kid, I'd only consider milk chocolate palatable while my father favoured fondente, i.e. straight, slightly bitter chocolate. This was a source of debate for instance re Easter eggs, his type were more robust while mine tended to sag after a while :(.
Over the years, I found myself following more and more in his footsteps ;). Progress in chocolate discrimination, or a need for an increasing 'extra choky kick' ;D?
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Digressing a little further :D, recently I discovered in a neighbouring supermarket a very decent ale from Corsica:
(http://www.brasseriepietra.com/pics/Affiche_Pietra.jpg)
http://www.brasseriepietra.com/it/pgs/pietra1_it.htm
Pietra means 'stone' in Italian. They add chestnut flour to malt in its preparation, which may account for its good taste.
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My favorite chocolate candy always was "Truffles" by "Red October", and I like bitter chocolate.
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Here in the US I love Donchels Cocoa Dusted Belgian Truffles :P mmmm they just melt in mouth
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Acrzybear, do you like sushki with poppy seeds? :P
Ah, salty tomatoes with dill, pepper, onion... , I love them too.
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Just moving away from chocolate (as hard as it is) what do people think of the vegetables/fruit in Russia? Would you say it is grown more 'organically' than in the west? My wife seems to think so, now that she has experienced the fruit and vege section of Australian supermarkets, she said at one stage they look like 'plastic'.
Of course I told her you can usually find dedicated 'markets' that sell (not necessarily organic) more homegrown produce that would be more to her liking, I explained that organic fruit/veges will be a lot more expensive, and for the supermarkets, presentation is possibly more important than nutrition.
I must admit when I was in Moscow, the fruit and veges looked more 'organic' except for one very expensive supermarket on Tverskaya Ulitsa, beautiful building, amazing produce.
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I was over there in Russia with my wife for three weeks in May and we never ate in restaurants like all my other trips. And for the first time I found the Russian food noticably better than I can buy here in Chicago. It is not altered. Now I try and buy organic here and is better. But a little more expensive and not as availiable near me.
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what do people think of the vegetables/fruit in Russia? Would you say it is grown more 'organically' than in the west?
While I simply couldn't speak on where you live, as compared to the USA then Russian fruits and produce do seem to be more natural. In general foods in the FSU are less processed and more easily digested. That is one common cause of diarrhea, when some visitors suddenly experience live cultures (as nature intended) in the food and those little guys go to work cleaning out a clogged up colon/digestive track, etc.
There are obvious differences between pure organic and natural but either is better than genetically engineered and highly processed foods which are nutritionally "dead" on arrival at store shelves. In recent years Russia has dramatically curtailed imports of meat and vegetable products from the USA for those very reasons.
In general, fruits and vegetables will be more natural. However, there is a very real danger of produce coming from areas of high contamination with all manner of toxic crap left over from Soviet practices. Moscow has tried to regulate this but it is a potential issue here and all over Russia.
It is thought that melons originated in Asia, specifically in areas such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and the Persian Empire. Export for trade was made easy along the famous "Silk Road." That is easy to believe when tasting melons from any of those areas or from the south of Russia along Asian borders. Mouthwatering!
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That is one common cause of diarrhea, when some visitors suddenly experience live cultures (as nature intended) in the food and those little guys go to work cleaning out a clogged up colon/digestive track, etc.
IIRC, this problem was first studied by the Royal Army Medical Corps
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/PhpYyaenh.gif)
a century ago or so, due the the high incidence of that particular 'discomfort' afflicting most British troops sent to distant British Empire possessions - like India, Africa, the Caribbean islands, etc. - and the conclusion was that their immune system took some time before it could learn to handle those different local strains of otherwise familiar bacteria.
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It is thought that melons originated in Asia, specifically in areas such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and the Persian Empire. Export for trade was made easy along the famous "Silk Road." That is easy to believe when tasting melons from any of those areas or from the south of Russia along Asian borders. Mouthwatering!
But you also should be careful. Sometimes they are full of nitrates. Especially huge watermelons. Coloring agents injected into a watermelon give a nice bright color. You can consider yourself lucky if you get only diarrhea.
Here is an article (in Russian) about "watermelons-killers".
http://www.from-ua.com/health/078e8a53e2e17.html (http://www.from-ua.com/health/078e8a53e2e17.html)
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From today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Speaking of overly processed foods, some ideas are just plain strange. Odd, isn't it, that many of the strange ideas come from the West?
Heinz drooled over this potential new market some years ago. Russians love ketchup, in fact it could be a food group all by itself. So could mayonnaise and sour cream now that I think about it.
What Heinz didn't realize is that Russians often want 2 things out of their ketchup:
1- They like it to be more "fluid" that the constipated ketchup slowly oozing from the Heinz bottles.
2- Any Russkaya (Russian female) can tell you that a proper ketchup must be able to function as a tomato paste or as spaghetti sauce at a moments notice.
Even while claiming to have researched the market, when Heinz came to Russia they brought a sugary and slow moving tomato paste to town. It flopped. Heinz lost money, reputation and market share before eventually learning how to make a good Russian ketchup.
Now we're wondering whether Lay's the potato chip maker is on to something big, or have they lost their marbles? It's too early to tell but we'll let you know at some point in the future.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/potato-chips-crab-3-1638.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/potato-chips-crab-3-1638.jpg)
Time for another mini language lesson:
There is no c sound in the Cyrillic alphabet. Of course there is a letter resembling a C, but it is an S when sounded.
Therefore most words we'd associate with C usually begin with the letter K. Just like this one: краб.
If you guessed that краб = crab, then you've already figured out that Lay's has decided to introduce crab flavoured potato chips on Russian, Ukrainian and Belarussian market shelves.
After sampling, I'll politely pass (remind me to sell that Lay's stock after writing this). You might enjoy the taste however and perhaps the Lay's folks are on to something really big. Russian tastebuds and pocketbooks will eventually tell Lay's whether it's a really big success or a monumental blunder.
Lay's shareholders will be very crabby if this idea sinks. :D
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Russian tastebuds and pocketbooks will eventually tell Lay's whether it's a really big success or a monumental blunder.
Lay's shareholders will be very crabby if this idea sinks. :D
I guess not only Russian, it seems that the State of Colorado will also have something to say :D
http://mypartofcolorado.blogspot.com/2008/08/crab-spice-potato-chips.html (http://mypartofcolorado.blogspot.com/2008/08/crab-spice-potato-chips.html)
and Massachusetts too
http://blog.masslive.com/linkfarm/2007/10/the_crab_spice_must_flow.html
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Now we're wondering whether Lay's the potato chip maker is on to something big, or have they lost their marbles? It's too early to tell but we'll let you know at some point in the future.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/potato-chips-crab-3-1638.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/potato-chips-crab-3-1638.jpg)
:) :) :) :) :)
lol I ate some of these when I was in Siberia this summer. I saw them on the shelf and I HAD to try them. They were pretty tasty.
Lay's also had Red-Caviar-flavored chips for sale. I was going to try those next, but there was never an intersection of me being hungry and them being available. I'll have to save that for the next trip.
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Chocolate! Ice cream! Yes superb. But not the soul of Russia. Today I enjoyed what I consider the soul of Russian cuisine.
Today it snowed here on the eastern side of the Urals. First snowfall of the year. Accumulation was less than 3"; however, it started with ice before snow. Winter wonderland except for cars spinning off the road. Dead cow in a ditch, struck by a truck. A car engine is on fire, blocking traffic. Walking is treacherous. And when I walk the wet cold swirls around the collar of my jacket and chills my gloveless hands. Yes, a storybook Russian day, and just a sample of what is to come.
For my lunch this day it was Russian soup and fresh bread at a cafe. Can there be anything better when feeling chilled by winter's first storm. Hot delicious soup when one is chilled. For me it was Solyanka made with smoked meats, olives, the usual root cellar vegetables, lemon and a dab of smetana (sour cream). The olives and lemon make me think Middle Eastern origins.
And the bread with the soup! Breaking bread in Russia is almost akin to praying to Mecca. Defying tradition, I had red wine. And a siesta after returning home and disrobing at the front door.
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I've never tasted Russian chocolate yet - or eggs, for that matter :D - but I wonder whether my taste changes are shared by others: I remember that, as a kid, I'd only consider milk chocolate palatable while my father favoured fondente, i.e. straight, slightly bitter chocolate. This was a source of debate for instance re Easter eggs, his type were more robust while mine tended to sag after a while :( .
Over the years, I found myself following more and more in his footsteps ;) . Progress in chocolate discrimination, or a need for an increasing 'extra choky kick' ;D ?
Your father was merely ahead of the times with his preference for dark.
Several recent medical studies indicate that chocolate and its main ingredient, cocoa, appear to reduce risk factors for heart disease. Flavanols in cocoa beans have antioxidant effects that reduce cell damage implicated in heart disease. Flavanols also help lower blood pressure and improve vascular function. Dark chocolate contains more flavanols than does milk chocolate.
I purchase Hershey's Kisses 'Special Dark' by the large bagful.
In that manner, I can have a couple of them after a meal . . . not as a dessert, but rather as a health supplement. 8)
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I purchase Hershey's Kisses 'Special Dark' by the large bagful.
In that manner, I can have a couple of them after a meal . . . not as a dessert, but rather as a health supplement.
Smart man! :D
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Gator, hope it was a great lunch!
Twobit, glad you liked the crab chips. Let us know if you get to try the other ones.
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(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/charcoal-tablets.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/charcoal-tablets.jpg)
Some of our readers will recognize instantly the contents of these small packages.
Others will think them to be condoms.
So, have you been to a Russian аптека (pharmacy)? аптека by the way is spoken as "ap-teka" and easy to stay, and understood instantly. Remember that the a in Russian is always "ah" and you'll nail this one easily.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/apteka-2-196.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/apteka-2-196.jpg)
There is a pharmacy closer to our flat but it is not open past 1900 hours. This one is not far, close to our Metro station and the most important thing to remember about this pharmacy is that is it open 24 hours as indicated by 24 часа.
2 Questions:
- What is inside the packets above?
- Do you recognize any other services offered inside this pharmacy?
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2 Questions:
- What is inside the packets above?
- Do you recognize any other services offered inside this pharmacy?
I'm only guessing asprin but, every time the wife returns from Russia she has a multitude of pharmaceuticals in packages just like that. She doesn't like, trust or understand American drugs
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She doesn't like, trust or understand American drugs
My Gal is just the opposite. She refused most drugs, etc. in FSU but now, for first time she has gotten flu injection and pneumoccoccal vaccine, and has started taking miltivitamins and calcium supplements. She would never trust those items back home.
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<blockquote>2 Questions:
- What is inside the packets above?
- Do you recognize any other services offered inside this pharmacy?
</blockquote>
I'm only guessing aspirin but, every time the wife returns from Russia she has a multitude of pharmaceuticals in packages just like that. She doesn't like, trust or understand American drugs
не аспирин. But close, try again. :)
As far as other services, see anything resembling photo or foto services?
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Gator, hope it was a great lunch!
It sounds like a great lunch!
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не аспирин. But close, try again. :)
Activated charcoal
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Activated charcoal
Of course. Every household has one in their medicine cabinet. :P
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Time for another mini language lesson:
There is no c sound in the Cyrillic alphabet. Of course there is a letter resembling a C, but it is an S when sounded.
Therefore most words we'd associate with C usually begin with the letter K. Just like this one: краб.
If you guessed that краб = crab, then you've already figured out that Lay's has decided to introduce crab flavoured potato chips on Russian, Ukrainian and Belarussian market shelves.
After sampling, I'll politely pass (remind me to sell that Lay's stock after writing this). You might enjoy the taste however and perhaps the Lay's folks are on to something really big. Russian tastebuds and pocketbooks will eventually tell Lay's whether it's a really big success or a monumental blunder.
Lay's shareholders will be very crabby if this idea sinks. :D
I would bet that these are sold in the UK as " Prawn" flavour. However apart from the poorer status of prawn many Russian seem to have an aversion of their bug-like appearance.
Prawn flavour has in general flopped outside the UK, only the British seem to value this acquired taste.
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Of course. Every household has one in their medicine cabinet. :P
As a matter of fact we do. And even more interesting is that MrsShadows father on his visit to Belgium managed to obtain it from the local pharmacy processed in a medicin.
I need to translate our medicin cabinet some day before getting marked as terrorist for holding several radioactive materials...
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As a matter of fact we do. And even more interesting is that MrsShadows father on his visit to Belgium managed to obtain it from the local pharmacy processed in a medicin.
I need to translate our medicin cabinet some day before getting marked as terrorist for holding several radioactive materials...
Shadow, this is so funny. All my years before travelling to UA (not even Europe) the only place I knew there was activated charcoal for medicinal purposes were at hospital, clinics, and the such. You could also find it in biology and chemistry labs. Never in my wildest dreams I would thought of finding it in the bathroom's medicine cabinet.
I wrote somewhere during my first visit to UA how I was poisoned by alcohol because of dificulties in translation.
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- Do you recognize any other services offered inside this pharmacy?
Since they call themselves Lombard, do they sell panettone, too :D?
(http://blog.cibvs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/panettone.jpg)
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Activated charcoal
As Chivo, Shadow, Muzh and others know, activated charcoal is a great remedy for upset stomach. Think of TUMS and Alka Seltzer and anything they handle, activated charcoal does it but without the chemicals and artificial ingredients.
Great also for cleansing and detox.
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Sandro, I think you know the answer already but I love the word association with your answer!
Several services are offered inside that pharmacy in the photo.
1- What is фото?
2- Okay, for ломбард lets do multiple choice:
a- Chiropractor
b- Pawnshop services
c- music records and cds
d- none of the above
What do you think?
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Not understanding Sandro's lombard comment, I searched the Internet and learned lombard banking was a form of pawn shop several centuries ago.
I have been inside apteka and I have never seen a counter displaying for sale unclaimed diamond rings and trumpets. :D So how does the pawnshop work?
Sandro - I still don't understand the connection with holiday bread. You vast knowledge has again been the better of me.
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Not understanding Sandro's lombard comment, I searched the Internet and learned Lombard banking was a form of pawn shop several centuries ago.
Phil, correct, but Lombards were also known as bankers in general, as well as armour makers and goldsmiths, hence Lombard Street in London:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/St_mary_woolnoth_exterior.jpg/250px-St_mary_woolnoth_exterior.jpg) (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/St_Edmund_the_King_(9.7.07).jpg/220px-St_Edmund_the_King_(9.7.07).jpg)
St. Mary Woolnoth & St. Edmund the King
It runs from the corner of the Bank of England at its north-west end, where it meets a major junction including Poultry, King William Street, and Threadneedle Street, south-east to Gracechurch Street. It was a piece of land granted by Edward I of England to goldsmiths from a part of Northern Italy known as Lombardy (larger than the modern Lombardy region). It is the site of the church of St Mary Woolnoth, and number 54 was the long-standing headquarters of Barclays Bank before they moved to One Churchill Place in Canary Wharf. Until the 1980s most UK-based banks had their head offices in Lombard Street and historically it has been the London home for money lenders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_Street,_London
There's also a Lombard Street in San Francisco:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Sanfran_61_bg_032605.jpg/220px-Sanfran_61_bg_032605.jpg)
This "crookedest" street - an allusion to bankers' honesty ;D? - with its 8 tight hairpin turns has been used as the set for hairy car chases in several movies.
Sandro - I still don't understand the connection with holiday bread. You vast knowledge has again been the better of me.
Panettone is Milan's (capital of Lombardy) traditional Xmas sweet bread, therefore a truly Lombard establishment abroad might be expected to offer it ;).
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2- Okay, for ломбард lets do multiple choice:
a- Chiropractor
b- Pawnshop services
c- music records and cds
d- none of the above
What do you think?
Historically, Lombards first meant:
The Lombards (Latin: Langobardī), also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin who in the 1st century formed part of the Suebi. By the 5th century the Lombards had settled in the valley of the Danube where they subdued the Germanic Heruls and the Gepids.
From the Danube region they conquered the Byzantine Italy in 568 under the leadership of Alboin. They established a Lombard Kingdom in Italy, later named Kingdom of Italy, which lasted until 774, when it was conquered by the Franks, although Lombard nobles would continue to rule parts of the Italian peninsula well into the 11th century.
Some also think the name meant Long Beards. Then:
Their legacy is apparent in the regional appellation Lombardy and the term Lombard banking, after the many Lombard bankers, money-lenders, and pawn-brokers who operated in Western Europe during the Middle Ages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombards
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/Iron_Crown.JPG/320px-Iron_Crown.JPG)
The corona ferrea (Iron Crown) of Lombardy, used for the coronation of the kings of Italy until 1946. The dark band inside is supposed to have been made from an iron nail of the Cross.
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Sorry, should have qualified the questions.
The question should have been: what does the term mean in today's use in Russia?
1- What is фото?
2- Okay, for ломбард lets do multiple choice:
a- Chiropractor
b- Pawnshop services
c- music records and cds
d- none of the above
What do you think the term denotes today in Russia?
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Sorry, should have qualified the questions.
The question should have been: what does the term mean in today's use in Russia?
1- What is фото?
2- Okay, for ломбард lets do multiple choice:
a- Chiropractor
b- Pawnshop services
c- music records and cds
d- none of the above
What do you think the term denotes today in Russia?
Mendeleyev your first question is almost English. фото looks almost like its English language counterpart, so I'll leave it for someone who doesn't read Russian. To those that don't read Russian, a good hint is to concentrate on the last 3 letters of фото as they are the same as the word in English.
ломбард is Russian for pawnshop services. I've never seen a pawnshop anywhere in the FSU. I'm told they exist in Moscow but I've never been in one. I would guess that pawnshops are a recent addition to the Russian business scene as I can't really see them existing under communism or even in the early days of Russian 'democracy '.
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ломбард is Russian for pawnshop services. I've never seen a pawnshop anywhere in the FSU. I'm told they exist in Moscow but I've never been in one. I would guess that pawnshops are a recent addition to the Russian business scene as I can't really see them existing under communism or even in the early days of Russian 'democracy '.
As official business I am unsure if they were in communist times, but know how much Russians like to keep their assets in gold and jewellery I am sure that pawn services have existed there a long time.
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...
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ломбард is Russian for pawnshop services. I've never seen a pawnshop anywhere in the FSU. I'm told they exist in Moscow but I've never been in one. I would guess that pawnshops are a recent addition to the Russian business scene as I can't really see them existing under communism or even in the early days of Russian 'democracy '.
Yes, there were lombards (pawnshops) in the USSR as municipal and joint-stock companies. The government of course held 75% of stocks and other 25% private individuals.
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At some point during an extended stay you'll need the services of a салон красоты или парикмахерская (beauty salon or barbershop). So with all the various options available how do you make the best choice?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/beauty-salon-1289.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/beauty-salon-1289.jpg)
салон красоты = beauty salon.
So here are just a few of the terms you may encounter in your search for a hair cut:
салон красоты (beauty salon)
Парикмахер стилист (hair stylist)
салон парикмахерская (hairdresser salon)парикмахерская (barber/hairstyling shop)
кабинет (office or cubicle of a hairdresser/nail specialist, etc
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/barbershop-2-022.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/barbershop-2-022.jpg)
парикмахерская = barbershop.
Prices can be all over the board based on the prestige of the shop, but an average can be somewhere between 80 to 200+ rubles for a guy's haircut.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/hair-stylist-diploma.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/hair-stylist-diploma.jpg)
Beauty school diploma.
To make certain that you are in a licensed shop you'll see that the stylist is required to post both their diploma (see above) and his/her certification (pictured below) to work within this industry and firm.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/hair-stylist-certificate.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/hair-stylist-certificate.jpg)
Beauty/hair certification.
Depending on the shop the services can vary from a basic haircut to those found in an exclusive spa. In most cases the work you receive will likely be of very high quality. But often it's just like home, the choice of who to visit may come down to word of mouth recommendation from friends or by trial and error.
The work you'll receive will likely be of very high quality. But often it's just like home, the choice of who to visit may come down to word of mouth recommendation from friends or by trial and error.
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At some point during an extended stay you'll need the services of a салон красоты или парикмахерская (beauty salon or barbershop). So with all the various options available how do you make the best choice?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/beauty-salon-1289.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/beauty-salon-1289.jpg)
салон красоты = beauty salon.
So here are just a few of the terms you may encounter in your search for a hair cut:
салон красоты (beauty salon)
Парикмахер стилист (hair stylist)
салон парикмахерская (hairdresser salon)парикмахерская (barber/hairstyling shop)
кабинет (office or cubicle of a hairdresser/nail specialist, etc
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/barbershop-2-022.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/barbershop-2-022.jpg)
парикмахерская = barbershop.
Prices can be all over the board based on the prestige of the shop, but an average can be somewhere between 80 to 200+ rubles for a guy's haircut.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/hair-stylist-diploma.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/hair-stylist-diploma.jpg)
Beauty school diploma.
To make certain that you are in a licensed shop you'll see that the stylist is required to post both their diploma (see above) and his/her certification (pictured below) to work within this industry and firm.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/hair-stylist-certificate.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/hair-stylist-certificate.jpg)
Beauty/hair certification.
Depending on the shop the services can vary from a basic haircut to those found in an exclusive spa. In most cases the work you receive will likely be of very high quality. But often it's just like home, the choice of who to visit may come down to word of mouth recommendation from friends or by trial and error.
The work you'll receive will likely be of very high quality. But often it's just like home, the choice of who to visit may come down to word of mouth recommendation from friends or by trial and error.
Mendeleyev in London, there are many RW who work as hairdresser/stylists, some of them will have their Russian qualifications by their chair along with their UK qualifications. The reason for this is because many of their customers are Russian and according to my wife this reassures the RW that her Russian hairdresser/stylist is properly trained. After all who understands the UK qualifications? :)
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In my view, the Moscow Metro is a worthy candidate for the 8th wonder of the world.
Moscow's Metro is second busiest only to the Metro in Tokyo, and on a normal weekday carries 8 to 10 million passengers and close to 12 million daily on weekends. Each day over 9,000 trains operate between 5am - 1am. Each line is identified by a number, a name and a colour. The Metro has approximately 301 km (187.2 mi) of rail, 12 lines and 182 stations.
So how do you navigate this beautiful but complex system?
It is not that difficult if you can read at least some basic Cyrillic. Each line is assigned an alphanumeric index (usually consisting of a number), a name and colour.
To help you know which direction you're traveling, the on-board voice announcements refer to the lines by name. A male voice announces the next station when traveling towards the centre of the city, and a female voice when going away from it. On the circle line the clockwise direction features a male announcer for the stations, while the counter-clockwise direction uses a female announcer.
Wall tiles like in this photo let you know the name of your station and if your station is a transfer station often wall tiles till give additional information such as the line, your station and future stations along the way. Each of those stations on the title below has the connecting line (with that line's stations) shown beneath the station.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/metro-circle-line-5-2-1145.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/metro-circle-line-5-2-1145.jpg)
Click on the photo to expand and see the map in clear detail.
The photo above is from the Курская (Kurskaya) station on the Circle Line, brown colour, Line #5. (In English it reads Koltsevaya and in Russia is Кольцевая, meaning circle.) You can see the next station in sequence from right to left, the same direction this train will travel. If this were your line and you realized the wrong direction however, just cross the hall and walk to the opposite platform in order to ride in the opposite direction.
Each station on the Circle Line (Ring Line) is a transfer station, connecting you to other trains as well. You can see the lines available in the menu below each station name on the tile above.
It pays to at least read some basic Russian because the interior signs are detailed and very helpful.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/metro-exit-sign.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/metro-exit-sign.jpg)
As you can see the top of this interior Metro sign shows "Exit to City" with arrows and then lists the other lines available from this station, giving their names, colours, and numbers to make it easy for you to navigate.
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My worst problem comes when switching lines.
I can find my way into the first metro station, determine where my line is, and determine which side to stand on to get on the train going in correct direction.
But, oh my, when I get off first train and try to go up correct escalators and/ or stairs to switch lines (without going out of the system entirely), that I have not mastered.
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In my view, the Moscow Metro is a worthy candidate for the 8th wonder of the world.
Moscow's Metro is second busiest only to the Metro in Tokyo, and on a normal weekday carries 8 to 10 million passengers and close to 12 million daily on weekends. Each day over 9,000 trains operate between 5am - 1am. Each line is identified by a number, a name and a colour. The Metro has approximately 301 km (187.2 mi) of rail, 12 lines and 182 stations.
So how do you navigate this beautiful but complex system?
It is not that difficult if you can read at least some basic Cyrillic. Each line is assigned an alphanumeric index (usually consisting of a number), a name and colour.
To help you know which direction you're traveling, the on-board voice announcements refer to the lines by name. A male voice announces the next station when traveling towards the centre of the city, and a female voice when going away from it. On the circle line the clockwise direction features a male announcer for the stations, while the counter-clockwise direction uses a female announcer.
Wall tiles like in this photo let you know the name of your station and if your station is a transfer station often wall tiles till give additional information such as the line, your station and future stations along the way. Each of those stations on the title below has the connecting line (with that line's stations) shown beneath the station.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/metro-circle-line-5-2-1145.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/metro-circle-line-5-2-1145.jpg)
Click on the photo to expand and see the map in clear detail.
The photo above is from the Курская (Kurskaya) station on the Circle Line, brown colour, Line #5. (In English it reads Koltsevaya and in Russia is Кольцевая, meaning circle.) You can see the next station in sequence from right to left, the same direction this train will travel. If this were your line and you realized the wrong direction however, just cross the hall and walk to the opposite platform in order to ride in the opposite direction.
Each station on the Circle Line (Ring Line) is a transfer station, connecting you to other trains as well. You can see the lines available in the menu below each station name on the tile above.
It pays to at least read some basic Russian because the interior signs are detailed and very helpful.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/metro-exit-sign.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/metro-exit-sign.jpg)
As you can see the top of this interior Metro sign shows "Exit to City" with arrows and then lists the other lines available from this station, giving their names, colours, and numbers to make it easy for you to navigate.
Mendeleyev the Moscow metro truly is an marvel of beauty and function but for a non Russian speaking/reading foreigner it is difficult to master. My wife and I have been to Japan and marvelled at how crowded the Japanese metro was compared to Moscow's. However the big advantage of Tokyo's metro for a foreigner is that there is some English language signs and there are attendants that speak English to help tourists.
Hopefully during the upcoming 2014 Olympics in Sochi when Moscow will be full of tourists the Russian government will increase the use of English language signs and employ English speaking employees in places like the metro to help guide tourists. Otherwise there will be chaos during the the Olympics.
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From today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Moscow's famous House on the Embankment is home to perhaps the smallest and least visited, yet significant, museum in Moscow.
Proud, imposing, grand, ugly, and large; the House on the Embankment holds an important place in Russia's more recent history. As average adult Russians might explain, this building became known as Moscow's version of the Titanic, sending many a Soviet party leader to the Gulag or firing squad during the reign of terror of the madman, Joseph Stalin.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/house-on-the-embankment-2-358.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/house-on-the-embankment-2-358.jpg)(The House on the Embankment was designed to be self-sufficient. It boasted a library, a gym, restaurant, a kindergarten and a theatre/concert hall called the House of Culture.)
Architect Boris Iofan was born in Odessa and after studying art in Italy, Iofan returned to Russia and The House on the Embankment was his first major work. He entered into a competition and was chosen by Stalin to lead a group of architects in building the grand Palace of Soviets, thankfully a palace that would never be constructed. Moscow's main Cathedral today was dynamited to make room on Stalin's chosen spot for the palace, but war and then later financing issues kept the project from being built. Today the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, rebuilt with donations from the Russian people, again stands on the same spot.
Across from the Kremlin along the Moscow River at 5 Ulitsa Serafimovicha, older Muscovites think of it as the building that had walls with ears, recalling late night arrests and Communist Party leaders who disappeared without warning. It is mammoth and imposing, and with its location across the river from the Kremlin, it is a symbol of Stalinist repression. Perhaps it is fitting that people think of Stalin's terror just at the mere passing along the Moscow River.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/house-on-the-embankment-church-side-2-359.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/house-on-the-embankment-church-side-2-359.jpg)(To the left of Moscow's famous House on the Embankment is a view of the Kremlin palaces. To the right are some of Moscow's most beautiful churches.)
Iofan constructed his House on the Embankment between 1928 and 1931 and during that time experienced a number of set backs including a fire that destroyed the first block. The complex finally opened with 505 apartment homes in April 1931. It quickly became home to the highest-ranking members of the Communist Party. Famous tenants included Stalin's daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, the KGB's Lavrenti Beria, Red Army Marshal Georgi Zhukov, Nikita Khrushchev, Alexei Kosygin, and Aleksandr Aleksandrov, the man who wrote Soviet national anthem.
The complex was intended to be a city within a city, containing a post office, a telegraph office, a bank, a laundry, a supermarket, a beauty salon, restaurants, a school, a medical center and retail shops.
Despite the prestige and luxury of life at the House on the Embankment, it was a common nightly routine for KGB cars to pull up and escort a disgraced Party member, victim to Stalin's repressions, hurried out into the night, either to be shot or to be shipped off to the Gulag system.
Oddly, it is family members of those almost forgotten victims who keep the memory of what happened alive. The house lost its appeal after the war. Under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev and later Leonid Brezhnev, Moscow's Kutuzovsky Prospekt became the place to live for Russia's elite.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/house-on-the-embankment-2-377.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/house-on-the-embankment-2-377.jpg)(Mammoth in size, over the years facilities for dry cleaning, cosmetic shops, food market and a large movie theater were installed.)
Today the House on the Embankment is considered to be prestigious once again and while still large and imposing, the place is no longer terrifying. Located in the first entryway, today there is a small museum open on Wednesdays from 5 to 8 p.m. and on Saturdays from 2 to 5 p.m. The hours are sparse but we promise that you'll enjoy the visit. The museum is hosted by Olga Trifonova and she is a longtime resident and widow of Yury Trifonov, who wrote the best-selling book, "House on the Embankment."
The museum has a website at http://museumdom.narod.ru/ (http://museumdom.narod.ru/) and the telephone number in Moscow is (495) 959-49-36. Give it a visit because you won't be disappointed.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/house-on-the-embankment-moscow-river-bridge-side-2-343.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/house-on-the-embankment-moscow-river-bridge-side-2-343.jpg)(The small museum includes a replica of an apartment with an original bed designed by the building's architect, as well as furniture and items donated by the families of former residents.)
At the time of completion the 12-storey building with 505 apartments was the biggest house in Europe.
Note on photos: Click once to expand to medium, click again for a much larger view. All photos by Mendeleyev.
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Mendy,
I never knew about the House on the Embankment. Thanks. One small museum I really enjoyed was the KGB museum. Some of the artifacts reveal that we (the US) were messing with Russia and the USSR for a long time. My ex-wife's grandfather was KGB, and he 'vaporized' in Iran a long time ago.
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Mendy,
I traveled the Moscow Metro a lot over many years. I did fine even though I could not really understand the voice announcements for the first few years. One needs a bi-lingual map. Changing lines can be tricky, yet it is well marked. The underground kiosks represent another world.
One question. The ticket gate is very odd in that it is open unless you fail to insert a valid ticket and then it slams shut. The force with which it slams is severe. Is this done to assure that cheaters do not pass their DNA to the next generation? :) Seriously the force could injure a youngster. Perhaps time and motion studies show this is more efficient.
Some of these lines run at great depth, supposedly 296 feet, requiring a freaky escalator ride (such depth I presume would withstand a direct hit by an ICBM). I wonder what else was constructed underground by the Soviets?
Quiz. The Moscow Metro started operations in 1935. London's tube was first in 1860s. What country had the second oldest? Started in 1896 and a former Communist country. I rode it and it is barely underground, unlike the freakish depths of the Moscow metro.
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Gator,
I have seen young guys go over those "super" gates
The escalator at Victory Park is the longest in the world. Just a little over 10 years old. And all of them with their speeds !!
.
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Quiz. The Moscow Metro started operations in 1935. London's tube was first in 1860s. What country had the second oldest? Started in 1896 and a former Communist country. I rode it and it is barely underground, unlike the freakish depths of the Moscow metro.
You stumped me on this one so I had to "google." :)
Answer: Budapest
One question. The ticket gate is very odd in that it is open unless you fail to insert a valid ticket and then it slams shut. The force with which it slams is severe. Is this done to assure that cheaters do not pass their DNA to the next generation? (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/Smileys/default2/smiley.gif) Seriously the force could injure a youngster. Perhaps time and motion studies show this is more efficient.
Older turnstiles had an "arm" up which rotated you through after your ticket was validated. Newer, as you have discovered, are open and will indeed slam with great force if one tries to pass without a ticket.
Russia is not about personal safety, that is the responsibility of the citizen rather than the government so many of the safety and building "codes" that we employ in Western countries enjoy little acceptance in Russia.
As Chicago Guy mentioned, some kids have learned to jump over them. Moscow is now installing electronic alarms which sound when that happens and violators are usually caught quickly.
Some of these lines run at great depth, supposedly 296 feet, requiring a freaky escalator ride (such depth I presume would withstand a direct hit by an ICBM). I wonder what else was constructed underground by the Soviets?
While it was not the original purpose for being so deep, during the Cold War each Metro station was indeed a bomb shelter and stocked with rations and medical supplies. During the siege of Moscow in the Great Patriotic War stations were used as bomb shelters and many a government/military meeting was conducted underground during times of danger.
I believe that the two deepest are in the FSU. Kyiv's "Arsenalnaya" station plunges to 102 m (330 ft) and Moscow's "Park Pobedy" is 86 m (278 ft) under the surface.
(Below: I was privileged earlier this year to have the platforms of Park Pobedy cleared out briefly to take photos for a book project. These are lighting outtakes that will not be licensed for the book.)
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From today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
(Moscow) We wanted the headline to read "The passing of the impromptu cab" but in modern day search engine optimization that wouldn't play so well.
A time honoured tradition will close at the end of this year as officials have declared that it will be illegal to stick out your thumb and catch a quick ride starting in January 2012. It's a shame really as perhaps no other city in the world had perfected such an efficient system of citizen helping citizen to travel quickly from point A to point B.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/summer-traffic-2-007.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/summer-traffic-2-007.jpg)Moscow evening traffic, summer 2011. (Photo: Mendeleyev Journal)
Here is how it worked: You needed to go somewhere but didn't want to hike off to the underground Metro or catch a slow moving bus. It wasn't even necessary to stick out a thumb really as just standing on the street looking as if you needed a ride usually worked. Before long a driver would pull over and ask where you were going. If he or she was going your way a price would be negotiated and off you'd go.
Citizen taxis to the rescue! It worked for you and gave the driver some extra cash for petrol. Pocket change in most cases, but a service was rendered for both parties. It won't be pocket change if caught after January as a driver caught taking money without a special taxi license will be fined from 1,000 rubles and up to a maximum of 10,000 rubles depending on the number of infractions and the location. Officials say that fines will be used to help improve Moscow roads. We'll see.
Advocates of the new law point to Moscow's excellent public transportation systems and argue that officials have safety in mind and one cannot argue the possible dangers when citizens trust strange drivers they've never met. Proponents say that licensed taxi drivers are better trained and vetted before grant of a license. Having ridden official taxi cars and knowing how most official licenses are obtained in this city, those claims are funny but not true. Besides, I've never met the licensed taxi driver before accepting a ride and most of them drive no better than the average citizen.
Opponents say that this will drive up the prices of the city's licensed taxi services. Have you ever tried to find or call an official taxi in Moscow? Good luck, the wait can be for hours and there is no guarantee that a taxi will arrive at all. At least the impromptu citizen taxi system was fast and goodness knows there is an endless supply of almost empty Ladas on the streets every day.
Perhaps the coming Olympics and profits of official taxi companies are in reality what officials had in mind. Just as small neighborhood markets and street kiosks are being swept away, the winners are big business owners with Kremlin and City Hall connections. The consumer is left stranded while regulation and control of the simple life marches on to the tune of modernization.
Muscovites often ignore new laws (they happily ignore some of the old laws too) so it will take time in making the adjustment to life without private/citizen taxi services.
No matter how you look at it, this marks the end of an era.
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Driving in Moscow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2UUr12BQW8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIHOa9X4nEI&feature=related
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Wow, how is that for relevance?!
Yesterday we featured the landmark House on the Embankment and today it is in the news.
The trademark Mercedes silver logo atop the building was dismantled Wednesday afternoon as part of a government campaign to reduce advertising in public places. The large Mercedes Benz emblem had enjoyed its rooftop perch for a decade.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/house-on-the-embankment-2-358.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/house-on-the-embankment-2-358.jpg)
At 6.5-tons and a diameter of 8 meters across, it took one crane 5-1/2 hours to remove the emblem from the House on the Embankment. It seems however that the city and Mercedes Benz can’t come to an agreement on how the decision was reached.
The city says that the logo’s lease had expired several years ago, however Mercedes promptly offered to produce documents showing otherwise and complained that “politics” caused the logo to be removed. The city however took a different line, all the while maintaining that the removal came as part of a Moscow clean-up campaign.
In the end Mercedes Benz paid for the logo's removal.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Wow, how is that for relevance?!
Yesterday we featured the landmark House on the Embankment and today it is in the news.
The trademark Mercedes silver logo atop the building was dismantled Wednesday afternoon as part of a government campaign to reduce advertising in public places. The large Mercedes Benz emblem had enjoyed its rooftop perch for a decade.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/house-on-the-embankment-2-358.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/house-on-the-embankment-2-358.jpg)
At 6.5-tons and a diameter of 8 meters across, took one crane 5-1/2 hours to remove the emblem from the House on the Embankment. It seems however that the city and Mercedes Benz can’t come to an agreement on how the decision was reached.
The city says that the logo’s lease had expired several years ago, however Mercedes promptly offered to produce documents showing otherwise and complained that “politics” caused the logo to be removed. The city however took a different line, all the while maintaining that the removal came as part of a Moscow clean-up campaign.
In the end Mercedes Benz paid for the logo's removal.
Mendeleyev, a prime example of how poorly the different levels of the Russian government treat businesses. How can Putin or Medvedev expect the needed foreign investment to be injected into the Russian economy? If the various levels of the Russian government are going to treat a foreign company like Mecedes Benz so badly, how poorly are they going to treat smaller companies headquartered in less prosperous countries?
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Bill, of course you are right. And it has long-term implications as you suggest.
In the near term, I think that part of this is an on-going campaign in preparation for the Olympic games in Sochi and that we'll continue to see micro businesses put out of businesses, small businesses consolidated under larger partners, and large businesses hassled into submission.
The Moscow that will be seen in time for the 2014 Winter Games will not be the same Moscow of today.
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I would never say this in public, but between you and I, there is more to Russia than just Moscow. Please don't tell anyone...because I sure won't. :)
(From the Mendeleyev Journal's Russia: A tour around the country (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/come-to-russia-get-a-visa/where-to-go-what-to-do/))
Lake Baikal
The largest country on earth is neighbor to more countries than anywhere else and it touches twenty-two bodies of water as well as holding twelve seas within its borders. Inside Russia's borders are the oldest mountains in the world, the Urals, and the deepest lake in the world, Lake Baikal (Байка́л).
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-a-xchgall-at-ru-wikipedia.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-a-xchgall-at-ru-wikipedia.jpg)
(photo: Xchgall at wikipedia.ru)
If you put all the North American Great Lakes together, Russia's Lake Baikal would dwarf them. Scientists say that Baikal holds over 20% of all the freshwater on the planet. Lake Baikal is among the clearest waters in the world.
Baikal is not only the deepest lake on earth at 1,642 metres (5,387 ft), but is also the oldest of all lakes on the planet. At current growth rates Baikal will become a "sea" instead of a lake.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-snow-public-domain.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-snow-public-domain.jpg)
Lake Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two thirds of those are found only in Baikal' Siberian region.
Lake Baikal is worthy of a book, but for now we'll mention some of the highlights.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-otters-yuri-geifman.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-otters-yuri-geifman.jpg)
The "Nerpa" is the world's only freshwater Seal. These Seals number over 60,000.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-omul-fish-public-domain.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-omul-fish-public-domain.jpg)
The Baikal Omul fish (байкальский омуль), is a whitefish species of the Salmon family. You can find smoked & salted Omul all around the lake and it is a favourite of travelers on the Trans-Siberian. A popular Siberian salad called stroganina consists of uncooked frozen omul cut finely and served with pepper, salt and onion. Held apart by wood skewers during smoking, often the fish are stuffed with vegetable stuffing before eating.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-b-public-domain.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-b-public-domain.jpg)
Baikal holds some of Russia's most important national parks, nature and game reserves along the lake's shores. In 1996 the Lake Baikal Coastal Protection Zone was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-ice-by-a-widawska.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-ice-by-a-widawska.jpg)
(Photo: A. Widawska)
When the Trans-Siberian Railway was built around the southwestern end, it took 200 bridges and 33 mountain tunnels to navigate around that end of the lake. Completely surrounded by mountains, 330 rivers flow into Lake Baikal.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-tunnel.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-tunnel.jpg)
Baikal is home to Buryat tribes who reside on the eastern side of the lake.
Read more here: http://www.answers.com/topic/lake-baikal#ixzz1ci9vigIG (http://www.answers.com/topic/lake-baikal#ixzz1ci9vigIG)
Great info and photos here: http://www.magicbaikal.com (http://www.magicbaikal.com)
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In my view, the Moscow Metro is a worthy candidate for the 8th wonder of the world.
Ride it every day at 8am and 6pm and tell me if you still think this.
They use a male voice when traveling towards the centre of the city, and a female voice when going away from it. On the circle line the clockwise direction features a male announcer for the stations, while the counter-clockwise direction uses a female announcer.
Not that it matters much but they switch trains at various times and it is very possible to hear a female voice or male voice headed in the same direction. I wouldn't use this as my navigation tool. Male voices seem to dominate now.
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My Gal is just the opposite. She refused most drugs, etc. in FSU but now, for first time she has gotten flu injection and pneumoccoccal vaccine, and has started taking miltivitamins and calcium supplements. She would never trust those items back home.
Your Gal is like most Russians. The problem when you buy drugs in Russia is that you never really know if it's really the drug. The percentage of possibility it being fake is about 60-70% from what most I know here tell me.
I bring most of the pharmaceuticals I need from America so I don't worry about it, though I have taken some decent products here.
You can get some (without naming names 8) ) strong narcotics over the counter here that are quite good for pain relief from what I understand :P and other drugs that would normally require a prescription in America. :o
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The problem when you buy drugs in Russia is that you never really know if it's really the drug. The percentage of possibility it being fake is about 60-70% from what most I know here tell me.
My fiancee's mom is a doctor and she doesn't trust the drugs in Ukraine for the same reason.
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Older turnstiles had an "arm" up which rotated you through after your ticket was validated. Newer, as you have discovered, are open and will indeed slam with great force if one tries to pass without a ticket.
Russia is not about personal safety, that is the responsibility of the citizen rather than the government so many of the safety and building "codes" that we employ in Western countries enjoy little acceptance in Russia.
As Chicago Guy mentioned, some kids have learned to jump over them. Moscow is now installing electronic alarms which sound when that happens and violators are usually caught quickly.
Actually they're putting policemen in the front turnstyles to deter people from entering without paying.
Noise or electronic alarms do nothing to prevent anyone from jumping or "piggybacking" their way through and no one is caught by this method. I've seen hundreds of guys as females rarely do this, jump, race, or practice their favorite gymnastic move over, in and above the turnstyles and just continue on their merry way worrying little that some babushka will do anything to them.
The Uzbeks, Tajiks and such have mastered these moves ;D .
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Have you ever tried to find or call an official taxi in Moscow?
Many times.
Good luck, the wait can be for hours and there is no guarantee that a taxi will arrive at all.
With all due respect I have never waited hours for a taxi to arrive. The worst case scenario is that the operator will tell you that a taxi is not available at a certain time going to a certain place (just not enough hired drives). With the many taxi services in Moscow you can usually find one at any time going any place reasonable, like 30-40km or less. Usually they arrive within minutes.
If it's impossible and the lady lives too far, well the lady just has to spend the night :P . Best thing is to plan in advance if you're home. Out and about at clubs, restaurants, etc. taxi's are easy to find any time day or night.
What I do is find a good reliable service that knows me over time or a good driver who I've met on the street and get his mobile number for future reference. I think this will be one way for locals to deal with the new law.
Muscovites often ignore new laws (they happily ignore some of the old laws too) so it will take time in making the adjustment to life without private/citizen taxi services.
No matter how you look at it, this marks the end of an era.
Mendy I'm curious myself just how they plan on enforcing this law. I think it will be very difficult and that drivers will find a way around the situation. Firstly, most drivers are from the Caucasus and licencing will be a problem for undocumented drivers. Secondly, like you said this is Russia, who obeys the law. Thirdly, see above.
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Actually they're putting policemen in the front turnstyles to deter people from entering without paying.
Yes, and I've heard the alarms sound when they're present. Recently I saw the policeman at Студенческая spending more time talking to girls than watching the turnstyles. My main Metro Кожуховская is not a very deep station and the policemen seems to wander around, even outside a lot, so one could jump I suppose but the angle of the cashiers is so close there that it would be noticed immediately. Just 4 stations up at Чкаловская, a much busier transfer station, the police presence is far more attentive.
What I do is find a good reliable service that knows me over time or a good driver who I've met on the street and get his mobile number for future reference. I think this will be one way for locals to deal with the new law.
Exactly. Our youngest daughter "carpools" to MGU with someone she found via a friend who uses the same driver going that way almost every weekday.
Without prearranging, I've not had such quick response from Moscow taxis. Recently however a friend gave me the number of a professional licensed driver and if I need a taxi (rarely as we have a car in Moscow) I call him and service the couple times we've used it has been very good.
Mendy I'm curious myself just how they plan on enforcing this law. I think it will be very difficult and that drivers will find a way around the situation. Firstly, most drivers are from the Caucasus and licencing will be a problem for undocumented drivers. Secondly, like you said this is Russia, who obeys the law. Thirdly, see above.
I'm wondering the same. I think that if a policemen is standing at an intersection with that twirling baton then nobody will stop to give a ride. But if no police are around...
My MIL thinks this is all about preparation for the Olympics. With all the "clean up" of the city and crackdown on things like public toilets and street kiosks, perhaps she is correct. But it also plays into the hands of larger business interests and a sweeping away of smaller independent entrepreneurs.
most drivers are from the Caucasus and licencing will be a problem for undocumented drivers.
Good point. That will be a problem.
It makes one wonder if Sobyanin has really thought this idea through or if it was a knee jerk reaction to orders from above.
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You can get some (without naming names (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/Smileys/default2/cool.gif) ) strong narcotics over the counter here that are quite good for pain relief from what I understand (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/Smileys/default2/tongue.gif) and other drugs that would normally require a prescription in America.
Penicillin being just one for example. A couple months back I turned wrong while stepping off a Metro wagon and twisted a knee. I went to a larger Apteka that is well staffed. The pharmacist didn't want to give me penicillin or such for the swelling but she was knowledgeable and recommended a Нурофен gel (ibuprofen type) and диклак tablets (диклофенак) a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug often used in surgery.
The Diclofenac tablets are a prescription only item in the USA but lower dosages can be purchased in gel form (Voltaren) over the counter which is actually better for topical application to such an injury as the drug taken internally wreaks havoc on the stomach lining.
диклак is primarily made in the UK.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal, Moscow: Red Square and the Kremlin (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/come-to-russia-get-a-visa/4811-2/)
At the entry of Saint Basil's Cathedral is the monument to Minin and Pozharsky, the two men who formed a volunteer army and marched to Moscow to free the Kremlin from the Polish interventionist forces. At one time the statue stood in the centre of Red Square but during the Stalin years was moved in order to convert Red Square into a giant military staging ground.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/minin-and-pozharsky-monument-by-alma-pater.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/minin-and-pozharsky-monument-by-alma-pater.jpg)Moscow: Minin and Pozharsky monument by Alma Pater.
The prince Dmitry Pozharsky and merchant Kuzma Minin were the heroes of the 17th century war. They gathered the all-Russian volunteer army and expelled the Poles from the Moscow Kremlin.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/red-square-minin-and-pozharsky-2-674.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/red-square-minin-and-pozharsky-2-674.jpg)
Moscow monument inscription. (Photo: Mendeleyev Journal)
There is an identical monument in the Russian City of Nizhny Novgorod, the home region of Minin and Pozharsky and many of the volunteer army.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/medvedev-putin-national-unity-day-nizhny-novgorod-b.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/medvedev-putin-national-unity-day-nizhny-novgorod-b.jpeg)
04 November is National Unity Day. Medvedev and Putin visited the monument in Nizhny Novgorod.
We show both monuments because it reveals an interesting change in the Russian language. In the spelling of Russia you see the letter i. This letter no longer exists in the Russian language as the Cyrillic letter i was phased out. Today the name Russia is spelled in the Cyrillic as Россия.
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Citizen Taxis:
My first visit was 2002 and I stayed at an expensive Moscow hotel near Red Square. My future wife and I had just enjoyed our first meeting and she was leaving late at night to go home. I asked the doorman to hail a taxi. A few Mercedes were lined up and ready to go. My future wife asked the price, and they told her $50. She said something and walked out into street and stuck out her thumb. I exclaimed "This is not safe!"
Within seconds an old car pulled to the curb. She spoke to the driver, turned to me and said, "Only $4; see you tomorrow." She hopped into the car and I insisted that she call me when she got home (while I recorded the license plate to memory).
The citizen taxis are an important part of the Russian culture. I have seen them in third world countries but not in a country with Russia's per capita income.
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As a long time traveller to Russia, I find this thread and your insights very fascinating.
Is Russian mentality off limits. If not, perhaps this is a place to explain some Russian behavior which I find peculiar. My list is long, yet here are two examples:
1. When going through security screening at airports, one has to remove shoes to be x-rayed. Yet, every Russian will place specially provided plastic baggies over their feet to walk 15 feet even though a) they are wearing socks and b) the floor is carpeted and visually clean.
2. A draft of cool air is a big "no no" to include A/C fans in the tropics. The reaction is so severe as to suggest this is dangerous if not deadly. Yet, the Russian Banya features extreme hold and cold temperature immersions (although no draft).
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04 November is National Unity Day. Medvedev and Putin visited the monument in Nizhny Novgorod.
yes and police has closed half of city and was so busy traffic in this day because of their visit :(
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(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-otters-yuri-geifman.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/baikal-otters-yuri-geifman.jpg)
The "Nerpa" is the world's only freshwater Seal. These Seals number over 60,000.
You wonder how they got there and what species of seal they are related to.
Russia is a fascinating place!
Edit:
they are related to the Arctic ringed seal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringed_seal). The Baikal Seal is the smallest of the true seals, and with the exception of a sub-population of inland harbour seals living in the Hudson Bay region of Quebec, Canada (lac de loups marins harbour seals), they are the only exclusively freshwater pinniped (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwater_pinniped) species.[2]
It remains a scientific mystery how the seals originally came to Lake Baikal, hundreds of kilometers from any ocean. Some scientists speculate the seals arrived at Lake Baikal when a sea-passage linked the lake with the Arctic Ocean (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Ocean) (see also West Siberian Glacial Lake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Siberian_Glacial_Lake) and West Siberian Plain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Siberian_Plain)).
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Maxx2, thank you for posting that info! Like you, I had wondered how they got to Baikal.
I found this YT video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbzRRvc_aZs
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yes and police has closed half of city and was so busy traffic in this day because of their visit
Olly, so much history in your city!
Before your time the Ford Motor Company had a plant in Gorky and an American village, American schools, American supermarket and American clinic to serve the several thousand Americans. The Gorky Ford baseball team traveled all over Russia giving exhibitions of baseball in Russian cities.
When the war of German aggression broke out, Stalin took over the plant and most of the workers and their wives and children were trapped with most of the Americans dying in Gulag camps. There are a couple of books on the subject, authored by survivors (3 children from that group of about 3,000 survived, each an adult when leaving) of that horrible dilemma.
It took a presidential executive order by USA President Gerald Ford to bring home the last of the 3 survivors.
My family's Uncle Mikhail worked in that plant after the war.
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When going through security screening at airports, one has to remove shoes to be x-rayed. Yet, every Russian will place specially provided plastic baggies over their feet to walk 15 feet even though a) they are wearing socks and b) the floor is carpeted and visually clean.
Gator, fascinating subject!
In a Russian home it is bad form not to offer slippers of some sort to a visitor or guest. It is of course okay to bring your own slippers and I do that often as my shoe size is 11.
At the same time it is sometimes considered offensive to walk inside a Russian home without slippers because it could be a sign to others that the host has not properly provided for a guest.
This is also related to sleeping on the floor--most Russian hostesses would be shocked to find a guest sleeping on the floor. They will want to give up their bed first before allowing you or I to sleep on a floor.
My youngest and I toured Moscow's famous Kolomenskoe park this summer. We had the coolest afternoon together eating blini, taking photos and talking. She is in her final year at Moscow State and I treasure the time being around her. When we were inside the recreated wood palace, now a museum, we were required to wear those little cloth/plastic slipper socks. As most Russians don't wear a size 11, mine tore at the back but we laboured on undeterred.
Photo: got to keep those floors shiny!
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Gator, fascinating subject!
In a Russian home it is bad form not to offer slippers of some sort to a visitor or guest. It is of course okay to bring your own slippers and I do that often as my shoe size is 11.
Given the dirty streets and sidewalks, especially in winter, this is understandable. And the building corridors are horrible. So the need to remove street shoes at the door is obvious, but does not explain the temporary donning of plastic slippers at airport security screenings.
At the same time it is sometimes considered offensive to walk inside a Russian home without slippers because it could be a sign to others that the host has not properly provided for a guest.
Thanks, this is the explanation. I extrapolate from this fact that the need to cover feet during airport security screening is not for sanitary reasons but for politeness. Bare feet are perhaps as offensive to others as the dreadful act of pointing one's index finger in public. ;)
If one's only experience with Russians were in queues, one would think they are barbaric people. However, Russians are concerned with public politeness in ways that do not concern us.
I surmise that Khrushchev banging his shoe at the United Nations General Assembly was perhaps as offensive to Russians as if he urinated on the podium. ;) BTW, public urination seems acceptable although not encouraged, merely because the lack of public toilets make it a necessity. Even where there are public toilets, the Uzbeki female cleaning staff have no reservations about cleaning next to me while I am standing at the urinal.
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I think it has more more to do with tradition and the comfort of the Russian mindset than with practicality.
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Most Russians are surprised to learn that Russian Saint Tikhon, the martyred Russian Orthodox Patriarch Tikhon, had ties to America having been the top Orthodox Archbishop in America before returning to become the last Patriarch in Russia before the Communist revolution.
So too, most Americans are often surprised to learn that the USA has a "Embassy" (representation) Orthodox Church in Moscow.
Our family usually attends the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Russia's national Cathedral, but neither are we strangers to the American Representation Church, Saint Catherine the Great Martyr in-the-fields Orthodox Church.
So come along and let's get acquainted with this unique church in a historic Moscow neighborhood. (This is one of the articles (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/religion-in-russia/saint-catherines-american-orthodox-church/) found in the Mendeleyev Journal section on Religion in Russia.)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-1.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-1.jpg)
In ecclesiastical terms, a metochion (подворье) is an ecclesiastical embassy church, usually from one autonomous church to another. Such is the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr in-the-Fields in Moscow with the mission to represent the American Orthodox community to the Russian Orthodox Church.
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In the sixteenth century Tsarina Anastasia Romanova established a place for cosmetics merchants in an area beyond the Moscow River and with it built a church in 1612. The church was dedicated to Saint Catherine, the Great Martyr in-the-fields.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow.jpg)
Initially the church was erected of wood but later damaged during the Time of Troubles as the merchant area was the scene of battles between Russian defenders and Polish and Lithuanian invaders.
Repairs and additions were made in 1636, this time with stone as the main building material. Workers also added the Saint Nicholas chapel to one side of the church.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-b.jpg)
More restorations were made in the eighteenth century as the style of architecture was changed to reflect more of European baroque styling. The redesigned church was consecrated in September of 1767. A second, heated winter church was built in the mid-nineteenth century, between 1870 to 1872. (The original church like most from that period was unheated.)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-m.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-m.jpg)
Before being shut down by the Bolsheviks, the church was a favourite of Russian Patriarch Tikhon, a Russian-American, and he visited it often. Until his arrest and soon thereafter his murder by the Soviets, Tikhon administered both the Russian and American Orthodox national churches.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-k.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-k.jpg)
The Bolsheviks set about closing churches and began with the murder of Patriarch Tikhon. In 1931 the church was stripped of most of its furnishings, the clergy declared enemies of the state and killed.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-n.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-n.jpg)
For decades the Communists used the church for offices as well as converting three floors into communal apartments.
With the collapse of Communism the government began to return some churches to the original owners and the Church of St. Catherine was among the earliest to be returned.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-palm.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-palm.jpg)
When the Russian Orthodox Church began to restore communion with her sister Orthodox Churches the USA sent an Archpriest to Moscow from the Orthodox Church in America (http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Orthodox_Church_in_America) to establish a representation church to the Moscow Patriarchate. The OCA had begun as the daughter church of the ROC as it was the Russians who had first brought Orthodoxy to the Americas.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-p.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-p.jpg)
Given the location, St. Catherine was placed at the disposal of the OCA and in 1994 St. Catherine's was reopened for worship. His Holiness Alexei II of Russia and Metropolitan Theodosius of the USA concelebrated the Orthodox divine liturgy and consecrated the Representation Church of the Orthodox Church in America, St. Catherine the Great Martyr, on 11 June 1999.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-i.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-i.jpg)
In this Moscow neighborhood, quiet courtyards and nineteenth-century manor houses, occasionally broken by the characteristic onion domes of Russian Orthodox churches, convey more than anywhere else in Moscow the atmosphere of a patriarchal way of life, of bells calling the faithful to vespers or the Divine Liturgy, the smell of incense and the beautiful chanting of Old Church Slavonic songs and liturgy.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-o.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-o.jpg)
At present the parish of St. Catherine's consists of two churches, the older summer ('cold', because it does not have heating) church in honour of the saint herself, and the winter ('warm', because it has heating) church, dating from the mid-nineteenth century.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-pussywillows.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-pussywillows.jpg)
Of special interest are the outer metal railings of the territory of the church that were placed here in 1769. These ornate railings are a unique example of eighteenth-century Moscow metal work and are broken by stone columns topped by the imperial state symbol of Russia borrowed from Byzantium, the double-headed eagle. The double-headed eagles also crowned the main metal gates to the church, but were removed in the 1920s.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-outside.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-outside.jpg)
The effects of the brutality meted out to the Orthodox Church in Russia for over a period of seventy years cannot be eradicated overnight. St. Catherine's OCA Church shares with her sister Russian parishes not only the joys of spiritual regeneration but also the myriad of tribulations that sudden freedom can bring.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-d.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-d.jpg)
The communist bureaucracy left a legacy of inertia, inefficiency and corruption that will take generations to overcome. This has entailed frustrating delays in the return of all of the church property. The shadow of the past still hangs over St. Catherine's in the form of the rectory, which is now occupied by the Federal Security Service (the former KGB).
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-j.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-catherines-moscow-j.jpg)
Mendeleyev note: there is quite a nice bookstore, small but adequate, at Saint Catherine's and it is open most weekdays. Although most of the books are in Russian some are in English. They offer a nice selection of icons and other Orthodox items, too.
On most Sundays the majority of worshipers are native Russians but because of the status of the church being American you can meet visitors from European countries as well. Most services are in Old Church Slavonic but some are bi-lingual in Russian and English.
Website: http://www.st-catherine.ru/ (http://www.st-catherine.ru/)
Address:Bolshaya Ordynka, 60/2119017, Moscow
Tel: +7 (495) 959-12-96
Metro stations: Polyanka or Oktyabrskaya (it is a 10-15 min walk from either station)
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Russians learn a lot about their Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church turns into a ZAO (a "close joint-stock company") on the government level. Do you want to celebrate an anniversary in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior? You can rent even the Patriarch's Hall, just pay the money, for additional payment you will get VIP rooms. The Cathedral of Christ the Savior right now is a limited liability company. The Russian businesses periodically are ordered by the government to sponsor the Russia Orthodox Church.
The Krestovozdvizhensky Convent near Moscow has legal proceedings with the Rehabilitation Center "Childhood" in Domodyedovo for children with autistic disorder, Down Syndrome, Cerebral palsy and so on. There are about 30 thousand children each year undergo treatments in that rehabilitation center, but the Patriarchate wants to take the building from the children and the children's last hope. Nuns scream right into the parents' eyes that their children are punished by God for their (parent's) sins. Such a cruelty right from nuns. The Convent is also in the conflict with locals. The convent wants to take their houses as the convent claims the Center and the locals' houses are were built on the convent's territory during the Soviet time. The locals say that they were living whole their lives there and have no place to go, but the Convent's Mother Superior "parries a blow": "Accomplish your soul feat and give your homes to the Convent".
In 1682 the Russian Orthodox Church burnt alive a Russian protopope Avvakum, not just because he was an Old Believer and was against the new Orthodox reforms, but because he condemned the Nikon's Russian Orthodox Church for the greed and hypocrisy.
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Do you want to celebrate an anniversary in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior? You can rent even the Patriarch's Hall, just pay the money, for additional payment you will get VIP rooms. The Cathedral of Christ the Savior right now is a limited liability company.
Being that Christ Cathedral is my home church when in Moscow I'll be glad to respond.
True, the ZAO 'Mospromstroi' was created to as a consortium of government and the church to manage the construction. Churches do that, from Baptist to Presbyterian to Charismatic to Independent. Most clergy don't run large construction projects. Government was involved because they still held control of the property at that point.
Also true that the Commission for the Construction of the Cathedral, a government entity, formed a Russian corporation to oversee funding, fundraising and construction.
It is also true that the Limited Liability Company “Mosrestavratsiya” which is a City of Moscow owned company, offers rentals of the Church hall and basement facilities. Being that they supplied funding for the basement and lower Cathedral restoration, it was part of the arrangement when the government returned the property to the church.
You might be interested to know that money coming into Mostrestavratsiya also is allocated to maintaining the exhibition halls in the State History Museum, upkeep of the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square, the auxiliary building of the Bolshoi Theatre, and the Pushkin Museum.
Of course all sorts of churches from Baptist to Presbyterian to Charismatic to Independent rent their halls as well. I'm glad they do and am all for it.
Now, as to the "Childhood" program, I'm aware of that one also but perhaps my view will be different that yours or of others.
True: Childhood, a centre designed for 250 beds, treats over 3,000 children annually.
True: Other than an Orthodox owned/run charity facilities for Downs Syndrome & Cerebral palsy & Autism like the one out in the Sergiev Posad area, the common consensus in the Russian press is that "Childhood" is the only such ADVANCED state run facility in the country.
True: There are an estimated 500,000 such children in Russia today.
True: The land and buildings at Luchino had belonged to the monastery and had been seized by the Communists.
True: The Soviets sent most of the nuns to the Gulags and turned the facility into a military hospital.
True: After the war it was converted into a tuberculosis sanatorium.
True: As the Lenin Hills area became very fashionable, the sanatorium was closed and the area given to the state rehabilitation center. You can hide sick children behind walls but not TB, I guess. Go figure.
True: In 1992, as the government was trying to clean up Communism's 70 years private property seizures, the property was divided between the Ministry of Health and the monastery. What for centuries was the property of the monastery is now divided between a government agency and a church group.
True: All things being equal, the nuns should allow families and children to cross the section of the property to go back and forth to the clinic and hospital. But in fairness to the nuns, when they granted families access at first they were met one morning with cranes and bulldozers from a construction firm ready to build a foundation on that particular space.
That being said, I can hardly blame the nuns for putting up a gate and halting further construction. I would have likely done the same thing and would probably wait for the courts to settle the issue.
Now the Ministry of Health needs to expand and wants to take back some of that monastery land again. Olga, that area is kind of landlocked.
Even if they were to build on all 34 hectares, you'd still have several problems:
1- Centralizing ALL of Russia's treatment in one city just isn't the best solution for the largest country on earth, covering 1/6 of the earth's land mass. Decentralization is in Russia's best interests and in the interests of the children and their families.
I know that the Ministry of Health argues that the best doctors are in Moscow. Well then train and incentivize some new ones to live in cities other than Russia's so-called non-geographical "centre."
What family in the Far East can manage an 8 day train ride just for diagnosis and care of such a child?! Good gawd, somebody needs to think this one through and throw that Commie centralization crap out the window.
2- A landmark of great historical significance would be lost.
3- Monasteries have rights and it was not they who seized private property but the other way around. Government has the authority of imminent domain and if that property was really going to serve all of Russia then they'd have already acted.
BTW, I've not seen the behaviour you described but I have seen some of the best charity work in the world done by nuns.
4- A lot of press, at first, was given when the nuns gated off 2 hectares on which a new hospital wing was to have been built. Again, lets look at facts: Baring action of the courts, the entity which will decide this issue, the Federal Property Management Agency had included those 2 hectares when some (remember, not all) of the property was returned to the monastery in 1992.
It is that very Federal Property Management Agency which made the determination of the return that the historic monastery was in a "protection zone" due to the fact that the monastery was "a monument of architecture and art of cultural importance."
Think about that for a moment...as an example, Saint Basil's remains a state museum, because Red Square is part of a "protection zone." It is the same for the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square, a state museum which the church can use for extremely limited functions.
The Federal Property Management Agency must justify their decisions anytime they name a "protection zone" and you must admit that their reasons not to bulldoze the entire place and send the nuns packing is based on solid reasoning from a historic and cultural context.
Far too many historical landmarks are being sent to dust as we speak and it will be Russia's loss forever. I wrote about this issue sometime back, read it here (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/russias-architecture-in-danger/).
Olga, here is what is already in the works: the Ministry of Health is suing the Federal Property Management Agency and the Monastery. The courts will decide if the Federal Property Agency can't work it out first.
If I tell you that I hope the monastery wins (I do) you'll perhaps think it for purely religious reasons because I'm Orthodox.
But I actually have a better idea as it seems to me to be impossible for the Ministry of Health to build a clinic, hospital and neurological school all on that area without destroying a historical landmark that had legal right to the property for generations.
Most importantly, I'm for the children. Even if that space had been empty forest and no monastery ever there, I think that Russia should stop trying to centralize all important facilities such as this one onto one single piece of property. For Russia to become a truly first rate nation, she needs facilities like these scattered around the country.
It is not right for families of severely retarded children in a country this large to have only Moscow as a place for advanced treatment.
Respectfully,Mendeleyev
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Here is the website of the Rehabilitation center "Detstvo"
http://mirdlyavseh.ru/ (http://mirdlyavseh.ru/)
And as they wrote on their home page: "Государственные учреждения отвернулись от наших детей, называя их «необучаемыми» (http://www.worldforall.msk.ru/?page_id=130) и отказывая в какой-либо адекватной поддержке. Многие люди сторонятся и ограждают своих детей от нас, как будто мы страдаем заразной болезнью. (The government institutions turn their back on our children, calling them learning-disabled and refusing any adequate help)
And now the same does the Patriarchate.
http://www.mr7.ru/news/society/story_36139.html (http://www.mr7.ru/news/society/story_36139.html)
http://www.rg.ru/2010/10/22/centr.html (http://www.rg.ru/2010/10/22/centr.html)
While you can hardly blame the nuns for putting up a gate and don't let disabled children go through the Convent territory from one building of the Center to another, and they have to make a huge loop, I see the Convent's action as a big hypocrisy.
The Russian Official Orthodox Church very zealously involves itself into the State affairs, they got not only inside the Duma but they are getting inside the public school making it obligatory to teach children the "Orthodox culture and ethics" but their action unfortunately speaks otherwise.
When I read how drunk monks and other clerics or "divine" church officials, beat each other till blood, shoot at each other, and a monastery keeps in its storage boxes of beer, how the Church officials don't pay their bills and Russian businessmen have to have a legal proceedings with them to get their money for the job they did, I have a question "Do I have to believe in the Official Church that is run by people and the ordinary human sins are not alien to them or it would be just enough to believe in Christ with his commandments?"
About OOO (a limited liability company) "The Cathedral of Christ the Savior" you can read below. ;)
http://www.newsland.ru/news/detail/id/647314/ (http://www.newsland.ru/news/detail/id/647314/)
Can you imagine if the US government begin to send orders to the business in the US that they are obligated to sponsor a particular religion or Church or to make obligatory religion subjects on Christian culture and ethics in all the schools public and privet? ;)
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or to make obligatory religion subjects on Christian culture and ethics in all the schools public and privet?
It is something I admire about Russia. This was common in the USA when I was a child.
BTW, Russian schools have the same options as then in the US...kids can opt out and the region can be represented by faiths other than Orthodox. The 4 protected religions in Russia: Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism have access to public school time for teaching religion and ethics.
(The government institutions turn their back on our children, calling them learning-disabled and refusing any adequate help)
I almost agree with them on this statement. However as we speak the Ministry of Health is suing the Federal Property Management Agency and the Monastery in order to yet again, seize historic property and destroy historic monuments.
Are the children more important? Of course they are and that is why many citizens opposed expanding the facility there where space is limited.
Also, remember it wasn't the monastery who brought in cranes and bulldozers without permission on land that didn't belong to them.
We can criticize the nuns for putting up a gate, but it was the Ministry of Health that caused the problem, not the nuns.
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It is something I admire about Russia. This was common in the USA when I was a child.
We can criticize the nuns for putting up a gate, but it was the Ministry of Health that caused the problem, not the nuns.
mendeleyev, I guess we will have different prayers, because I will pray the Church would stay away from the State ;D as one of the components of a democratic society.
But now what I see the Russian Government and the Russian official Church are getting tied together stronger and stronger and that's why the disabled children are neither important for the Ministry of Health nor for the nuns of Krestovozdvizhensky Convent ;)
In 1992 the Convent got back 32 hectares from 34 hectares that were in the the Ministry of Health's property and the Convent did not object at all signing the documents . Why the Convent can not just "accomplish its spiritual feat" nowadays and leave 2 hectares for the Rehabilitation center for disabled children? ;) and plus to help the children and the Center itself with their charity spiritually and financially?
BTW I don't recall in the Bible if Jesus or apostles would own or build mentions, buy modern chariots, order the gold crosses decorated with diamonds and sapphires, and more over not paying to craftsmen? Did they sell gold rings, icons and candles telling people "if you don't buy it God Almighty will not hear you and will not forgive your sins? ;D
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We'll just have to agree that we have differing views. :)
Differing views is one of those things that makes Russia so interesting.
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We'll just have to agree that we have differing views. :)
Differing views is one of those things that makes Russia so interesting.
Here we are in an agreement, I think :)
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Olga, are you still producing those excellent videos on Russia?
I think they would be great for a thread like this.
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Amazingly there is much for an expat to do in your own language while in Russia. True, they don't use a lot of English in street signs and you need to get at least a basic handle on the Cyrillic alphabet to successfully navigate the Metro, but today you shouldn't feel isolated and alone upon arrival in Russia or Ukraine.
I should note that in early years there could have been possible isolation. My first Thanksgiving for example was "saved" when an English speaking couple invited me over to their apartment for a Thanksgiving celebration. It could have been a lonely day without that invitation. As you know Thanksgiving is not celebrated in many parts of the world.
Today there are plenty of opportunities to not only be immersed in Russian everyday life but from time to time have interaction with other expats from the West.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/taste-of-russia-logo1.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/taste-of-russia-logo1.png)
For example there is the Taste of Russia, an English speaking cooking school that teaches expats how to make some very cool dishes from pelmeni to okroshka and blini and lots more.
They bill themselves as the only English language cooking school in Moscow and for many this could be a very valuable resource.
To see some of the opportunities, go to their website: www.tasterussia.ru (http://www.tasterussia.ru) The site is in English and if you'll click on the calendar tab at the top you can see the types of classes being offered in November and January, for example.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/taste-of-russia-cooking-school.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/taste-of-russia-cooking-school.jpg)
For new expats they offer a "market tour" every Saturday at 11am Moscow time. In a nutshell the market tour shows you how to find the things you want in local markets, and how to recognize and purchase the best quality meats and vegetables, etc. Personally I can recall the first times I entered Russian markets and they seemed to be in a different world. Learning the etiquette of shopping can be very helpful.
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Learning the etiquette of shopping can be very helpful.
I generally cause quite a commotion is the FSU supermarkets by taking my fruits and vegetables through the checkout line to be weighed by the cashier !! :o
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Yes! Don't you just marvel at those little differences?!
Recently in a moderate sized market, about the size of a typical Circle K or 7-ll in the USA, we selected loose leaf tea at one counter, and paid there. Moved over to the next counter where we selected ice cream, and paid there. Mrs M stepped across the floor to the bread counter, where she made a selection and paid there while I was in the corner looking at laundry detergent, found what we needed, and paid that clerk.
Four separate transactions in the same size market in the USA would have one one employee, perhaps two at most, to serve the same number of customers efficiently.
Now to be fair to those clerks, some neighborhood markets are coops of sorts. In this one near our home, the tea lady pays monthly rent to have her counter in the market. The disadvantage is that when she isn't there...customers cannot purchase tea. I think that the bread counter in this market may be independently run also, but I'm not certain of that because I've picked up bread from other clerks when she isn't present.
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This is the market near our Moscow flat:
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/market-near-home-3-033.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/market-near-home-3-033.jpg)
Inside you'd find the basics. However about a 5-7 minute walk from here (to the left) is a much more modern mini-supermarket with better prices and more selections. We shop there also, but this market is just a 2 minute walk across the street and we appreciate the convenience of having it close so we make a point to spend there consistently as well. If you walked to the right you'd run into our Metro station in less than 5 minutes and of course there are plenty of shops and kiosks crowded around the Metro.
In you were to step inside the ladies inside are very nice and helpful.
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In you were to step inside the ladies inside are very nice and helpful.
. . . step inside the ladies inside . . .
Quite a trick I would say.
Sorry, couldn't resist. 8)
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In May I tried to return an item at a medium size market bought 1 hour earlier and had receipt. I was told NYET in no uncertain terms. Even though this manager had helped me choose an expensive bottle of wine the day before. Short term memory problem.
There are 3 of these markets within 200 meters of where we were in my wifes flat. One American friend who was with me the next day wonders what would happen if just one store was entirely friendly where everyone smiled and thanked the customer. He suggests that in 6 months they would steal all the customers from the competitors.
Possible ??
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In StPb, I went to very nice restaurant on canal across from summer palace. Demidov's or something like that name.
Was a business dinner for 6 that I paid for (expense account) and was equivalent to $500-600.
Gave the coat check guy a very big tip.
One day later, I was out walking with a woman near this restaurant. It was very chilly and we both had to pee-pee very badly.
I thought, no problem, just duck in here, the coat check guy will give a big smile and escort us to toilets.
But no . . . he said NYET.
Quite a stupid man and a stupid owner who would employ such a man or give such instructions.
But this is life in FSU.
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some neighborhood markets are coops of sorts. In this one near our home, the tea lady pays monthly rent to have her counter in the market.
We used to have a lot of them in Milan - only 10 or so remaining now - called mercati comunali (municipal markets), their single-shop stalls being let out by our town council. Many disappeared as supermarkets became predominant.
We still have mercati rionali, i.e. open-air markets on specific days in specific streets (http://milanointernet.altervista.org/MilanoInternetMercatiRionali.htm), their licensed mobile stall owners moving each morning to the next location - they are open 08:00 to 14:00 only to allow municipal sweepers to clean the mess they leave (empty boxes, crates, etc.) and the barred traffic to resume normally where they occupy the entire street width.
(http://s3-media4.ak.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/N5VNJa-RweR3HLM8ZG231A/l.jpg)
Being usually cheaper than regular supermarkets/shops, they've enjoyed a steadily increasing customer flow these past years ;).
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Sandro, those temporary kiosks do provide a valuable service, especially to elderly folk who can't walk so easily to a supermarket blocks away. Unfortunately Moscow is in the midst of a beautification project and steadily these merchants are being closed down.
That nice photo you posted could almost be anywhere in Russia. I'm sorry that Russia is bent on making them go away.
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. . . step inside the ladies inside . . .
My bad. :)
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One American friend who was with me the next day wonders what would happen if just one store was entirely friendly where everyone smiled and thanked the customer. He suggests that in 6 months they would steal all the customers from the competitors. Possible ??
Chicago, this is a true story from the early days after the fall of the CCCP. It was the Canadian McDonald's division that opened up Russia as a new market for Mickey D's. Many months before the opening of the first one in Moscow there were extended training sessions for the new Russian employees being hired.
In one session the trainer began the instructions on how to greet customers, how to be polite, to smile at a customer, etc. A young man raised his hand and asked the instructer this question: Why must we be nice to the customers? After all, we are the ones with the hamburgers!
That mentality was unfortunately part and parcel of the Soviet way of life and it will take a generation or so for that kind of thinking to change.
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Mendeleyev,
When a good friend of mine came to Chicago from Omsk in 1993 we went for hamburgers at Wendy's. After he got his food and we were sitting down he said with complete astonishment "she thanked me". I had been to Russia in 1992 and I understood what he meant.
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CG, now your friend can try that experience again and this time on Arbat in Moscow.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/wendys-on-arbat-2-922.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/wendys-on-arbat-2-922.jpg)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/wendys-on-arbat-2-928.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/wendys-on-arbat-2-928.jpg)
(Венди'с) Wendy's is one of the newer American chains to enter the Moscow fast food scene. As there is no letter representing 'W' in Russian Cyrillic, often a "veh" sound is substituted. The Cyrillic letter 'B' is sounded as "veh."
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The 4 protected religions in Russia: Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism have access to public school time for teaching religion and ethics.
Hinduism? Shouldn't that be Judaism?
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You are absolutely right. Thanks for catching that!
In some of the far east republics Hinduism is more common and I guess that was on my brain at the time.
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You are absolutely right. Thanks for catching that!
In some of the far east republics Hinduism is more common and I guess that was on my brain at the time.
Actually, I don't know of any republics where Hinduism is common. You must be thinking of the Buryats and Buddhism.
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Perhaps it was too much vodka instead of thinking. :)
(And I rarely drink!)
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Actually, I don't know of any republics where Hinduism is common. You must be thinking of the Buryats and Buddhism.
"Common" is the key descriptor. You probably already know that the nation with the greatest number of Muslims is India. Most people miss that piece of trivia.
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"Common" is the key descriptor. You probably already know that the nation with the greatest number of Muslims is India. Most people miss that piece of trivia.
After Indonesia and Pakistan, of course. I was being polite by the use of "common" as I do not know of any traditional Russian populations that practiced Hinduism ;) There are certainly Hindus in Russia now, but they would be more recent migrants.
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"Common" is the key descriptor. You probably already know that the nation with the greatest number of Muslims is India. Most people miss that piece of trivia.
I'd missed it. Makes sense though geographically.
I was being polite by the use of "common" as I do not know of any traditional Russian populations that practiced Hinduism
Thank you. I was thinking of the Altai Republic and the Yakutia of the Sakha Republic but the majority religion there is probably the practice of shamanism. Vladimir Putin had made a trip east a few years ago and toured a Hindu monastery/temple near Yakutsk and that may have been in the back of my mind as well.
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I'd missed it. Makes sense though geographically.
Thank you. I was thinking of the Altai Republic and the Yakutia of the Sakha Republic but the majority religion there is probably the practice of shamanism. Vladimir Putin had made a trip east a few years ago and toured a Hindu monastery/temple near Yakutsk and that may have been in the back of my mind as well.
It wouldn't have been a historic temple as prior to the arrival of Russian Orthodoxy the Sakha and indigenous peoples had shamanic practices and beliefs. Hinduism has been spreading only recently whether in Moscow or elsewhere due to the rise of the Hare Krishnas and others.
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Exactly, shamanism would be historically dominate in that region. As I recall the trip was when Putin was in the latter part of his second term and he stopped at the temple/monastery for a photo-op to show Russia's tolerance for religion.
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BTW, Russian schools have the same options as then in the US...kids can opt out and the region can be represented by faiths other than Orthodox. The 4 protected religions in Russia: Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism have access to public school time for teaching religion and ethics.
Not exactly so. The lessons on "Fundamentals of religions and secular ethics" are still on experimental level in the public schools, I hope it will not go farther than that. But the government along with official Orthodox Church pushes the Orthodoxy that is not acceptable in my opinion and in opinion of many public school teachers. The Russian Federation is ethically diverse and there are many religions the people practice, and a religion is a cradle of culture. That's why when I was invited to take a position of World Culture History teacher at our Eparchy Sunday school I politely refused as I look at every religion first of all from the cultural perspective.
Olga, are you still producing those excellent videos on Russia?
I think they would be great for a thread like this.
Not now. I'm mostly staying busy with our business :)
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Exactly, shamanism would be historically dominate in that region. As I recall the trip was when Putin was in the latter part of his second term and he stopped at the temple/monastery for a photo-op to show Russia's tolerance for religion.
I could not find anything in Russian news on Putin's visit of Hindu temple near Yakutia or Shaman temple. I also would like to know about the Hindu Temple near Yakutia, and I can not recall any temple or monastery in Shamanism. ::) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism)
But I remember Medvedev visited Ivolginsky Datsan in Buryatia in 2009. Putin also was going to make his visit along with Medvedev, but I think he did not make it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivolginsky_Datsan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivolginsky_Datsan)
Yakut God Aiyy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiyy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiyy)
Hinduism in Russia.
A large centre is being built in Moscow, which was initially opposed by the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2003 the authorities asked devotees to vacate their temple in exchange for a piece of land on which they could build a bigger temple.[4]
This was followed immediately by mass protests orchestrated by the Russian Orthodox Church which did not want land given to a temple that was "converting Russian Christians to a Hindu way of life". Hindus were victimized, threatened, bullied, beaten and subject to violence. A misinformation campaign was launched against Hindus by the Orthodox Church.[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_in_Russia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_in_Russia)
"Orthodoxy or Death" is written on their T-shirts (absolutely legal in Russia)
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Olga it is senseless to brand the ROC as the sole contributor to bigotry in Russia. Should we also bring up Muslim on Muslim violence in places like Dagestan?
I think not as neither contributes to this topic.
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Olga it is senseless to brand the ROC as the sole contributor to bigotry in Russia. Should we also bring up Muslim on Muslim violence in places like Dagestan?
I think not as neither contributes to this topic.
mendeleyev, it is what it is, a reality in the Russian Federation. :) I think such facts also would be interesting to know ;)
Personally I don't greet and justify any aggression in any religion, and especially when a religion is used as a political tool, as an ideology.
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One can find Hindus where least expected :o. One of their subgroups, the warlike, turbaned Punjab Sikh, last August dedicated their largest temple in Europe - costing about € 2M, € 1.3M loaned by a local bank, the rest raised from worshippers' donations:
(http://images2.corriereobjects.it/gallery/Cronache/2011/08_Agosto/tempio/1/img_1/tempio_01_672-458_resize.jpg)
Where? At Pessina Cremonese, a hitherto mostly unknown little town in the farming/cattle-raising area near Cremona (best known for its luthier traditions - home to Stradivari and Guarneri), where the Sikh arrived in the mid 1990s as stable minders and formed a substantial community over time.
The temple is not yet topped by pagodas as in their golden Amritsar shrine, but will be in the future, their Lord Shiva willing :).
(http://www.sikh.it/tempio.jpg)
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So how do Russians advertise a personal item to sell or offer a service?
In older days you'd tape or plaster some kind of paper announcement on the entry wall of a Metro station. The citywide clean up efforts have mostly done away with that opportunity.
Of course there are other ways, such as...
The Community Bulletin Board:
LiveJournal has transformed the Russian social scene and even CraigsList has come to Russia. But one of the easiest ways to look for an advertisement or service is just outside your building's front door. It is the free community bulletin board.
http://www.livejournal.com/ (http://www.livejournal.com/)
http://moscow.craigslist.org/ (http://moscow.craigslist.org/)
However one of the easiest ways to look for an advertisement or service is just outside your building's front door. It is the free community bulletin board.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-bulletin-board-2-011.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-bulletin-board-2-011.jpg)
This is the bulletin board located outside the front door of our apartment building. Very often you can find these outside neighborhood markets and pharmacies, too.
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How do Russians manage social networking? If a Russian wishes to spread a message, contact long lost friends, has something to sell or needs to find an item to purchase, how do they get that message to others?
Of course social networking takes on many forms, from Facebook type services, the new Google+, to a Twitter account. Then too there are the old standbys like Craigslist or even a piece of paper stapled to a corkboard like in the photo above. But Russians do more for social networking than just LiveJournal, CraigsList or bulletin boards.
VKontakte (ВКонтакте) is perhaps the biggest in the former Soviet Union and popular around the world with Russian speakers. VKontakte translates as "in contact" and shares many similarities with Facebook. Many Russians use Facebook as well. www.Vkontakte.ru (http://www.Vkontakte.ru) and the sister website www.vk.com (http://www.vk.com) make up the 5th busiest website in Russia.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/vkontake.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/vkontake.jpg)
Like Facebook, VKontakte allows users to post messages and make contacts either publicly or privately, however a big advantage is its file sharing technology such as the torrent ability for members to share large files.
How do you participate in social networking? Leave a comment and let us know.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal feature on Life In A Russian Home (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1514&action=edit&message=1):
Russian entryways can look very rundown yet the apartments inside could be very nice. Often that is done on purpose to foil burglars, etc. While the photo below is not the Mendeleyev entryway, it is representative of many across Russia.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-entryway-3-247.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-entryway-3-247.jpg)
So recently we decided to get one of those new electronic locking mechanisms. They're a tad expensive at first but no more bulk keys, and since most apartments have either double or triple deadbolts, the keys add up in a hurry!
So far, so good and we're enjoying the installation on a new door of solid wood and then a metal plate covered by an attractive wood veneer, a standard feature of doors here.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-door-3-0081.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-door-3-0081.jpg)
Perhaps you didn't notice but it is a keyless entry system. Instead of carrying around a bulky key ring you must either carry the combination carefully written somewhere in a wallet or make certain that the combination is committed to memory.
There is a feature that shuts the system down if someone attempts to enter with the wrong combination--which is how I locked myself out recently. I nearly panicked until remembering that we had set a 5 minute reset, so I sat on the concrete stairs and waited for some minutes to pass after which time I had remembered the correct sequence for our 9 digit combination.
So, how does it work exactly?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-door-lock-close-3-008.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-door-lock-close-3-008.jpg)
Part of the mystery is that unless you know how to operate the door, you can't even enter a combination. That can be a minus for forgetful folk like me. Okay, it is a multiple deadbolt system made by Samsung. There is battery backup and God knows what will happen someday when both the electricity is off and the batteries dead!
The handle only works after the combination has been entered and verified. The little round button below the "Samsung" name is the door bell. Press it and the door chimes. Option: Some units can be programmed to call cell phones when somebody rings the doorbell and we can patch into the intercom to find out who is ringing the bell when away from home. We didn't take that option but it sounds pretty cool.
Next, on the Samsung unit there is a digital screen, visible only after activation to frustrate unwanted visitors. To activate the digital screen with the keypad for combination entry one must press the little silver bar (almost unseen) located between the word SAMSUNG and the round doorbell button. Once the screen is visible then it is just like a smartphone phone keyboard to enter the combination which triggers a series of noises and rings (waking up everyone inside) as the lock disengages so that everyone is aware when the door opens.
The door locks immediately upon shutting after entry. We could have set it to lock after 15 or 30 or 60 seconds but we chose the immediate option. If the door doesn't close properly or is stuck open an alarm sounds.
On the door handle you'll notice metal slits and those are speakers for the intercom. There is an eye peephole standard in the door and in addition to seeing the person ringing, you can use the intercom to find out who is knocking, and why.
The smartest thing I've done is keep the number of the installer hidden in my wallet along with the combination because this is modern technology and at some point, I'll need his help at some weird hour in the middle of the early morning.
Until that time, we're feeling very secure.
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I was browsing thru the LiveJournal ads for items for sale and came across dancing lessons. Join a dance club and learn the "hustle" for just 600 руб. Not bad!
The person offering the classes at a central Moscow location had loaded this video as an example of the "hustle" dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQXhYsWYzkI
While not certain that this represents the hustle as we know it, I can tell you that most Western guys are left in the dust when it comes to dancing. Especially American guys.
This kind of dance venue is called "Open Air" (meaning out in the open/non structured) in Russia and Ukraine and very popular in the 24-40 age bracket.
Is dancing important to many RW and UW?
Yes.
Not that you'll lose the girl if you don't, but if you want to see the sparkle in a Russian gal's eyes, dance with her. Not some jerky movements learned from a nightclub, any guy can shake his groove thing which is where most of us begin at first. We're talking about dancing that is learned and perfected.
Did you know that Russia and Ukraine have some of the most polished swing, hop and ballroom dancers under the planet, under the age of 35 even? When it comes to dancing the 1950's and 60's are alive and well in the FSU.
Ребят, есть скидочные флаеры на первый месяц занятия хастлом для начинающих в клубе "Движение". Народ пожадничал, и они щас лежат без дела. Реализовать можно до конца года, а может и продлят срок.
Там получается скидка 80%, вместо 3200, платите 600р (не мне, а клубу за месяц занятий).
Тем кто давно хотел, но не решался, самое оно.
Писать лучше в личку, в коментах тоже отвечаю.
Встретиться могу в метро по договоренности.
In a nutshell the ad tells of a bunch of discounts resulting in a 600 руб price and the offer to meet and dance. Supposedly the normal price for lessons is 3200 руб but if we act now...
The YouTube video is old--August 2009. Wonder if that is him in the video?
For those of you in Moscow and interested, he also posts that flyers are being passed out at Metro Полежаевская around 17:30 each weekday evening (5:30pm). He's also willing to meet someone (a gal I presume) to share the lessons.
Hmm...passing out flyers at Metro stations is now illegal. Interesting.
Here is a guy offering to sell his 6 remaining flu tablets. Wonder if this is a knock off product? I've heard of Coldact Flu Plus, but to sell 6 tablets from a used package...
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/apteka-tablets.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/apteka-tablets.jpg)
субботу, м.Тимирязевская, примерно в 16 часов. Или после 20 часов, можно в центре.
I think the dude is on drugs. He offers to meet Saturday at Metro Timiryazevskaya (busy place in NW Moscow), at hour 16 (4pm). Then says maybe 20 hours (8pm).
Are we supposed to wait 4 hours for him to show up just to buy some leftover flu tablets?
One last online LiveJournal ad (similar to a CraigsList):
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/journals.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/journals.jpg)
This person wants to sell his used journals. Only problem is that he forgot to post his location, email or phone.
Moscow is the biggest city in Europe. We are not going to drive aimlessly around just hoping to stumble into a guy selling his used journals.
Maybe he is proud of the Playboy edition and doesn't really want to sell his rags, just wants other people to know what he has.
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Dancing on your visit
танец = dance "tahn yits"
танцы = dancing "tAHn tse"
This couple is really good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4tWXgLkix4
Interesting also the number of girls sitting on the sidelines. My guess is that a guy not afraid, after all not every couple out there is as polished as these two, would have cecent opportunity to meet single gals at a venue such as this. Talk about breaking the ice in spite of language barriers!
Same venue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wcOtp67h-8
Different venue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmzZQyan3lU
As you can see there are a variety of skill levels so no matter your skill set, go for it and enjoy!
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From the Mendeleyev Journal page on Orthodox Christmas in Russia:
(http://russianreport.wordpress.com/religion-in-russia/christmas-in-russia/)
There are 2 major fasts during the Orthodox year along with numerous "minor" fasts. The fast, called a "post" in Russian, is for the purpose of cleansing and discipline. The first major fast is the Easter Fast and the last of the year is the "Nativity Fast." A major fast is always followed by a major feast.
The Nativity Fast lasts for 40 days just like the Easter Fast. This fast is sometimes called the "little Pashka" (Easter) because Christ came as a baby and the nativity prepares us to celebrate his birth.
2011 Western calendar fasting period
15 ноября (November) and for 40 days through 24 декабря (December). Christmas day on 25 December.
2011 Eastern (Russian) fasting period
28 ноября (November) until Christmas Eve, 6 январь (January 2012). Christmas day on 7 January 2012.
Acceptable exemptions to the fast:
- When given an exemption by a priest.
- When traveling.
- When a guest in someones home.
- When guests are in your home.
- For legitimate health reasons.
- Young children are exempt.
- Elderly are exempt (although often they are the most pious).
- When fasting would call undue attention--the fast is for personal discipline, not to make others uncomfortable.
- When a woman is pregnant.
What items does one give up during a fast:
- Meat of any kind (except fish on certain days).
- Oil in cooking.
- Wine, beer, vodka....any kind of alcohol.
- Dairy products.
- Egg products.
- All parties and celebrations are delayed until after 7 January.
- Some couples give up sex completely, others curtail the frequency during the fast, both must agree...and many do.
- It is a good time to try to give up unhealthy habits like smoking, swearing, etc.
"Wow, this is strict!" some will say. So,
What is the purpose of the Orthodox fast:
- Christ fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, eating only fruits and berries. He spent the time in prayer.
- The fasts are designed to assist one to be more like Christ, spending more time in prayer.
- Every time you feel hungry, instead of eating, say a prayer asking God for discipline in your spiritual life.
- Discipline...in the Orthodox faith one should try to discipline the flesh (body). The flesh leads to sin but the spirit leads to everlasting life.
- Such a prolonged discipline leads to a very joyful celebration to the feast of Christ's nativity on Christmas day!
How is observed:
- Government offices allow employees to observe the fast and most government cafeterias change to a "fast friendly" menu.
- Most public schools also modify to a "fast friendly" menu.
- Supermarkets and other food stores modify inventory as less meat and dairy products and more vegetable products are purchased. Some even post fast-friendly menu suggestions.
- Many restaurants offer a fasting friendly menu alongside the regular offerings, others switch to a fasting only menu for the 40 days.
- Republics that are primarily Muslim offer the option to employees and in some years the Islamic fast of Eid al-Adha, to commemorate Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son as commanded by God, is celebrated near the same times as the Nativity Fast.
Do only religious Russians fast?
- Not at all. For some non-religious persons the fast is a cultural event and part of Russian history. Others use it as a time for diet and cleansing, and some don't fast at all.
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One of the famous stations near the Mendeleyev Journal is just up the line, Метро Чкаловская (Metro Chkalovskaya). The name is shared with a Moscow neighborhood (Чкаловской/Chkalovskoi) however the district isn't near the Metro station.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/metro-chkalovskaya-2-1157.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/metro-chkalovskaya-2-1157.jpg)
Метро Чкаловская was named for the after the famous Soviet aviator Валерий Павлович Чкалов (Valery Pavlovich Chkalov) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valery_Chkalov) who was a Red Army airforce test pilot and received the "Hero of the Soviet Union" award in 1936. In 1937 he successfully completed a 63-hour flight from Moscow to Vancouver, Washington (USA) via the North Pole flying a Tupolev ANT-25 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_ANT-25) plane.
It was at least in part due to men like Chkalov who popularized the concept of Josef Stalin as "Father" to every Soviet citizen. In fact, Chkalov published an article titled “Our Father” about Stalin soon after becoming the first person to fly from Moscow to the United States.
Valeriy Chkalov died in December of 1938, before the Great Patriotic War with Germany. The Metro station named in his honour is on the Lyublinskaya Line (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyublinskaya_Line) and is a transfer station to the Kurskaya-Koltsevaya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurskaya-Koltsevaya) and the Kurskaya-Radialnaya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurskaya-Radialnaya) radial of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya_Line). It also offers access to Moscow's Kurskiy Rail Terminal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurskiy_Rail_Terminal).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjSefFlx1fk
Soon we'll visit the Chkalov neighborhook as it offers an interesting view on classic Stalinist design and building construction.
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Coming soon: Visit to Moscow's Chkalov district.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal section on the Great Patriotic War (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/russias-great-patriotic-war-wwii/allied-contributions-to-the-war/):
Russians sometimes seem offended at any American expression of pride over victory in WWII. Despite all those Red Army rations, medical supplies and equipment stamped "made in the USA" it is as if Russia fought Germany all by herself.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/victory-park-jeep-2-1606.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/victory-park-jeep-2-1606.jpg)
Several American contributions listed at Moscow's Victory Park museum.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/victory-park-american-loan-jeep.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/victory-park-american-loan-jeep.jpg)
American Jeep displayed at Moscow's Victory Park museum.
Americans are equally ignorant of the price paid by the Eastern side in obtaining that joint victory.
So just where does that leave the British?
Unfortunately, the British contributions are often overlooked and that is a mistake because the English were of utmost importance in the winning of that war. Granted, the typical American reaction is that "we bailed them out" and the typical Russian reaction is that Britain delayed in opening a 2nd front and thereby cost millions of Soviet lives.
There is truth is both those views but a lack of appreciation as well. The Brits played a front-line role and held the war open long enough for the giant American industrial machine to enter the fray making the difference without which both Russkies and Brits would be speaking German in public schools today.
But did Churchill just hold the door open long enough to be rescued? Not on your life. Winston Churchill played a leading role, as did the British people, in winning the war. I said and meant a leading role.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev18r-yYx1g
Russians need to remember that British, Canadian and American soldiers fought bravely and died without the threat of political officers who remained in the rear to shoot Red Army deserters, even though they were defending freedom of someone else. That is not meant to be critical of Russian soldiers, but the voluntary service displayed by many British and American soldiers is a hard concept for some Russians to swallow.
Americans need to learn that somewhere between 25-28 million Soviet citizens and soldiers were killed in the brutal fighting, making American deaths, while important, in terms of statistics a mere drop in the bucket.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/victory-park-murial-2-1573.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/victory-park-murial-2-1573.jpg)
Photo taken of a full room mural inside Moscow's Victory Park museum.
The war was costly for everyone and both Russians and Americans should brush up on Britain's brilliant war strategies and unselfish personal and national sacrifices.
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American Jeep displayed at Moscow's Victory Park museum.
If this is the outdoor museum on top of a Moscow hill, interesting place. I enjoyed the huge artillery mounted on a railcar, plus climbing over the tanks.
Americans are equally ignorant of the price paid by the Eastern side in obtaining that joint victory.
To some degree but far from equally. The Soviet losses were too horrific to ignore. Russians today are more ignorant of what we and the Brits did.
Granted, the typical American reaction is that "we bailed them [Britain] out"...
Brits in turn complained that American troops were overpaid and oversexed.
and the typical Russian reaction is that Britain delayed in opening a 2nd front and thereby cost millions of Soviet lives.
What!!! To think that is ignorance.
Britain declared war on Hitler in 1939 and was fighting bloody campaigns for almost two years prior to Hitler invading USSR. Meanwhile what was Stalin doing? Hiding behind nonaggression pact with Hitler, Stalin invaded Poland, seized the Baltic states, and took part of Finland and Romania. Hitler thought Stalin went too far. Only after losing the Battle of Britain did Hitler turn East and invade USSR.
Let us not forget the Japanese. From the 1900s to the 1930s, Russia/USSR and Japan had clashed periodically over Eastern borders. Stalin thought it best to have a treaty with Japan. That freed Japan to focus their military power towards the Brits and Americans (and the Dutch and French) in the Pacific.
The Brits had their hands full with the Nazis and Japanese. In effect the Brits did create a second front (North Africa and Italy with the Americans).
Winston Churchill played a leading role, as did the British people, in winning the war. I said and meant a leading role.
Well known fact, at least well known by older generations of Americans. Time washes away much of what was important earlier.
Americans need to learn that somewhere between 25-28 million Soviet citizens and soldiers were killed in the brutal fighting, making American deaths, while important, in terms of statistics a mere drop in the bucket.
True, although I recall the number being around 20 million. Many of us knew that before we starting chasing RW. The losses were too horrific to be forgotten. BTW, how many casualties were civilian vs. military? How many of the civilians were due to holocaust? How many civilians starved because their military would not surrender (St. Petersburg).
The war was costly for everyone and both Russians and Americans should brush up on Britain's brilliant war strategies and unselfish personal and national sacrifices.
My ex-wife from Moscow is intelligent and enjoys history. Until she visited the WWII museum in new Orleans, she did not realize the extent of the American war with the Japanese. She knew about Hiroshima, but not the rationale about saving the lives of one million American soldiers. And how about Stalin finally deciding to fight Japan after Hiroshima (where was he the previous 4 years?). MacArthur made sure that the USSR made no inroads into Japan such as done in Eastern Europe.
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MacArthur made sure that the USSR made no inroads into Japan such as done in Eastern Europe.
Are you forgetting about the three southernmost Kuril islands?
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Are you forgetting about the three southernmost Kuril islands?
The USSR wanted ice-free ports along the Pacific. Vladivostok provided this, yet air and sea military forces from the Kurile Islands could easily blockade its access. USSR felt it was imperative to acquire these islands, so the US relented. Maybe this was in the Potsdam accord or some other agreement such as made in Yalta. Regardless, USSR had much larger goals than these islands.
From Wiki:
On V-J Day (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/V-J_Day), United States President Harry Truman (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Harry_Truman) appointed General Douglas MacArthur (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Douglas_MacArthur) as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Supreme_Commander_of_the_Allied_Powers) (SCAP), to supervise the occupation of Japan. During the war, the Allied Powers had planned to divide Japan amongst themselves for the purposes of occupation, as was done for the occupation of Germany (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Occupation_of_Germany). Under the final plan, however, SCAP was given direct control over the main islands of Japan (Honshū (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Honsh%C5%AB), HokkaidŠ(http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Hokkaid%C5%8D), Shikoku (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Shikoku) and Kyūshū (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Ky%C5%ABsh%C5%AB)) and the immediately surrounding islands, while outlying possessions were divided between the Allied Powers as follows:
Soviet Union (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Soviet_Union): North Korea (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/North_Korea) (not a full occupation), Sakhalin (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Sakhalin), and the Kuril Islands (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Kuril_Islands)
United States (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/United_States): South Korea (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/South_Korea) (not a full occupation), Okinawa (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Okinawa), the Amami Islands (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Amami_Islands), the Ogasawara Islands (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Ogasawara_Islands) and Japanese possessions in Micronesia (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Micronesia)
Republic of China (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Republic_of_China): Taiwan (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Taiwan) and Penghu (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Penghu) It is unclear why the occupation plan was changed. Common theories include the increased power of the United States following development of the atomic bomb (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Atomic_bomb), Truman's greater distrust of the Soviet Union when compared with Roosevelt, and an increased desire to contain Soviet expansion in the Far East after the Yalta Conference (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Yalta_Conference).
The Soviet Union had some intentions of occupying HokkaidÅ. Had this occurred, there might have been the foundation of a communist "Democratic People's Republic of Japan" in the Soviet zone of occupation. However, unlike the Soviet occupations (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Soviet_occupations) of East Germany (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/East_Germany) and North Korea (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/North_Korea), these plans were frustrated by the opposition of President Truman (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/Harry_S._Truman).
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(Notes and photos for the segment on the Chkalovskaya neighborhood and the use of "Stalinist Architecture" can be found in the Moscow section of the Mendeleyev Journal. (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/come-to-russia-get-a-visa/moscow-a-lot-to-see-and-do/))
Stalinist Architecture:
Moscow grew up during the Stalin years and continued to grow under Nikita Khrushchev but the two had dramatically different ideas about how buildings should be designed. Stalin, who played an active role in how buildings were designed, loved the classical styles of the day. Khrushchev on the other hand favoured minimalization and cost savings in order to speed up the process of construction.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/victory-park-stalinist-architecture-3-1366.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/victory-park-stalinist-architecture-3-1366.jpg)Large apartment house on Moscow's Kutuzovskaya Avenue; Stalinist architecture.
To Khrushchev's thinking, Stalin had given in to excesses which were not part of the Communist ideal. Not only was Khrushchev faced with escalating Cold War budgets but the Soviet Union was far behind the West in adequate housing for its citizens and there was pressure on the government to increase housing stock at a rapid pace.
In 1950, Khrushchev began a large-scale housing program for Moscow. A large part of the housing was in the form of five- or six-story apartment buildings, many still in use throughout the former Soviet Union. To speed construction Khrushchev ordered the use of prefabricated reinforced concrete to speed up construction.These structures were built quickly, lacked elevators or balconies, and were called Khrushcheby by the public, a pun on trushcheby, the Russian word for slums.
In earlier years Stalin had relied on inexpensive slave labour, German prisoners never returned after the war, for the construction of new Soviet housing. Many of the prisoners were skilled at complex architectural ornaments and decorative arcades and Stalin took full advantage of his "guests" abilities.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/chkalov-home-c-d0b0d0bbd0b5d0bad181d0b5d0b9-d0b1d0bed180d0b8d181d0bed0b2.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/chkalov-home-c-d0b0d0bbd0b5d0bad181d0b5d0b9-d0b1d0bed180d0b8d181d0bed0b2.jpg)Home of Soviet Air Force ace Chkalov, classical Stalin architecture. Photo by Алексей Борисов.
Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture of the Soviet Union between 1933 and 1955. Many examples remain in Moscow and other cities today.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/stalinist-architecture.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/stalinist-architecture.jpg)Photo: RetroMoscow, LiveJournal.
Most of these structures were formed from brick masonry underneath the stucco facades or concrete block panel houses and larger skyscrapers. Many of the Stalin buildings were erected between 1939 and 1941 and then after the war with Germany.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/stalinist-d181d182d0b0d0bbd0b8d0bdd181d0bad0b8d0b9-d0bad0bed0bdd181d182d180d183d0bad182d0b8d0b2d0b8d0b7d0bc-photo-leha-lj-d.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/stalinist-d181d182d0b0d0bbd0b8d0bdd181d0bad0b8d0b9-d0bad0bed0bdd181d182d180d183d0bad182d0b8d0b2d0b8d0b7d0bc-photo-leha-lj-d.jpg)Stalinist designed. Photo by Leha, LiveJournal.
Stalinist architecture relied on labor-intensive and time-consuming craftmanship, thus making it difficult to meet the needs of mass construction. This resulted in streamlining construction methods in the closing years while Stalin was still alive and then much more widespread after his death.
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With all those wires overhead, an electric троллейбус (t-r-o-l-l-e-y b-u-s) is quieter than a gas or diesel engine. However an electric engine does have sounds of its own. Come along for a ride and listen as each stop/street is announced along the way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om89RoJb3pE&feature=related
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From today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Betcha didn't know ole Mendeleyev sported a culinary streak now did ya? Today I am coming down with a chest cold and will do something that should have been started yesterday--prepare a natural cold medication using Водка (vodka) and fruit. It is called Водка Компот (Vodka Compote). Don't be confused as there is another popular fruit compote which uses sugar instead of vodka.
Of course any time is as good as another for a little language lesson so we'll teach the correct way to say 'vodka' like a real Russian. A bit of grammar is involved as there is a sound change because of the way the Cyrillic letters are grouped. You see, the D & K (дк) are together in Водка and this is called a "consonant cluster" which means that you must devoice the D and make it a T sound instead. Thus, when you say "vodka" the d becomes a T and it should be spoken as "vot-ka." Simple, really.
Back to the making of this Водка Компот (vodka compote) which sounds like "kahm POte." You may have noticed that the Cyrillic letters perfectly match the English: Компот is k-o-m-p-o-t-e. Pretty cool! The first o in the word is spoken like an A because in Russian only one 'O' can be sounded in a word no matter how many O letters it contains.
Easy to make, just put a bowl half full of various kinds of fruit and fill the other half with vodka. Seal the bowl and let it stand for days, weeks, even months in the refrigerator. Packed with vitamins and vodka this baby will sit there all winter in a closed jar. Mixed roughly half & half, add more fruit and vodka anytime it begins to run low.
This concoction will look bad, smell awful, and taste even worse! Force yourself to eat several spoonfuls anytime you have a cold, flu, head or chest congestion. It works the way God intended natural medicines to work.
Remember not to take on an empty stomach because this stuff is potent! Let it germinate, ferment, foment and a bunch of other adjectives. No matter how bad it tastes, just remind yourself that it works.
PS...I recommend "Russian Standard" vodka, from Saint Petersburg, not necessarily because of taste or quality (both are premium) but because of the genuine product and the pretty Cyrillic lettering on the bottle unlike those cheap (and some not so cheap) knock offs with Russian names but in English lettering and made in the USA.
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How about Smirnoff vodka? What could be more Russian than this ;)
Just joking of course. Actually, I just looked at my liquor cabinet and I have a gift box of Russian Standard with glasses. Since I never drink vodka in the U.S. all my souvenir bottles last a long time. About 15 years ago I did have a bottle labeled/named CCCP but my Russian friends got excited and drank it.
But I still have one bottle with the foil top. Where once you open it you are commited to finnish !
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As featured in today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com), there are times when I cringe at certain words and phrases. The Russian language is becoming polluted, even bastardized, with the use of English converted into Russian. Okay, I get the idea of cognates, borrowed words which every language has to some extent. But at some point the beautiful Russian language may find itself lost if the popularity of English cognates continues at the current pace.
Take фуд шоу for example. Those of you who read Russian will quickly understand "food show." That isn't a real Russian expression, however. It is a borrowed phrase from English. Granted, фуд шоу (food show/festival) is a lot shorter than say, something like продовольственные выставки or продовольственная выставка, but it is a robbery of the beautiful Russian language. At least in my view.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/food-show.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/food-show.jpg)
All that being said, we do invite you to the Moscow "Food Show" beginning tomorrow (Sunday) and running through Tuesday. Russians love exhibitions and this will be well attended, especially given the well placed advertising campaign over the past month.
Chocolate lovers should attend for certain and the show highlights an interactive cooking school, food exhibits and performances, competitions, quizzes, advice from well-known nutritionists and the sale of books from international and Russian culinary stars. In addition, there will be plenty of gift ideas for New Year's gift giving (or for Christmas gifts for those readers in the Western world) with everything from gourmet food products, glassware, and cooking utensils.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U038Vih1go
This promises to be an international event with foods from great culinary traditions such as Англия (UK/England), Франция (France) and Италия (Italy). From the looks of the printed advertisements the quality will be very high and with a holiday theme.
Where will you be this Sunday through Tuesday?
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This promises to be an international event with foods from great culinary traditions such as Англия (UK/England)...
Such as Spam ;D?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwy2MPT5RE
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Thanksgiving in the rear view mirror
It was several years ago that I experienced a turkey in Russia for the first time. Thanksgiving is not a Russian holiday but I had scoured many a supermarket across Moscow in search of just one big bird. No luck.
Several weeks later our cousin Natasha called and announced that she had found a turkey and would include it as part of our New Year's Eve dinner. Great, I was excited and could hardly wait!
Then on the telephone she asked how to cook the turkey. Russians are slowly coming around to like turkey but back then it was a rare treat to eat turkey in a large Russian city. After asking the size of the bird at which she answered "very big," I gave careful instructions on setting the oven to 350 and baking the bird for 3.5 to 4.5 hours.
I should have known better. Cooking a moist turkey is a gift learned from my mother so I clued in Natasha about adding a stick of butter in the turkey cavity along with 2 cans of broth. Thankfully she didn't even know anything about "turkey dressing" and so there was no breading to dry the turkey from inside out.
Perhaps we should talk about that word, size. Maybe if I'd bothered to ask about the turkey's weight then disaster could have been averted. Alas, I didn't, assuming that "big" meant 14-18 pounds as in a big American turkey. Russians don't use growth hormones or artificial fillers so the bird turned out more like a big chicken.
I knew that we were in trouble the minute we entered Natasha's flat the evening of New Year's Eve. The aroma of something that had cooked far too long wafted to the front door. But there, sitting on a platter, proudly I might add, in the middle of a large table was a small, overdone to the point of almost blackened, turkey.
Everyone was smiling and waiting for my reaction at seeing the turkey. I wanted to cry but smiled instead and voiced my thanks for finding and preparing something so "American" that holiday. Everyone tried to take a piece of turkey to sample the exotic American taste for turkey. However my instructions of 350 degrees at 4 hours for a bird about the size of a big chicken had cooked that turkey into a mass of something resembling a concrete block.
They tried. I tried, too, but it was too far gone.
Later that night as we counted down the final 60 seconds of the old year cousin Gera and I each grabbed a heavy turkey leg and gave new meaning to the term "drum" sticks as we beat to the time against the tabletop.
Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers from the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)!
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From the Mendeleyev Journal section on the Great Patriotic War (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/russias-great-patriotic-war-wwii/allied-contributions-to-the-war/):
Russians sometimes seem offended at any American expression of pride over victory in WWII. Despite all those Red Army rations, medical supplies and equipment stamped "made in the USA" it is as if Russia fought Germany all by herself.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/victory-park-jeep-2-1606.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/victory-park-jeep-2-1606.jpg)
Several American contributions listed at Moscow's Victory Park museum.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/victory-park-american-loan-jeep.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/victory-park-american-loan-jeep.jpg)
American Jeep displayed at Moscow's Victory Park museum.
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Russians are not ignorant of American share. It is a cultural difference. Russians find somewhat offensive Americans comparing Jeeps sent by US to lives lost by USSR.
I think it is East-West perspective. Eastern mentaility by definition takes contribution in the way of money inferior to contribution by personal effort, ultimately life . Money is NOT a universal measure for most Russians although it is changing.
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I am not sure why I am trying to explain it though. This is where cultural differeces are huge. For any American I can only recommend try and not to enlighten people about the subject, you lady will of course agree with you but you will offend people. Monies spent are not equal to lives lost and even attempt to discuss might offend. You will just look ignorant, that's all.
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Russians are not ignorant of American share. It is a cultural difference. Russians find somewhat offensive Americans comparing Jeeps sent by US to lives lost by USSR.
I think it is East-West perspective. Eastern mentaility by definition takes contribution in the way of money inferior to contribution by personal effort, ultimately life . Money is NOT a universal measure for most Russians although it is changing.
I have learned. Now I undersrtand. Russian deaths - 27,000,000
American deaths - 400,000
Now I explain this to my friends. It is contrary to what we believed from Hollywood movies.
The numbers speak for themselves.
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Russians are not ignorant of American share. It is a cultural difference. Russians find somewhat offensive Americans comparing Jeeps sent by US to lives lost by USSR.
In some respects one can agree and especially agree were it really a comparison of jeeps to lives lost.
However in Soviet schools it was standard practice to downplay any Allied assistance and promote the idea of Father Stalin who guided the country thru the war. In post Soviet years I've spoken in Russian schools in places like Shakhty to Kaluga and kids, until more recently, were surprised at the idea that American soldiers had participated in many of the major battles that they thought had been solely Red Army versus Germany.
In the late 1990s I did a series of interviews with former Red Army soldiers and over and over again they spoke of eating daily canned rations, 2 meals daily of around 1,000 calories, and those rations made in America. They were also ordered that upon returning home that in no way were they to speak of the rations or medical kits they carried as coming from America.
For many years it was not a cultural difference but one of Cold War politics.
By the same token, as you and Chicago Guy have mentioned, many Americans have no clue at the devastation and death suffered by FSU citizens.
I wish that every Westerner could visit one of my favourite places in Moscow, Victory Park, and watch the over 1400 individual fountains run red at night, one fountain for every day of that horrible war, the red water at night symbolizing rivers of blood from the 27-28 million men, women and children who died during that period.
My wife is currently working on a government commissioned project to paint the portraits of the surviving Russian generals from that conflict. Just in assisting her, I've had the opportunity to meet several of them and what a treasure of talent, bravery and intelligence!
Many of these old men however will privately tell of mind-boggling numbers of senseless deaths because of idiotic decisions made from Moscow which tied the hands of commanders in the field (a fact written about by both Khrushchev and Zhukov years after the war).
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In some respects one can agree and especially agree were it really a comparison of jeeps to lives lost.
However in Soviet schools it was standard practice to downplay any Allied assistance and promote the idea of Father Stalin who guided the country thru the war.
My school years were 1978-1988. They have not mentioned the name of Stalin while teaching us about the war. Teachers at school would always say about heroism of soviet people. In fact Stalin's name was hardly ever mentioned in Soviet schools before perestroika. So please try to get your facts right.
It was you who while saying Rusian people do not know about American contribution mentioned Jeeps and food rations and I replied to this part of your post saying similar arguments would sound offensive to Russian people and tried to explain why.
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My school years were 1978-1988. They have not mentioned the name of Stalin while teaching us about the war. Teachers at school would always say about heroism of soviet people. In fact Stalin's name was hardly ever mentioned in Soviet schools before perestroika. So please try to get your facts right.
It was you who while saying Rusian people do not know about American contribution mentioned Jeeps and food rations and I replied to this part of your post saying similar arguments would sound offensive to Russian people and tried to explain why.
I have great respect and admiration for the Russian people and all they suffered thru not only the war, but during the entire Soviet period.
Not only from my wife's schooling (she is in her mid/late 40s), I also have a daughter who will this Spring graduate from MGU and am very familiar with the education she received prior to University. During her middle school years it was a teacher who first invited me in to dialogue with students and that led to several other such wonderful dialogues with some very fine schools across Russia.
Again I have no desire to disparage Russians or their education, and if I had to bet money on an American primary to high school education versus Russian one, I'd choose a Russian education every time without even the slightest hesitation. Neither however are perfect.
Even if we may disagree from time to time, I do appreciate the dialogue with you and hope that you will contribute often!
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Russian "Pine Cones" Salad:
From today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com) with thanks for this recipe to LiveJournal member Jenya2010 who promises that this salad is "just the bomb for the New Year!"
Usually in the 40 day Nativity fast before Christmas (no meat, no oil, no dairy, no eggs) most Russians take a break and celebrate with one heck of a meal on New Year's Eve. Afterwards the fast resumes until Christmas on 7 January.
Russians speak of a "table" when describing a special meal and the "New Year's table" is one of great tradition filled with varied and rich treats. When Russians (and Ukrainians, Moldovans, Bulgarians, Belorussians, etc) you're assured that the meal will be beautiful and festive.
So with acknowledgment and thanks to Jenya, today we have a tasty recipe for the Russian New Year's salad "Pine Cones" - Салат Сосновые шишки in Russian.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pine-cones-salad-2.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pine-cones-salad-2.jpg)
To make this wonderful salad you will need:
- 3-4 potatoes
- 200 grams of smoked chicken
- 1 onion and 1 cucumber
- 200 grams of canned corn (can substitute peas)
- 3 eggs
- 150-200 grams of melted cheese
- Nuts
Of course to make the dish festival you'll do more than simply prepare the dish. This dish should be decorated with pine/spruce sprigs and perhaps some whole almonds or Rosemary.
The preparation of this salad is very simple:
- Cook the potatoes and boil the eggs, then grate.
- Chope the chicken into cubes.
- Saute the onions lightly and then chop.
- Add some fresh cucumbers - if so then cut them into thin strips.
- Grate cheese, chop the nuts (walnuts or almonds will also work if pine nuts are not available). Mix the nuts and grated cheese.
- Prepare the ingredients in layers as listed below, each having mayonnaise (I swear Mayo is a "food group" in Russia!) or you can also use sour cream.
Make the layers:
1 layer - potatoes
2 layer - smoked chicken
3 layer - onions
4 layer - corn (peas, cucumbers)
5 layer - eggs
6 layer - cheese with walnuts
Now take the layer and roll into the form of a pine cone or with the ingredient amounts listed you can make two cones.
Decorate the cones with pine nuts, almonds or walnuts, and then garnish with natural rosemary sprig or pine/spruce.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pine-cone-salad-by-velikaya-epokha.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pine-cone-salad-by-velikaya-epokha.jpg)
(Russian "Pine Cones" salad photo: Epoch Times.)
Enjoy the taste...and the compliments of your guests!
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Were you to live in the FSU, your first Christmas seasons would be periods of adjustment to life around the holidays. First, no Thanksgiving for us Americans and Canadians, although as Canada celebrates earlier it might not feel so disconnected to the Christmas season.
Then there is the getting used to placing the New Year before Christmas. If you've lived for decades with a great deal of excitement on 25 December then you can imagine how empty that day feels were you to be in the FSU.
Then there is the idea of a "New Year tree" which is decorated fairly close to New Years Eve. In our family the "Christmas tree" was decorated right after Thanksgiving so seeing an undecorated home in early December is unsettling at first.
Someone might point out that gifts are not given at Christmas either. Instead of a Christmas gift, one becomes used to a New Year gift and instead of piles of gifts under the tree, many Russians give one gift (usually not in multiples) and gifts may have never have spent a day under the tree depending on that family tradition.
But the music, tell us about the Russian Christmas music!
What Christmas music?
Christmas carols don't have the same history as we enjoy in the West. Not that there aren't any in the FSU, but the disparity is significant. Most Christmas music were for generations a part of the liturgical history of the Orthodox church and usually long and complex, absent the familiar courses we've come to love.
So when we find some modern Christmas (or New Years) music, we latch onto it!
This one is a favourite of my friend Vika from www.funrussian.com (http://www.funrussian.com):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smo-06Pi3wM
Here is another:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxiuV0DXDnw
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All the way to Christmas on 7 January, hoping you have plenty of white snow for Christmas!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xl2ZKI0_R0
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12 roses is bad.
12 eggs bad?
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So maybe it's all about superstition ))
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Russian expressions are priceless!
To start, Russian's are typically pessimistic, and I will take flack for saying that, while others see the Russian view on life as simply realistic. Many of the expressions so dear to Russians and Ukrainians however may bear out what I've said.
So, well start with these:
"To an optimist bedbugs smell like cognac. To a pessimist cognac smells like bedbugs."
"The goats are guarding the cabbage."
"He who takes no risks never gets to taste champagne."
"If one trouble comes, wait for the other."
"To hang noodles on somebody's ears." (to tell a lie)
"Spreads a soft bed but is hard to sleep on." (talks sweetly but deceptive)
"Better to be the first boy in the village than the last boy in the city."
"You don't travel to Tula with a samovar." (realistic)
"If mushrooms grew in your mouth, it wouldn't be a mouth but a kitchen garden."
"You can't pick a mushroom without bowing."
“In taste and color there are no comrades.”
"Goodness has no smell."
“Everyone goes out of his mind in his own way.”
"We hoped for the best but it turned out as it usually does."
"Speak to the devil and he will appear."
"A wolf hires himself out cheaply as a shepherd."
"Any fish is good if it is on the hook."
"If you were born lucky, even your rooster will lay eggs."
"Do not call a wolf to help you fight off the dogs."
"God sends a cursed cow short horns."
"A Moustache is respected and beard is worn even by goats."
"Do not enter another's monastery with your own rules."
"Hypocrites kick with their hind feet while licking with their tongues."
"The future is assured. It's just the past that keeps changing."
"An enemy will agree, but a friend will argue."
"Misfortune never arrives alone."
"If you don't grease you won't travel."
"Gossip needs no carriage."
"A poor man's happiness does not last forever."
"A woman's path is from the stove to the door."
"What was written by a pen, cannot be taken out with an axe."
“Every road has two directions.”
"Like the priest, like the people."
"Little thieves are hanged, but great ones escape."
"One does not drink water with his face."
"All cats are grey at night."
"Dry bread at home is better than roast meat abroad."
"Fear Greeks bearing gifts."
"All are not cooks that walk with long knives."
"The peasant will not cross himself before it begins to thunder."
"Eggs cannot teach a hen."
"Every road has two directions."
"Good neither for a village nor a city."
"Pray to God but continue to row to the shore."
"It is not the horse that draws the cart, but the oats."
"A wooden bed is better than a golden coffin."
"Don't divide the pelt of a bear you've yet to kill."
"Chickens are counted in autumn."
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Russian expressions are priceless! To start, Russians are typically pessimistic, and I will take flak for saying that, while others see the Russian view on life as simply realistic. Many of the expressions so dear to Russians and Ukrainians however may bear out what I've said.So, well start with these:
Interesting and amusing list :D. A few are international, and this:
"Fear Greeks bearing gifts."
has a classical origin, being a translation of the words:
"Equo ne credite, Teucri
Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes"
uttered by Laocoön on seeing the huge horse left on Troy's beach as a gift by the apparently departed Greeks (the Danaans) in Virgil's epic poem Aeneid from 2000+ years ago. Laocoön and his sons were duly smothered by sea serpents as the gods' punishment for trying to spill the beans, and his warning went unheeded 8).
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Laocoon_Pio-Clementino_Inv1059-1064-1067.jpg/200px-Laocoon_Pio-Clementino_Inv1059-1064-1067.jpg)
The poem reports Aeneas's supposed voyages after fleeing fallen Troy, eventuallly leading to the foundation of Rome:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Aeneae_exsilia.png/800px-Aeneae_exsilia.png)
It is meant to celebrate the divine origin of Octavian Augustus's Julio-Claudian dynasty, since Aeneas was Aphrodite's (Venus's) son.
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Russian expressions are priceless!
To start, Russian's are typically pessimistic, and I will take flack for saying that, while others see the Russian view on life as simply realistic. Many of the expressions so dear to Russians and Ukrainians however may bear out what I've said.
So, well start with these:
MONEY does not smell. (correct saying).
Goes back to ancient Romans, something imperor Vespassian (Sandro will correct spelling lol) said when imposing tax on toilets.
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Goes back to ancient Romans, something imperor Vespassian (Sandro will correct spelling lol) said when imposing tax on toilets.
Yes, Roman Emperor Vespasian (9–79 AD) imposed the vectigal urinae on the buyers (tanners, fullers, launderers, etc.) of the pee collected from latrinae (public urinals).
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/Ostia_anticave_-_Vespasiano_-_foto_Stefano_Bolognini.JPG/270px-Ostia_anticave_-_Vespasiano_-_foto_Stefano_Bolognini.JPG)
The Roman historian Suetonius reports that when Vespasian's son Titus complained about the disgusting nature of the tax, his father held up a gold coin and asked, whether he felt offended by smell (sciscitans num odore offenderetur). When Titus said "No," he replied, "Yet it comes from urine" ("Atqui ex lotio est“).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecunia_non_olet
According to other sources, his reply was: "Pecunia non olet" ;D.
Phylologically, it is interesting to note that the Latin term for money (pecunia) derives from pecuus (sheep), harking back to barter in pre-currency times, same as salarium (the "salary" of early legionnaires, who received a salt ration).
In Italian, vespasiano was the term designating the public, open-air toilets that once dotted our cities:
(http://www3.varesenews.it/immagini_articoli/200704/snipshot_e4ffg89jfhh.jpg)
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For those of us observing the Nativity fast, here is a recipe that is quite tasty:
(Source: http://orthodoxfastingkitchen.blogspot.com)
White Bean Soup
The ground cloves add an unusual flavor.
2 cups or 1 lb. small white beans, uncooked
8 cups water
1/2 tsp. lite salt or less
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 bay leaf
2 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped onion
1 can 8 oz. unsalted tomato sauce
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Dash of ground cloves
-Soak beans at least 3 hours or overnight in cold water
-Drain
-Add 8 cups water, lite salt, pepper and bay leaf
-Bring to boil
-Simmer 2 hours or until beans are tender
-Add celery, carrots, onions, tomato sauce parsley, cloves
-Mash some of the beans to thicken the soup.
-Simmer 2 hours.
Makes 16 cups
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I have learned. Now I undersrtand. Russian deaths - 27,000,000
American deaths - 400,000
Now I explain this to my friends. It is contrary to what we believed from Hollywood movies.
The numbers speak for themselves.
It is not just the numbers. All the horrors of war were visited upon the Russian people during the war. America on the other hand was virtually untouched by it. The two nations had completely different experiences during that time and the Russian experience is one that very few American's will ever understand.
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I have learned. Now I undersrtand. Russian deaths - 27,000,000
American deaths - 400,000
Now I explain this to my friends. It is contrary to what we believed from Hollywood movies.
The numbers speak for themselves.
Are the 27,000,000 Soviet deaths rather than Russian deaths.
I had understood the Ukrainians actually suffered a higher percentage of deaths (relative to population sizes) than Russians due to Stalin sending Ukrainians to worst situations.
Perhaps someone has more detailed facts on this.
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The accounting of the war dead has generated great controversy over the years. Soviet scientists and historians have been imprisoned for revealing numbers other than the official version at the time. Only in recent years have true numbers come to light as for years the Soviet government wished to suppress the real losses, especially given so many deaths came as the result of mismanagement of the war by Stalin.
Stalin's "official" numbers were between 7-8 million of both military and civilian. Citizens knew better as too many had lost entire families but a prison sentence awaited anyone who challenged the official totals.
A good place to find information for Russian speakers is the online War Memorial registry. One can even search for missing family members (during that period) there: http://www.obd-memorial.ru
Stalin didn't trust non-Russian units so in terms of percentages a much larger percentage of Russian soldiers died.
These numbers are strictly military deaths:
Russians 5,756,000 66.402%
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Ukrainians 1,377,400 15.890%
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Belarusians 252,900 2.917%
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Tatars 187,700 2.165%
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Jews 142,500 1.644%
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Kazakhs 125,500 1.448%
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Uzbeks 117,900 1.360%
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Armenians 83,700 0.966%
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Georgians 79,500 0.917%
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Other groups 545,300 6.291%
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(Russian Academy of Science: Andreev, EM, et al., Naselenie Sovetskogo Soiuza, 1922–1991. Moscow, Nauka, 1993.)
In 1993, during Gorbachev's Glasnost, the Russian Academy of Science released new figures totalling 26,600,000 military and civilian deaths. However with the advent of directories such as the one above and the Russian Military Archives data base has swelled the numbers closer to 28-30 million. One should remember that battlefield record-keeping in the Soviet Union at that time was spotty at best given archaic Soviet technology for such tasks, and the added fear of commanders to report true losses back to Moscow.
A staggering 12 million deaths were between the ages of 18 and 49, given the fact that both men and women served in the Soviet forces.
It is estimated by some that perhaps a quarter of the civilian losses were directly due to the regime itself and that the war was a cover to sweep those repressions under the rug, so to speak.
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Mrs. Mendeleyeva is painting the portraits of a group of Red Army Generals, there are 70 surviving, for an commissioned exhibit this coming May in the War Museum at Victory Park. Part of the portrait process involves extensive photographing and interviews; and the stories these gentlemen have to tell are emotionally moving and often heroic of the highest order.
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Most often it is the people who make the FSU so interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAobIpnkCNw
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Flowers area a popular New Year and Christmas gift especially for a loved one or if visiting someone's home for the holiday. Russians will brave just about anything, including a winter storm, to obtain fresh flowers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTm_uZVy3Yk
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Mrs. Mendeleyeva is painting the portraits of a group of Red Army Generals, there are 70 surviving, for an commissioned exhibit this coming May in the War Museum at Victory Park. Part of the portrait process involves extensive photographing and interviews; and the stories these gentlemen have to tell are emotionally moving and often heroic of the highest order.
Does that include Михаи́л Тимофе́евич Кала́шников ?
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It does.
Just put his name in facebook and you can join the page dedicated to him. :)
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Train travel is an important link in the world's largest country. In fact due to road conditions it is both easier and faster to take a train from one end of the country to the other. Not to mention the luxury of sleeping while traveling and having someone else do the driving. Plus, you can party if you wish or relax in your berth and read or snooze.
Now there is a new sport for Russian young people. They call it "train surfing" and it a sport of great danger even though I'd love to try it at least once sometime.
Remember as you watch this video that much of Russia's train travel is electric powered and an easy way to die quickly is to grab onto the wrong thing when on top of a fast moving train.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aumWT6sYmp0
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As featured in the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Is is just the аптека (Apteka is pharmacy) locations we use, or is Vaseline, so helpful for treating winter weather ills, in some sort of controlled status in Russia?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/vaseline-box.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/vaseline-box.jpg)
(Vaseline can be found in tube form.)
It seems that Вазeлин (vaseline) is not available as a shelf item, and instead one must ask a pharmacy technician to dispense it. Many smaller аптеки (pharmacies) hold most products behind the counter because of space but is there a reason why Вазeлин is held behind the counter in larger ones as well?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/vaseline-round.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/vaseline-round.jpg)
(Vaseline, 20 grams, in a round tin.)
Some village folk across the former Soviet Union still use Vaseline as a way to store fresh eggs. An old farm trick, eggs will remain fresh up to two years without refrigeration if stored in a cool, dry space and given a thin coat of Vaseline. The Vaseline application supplements the natural "bloom" a hen gives each egg which keeps it fresh during the fertilization process immediately after an egg has been laid.
As Vaseline is petroleum-based we at first didn't understand why some forms of vaseline are sold in a refrigerated state. Since pharmacy refrigerators are kept behind the counter, naturally obtaining a refrigerated product would need the assistance of a pharmacy technician. Doing a little research however quickly led to the discovery that a form of Vaseline oil is dispensed as a stool softener when a patient suffers from constipation. The photo below is Вазeлинin a bottle:
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/vaseline-bottle.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/vaseline-bottle.jpg)
(Vaseline oil, sold as a laxative for chronic constipation. No prescription needed.)
Language Tips:
If you purchase Vaseline in Ukraine it will be spelled slightly different as Ukrainian, while similar to Russian in some respects, is truly a different language. Vaseline in Russian Cyrillic is spelled Вазeлин but the Ukrianian Cyrillic spelling uses a letter not found in the Russian version of the Cyrillic alphabet. In Ukrainian the spelling for Baseline is вазелін.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/vaseline-tube.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/vaseline-tube.jpg)
(Note the Ukrainian spelling: вазелін)
For students of Russian language the way to pronounce Вазeлин can be found here (http://www.forvo.com/word/%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD/).
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She says marks, you say grades.
She say form, you say grade or class.
She went to school 11 years, you went 12.
Why is it so hard for degrees from the FSU to be recognized in Western countries?
Student Nadia Petryk from Ukraine, a student in Arizona at Maricopa Community College produces a weekly TV program and recently I was introduced to this student production. I discovered that not only is this program produced on a regular schedule, but her co-producers and camera/audio crew were young students from the FSU who now study in Arizona.
Nadia sent a wmv file as an introduction but soon I discovered that a couple of the shows are uploaded to YouTube, making it easier to view and follow. The show on difference in academic standards may be helpful in understanding some of the more common question about the differences.
Nadia visits a University in Moscow and then in Ukraine during the show. This show will not answer all your questions but perhaps will bring more insight to the differences.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kEys4ZwcIc
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And what about Spring break? How do Russian and Ukrainian students treat holidays?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGAOem0k9kg
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One of the interesting things about Russia and the rest of the FSU, is how some things are the same. Take family for instance.
Language plays a part of our understanding each other but the good news is that some of the words remain the same.
Papa is Papa (папа).
Mom is Mom.
Mama is Mama.
My guess is that as you watch this video you can recognize most of the themes even if you don't speak a word of Russian, even including what happens to the new Apple notebook!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FopNqtUKHZQ
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Would you like to dance?
The term in Russian is танец, "tahn yits" and if you can dance, then you've got game!
We've written about it before and will do so again. Dancing is very popular across the FSU, especially in the age demographics of 18-34, 35-54, 55-69, and 70 to ...wait, by this time all the guys are dead (age 57 to 68) and only the women are left. But I think you get the point--these folk place a premium on knowing how to dance, even the young. I'm not talking about "shaking your groove thing," we're speaking of organized dancing.
At many weddings a couple will practice and then present a dance for their assembled guests. This couple obtained permission for their wedding dance to be filmed inside of GUM (ghoom) the famous shopping mall on Red Square.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFVFA6vk_ic
From a technical standpoint I cringed. But they got out in public and practiced and filmed. Bravo. Everyone starts somewhere, and this couple was willing to start.
Now this next couple has game. Watch them, watch the crowd watching them, and then watch the crowd join in about halfway into the video. Way cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdVg1ptQC1w
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For those interested the Latin dance was from a outdoor event, very common in summer, in Omsk, Russia. The dancers seen first were listed in the YouTube notes as "Evgeny Didora and Maria Malikova."
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Mendy, interesting video. The latin music one.
I see they combine a number of dances to on rhythmic song which in Latin America is a no-no.
However, love to see her move. :devilish:
Let's see if I cover the dances.
Perreo
Samba
Bachata
Merengue
Salsa
The song is a latin rap to the tune of a bachata.
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Muzh, what exactly is the definition of a bachata? What makes it different from other Latin dances, and were we at such an event how would we tell the difference between a bachata and something like samba or hustle?
Mrs M and I love to dance and we enjoy swing, west coast hustle, even foxtrot and Merengue but these kids are younger and more agile than me!
However, love to see her move.
You dog! (Me too) :D
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In high heels on cobblestones!!!!!
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Mendy, thanks for the link to dance. As a leg man . . . I was in heaven.
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Ah, there are 2 of us! :)
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Sometimes a question triggers a good "story" and this is one of those. I answer questions about Russia for Yahoo and over the weekend there was a reader question of what was going to happen to the site of the old Rossiya hotel?
It was an interesting question from that reader, especially since this past Friday Prime Minister Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin had just taken a quick drive over to the site after a Moscow Duma meeting at which the PM was present to answer questions. Obviously this was not "by accident" but hey, sometimes a staged event can turn into a decent story.
Some of you may remember the old Rossiya, the hotel with its own KGB unit to track foreigners, and just as important, to listen in to conversations in the bedrooms. It was the primary hotel for visiting diplomats and businessmen in the days when the only tourist industry in the Soviet Union was in the form of citizens trying to get out.
For me personally it was pleasant to learn more about their idea of what to do with the site and with that introduction out of the way, here is the story from Friday.
The Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Friday was sort of like a school “field trip” day for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. The two men visited the site formerly occupied by the Rossiya Hotel, just off Red Square.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/putin-sergei-sobyanin-site-of-rossiya-hotel.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/putin-sergei-sobyanin-site-of-rossiya-hotel.jpeg)
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin & Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin at former site of the Rossiya Hotel. The prime minister had asked the Moscow mayor to consider building a park and recreation area in place of the former Rossiya Hotel. Mr. Putin feels that the current proposal for a parliamentary centre and business/hotel complex would create an additional congestion in the centre of Moscow. "Nearly all parklands in the centre of Moscow have been destroyed in the past decades. There are hardly any left," Putin said as he toured the proposed construction site with the mayor. "There are certainly less in the centre than anywhere else," Sobyanin added.
Mr. Putin suggested that a park next to the Kremlin area would be a better idea and Mayor Sobyanin conveyed support for the idea. The Prime Minister instructed Mayor Sobyanin to discuss the proposal with Moscow residents, the Moscow City Duma and the Moscow Government.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/putin-sergei-sobyanin-site-of-rossiya-hotel-3.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/putin-sergei-sobyanin-site-of-rossiya-hotel-3.jpeg)
Putin and Sobyanin consider a park at the former site of the Rossiya Hotel.
While Sobyanin seemed to like the proposal, a park would scuttle plans for a commercial project which includes a new headquarters for both houses of the Russian Parliament.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/pictures-3-113-med.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/pictures-3-113-med.jpg)
The old Rossiya Hotel. (photo: Mendeleyev)
Built in the 1960s, the old Rossiya was at one time the largest hotel in Europe with 3,200 rooms, 250 some odd suites, a movie theatre, and held multiple restaurants along with a post office, gym/spa and the State Concert Hall with 2500 seats. The Rossiya could host over 4,000 hotel guests easily. It was demolished in 2007.
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It was hubris and an ill-conceived move IMHO. I stayed in the Rossiya a few times. Sure, it was not a luxury hotel, but it was affordable and it was convenient and you could always book a room. Moscow did not have enough hotel rooms even then to serve more modest budgets, so what do they do, demolish a perfectly great hotel.... Sigh :(
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I can't disagree.
Now that it is gone (since 2007) I'm pleased that they're going to do something. Personally I'm really concerned about several of the ancient monastery and churches nearby in sad repair and hope that this doesn't mean that a park goes in here only to see ancient history razed just a few blocks away to make room for the new Parliament buildings and a hotel.
I wrote about this neighborhood sometime back here: http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/russias-architecture-in-danger/
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I'm another who has stayed at the Rossiya. The rooms were by far the smallest I've ever stayed in, even the rooms in the Japanese hotels my wife and I stayed in were quite a bit larger.
Everyone knew the place was bugged by the KGB but what always had me wondering was why were all the staff were so dour. If the KGB wanted to learn state secrets or industrial and corporate espionage wouldn't the KGB be more successful if the staff were trained to be more pleasant? My wife said that was western thinking, the KGB had there ways.
After seeing all the James Bond movies I envisioned seeing gorgeous Russian women roaming the hallways of the Rossiya whispering in the ears of foreign diplomats or rich western business executives. Another illusion shattered, none of the female staff I ever saw at the Rossiya could be rated as gorgeous. Needless to say, no beautiful Russian woman ever tried to lure me into a honeypot trap.
Mendeleyev you know that Putin's comments about turning the Rossiya site into a park were simply PR for the media and the citizens of Moscow. That site must be some of the most valuable land in Moscow.
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Mendeleyev you know that Putin's comments about turning the Rossiya site into a park were simply PR for the media and the citizens of Moscow. That site must be some of the most valuable land in Moscow.
Bill, I hope you're right. Russia is under a great deal of pressure internally and from European groups in regards to the number of historic buildings that have been razed in the past decade. Perhaps this is just a ploy to keep them quiet. There is also a green movement in Russia that needs reassurance and just prior to an election is a good time to do that.
My fear is that they'll build the park (a good idea) but then raze surrounding buildings (ancient churches of great historic value, hundred of years old) to make room for a hotel complex and parliamentary buildings, citing the park as an excuse.
If you look at Moscow's "City Centre" financial district, that seems to be Mr. Putin's ideal for a modern city and the look of Moscow of the future. All that steel and glass with modern design can be justified in one sense, but it will not hold great beauty or historic significance over generations. Moscow has the quality to stand alongside Russia's northern capital as another Paris of the East if the past is repaired and displayed just as proudly. Heaven forbid somebody do to Leningrad what they're doing to Moscow.
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I noticed the winter parka that Putin is wearing.
It reminded me of the firestorm that ensued here some months ago when it was suggested that such a coat might be appropriate vs a sheepskin type.
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I love a good leather, but not in a deep Russian winter. A coat needs to "breathe" as accumulated body moisture can cause pneumonia from going in and out of extreme temps frequently. Just got a new leather coat and then the weather turned too cold so we're back to long and heavy wools.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
We knew this was a bad move from the start, but an inexperienced American president was determined to send a new Ambassador to Moscow. As we feared it hasn't gone that well so far for he new guy in town. Unlike the admired diplomat he replaced, new Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul is inexperienced himself and apparently has succeeded already in upsetting his Russian hosts.
Just last Tuesday Russian state television announced that new US ambassador had arrived in Russia to make a white Revolution. Scrambling for options to keep his "reset" with Russia in play, Obama turned to the only American still trusted by Vladimir Putin, long retired Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/putin-kissinger-20-jan-2012-a.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/putin-kissinger-20-jan-2012-a.jpeg)
(Henry Kissinger met with Vladimir Putin on January 20th to ease tensions between the government and the USA's new Ambassador to Moscow.)
Kissinger is aging and has gained a lot of weight since his State Department days and one can only imagine that he must have felt as Yoggi Berra once uttered, like deja vu all over again to be the peacemaker between Moscow and Washington.
Welcoming Mr. Kissinger as his guest, Prime Minister Putin described Kissinger as one of the finest experts in Russian-U.S. relations. The former U.S. Secretary of State in reply expressed the hope that relations between Russia and the United States would improve in the coming months and years.
Kissinger met with Ambassador McFaul on Thursday and then with Mr. Putin on Friday. McFaul said that the former secretary of state "is back in Moscow to continue the kind of strategic dialogue with the Russian government that is so important to our partnership."
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/putin-kissinger-20-jan-2012-b.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/putin-kissinger-20-jan-2012-b.jpeg)
(Moscow, 20 January 2012: Henry Kissinger and Vladimir Putin)
Putin and Kissinger have developed a friendship over the years. The two first met when Putin was an aide to the mayor of Saint Petersburg and was tasked with picking up Mr. Kissinger at the airport in the early 1990s.
Mr. Kissinger did not meet with President Medvedev on this trip.
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The lighter side of the Russian political protests from the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Since December we've become accustomed to seeing citizen opposition to Vladimir Putin in full display. Some Russians apparently think he is full of it. You'll know what "it" is by the photo.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/putin-tp.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/putin-tp.jpg)
полное собрание обеЩаний в 54 метрах: (Putin's complete set of promises in 54 meters)
You can't help but laugh at this next one...in fact we're still laughing at it more than two days later.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/putin-tp-msg.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/putin-tp-msg.jpg)
Мы знаем что вы хочешь третий раз но у нас есть голова болит! (We know that you want a third time but we have a headache!)
Of course there are Russian citizens who believe very strongly in the need for Mr. Putin to be elected as President for a third term and we'll look at those folk in the coming days, as well as meet some of the other candidates for president.
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(http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/303995_200564626679414_100001776355180_484680_1273537713_n.jpg)
(http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/311304_274509589249954_100000727445419_936323_1920045295_n.jpg)
(http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/393613_10150918702075034_859360033_21394303_683313076_n.jpg)
(http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/377160_2324257629798_1491683417_n.jpg)
(http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/384972_10150430274974195_559359194_8519394_497817023_n.jpg)
Here are some more pre election photos :P
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Thank you, Chivo. :)
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Well this is a first. But some things are so interesting that you simply must write about it. Usually the world forces us to write about politics and the personalities of political power.
Once in a while you need a break and perhaps this is a good time for something different. Imagine waking up one morning and when looking out the window, this is what you see:
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/beans.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/beans.jpg)
"Nastya (Anastasia), I love beans!" Well, alright then. Nastya is short for Анастасия (Anastasia) and we're left to guess whether there is some hidden meaning, or perhaps a young husband simply expressing his appreciate for Nastya's cooking.
настя, я люблю фасоль is "Nastya, I love beans." Unless his nickname is "Beans" and he's saying "Nastya, I love you." Beans as a nickname? What do you think?
Perhaps he is apologizing for generating too much gas in her apartment. We doubt that explanation, however as real men don't apologize for gas.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/beans-and-sausage.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/beans-and-sausage.jpg)
Do you think Anastasia mixes sausage with her beans?
Should there be a run on beans at the local supermarket we'll be sure to follow up on this story.
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What; no green grass in the yard this time of year? :)
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
It has been a year since Metro officials began adding ticket vending machines in select Metro stations. Over 700 had been installed by the end of 2011 and officials now estimate that another 500 will be in operation by the end of next month. It is thought that one in four Metro cashier windows are not open during peak travel hours due to a shortage of cashiers. Metro planners hope that the vending machines will ease some of the long lines at Metro ticket windows during those times.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/metro-avtomat-machine.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/metro-avtomat-machine.jpg)
(Moscow Metro ticket vending machine.)
Metro will need to carve out additional space for the new machine and they plan to eliminate many of the present newspaper and magazine vending machines now found in Metro halls. Approximately 120 stations now have пресс (press) vending for newspapers and periodicals.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/metro-avtomat-machine-moya-moskva-livejournal-com-2.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/metro-avtomat-machine-moya-moskva-livejournal-com-2.jpg)
(28 rubles for one trip, 56 rubles for two. (photo credit: moya-moskva.livejournal.com))
To reduce congestion in the ticket selling areas the new vending machines will sell either one or two trip options, costing 28 rubles or 56 rubles (.94/$1.88) for riders who don't need longer duration options. Passengers who ride the Metro frequently can purchase multiple trip tickets at Metro cashier windows.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/metro-avtomat-moya-moskva-livejournal-com-3.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/metro-avtomat-moya-moskva-livejournal-com-3.jpg)
(Visitors can choose an English menu option. (photo credit: moya-moskva.livejournal.com)
No word on the fate of a small number of vending machines that sell caviar. Those machines were part of an experiment along Novy Arbat Metro entrances.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/):
...
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/metro-avtomat-moya-moskva-livejournal-com-3.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/metro-avtomat-moya-moskva-livejournal-com-3.jpg)
(Visitors can choose an English menu option. (photo credit: moya-moskva.livejournal.com)...
Isn't it time they fired the guy whose first language is Russlish????
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Isn't it time they fired the guy whose first language is Russlish????
Kiwi, I've learned that as English speakers you and are aren't qualified to offer corrections. ;D
I used to offer suggestions for the press sites of the Prez and PM but was kindly informed that they had "experts" for such tasks. Note #2 and remember that they never seem to tire of scolding customers for failing to have correct change on hand.
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Russia has a very proud tradition of quality education and so the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com) has begun a page dedicated to helping expats and potential students understand the education system. We'll start at the beginning...
Kindergarten
Kindergarten is called "Children's Garden" (детский сад) in Russian. It means the same in English as Americans have simply adopted the German "kindergarten" term.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqI2A5f8cgQ
- Here are addresses, ratings, and daily menus & announcements for Moscow are Children's Gardens: http://www.det-sad.com/new_detskie_sadi_moskvi
- Information on Children's Gardens in Saint Petersburg: http://www.det-sad.com/new_sp_sad
- Here is information on Children's Gardens in other cities across Russia: http://www.det-sad.com/new_rf
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/childrens-garden-playground.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/childrens-garden-playground.jpg)
More coming soon...
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From today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)--
Often he is the subject of photos but Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is a good photographer in his own right. Sometimes he jokes around and photographs the press. In many journalistic circles Mr. Medvedev is called Russia's "photographer-in-chief."
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photography-winter-ski.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photography-winter-ski.jpg)
(Russian ski resort; photo by President Dmitry Medvedev.)
Over the years photography and reading have become his main hobbies. Well, in addition to caring for the fish in his office aquarium. He studied science and law and achieved a PhD in law and seems to have acquired the talent for taking photos from hours of practice and mastering techniques from others around him.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photography-winter-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photography-winter-b.jpg)
(Moscow winter scene; photo by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.)
Tonight our vkontake account (Russian social media similar to Facebook) held 9 more of his most recent shots, this one from the family's recent December trip to the ancient city of Vladimir (1,000 years old) where they spent the New Year holiday. Vladimir is a Medvedev family favourite as this was their second consecutive year in Vladimir for the annual New Year celebration.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photography-winter-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photography-winter-a.jpg)
(New Year in a Russian village; photo by President Dmitry Medvedev.)
For those wondering, Medvedev's photos are downloaded on his beloved Mac afterwards and he enjoys playing with Photoshop to create various effects. The President tkes a variety of pictures, from nature to Russian citizens and especially nature.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photography-baikal.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photography-baikal.jpg)
(Largest body of freshwater in the world--Russia's Lake Baikal; photo by President Dmitry Medvedev.)
Pulitzer Prize winning Sasha Zemlianichenko will tell you that Medvedev has an eye and understands the use of light and colour balance. Once on a presidential trip, Medvedev asked about Zemlianichenko's Canon as Medvedev was not happy with his Nikon.
While sometimes Medvedev can be seen with a professional Canon in his hands, on most days you'll find him sporting new Leica S2 and Leica M9 cameras. The cost of that Leica S2 medium format DSLR? $20,000+ and likely much more for the added accessories.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG1nXofNYUQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG1nXofNYUQ)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photography-golden-ring.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photography-golden-ring.jpg)
(On tour around Russia's "Golden Ring" just hours outside Moscow; photo by President Dmitry Medvedev.)
Many of his photos are taken on presidential trips during times of travel and also on holidays with his family. Medvedev's wife Svetlana and son Ilya admire his nifty camerawork as well.
Even if you don't understand Russian you will find this professional gallery display of President Dmitry Medvedev's photography to be very interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shwsv22X4w0
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photography-winter-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photography-winter-c.jpg)
(Russia from a train window; photo by President Dmitry Medvedev.)
This past August 2011 Mr. Medvedev got his chance to do some underwater photography when fishing on the Volga river in southern Russia with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. It was on that trip that the two men finalized the decision for Mr. Putin to run again for president in March 2012.
On most days he is the "focus" of a camera lens.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-ski-2.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-ski-2.jpg)
(Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is an accomplished skier, too. Photo: Presidential Press Service.)
Then there are days when the photographer can enjoy being on both sides of the camera as shown in the picture below.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photographer.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/medvedev-photographer.jpeg)
(President Medvedev on presidential train inside China.)
Photographs: Dmitry Medvedev, the Presidential Press Service, the Mendeleyev Journal.
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The excitement of new beginnings!
Perhaps you do also, but I get excited about new beginnings. Something new is often accompanied with hope, opportunity, and the chance to do something different and unique.
That is how the staff of this new radio station much have felt at the very first broadcast for Сельское радио (Rural radio) in Ревда (Revda), a community in the Sverdlovsk Region:
www.youtube.com/watch?&v=nQqeMK-bZIk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=nQqeMK-bZIk#)
Being a "radio guy" myself, it is heartening to see young people so excited about their craft! Who cares if the studio isn't finished or that their equipment is sparse at best? For now their enthusiasm will make up for the lack of soundproofing on the walls and fancy digital consoles.
We salute you, Сельское радио!
Let the show begin. :)
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As published in the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)...
Today is February 23. Some will call it Red Army Day or just simply Army Day. Still others will say Defender of the Motherland Day or Defender of the Fatherland Day.
Today however many Russians speak of Defender Day. Not only Russians, but most of the former republics celebrate it too. Which of the above names is correct?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/day-of-defender-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/day-of-defender-a.jpg)
Over the years the name has changed. Many historians say that the day began when the government declared February 23 in 1918 as the day to honour the Red Army victory over the Kaiser’s German troops near Narva and Pskov. The day was declared to be День Красной Армии (Red Army Day).
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/day-of-defender-e.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/day-of-defender-e.jpg)
Today it is often known simply as the Day of Defender. You see, back in 1918 the Red Army didn't win that battle. The Germans kicked their Russian butts but Lenin, Stalin and others at that early stage in Soviet leadership didn't want the Russian people to know of the defeat so they concocted a fake victory celebration.
The Red Army did stop the German Army at that location, eventually, two years later in 1920.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/day-of-defender-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/day-of-defender-c.jpg)
Whoever or whatever acted with fraud, the Supreme Soviet took up the issue many years later. But in 1949 the Soviet government was in no position to admit that Stalin was wrong, but they did change the name to День Советской Армий и Военно-Морского Флота (Soviet Army and Navy Day).
After the fall of the Soviet regime the name was changed to День защитника Отечества (Defender of the Fatherland Day) meant to celebrate men and women who served and/or now serving the Russian Armed Forces.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/day-of-defender-g.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/day-of-defender-g.jpg)
And of course these days there are women in active service, thereby the likeness of the Army "Smokinhotkova" who wants her recognition as well.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/day-of-defender-i.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/day-of-defender-i.jpg)
You'll also find Russians who speak of it as День Мужчин (Men’s Day), sort of like a companion to Women's Day on 08 March. Flowers are given to men sometimes or chocolates, cakes, kisses, etc.
Learning point in language:
In context it could be homeland, but for our native Russian speakers here is a interesting question for readers studying Russian language: Отечество or Отечествa? Some may say that Отечествa is a masculine noun with a feminine ending (like the word Papa, for example.) So let's ask our native speakers which is most correct. Should we say fatherland or motherland?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/day-of-defender-f.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/day-of-defender-f.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjkQ73pRtL4
Whatever you decide to call it, we wish you a happy day! tiphat
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There are two 40-day fasts in the ancient Christian calendar; the Nativity Fast before Christmas and the "Pashka" (Greek word meaning Easter) Fast prior to Easter. Right now we eat no meat, no eggs/poultry, no cheese/milk, no oil, etc.
Only fish on Wednesdays but everything else is vegetables & fruits only. Here are "ladybug" sandwiches for raw fish on Wednesday. Remembering that usually a "sandwich" in Eastern Europe and Asia is a single piece of bread, these sandwiches are very easy to make.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/ladybug-sandwiches.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/ladybug-sandwiches.jpg)
You will need: Bread, red fish (salmon, trout, etc), tomatoes, olives pitted, Parsley.
Preparation:
- Separate the red fish from the bones and skin, cut into thin slices.
- Cover with a piece of fish.
- Take the tomatoes, cut them in half, lengthwise.
- Make a ladybug's head with black olives, cut in half.
- Spots for the ladybug are from tiny pieces of chopped olives.
For those who missed "forgiveness Sunday" here is our message from the Mendeleyev Journal: прощаю и ты меня за всё прости! (I forgive you and ask you to forgive me.)
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Remembering that usually a "sandwich" in Eastern Europe and Asia is a single piece of bread...
An 'open' sandwich then, as also elsewhere in Europe, which would make John Montagu (1718–1792), 4th Earl of Sandwich and thrice First Lord of the Admiralty, raise an eyebrow ;).
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/John_Montagu%2C_4th_Earl_of_Sandwich.jpg/200px-John_Montagu%2C_4th_Earl_of_Sandwich.jpg)
The modern sandwich is named after Lord Sandwich. Evidently John Montagu had been a very conversant gambler. He did not have time to have meal during the play, so he would ask his servants to bring him slices of meat between two slices of bread during his long hours playing at the card table. This habit became well known among his gambling friends and thus the ‘sandwich’ was born. Because Montagu also happened to be the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, others began to order "the same as Sandwich!"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Montagu,_4th_Earl_of_Sandwich
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Those dang Europeans are copying the Americans again! LOL.
Sandro, were my retirement plan to be funded on how many open face sandwiches I've observed in Europe versus closed sandwiches with two pieces of bread, I'd be smart to bet on the open face most of the time. :)
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Learning point in language:
In context it could be homeland, but for our native Russian speakers here is a interesting question for readers studying Russian language: Отечество or Отечествa? Some may say that Отечествa is a masculine noun with a feminine ending (like the word Papa, for example.) So let's ask our native speakers which is most correct. Should we say fatherland or motherland?
Отечество - Fatherland, Отечества - the genitive case.
A general rule to form the genitive case for the neuter nouns ending in O (which the word Отечество is):
"O" should be replaced with "A"
FYI: the Russian equivalent of the word Motherland is Отчизна (feminine noun)
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Dear Mendeleyev, how about a leap year day, February 29? Would you advise RWD gentlemen to avoid communicating with their marriage-minded Russian GFs today?! What if they ask their BFs for marriage today? ;)
Or RW are still superstitious about leap year weddings ? :D
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Today would be a perfect day to get married.
Only have to pay for anniversary celebrations once every 4 years instead of yearly.
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Отечество - Fatherland, Отечества - the genitive case.
A general rule to form the genitive case for the neuter nouns ending in O (which the word Отечество is):
"O" should be replaced with "A"
FYI: the Russian equivalent of the word Motherland is Отчизна (feminine noun)
Ghost of moon goddess,
You rock! Thank you for the clarification. :)
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FYI: the Russian equivalent of the word Motherland is Отчизна (feminine noun)
Wasn't it this?
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/Rodina-Logo.png)
Another certainty shattered :(.
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Those dang Europeans are copying the Americans again! LOL.
Since Montagu was already 58 when the (US of) America were officially born, I think it is safe to assume viceversa ;D.
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The Russian equivalent of the word Motherland Отечество is Отчизна (feminine noun)
Wasn't it this?
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/Rodina-Logo.png)
Another certainty shattered :(.
[/quote]
Dear Sandro, you are right, as ever ;D
Motherland - Родина (feminine noun)
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...makes perfect sense now...
The National Anthem:
Славься, славься, родина-Россия! (Be glorious, be glorious, motherland-Russia!)
Сквозь века и грозы ты прошла
И сияет солнце над тобою
И судьба твоя светла.
Над старинным московским Кремлём
Вьется знамя с двуглавым орлом
И звучат священные слова:
Славься, Русь – Отчизна моя! (Be glorious, Russia – my fatherland!)
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The use of the concept of rodina was central to Soviet propaganda posters as well.
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Thought this article might be interesting to read
In Defense of Mother Russia and the Fatherland By Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator:
"Великая Отечественная война: The Great Patriotic War, Russia's involvement in World War II.
My favorite Russian holiday is Victory Day (День Победы). I am always touched by the elderly veterans covered in medals, sometimes still trim and fit enough to wear their old uniforms, remembering the most terrible war with moments of extraordinary humanity and humility. The war is most commonly referred to as Великая Отечественная война -- usually translated as the Great Patriotic War.
This seems like a good opportunity to discuss the differences between three ways to describe one's homeland in Russian: родина, отечество and отчизна.
Anthropologists, linguists and sociologists have been exploring the subtle differences for years, mostly poking around along gender lines: родина is connected with the maternal line (рождение, роды -- birth; родильница -- birth mother; род -- kin, clan while отчизна and отечество are related to the word for "father" (отец). Things got overlaid with ideology during the Soviet years, when родина was propagandized as something sacred, involving duties and obligations. Still, родина for Russians is the word they use to describe their homeland in personal terms: the place where they belong, the motherland that nourishes them and loves them. Remember: Родина -- мать! (Your homeland is your mother!)
In one survey, people described родина as "где всё родное, близкое, понятное и привычное" (where I feel a sense of belonging, where everything is familiar, where I understand everything and feel at home). The adjective for this is родной, meaning "what is native to me, what I belong to and what belongs to me." English doesn't let us describe this as neatly as Russian, and you have to struggle a bit to convey the sense: родной язык (native language родная страна (homeland родная земля (the land/place I was born). You can also use родной to describe any place or group of people that is like family: Я вернулся в родной коллектив (I went back to work in my old office, where I belong; literally, "I returned to my native workplace"). Родные describes not only relatives (родственники) but anyone you consider family. In English, the closest you can get is "nearest and dearest."
Another focus group study carried out by the Public Opinion Foundation in 2001 shows the enormity of what Russians distill into the concept of родина. ""о место, в которое можно вернуться, и где тебя будут любить. Где тепло, где тебя ждут." (The place you can always go home to, where they will love you. Where you feel warmth, where you are always welcome.) "Родина -- это мать, которую не выбирают" (your homeland is the mother m you don't choose).
This is the родина captured in the song by the group DDT: Родина! Еду я на родину! Пусть кричат ""родина!" А она нам нравится! (My homeland! I'm going home! Let people shout "Your homeland's a freak!" We like her that way!)
When researchers questioned people about отечество/отчизна, they found that the words were considered synonyms, although respondents found отчизна a bit more high-flown and archaic. But both are perceived as more official than родина, that is they convey the sense of statehood. "Мне кажется, что 'Отчизна' -- это более высокий слог, более официальное, высокопарное" (I think that Otchizna is a more high-flown word, more official, grandiloquent). "Отечество для меня -- [слово] более политического характера -- вот государство." (The word "Fatherland" has for me a more political character -- it's the state.)
So Russia's involvement in WWII is Великая Отечественная война -- the Great War to defend the Fatherland / the state. Translating it as the "Great Patriotic War" isn't too bad, since it captures the sense of patriotic duty. Still the translator wants to add a page of footnotes to explain the subtle connotations. This is when you have to console yourself that something always gets lost in translation".
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Thought this article might be interesting to read...This seems like a good opportunity to discuss the differences between three ways to describe one's homeland in Russian: родина, отечество and отчизна. Anthropologists, linguists and sociologists have been exploring the subtle differences for years, mostly poking around along gender lines: родина is connected with the maternal line (рождение, роды -- birth; родильница -- birth mother; род -- kin, clan while отчизна and отечество are related to the word for "father" (отец).
Yes, interesting article. Indeed the concept of 'own native country' has different flavours and genders in various cultures:
Greek: πατρίς (patrìs) or πατριά (patrìa) from πατήρ (patér, father)
Latin: pàtria from pàter (father)
e.g. the famous verse by Roman poet Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65 BC– 8 BC) in his Ode III.2.13:
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (It's sweet and honourable to die for one's country).
Latin-derived languages naturally follow suit: patrie (Fr.), patria (Sp.), pátria (Port.), etc.
Groups that refer to their native country as a "fatherland"
the Afrikaners as Vaderland
the Albanian as Atdheu.
the Armenians, as Hayrenik (as in the national anthem Mer Hayrenik, literally meaning Our Fatherland)
the Belarusians as Baćkaŭščyna (Бацькаўшчына)
the Bosniaks as Otadžbina (Отаџбина), although Domovina (Домовина) is sometimes used colloquially meaning homeland
the Bulgarians as Tatkovina (Татковина) and Otechestvo (Отечество)
the Czechs as vlast or (rarely) otčina
the Danes as fædreland
the Esperantists as patrio, patrolando or patrujo
the Estonians as isamaa (as in the national anthem Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm)
the Finns as isänmaa
the Frisians as heitelân
the Georgians as Samshoblo (სამშობლო - "[land] of parents") or Mamuli (მამული)
the Germans, as Vaterland (as in the national anthem Das Lied der Deutschen)
the Icelanders as föðurland literally meaning "land of the father"
the Irish as Athartha.
the Jews as Eretz Ha'Avot (Hebrew: ארץ האבות) - the literal translation is "Land of the Forefathers"
the Kazakhs as atameken
the Korea as 조국
the Latvians as tēvija or tēvzeme (although dzimtene – roughly translated as "place of birth" – is more neutral and used more commonly nowadays)
the Lithuanians as tėvynė
the ethnic Macedonians as Tatkovina (татковина)
the Dutch, as vaderland
the Norwegians as fedreland
the Oromo as Biyya Abbaa
the Pakistanis as Vatan
the Persians as Sarzamineh Pedari (Fatherland), Sarzamineh Madari (Motherland) or Meehan
the Poles, as Ojczyzna (but there is also macierz, that is Motherland, although it is seldom used)
the Russians, as Otechestvo (отечество) or Otchizna (отчизна), however Rodina [birthland], is more common, happens to be feminine, and is typically personified as a mother (sometimes referred to as birthland-mother). Otchizna is considered to be very formal, and typically used by government heads, whereas Rodina is more colloquial and widespread.
the Serbs as otadžbina (отаџбина)
the Welsh as the land of my fathers (Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau) .
the Slovaks as vlasť, or rarely domovina.
the Slovenes as očetnjava, although domovina (homeland) is more common.
the Swedes as fäderneslandet, although fosterlandet is more common (meaning the land that fostered/raised a person)
the Thais as pituphum (ปิตุภูมิ), the word is adapted from Sanskrit
the Tibetans as pha yul (ཕ་ཡུལ་)
the Vietnamese as Tổ quốc
the Ukrainians as Bat'kivshchyna (батьківщина) or, more rarely, Vitchyzna (вітчизна)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatherland
Therefore, most seem to favour a masculine designation, also with references to the land of forefathers.
However, when the concept shifts to land of birth, the feminine often crops up, even among the previous group: madre patria (It.), mère patrie (Fr.), i.e. motherland.
the Turks as Anayurt or Anavatan which means motherland. The word's origin is the Turkish word Yurt or Vatan which means land with the Turkish word Ana which means mother attached to it as a prefix. Fatherland, as a noun, does not exist in Turkish.
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Славься, славься, родина-Россия! (Be glorious, be glorious, motherland-Russia!)
Славься, Русь – Отчизна моя! (Be glorious, Russia – my fatherland!)
Родина (Ro-dee-na) - is originated from род - rod - family, clan, generation - Homeland
Отчизна (Ot-chee-zna) and Отечество (O-tye-chue-stvo) - is originated from отче - otche - old Church Slavic - father.
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Thank you, Olga.
Отчизна (Ot-chee-zna) and Отечество (O-tye-chue-stvo) - is originated from отче - otche - old Church Slavic - father.
May we assume that Отечество gives us the patronymic (middle name) passed from father to the child? Just one letter different -- Отчество.
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Are you ready to touch Russia?
I'd suggest that you do!
Perhaps at first your editor/publisher was attracted to this video because he and Cody White share a connection to West Virginia. Or maybe it was the statement (in jest) that Moscow is only 55 miles from West Virginia. It could be that the title "Touch Russia" is too interesting not to explore. Or perhaps it is the connection to Russia Beyond the Headlines (http://rbth.ru/) lending legitimacy to the title.
http://youtu.be/twnZ_Mi8Kbw
Whatever the reason, we think that you'll like the new RBTH blog, the new Russia Behind the Headlines ipad app and best of all, the app is free! We think you're going to like it.
(There is no connection financial or editorial interest between the Mendeleyev Journal and Russia Beyond The Headlines. We recommend the app because it is worth having--period.)
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Thank you, Olga.
May we assume that Отечество gives us the patronymic (middle name) passed from father to the child? Just one letter different -- Отчество.
Отчество (otchyestvo) is also originated from отче ) otchye - father. Till 17th century the word отчество also meant a land of fathers, also clan and family. The word отчизна appeared later.
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Olga, thanks. :)
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
About 99% of what dating sites say about Russian men is nothing more than self-serving falsehoods by greedy agencies, aimed at the gullible.
It was with a great measure of thankfulness and delight that many older Russian women were greeted on 08 March Women's Day flowers, and in some cases chocolates, by strangers.
Strangers perhaps, but men with a heart. Neighbors. So on Thursday the 8th a group of men volunteering with the "We Love Russia" project began to distribute single flowers to those ladies who time has often forgotten.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/08-march-we-love-russia-project.jpg?w=594) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/08-march-we-love-russia-project.jpg)
Their smiles tell the story.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
About 99% of what dating sites say about Russian men is nothing more than self-serving falsehoods by greedy agencies, aimed at the gullible.
I'm pretty sure they are there from some of the stories I've heard but I've yet to meet some of these worthless RM types. All of the RM I know on a personal level are really good, decent stand up guys. My wife has had a number of relatives drink themselves to death. Two since we've been married. Both seemed to be good husbands, fathers and took care of their responsibilities albeit tee-totalers. I suspect every other nationality knows some of their own family and neighbors with the same problem.
Thanks for that post Mendy. It's timely and accurate IMHO.
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You're welcome, FP.
What's really special is that these guys paid for the flowers out of their own pockets.
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I don't know why mushrooms hold such a place of importance in Russian life. Perhaps it is akin to my love affair with books. I can hike all over a giant bookstore, especially those stores with second hand books. Were it not for Mrs M pleading, I could easily spend a day in a large bookstore. Why, there may be an interesting book hidden under that pile. Or maybe that pile over there.
Whichever Russian said "a fish in the belly and vodka in the glass makes for a happy life" apparently hadn't considered the mushrooms his countrymen so covet. Yes, a Russian, or Ukrainian for that matter, will spend all day in the forest, emerging either happy or sad many hours later depending on whether the foraging for mushrooms was a success.
What good is a forest if it produces no mushrooms?! Exactly.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/murmansk-mushroom.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/murmansk-mushroom.jpg)
To be sure, some families use mushrooms as a meat substitute during the strict Easter and Nativity (Christmas) fasting periods. But mushroom hunting is a tradition that most Russians take seriously, very seriously.
Last summer I discovered a mushroom growing in the back yard of our Moscow region dacha. Was I allowed to "harvest" it myself? Heck no, the adult ladies called the children over and little nieces and nephews squealed with delight as they discovered what I had already found.
Mushroom hunting in the forest on a weekend is almost a religion and personally I think that the Russian Orthodox Church should be concerned about the competition. The only problem is that your average forest is also teaming with monks and nuns trying to sniff out the same mushrooms you seek.
I can't immediately think of an activity in the West that matches the pure gusto and delight that brings a family together in the same way that mushroom hunting does for the typical Russian brood. Can you?
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Perhaps it is akin to my love affair with books. I can hike all over a giant bookstore, especially those stores with second hand books.
Then you must have liked this book and movie ;):
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51vntw-DVCL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg) (http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/20250000/20253218.JPG)
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I don't know why mushrooms hold such a place of importance in Russian life. Perhaps it is akin to my love affair with books. I can hike all over a giant bookstore, especially those stores with second hand books. Were it not for Mrs M pleading, I could easily spend a day in a large bookstore. Why, there may be an interesting book hidden under that pile. Or maybe that pile over there.
Whichever Russian said "a fish in the belly and vodka in the glass makes for a happy life" apparently hadn't considered the mushrooms his countrymen so covet. Yes, a Russian, or Ukrainian for that matter, will spend all day in the forest, emerging either happy or sad many hours later depending on whether the foraging for mushrooms was a success.
What good is a forest if it produces no mushrooms?! Exactly.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/murmansk-mushroom.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/murmansk-mushroom.jpg)
To be sure, some families use mushrooms as a meat substitute during the strict Easter and Nativity (Christmas) fasting periods. But mushroom hunting is a tradition that most Russians take seriously, very seriously.
Last summer I discovered a mushroom growing in the back yard of our Moscow region dacha. Was I allowed to "harvest" it myself? Heck no, the adult ladies called the children over and little nieces and nephews squealed with delight as they discovered what I had already found.
Mushroom hunting in the forest on a weekend is almost a religion and personally I think that the Russian Orthodox Church should be concerned about the competition. The only problem is that your average forest is also teaming with monks and nuns trying to sniff out the same mushrooms you seek.
I can't immediately think of an activity in the West that matches the pure gusto and delight that brings a family together in the same way that mushroom hunting does for the typical Russian brood. Can you?
Mendy, I can see the appeal to the children foraging for mushrooms. I have done that only once and I saw how my little boy got so much into it. I have no clue why he would call them shitake mushrooms but every time he found one he would yell shitake and his aunt would go and check the mushroom was okay to take. I have to say that I also enjoyed it immensely.
BTW, that's not Mrs M in that pic or did she dyed her hair? Actually, she has some resemblance with Hammer's fiance.
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Muzh, it is not the beautiful but blonde Mrs. M. :)
Just friends from last summer's forest trip.
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Mendy, the same fascination for mushroom hunting seems to be equally shared in Ukraine. Not only are mushrooms used a lot in the preparation of tasty dishes, it is also a family affair to go to the forest and forage for them. While spending a week at a friends dacha near Cherkassy, at least 2 hours a day were spent in the forest picking mushrooms. The only thing comparable that I can remember in the US, was while a youngster in Oregon, many families go to the forest and harvest wild berries to make preserves. It was also a family affair.
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It's apparently a Continental European thing. They do it in France (remember the truffles), Czech Republic, Poland and Bulgaria as well. As countries industrialize it will fall to the wayside and become a quaint sidebar in cultural history and anthropology books.
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It's apparently a Continental European thing. They do it in France (remember the truffles)
In Italy, too, and we have several Mycology Centers where one can have one's harvest examined for possible toxic species.
Truffles however are a rare underground type of mushroom, and require specially trained dogs or other animals for their discovery.
(http://www.corriere.it/Hermes%20Foto/2004/11_Novembre/20/tart--230x180.jpg)
This 852-gram truffle was auctioned in 2004 for $52,000. Then in 2010 a 900-gram truffle went for a record $330,000 to a Chinese millionare lady.
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Truffles however are a rare underground type of mushroom, and require specially trained dogs or other animals for their discovery.
I understand that pigs are often used.
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Mushroom-picking is a national pastime in Ukraine. Thousands of mushroomers go out into the woods every summer and autumn to gather. Chernobyl being surrounded by sparsely populated marshland and forest, it WAS ideal country for mushroom hunting. In this country, mostly mushrooms are appreciated as a fried or pickled dish, also as a base for healthy soup (yummy yummy :D)
Favorite Ukrainian (and Russian ;))mushrooms are:
Опенок - Opyonok (honey mushroom)
(http://mycoweb.narod.ru/fungi/Submitted/LIS/Dscn7655.jpg)
Подберезовик - Podberyozovik (Rough birch stock)
(http://www.floranimal.ru/pages/flora/p/4952.jpg)
Масленок - Maslyonok (Slippery jack)
(http://rabotynet.com/files/images/maslenok%20foto.JPG)
Рыжик - Ryzhik (Saffron milk cap)
(http://www.esmastif.ru/images/stories/main/164.jpg)
AND
Белый/Боровик - Bely/Borovik (Penny bun boletus)
(http://fito.lovebody.ru/Data/ContBlocks/00107/borovik3.jpg)
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I understand that pigs are often used.
Yes, but they are more difficult to train, and restrain ;D.
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Moon Goddess,
Fabulous photos of mushrooms (I am a nature boy).
One question. How competent are FSU people in recognizing safe and unsafe mushrooms?
I ask because I went mushrooming in the Swedish forest with one of my best friends, a Professor of Toxicology at the Royal Stockholm University. It was a delightful day. We encountered many mushrooms and he harvested all save two. He described the toxic effects of each, e. g. damaging the liver or kidney, loss of limbs). Most effect were GI upsets and not life threatening. Nevertheless, the Swedish forest is very similar to the Eastern European forest, so I would assume toxic varieties are natural to the FSU.
Incidentally, we discovered one large mushroom and he became very ecstatic, calling it the "Crown of Crowns." Do you have such mentally orgasmic varieties in Ukraine.
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Mushroom hunting is truly a family thing, one that is still one of the most prominent childhood memories in my mind.
Every year come end of August every weekend we'd get up real early 4 or 5 am go to the train station and catch a train to go about an hour away outside of Moscow, and hit the forest with our straw baskets. My mom always prepaired traditional lunch: boiled potatoes, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, scallions and a few pinches of salt to dip the scallions in and put some on eggs and potatoes. That always tasted so good in the fresh air of the forest. It is so ingrained in me that even now when I walk on any ground other than asphalt or concrete my eyes are automatically searching for mushrooms and I never miss one. Funny how that works! When we immigrated to the US there were 3 things that I missed about Russia the most: family and friends, the abundance of beautiful Russian girls to date, and mushroom hunting.
One thing to know is that although there are mushrooms here in the US that look identical to the ones in Russia, some of them are poisonous here. I have read that the most cases of mushroom poisoning occur among people who move to the USA from European countries and who assume that since a mushroom looks the same as what they picked in their native country it would be good to eat.
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One question. How competent are FSU people in recognizing safe and unsafe mushrooms?
Unfortunately not all the FSU mushroomers can identify safe and poisonous mushrooms. Every year Ukrainian health officials report fatal and otherwise serious mushroom poisoning cases. In most of those cases, people mistakenly picked some poisonous mushrooms which resembled edible wild mushrooms. I believe that being skeptical and doubtful is the best approach when there is no strong evidence that the mushroom you have found is not the edible one. It is better to throw away the edible mushroom than to eat its poisonous look-alike, ( take that as a dating red flag and remove yourself from the potentially dangerous situation ;D )
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Incidentally, we discovered one large mushroom and he became very ecstatic, calling it the "Crown of Crowns." Do you have such mentally orgasmic varieties in Ukraine.
Gator,
Here in Ukraine we don't need to pick any mentally orgasmic "Crown of Crowns" species to experience an ecstatic state of timeless bliss - we use some special bliss technique to experience deep state of pleasure, which makes Ukraine (and Russia) so interesting :D
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Gator,
Here in Ukraine we don't need to pick any mentally orgasmic "Crown of Crowns" species to experience an ecstatic state of timeless bliss - we use some special bliss technique to experience deep state of pleasure, which makes Ukraine (and Russia) so interesting :D
I guess you are referring to the Japanese Butterfly technique.
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I guess you are referring to the Japanese Butterfly technique.
I guess you have Ukrainian roots from your maternal lineage.
Impressed by your ability to think "outside the box". A sign of genius, so I understand.
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I guess you are referring to the Japanese Butterfly technique.
I guess you have Ukrainian roots from your maternal lineage.
Impressed by your ability to think "outside the box". A sign of genius, so I understand.
And I thought that Moon Goddess was talking about a special Ukrainian recipe for cooking any mushroom, even making an ordinary mushroom taste like the Crown of Crowns. ;) Ignorant me!
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From today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=6281&action=edit):
Has Dorofei Medvedev (Дорофей), Russia's "first cat" decided to join the protest movement?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/medvedev-cat-dorofei-cartoon.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/medvedev-cat-dorofei-cartoon.jpg)
(In this cartoon Dorofei protests for his "freedom.")
Soaring to new highs on Twitter, Vk and Facebook, Russians are purring over the brief disappearance of the Medvedev cat with some news sources saying that police in the Moscow suburb of Gorki had been dispatched to look for the cat.
President Medvedev, who is traveling in India today, took a moment to Tweet, "About the cat. A source close to Dorofei says he was not lost. Thank you all for your concern!"
Dorofei is a Siberian breed, a rare Nevsky Masquerade, and was picked out by first lady Svetlana Medvedeva in 2003, several years prior to Mr. Medvedev running for president in 2008. The name comes from the Greek Dorotheos, or the "gift of God."
Meanwhile an outpouring of catty remarks on Twitter and other social media continues to grow. Many comments are jokes about Dorofei wishing to be free before Vladimir Putin returns to the presidency. One post features a doctored photo of Putin in a fur hat with cat's ears and the caption: "Dorofei? No, haven't seen him."
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/medvedev-cat-dorofei-meets-obamas.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/medvedev-cat-dorofei-meets-obamas.jpg)
(Dorofei Medvedev greeted the Obamas at the Russian presidential residence in 2009.)
Some Twitter users were sympathetic but many joked the cat showed good sense to make a break for it. Several Twitter accounts have been set up in Dorofei's name and users are sending messages like "Run, Dorofei, Run!" and slogans from the recent election protests.
Several telephone poles in the elite Moscow suburb near Mr Medvedev's official residence are covered with fictional "lost cat" posters.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/chris-botti-returns-to-moscow-on-april-5/):
The Moscow Times newspaper calls him the "blonde angel with a trumpet instead of the harp" so who are we to disagree when Chris Botti comes to Moscow a week from today on Thursday, 5 April. Those of you who are fans will recognize Chris Botti as an American trumpeter and composer. In 2007 Botti was nominated for two Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/chris-botti-concert-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/chris-botti-concert-b.jpg)
Chris Botti will be in concert, April 5 at the Moscow House of Music.Botti's solo debut, First Wish, was released in 1995 and in 1999 he toured with Sting as a featured soloist in the Brand New Day tour. His music mixes smooth jazz, chill, R&B, and pop Classical. Botti also played in Moscow last year to sold out performances.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Chris Botti is a core performer on the Mendeleyev Journal radio station, www.MyFavoriteChannel.com (http://www.MyFavoriteChannel.com).
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/chris-botti-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/chris-botti-b.jpg)
Fans can learn more about Chris and his music at www.chrisbotti.com (http://www.chrisbotti.com). Botti plays a Martin Committee large bore Handcraft trumpet made in 1939, and uses a #3 silver plated mouthpiece from Bach made in 1926, and uses a Leblanc Vacchiano Harmon mute from the 1950s.
The concert will begin at 20.00 (8pm) with tickets ranging from 3300-7300 руб. Tickets should be purchased in advance by calling 730-1011, 258-0000 or visiting online at www.Parter.ru (http://www.parter.ru/). The Moscow House of Music is home to the National Philharmonic of Russia and located at Kosmodamianskaya Embankment, 52, Building 8 (Svetlanov Hall).
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/house-of-music-snow.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/house-of-music-snow.jpg)
Moscow's House of Music is home to the National Philharmonic of Russia and part of the Riverside Towers business and hotel complex.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Chris Botti is a core performer on the Mendeleyev Journal radio station, www.MyFavoriteChannel.com (http://www.MyFavoriteChannel.com).
For Russian readers:
Крис Ботти - самый популярный трубач мира. Его репертуар – это изысканный союз джаза, классики и поп музыки. На глазах у изумлённой публики он каждый раз превращает известные мелодии во что-то совершенно новое и удивительное. На сегодняшний день Крис Ботти уже продал более пяти миллионов копий своих альбомов. Его партнёры – только суперзвёзды: Стинг, Пол Саймон, Джони Митчел, Джон Мэйер, Ренди Брекер, Андреа Бочелли, Джошуа Белл, Марк Нопфлер и даже группа «Аэросмит» во главе со Стивеном Тайлером. Он входит в избранный круг мировой музыкальной элиты. Звук его трубы неподражаем и знаком миллионам поклонников по всему миру. Удивлять – в этом и есть непревзойдённое мастерство Криса Ботти. Это будет поистине незабываемый вечер и самое изысканное украшение музыкального сезона!
5 апреля 2012 года, звуками этой трубы вновь наполнится Московский Дом Музыки. В апреле прошлого года Крис Ботти уже приезжал в Россию. Это были невероятные, аншлаговые представления! Лишний билетик спрашивали задолго до подхода к Дому Музыки. Более того, сразу по окончании шоу многие пожелали купить билеты на следующее российское шоу Криса.
И вот – свершилось! В этом году легендарный трубач обещал особенно удивить своих поклонников. Его новое шоу – будет намного ярче всех остальных! Российская публика увидит совершенно новую, потрясающую программу! Специально приглашённые американские музыканты, которые выйдут на сцену вместе с Крисом, блеснут виртуозным мастерством. Скрипки, перкуссия, ударные, вокал… Modern Jazz, Classical Mainstream, R&B, Chill Out…
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/chris-botti-concert-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/chris-botti-concert-a.jpg)
Космодамианская наб., д. 52 стр. 8, Moscow, Russia, 115054. Это будет поистине незабываемый вечер! Крис Ботти, дамы и господа! Самое изысканное украшение музыкального сезона!
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Mushroom-picking is a national pastime in Ukraine. Thousands of mushroomers go out into the woods every summer and autumn to gather. Chernobyl being surrounded by sparsely populated marshland and forest, it WAS ideal country for mushroom hunting. In this country, mostly mushrooms are appreciated as a fried or pickled dish, also as a base for healthy soup (yummy yummy :D)
Favorite Ukrainian (and Russian ;))mushrooms are:
Опенок - Opyonok (honey mushroom)
(http://mycoweb.narod.ru/fungi/Submitted/LIS/Dscn7655.jpg)
Подберезовик - Podberyozovik (Rough birch stock)
(http://www.floranimal.ru/pages/flora/p/4952.jpg)
Масленок - Maslyonok (Slippery jack)
(http://rabotynet.com/files/images/maslenok%20foto.JPG)
Рыжик - Ryzhik (Saffron milk cap)
(http://www.esmastif.ru/images/stories/main/164.jpg)
AND
Белый/Боровик - Bely/Borovik (Penny bun boletus)
(http://fito.lovebody.ru/Data/ContBlocks/00107/borovik3.jpg)
Ghost you are a mushroomer too? Sweet :)
I actually teach an Identification Class and also guide tours in the spring and fall here in Seattle. I hold a degree in Mycology and Mycova from UW. http://www.psms.org
(http://www.fungi.com/info/infopics/gallery/cabanensis.jpg)
This photo of a heretofore undiscovered species of giant Psilocybe found in Florida, tentatively named Psilocybe cabanensis
LOL
and yes it's a mycology Joke.
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I knew we would connect on some level, Jason :) )) I'm a mushroom nut! Ever since my childhood we used to pick them with the family bring home a few baskets, my mom would cook them with butter and sourcream. man nothing like fresh picked wild mushrooms! My mouth is watering as I'm writing this! Then the rest of them we would put on a thread and hand out of the window to dry in the sun so that they'll be good for the winter. In the winter my mom made mushroom soup with those dried ones and it was also delicious. Here in FL they have one kind of Boletus that is edible. I tried it but it doesn't taste nearly as good.
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Sweet!
I love hunting for most species, but we have come a long way in technology and now you can grow them in your bathroom. Mycology is a fascinating field.
If you have such a taste for mushrooms, why not grow them yourself?
I have been doing this for years. There is nothing better that picking and eating the fruitbodies of your own labor.
What Species did you eat as a child?
Ever tried pickled mushrooms?
Pearl Oyster Mushrooms, pickled with garlic is just awesome.
Check this out
http://www.fungi.com/kits/index.html
6 ways mushrooms will save the world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI5frPV58tY
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sure I've had pickled mushrooms many times, it's part of the Russian cuisine. In Russia I used to pick all the mushrooms on the photos above and a few other ones as well. I don't know what they are called in English except Shantarel.
So how can I get the spores of those: honey mushrooms, rough birch stock, Penny bun Boletus, Podosinovik, any kind of Boletus basically (except our Florida kind since they are not very tasty)
What do you grow them in? I could even start a little mushroom farm since I have plenty of room here! :)))
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sure I've had pickled mushrooms many times, it's part of the Russian cuisine. In Russia I used to pick all the mushrooms on the photos above and a few other ones as well. I don't know what they are called in English except Shantarel.
So how can I get the spores of those: honey mushrooms, rough birch stock, Penny bun Boletus, Podosinovik, any kind of Boletus basically (except our Florida kind since they are not very tasty)
What do you grow them in? I could even start a little mushroom farm since I have plenty of room here! :)))
Everything you need is right here.
http://www.fungi.com/kits/index.html
You can buy ready made kits or "patches", that come pre - inoculated and spawned, just open the box and they start producing. After the patch is spent, it can be used to innoculate more media, perhaps in a prepared bed outside :)
Fungi Perfeci is the best source for anything a mushroomer could ever need.
I suggest Shiitake
Pernounced (She (as in He/She) Ee (as in the letter E) Ta ( as in TaTa's) Ke ( as In If you see Kay)
and Enokitake
pernounced ( Eh ( as in good day eh) knock( as in knock your socks off) E (as in the letter E)
They even offer cloning and spawn production, so say you Find some of those mushrooms you loved as a boy, Ship one off to them and they will, clone it, fruit it, send back samples, and with your ok, they set up cultures and spawn runs, ready to ship to your mushroom patch.
http://www.fungi.com/cultures/cloning/index.html
Ever had Hunters Soup?
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2-1/2 cups thinly sliced onions
2 tablespoons garlic, slivered
1-1/2 pounds fresh, cleaned Trumpet Royale and Alba Clamshell mushrooms, sliced thickly
6 cups rich chicken or mushroom stock
1/3 cup amontillado Sherry
2 tablespoons lemon zest, finely grated
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Parmesan or Asiago cheese, freshly grated
Parsley, chives, basil and/or chervil, chopped
Heat the olive oil in a deep saucepan and cook the onions and garlic over moderate heat until they are lightly golden.
While onion mixture is cooking, sauté the mushrooms in olive oil in a separate sauté pan over high heat until they are cooked through and lightly browned.
Add mushrooms, and stock to onion mixture.
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 3 or 4 minutes.
Stir in Sherry and zest and correct seasoning with salt and pepper just before serving.
Serve in warm bowls or mugs, garnished with a good sprinkling of cheese and chopped fresh herbs.
Adding cooked meatballs is nice too.
You can also include Chopped tomatoes if you like a little more acidic soup
For everyone else..
--Do not pick wild mushrooms unless you're an expert!!
Soups works equally well with store-bought exotic mushrooms.
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Mendy (and others who might know the actual facts);
Who were the major Moscow instigators of the house arrest of Gorbachav way back when, AND who were the major persons actually involved in the 'on the ground' operation involving his house arrest in Crimea?
What was the fate of those involved in this? Any executions, etc.?
Was just thinking about this today for some reason and realized I had never really read much about what happened to those people.
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Wow, quite a tall order!
The coup d 'etat attempt came on 18-21 August in 1991.
In a nutshell, a group of Soviet Party hardliners were alarmed by Gorbachev's policies of perestroika (political restructuring) and perestroika (openness). Years of socialism had stagnated the economy and there were shortages, long lines at stores with near-empty shelves, and products that were available were often shoddy.
Russia declared it's own soverneignty by June of 1990 and limited the Soviet's power over the Russian Republic. By January 1991, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Georgia also declared their independence from the Soviet Union and to make matter more urgent for Gorbachev, additional republics wanted to leave. So, Gorbachev quickly went to work to win them back with a "union" treaty giving republics more freedom and less central control from Moscow.
The hardliners didn't like the union treaty either so they carried out a coup which lasted 3 long and anxious days. When Gorbachev resumed as president of the CCCP, the handwriting was on the wall.
The eight men primarily responsible for the coup are called the "Gang of 8" but officially named their project as the State Committee on the State of Emergency (Государственный комитет по чрезвычайному положению, ГКЧП).
Led by KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, he was assisted by these officials:
- Vice President Gennady Yapavev
- Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov
- Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov (Marshall of the CCCP)
- Chairman of Soviet Defenses Oleg Baklanov
- Interior Minister Boris Pugo
- President of State Enterprises, Aleksandr Tizyakov
- Chairman of the Workers Union, Vasily Starodubtsey
Seven men were arrested and jailed but Interior Minister Pugo committed suicide (along with his wife) in order to avoid arrest. Some say they were murdered.
Three additional officials were implicated during the state investigation and were added to the list. They were:
- Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, Anatoly Lukyanov
- Secretariat of the Politbureau, Oleg Shenin
- General of the Army, Valentin Varennikov
Gorbachev went on holiday to his dacha in Foros (Crimea) on 4 August 1991. Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin and Varennikov flew to the dacha and demanded that Gorbachev declare a state of emergency or resign and name Yanayev acting president to enable them to "restore order." Gorbachev declined their offer and was confined to his dacha. Meanwhile back in Moscow the group issued a statement on August 19 saying they were saving the Soviet Union from a a national emergency and that Gorbachev was "resting" for health reasons.
However back in Moscow thousands of people took to the streets and crowds gathered outside the Russian White House on the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment in Moscow. Russian President Boris Yeltsin led the resistance, even climbing onto a tank outside the White House to appeal to the army not to turn against the people and called for a general strike.
Eventually the Army and Interior Ministry troops went home and by the end of the year the Soviet Union had disbanded.
What happened to the plotters?
The eleven were prosecuted but during the trials, which had gone on for 14 months, the State Duma offered them amnesty, and of course they accepted and so the case was closed in March 1994.
However this is Russia and what is started is never really started just as what is finished is never really finished. The Presidium of the Supreme Court didn't like the amnesty deal and ordered new hearings and assigned a new judge. The new judge ended up offering amnesty to several of the group and declared the rest not guilty because they were following orders.
- KGB Chair Vladimir Kryuchkov was retired after prison, freed in 1994. He was a hardass, having a part in ordering the brutal killing of civilians during the Hungarian crisis in the 1960s. Died in 2007, not a day too soon.
- Yanayev served 18 months in prison and later became chairman of the department of national history at the Russian International Academy of Tourism.
- Pavlov spent time first in a hospital and then in prison. He accepted amnesty and became head of the bank that would eventually become one of Russia's largest, VTB-24. He died of a heart attack in 2003.
- Yazov spent 18 months in prison awaiting trial. He accepted amnesty and was awarded an order of Honour by President Yeltsin and until recently worked as a consultant to the Russian Military.
- Baklanov also spent his 18 months in prison, accepted amnesty, and became head of one of Russia's largest state owned enterprises.
- Varennikov refused to accept amnesty and was eventually recognized as not guilty after spending 18 months in prison during the trial period. He died in 2009.
- Aleksandr Tizyakov retired from a state industry job.
- Starodubtsey became governor of the governor of the Tula Oblast until 2005 and died this past December, 2011.
That these clowns got off so easily is mind-boggling, especially as their main defense was that supposedly Gorbachev himself had approved the coup and that it had been carried out with his approval in order to restore order. Additionally they wanted Gorbachev arrested because he had taken a vacation during the same time he had supposedly approved the coup.
Footnote:
Other than Interior Minister Boris Pugo and his wife who committed suicide, only 3 people died in the street protests during the coup. Curiously, many more would die (187 people killed and 437 wounded) during the Constitutional crisis two years later in 1993.
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Great work Mendy; thanks a lot.
Quite surprising the relative lack of punishment; and that most ended up with good jobs afterwards.
Thanks again for your thorough presentation. :)
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Thank you, ML.
I share your amazement that punishment was essentially nonexistent. That was a trying time for the union and the republics and perhaps they just wanted to sweep those events under a rug and move into the future.
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Thank you, ML.
I share your amazement that punishment was essentially nonexistent. That was a trying time for the union and the republics and perhaps they just wanted to sweep those events under a rug and move into the future.
Yes, I can understand the wanting to move on; but how they all ended up with fairly good positions, that's a real puzzle.
If we are to believe some of the movies; in the old days they used to put such guys in an oven as I recall seeing.
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Thank you, ML.
I share your amazement that punishment was essentially nonexistent. That was a trying time for the union and the republics and perhaps they just wanted to sweep those events under a rug and move into the future.
Great info, Jim!!! I think that these people were probably key individuals who had all the right connections and held powers in their hands needed by the people in charge to maintain order. Basically IMO it was more beneficial to have them on board than dead or imprisoned therefore the amnesty was given.
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Today in the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com), Moscow State University students learn to practice journalism in a new era:
First year students of foreign journalism at МГУ (MGU = Moscow State University) received a visit from Gregory Pruttskov, Assistant Professor, Dept of Journalism. Here he puts marks (grades) in students personal grade books, after speaking on the relationship between objective journalism in reporting about religion and the state.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/school-mgu-journalism-marks.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/school-mgu-journalism-marks.jpg)
(Gregory Pruttskov, Assistant Professor, Dept of Journalism.)
Students listened and participated but after class held him for another 90+ minutes with questions about how journalists coped under the oppression of Communism. They're so young today that they have no collective memory of that era, but of course hear of it from their parents and grandparents.
The professor told students that for seventy years the Soviet reader had only one point of view of journalism - from one source. People had to understand and live in two realities. One reality - what was necessary to say at work, in a formal setting, communicating with children, so they did not accidentally cause trouble for the family if the children talked about family life at school. And the other reality was the truth that people really understood and felt but could seldom speak except behind closed doors.
As to how citizens got their news, Professor Pruttskov said that even in the newspaper "Pravda" one could read a lot of interesting things by reading between the lines, so to speak.
Foreign media was banned during the Soviet years however if one did have access to a Western paper or broadcast, much about the Soviet Union could be learned. As an example, American Kremlinologists became very good at identifying when changes were going on behind the scenes in the Kremlin. The way that members of the Politburo were seated in State media photographs revealed who was "in" and who was considered to be "out."
Russian journalists and students of journalism found ways to read forbidden newspapers. One method was to listen to the banned American broadcasts from "Voice of America" or "Freedom" radio. Another was to sneak into the giant Hotel Rossiya (Hotel Russia) where a limited number of western papers and magazines were in the lobby for the convenience of western business and diplomatic visitors.
There were risks associated with reading western materials and the Hotel Rossiya was crawling with KGB agents however so one had to use caution when picking up an English language publication. A student or journalist could be thrown out of the Young Communist League as a result, a certain career-ending move in those days.
When the Soviet system collapsed in 1987-88, western newspapers began to appear for sale in Soviet street kiosks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0K91tw9zH4
Prior to the fall of Communism one could buy any communist newspaper from around the world but not a western newspaper or magazine. In fact very few Soviet citizens could read or speak English during the Soviet era but with newly discovered openness English immediately became a popular language to learn after the collapse.
By 1988 Western media was legal to be sold in the Soviet street kiosks. "The Times" cost one ruble, as an example. The government, financially bankrupt, stopped jamming Western radio stations and soon Russian publications began to publish documents from the history of the Stalinist period, often shocking even the most hardened Russian reader.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/metro-press-vending-3-265-med.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/metro-press-vending-3-265-med.jpg)
(Vending machines for пpессa (Press) sell newspapers and magazines.)
Today newspapers and periodical in Russian and English are freely sold in street kiosks and in press vending machines in the underground "Metro" subways as shown in the photo above.
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Prior to the fall of Communism one could buy any communist newspaper from around the world but not a western newspaper or magazine. In fact very few Soviet citizens could read or speak English during the Soviet era but with newly discovered openness English immediately became a popular language to learn after the collapse.
Sorry, Jim, but my experience is different. All Russian schools taught foreign languages since I can remember. Most common was English and German but some schools also taught French. There were also several specialised schools that taught English at a much stronger level. I happened to be a student at one of such schools and started learning English there in 1967. My dad also studied English in school and started teaching me some English words since age 5 or so. As far as I remember English or German was always taught at all Soviet schools.
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Sorry, Jim, but my experience is different.
I'm in agreement with you Ed, as your experience was the same as my MIL regarding English. As for my wife who is over 25 but somewhere under 47 (I have to remain alive, you know), her experience included learning German, French and some Greek during the Soviet period.
As to why Professor Pruttskov would relate this to students, perhaps he was speaking from his personal experience and thinking it to be universal. It was a rushed but very exciting time for the students. Next time I see him I'll inquire further.
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As published in today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://www.russianreport.wordpress.com), this was the second year for Chris Botti (Крис Ботти) in Moscow and what a thrilling time for Moscow jazz lovers as Trumpeter Chris Botti (Крис Ботти) appeared last night in his second straight annual concert in Moscow, held at the House of Music. The audience loved the performance.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/chris-botti-house-of-music-by-nikita-fedorov-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/chris-botti-house-of-music-by-nikita-fedorov-b.jpg)
(Chris Botti at Moscow House of Music; by Nikita Fedorov)
Always striving to be on the cutting edge of entertainment television, "Moscow 24" TV did this nice feature just days in advance of the concert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9ud5IlOx-Y
One cool "note" in the concert is when Chris invited Tima (Joey) Federov, the young son of Nikita Fedorov (a Mendeleyev Journal reader) to play percussion during one of the songs. Tima can play the drums and for a moment seemed to freeze with stage fright but Botti's regular drummer stepped over and everything turned out alright. Proud Papa Nikita was there to film every moment and last night posted this on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O73FuWBpxM!
Botti was a class act and Moscow responded in kind. Russians are a talented people and they appreciate professional performances.
Chris Botti is fast becoming one of the best-selling jazz best-selling instrumentalists in the world and his new album/CD "Impressions" will be released in just days on the 17th of April. Impressions is a collection of songs and compositions featuring Chris along with famous musicians as pianist and composer Herbie Hancock, tenor Andrea Bocelli, country singer Vince Gill, rock star Mark Knopfler, composer and Pianist David Foster and violinist Caroline Campbell.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/chris-botti-house-of-music-by-nikita-fedorov.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/chris-botti-house-of-music-by-nikita-fedorov.jpg)
(Chris Botti at Moscow House of Music; by Nikita Fedorov)
Below: Tima Fedorov, whose parents read the Mendeleyev Journal, joined the set on stage for one song! After the concert young Tima posed with Botti as his very proud family stands nearby.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/chris-botti-w-tima-fedorov-by-nikita-fedorov.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/chris-botti-w-tima-fedorov-by-nikita-fedorov.jpg)
(Chris Botti at Moscow House of Music with young drummer Tima Fedorov; by Nikita Fedorov)
The number of Russian readers to the Mendeleyev Journal is growing and we thank the Fedorov family for participating in the life of the Journal as now approximately 1/3 of daily readers live somewhere in the Russian Federation.
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Sorry, Jim, but my experience is different. All Russian schools taught foreign languages since I can remember. Most common was English and German but some schools also taught French. There were also several specialised schools that taught English at a much stronger level. I happened to be a student at one of such schools and started learning English there in 1967. My dad also studied English in school and started teaching me some English words since age 5 or so. As far as I remember English or German was always taught at all Soviet schools.
True, but very few of those students could actually speak English, or even understand it. That includes those who studied it in universities, where party connections mattered more than intellect.
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True, but very few of those students could actually speak English, or even understand it. That includes those who studied it in universities, where party connections mattered more than intellect.
I think more couldn't speak it for the lack of practice after they graduated. When you don't use it - you loose it :))
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Ed, my husband, who was denied access to higher education, used to do the homework of all those party nominees to university. He said he used to think "If these are the "elites" who will be moving our society, we are in a lot of trouble."
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Ed, my husband, who was denied access to higher education, used to do the homework of all those party nominees to university. He said he used to think "If these are the "elites" who will be moving our society, we are in a lot of trouble."
oh sure, there always have been brighter kids and the ones not so bright, no matter who the parents were and what position they held. Same applies to the kids anywhere in the world.
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There were risks associated with reading western materials and the Hotel Rossiya was crawling with KGB agents however so one had to use caution when picking up an English language publication. A student or journalist could be thrown out of the Young Communist League as a result, a certain career-ending move in those days.
You could not just enter the Hotel Rossiya, or any Intourist Hotel in the USSR. One needed a “propysk" or "dopyskraz”, a pass you presented at the door (all guarded by doormen). No pass, no admittance. A student of journalism, which was quite a lofty position in the USSR, would've had no problem obtaining a dopyskraz, but not for a hotel in his/her home city.
Newspapers were not really lying around, as I recall (and I stayed at Rossiya in the early 1980’s). You had to purchase the paper in the hotel, in foreign currency only (at very inflated prices). Same with American cigarettes.
The best, and perhaps easiest way, for a Soviet to obtain a foreign newspaper in those days was to hang outside an Intourist hotel and ask a foreigner to buy one for you, or to ask for their copy.
One method was to listen to the banned American broadcasts from "Voice of America" or "Freedom" radio. Another was to sneak into the giant Hotel Rossiya (Hotel Russia) where a limited number of western papers and magazines were in the lobby for the convenience of western business and diplomatic visitors.
Voice of America was jammed in all languages spoken in the USSR. My husband used to listen to it in English, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, German, or French. He could speak enough of each of these to understand, and the Soviets didn't jam the foreign language broadcasts. Polish, he said, was almost always clear, he doesn't know why. The only one he couldn't understand was Hungarian.
I recall seeing the International Herald Tribune in Kyiv's Intourist Hotel. When the NYT appeared, in 1985, my husband was shocked.
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that these clowns got off so easily is mind-boggling
ворон воронy глаз не выклюет
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ворон воронy глаз не выклюет
это точно!
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Some signals got thru the jamming. I worked in a studio where some of the broadcasts were aimed inside the FSU and both sides had electronic games to play, in fact jamming of signals is one of the weakest defenses employed because of the technology available, especially to the West. We received responses to specific broadcasts so I know some were getting in. Had I been a Soviet citizen however, the penalties for listening were apparently serious were one to be caught, or ratted out by a neighbor.
I don't know if getting a pass in those days was easy "under the table" or not. I'll add that to Ed's question when I speak to Professor Pruttskov next. It is a good question.
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Had I been a Soviet citizen however, the penalties for listening were apparently serious were one to be caught, or ratted out by a neighbor.
You would not be imprisoned or lose your job, but you could say goodbye to promotions, a kindergarten/university place for your child, new apartment, etc.
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You would not be imprisoned or lose your job, but you could say goodbye to promotions, a kindergarten/university place for your child, new apartment, etc.
Pretty serious stuff in and of themselves. I would have thought that job loss would have been a possibility as well?
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My husband says the right to have a job if you were from the working class was guaranteed in the Soviet constitution, so that is why they didn't lose their jobs. But, your future was a dead end because you were "not ideologically dependable".
Yes, that was serious. In my husband's case, he was already from the wrong class with few privileges, so it didn't matter to him. He never said he told anyone about listening, but he knew that the authorities knew he was listening to VOA.
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My husband says the right to have a job if you were from the working class was guaranteed in the Soviet constitution, so that is why they didn't lose their jobs. But, your future was a dead end because you were "not ideologically dependable".
Thank you.
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VOA wasn't always jammed. I remember my parents listening to it when I was a kid in Moscow.
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My husband is around your age, Ed. By the time he started listening to VOA, which was in the mid 1970's and into the 1980's, it was usually jammed. I can't say what it was earlier than that, and I should've clarified that.
My husband said he stopped even trying to find a Russian/Ukrainian broadcast, as it was difficult to locate, but he could find one easily in foreign languages. He doesn't know when the Soviets stopped jamming broadcasts, which I believe happened under so called glasnost', as he'd lost interest by then.
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You've both probably heard the joke about there only being two channels during the Soviet era?
It goes like this:
Now showing on Channel One: Dull Soviet propaganda programming.
Showing on Channel Two: A KGB agent yelling "Go back to Channel One right now!"
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My husband is around your age, Ed. By the time he started listening to VOA, which was in the mid 1970's and into the 1980's, it was usually jammed. I can't say what it was earlier than that, and I should've clarified that.
My husband said he stopped even trying to find a Russian/Ukrainian broadcast, as it was difficult to locate, but he could find one easily in foreign languages. He doesn't know when the Soviets stopped jamming broadcasts, which I believe happened under so called glasnost', as he'd lost interest by then.
yes it was jammed at some point, I can't remember for sure when it was, but I distinctly remember my dad tuning the radio (even remember what te radio looked like, it had a turntable in it too) and them listening to it in Russian language I think. But I also remember that at some time all he could hear was white noise.
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But I also remember that at some time all he could hear was white noise.
I once had a producer who said that was what I sounded like on radio. :)
Seriously, that was jamming most often of course. However you were listening to broadband/medium wave (AM), long wave, and short wave those days and terrestrial interference (sun spots, rain, heavy clouds) also gave out white noise. Very unlike clarity heard on FM frequencies because of their position in the wave length. FM just can't travel that far so it is not suited for international broadcasts.
The unmentioned place I worked during some of the Soviet years had several giant transmitters: a 1.5 million watt AM/medium wave, a half million watt AM/medium wave, two half million watt shortwave transmitters, and a half million watt long wave transmitter. To give you an example of the kind of coverage that produced, the highest watts allowed an AM station in the States is 50K and the highest FM is 100K.
Long wave and short wave stations change frequencies every few hours unlike an AM or FM that remains at the same permanent dial position. About 20-25% of our programming at any given time time was aimed somewhere inside the Soviet Union, rotating to different targeted areas with each timed frequency shift.
The facility had its own power plant as the wattage needed for those units far exceeded what the island power facilities could provide and the "RF" thrown off from those transmitters was so strong that lighting in the adjacent buildings didn't need to be wired. Fluorescent bulbs would light up as you pulled them out of their boxes. Engineers who worked inside the critical areas maintaining those transmitters rotated home/back in 3 month shifts because even in the 1970s it was well documented that continual exposure to those sorts of RF levels made cancer an almost certainty.
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Long wave and short wave stations change frequencies every few hours unlike an AM or FM that remains at the same permanent dial position. About 20-25% of our programming at any given time time was aimed somewhere inside the Soviet Union, rotating to different targeted areas with each timed frequency shift.
To dodge jamming? Didn't that make it difficult for listeners, having to re-tune their radios?
even remember what the radio looked like, it had a turntable in it too
So do I. Old AM radios had vacuum valves rather than transistors, and they needed some time to 'warm up' after being turned on.
(http://www.ik6zde.it/images/stories/articles/26032012324.jpg)
Our radio had a 'magic eye' to help finer tuning like the one above (green blob at right), and its panel was more mind-stimulating because it showed the names of station cities rather than frequencies. I still remember some then mysterious names like Hilversum, Barquisimeto, Cali and Simferopol :D.
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Sandro, I had forgotten about those old "Magic Eye" features! I also remember those old radios labeled with the city names around the world. Those were the days when a long wave and AM medium wave station could reach so much further than today--due to crowded dial space these days.
To dodge jamming? Didn't that make it difficult for listeners, having to re-tune their radios?
Not to dodge jamming. Short wave and long wave are international signals, therefore one station cannot "camp" on a dial position (there are a few exceptions) and stay there permanently. So, international treaties and agreements facilitate the sharing the frequencies and assigning frequencies based on day of the week and time of day (GMT) to various governments. Those governments in turn use some of the frequencies themselves or license those to other organizations.
When a short wave or long wave station moves to a new frequency it signs off by telling listeners where/when it will be next, although depending on the atmosphere and earth's curvature, that group of listeners may not be able to tune in to the new frequency--but a new group of listeners will have access at the new dial spot. Then there is anywhere from a 15 minute to couple of hours "down time" and when it appears at the new frequency there is a 5 minute "ping" (electronic logo, unique to that station) that is played over and over during that 5 minutes. This "ping" allows listeners to find and adjust the tuning to be ready for that programming. At the end of the pinging period the station signs on by identifying itself (international requirement) and then begins the programming for that new frequency.
Everything is calculated off GMT for international compliance and consistency. Although it has been years since I worked in that setting, I'm told that the basic rules and procedures haven't changed all that much over the years.
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Those were the days when a long wave and AM medium wave station could reach so much further than today--due to crowded dial space these days.
Reception of far-away LW stations was usually better at night, due to skywave propagation, i.e. reflection from the E layer of the ionosphere:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Ionosphere_Layers_en.svg/250px-Ionosphere_Layers_en.svg.png) (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Skywave.jpg/220px-Skywave.jpg)
We could hear broadcasts from as far as Colombia and Venezuela.
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True. Haven't seen such charts in years! :)
However if one organization has a license to use a frequency at 100KW in Europe and another organization has a license to use the same, or an immediately adjacent, frequency at the same time with 100KW in North America there will be a point where each signal collides and making both un-listenable in some areas.
Fascinating topic: skywave propagation as this often allows for a signal to "skip" to areas where it isn't always afforded coverage. There are guys who still "DX" and discovering a signal skip where one usually isn't found seems to give them a big thrill. :) Not to mention filling out DX cards for collectable purposes.
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There are guys who still "DX" and discovering a signal skip where one usually isn't found seems to give them a big thrill. :) Not to mention filling out DX cards for collectable purposes.
Amateur radio operators called them QSL (Query Station Location) cards. Q signals are a heritage of now-dead Morse, where the Q prefix stood for query/interrogative.
They were used in voice transmissions, too, due to their convenient brevity: for instance, when approaching an airfield, a pilot would ask for the current QFU (Query Field in Use) to be informed of the operating runway direction, QNH for the current local atmospheric pressure to properly reset his altimeter, etc. etc. (http://www.zerobeat.net/qrp/qsignals.html).
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As reported earlier this morning in the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/moscow-metro-adds-wifi/), the folks who run the Moscow Metro System (underground subway) sure know how to us happy--they're adding WiFi to Metro stations including stations along the Sokolniki and Koltsevaya lines, and including Metro station MENDELEYEVSKAYA! Yeah!
In testing since February on stations of the Sokolniki line, the free WiFi is now available on trains from Metro station Mendeleyev to Metro station to Borovitskaya.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/metro-wifi.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/metro-wifi.jpg)
(Russian readers can find the entire story at http://www.the-village.ru/village/city/transport/112529-wi-fi (http://www.the-village.ru/village/city/transport/112529-wi-fi))
All 3 major Moscow providers: MTS, Beeline and Megafone are participating in the project. City officials say they plan to provide WiFi to each Metro station by 2016.
Provider Megafone has also extended wireless services to these bus routes leaving Metro stations and traveling to suburbs:
48
17
7204
In addition, routes/buses № 425 Sofrino to Moscow and route/bus № 317 Krasnoarmeisk to Moscow has been equipped with WiFi.
While free for now, the city of Moscow has not said if at some point subscriptions will be needed to access the service.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP98ShcEpYs
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would you believe that many WM still believe that RW don't have easy access to the internet and a computer at home is something out of a SyFi movie!
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would you believe that many WM still believe that RW don't have easy access to the internet and a computer at home is something out of a SyFi movie!
A WIFI system in Moscow has nothing to do with internet access in small city X.
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A WIFI system in Moscow has nothing to do with internet access in small city X.
not simply in Moscow, it's in the subway, very deep underground. That's something!
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If you're traveling soon to Moscow, good news:
The temperatures will lift quite nicely and be 19C/66F by the weekend, just in time for Easter!
I had threatened Moscow TV Weather Girls last week, saying Muscovites should take up a collection to buy a new weather girl who'd bring some warm weather. Well, I am a man of action apparently because the news today: +19 degrees Celsius forecast for the weekend. Temperatures will rise to +9 degrees on Wed, +12 on Thur and +19 degrees over the weekend.
Springtime!
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Every day there are about 5 topics which dominate search engine links to the Mendeleyev Journal. As just one example we've been fascinated that a simple but delicious recipe for Russian black bread consistently, 365 days of the year, will drive several hundred "hits" every day to the Mendeleyev Journal food section (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/russian-cuisine-main-salads-soups-desserts/main-dishes/). Russian food may seem mysterious but it is not. It is delicious, however, and it is often fun to create.
So this is one of those things that makes Russia (and Ukraine) so interesting...
ТЮЛЬПАНЫ, Tomatoes stuffed to look like TULIPS
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/tomato-tulips-stuffed.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/tomato-tulips-stuffed.jpg)
Ingredients
Mozzarella (can be any soft cheese to your taste)
tomatoes
boiled eggs
green onions, lettuce and sorrel
Shrimp cooked
mayonnaise
garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
peeled cucumber
(Note: Winter recipe calls for rice and corn kernels in winter months.)
Method of preparation
Cut Tomatoes crosswise making an incision, take out a teaspoon of the core and scald briefly with boiling water.
Combine the eggs, cheese, and cucumber, cut into small cubes. Shrimp cut into 2 parts. Mix with mayonnaise and combine with other salad ingredients.
Stuff the Tomatoes with the tomato tulips.
Decorate tulips with lettuce, onions, dill, sorrel ...
Состав:
сыр «Моцарелла» (можно любой мягкий сыр на ваш вкус)
помидоры
яйца
зеленый лук, листья салата или щавеля
креветки
майонез
чеснок
соль, перец по вкусу
очищенный от кожуры свежий огурец
Способ приготовления:
1. Надрезаем крестообразно помидоры, вынимаем чайной ложкой сердцевину и ошпариваем кипятком.
2. Вареные яйца, сыр, огурец нарезаем на мелкие кубики. Креветки разрезаем на 2 части. Дважды пропускаем чеснок через чеснокодавку, смешиваем с майонезом и соединяем с подготовленными ингредиентами салата.
3. Получившейся смесью начиняем наши помидоры-тюльпаны.
4. Украшаем салат из тюльпанов по желанию: салатными листьями, перьями лука, укропом, щавелем…
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As we wrote in the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com), what a pleasant surprise it was when Aleksandra Kosteniuk (Александра Костенюк) dropped by the Moscow TV "Rain" studios this evening. Kosteniuk is the Russian chess Grandmaster and former Women's World Chess Champion.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/chess-player.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/chess-player.jpg)
Born in the Russian city of Perm, she became the Women's World Champion in 2008 at the age of 25. She was the reigning champion also in 2009. Her sister Oxana is also an accomplished Chess champion player.
Today she is a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of athletes committed to bringing peace in the world through sport. She is married and mother to one daughter. She writes a regular blog on chess at http://www.chessblog.com (http://www.chessblog.com/)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/aleksandra-kostenuk-chess-player-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/aleksandra-kostenuk-chess-player-b.jpg)
USA readers will be interested to know that on 5 May will return to Tucson, Arizona from 2-5 pm at the Hotel Congress (311 E. Congress St., Tucson), for the nonprofit organization 9 Queens (http://9queens.org/) to host the 5th Annual Chess Fest- a free, family friendly chess extravaganza designed to promote and celebrate chess within the Tucson community. The event will feature a simultaneous chess exhibition where former Women’s World Chess Champion Grandmaster Kosteniuk will play multiple games at a time against Tucsonans interested in challenging the Grandmaster.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/aleksandra-kostenuk-chess-player-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/aleksandra-kostenuk-chess-player-c.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/user/chessqueen (http://www.youtube.com/user/chessqueen)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/aleksandra-kostenuk-chess-player-swiss.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/aleksandra-kostenuk-chess-player-swiss.jpg)
An accomplished chef, Kosteniuk's recipes for Beef Stroganoff has been published in culinary journals and she has teamed up with the large Norwegian Seafood Export Council to promote healthy eating habits, which include high quality fish, which contain OMEGA-3 oils.
Now a coach, she maintains homes in Miami and Russia.
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...USA readers will be interested to know that on 5 May she will return to Tucson, Arizona...to host the 5th Annual Chess Fest...The event will feature a simultaneous chess exhibition where...Kosteniuk will play multiple games at a time against Tucsonans interested in challenging the Grandmaster...
Wish I could be there! :luv: My problem is that she would beat me so quickly I wouldn't have anywhere near enough time to appreciate all her other qualities! :devilish:
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Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com): After months of talks and planning the work on expanding Moscow's city limits has begun as President Medvedev begins the process of moving Russia's governing bodies out of the centre of Moscow.
Earlier this afternoon the President chaired a meeting on establishing a parliamentary centre in the districts soon to be incorporated within the expanded Moscow city boundaries. Moscow as a city is widening its boundaries adding another 144 000 hectares in the area south-east of the capital.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-meeting-on-creation-of-parliamentary-centre-c.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-meeting-on-creation-of-parliamentary-centre-c.jpeg)
L-R: Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov and Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko.
Moscow's population density is now 11,000 per square kilometre, one and a half more than in London or New-York and the president's plan is to expand the city boundaries and use part of the new territory to create a new parliamentary centre, a “metropolitan federal district” to which several state agencies would be relocated.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and (outgoing) regional governor Boris Gromov say that the area of Moscow will be multiplied by 2.4 and promised that the project will include government institutions to be moved behind the MKAD (Moscow Ring Road).
Included in the move will be the Duma (Parliament) and the President stressed that the government would develop "the kind of premises we need for the State Duma and the Federation Council and their staff in order to have good conditions for effective work. I look at this issue within the context of the decision to transfer state bodies from central Moscow to the new city, that is, to the districts that will be incorporated within the city’s expanded boundaries."
Primarily responsible for coordination of the move will be Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow (incoming) regional governor Sergei Shoigu, Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov, First Deputy Chief of Staff Vyacheslav Volodin, Presidential Advisor Arkady Dvorkovich, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Head of the Presidential Property Management Department Vladimir Kozhin, and Vladimir Resin who is a State Duma deputy and the Duma's Chairman of the Commission for Building a Parliamentary Centre.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muWP4kSRTQw
The last major expansion of Moscow’s boundaries was in 1961 when the city's population was 6 million. The official transfer of the designated territory to be placed within city boundaries will take place on July 1 of this year.
Vacant government buildings in the centre will be converted to hotels. Moscow has a critical shortage of hotel space given the current population. Recently Moscow’s Cultural Committee recommended banning further modern-style construction in the city centre to preserve the historic character of Russia's capital city.
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just came across this article... what do you guys think?
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/why-many-russians-feel-they-are-nothing/456823.html (http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/why-many-russians-feel-they-are-nothing/456823.html)
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just came across this article... what do you guys think?
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/why-many-russians-feel-they-are-nothing/456823.html (http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/why-many-russians-feel-they-are-nothing/456823.html)
I just posted it on a separate thread. (Starting out)
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Ed and Muzh,
I've seen it a lot.
Sometime ago the Moscow Times ran a profile on Dr. Murray and as part of the interview, she is the person who Mike Tyson calls "Mom" because of her counseling with him.
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In the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)...
What a thrill it was yesterday for Russians to experience the formal consecration and reopening of the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas in Kronstadt! The Naval cathedral of Saint Nicholas, built in 1903–1913, was the main temple of Russia's Baltic Fleet and dedicated to the memory of all fallen seamen.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/baltic-fleet-cath-st-nich-kronstadt-full.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/baltic-fleet-cath-st-nich-kronstadt-full.jpg)
A marvel of modern technology at the time, the cathedral was equipped with an independent central heating and a central vacuum cleaning system using a complex network of pressurized manifolds and valves and an electrical lighting system requiring 5 thousand light bulbs.
The Soviets closed the cathedral in 1929 and it was used for decades as offices and later as a museum. Video before the rehabilitation of Cathedral interior:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljYLhCD7bKw
Yesterday Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill along with President Medvedev and his wife Svetlana attended the consecration ceremony of the Naval Cathedral. The ceremony was led by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-kirill-naval-cathedral-of-st-nicholas-in-kronstadt-f.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-kirill-naval-cathedral-of-st-nicholas-in-kronstadt-f.jpeg)
Patriarch Kirill led President Medvedev to the front of the Cathedral.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-kirill-naval-cathedral-of-st-nicholas-in-kronstadt-b.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-kirill-naval-cathedral-of-st-nicholas-in-kronstadt-b.jpeg)
(Inside the Baltic Fleet Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, Kronstadt. First lady Svetlana Medvedeva serves actively on the Board of Trustees for the restoration.)
The Naval Cathedral of Saint Nicholas in Kronstadt is the main temple of the Russian Navy, founded in 1902 by decree of Emperor Nicholas II in honour of the 200th anniversary of the Russian Navy by Peter the Great. In 1929 the Cathedral was closed and desecrated by the Communists.
In 2009 a board of trustees was established to restore the cathedral which is expected to be fully restored in time for the 100th anniversary of its first consecration, which will be celebrated in 2013.
Modeled after the Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Sophia (6th century AD) in Constantinople, the exterior walls are covered with granite, gray and yellow brick and decorated with polished frames and columns of portals with Terra-cotta ornaments, and mosaics. In May of 2011 Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia toured the restoration efforts along with Russian First Lady Svetlana Medvedeva.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-kirill-naval-cathedral-of-st-nicholas-in-kronstadt-w-sveta.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-kirill-naval-cathedral-of-st-nicholas-in-kronstadt-w-sveta.jpeg)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-kirill-naval-cathedral-of-st-nicholas-in-kronstadt-j.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-kirill-naval-cathedral-of-st-nicholas-in-kronstadt-j.jpeg)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-kirill-naval-cathedral-of-st-nicholas-in-kronstadt-i.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-kirill-naval-cathedral-of-st-nicholas-in-kronstadt-i.jpeg)
(As was the custom during the time of the Tsars, President and Mrs. Medvedev, stood in a special place during the liturgy.)
The Cathedral can accommodate 5,000 worshipers and its unfinished restoration was a theme of some military opposition groups during the political rallies after the Duma elections in December 2011 and Presidential election of March 2012.
After the ceremony, President Medvedev addressed the dignitaries and Naval officers present for the ceremony.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-kirill-naval-cathedral-of-st-nicholas-in-kronstadt-a.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/medvedev-kirill-naval-cathedral-of-st-nicholas-in-kronstadt-a.jpeg)
(President Medvedev): Your Holiness, residents of Kronstadt, friends,
Today is a great day in the history of Kronstadt and our country: the Naval Cathedral of Saint Nicholas has just been consecrated. I am very glad that it happened during the Bright Week. I would like to sincerely congratulate all of you on this very important event.
The Naval Cathedral has a very complicated history, in which, like in a drop of water, the dramatic 20th century history of our nation is reflected. It was built and consecrated in the beginning of the century; this was done by popular demand of sailors, who were personally involved in collecting donations and contributed to the construction of the cathedral in cooperation with the Admiralty. St John of Kronstadt also participated in the cathedral’s consecration. Unfortunately, because of subsequent events, the cathedral was desecrated and for a long time the building was used for other purposes. But a city like Kronstadt, a city that is home to Russia’s naval base, must have its own large naval cathedral.
I am truly happy that through the blessing of the Patriarch, the hard work of so many people and the substantial donations, this pearl of Russian ecclesiastical architecture has been restored to its original glory. I will say even more: as His Holiness and I have just noted, the cathedral looks better than it did 100 years ago. And that is wonderful because Kronstadt has its own, special naval traditions. Our naval base is located here, our sailors live here, and everything breathes the history of the great Russian fleet. Therefore, immediately after the consecration, the sailors will be able to come to the cathedral to pray and remember their comrades, and to receive blessings for future feats of arms. Nothing strengthens the army and navy as much as spiritual unity.
Citizens of Kronstadt, friends, for decades we looked at the cathedral and thought to ourselves: when will it again become as beautiful as it used to be? Now it has happened. Thank you to everyone who took part in this initiative. My heartfelt congratulations to you on this historic occasion.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/baltic-fleet-cath-of-st-nich-kronstadt-lifeglobe-dot-net-photo.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/baltic-fleet-cath-of-st-nich-kronstadt-lifeglobe-dot-net-photo.jpg)
(Photo: LIfeglobe.net)
Restoration Board of Trustees:
Svetlana Medvedeva (First Lady of Russia), deputy head of Presidential Administration Alexander Beglov, the Orthodox Metropolitan of St. Petersburg Ladoga Vladimir, the head of the Federal Service for Supervision cultural heritage projects Kibovsky Alexander, the presidential envoy in the Northwestern Federal District Ilya Klebanov, Saint Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko, and State Duma deputy Leonid Slutsky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1lrzVAng0I
Russian readers can read more about this historic cathedral at http://lifeglobe.net/blogs/details?id=538 (http://lifeglobe.net/blogs/details?id=538).
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During the Soviet period two comrades died within 5 days of each other and both went to hell.
Upon approaching hell the second guy noticed two entrances, one marked "Hell for Capitalists" and the other marked "Hell for Communists."
There was no line at the first entrance for Capitalists and to enter would mean clear sailing inside. However the second line, 'Hell for Communists' had a very long line of guys waiting to enter hell. About that time he noticed his friend standing in the long line so he walked over to say hello and inquire about the two entrances.
"What is the difference inside?" he asked.
"Oh, really none at all" his friend replied. "Both have the same punishment--you are cut with sharp knives, burned with scalding hot water and boiled in oil."
"Oh My! But why is there no waiting over at the 'Hell for Capitalists' entrance and why is the line here at 'Hell for Communists' so long?," the guy inquired.
"Ah ha, some things never change" said his friend. "The factory that makes the knives seems incapable of meeting their quotas, there is hot water only on alternating Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we're six months behind on oil deliveries."
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During the Soviet period two comrades died within 5 days of each other and both went to hell.
Upon approaching hell the second guy noticed two entrances, one marked "Hell for Capitalists" and the other marked "Hell for Communists."
There was no line at the first entrance for Capitalists and to enter would mean clear sailing inside. However the second line, 'Hell for Communists' had a very long line of guys waiting to enter hell. About that time he noticed his friend standing in the long line so he walked over to say hello and inquire about the two entrances.
"What is the difference inside?" he asked.
"Oh, really none at all" his friend replied. "Both have the same punishment--you are cut with sharp knives, burned with scalding hot water and boiled in oil."
"Oh My! But why is there no waiting over at the 'Hell for Capitalists' entrance and why is the line here at 'Hell for Communists' so long?," the guy inquired.
"Ah ha, some things never change" said his friend. "The factory that makes the knives seems incapable of meeting their quotas, there is hot water only on alternating Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we're six months behind on oil deliveries."
:clapping:
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This afternoon (Tuesday) daughter Kseniya defends her thesis at Moscow State University. It is a big and important day for her. Looks like the next step could be traveling to America to continue her studies in American and Indian (South Asian) religions & philosophies for a doctorate. Join us in praying and hoping for her success. She is prepared and ready.
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This afternoon (Tuesday) daughter Kseniya defends her thesis at Moscow State University. It is a big and important day for her. Looks like the next step could be traveling to America to continue her studies in American and Indian (South Asian) religions & philosophies for a doctorate. Join us in praying and hoping for her success. She is prepared and ready.
Hope everything works out great, lot's of luck and success to her, Jim!
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Ed, thanks so much. :)
She feels that it went okay and I'm confident based on the amount of preparation she invested.
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This afternoon (Tuesday) daughter Kseniya defends her thesis at Moscow State University. It is a big and important day for her.
Yes it is a huge day!
Sounds like a smart and interesting young woman.
So what happened?
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Thank you, Gator!
She feels that it went very well. I'm so proud of her attitude and preparation...she has a desire to be the best at what she does.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Approximately 30 Million was the death toll from 1941-1945 sustained across the Soviet Union and includes civilian and military casualties. Every year on 9 May the countries of the former Soviet Union observe Victory Day and if you've never been, this is the premier event of the year. It is almost equal to the New Year but is celebrated in a much different spirit of course.
This week preparations for the Russian festivities formally began as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed an Executive Order On Awarding the Ushakov Medal to Citizens of Australia, New Zealand, and the United States of America. The list of foreign veterans decorated for their personal valour and courage during World War II while taking part in the northern convoys includes 190 Australian, New Zealand, and US citizens.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/ushakov-award-patron-saint-of-russian-navy.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/ushakov-award-patron-saint-of-russian-navy.jpg)
The Medal of Ushakov was a Soviet military award created on March 3, 1944 by decision of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in honour of Russian admiral Fyodor Ushakov (1745–1817). During his life of service in the Navy Ushakov never lost a battle and after his death was proclaimed a patron saint of the Russian Navy.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/victory-russia-usa-j.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/victory-russia-usa-j.jpg)
(American and Russian/Soviet soldiers.)
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...This week preparations for the Russian festivities formally began as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed an Executive Order On Awarding the Ushakov Medal to Citizens of Australia, New Zealand, and the United States of America. The list of foreign veterans decorated for their personal valour and courage during World War II while taking part in the northern convoys includes 190 Australian, New Zealand, and US citizens.
The Medal of Ushakov was a Soviet military award created on March 3, 1944 by decision of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in honour of Russian admiral Fyodor Ushakov (1745–1817). During his life of service in the Navy Ushakov never lost a battle and after his death was proclaimed a patron saint of the Russian Navy.
We had a very interesting documentary on TV here last week, about the men of 151 Wing of the Royal Air Force, lead by Wing Commander Gynes Isherwood-Ramsbottom (I'm not kidding!), a New Zealander despite the very English name. The two squadrons which made up this Wing delivered Hurricane fighters to the Soviet Air Force via the Murmansk convoys in 1941, and stayed for four months. They fought against the Luftwaffe whilst training the locals, many of whom were already tremendously experienced pilots.
What was incredible about this mission was that four men, including the Wing Commander, were awarded the Order of Lenin. They were the only British servicemen so honoured in the entire Second World War. The only higher honours possible are the Order of Victory (awarded only to Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery) and Hero of the Soviet Union.
Read a good version of the story here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1181390/Stalins-British-heroes-The-discovery-forgotten-medal-reveals-extraordinary-courage-RAF-aces-fought-Soviet-Union.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1181390/Stalins-British-heroes-The-discovery-forgotten-medal-reveals-extraordinary-courage-RAF-aces-fought-Soviet-Union.html)
The documentary was made by the Wing Commander's great-nephew, who went to Murmansk a much easier way - 36 hours by train from Moscow! It was shown here on April 25, which for those of us in New Zealand and Australia is known as ANZAC Day. The acronym stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and the day is when we remember all those who have given their lives in the service of our countries.
The first services were held in 1915, remembering those who fell in the Boer War in South Africa as well as the first few months of World War 1. Now we also remember those who never returned from other conflicts - World War 2, Korea, Malaya, Vietnam, the Gulf Wars and, most recently, Afghanistan, where one of our peacekeepers died just two weeks earlier. Many thousands turn out at ceremonies all around the country - this year's dawn service at the Auckland Cenotaph had 15,000 present, ranging from elderly veterans of the Second World War to babes in arms.
The most famous commemoration overseas is at Gallipoli in Turkey, where tens of thousands of (mainly young) New Zealanders and Australians gather together with locals to remember the horrendous military defeat of the Allied Forces in 1915, which was the catalyst for the original services. Now it has grown far beyond anything those people could ever have imagined.
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AnotherKiwi, that sounds like a great program. Do you know if it is available as a link to view...perhaps from YouTube or one of the networks? I'd enjoy watching it as perhaps others too.
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AnotherKiwi, that sounds like a great program. Do you know if it is available as a link to view...perhaps from YouTube or one of the networks? I'd enjoy watching it as perhaps others too.
Sorry Mendeleyev, but it doesn't seem to be. I can't find anything on YouTube and the network where it played, while free to air, is a subsidiary of our Sky channel. Unlike our free to air networks it doesn't have an "on demand" service where you can watch programmes that you missed.
I'll give them a call today and see if I can find anything.
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I've spoken to the programming department at the TV network - unfortunately the documentary is not available for showing outside New Zealand. Such a pity, as the subject matter was utterly fascinating, even if the presentation was not quite up to the standard of David Attenborough!
The only chance to see it now would be, I imagine, if someone was able to put it on YouTube.
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Thank you for checking.
I'm sure that someday it will be on YouTube.
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The deeper into Russia, the bigger are the gators :D
(http://kotomatrix.ru/images/lolz/2012/04/29/1174946.jpg)
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The deeper into Russia, the bigger are the gators :D
(http://kotomatrix.ru/images/lolz/2012/04/29/1174946.jpg)
Forget the gators - how come the power poles are at such a crazy angle? Or are the gators around Chelyabinsk ones which like to rub against power poles when they have an itch? :wallbash:
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The deeper into Russia, the bigger are the gators :D
(http://kotomatrix.ru/images/lolz/2012/04/29/1174946.jpg)
:ROFL:
you made my day!!!
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I can tell about Russia,but not there.If someone wants to talk with me about Russia,write here http://travelandate.com/gabriellali/profile
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One FSU wedding tradition is to visit places for toasts after the ZAGS ceremony and before the dinner party. For most Moscow couples that includes the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just outside Red Square along the Aleksandr Gardens side of the Kremlin walls. Another popular spot is this one, the observation point on Moscow's Sparrow Hills. There are seven hills overlooking Moscow and not only is Sparrow Hills the home of Moscow State University, it is where many of the wealthiest of Moscow families reside.
So enjoy this video of a wedding couple and their dance with limo and toasts!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgoapkOo4vg
At the end of the video the crowd cheers горька (GOR-ka) meaning that the wine is bitter and naturally the only way to make wine taste sweet again is by long periods of kissing while the crowd cheers. You'll learn this custom at your wedding and frankly, all that kissing is a very cool tradition!
Things you may recognize if you've been to Moscow:
- You may be familiar with the location. This video was shot on the Sparrow Hills observation area looking down on the centre of Moscow and just across the road from the main entrance to Moscow State University.
- There is an active ski lift and you can see it to the right of the video in several shots.
- If you've watched the movie "A Driver for Vera" then you may recognize this spot.
- Luzhniki stadium, the largest of the Moscow venues built especially for the Olympic Games in 1980.
- To the left of the screen in several shots was the beautiful old Church of the Holy Trinity (green complex), a neoclassical gem.
Were you to be standing there yourself you would also have viewed the Smolensky Sobor (Smolensky Cathedral), a part of the famous and beautiful Novodevichy Convent that is located near the stadium. In the distance you'd have seen the new "Moscow City" business centre.
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I saw that video somewhere else and I was under the impression that those were Putin supporters?? Doing a challenge or whatever to people who don't like Putin?
Either way it is an amazing video!! I love the music and the song--"Puttin on the Ritz".
If it was for a couple, they must be wealthy to afford that kind of a production!!
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I can understand why some might think so. It is quite a production, however it lacks all the aggressive signage, banners, and tagged clothing associated with a political campaign. It is also devoid of the typical horde of FSB handlers that are so obvious at a Putin event.
One of the most difficult parts of English for a Russian speaker to learn is the "ing" we put at the end of words. The Russian г ("geh") isn't used that way so it is common for Russian speakers to sound 'putting' as 'puttin" instead. Plus, I believe the original English version is "Puttin' on the Ritz."
You have a very good ear because there is a difference between PUTTIN and Putin if spoken correctly and so what you picked up is the accent of Russian speakers singing English. My take is that because of the accent what they're singing indeed sounds more like Putin that Puttin'.
On the other hand, for us English speakers to say Путин (Putin) correctly we need to clearly get the "Pooh-tin" (as in Winnie the Pooh) spoken correctly.
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This is the comment which I read before when I first saw this video which made me think it was some sort of flash mob in favor of Putin (the other reason is that I think they spelled it Putin with just one t :-))):
Because this video was produced by Putin as a propaganda vid and released two weeks before the elections. It had ALL the resources of the new version of the KGB but frankly Charlotte I don't give a damn , cause it rocks like a mofo !!!
pestleman1951 in reply to SupaPotterhead7 3 weeks ago
Now after watching it more carefully I am convinced that it was a surprise wedding present and celebration for the bride and groom, probably planned for and paid for by the groom himself who is probably a wealthy man. I especially enjoyed hearing "Gorka" when they were kissing, which you told us to listen for!! As in: (the wine is) bitter!! (you must kiss some more!!!)
Thanks very much for this really entertaining and excellent bit of Russian culture, mixed with the famous song Putting on the Ritz which most Americans have heard and loved for decades!!
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this comment also added to my speculation:
This is not a real flash mob. Nothing spontaneous in their actions, it was very well prepared and directed beforehand. Other than that, a vivid performance. "Putin molodyets" ("Putin is great!") instead of Putting on the Ritz is sung at the end, though. It was a political advertisement.
DeadnWoon 1 month ago
However this time I listened very carefully, and I could not hear Putin molodyets, I only heard Puttin' on the Ritz.
Somebody else made the comment that "it was better than waiting in a long line for toilet paper" :-[
And somebody else said that it was "Putin on the Fritz", as in Vladimir Putin breaking down...
I wonder, is he "breaking down", or break dancing to his victory :-)))
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I saw that video somewhere else
Here: http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=14538.msg292421#msg292421
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Today's edition of the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com) explores culture, history, music, language and dance--what a combination!
In the Russian city of Сургут (Surgut), a town heavy in oil/gas exploration, it appeared that almost an entire apartment block had gathered for a celebration on 9 May (9 мая) the date for Victory Day celebrations across Eastern Europe.
They danced:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx4U-uMDzkk
One of the enduring aspects of Russian and Eastern European culture is that kids don't seem to mind the generational gap in music or dance. It is not uncommon to find kids who can sing from memory many of the famous Russian folks songs dating back 100 years or more and old Soviet wartime songs.
When it comes to dance, Russian & Ukrainian kids can waltz or even jitterbug with the best of them. The video above of course is a Вальс as they pronounce it. There is no letter 'W' in the Cyrillic alphabet so a B (veh) is substituted and the word ends up being spoken as "Vahls" instead of Waltz.
One of the most popular wartime waltzes is Синий платочек (Blue Scarf) composed around 1939 by Jerzy Petersburskiy, a musician who had been born in Poland during the time that it was part of the Russian Empire. As for the lyrics, well, they seem to be all over the place. The war had not yet begun in 1939 but by 1942 the song was being performed to a popular poem that told the story of the initial Nazi bombing of Kyiv (Kiev) on 24 June 1941.
The lyrics have changed over the years but one of the most popular versions, if not the most popular, is the version performed in the next video by Сергей Лазарев и Юлия Савичева (Sergei Lazarev and Yulia Savicheva).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jm93i4UUJc
Синий платочек (Blue Scarf/Blue Kerchief)
A plain blue kerchief was falling from drooping shoulders you promised me you won't forget to keep the blue kerchief. One night we met, white nights, blue kerchief, sweet, dear and nice The winter frost is over, The blue horizon is clear, The heart is warm, one can believe in summer, The spring caresses with its sunrays. And again, in spring, under a green shady pine-tree The blue kerchief will show up in the night, sweet, dear and nice. Do you remember the day we parted? You brought to the river Your farewell tenderness and a bunch of forget-me-nots Wrapped in your blue silk kerchief. And many times I dreamt of your curls under the kerchief, and the blue sparks of your tender eyes. For these dearest, wonderful eyes, and for the blue kerchief on a girl's shoulders The machine-gunner is shooting on and on.
Footnote: this is one of several versions of lyrics sung to this tune.
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Here: http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=14538.msg292421#msg292421
No, if you read the comments which I got from youtube which I posted on my prv two posts upthread here, you can see that I was "surfing" youtube, one of my favorite past times, and came accross that video, prior to reading the commentary by Mr. M. here and learning the true nature of the video. Previously I had mistakenly thought that it was a pre-choreographed flash mob for Mr. Putin.
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A new series from the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com): The Faces of Russia
Introducing the Mendeleyev Journal feature "The Faces of Russia." Written and edited by the publisher and staff, we'll explore the people and cultures making up the populace of the Russian Federation.
Spread over 49% of Europe and 51% of Asia, Russia is the largest country in the world and covers over 1/6th of the earth's surface. As you can imagine there are diverse people & ethnic groups, cultures, religions and languages given such a large area.
Over 100 distinct languages are actively spoken in Russia today; 27 are given official status in their regions but Russian is the primary language for legal, commerce and educational purposes in every corner of the country.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/faces-of-russia-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/faces-of-russia-a.jpg)
99% of Russian citizens are considered to be literate, one of the highest in the world.
Russia is home to the longest running railway route in the world, the Trans Siberian, totaling 9,298 kilometers from Moscow to Vladivostok. The route continues on into China.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/babushka-apples.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/babushka-apples.jpg)
The Russian name for grandmother/elderly lady is Babushka.
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What is the best guess on the future year in which China will effectively control all of current Russia from the east up to the Ural mountains.
One and a half billion vs 100,000.
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What is the best guess on the future year in which China will effectively control all of current Russia from the east up to the Ural mountains.
One and a half billion vs 100,000.
WTF? Is this a legitimate question ML?
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Over 100 distinct languages are actively spoken in Russia today; 27 are given official status in their regions but Russian is the primary language for legal, commerce and educational purposes in every corner of the country.
This is what surprised me as I spent more time in Russia. Even though I am a world traveler, and have worked two yeras as a consultant with the UN, I had no idea about Russia's diversity. It was even moreso as the monolith of the USSR.
When visiting Moscow for the first time in 1987, I saw many different people. Asian people, Caucasian people, etc. You go to a sushi restaurant in Moscow and most of the staff is Asian and you think how can management afford to pay so many Asians to come to Moscow to give the restaurant an authentic look. Then you learn that they are from eastern Russia. Then you study this and realize that the Asian looking Russians are themselves divided into many disparate groups.
You date a woman with a Cossack father and you get to know their fascinating history. You spend some time chatting with a Gypsy (cigan) man without getting your pocket picked and instead having your mind filled with new information of their long history. You go for a Sunday drive in a car and stop in a Tatar village to buy a duck to cook.
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The Mendeleyev Journal's presentation of The Faces of Russia (http://russianreport.wordpress.com) continues, part 2.
Russia's large geographical territory gives her a diverse climate and a broad mix of ethnic groups. The northern coastline borders on the Arctic Ocean bringing severe and long winters while the south of Russia is characterized by hot desert areas.
The southwest is rich in farm land growing wheat, barley, oats, potatoes and sunflowers. Many beautiful faces grow in Russia's southwest as well.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/x_3eb2a3ee.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/x_3eb2a3ee.jpg)
(The white birch is the national tree of Russia.)
According to the 2010 census, Russia is mostly an urban country and 74% of Russians live in urban areas – either towns or cities. Moscow, the sixth largest city in the world with almost 12 million population is Russia's capital and largest city. Saint Petersburg, considered Russia's "northern Capital" is the second largest with over 4 million. There are ten other Russian cities with populations of more than a million people.
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The Russia's large geographical territory (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)
Late last night I saw on our TV the 1948 Soviet film Michurin, directed by Alexander Dovzhenko, about the life of Russian agriculturalist Иван Владимирович Мичурин (1855-1935), who devoted most of his life to the hybridisation of fruit trees - apple trees in particular - in order to obtain varieties better adaptable to cold climates.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Michurin_Barry_Kent.jpg/250px-Michurin_Barry_Kent.jpg)
Michurin's bust in front of Moscow University
Do you know if his hybrids are still grown in Russia nowadays?
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....
Do you know if his hybrids are still grown in Russia nowadays?
Sandro, the link below is not related to your question, sorry.
But I think it's worth a look for inquiring minds, (if you haven't been there already :D)
http://lysvav.narod.ru/Files/Cook.pdf (http://lysvav.narod.ru/Files/Cook.pdf)
(My granny - God rest her soul - grew hybrid lilies known as Fialkovaya Lilia in her garden, the hybrid lily's name (Violet Lily, in English) was chosen by Michurin because of the flowers' fragrance resembling that of violets. Fialkovaya Lilia is mentioned in the article)
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http://lysvav.narod.ru/Files/Cook.pdf (http://lysvav.narod.ru/Files/Cook.pdf)(My granny - God rest her soul - grew hybrid lilies known as Fialkovaya Lilia in her garden, the hybrid lily's name (Violet Lily, in English) was chosen by Michurin because of the flowers' fragrance resembling that of violets. Fialkovaya Lilia is mentioned in the article)
GoMG, I could not find any mention of a Violet Lily or a Fialkovaya Lilia in that PDF. Anyway IINM, Michurin held Lysenko in very low esteem, if any at all :-\.
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One of the things I find interesting about Russia is that there is a sort of atavistic resurgence going on with old folk music and pre-Christian traditions.
For instance, here the Moskva group, Arkona, plays a Siberian folk song, Zimushka:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9wylzyFcKM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9wylzyFcKM)
Here are the lyrics in Russian from Arkona's web page:
Зимушка
Зимушка-Зима
Зима морозлива
Ох, не морози-ка Зима
Да-ли добра молодца
Не морозь Зима
Да добра молодца
Ой, как с мужом и-то жона
Да-ли не в ладу жила
Как с мужом жона
Да не в ладу жила
Ох, не в ладу она жила
Да-ли мужа извела
Не в ладу жила
Да мужа извела
Ох, извела она мужа
Да-ли в зелен сад свела
Извела мужа
Да в зелен сад свела
Ох, в зеленом, да во саду
Мужа, да повесила
Повесила мужа
Сама домой пошла
Ой, ко двору она пришла
Да-ли на скамью села
Ко двору пришла
Да на скамью села
Ой, на скамью она села
Да-ли горько заплакала
На скамью села
Горько заплакала
Ой, проклинала свою жизнь
Да-ли все за мужем жить
Проклинала жизнь
Да все за мужем жить
Ой, как с мужом и-то жона
Да ли в доме госпожа
Как с мужом жена
Да в доме госпожа
Ох, без мужа-ли то жона
Да-ли горька-сирота
Пойду в зелен сад
Да стану мужа звать
Ох, муж ты, муже ты мой муж
Да-ли ты голубчик мой
Уж-ты муж мой муж
Да, ты голубчик мой
Ох, ты голубчик мой
Да-ли мы пойдем домой
This is another version of the song, without instruments. Masha "Scream" Archipova is accompanied by other Slavic folk musicians from a band Vedan Kolod:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL59_C2v_O4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL59_C2v_O4)
Vedan Kolod is part of this same resurgence of Russian culture and folk music. Here is their song, She-Wolf, and you can see the beauty of the landscape:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=RA7-vn6fMSk&NR=1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=RA7-vn6fMSk&NR=1)
I saw Arkona perform in Atlanta, and I met the group. They are very talented and it was one of the best concerts that I've ever attended. Some of their music is probably not for everyone, but tastes differ. In the main, they are creating some great Russian music. I'll close the post with one of their best songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIJb8h0PbaM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIJb8h0PbaM)
Lyrics:
Небо хмурое, тучи мрачные…
Небо хмурое, тучи мрачные
Что плывете вы надо мной?
Не терзайте душу девичью
Под холодною под луной
Что ж вы ветры шумите буйные
Тяжки думы навеяв мне?
Да поведайте о суженом
Что во чуждой во стороне
С ветром ставни мои открылись
Душу вмиг опалил огонь
Длань Стрибога всколыхнулась
Лист кровавый лег на ладонь
Ты прости меня, жизнь родимая
Ухожу я, кланяясь тебе
Вижу в небе образ я милого
Утопая в быстрой реке
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Vedan Kolod is part of this same resurgence of Russian culture and folk music. Here is their song, She-Wolf, and you can see the beauty of the landscape:
And a strange instrument, apparently called Scythian Horn, that sounds much like an Abo didgeridoo.
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I wrote of this atavistic resurgence of ancient Russian traditions in the post about the bands, Arkona and Vedan Kolod.
Many of the pre-Christian festivals and Russian culture underwent a pseudomorphosis during the Christianization of eastern Europe, but their true roots were never destroyed. (Pseudomorphosis is a term Oswald Spengler borrowed from geology to describe a culture that is stifled by a foreign one. An example would be Judeo-Christian morality being forced on many Europeans by Charlemagne, et al. You could read The Decline of the West for further detail. I actually read the unabridged version if you can believe it!) The festivals' true origins are being explored by artists such as Arkona. Below I have listed some of the seasonal festivals. You will note that the Orthodox church had little success erasing the true nature of these festivals.
These are some Slavic holidays:
(Spring) Maslenitsa- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslenitsa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslenitsa)
(Summer) Kupala - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupala (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupala)
Eve of Kupala - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupala_Night (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupala_Night)
Yarilo is prominently associated with Kupala, which you can read about here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarilo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarilo)
And if this song does not make you want to drink and dance, then nothing will:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt6_65LDZ60 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt6_65LDZ60)
(Winter) Kolyada - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koleda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koleda)[/size]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC3vbGqvuw8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC3vbGqvuw8)
Anyway, I find this stuff highly interesting.
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GoMG, I could not find any mention of a Violet Lily or a Fialkovaya Lilia in that PDF.
Quoted from that PDF file:
"During the late spring and early summer of 1949 a full-length Russian technicolor film, "Love in Bloom,'' was shown In New York City, at the Stanley Theatre on 42d street, and later at neighborhood cinemas featuring foreign films. This incredible "documentary" gives the "life-history of Michurin," and is required seeing by all biologists...
It starts off with a stirring scene in Michurin's garden around 1890. Two pot-bellied capitalist American professors appear to tempt him with bags of gold and promises of great glory in the capitalist paradise across the seas. Michurin is almost seduced by this bait, but suddenly recovers his aplomb, waves a violet-scented lily before the startled Americans' noses, and spurns their nefarious temptings. He tells them his horticultural miracle is the product of a hybrid between a violet and a lily... "
Incidentally ;D, the right "documentary's" title is "Life in Bloom" and not "Love in Bloom" (error overlooked by the article's author :-\?). Also, the movie has another, well-known title - "Michurin" – just that "Michurin" you, Sandro, watched the other day/night ;D
At the 7:01 minute mark Michurin starts to "introduce" his Violet Lily to the "two pot-bellied capitalist American professors" :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur8GgIWist0
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Noelscott, thanks for sharing.
Many of these traditions I've seen observed over the years, primarily in the "Golden Ring" of Russia which makes sense as those towns and villages are among some of Russia's oldest settlements.
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Sunday was the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. He entered Russia with half a million soldiers and left after defeat with only a few thousand stragglers. Russians literally chased him out, killing his troops as what was left of his Grand Armee retreated.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/napoleon-1812.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/napoleon-1812.jpg)
(Battle of Borodino)
A family friend has a dacha in the small village where several Russian generals were buried from that time period. One of the graves is a stone coffin set off to the side on the floor of the village church. It is unmarked inside although signs outside the church identify the burials inside. One year we were there for the weekend and during the Sunday liturgy our eldest daughter was tired of standing and thought it a good idea to go sit and rest for a moment on the unmarked concrete / stone "box" on the floor in a corner.
Well you can imagine our chagrin when locals immediately rushed over and lifted her off the grave of Lieutenant-General Illarion Matveevich Kutuzov, father of the victorious General Mikhail Kutuzov from the war of 1812. The elder Kutuzov had served under Peter the Great and there was our gal resting quietly on top of his tomb.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/triumphal-arch-victory-park.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/triumphal-arch-victory-park.jpg)
The Triumphal Arch records the victory over the French as it stands on Victory Square, not far from the Poklonnaya Gora (Hill of Greeting), forming a united historical-memorial complex with the panorama museum "Battle of Borodino", the "Kutuzovskaya Izba" (Kutuzov's Hut) and the other monuments nearby.
Moscow's Victory Park is dedicated to a dual purpose: remembering the victory of 1812 and to stand forever as a memorial over the 1941-1945 Western European aggression from fascist Germany.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/poly-hill-victory-park.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/poly-hill-victory-park.jpg)
This is the hill where Napoleon sent messengers in to demand the key to the city. The Russians responded that if the key was that important, he should come and get it himself--and bring his best soldiers along because they weren't giving up the city without a fight. Their response so embarrassed the proud and proper Western European Napoleon that it fueled his desire to dynamite and burn Moscow later when he was forced to retreat.
Perhaps no language has impacted the Russian language as much as French. Many cognates are from the French language. One that comes to mind is "bistro" (быстро) the word for "quick/fast" in Russian. Legend has it that French soldiers during the occupation would sit in Russian cafes and yell "bistro" as in back home in France a fast/quick meal could be served at a Bistro versus a slower restaurant. Supposedly this is the origin for the meaning of "bistro" making it a "false cognate" because it doesn't mean cafe/bistro in Russian.
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I heard it the opposite way, that Russian soldiers in Paris used to yell "быстро, быстро, быстро" at French restaurateurs and civilians.
That seems to be discounted in an online dictionary of etymology:
bistro 1906, from Fr. bistro (1884), originally Parisian slang for "little wineshop or restaurant," of unknown origin. Commonly said to be from Russian bee-stra "quickly," picked up during the Allied occupation of Paris in 1815 after the defeat of Napoleon; but this, however quaint, is unlikely. Another guess is that it is from bistraud "a little shepherd," a word of the Poitou dialect, from biste "goat."
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bistro (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bistro)
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Glad to see you post about ethnic diversity of Russia, Jim. I remember starting a thread on this subject about 4 or 5 years ago when I first joined this forum, I wonder if it still exists?
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Boethius, thanks and you may be right. I listed it as legend because that is what I've heard repeated but could never confirm it as fact.
Ed, join in and please add (or correct) as I post about it. :)
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Sandro, in regards to Иван Владимирович Мичурин, and it appears that his work is still taught as part of the standard studies in Russian schools: http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ruwiki/71407 (http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ruwiki/71407)
Thanks for mentioning him as his work on making apricots, plums and other fruit grow in Russia is still heralded. Here is a link to an old photo of his home (http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:%D0%94%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%9C%D0%B8%D1%87%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0.jpg) and it appears that he lived and worked in the midst of nature. He learned much from his father and grandparents about growing plants.
According to Wikipedia, in 1913 he turned down an offer from the US Dept of Agriculture to move to America, however as Russia, America and most of Europe were allies then, he did share much of his work with scientists all over the world.
He was born on October 15 and 27 in 1855 and died on June 7, 1935.
More:
http://www.russia-ic.com/people/education_science/m/86/
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The Faces of Russia, part 3: The Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)
Part 3 of the series "The Faces of Russia" comes compliments of the Moscow Times.
Ysyakh festivities celebrate nature's rebirth with dancing, sports and drinking of fermented mare's milk. More than 15,000 Sakha residents entered the Guinness Book of Records on Saturday, joining hands in the largest round dance ever recorded while celebrating the Yakut New Year.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/faces-green.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/faces-green.jpg)
In an event to open the Ysyakh national holiday in the Us Khatyn district of the Sakha republic, participants formed 36 circles and sang folks songs under the watchful eyes of Guinness Book of Records representative Jack Brockbank, Interfax reported.
Taking part in the osuokhai is meant to symbolize the unity of people and the orbit of the sun, while Ysyakh celebrates nature's rebirth with dancing, sports and drinking of fermented mare's milk.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/faces-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/faces-b.jpg)
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Mr. M,
this is definitely imo the best part of the forum right now--great stuff, and very interesting commentary by you. do you mind saying which cities you have visited, and which would be your faves, for example you might recommend to me who has never been to Russia?? I am considering St. Petersburg, maybe Moscow. The former Stalingrad I would like to see the war memorials there.
It's hard for me to imagine that Napoleon went there with 500,000 troops, and most of them perished. Even harder to imagine that the Germans thought they would have any better luck.
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Just as an aside, Napoleon wasn't the one who burned Moscow. That deed was performed by the Russian incendiaries left behind in the city by Moscow's mayor with instructions to burn the city with the French still within. The French soldiers tried to contain the fires. Many of the firestarters were later caught and shot by the French.
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It was Kutuzov, a general, who gave the order. The French walked into Moscow five days later.
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It was Kut
uzov, a general, who gave the order. The French walked into Moscow five days later.
No, it was not! As a student of Napoleonic History,I have read countless books on the subject. It was indeed Moscow's mayor who ordered the incendiaries to remain behind in the city. Once the French entered and began occupying the city, the incendiaries started fires during the night. Napoleon gave orders to his marshal's to shoot on sight any incendiaries his soldiers caught and that all fires were to be put out.
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Today in the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
June 24, 1812. Russians call it "The Patriotic War." There is so much that could be written on that war of 1812 and we feel badly that we've not given it proper treatment on the 200th anniversary. Our apologies.
If you've been inside the Kremlin walls, one of the interesting displays are of the cannon lining the southern and eastern walls of the Arsenal. The Arsenal was a live Armoury built in 1701 on the orders of Peter the Great. It stands on the spot where the Kremlin horse barns once were situated. As you follow the red arrow, just outside the walls of the Kremlin (west, left of Arsenal) are the great Corner Arsenal Tower, the famous Aleksandr Gardens, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier lies along the outside wall, and the monuments to "Hero Cities" from the Great Patriotic War against the German invasion of 1941.
To the immediate right of the arrow along the upper edge of this photo (due north) and moving left to right is the historic Nicholas Tower and just over the Kremlin walls is the tall red State Historical Museum building and the rectangular shape of "Beautiful Plaza" which we Westerners mispronounce as "Red Square" although unseen from this angle.
Trivia: "Red Square" is neither red, nor square, nor named Red Square. The paving stones making up "Beautiful Plaza" are dark grey in colour and the walls of the Kremlin are of white limestone and up until just a hundred years ago or so, were not painted red. In fact, from the period of 1368 when the white-stone walls and towers of the Kremlin were erected, Moscow was called "white-stone" for many years.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/kremlin-pano-arsenal-marked.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/kremlin-pano-arsenal-marked.jpg)
In 1812 as the French army retreated from Moscow they left behind more than a hundred cannon in the Kremlin. By 1819, another 875 guns abandoned by the Napoleon’s army at the fields of battle were transferred here to the Kremlin and formed an exhibition of the Museum for the Patriotic War of 1812. Because of damage to the Kremlin interior the cannons were placed on a special base along the front of the Arsenal building.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/kremlin_arsenal.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/kremlin_arsenal.jpg)
In 1830 the collection of Russian artillery cannons was placed in front of the Armoury Chamber. Cannon bases were specially made. However, the building was dismantled in 1860 and the cannons were transferred back to the Arsenal.
Today along the Arsenal building there are 25 old Russian cannons from the XVI-XVII centuries, 15 foreign cannons of the same time period and 830 cannons, mortars and howitzers captured from the French during the Patriotic War 1812. Those guns captured from the French Armee are from a collection of European countries such as France, Austria, Prussia, Italy, Spain, and Holland.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/kremlin-arsenal-cannon-brian-morrow.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/kremlin-arsenal-cannon-brian-morrow.jpg)
(Kremlin Arsenal cannon, photo from Brian Morrow collection.)
When Napoleon retreated from Moscow, he ordered the whole Kremlin to be blown up and the Arsenal building, several portions of the Kremlin Wall and several wall towers were destroyed by explosions. Fires set by Napoleon's troops damaged the Faceted Chamber and several of the Kremlin churches.
Napoleon wanted his engineers to dismantle St. Basil's Cathedral for his war spoils. Saint Basil's (not it's real name either) is a complex work of engineering and it could not be easily or quickly dismantled. Legend says that Napoleon then ordered it dynamited but the fuses lit by his men were supposedly snuffed by a sudden rain downpour.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/picture-3-629-ed-med.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/picture-3-629-ed-med.jpg)
Trivia: The real name of Saint Basil's Cathedral? Often called Saint Basil's because it is the burial place for its most famous priest, Basil the Fool for Christ, the real name of this magnificent church is the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Virgin on the Moat. The original name was "Trinity Church" and the design is shaped as a flame of a bonfire rising into the sky. Saint Basil's is not just one church, there are 8 independent chapels wrapped around a small central church in the centre, thus 9 chapels in one building.
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More on the victory anniversary of the war of 1812 from the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
After Napoleon Bonaparte had retreated from Moscow, Emperor Alexander I declared in December 1812 that he would build a grand cathedral in honor of Christ the Saviour and "to signify Our gratitude to Divine Providence for saving Russia from the doom that overshadowed Her." The cathedral was to be a memorial to the sacrifices of the Russian people.
The original plans laid out a design full of Freemason symbolism. Construction work was begun on the Sparrow Hills, the highest point in Moscow, but the site wasn't able to accommodate the plans. When Alexander I was succeeded by his brother Nicholas I, the devoted Orthodox Tsar disliked the Neoclassicism and Freemasonry aspects of the project and called for renowned Russian architect Konstantin Thon to create a new design.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/picture-3-282-ed-med.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/picture-3-282-ed-med.jpg)
(Facing the street side of the Cathedral)
Thon used the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (modern day Instanbul) as his inspiration. With the design approved in 1832, the Tsar chose a new site which was closer to the Moscow Kremlin. Work began by removing a convent and church in 1837 and cornerstone for the new church was laid in 1839. The cathedral took years to build and was consecrated on the day Alexander III was crowned, 26 May 1883.
After the death of Lenin the site was chosen by the Soviets for a monument to socialism known as the Palace of the Soviets. Design of the monument would make it one of the tallest buildings in the world at the time, sitting on buttressed tiers to support a gigantic statue of Lenin at the top of a dome with his arm raised as if to point the way to a future of Communism. With plans for the Palace of the Soviets approved, Stalin ordered the famous Cathedral of Christ the Saviour to be dynamited. State workers took more than a year to clear the debris from the site and marble from the cathedral was used in the construction of nearby Moscow Metro stations. The original marble high reliefs were preserved and are on display at the Patriarch's Donskoy Monastery in Moscow.
Due to war with Germany and the ultimate infeasibility of the design, Nikita Khrushchev transformed the site by constructing the world's largest open air swimming pool.
In February of 1990 the Soviet Government granted permission for the Russian Orthodox Church to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. A temporary cornerstone was laid and construction funds began to be donated by ordinary Russian citizens. The project lasted several years and the completed Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was consecrated on the Transfiguration day, 19 August 2000. At capacity the cathedral is the largest Orthodox church in the world and able to accommodate between 5-6,000 persons.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/picture-3-326-ed-med.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/picture-3-326-ed-med.jpg)
A small wooden chapel, dedicated to the Sovereign Madonna (Державной иконы Божией Матери), is located close on the grounds to the rear of the Cathedral. Built in 1995, the chapel became a place to pray for the reconstruction project and for the builders and artists labouring to rebuild the cathedral.
The Cathedral served as the venue when the last Tsar Nicholas II and his family were declared as "Passion bearers" (minor saints) in 2000. After his death in 2007, former Russian President Boris Yeltsin lay in state in the cathedral prior to his burial in Novodevichy Cemetery.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/picture-3-310-ed-med.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/picture-3-310-ed-med.jpg)
(Facing the Moscow River)
The Cathedral was the site of the official signing and joint liturgy when the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia rejoined the Russian Orthodox Church in full communion and administrative authority.
The interior walls are bronze reliefs listing the names of every Russian soldier who died in the war of 1812.
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Beautiful photos, mendy. Thank you.
No, it was not! As a student of Napoleonic History,I have read countless books on the subject. It was indeed Moscow's mayor who ordered the incendiaries to remain behind in the city. Once the French entered and began occupying the city, the incendiaries started fires during the night. Napoleon gave orders to his marshal's to shoot on sight any incendiaries his soldiers caught and that all fires were to be put out.
Many Western historians speculate that Count Fyodor Vasilyevich Rostopchin, the governer general of Moscow, gave the order to burn Moscow. Some even speculate he did so because he was driven insane by Napoleon's inevitable advance, and that Tsar Alexander I was devastated by the destruction of Moscow. However, the account is far different in the works of most Russian historians I have read. Their account is that Kutuzov, realizing Moscow would be taken, took the decision at the Council of Fili (pictured below, most Russians educated in the Soviet period are familiar with this piece) to abandon Moscow, burn it to the ground, cut both roads to the city (thereby depriving the French of supply lines), and regroup for the battle to save Russia. Historical accounts have Kutuzov declaring at the Council of Fili that he would prefer to surrender Moscow to save Russia. (Strategically, Kutuzov also wished to protect an armament factory in Tula).
For those unaware of this history, Fili was a town outside Moscow, and is now a suburb of Moscow. There is a beautiful church there (heavily damaged by the French, and later, the Bolsheviks, but restored during the Soviet period), pictured below.
Most Muscovites fled with the retreating Imperial army. Some nobleman stayed in their homes, some peasants remained, criminals were released from jails, and the mentally ill were also released. All livestock was removed from the city before it was taken, or slaughtered, as were foodstuffs. Peasant partisans, lead by army officers, set the city on fire as Napoleon's troops advanced. This is not conjecture on my part, but historical accounts I have read in Russian.
In most Russian historical accounts, Kutuzov gets credit for the strategy, although some give credit to another well known military hero, Count Osterman-Tolstoy.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SIEQTs2MBT8/S7wgtJcWCCI/AAAAAAAAA0E/oZJ0a-eCeH0/s400/general+kutuzov+realizing+too+late+he+shouldn%27t+have+had+the+cabbage+soup+800px-Kutuzov_fili.jpg)
There is a fairly recent book (2010, I believe), by Dominic Lieven (a descendant of the famous Imperial Army generals, a well known professor of Russian government at the London School of Economics, and one of the world's most noted experts on Russian history) that discusses the Napoleonic war from a Russian perspective. I haven't read it yet, it is in my pile, but Professor Lieven had access to Russian archives to which almost no Western scholars have had access. It will be interesting to read how he interprets these events.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TVUyNKQWMpw/Tu6gCjxwpSI/AAAAAAAABGI/c0h-LsCHTgA/s1600/us36.jpg)
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The interior walls are bronze reliefs listing the names of every Russian soldier who died in the war of 1812.
I read in one historical account that soldiers' widows were not permitted to remarry, and my husband confirmed that this is accurate.
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do you mind saying which cities you have visited, and which would be your faves, for example you might recommend to me who has never been to Russia?? I am considering St. Petersburg, maybe Moscow. The former Stalingrad I would like to see the war memorials there.
First, thank you for your kind words, Erik. They are appreciated.
Over the years I've been to so many cities that it would be difficult to make a complete list but will tell you that you have chosen 3 great cities in Peter, Moscow and Volgograd (Stalingrad)!
Saint Petersburg is so beautifully different than Moscow and Volgograd, just as Moscow is different than Vladivostok in the far East. Russia is 1/6 of the earth's surface and there is so much to see, so much to experience and appreciate. I like the 3 you've chosen as Moscow is so historic--I could spent 30 days doing nothing but touring Moscow and would still not be finished at the end. Moscow is a large territory, almost 12 million population so it takes time to get around. Peter is 4 million and somewhat easier to navigate.
The "problem" with both Moscow and Peter is that even outside each city there is so much history. For example, you could spend 15-20 days traveling along the "Golden Ring" outside Moscow and still only see highlights without digging in and uncovering the depth of history and beauty that is there.
Taking the Trans-Siberian Railway to Lake Baikal is something that you should do someday. Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater "lake" in the world (scientists say it is becoming a "sea" in size) and it holds more water than all the North American "Great Lakes" combined, has thousands of animal and plant species found nowhere else in the world and is home to the world's only freshwater Seals. This lake is massive, beautiful, creates its own weather patterns, sits in the centre of Asia and at 445 meters above sea level. It is beautiful!
Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) is a city but not massive like Moscow. You can discover the awesome history easily and quickly and then spend some time camping, hiking, fishing along the Volga.
Russia is a land of rivers and railroads. Russians travel on rivers whether by steamboat, ferry, or commercial passenger boats. They travel by rail and it is something to experience if you ever get to spend several days on a train.
Our family likes the Kaluga area too. Only 2 hours electric train from Moscow and we have friends we like to visit. That is also a great area for camping and fishing. Rostov-on-the-Don is another area we enjoy, with relatives in nearby Shakhty.
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I read in one historical account that soldiers' widows were not permitted to remarry, and my husband confirmed that this is accurate.
Interesting. Was there a reason why they couldn't remarry?
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Mende your work is outstanding-- I have to make more time to read it.I love all the posters here-wonderfull stuff-- you have restored my faith in forums actually having a purpose,
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Was there a reason why they couldn't remarry?
No clue, unfortunately, but I wonder if it had to to with pensions?
A lot of serfs were conscripted in the fight against Napoleon, and they were not given the same pay as soldiers, or any pension.
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A lot of serfs were conscripted in the fight against Napoleon, and they were not given the same pay as soldiers, or any pension.
According to family lore, my Great Grandfather's (http://www.floriani.it/leonida-eng.htm#Medal) grandfather raised a company of Cossak cavalry from his lands to fight Napoleon, which gave the right to his descendants to attend the "Lycée de l'Empereur Alexandre".
Quite a different treatment ;D.
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I read in one historical account that soldiers' widows were not permitted to remarry, and my husband confirmed that this is accurate.
Not quite true. Russian soldier's widow in XIX c. can remarry, but only if she's got the official document about her husband death. That was the root of the problem taking into account inefficiency of russian bureaucracy and poor record keeping in army.
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Not quite true. Russian soldier's widow in XIX c. can remarry, but only if she's got the official document about her husband death. That was the root of the problem taking into account inefficiency of russian bureaucracy and poor record keeping in army.
Thanks Belvis. I thought that there might be a more plausible explanation, and the one you have given certainly makes perfect sense!!
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In today's Mendeleyev Journal...
Krasnodar (Краснодар) is a city in southern Russia on the Kuban River and approximately 90 some miles north of the Black Sea. Founded in 1794 the town was first named as Yekaterinodar (Екатеринодаp) meaning "Catherine's Gift" for the Russian Empress. When the Soviets came to power they changed the name to Krasnodar, giving it a revised meaning, "Red Gift," as if somehow the city was now a gift from the Reds.
Name issues aside, Krasnodar is perhaps on to something. Imagine if you could walk up to a large public fountain and using your cell phone, control the fountain. For a charge on your phone bill of course. You'd be able to control not only the fountain for a minute, but at night you'd have control of the back-lighting too! Disney executives, are you listening?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/krosnodar.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/krosnodar.jpg) CLICK PHOTO to make it large.
Control this Krasnodar city fountain with your cell phone!
In Krasnodar a large and popular public fountain has been engineered to allow anyone with a cell phone to control the fountain for one minute. You're paying for it so go ahead! Simple, just dial the fountain number which is 8-929-849-66-31. After dialing, press the numbers from zero to six. Each of them corresponds to one colour/jet spray option for the back lighting.
Apparently this feature became available on 15 June and so far city officials seem happy about the arrangement. Charging money for controlling public fountain jets and lights--now that is capitalism! What a gift to starving city budgets! They should change the name of the city to "Fountain Gift" or "Cell phone Gift."
Lenin and Marx must be spinning out of control in their graves. Hmm, wonder how much people would pay to control something like THAT?!
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In today's Mendeleyev Journal...
Krasnodar (Краснодар) is a city in southern Russia on the Kuban River and approximately 90 some miles north of the Black Sea. Founded in 1794 the town was first named as Yekaterinodar (Екатеринодаp) meaning "Catherine's Gift" for the Russian Empress. When the Soviets came to power they changed the name to Krasnodar, giving it a revised meaning, "Red Gift," as if somehow the city was now a gift from the Reds.
Name issues aside, Krasnodar is perhaps on to something. Imagine if you could walk up to a large public fountain and using your cell phone, control the fountain. For a charge on your phone bill of course. You'd be able to control not only the fountain for a minute, but at night you'd have control of the back-lighting too! Disney executives, are you listening?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/krosnodar.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/krosnodar.jpg) CLICK PHOTO to make it large.
Control this Krasnodar city fountain with your cell phone!
In Krasnodar a large and popular public fountain has been engineered to allow anyone with a cell phone to control the fountain for one minute. You're paying for it so go ahead! Simple, just dial the fountain number which is 8-929-849-66-31. After dialing, press the numbers from zero to six. Each of them corresponds to one colour/jet spray option for the back lighting.
Apparently this feature became available on 15 June and so far city officials seem happy about the arrangement. Charging money for controlling public fountain jets and lights--now that is capitalism! What a gift to starving city budgets! They should change the name of the city to "Fountain Gift" or "Cell phone Gift."
Lenin and Marx must be spinning out of control in their graves. Hmm, wonder how much people would pay to control something like THAT?!
Much more fun even than the trick fountains at Peterhof. Behind the fountain is the Alexandrovskiy Arch. My main impression of Krasnodar was that it is FLAT - as a pancake! That makes it nice and easy to walk around. As with all Russian/Ukrainian cities there are plenty of wonderful examples of the local architecture, both old and modern. My favourites in Krasnodar would be the Holy Trinity Cathedral with its magnificent green domes, the wonderful white Cathedral of the Army, and a whole series of beautiful new apartment buildings between the main square and the river.
I've finally got around to putting some photos in the gallery - I was inspired to add some from Krasnodar by seeing this one. Have a look at http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?action=gallery;cat=6 (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?action=gallery;cat=6)
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Much more fun even than the trick fountains at Peterhof. Behind the fountain is the Alexandrovskiy Arch. My main impression of Krasnodar was that it is FLAT - as a pancake! That makes it nice and easy to walk around. As with all Russian/Ukrainian cities there are plenty of wonderful examples of the local architecture, both old and modern. My favourites in Krasnodar would be the Holy Trinity Cathedral with its magnificent green domes, the wonderful white Cathedral of the Army, and a whole series of beautiful new apartment buildings between the main square and the river.
I've finally got around to putting some photos in the gallery
Very nice! Thanks for your description and photos.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Editor's note: I am venturing into "no man's land" with this topic. Russians will be offended that such an important part of history now belongs to Ukraine. Ukrainians on the other hand will object to references to the Russian Empire. Sorry, I can't help the generations of mistrust between the "big brother" (Russia) and the "little brother" (Ukraine).
I love you both. :)
Donetsk, Ukraine is the setting for one of Orthodoxy's most important historic sites. Around the year 1240 Christians fled Kyiv (Kiev) Ukraine as Muslim invaders swept thru killing anyone who wouldn't convert to Islam. Far away in the Donetsk mountains, a coal mining region, believers carved a church out of the mountainside.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-b.jpg)
(The main temple began as the Cave Church of St. Nicholas.)
In the 1500s a church and buildings for a men's monastery, Svyato Dormition Monastery were added closer towards base of the mountain along the river. Some historians aregue that the first monks to settle the area were in the 14th-15th centuries. The first written record of the monastery dates to the early 1500s and the monastery was officially recognized as the Sviatohirsk Uspensky Monastery in 1624.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-w.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-w.jpg)
During the Crimean Khanate, the monastery was invaded by Muslim forces several times and ransacked, making it necessary to restore after each Islamic invasion.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-u.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-u.jpg)
The original cave church restored and expanded, Donetsk, Ukraine.As explained in Wikipedia: In 1787, the government of Catherine II paid for the restoration of the monastery. In 1844, it was once again restored, paid for by monetary donations from Aleksander Mikhailovich Potemkin and his wife Tatiana Borisovna. During the next seventy years until 1914, the monastery was one of the most important monasteries of the Russian Empire.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-h-v-petrovich.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-h-v-petrovich.jpg)
(Svyato Dormition Monastery, photo by V. Petrovich.)
The monastery was a strategic post for the Russian Empire, often called the Trinity-Sergiyeva Lavra of the southwest and for generations the outpost at Svyatogorsk served as a defensive point in the south of the Russian Empire.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-e.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-e.jpg)
The original cave church at Donetsk, Ukraine was carved in the 1200s to escape death by Islamic warriors. As the times became more safe, the churches expanded down the mountain starting in the 1500s. The main temple served as the Cave Church of St. Nicholas.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-c.jpg)
Restoration work at the Caves church, Donetsk, Ukraine.From 1917, the monastery underwent the numerous plunders, abuses and desecration of the holy places, and killing monks by the Communists. Heaven received many new martyrs and confessors with the murder of monks and priests. In 1922 the monastery was closed by the Soviet Union and later turned into a rest home for dying elderly.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-k-v-petrovich.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-k-v-petrovich.jpg)
(Cemetery markers have been restored. Svyato Dormition Monastery photo by V. Petrovich.)
On the 29th of December in 2003 the government returned the buildings and lands to the monastery and today more than 100 monks again live and work on the premises,serving the region's poor and homeless population. So far two ancient monks cells have been restored – All Saints and Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-a.jpg)
There are 54 bells at the 5 monastery belfries, the biggest one weighs more than 6 tons.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-bells.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/svyatogorsk-svyato-dormition-monastery-bells.jpg)
Recently restored Bells high in mountain caves have called believers to worship for over 700+ years here in Donetsk, Ukraine. Each is a different size and height to accommodate the musical scale as instruments other than the human voice was not allowed in the early church. Only bells mounted outside could issue the call to worship.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal
So, how many attended the charity AIDS concert on Independence Square in Kyiv (Kiev)? Hundreds of thousands by all appearances. The free concert came as part of the Euro 2012 football soccer championship last Saturday night in the capital of Ukraine.The concert was organized by the Elena Pinchuk Foundation for AIDS awareness.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/concert-queen-elton-john-kiev.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/concert-queen-elton-john-kiev.jpg)
Former Queen band mate and front man Freddy Mercury died of AIDS in 1991 and American Idol star Adam Lambert joined Queen for vocals. Elton John used the concert to call on Ukrainians to repudiate violence against homosexuals after a gay pride march in the Ukraine was called off prior to the soccer championship, where leaders were beaten by assailants. BigPondNews reported that the concert was the first and last joint John-Queen performance since 1992.
Watch over 2 hours of concert footage here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tpPQ42QkDw
Songs performed during the concert included Queen classics like “Fat Bottomed Girls,” “We Will Rock You,” “Radio Ga Ga,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “We Are the Champions” and “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Queen and Lambert performed in Moscow on Tuesday night (3 July) and will travel to Poland for a show Saturday before traveling to London for three concerts next week.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/concert-queen-elton-john-kiev-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/concert-queen-elton-john-kiev-b.jpg)
The ant-AIDS benefit performance promoted the slogan: “Your life is not a game! Let’s stop AIDS together.” Hundreds of thousands of people attended the concert and millions of Ukrainian and Polish citizens were able to watch it live on TV in Ukraine and Poland.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/concert-queen-elton-john-kiev-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/concert-queen-elton-john-kiev-c.jpg)
The concert was free to the public but there was a paid invitation-only VIP zone with a required financial donation to fighting AIDS in Ukraine. In addition to assisting other charities, Elton John has his own AIDS Foundation.
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The Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)...
Some of us can remember a Soviet Union where no English could be seen anywhere, toilet paper and sanding paper surely were made in the same factory (not really but it felt that way), and coffee was something you brought from from home in a suitcase.
Today many streets have names posted in Cyrillic and English as do some underground Metro signs. Toilet paper is no longer rolls of sandpaper carried on sticks slung over a man's back and is as soft and comfortable as anyplace in the West. Nowadays we buy coffee in Russia and take it back to the USA.
To be sure, Russian's aren't the avid coffee drinkers as a typical American or Canadian, but coffee is no stranger to a Russian table and in fact has never been a total stranger. These days home grown coffee shops are sprouting up everywhere. Even Starbucks with their ill advised late entry into Eastern Europe is doing well.
Of course Russians still drink tea all day, dawn to dark, but when Russians want coffee, often it is to compliment dessert and that usually dictates a very strong blend something more like a Turkish coffee. That is perhaps one reason why a cup of American styled coffee at шоколадница кофейна (Chocolate Coffee/Cafe) is only 159р (rubles) versus 199р for a cappuccino or 199р to 249р for a specialty coffee. For comparison, the exchange rate today is 32.8745 rubles to ($1) one American dollar.
Russians love ice cream, mayo and beets above anything else, okay so fish and salo belong in the list, but chocolate is not far behind. We're generalizing about "they" of course, but in general "they" love the deep and dark European style chocolate, having figured out that dark chocolate is good for health, wealth, love, happiness, good music, cures eyesight problems, restores youth, sex, heals burns, fixes teeth, cures hangovers, re-inflates flat tires and is the best medicine for that dreaded malady known in medical circles as "severe chocolate deficiency" syndrome. Therein the connection between chocolate and coffee at places like the Chocolate Cafe.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/choc-cafe-d188d0bed0bad0bed0bbd0b0d0b4d0bdd0b8d186d0b0-d0bad0bed184d0b5d0b9d0bdd0b0.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/choc-cafe-d188d0bed0bad0bed0bbd0b0d0b4d0bdd0b8d186d0b0-d0bad0bed184d0b5d0b9d0bdd0b0.jpg)
(шоколадница кофейна)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/kenya-kd0b5d0bdd0b8d18f.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/kenya-kd0b5d0bdd0b8d18f.jpg)
kения = where?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/guatelama.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/guatelama.jpg)
Can you read this Central American country's name? гватемала
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/columbian-coffee.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/columbian-coffee.jpg)
And where is Колумбия coffee grown?
Coffee from Ethiopia is another popular exotic bean sold in the former Soviet Union.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Sunday, 8 July 2012)
Summertime weather
Moscow:
The sun rose in Moscow at 4:57am this morning and finally went down last night at 10:11pm. The forecast for today (Sunday) is Sunny but rain is coming for Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday. Daytime temps are really warm, between 26/27* and lows at night around 18*. That is warm.
Saint Petersburg:
Yesterday the sun rose at 4:49am and set last night at 11:47pm. The forecast for Sunday is rain, then partly cloudy on Monday and sunny on Tuesday. Piter has the advantage of more moderate summer weather and the highs this week average 22* with the lows around 15*.
Krasnodar:
Over 100 lives have been lost so far in the flooding across the Krasnodar region. The forecast is for some sunshine today, but rain again both Monday and Tuesday. Daytime temps have been averaging 28* and nights around 18*.
Novosibirsk:
Sunrise on Saturday was at 6:02 and sunset was at 11:07pm. The forecast for today (Sunday) is partly sunny with a high of 27* and then partly cloudy Monday thru Wednesday, the low temps at night averaging 10*.
Yekaterinburg/Ekaterinburg:
Sunrise Saturday was at 5:17am and sunset was at 11:47pm. The forecast today is partly cloudy with a chance of shower, then sunny from Monday thru Wednesday. It is warm with high temperatures around 29/30* and nightly lows around 14/15*.
Arkhangelsk:
Of course it is cooler up north and the days are longer. The sun was up and ready for play at 2:59 on Saturday morning and wasn't ready to retire until 11:43pm. Temperatures in the day are averaging 18* and around 9/10* at night. It is partly sunny today but the Дождь (rain) is coming for the remainder of the week.
Volgograd:
You expect it to be hot this time of year in southern Russia and for the most part it is. The sun rose at 5:08 and set at 9:07, very tame for a Russian summer. Temperatures are in the 34/35* range by day and 19/20* by night. The forecast for Volgograd is always the same this time of year with sunny skies followed by more sunny skies.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/z_93a0084d.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/z_93a0084d.jpg)
Notes:
- Russia uses the Celsius scale for temperatures.
- Russians most often express time in military or 24 hour terms, therefore I have transposed those for readers. Example: 11:07pm is the same as 23:07 in Russia.
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Hi Mr. M,
Please correct me if I am wrong, I believe the coffees you listed are from Kenya, Guatamala, and Colombia. I have been working on a few words and phrases in Russian, and working on figuring out the Cyrillic alphabet. :)
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Excellent work, Erik! :D
Perfect score!
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Excellent work, Erik! :D
Perfect score!
No, it's not! >:D
Everyone goes on about there is no such country as "the Ukraine" - how about spelling Colombia correctly? ;D (Everybody?). Unless, of course, this coffee is all grown at a university in New York? 8)
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Sorry Kiwi, my bad. I am no longer a great speller like I was in grade school when I won a couple of spelling bees....
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Hmm....
(The Republic of) Colombia in Central America.
Columbia University.
But he did miss the "e" in Guatemala.
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Hmm....
(The Republic of) Colombia in Central America.
Columbia University.
But he did miss the "e" in Guatemala.
So he did! And so did I! :cluebat: I've just been getting more and more hacked off (in a refined, gentlemanly way!) about seeing Colombia spelt wrongly in so many recent posts.
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You are both gentlemen. :)
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Founded in 1487, the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery is a Russian Orthodox monastery situated deep in the woods of the Leningrad Oblast (Saint Petersburg area), just south from its border with the Republic of Karelia.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/holy-trinity-d181d0b2d18fd182d0be-d182d180d0bed0b8d186d0bad0b8d0b9-d0b0d0bbd0b5d0bad181d0b0d0b4d180d0b0-d181d0b2d0b8d180d181d0bad0bed0b3.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/holy-trinity-d181d0b2d18fd182d0be-d182d180d0bed0b8d186d0bad0b8d0b9-d0b0d0bbd0b5d0bad181d0b0d0b4d180d0b0-d181d0b2d0b8d180d181d0bad0bed0b3.jpg)
From Wikipedia: During the Time of Troubles, the Swedes sacked and burnt both hermitages on three occasions, yet the monastery continued to prosper. After the Russian-Swedish war the border was delineated west of the Svir River.
In 1644, when the five-domed Transfiguration Cathedral was finished, Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Feodorovich) presented to the monks a golden arc for keeping St Alexander's relics there. A belfry of the Trinity cloister was built in three tiers and crowned with three tents in 1649. Most of the monastic cells date back to the 1670s. The roomy Trinity Cathedral was completed by 1695. The last structure to be erected within monastery walls was the hospital chapel of St John of Damascus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Damascus) (1718).
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_of_1917), the brethren were executed or deported, while the relics of St Alexander were desecrated and put on a public display in Leningrad. The medieval monastery buildings housed an infamous gulag known as Svirlag (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svirlag). They were further damaged during World War II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II). Restoration did not commence until the 1970s.
Currently, the Transfiguration Cloister is the home to the local monastic community, while the Trinity Cloister still houses a mental asylum instituted in 1953.
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The Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com), Faces of Russia series:
When you have very cold winter temperatures, unless your home is in a city with central steam heat boilers every few blocks to pipe in some warmth, one needs a very large firewood supply.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/firewood.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/firewood.jpg)
Scenes like these are common in the countryside as farms and villagers stock up wood which will be needed in the coming winter months for heating and cooking.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/firewood-sisters.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/firewood-sisters.jpg)
Monasteries and Convents often provide their own winter heat fuel by gathering and cutting wood from nearby forests.
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Mendy,
Very interesting woodpiles. Have never seen a woodpile in this configuration. What the reason for the cone shaped configuration? Do you climb a ladder in the winter and throw down wood from the top?
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Doug, perhaps one of our native Russian or Ukrainians will correct me if wrong, but I believe that this is a way to cure the wood for later use. I think that these silos for lack of a better term are dismantled in summer or autumn after they're cured a year or more and the wood is moved somewhere closer to a house or building for use in winter.
At our Volgograd dacha for example, we don't use fresh firewood for cooking and heating water. Firewood chopped in spring & summer will be used next year. This summer we're using wood that was cut last year as green wood gives off too much smoke and creates a fire hazard in a chimney whereas dried (cured) wood burns hotter and without giving off dangerous resins or smoke.
However at the dacha we have a much smaller wood stack than one of these.
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Doug, perhaps one of our native Russian or Ukrainians will correct me if wrong, but I believe that this is a way to cure the wood for later use. I think that these silos for lack of a better term are dismantled in summer or autumn after they're cured a year or more and the wood is moved somewhere closer to a house or building for use in winter.
At our Volgograd dacha for example, we don't use fresh firewood for cooking and heating water. Firewood chopped in spring & summer will be used next year. This summer we're using wood that was cut last year as green wood gives off too much smoke and creates a fire hazard in a chimney whereas dried (cured) wood burns hotter and without giving off dangerous resins or smoke.
However at the dacha we have a much smaller wood stack than one of these.
Ah, that makes sense. It was not clear to me that the center of the cones were hollow. If so, then you are probably right on. LOL
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Around the year 1240 Christians fled Kyiv (Kiev) Ukraine as Muslim invaders swept thru killing anyone who wouldn't convert to Islam.
interesting how nothing changed in 800 years with the Muslims. I guess you can sat that they are consistent.
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No clue, unfortunately, but I wonder if it had to to with pensions?
A lot of serfs were conscripted in the fight against Napoleon, and they were not given the same pay as soldiers, or any pension.
I remember from history class at school that the serfs were set free after the 1812 war as a sign of appreciation for standing up and fighting Napoleon's army as partisans. Have you read anything different from that?
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Special the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com): Catherine's Cats; tail of Saint Petersburg's feline underworld.
Quick! What is the Russian word for cat? кот (koht), or the more affectionate term of кошка (kosh-ka).
Now, how do you spell mousetrap in just three letters? C-A-T!
What do you use to comb a cat? A catacomb.
Okay, enough cat jokes. Let's get serious for a moment because if you're a cat lover then you know how easily one of these furry friends can in no time have you wrapped around their paws.
Cats are generally loved and adored in Russia. In fact, the breed called Russian Blue is thought to have originated in the Russian port city of Arkhangelsk. A Russian Blue is a beautiful cat with a silver-blue coat. These cats are regarded as highly intelligent and playful yet timid around strangers. Many Russians claim to seek them out because of their intelligence and willingness to share affection with their owners.
Catherine the great loved cats too. She loved them so much that she had carriages loaded with cats brought from the far reaches of Russia to Saint Petersburg. Her thinking was that if the Cossacks were good enough to guard the palaces, then Russia's finest cats could be trusted to keep mice and rats on the run, too.
Today, a special group of cats guard the famous Hermitage complex in Saint Petersburg and these cats are treated like royalty.
Just watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17E_zvLyvqk
(Disclosure: The Mendeleyev Journal has a sponsorship relationship with Viking River Cruises.)
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Special the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com): Catherine's Cats; tail of Saint Petersburg's feline underworld.
Quick! What is the Russian word for cat? кот (koht), or the more affectionate term of кошка (kosh-ka).
Trust me, Jim, you don't want to call your male cat "кошка (kosh-ka)" no matter how affectionate you feel about him. кошка (kosh-ka) just means that it's a female cat while " кот (koht)" is a male cat. An affectionate version that can be applied to either sex is "Kiska [kiss-kah] or [kotyah] or [kah-tya-rah] (a loving way some people address it if a cat is big and fat).
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Trust me, Jim, you don't want to call your male cat "кошка (kosh-ka)" no matter how affectionate you feel about him. кошка (kosh-ka) just means that it's a female cat while " кот (koht)" is a male cat. An affectionate version that can be applied to either sex is "Kiska [kiss-kah] or [kotyah] or [kah-tya-rah] (a loving way some people address it if a cat is big and fat).
You forgot the affectionate "котик" :-X
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You forgot the affectionate "котик" :-X
but that can be applied to a male only (cat or human) :)
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but that can be applied to a male only (cat or human) :)
Aren't we discussing what Jim can call his male cat :P
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Mendy,
Very interesting woodpiles. Have never seen a woodpile in this configuration. What the reason for the cone shaped configuration?
Nuns do have fantasies I guess.
The woodpiles are pretty cute.
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I remember from history class at school that the serfs were set free after the 1812 war as a sign of appreciation for standing up and fighting Napoleon's army as partisans. Have you read anything different from that?
Apparently the pivotal event was the Crimean War rather than 1812.
In 1861, Czar Alexander II issued “The Manifesto of February 19, 1861" according to which “the serfs will receive in time the full rights of free rural inhabitants” (Alexander II, Emancipation Manifesto, 1861). On January 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued “The Emancipation Proclamation.” The proclamation declared “that all persons held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free” (The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863).
Alexander II understood that serfdom must be abolished. But he also realized “that so radical a revolution was fraught with danger to the entire economic and political structure of Russia” (Woldman, p. 171). For several
years he had been trying to find a compromise with nobles but without much success. So “he decided to take matters into his own hands.” “On March 3, 1861 he issued a manifesto setting all serfs of Russia free.” (Woldman). [Note: This March 3 date and my earlier referenced February 19 date difference relates to the difference between the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Russia did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1917.]
Even the fates of these two men were similar. They both were assassinated, but for opposite reasons. Alexander II was killed by members of the Narodnaya Voya [this translates into English as “The People’s Will”], who thought that he did not give real freedom to former serfs. Lincoln was killed by Confederate sympathizer John W. Booth who was against the emancipation of slaves (O’Donnell, 2011).
References
Alexander II, Emancipation Manifesto (1861). No author or other information given. Retrieved April 2, 2012 from www.academic.shu.edu/russianhistory/index.php (http://www.academic.shu.edu/russianhistory/index.php)
Lynch, M. (2003). The Emancipation of the Russian Serfs, 1861: A Charter of Freedom or an Act of Betrayal? No other information given. Retrieved March 13, 2012, from http://www.historytoday.com (http://www.historytoday.com)
O’Donnell, E. (2011). Turning Points in American History. Chantilly, VA: The Great Courses.
Rowe, N. (1861). Serfdom in Russia. Macmillan’s Magazine, Volume 4, 384-391. Retrieved March 14, 2012 from http://books.google.com/books (http://books.google.com/books)
Russian Serfdom. No author or other information given. Retrieved March 13, 2012, from
http://histclo.com/country/rus/cr-serf.html (http://histclo.com/country/rus/cr-serf.html)
Serfdom in Russia. Wikipedia Retrieved March 15, 2012.
Sobornoye Ulozhenie No other information given. Retrieved March 20, 2012 from http://www.prlib.ru/en-us/History/Pages/Item.aspx?itemid=319 (http://www.prlib.ru/en-us/History/Pages/Item.aspx?itemid=319)
Streich, M. (2009). Comparing American and Russian Emancipation. No other information given. Retrieved March 14, 2012, from www.exampleessays.com/veewpaper113767.html (http://www.exampleessays.com/veewpaper113767.html)
Syponitskay, I. (2006). Slaves and Serfs. 1st September History 2006 Volume 14, Issue 4. Retrieved April 2, 2012 from his.1september.ru/2006/15/4.htm
The Emancipation Proclamation (1863). No author or other information given. Retrieved March 28, 2012 from www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents)
Woldman, A. (1952). Lincoln and the Russians. Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company.
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Another interesting form of "slavery/serfdom" was that of Indentured Servants (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servant), mostly used in labour-starved colonial North America.
Indenture could either be a free choice, or a forced servitude in the case of British convicts who, after the American independence, were dumped to Botany Bay.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Black-eyed_Sue_and_Sweet_Poll_of_Plymouth_taking_leave_of_their_lovers_who_are_going_to_Botany_Bay.jpeg/220px-Black-eyed_Sue_and_Sweet_Poll_of_Plymouth_taking_leave_of_their_lovers_who_are_going_to_Botany_Bay.jpeg)
Black-eyed Sue and Sweet Poll of Plymouth, England
mourning their lovers who are soon
to be transported to Botany Bay, 1792
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You forgot the affectionate "котик"
That's right, I did!
I forgot котёнок (kotönok) too, for kitten.
Jim, you don't want to call your male cat "кошка (kosh-ka)" no matter how affectionate you feel about him. кошка (kosh-ka) just means that it's a female cat while " кот (koht)" is a male cat. An affectionate version that can be applied to either sex is "Kiska [kiss-kah] or [kotyah] or [kah-tya-rah] (a loving way some people address it if a cat is big and fat).
Ed, of course you are correct. The ladies in our house seem to attach an "a" at the end of any animal bit it a dog or cat or whatever. I'm wondering now how offended our male cat is at being lumped in with his sister! :)
If we went back to the days of Catherine I and her love of cats, what do you think would be some of the endearing names her cats would have been called? Has the language changed or do you think such terms have remained consistent?
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Almaty (Алматы), the former capital city of Kazakhstan could be anywhere in the FSU when it comes to reading and a love for books. Book collections in homes and attendance at book fairs are a popular scene in Eastern Europe and Asia.
Local university students have launched a project for a mobile reading room in Almaty through the end of August. The idea is to move the mobile library to a new location every two weeks. The locations are city parks with volunteers running the venture from 9 am to 8 pm.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/books.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/books.jpg)
Designed by students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the cabinet consists of open cubes which are mounted and held together with magnets. The design makes it very easy to pack, move and quickly reassemble.
Every venture has to start somewhere and this summer the project is operating with an inventory of about 300 books, most written in English, Kazakh and Russian languages with titles from children's literature to history to novels. So far the library is busy most every day as readers come to sit in the park and read for an hour or two.
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Excerpt from the Mendeleyev Journal section on "Life In a Russian Home" (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/come-to-russia-get-a-visa/life-in-russian-housing/)
Communal apartments:
Most Westerners won't live in one, but it is nice to know about Communal apartments which remain a fixture of Russian life. A communal apartment is just as it sounds, with more than one family living in a single apartment. After the Communist revolution in 1917, the Soviets confiscated large apartments that were owned by Russian nobility and converted them into Коммуналка, communal apartments called "Kommunalkas" to hold multiple families. Each year the number of Russians still living this way grows smaller but some still do it by choice and others of economic necessity.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-communal-neighbors.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-communal-neighbors.jpg)
In Soviet times apartments were assigned by state authorities in accordance with the standards of living space designed for one individual, regardless of marital status so often 2-3 or even 4 persons ended up living in a room really meant for one person.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB3mhaqicYU
(Disclaimer: there is a sponsorship relationship between Viking River Cruises and the Mendeleyev Journal)
My cousin Gherman and his wife Natasha live in a (Коммунальная квартира) communal apartment in the centre of Moscow. Aunt Lyuba lives in a communal, too. Their apartments have big rooms but the common living spaces such as the hallway, kitchen and bathroom are not as spacious as the apartment in the previous video and with just one stove in the kitchen, the 3 families which share Gherman & Natasha's apartment have kitchen schedules so that each family gets a turn to prepare their own food.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-communal-kitchen.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-communal-kitchen.jpg)
Some things to remember when visiting a communal apartment:
- Be sure to hang your coat or jacket on the correct coat rack. Also, each family may have their own shoe rack for shoes so ask your host where to deposit your shoes when you are given slippers to wear. You'll be given slippers to wear so make sure to take off your shoes. If you'd like, bring your own slippers as it is okay with most hosts.
- Not only should you wash up with the host family's soap and dry with their towel, but toilet seats are separate too. Likely your host will have a coloured toilet seat that is different from the other families. It will be hanging on the wall so take the right one down for use and don't forget to hang it back on the wall when you're finished.
- Each door buzzer sounds slightly different so ring the right bell so as to not get your host in hot water with his close neighbors.
- When helping in the kitchen be sure to use the correct stove and refrigerator. In some smaller apartments those appliances are shared with neighbors. Cousin Gherman & Natasha also have a separate refrigerator in their bedroom in addition to the one shelf they are allotted in the communal kitchen fridge.
Perhaps you're wondering about privacy?
You're kidding, right?
Next question is likely about utilities. Who pays what and how is it determined?
Electricity for example can be calculated in several ways. Some communal apartments have one meter and each family pays their "share" based on the number of rooms they have (some families have more than one bedroom) and the number of persons in the family. Most remaining communal apartments have separate meters for each family bedroom and they split the expense of the common areas such as the hallway/entryway, bathroom and kitchen.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-communal-shower.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-communal-shower.jpg)
Most communal bathrooms are split into two very small rooms which allows more than one person to be in the area, yet with maximum privacy. The first half of the bathroom area is the toilet--pretty obvious as to the use. Hardly larger than a telephone booth the only thing in the room is the toilet commode itself. The other half is a small separate but adjoining room called the bathroom, or Ванная (van-na-ya). Also small, this room has a sink and a bathtub and that is all. Some older style bathrooms (as seen above) have just a shower and the sink is in a hallway near the bathroom.
Below: a one room living room by day and bedroom by night for everyone in this family.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-communal-bedroom.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/apt-communal-bedroom.jpg)
There is an excellent presentation of communal living by Colgate University at this site: http://kommunalka.colgate.edu/cfm/v_tours.cfm?ClipID=234&TourID=10 (http://kommunalka.colgate.edu/cfm/v_tours.cfm?ClipID=234&TourID=10)
Drop-down menus at the bottom of each video allow you to move to the next short video in the series which is hosted by Professor Ilya Utekhin, an anthropologist from European University in St. Petersburg, who lived in the building for over 30 years. Today he and his family live elsewhere, but one of the rooms in a fifth-floor apartment still belongs to him. Ilya's book, Studies in Communal Living, is the basis for this video tour.
(Photos by Aleksandr Hitrov)
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The ladies in our house seem to attach an "a" at the end of any animal bit it a dog or cat or whatever. I'm wondering now how offended our male cat is at being lumped in with his sister! :)
He is prolly having an identity crises right about now, Jim! Better find a psychologist for him quick!
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He is prolly having an identity crises right about now, Jim! Better find a psychologist for him quick!
Ed, not only for him, one for me too! Every affectionate nickname they call me, heck even Papa, has an "a" ending! ;D
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Ed, not only for him, one for me too! Every affectionate nickname they call me, heck even Papa, has an "a" ending! ;D
I am sure we can come up with a list of suggestions that do not end in "a" ;)
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I am sure we can come up with a list of suggestions that do not end in "a" ;)
go for it, Misha! I'm braindead right now... My GSD puppies wake me up every morning at 6am so I've been feeling like a Zombie for several days now. Thank God the are going to their new homes in 3 weeks! Knowing this is what keeps me going! :'(
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My cousin Gherman and his wife Natasha live in a (Коммунальная квартира) communal apartment in the centre of Moscow. Aunt Lyuba lives in a communal, too.
I am amazed they still exist. On the other hand, I can't find a reason why not. I bet it takes some social skills to live their in peace with other families.
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go for it, Misha! I'm braindead right now... My GSD puppies wake me up every morning at 6am so I've been feeling like a Zombie for several days now. Thank God the are going to their new homes in 3 weeks! Knowing this is what keeps me going! :'(
Let's see... зайчик, красовчик, котик, пусик...
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I am amazed they still exist. On the other hand, I can't find a reason why not. I bet it takes some social skills to live their in peace with other families.
yes... my wife's girlfriend owns a room in a communal apartment (kommunalka) although she doesn't live there any more... The communal bathroom there was very old and in terrible shape so she decided to have it renovated at her own expense. Once the work was finished her neighbors demanded money from her because "they liked the bathroom the way it used to be". They took her to court, but lost the case.
She now rents her room out and rents the place elsewhere in Moscow. Lucky for me I have never experienced the wonders of communal apartment living, but the theme was featured in many old Soviet movies so I have a pretty good idea of what it was like.
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go for it, Misha! I'm braindead right now... My GSD puppies wake me up every morning at 6am so I've been feeling like a Zombie for several days now. Thank God the are going to their new homes in 3 weeks! Knowing this is what keeps me going! :'(
Some of us don't have the luxury of sleeping past 6 am anyway!
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I find it intriguing that from posts on CraigsList and LiveJournal, etc, there is a growing movement for young singles to ease into communal apartments as a form of ownership. The concept is to buy a bedroom and when the next becomes available, purchase it, etc. At some point you own the whole apartment. We have a relative who owns 2 bedrooms so far and if a 3rd becomes available it will be snatched up too.
There are snags as Ed mentioned. I was reading on LiveJournal one evening the story of a young man who is using the strategy above of buying a bedroom at a time but his neighbors, likely seniors on a pension, and are not interested in helping him make improvements to the common areas.
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I bet it takes some social skills to live their in peace with other families.
Very true! One can imagine the discord if a guest uses the wrong coat rack, the wrong towels, etc. I'd be miffed too probably. I think also that seniors in one bedroom living next to a family with young children or teens would be a challenge.
Some of my most cherished memories with our departed Uncle Mikhail were over the holidays, sleeping 8-9-10 people in a single room. I didn't understand the need to do so and sometimes complained since we had a home about 40 minutes away, but today I'd give my right arm to spend another New Year in his family's apartment, even with his snoring only a few feet away and children strewn around on sofas and mattresses. Those things seemed inconvenient at the time but are some of the most cherished memories I carry today.
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Let's see... зайчик, красовчик, котик, пусик...
Now let's see if I can convert the ladies in the house to make these changes. :D
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- Not only should you wash up with the host family's soap and dry with their towel, but toilet seats are separate too. Likely your host will have a coloured toilet seat that is different from the other families. It will be hanging on the wall so take the right one down for use and don't forget to hang it back on the wall when you're finished.
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This caught my eye since I have built a few bathrooms . . . along with the rest of the house, apartments, etc.
These toilet seats must not be of the standard variety which could not be readily changed, or would slide around if not bolted down.
So how were such seats affixed, albeit temporarily?
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This caught my eye since I have built a few bathrooms . . . along with the rest of the house, apartments, etc.
These toilet seats must not be of the standard variety which could not be readily changed, or would slide around if not bolted down.
So how were such seats affixed, albeit temporarily?
ML, do you remember the late 80's when even Russian museums didn't have toilet seats? They'd be stolen in a day so the government simply didn't replace them. McDonalds experienced the problem of disappearing toilet seats early on too, but not for lack of replacement funding.
The problem of sliding seats must be viewed the same way that engineers installed the giant 600 ton, 83 ft tall Alexander Column on Palace Square in St Petersburg. No attachments were needed and the column is supported by its own weight. Hopefully you'll weigh enough if you ever visit a communal apartment to keep that baby from sliding around. :D
Not every communal has separate seats just as not every communal has a separate stove for each family. But if you do encounter it, simply ask the host about the correct colour and you'll be fine.
Edit/addition: Some of the seats have those places for bolts/screws on a bracket (I'm not a homebuilder) and it seems that those are removed for use, if that particular communal uses separate seats.
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Well, at least there are no arguments about whether or not the seat is left in the up or down position.. That helped ruin my last LTR.
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Very true! One can imagine the discord if a guest uses the wrong coat rack, the wrong towels, etc. I'd be miffed too probably. I think also that seniors in one bedroom living next to a family with young children or teens would be a challenge.
Some of my most cherished memories with our departed Uncle Mikhail were over the holidays, sleeping 8-9-10 people in a single room. I didn't understand the need to do so and sometimes complained since we had a home about 40 minutes away, but today I'd give my right arm to spend another New Year in his family's apartment, even with his snoring only a few feet away and children strewn around on sofas and mattresses. Those things seemed inconvenient at the time but are some of the most cherished memories I carry today.
My wife says she has never heard a good story come out of communal apartments. There's almost always grief and strife between the neighbours.
She just retold some stories of visiting and staying with relatives living in kommunalka - sounds pretty awful to me. Clash of personalities is one thing, disgusting bathroom habits in shared areas, theft, lack of privacy among other things too.
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Ade, I'd mostly agree with your wife. My personal experiences were on visits and holidays and therefore magical times in hindsight which I disliked it at the time. In real life these are nice places to visit and to see how the Soviet Union once operated for most Russians.
All that being said, I wouldn't want to have a "neighbor" who was as close as the next bedroom and who shared a bathroom and kitchen. The theft was something my cousin Gherman would tell you quickly is an issue, or in his case was until a certain neighbor moved out. If you have a dirty or unruly neighbor you have to go thru the local housing council to get it ironed out and who wants to put your life into the hands of a committee?
I do admire the young people who have caught the vision of buying these up, bedroom at a time, to eventually outright own and control the unit. If that gets them into home ownership at a measure they can afford, great. The rub comes however when that last neighbor doesn't want to sell. That is a problem bantered about on social media. If you are too aggressive in remodeling and making the place nice, then the remaining neighbors just rent out their bedrooms to complete strangers and make more on the rental market without any investment or sweat equity of their own. You did all the work, they get the financial benefits.
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I do admire the young people who have caught the vision of buying these up, bedroom at a time, to eventually outright own and control the unit. If that gets them into home ownership at a measure they can afford, great.
I also find this admirable. My wife did the same. She bought one room, sold it, bought another, renovated the bathroom and the neighbour that shared the bathroom in the next room refused to pay his share. Her goal, if she hadn't met me, was to sell her room and then buy a one-room apartment.... She took out a mortgage, made sacrifices to pay and build up her equity as these young people are doing in buying rooms in communal apartments. Hats off to them!
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One of the most genuine and fun TV personalities about travel is Andrew Zimmern. Ole Mendeleyev is also a big fan of Russian foods. So let's follow Andrew around in his two-part series in Saint Petersburg:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4AEFWQwZ5s
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The Faces on Ukraine, continued:
Ukraine (please do not say "the Ukraine") is spelled Україна and spoken as "ukra-eena" and is the second largest country in Europe. Ukraine's neighbors are the Russian Federation to east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary going west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south/southeast. Official languages are both Ukrainian and Russian. Both use the Cyrillic alphabet.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/faces-ukraine-3.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/faces-ukraine-3.jpg)
Ukraine has been ruled by the Greeks, the Turks, and Russia. Oddly enough, Ukraine was the birthplace of the country that grew into modern day Russia. The beautiful city of Kyiv (Kiev) was the first capital when the people were called the "kievan-Rus." Today Ukraine is an independent country.
The Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com).
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This is part of the Mendeleyev Journal's (http://russianreport.wordpress.com) continuing series on the faces of Russia.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/faces-icons.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/faces-icons.jpg)
These girls are holding icons in traditional styled towels. In some cases these may have been the "wedding towels" which bound their parents hands during the wedding ceremony and later with which they were baptized as babies and given their Orthodox saint name which becomes their first name throughout life.
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Official languages are both Ukrainian and Russian.
Are you sure about this?
Or just anticipating?
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ML, thanks as you are correct. My (reluctant) anticipation, I guess.
Earlier this month the Party of Regions,which holds the majority pushed the bill through the Rada (parliament) to make Russian an official language. President Yanukovich has not signed the bill saying that he was undecided on the issue. Some believe that the Constitution must be amended to reflect the change if it is signed into law, but supporters point out that the bill keeps Ukrainian as the official national language while allowing Russian to be an official language in areas where ten percent or more of residents are native Russian speakers.
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It was March of 1993. Had you come upon these two ladies in the fish market at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky would you have made a fish purchase?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/fish-market-petropavlovsk-kamchatsky-march-1993.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/fish-market-petropavlovsk-kamchatsky-march-1993.jpg)
We're guessing that you recognize the word вода, water (va-DAh). Yes, in case you were wondering, the name "vodka" водка, is a diminutive of the word water and means "little water." When saying "vodka" like a Russian remember that the D is modified when spoken because of a consonant cluster rule and you change the D sound so that vodka is spoken as "VOhT-ka" instead.
During the Soviet days some of the older вода (water) dispensers required that you use the same glass as the last million customers before you. More modern versions of the machines dispensed a glass or you brought your own.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/water-mineral.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/water-mineral.jpg)
As you can see the first three letters of the word at the top began with газ (gas), signaling that the water was carbonated.
You can use that same labeling today to determine whether a bottle of water is carbonated or not. Just look for газ (gas) on the label. If is isn't carbonated it will let you know with the term, не газа (no gas), "ne gaza." You'll see it on the first five letters of a bottle label as this: негазированная.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/water-no-gas.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/water-no-gas.jpg)
Third line on bottle, негазированная, no gas carbonation.
And if a market clerk asks, Вода - с газом или без? (Water - with gas or without?) just say something like "ne gaz" and she'll get the idea.
You can also specify Вода без газа (water without gas), "vah-dah bez gaza" to make sure you get the right bottle. Gassed/carbonated water increases the acidity of the stomach and can cause belching and painful cramps if your body isn't used to drinking water in that style.
Of course your lady may not understand your choice. She may respond with something resembling, почему пить воду без газа? Вроде с газом же тоже вода (Why drink water without gas? The gas is also the water).
When in doubt, drink the tea. Tea is made from non-gassed water that is boiled before serving.
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Another method is to squeeze the bottle. If it 'gives,' there is no gas.
If the bottle is rock solid to your squeeze, there is gas inside.
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Another method is to squeeze the bottle. If it 'gives,' there is no gas.
If the bottle is rock solid to your squeeze, there is gas inside.
Wow, didn't realize that. Thanks!
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Another method is to squeeze the bottle. If it 'gives,' there is no gas.
If the bottle is rock solid to your squeeze, there is gas inside.
How does it work with a glass bottle !! lol
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I've not seen that many glass water bottles, other than the high end bottled waters which do tend to be carbonated.
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Are there any limits on a Russian's love for caviar?
We've seen no limits, in fact can't think of a single Russian or Ukrainian who doesn't love roe. If one or two exists, they're hiding it well. Okay, last year the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com) showed readers the Lay's CRAB flavoured version of potato chips. Now it is time to kick the chip up a notch!
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/potato-chips-caviar.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/potato-chips-caviar.jpg)
(Red caviar potato chips.)
красная = red "kras-naya"
икра = roe (caviar) "e-kra"
красная икра = red caviar "kras-naya e-kra"
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Mendeleev,
just a small correction. Correct term for still water will be без газа (bez gaza), literal meaning "without gas" or негазированная if you can pronounce it. :D
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One of the most genuine and fun TV personalities about travel is Andrew Zimmern. Ole Mendeleyev is also a big fan of Russian foods. So let's follow Andrew around in his two-part series in Saint Petersburg:
Great show... Despite of how it looks on TV, I am not sure how many westerners who are not food-curious would really like Russian food. I remember going out of my ways once to bring a can of black caviar to Canada, we opened it when we had a big party, and the reception was lukewarm, it didn't look like people liked it...
The west has started to come around though, you can find decent "smetana" (sour cream, usually sold as plain natural yogurt of certain brands) and very good kefir in local supermarkets. Pickled herring is still quite a bit of a problem, unless you have specialized Russian stores in the area. Nothing beats Dutch pickled herring anyway, but you have to go to Amsterdam for that. A lot of other things you have to pretty much pickle/cure yourself, if you know how.
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Great show... Despite of how it looks on TV, I am not sure how many westerners who are not food-curious would really like Russian food. I remember going out of my ways once to bring a can of black caviar to Canada, we opened it when we had a big party, and the reception was lukewarm, it didn't look like people liked it...
Too bad for them....
I remember when black caviar was still affordable... we used to buy a kilo for around 400 bucks or so. When our son was a young toddler he used to have a spoon full or two for breakfast.... He would go absolutely nuts when he saw the jar come out of the fridge...
When I tried I would usually get my hand slapped.... 'It's for your baby!!!' don't you care about him?
That was when I started snacking at midnight.....
My parents did not like it that awful much which was a bit strange... they love beef tongue though - an acquired taste from our years in France.
Is a wonderful delight. I hope folks in the west do not acquire the taste for it so that the sturgeon recover along with conservation efforts.
Sad to think though that even at the most fancy western parties much gets thrown out... 'fish eggs'... 'ewww'..... I spent most of my time near the kitchen inspecting trays going towards the wash section....
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I remember when black caviar was still affordable... we used to buy a kilo for around 400 bucks or so.
In the 1970s I did a water pollution survey of the Caspian Sea for the UN. One side benefit was caviar. The caviar from the huge sturgeon was large in size and black in color (Beluga). It was highly prized but I preferred smaller variety with a slight gold tint, referred to as golden caviar. Unlike the Soviet coast, the Iranian coast was largely unpolluted, and the sturgeon thrived in the snow runoff waters from the Alborz Mountains in the South Caspian.
I became addicted to caviar. Unlike what one would buy at the best restaurants today for $200-400 per appetizer serving, the local caviar was fresh - recently cultivated and not pasteurized and salted and sealed in a tin. In the smaller towns I would buy 400g for $30-40.
I remember it well because I made a full meal of caviar about three times each week. I would buy freshly baked Iranian flatbread, and while the bread was still warm I would make caviar open faced sandwiches with a touch of minced onions and fresh lemon. And I piled on the caviar in a thick layer.
I would personally consume over a kg per week of this prized caviar. Probably unattainable today. Incredulous! I can not imagine my cholesterol intake.
In a few ways, the old days were better.
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Ranetka,
Thank you for taking part in this topic! I think that we are one the same page.
Yes, негазированная can be difficult at first but with a little practice is possible to say. Perhaps you can help me break it down What do you think of this? ne gaz i ra van naya.
Please look it over and correct as needed.
I believe that the "ro" syllable is stressed and the "o" would thus be pronounced as o and not a. This is what I have confirmed here: http://starling.rinet.ru/morph.htm
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I remember when black caviar was still affordable...
I remember it well because I made a full meal of caviar about three times each week. I would buy freshly baked Iranian flatbread, and while the bread was still warm I would make caviar open faced sandwiches with a touch of minced onions and fresh lemon. And I piled on the caviar in a thick layer.
I would personally consume over a kg per week of this prized caviar. Probably unattainable today. Incredulous! I can not imagine my cholesterol intake.
Haha, this reminds me of a movie scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23MO0B6Sd_g
-Not caviar again! I can't eat the damn thing every day! Can't you get me some bread instead?
-OMG, where could you possibly find bread nowadays?
We used to make salted fresh red caviar by ourselves too, maybe that's why I prefer it to canned black
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You guys are awesome. Mrs. M just arrived home from some time at the dacha and also concurs that the O is stressed. Thanks to each of you.
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Flashback to 24- 25 July 1959: A historic event took place during the cold war between Soviet leader Khrushchev and U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon.
Mr. Nixon had arrived in Moscow to open the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park and as Khrushchev and Nixon strolled through the exhibit they paused at the model of a suburban American kitchen and it wasn't long before a heated dispute broke out between the two men. Elliott Erwitt, a press photographer captured this famous photograph of Nixon jabbing his finger at Khrushchev in the debate. Nixon supposedly said: "We're rich and you're poor. We eat meat, you eat cabbage". Khrushchev, who had a hair trigger temper, is said to have responded with: "Да пошел ты на х*й!"
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/khrushchev-and-nixon.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/khrushchev-and-nixon.jpg)
The American exhibit was a model house was on display. It was a simple but efficient model that most Americans could afford and inside were various labor-saving appliances as a display of the American consumer market. The famous debate was recorded using the brand new technology of color videotape, pioneered in the U.S., and Nixon made reference to this fact; it was subsequently rebroadcast in both countries.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/krushchev-and-nixon-2.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/krushchev-and-nixon-2.jpg)
Both countries agreed to broadcast the debate however Premier Khrushchev was skeptical that his part in the debate would be translated into English for American viewers. The Americans and Russians agreed to air the debates on national TV on the same date however the Russians wanted to wait until the excitement over the exhibits had died down as the American home products had embarrassed the Russians.
Back in the USA however the big three major networks, independent of government control, felt that a delay was unfair as the debates constituted immediate news and proceeded to broadcast the now famous "Kitchen debate" on 25 July.
The US networks translated Khrushchev's dialog and they were broadcast in full as promised. However when the Soviets decided to air the Russia language version of the debates two days later on 27 July, Nixon's remarks were only partially translated into English and the Soviet broadcast was delayed until late at night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7HqOrAakco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6RLCw1OZFw
Reprinted from the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com).
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In the 1970s I did a water pollution survey of the Caspian Sea for the UN. One side benefit was caviar. The caviar from the huge sturgeon was large in size and black in color (Beluga). It was highly prized but I preferred smaller variety with a slight gold tint, referred to as golden caviar. Unlike the Soviet coast, the Iranian coast was largely unpolluted, and the sturgeon thrived in the snow runoff waters from the Alborz Mountains in the South Caspian.
I became addicted to caviar. Unlike what one would buy at the best restaurants today for $200-400 per appetizer serving, the local caviar was fresh - recently cultivated and not pasteurized and salted and sealed in a tin. In the smaller towns I would buy 400g for $30-40.
I remember it well because I made a full meal of caviar about three times each week. I would buy freshly baked Iranian flatbread, and while the bread was still warm I would make caviar open faced sandwiches with a touch of minced onions and fresh lemon. And I piled on the caviar in a thick layer.
I would personally consume over a kg per week of this prized caviar. Probably unattainable today. Incredulous! I can not imagine my cholesterol intake.
In a few ways, the old days were better.
stop torturing me!!! Here I'm sitting, drooling all over myself after reading this post!!! Bad Phil!
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Flashback to 24- 25 July 1959: A historic event took place during the cold war between Soviet leader Khrushchev and U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon.
Mr. Nixon had arrived in Moscow to open the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park and as Khrushchev and Nixon strolled through the exhibit they paused at the model of a suburban American kitchen and it wasn't long before a heated dispute broke out between the two men. Elliott Erwitt, a press photographer captured this famous photograph of Nixon jabbing his finger at Khrushchev in the debate. Nixon supposedly said: "We're rich and you're poor. We eat meat, you eat cabbage". Khrushchev, who had a hair trigger temper, is said to have responded with: "Да пошел ты на х*й!"
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/khrushchev-and-nixon.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/khrushchev-and-nixon.jpg)
The American exhibit was a model house was on display. It was a simple but efficient model that most Americans could afford and inside were various labor-saving appliances as a display of the American consumer market. The famous debate was recorded using the brand new technology of color videotape, pioneered in the U.S., and Nixon made reference to this fact; it was subsequently rebroadcast in both countries.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/krushchev-and-nixon-2.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/krushchev-and-nixon-2.jpg)
Both countries agreed to broadcast the debate however Premier Khrushchev was skeptical that his part in the debate would be translated into English for American viewers. The Americans and Russians agreed to air the debates on national TV on the same date however the Russians wanted to wait until the excitement over the exhibits had died down as the American home products had embarrassed the Russians.
Back in the USA however the big three major networks, independent of government control, felt that a delay was unfair as the debates constituted immediate news and proceeded to broadcast the now famous "Kitchen debate" on 25 July.
The US networks translated Khrushchev's dialog and they were broadcast in full as promised. However when the Soviets decided to air the Russia language version of the debates two days later on 27 July, Nixon's remarks were only partially translated into English and the Soviet broadcast was delayed until late at night.
Reprinted from the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com).
Really interesting to watch these videos! What a striking contrast between the leaders of 2 countries. The clownish, immatureish style of Khrschev makes Nixon really look like a true statesman and an excellent diplomat. It's almost like watching a teen next to a grown up. Thanks for posting these! I haven't seen these originally since I was still in my mom's belly when this was originally on :))
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Thanks for posting these!
With pleasure, Ed.
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The Russian word for eggs is яйца (YEEt-sa).
Maybe someone has pointed this out already but as it just caught my wife's eye as I scrolled past I thought I'd say; that should be yaĭtsa not yeetsa. FWIW, Google translate seems to do a pretty good job of the phonetic representation.
;)
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Maybe someone has pointed this out already but as it just caught my wife's eye as I scrolled past I thought I'd say; that should be yaĭtsa not yeetsa. FWIW, Google translate seems to do a pretty good job of the phonetic representation.
;)
this word has a double meaning, used for "eggs" and also for "balls". And this is what makes Russia so interesting! :P
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Flashback to 24- 25 July 1959: A historic event took place during the cold war between Soviet leader Khrushchev and U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon.
Mr. Nixon had arrived in Moscow to open the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park and as Khrushchev and Nixon strolled through the exhibit they paused at the model of a suburban American kitchen and it wasn't long before a heated dispute broke out between the two men. Elliott Erwitt, a press photographer captured this famous photograph of Nixon jabbing his finger at Khrushchev in the debate. Nixon supposedly said: "We're rich and you're poor. We eat meat, you eat cabbage". Khrushchev, who had a hair trigger temper, is said to have responded with: "Да пошел ты на х*й!"
somehow, after watching the videos and watching Nixon being very professional as a diplomat, it is very hard to believe that Nixon would lose his cool...
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It never ceases to amaze at the parallels between North American Indians and some of Russia's Siberian and Far Eastern tribes. We can read of land bridges to Alaska and how ancient peoples may have traveled to Canada and into what is now the USA, but that a native American Indian in North America could be related to groups in Asian Russia is a marvel. That they could understand each others dialects after so many years is just as interesting.
Russia's Altai Republic is a federal subject of the Russian Federation and the capital city is Gorno-Altaysk with a population of over 200,000. The area of southern/Siberian Russia borders China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan and is home to the mighty grey river, the Katun.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/altai-dreamcatcher.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/altai-dreamcatcher.jpg)
What is this called in Altai and across Siberia: Ловец снов (dream catcher).
What is this called in Indian communities of southwest USA? A dream catcher.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/faces-i.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/faces-i.jpg)
So just how closely related are these people groups to North American Indians?
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That they could understand each others dialects after so many years is just as interesting.
That is a bit of a stretch. The only indigenous populations that might understand each others dialects would be the Yupik speakers of the Chukotka and the Alaskan Yup'ik population, and even here they would likely not understand much of what was being said. Then, there are perhaps a dozen or so people left in Russia who speak the Aleutian language that would be of course much more closely related to the Aleut language of Alaska.
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this word has a double meaning, used for "eggs" and also for "balls". And this is what makes Russia so interesting! :P
But not as much as it could have been, thanks to Unilever :D
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this word has a double meaning, used for "eggs" and also for "balls". And this is what makes Russia so interesting! :P
I thought the Russian language (in everyday use) did refer to testicles as eggs, whereas we use the term balls.
So not too surprising.
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It never ceases to amaze at the parallels between North American Indians and some of Russia's Siberian and Far Eastern tribes. We can read of land bridges to Alaska and how ancient peoples may have traveled to Canada and into what is now the USA, but that a native American Indian in North America could be related to groups in Asian Russia is a marvel. That they could understand each others dialects after so many years is just as interesting.
I can understand the amazement about understanding the dialects.
But why are you amazed that there are parallels?
They are the same people who have just moved around via migration.
They moved even farther; to the tip of South America.
I remember back in my college days visiting in a geography professor's office.
I commented on the beautiful 'Indian' blanket hanging on his wall.
He corrected me saying he had gotten it during a visit to eastern Russia.
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That is a bit of a stretch. The only indigenous populations that might understand each others dialects would be the Yupik speakers of the Chukotka and the Alaskan Yup'ik population, and even here they would likely not understand much of what was being said. Then, there are perhaps a dozen or so people left in Russia who speak the Aleutian language that would be of course much more closely related to the Aleut language of Alaska.
While no one would suggest fluency, I don't find it a stretch. I've been told that one of the reasons that the code talkers were limited to the Pacific theatre, one for reasons of limited number of personnel, but for caution that some of the Red Army units from the Far East might have some level of understanding.
As for language linkage between North American Indians and Asia/Russia, research from a study at Western Washington University suggest otherwise. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080326-language-link.html (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080326-language-link.html)
Language is one consideration, additionally a University of Pennsylvania DNA study suggests that some American Indians can be traced back to Siberia, including the Altai region from where the "dream catcher" photo was taken. According to the study the Aanthropologists used markers in mitochondrial DNA, which according to their report is maternally inherited, and in Y chromosome DNA, which is passed from fathers to sons. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2092258/Native-Americans-actually-came-tiny-mountain-region-Russia-DNA-research-reveals.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2092258/Native-Americans-actually-came-tiny-mountain-region-Russia-DNA-research-reveals.html)
See also the report from the Arctic Studies Centre. http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/peopling_siberia.html (http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/peopling_siberia.html)
On the other hand a study from UC Davis suggests that there is no relation between North American Indians and those found in Asia. http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=9101 (http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=9101)
Other studies seem to suggest that some North American Indians come from the Middle East. http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_adn05.htm (http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_adn05.htm)
I'm no scientist and perhaps that is why no matter whether or not they originate from Asia, some of the similarities are interesting to say the least.
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But why are you amazed that there are parallels?
I write as a journalist and ML I'm amazed, intrigued and fascinated by many things. :)
We live in a world, and in my opinion especially parts of the West, seem to have an increasingly small view of our planet and the peoples and histories of this planet. The world is becoming smaller to an educated person like yourself, but if you told the "average Joe" on the street that many things about life, food, dress, transportation and culture were the same in 1910 Kiev as in 1910 Saint Louis, you might discover that "average Joe" could find that hard to grasp.
So, I hope to remain amazed, intrigued and fascinated, else I'll find another career.
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Mendy, I know the research. Linguists found similarities for some words, birch bark notably, which suggests that the Ket and Na-Dene languages shared a common ancestral language thousands of years ago. However, they would still not understand each other even if talkimg solely about birch bark.
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Misha, if you know the research, then that is good enough for me.
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This is a nice summary of the scientific research: http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/pdfs/data/1998/154-20/15420-10.pdf
This is the scientific article: http://www.pnas.org/content/95/23/13994.full.pdf
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I saw a special on NatGeo channel (or may be it was Discovery) where the show was about the scientists who were working on tracing the DNA of early Indians' remains found in N. America. After a lot of searching they conclusively traced the DNA to a Siberian ethnic group. I believe it was Chukchi, but I might be mistaken.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Knockoffs can be found in almost any part of the world and the FSU isn't about to left behind when it comes to stealing a good idea. Starbucks immediately comes to mind--a Russian company held the rights to the name and while Coffee House, McCafe and others were making a killing, Starbucks sat on the sidelines for years as legal cases slowly drug their way thru the Russian courts. Today Starbucks can be found in the FSU, but they're a baby still due to so much lost time.
One of the most common knockoffs is McDonalds, МcДональдс.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/mc-d-knockoff.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/mc-d-knockoff.jpg)
Not quite McDonalds in Ukraine's Yalta area.There was a rumour for awhile that McDonalds was considering the purchase of one Russian ripoff, McPeak, but they haven't done so as far as I know.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/mcdonalds-knockoff-2.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/mcdonalds-knockoff-2.jpg)
McD....wait, Mak Duck?!Another blatant knockoff is McFoxy, the Ukrainian ripoff of McDonalds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDfGWOuFWc8
Here, have a coupon next time you're in Ukraine:
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/mcdonalds-mcfoxy.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/mcdonalds-mcfoxy.jpg)
McFoxy is Ukraine's version of a McDonalds knockoff.
McDonalds is suing McFoxy in Ukrainian courts.
Speaking of McDonalds and lawsuits, Mickey D recently won a land mark case in Russia, a case which observers say will forever change the Russian fast food market. For those who say that the entire Russian judicial system solely favours the home team, you may wish to think twice.
The Moscow Oblast Federal Tax Authority had set tax rates at 18% for restaurant. McDonalds sued, and won, by convincing the court that it is not a restaurant but instead, a grocery store/market for prepackaged foods.
McDonalds attorneys were able to successfully argue that their chain of stores provides no traditional restaurant services. Instead they sell preprepared and packaged food, when customers come in to order it. They were able to prove that most of their food is prepared in advance and the final packaging is completed as it is ordered by a customer.
If that a ripoff to Russian consumers? Well not really as smart businesses generally pass along increased costs and that is one cost that will not be "on the menu" however other restaurants will benefit from the same ruling. From McDonalds, McPick, KFC, McBlin, Burger King, Wendys and many other fast food restaurants will enjoy the 10% sales tax instead of 18%.
Just in case you're wondering, traditional restaurants will continue to pay the 18%.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/v4ifkl1dfz0.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/v4ifkl1dfz0.jpg)
Hmm...it's not McDonalds!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEwYcYtLkZ4
We leave this report with a flashback to the day in 1990 when the first McDonalds opened in Moscow, a Canadian venture, so for this report we go to the archives of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zb1WJxvOXc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amx-JHhtsHw
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As reported today in the Mendeleyev Journal, (http://russianreport.wordpress.com) one of the things to love about modern Russia is that by simply walking 60 to 100 yards to the left or right one can step back into time by a few hundred or even a thousand plus years, and then continue back into the 21st century in plenty of time for dinner.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/mol3-nazbwa.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/mol3-nazbwa.jpg)
Russia is home to some of the most important rivers in Europe. The Volga is the largest and longest of all European Rivers, traveling over two thousand miles to the Caspian Sea. On the Asian side the shores of Lake Baikal mark the largest freshwater lake in the world while deep in Siberia are enormous taiga pine forests.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/iversky-mens-monastery-valdai-russia.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/iversky-mens-monastery-valdai-russia.jpg)
(Iversky Men's Monastery, Valdai, Russia.)
The country is blessed with beautiful and ancient churches of which many are being returned by the government to their communities to again be used for local worship.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/z_033b0ff8.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/z_033b0ff8.jpg)
Russia embodies some of the most beautiful pieces of European and Asian history with many UNESCO World Heritage sites across this great land. Moscow is the historical and business capital while St. Petersburg is considered as the cultural capital of Russia.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/children.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/children.jpg)
Christianity came to Russia from Byzantium in 988, and over the centuries has remained a fixture of the Russian culture and life. The Russian Orthodox church is largest autocephalous, or ecclesiastically independent, Eastern Orthodox church in the world. Over 70 years of Communism did not snuff out the Christian faith, although it tried.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/candles-pretty.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/candles-pretty.jpg)
(Young woman takes time from the modern world for her timeless faith.)
Some are surprised to learn that Peter the Great wasn't of the House of Romanov. He was the Tsar who expanded Russia’s territory and opened the country to European politics, art and culture.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/y_a8f21069.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/y_a8f21069.jpg)
(The Church on the Spilled Blood, Saint Petersburg.)
World-class art is on display in Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery and St. Petersburg’s Hermitage. Russia's Trans-Siberian Railway connects east and west from Moscow over the Urals, thru Siberia and on to the Far East. By the time your journey ends at Vladivostok you'll have traveled one third of the way around the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ItZFNegL80
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Sunday was Navy Day in Russia, a national holiday in Russia celebrated each year on the last Sunday of July. The Russian Navy, recognized by the Symbols ВМФ (VMF) is a branch of the Russian Armed Forces and dates back to 1696 when established by Peter the Great.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-day-2012-g.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-day-2012-g.jpg)
The regular Russian Navy fleets are the Pacific (headquartered in Vladivostok), Northern (Severomorsk), Baltic (Kaliningrad), Black Sea (Sevastopol) and Caspian Sea (Astrakhan) . Many spectators of Navy Day events wear the traditional black/blue and white stripes, uniform colours of the Russian Navy.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-day-2012-s.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-day-2012-s.jpg)
(Navy Day parade, Saint Petersburg.)
In Russia's northern capital of Saint Petersburg, hundreds of residents and guests lined Admiralty embankment to wave and cheer for Russian sailors. This week Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov, Russia's top Naval Commander, announced negotiations with Cuba, Vietnam and the Indian Ocean island country of Seychelles about the establishment of Russian naval ports.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-day-2012-d.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-day-2012-d.jpg)
(Naval parade, Vladivostok.)
Russian Navy Day celebrations began in 1939. This year Russia and Ukraine shared joint celebrations in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol, the first time since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
In Naval cities across Russia, celebrations included laying flowers at monuments to sailors, parades of naval ships, picnics in parks and city squares, concerts in the evenings and capped off with fireworks displays. King Neptune and his entourage are often a part of Navy Day festivities.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-day-2012-missile-cruiser-varyag.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-day-2012-missile-cruiser-varyag.jpg)
(Navy Missile Cruiser, the Varyag.)
In recent years the Navy has sent ships to more foreign port cities, including India and as far away as the Philippine Islands. Officials say that these visits are meant to strengthen existing friendly relations and enhance understanding and cooperation.
On Monday Russian President Vladimir Putin participated in the commissioning ceremony for the Knyaz Vladimir nuclear-powered submarine. The ceremony was held at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk. The president promised that by 2020 Russia would have eight Borei-class submarines in operation around the world.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/putin-prez-navy-new-sub.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/putin-prez-navy-new-sub.jpeg)
(New Nuclear submarine ceremony was held at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk with President Putin.)
Knyaz Vladimir is the lead ship of the renewed Borei-A class submarines with improved nuclear-missile weapons: each submarine will carry 20 Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles. Sevmash is the only shipyard in Russia that constructs nuclear-powered submarines. Over the course of its history, the plant has produced 128 submarines for the Russian Navy.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/putin-prez-navy-new-sub-a.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/putin-prez-navy-new-sub-a.jpeg)
(New Nuclear submarine ceremony in Severodvinsk with President Putin.)
The Borei class submarine is intended to replace the Delta III, Delta IV and Typhoon classes now in Russian Navy service. The class is named after Boreas, the North wind. Construction on the first of the Borei class subs (officially designated "Project 935") began in 1996.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-submarine-vladivostok.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-submarine-vladivostok.jpg)
(Navy submarine, Vladivostok.)
The Navy holds a place of special honour in the hearts and minds of many Russians. It was the Baltic Fleet’s battles on the approaches to Leningrad and its heroic defense during the Great Patriotic War that demonstrated the courage and ingenuity of Russian sailors in defending the homeland.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-uniforms.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-uniforms.jpg)
"Нас мало, но мы в тельняшках!"
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(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-uniforms.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/navy-uniforms.jpg)
"Нас мало, но мы в тельняшках!"
тельняшка is the striped shirt that is a part of sailors' uniform (which is a sourse of pride and inspiration). So "Нас мало, но мы в тельняшках!" translates as "There is few of us, but we are wearing тельняшка!". I think this phrase became famous from an old Soviet war movie about heroic deeds of Russian sailors, but I'm not entirely sure of it.
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I didn't know about the movie connection, Ed, but wearing these shirts has taken on an almost cult status as former sailors and especially their family members wear them with great pride.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYtx_OAyQ5s
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIPSZq2Itf4
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тельняшка is the striped shirt that is a part of sailors' uniform (which is a sourse of pride and inspiration). So "Нас мало, но мы в тельняшках!" translates as "There is few of us, but we are wearing тельняшка!". I think this phrase became famous from an old Soviet war movie about heroic deeds of Russian sailors, but I'm not entirely sure of it.
It is thought that the expression "Nas malo, no my v telnyashkakh!" first appeared during WWII. Every time when Soviet sailors joined foot solders to fight on land they proved to be formidable fighters: We are few in number, but we wear telnyashkakh (meaning we are hard to beat!)
Later, the expression gained wide usage among civilians, and it was/is sometimes used in a humorous way (mostly by males). Its (hidden) meaning is: We are few in number, but we are Real Men...with all the ensuing consequences :)
(http://dozor.com.ua/content/documents/11113/1111284/thumb-article-419x315-ad77.jpg)
To be honest, I have the impression that nowadays, telnyashkakh is often viewed by many young people as being the romantic symbol of the sea rather than the symbol of men's bravery...
(http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTwvIIeP6zRl_Qvl9NpPxL3sAVP9yiGl6DNG6cMIpE1UWivp5_Hn0VuPWQ0)
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Blue-striped shirts for sailors are/were used in other navies, too, witness the Breton matelot shirts:
(http://images.wikifashion.com/uploads/8/8c/French-Sailors-in-Breton-Stripes.jpg)
French sailors in the Breton top
History
The striped breton shirt as we know it today came into being shortly following the 27th March, 1858 Act of France which introduced the navy-and-white striped knitted shirt as the uniform for all French navy seaman in Brittany. The shirt was originally known as marinière or matelot. The original design featured 21 stripes, one for each of Napolean's victories.
Since 1889, the garment was manufactured by Bretagne's Tricots Saint James in wool and cotton for sailors. It then become popular with Breton workers, for its ease of wear and practicality. The official striped navy-and-white shirt became more generally a working mariner garment as it was picked up by men of the sea; seafarers and sailors across the region of Northern France. The distinctive block pattern of stripes on the French striped shirt made them easier to spot in the waves. The garment usually had a boat neckline.
Fashion
Inspired by sailors, after a visit to the French coast, Coco Chanel introduced the design to the fashion world through her nautical collection in 1917
http://wikifashion.com/wiki/Breton_stripes
(http://ris.fashion.telegraph.co.uk/RichImageService.svc/imagecontent/1/TMG8361929/m/hannah-betts-1_1840673a.jpg)
Coco Chanel (played here by Audrey Tautou)
Isn't the тельня́шка also worn by Spetsnaz units?
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Isn't the тельня́шка also worn by Spetsnaz units?
Sandro, I heard of new Service (daily wear) Spetsnaz Uniforms approved this year. Whether the тельняшка has been replaced by some other type of shirts I don't know, sorry. :-\
My guess is that the old good тельняшка --- (slang terms for it: тельник, нательник) --- is remaining the "uniform item" still authorized for wear with Spetsnaz VDV (Airborne troops) working and combat uniforms.
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It is thought that the expression "Nas malo, no my v telnyashkakh!" first appeared during WWII. Every time when Soviet sailors joined foot solders to fight on land they proved to be formidable fighters:
Ghost of Moon Goddess, thank you. :)
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"Live broadcast is Freedom!", says Savik Shuster, a journalist and host of a live social political talk show "Shuster Live”.
Savik's original way of exploiting the тельняшка to look convincing as well as to convince viewers to believe IN him
has worked for him :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc8R3kOH72s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc8R3kOH72s)
Ghost of Moon Goddess, thank you. :)
My pleasure :)
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On this day in history, 4 August 1941, the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com) takes a moment to honour those who gave everything they had in defense of their homeland.
Нет больше той любви, как если кто положит душу свою за други своя.
(Св. Евангелие от Иоанна 15:13)
There is no greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
(St. John 15:13)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cemetery.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cemetery.jpg)
By early August 1941 the Nazi army was surrounding Kiev and already rounding up and killing Ukrainian Jews by the hundreds. Although outnumbered, the poorly equipped Red Army dug in and bravely made the Nazis pay for each meter they advanced.
On the following day, 5 August, the Nazi Army would overrun the battered Russian city of Smolensk.
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Today in the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com), Надзея Астапчук (English: Nadzeya Ostapchuk) won the gold medal Monday in the women’s shot put after a 21.36-meter launch. Unfortunately few international fans cheered her on and instead many were preoccupied with her looks. Calling her everything from ugly to a "man" the fan base of the Olympic chose to humiliate someone who achieved a milestone via hard work and effort rather than looks.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/olympic-winner-shot-put-woman1.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/olympic-winner-shot-put-woman1.jpg)
She finished fourth in the 2004 Summer Olympics. We're sorry that the world is full of jerks and offer to you Nadzeya, our sincere congratulations.
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С Днем Рождения, любимый город! (Happy birthday, dear city!)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-lenin-street.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-lenin-street.jpg)
(Lenin Street, Omsk.)
Omsk State Transport University (OSTU) is one of the oldest educational institutions in Siberia and serves to train Trans Siberian Railway managers and engineers. Tsentralny Airport (Russian: Аэропорт Центральный (IATA: OMS, ICAO: UNOO) is the main airport in the region.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-days-medvedev1.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-days-medvedev1.jpg)
(Arrival of Prime Minister Medvedev in Omsk.)
By Russian standards, Omsk is still a baby at just 296 years old. Nonetheless Omsk is an important part of the Russian Federation and has a great history to share with her citizens. For our student readers Omsk is spelled the same way in English and Cyrillic Russian, Омск, O-m-s-k.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-days-flag.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-days-flag.jpg)
East of the towering Ural mountains, Omsk is the second largest city in Siberia with over a million population. Is is both the seat of the Russian Orthodox Bishop of Omsk & Tara and the spiritual center of Muslims in Siberia, home to the Imam of Siberia.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-church.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-church.jpg)
Omsk is the junction point of the northern and southern branches of the Trans Siberian Railway, where the north-flowing Irtysh meets the Om River.
Prime Minister Medvedev is again in the region and Monday took the advantage of chairing a meeting on railway tariffs policy while riding the train from Omsk to Tomsk during his working visit to Siberia. The Prime Minister told his staff that “The railway pricing policy should be planned for a long-term period, which is something everyone is interested in: the railways, industry, the regions and all Russians as the end beneficiaries”.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/medvedev-on-trans-siberian-omsk-to-tomsk.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/medvedev-on-trans-siberian-omsk-to-tomsk.jpeg)(
(Prime Minister Medvedev conducts meeting on a train.)
Famous Omsk residents have included writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky and the anti-Bolshevik "Supreme Ruler of Russia" Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak, commander of the anti-Soviet White Army who chose Omsk as his base and "capital of Russia" in 1918–1919.
The wife of one of our favourite photographers, Ilya Varlamov, is from Omsk.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-days.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-days.jpg)
Omsk is home to several Universities along with a symphony, ballet and theatre.
Today, Omsk is Russia's seventh largest city and at the breakup of the Soviet Union the region was included in the Russian Federation. The independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan gave Omsk an international border to the south.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-days-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-days-c.jpg)
Omsk was chosen as the site of a fortress by Peter the Great during a expedition of the region. A wood fortress was established in 1716 and by they 1850s Omsk had grown to become the capital of Western Siberia. While the official birthday is 1716, the Russian history of Omsk can be said to begin with the 1584 arrival of a Cossack force which defeated local rulers and established nominal Russian control of the area.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-old.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/omsk-old.jpg)
Older style houses demonstrate what Omsk and Siberia was like in earlier years. Unfortunately, these houses are not protected as historical sites and officials sometimes seem eager to have them removed in favour of modern and taller buildings. Sadly, many of these treasures may be lost forever.
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In the current edition of the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com) we are reminded that over the centuries, those who have invaded Russia have done so by land, by sea, in more modern times by air, and via by the vast network of rivers and waterways across this expansive land. So it is no surprise that part of Russia's defense includes protecting her rivers and waterways.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/1yzjrsvgu7a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/1yzjrsvgu7a.jpg)
Can you find the operator of this floating gun platform? Look closely at the centre. Click on the photo for a closer view.
Russian naval personnel are trained to fight both on land and water.
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In the current edition of the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com) we are reminded that over the centuries, those who have invaded Russia have done so by land, by sea, in more modern times by air, and via by the vast network of rivers and waterways across this expansive land. So it is no surprise that part of Russia's defense includes protecting her rivers and waterways.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/1yzjrsvgu7a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/1yzjrsvgu7a.jpg)
Can you find the operator of this floating gun platform? Look closely at the centre. Click on the photo for a closer view.
Russian naval personnel are trained to fight both on land and water.
I want one!
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Today in the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com), Надзея Астапчук (English: Nadzeya Ostapchuk) won the gold medal Monday in the women’s shot put after a 21.36-meter launch. Unfortunately few international fans cheered her on and instead many were preoccupied with her looks. Calling her everything from ugly to a "man" the fan base of the Olympic chose to humiliate someone who achieved a milestone via hard work and effort rather than looks.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/olympic-winner-shot-put-woman1.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/olympic-winner-shot-put-woman1.jpg)
She finished fourth in the 2004 Summer Olympics. We're sorry that the world is full of jerks and offer to you Nadzeya, our sincere congratulations.
That's why She has the Gold Medal and the fans do not.
Good Work Nadzeya. :)
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I want one!
A little large for the Rio Grande where it is needed, but a great idea. LOL
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newJason:
That's why She has the Gold Medal and the fans do not.
Good Work Nadzeya.
+1
With sincere apologies, we failed to mention that she is from Belarus.
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In Russia BYOB means "Bring Your Own Bag."
When shopping in the former Soviet Union it is common for the customer to bring your own bag to the store. Western grocery stores provide plastic bags as a convenience, building the nominal cost into the price of goods. However in a Russian supermarket is it customary to provide your own пакет. That word is "packet" and how Russians say bag, or the packet, in which you carry things home from the market.
A convenient way to carry groceries and other items is to bring several cloth shopping bags with you. These are popular but still not as common so be prepared to give them away as gifts before you leave. Cloth bags make it easy to carry groceries on the Metro or on the bus.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/181392_3492015100977_1554954084_n1.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/181392_3492015100977_1554954084_n1.jpg)
Of course a Russian supermarket will have plastic bags if you failed to bring your own, but you'll pay a small fee for the bag and most shoppers carry an extra plastic bag or two in a pocket or purse. A cashier may ask "пакет нужен" which is a way to inquire if you need a packet/bag. If you don't need a bag you may respond with нет, спасибо ("nyet spasiba") which means "no thanks" but if you need a bag(s), then да, пожалуйста ("da pazhulusta") meaning "yes, please" is the best answer.
In most Russian supermarkets, the large superstores being the exception, you'll bag your own items after paying the cashier. At some small neighborhood markets and kiosks one runs the risk of carrying vegetables home in your pockets without bring a bag.
Finally, be sure to check expiration dates on supermarket items. Often only one date, the production date, is stamped to indicate when the item was produced. If you see two dates, then the manufacturer has stamped the production date and the expiration date.
From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com).
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newJason:
+1
With sincere apologies, we failed to mention that she is from Belarus.
Mendy, granted I tend to only watch the Olympic sports that interest me and ladies shot put isn't one of them. I can't imagine the negativity you mentioned. Who and where was that from?
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It seemed to have started when another athlete tweeted that he believed she was using drugs. He went on to say that he'd rather not win if he had to look like her. Apparently it snowballed from there.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/19165209 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/19165209)
Here is a sampling of comments: http://twitter.com/AnthonyCumia/status/232707019830861826 (http://twitter.com/AnthonyCumia/status/232707019830861826)
The Blog "LeftFootForward" (with which I rarely agree on anything) put it best by writing:
On the surface it seems women are finally gaining the recognition and respect as sportswomen that they deserve. And in the case of Ennis and Pendleton, whose dominance of their respective sports has meant massive sponsorship deals and increased exposure, it would appear top women sports stars are close to, if not already enjoying, parity with their male counterparts.
However, any illusions sexism and prejudice were a thing of the past were dashed unceremoniously on Monday night during the women’s shot put (http://www.london2012.com/athletics/event/women-shot-put/phase=atw051100/index.html) event.
As a not very good middle distance athlete, I love the field events. The power, the explosive nature of the competitors and the fact it can all be changed with one throw or jump. And I have always had a soft spot for the shot put, which usually showcases traditionally the biggest most powerful athletes the world has to offer. But as I watched the women’s event, Twitter and Facebook became awash with derogatory and offensive comments about the competitors – not least the eventual winner Nadzeya Ostapchuk (http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/country=blr/athcode=134067/index.html) of Belarus.
Calls for gender tests, comparisons with “ugly” famous men, and “jokes” relating these Olympic athletes with Miss Trunchbull (http://roalddahl.wikia.com/wiki/Miss_Trunchbull) – a big hideous fictional character who abuses children – dominated the discussion around the event.
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Thats pretty wild Mendy. I can't ever recall anything like that resulting from the Olympics
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Okay, here is a crossword puzzle using the Russian Cyrillic alphabet. For the first 2 members who can find these short and easy words, I'll mail you a nice Russian prize of some sort, likely Russian cookies or candy via my West Coast USA office. See rules below.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/crossword-puzzle-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/crossword-puzzle-a.jpg)
Find these words:
лет (years) "lyet"
бог (God) "bog"
интернет (Internet, so easy, i-n-t-e-r-n-e-t spelled and sounds the same!)
работа (work) "rah-bow-tah"
ночь (night) "noch"
суп (soup) "Sueph"
царь (Tsar, King, Caesar) "Tsigh" Think of "sigh" with a T in front, not like the common mis-transliterization of Czar. "Tsigh"
холод (cold) "kho-laud"
боль (pain) "bowl"
крест (a Cross) "Krest"
да (yes) "dah"
секс (sex) "seks"
There are others but I wanted to keep the words easy as not to overwhelm new learners.
Rules:
1- You must NOT be a native Russian or Ukrainian speaker, neither have lived or currently live in the FSU.
2- You must circle the words you found and post a photo of the completed puzzle here.
The decision of judges (myself and native speakers on the forum) is final. Any additional rules set by forum administration will apply.
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;)
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Almost there, but where is the soft sign for ночь?
Also, recheck your soup. It is somewhere else and no "p" (r) at the end. Otherwise, looking good! :)
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The only SOUP I could find comes right at the end of SEX and partially overlaps it ::). Is that programmatical in Russia ;D?
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Sandro:
The only SOUP I could find comes right at the end of SEX and partially overlaps it (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/Smileys/default2/rolleyes.gif). Is that programmatical in Russia?
:D Yes, in lieu of a cigarette!
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Rules:
1- You must NOT be a native Russian or Ukrainian speaker, neither have lived or currently live in the FSU.
Awwww. Very disappointing! :D I want cookies too!
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Mendy, granted I tend to only watch the Olympic sports that interest me and ladies shot put isn't one of them. I can't imagine the negativity you mentioned. Who and where was that from?
Unfortunately New Zealand is the source of a lot of the vitriol where Nadzeya Ostapchuk is concerned. This is because Valerie Adams, the reigning world champion and favourite for the gold medal, is a Kiwi. The two women have been rivals for several years - I have no idea whether they are friends away from the arena, but they have alternated at the top of the world rankings for quite a while.
Valerie went through a very rough patch a couple of years ago when her marriage broke up and she changed coaches, and Nadzeya shot to the top of the world. Last year Valerie changed her coach again and won pretty well everything going. This year Nadzeya has suddenly improved her throws in Belarus by the best part of a metre - that's equivalent to the 100 metre world record being chopped by half a second. A lot of her throws were further than Valerie has ever thrown.
Naturally the western world immediately thought "drugs" and so the Olympics had to come under the spotlight. Simple answer - Nadzeya threw not far short of what she had achieved at home, Valerie did the same, and there was the difference between gold and silver. Assuming that all the drug tests have been passed, it's the end of the story for all but the paranoid and the xenophobic. Sadly, the latter will not let it rest.
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Sandro: :D Yes, in lieu of a cigarette!
So the proper Russian sequence is: SHOWER -> SEX -> SOUP ;D
In Italian we have a saying: Paese che vai, usanza che trovi (Visit a foreign country, and you'll find some new custom).
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Not just any salad makes it to the exclusive Mendeleyev Journal Salad page (http://wp.me/PeVMt-U) but the MJ test kitchen has declared that this Russian "Red Sea Salad" is well deserving so you can find it now listed with our other delicious Russian and Ukrainian salads at the link above.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/salad-red-sea.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/salad-red-sea.jpg)
Ingredients:
- 150 grams of crab sticks
- One large tomatoe
- 1 clove of garlic
- 20 g of mayonnaise
Preparation:
Cut crab sticks diagonally into strips, cut tomatoes in julienne style, too. If tomatoes are too watery, drain and remove the seeds. Squeeze in some garlic. Mix with mayonnaise.
For our Russian readers: Салат «Красное море»
Ингредиенты:
- 150 гр крабовых палочек
- один большой мясистый помидор
- 1 зубчик чеснока
- 20 гр майонеза
Приготовление:
Палочки порезать наискосок соломкой, помидор тоже порезать соломкой. Если помидор слишком водянистый, то жидкую часть с семечками удалить. Выдавить чеснок. Перемешать и заправить майонезом.
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How can a city which began in the 7th Century be just 174 years old? Yakov Mendeleyev tackles that question at one of the most beautiful spots on the Black Sea in today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://wp.me/peVMt-20j).
Ялта, 174-летие (Yalta, 174 years anniversary)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yalta-city-day.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yalta-city-day.jpg)
Each year on the second Saturday in August marks the annual "Day of the City" of Yalta and so yesterday, 11 August, it seemed as though everyone in the city and from around the region came out to party!
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yalta-city-day-b-edit.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yalta-city-day-b-edit.jpg)
We should distinguish that the 174 years is of Yalta as a Russian/Ukrainian city because the Greeks who founded Yalta (and gave it the Greek name meaning "shore" or "beach") would argue with Yalta being so young. In fact, Yalta was mentioned in literature as early as the 7th Century. If you're wondering why locals calculate 174 years instead of centuries, it is because the area was only granted charter status as a modern city in 1838.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yalta-icons.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yalta-icons.jpg)
The city says that there are "Seven wonders of Yalta" beginning with the stunning castle known as the "Swallow's Nest", Vorontsov Palace and Park in Alupka, Nikita Botanical Gardens, Church of the Resurrection, Mount Ay-Petri and Ayu Dag nab, and Yalta city.
We cannot argue with a single one of those selections, yet how in the world they excluded Livadia (The White) Palace, Massandra Palace--the Palace of emperor Alexander III with the Massandra Winery, Chekhov's House (White Dacha), Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, St. Ripsime Armenian Church, and the Dulber Palace is quite beyond comprehension! Someone must have been drinking too much vodka when the city list was made.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yalta-swallows-nest.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yalta-swallows-nest.jpg)
The "Swallow's Nest" is not only one of the most popular visitor attractions in Crimea, it has become a defining symbol of Crimea's southern coastline and has been featured in several movie productions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr0LZ6ysbk0
Surprisingly slender in size, the building measures 20 m (66 ft) long by 10 m (33 ft) wide. Now a restaurant, the original design consisted of three bedrooms, a sitting room, and room for kitchen and dining. The observation deck circles the building and provides great views of the sea and nearby Yalta, a photographer's heaven!
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yc_crz1jybs.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yc_crz1jybs.jpg)
During the Russian Civil War, Yalta became the last refuge for some members of the extended Romanov family. British monarch George V sent the English battleship "Malboro" to Yalta to rescue family members who had not been killed by the Bolsheviks.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yalta-city-day-balloons.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yalta-city-day-balloons.jpg)
If you're looking on a map, Yalta is just 79 km from Simferopol, and well connected by road and trolleybus. During Russia's Imperial days, Yalta was often called the "Southern Capital" because of the summer palaces belonging to the Tsars. Later Joseph Stalin used the Massandra Place, summer home of of emperor Alexander III, as his summer residence.
In 1945 Yalta became the site of the Yalta Conference between the Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain. The conference was held at the Livadia Palace, which had been the summer residence of the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II and his family.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yalta-city-day-fireworks-boats.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/yalta-city-day-fireworks-boats.jpg)
Happy anniversary Yalta!
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The city says that there are "Seven wonders of Yalta" beginning with the stunning castle known as the "Swallow's Nest", Vorontsov Palace and Park in Alupka, Nikita Botanical Gardens, Church of the Resurrection, Mount Ay-Petri and Ayu Dag nab, and Yalta city.
I have been to all of the above, except Ayu Dag.
We cannot argue with a single one of those selections, yet how in the world they excluded Livadia (The White) Palace, Massandra Palace--the Palace of emperor Alexander III with the Massandra Winery, Chekhov's House (White Dacha), Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, St. Ripsime Armenian Church, and the Dulber Palace is quite beyond comprehension! Someone must have been drinking too much vodka when the city list was made.
Yes, I agree with you, as I have been to most of these latter places also.
For sheer number of interesting places in, around, and nearby, there are few places that can compare to Yalta.
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I have been in Yalta. It is beautifal place! The way to Ay-Petri so impressed me.
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...During the Russian Civil War, Yalta became the last refuge for some members of the extended Romanov family. British monarch George V sent the English battleship "Malboro" to Yalta to rescue family members who had not been killed by the Bolsheviks.
mendy, it was HMS "Marlborough," and she was British, not English.
For more about the ship, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Marlborough_(1912 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Marlborough_(1912))
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Unfortunately New Zealand is the source of a lot of the vitriol where Nadzeya Ostapchuk is concerned. This is because Valerie Adams, the reigning world champion and favourite for the gold medal, is a Kiwi. The two women have been rivals for several years - I have no idea whether they are friends away from the arena, but they have alternated at the top of the world rankings for quite a while.
Valerie went through a very rough patch a couple of years ago when her marriage broke up and she changed coaches, and Nadzeya shot to the top of the world. Last year Valerie changed her coach again and won pretty well everything going. This year Nadzeya has suddenly improved her throws in Belarus by the best part of a metre - that's equivalent to the 100 metre world record being chopped by half a second. A lot of her throws were further than Valerie has ever thrown.
Naturally the western world immediately thought "drugs" and so the Olympics had to come under the spotlight. Simple answer - Nadzeya threw not far short of what she had achieved at home, Valerie did the same, and there was the difference between gold and silver. Assuming that all the drug tests have been passed, it's the end of the story for all but the paranoid and the xenophobic. Sadly, the latter will not let it rest.
And now the update...
Nadzeya Ostapchuk has tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid (metenolone) and has been disqualified, with the gold medal now going to Valerie Adams. Read the full story here:
http://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-withdraws-gold-medal-from-shot-put-athlete-nadzeya-ostapchuk/172684 (http://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-withdraws-gold-medal-from-shot-put-athlete-nadzeya-ostapchuk/172684)
Sorry mendeleyev, but you had better rewrite your story.
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mendy, it was HMS "Marlborough," and she was British, not English.
For more about the ship, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Marlborough_(1912 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Marlborough_(1912))
AK, what is the difference in being British versus being English? Your link to HMS Marlborough doesn't work btw
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AK, what is the difference in being British versus being English? Your link to HMS Marlborough doesn't work btw
The term 'British' includes people from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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The term 'British' includes people from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
My point exactly and we are talking about a navy vessel here aren't we? I honestly do not know where the English/Brit line is drawn
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mendy, it was HMS "Marlborough," and she was British, not English.
For more about the ship, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Marlborough_(1912 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Marlborough_(1912))
I think that Mendeleyev used the term "English" in reference to the country where she was built – England, Devonport Dockyard Plymouth.
In 1912, when Marlborough was launched, was the term "British" used in law to refer to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland?
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My point exactly and we are talking about a navy vessel here aren't we? I honestly do not know where the English/Brit line is drawn
Think of it as the difference between Vermont and New England - all people from Vermont come from New England, but not all people from New England come from Vermont.
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I think that Mendeleyev used the term "English" in reference to the country where she was built – England, Devonport Dockyard Plymouth.
Sorry GOMG, but I can't accept that - his original reference started with "...the British monarch George V..." Marlborough was a ship in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, not the Royal Navy of England.
In addition to my New Zealand passport I have a British passport, not an English one.
In 1912, when Marlborough was launched, was the term "British" used in law to refer to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland?
I can't answer exactly, but any legislation is the same as the description of the Navy - they are the laws of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and (now) Northern Ireland, i.e. they apply to the whole country, not just to England (setting aside some statutes which do apply only to Scotland or Wales or Northern Ireland).
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...Your link to HMS Marlborough doesn't work btw
It did when I tested it! It still goes to the stub index - click the header and it goes to the correct page.
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mendy, it was HMS "Marlborough," and she was British, not English.
With apologies for the misspelling. At that period in time the term "English" was more often used and so if wrong, again my apologies.
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Nadzeya Ostapchuk has tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid (metenolone) and has been disqualified, with the gold medal now going to Valerie Adams. Read the full story here:
http://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-withdraws-gold-medal-from-shot-put-athlete-nadzeya-ostapchuk/172684 (http://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-withdraws-gold-medal-from-shot-put-athlete-nadzeya-ostapchuk/172684)
Sorry mendeleyev, but you had better rewrite your story.
As it appears she was guilty of drug use, I support the decision of the Olympic committee.
As to the contents of the texts and twitters send about her, they remain unacceptable. No athlete should be disrespected so cruelly. The comments were heartless and made by people who were in no position to judge her qualifications. The system of testing worked as it should, albeit a tad late, but the comments were off the reservation. I'll post an update which is very appropriate.
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As it appears she was guilty of drug use, I support the decision of the Olympic committee.
As to the contents of the texts and twitters send about her, they remain unacceptable. No athlete should be disrespected so cruelly. The comments were heartless and made by people who were in no position to judge her qualifications. The system of testing worked as it should, albeit a tad late, but the comments were off the reservation. I'll post an update which is very appropriate.
+1
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As it appears she was guilty of drug use, I support the decision of the Olympic committee.
As to the contents of the texts and twitters send about her, they remain unacceptable. No athlete should be disrespected so cruelly. The comments were heartless and made by people who were in no position to judge her qualifications. The system of testing worked as it should, albeit a tad late, but the comments were off the reservation. I'll post an update which is very appropriate.
A sad situation indeed, sad for Valerie Adams who now misses the glory of standing on the podium to receive gold and China's Lijiao Gong (now the bronze medalist) who never made it to the podium on the night at all. But also sad that Ostapchuk felt that steroid use was an option.
I hear there may be appeals, but from what I have read, the evidence is quite clear cut. Even if she was able to prove she was unaware of the drug (ie team management spiking without athletes knowledge etc, which did occur a lot in the 80's with East German, Chinese athletes) if the test results are proven to be accurate, she still had an unfair advantage and loses the medal regardless.
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In 1912, when Marlborough was launched, was the term "British" used in law to refer to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland?
The term itself is VERY old (I don't know about its legal implications, but it would be difficult to create an adjective from United Kingdom ;)):
The Britons (sometimes Brythons or British) were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the British Iron Age until the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic. They lived throughout Britain south of about the Firth of Forth; after the 5th century Britons also migrated to continental Europe, where they established the settlements of Brittany in France and the obscure Britonia in what is now Galicia, Spain. Their relationship to the Picts north of the Forth has been the subject of much discussion, though most scholars accept that the Pictish language during this time was a Brythonic language related to, but perhaps distinct from, British.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britons_(historical)
In AD 43 the Roman Empire began its conquest of the island, establishing a province they called Britannia, which came to encompass the parts of the island south of Caledonia (roughly Scotland). The native Celtic inhabitants of the province are known as the Britons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia
Britannia predates England, formerly also known as Angeland or Engeland:
it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927.
The progression from England to the United Kingdom is witnessed by the evolution of the national flag, which reflects the kingdom's gradual expansion:
(http://www.loeser.us/flags/images/england/ireland.gif)
http://www.loeser.us/flags/english.html
England (St. George's Cross)+Scotland (St. Andrew's Cross) = Great Britain (1606)
Great Britain+Ireland (St. Patrick's Cross) = the United Kingdom (1801)
The asymmetrical placing of St. Patrick's Cross is termed "counterchanging" in heraldry. The Irish may complain that they were shortchanged rather than counterchanged :D.
In Continental Europe, Great Britain/the United Kingdom are normally referred to as England, and the British as English, to simplify matters :).
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...In Continental Europe, Great Britain/the United Kingdom are normally referred to as England, and the British as English, to simplify matters :) .
Are the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish people aware of that? ;D
And those of us who have been there know that Brittany is not part of France, and France is not part of Europe...
Sandro, how do the Sardinians and Sicilians feel about being part of Italy? Any separatist movements like those in Wales and Scotland?
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As it appears she was guilty of drug use, I support the decision of the Olympic committee.
Good!
As to the contents of the texts and twitters send about her, they remain unacceptable. No athlete should be disrespected so cruelly. The comments were heartless and made by people who were in no position to judge her qualifications. The system of testing worked as it should, albeit a tad late, but the comments were off the reservation. I'll post an update which is very appropriate.
Normally I would agree, but were these comments any worse than those directed at people such as Paris Hilton and the Kardashian sisters, or some of the newbies on RWD? Something which I heard from back home tonight was that the testing officials from WADA were barred from entering Belarus earlier this year, so that Ostapchuk and other athletes were not given the mandatory out-of-competition tests required throughout the world. If this is true, it is yet another black mark against the Belarussian government. Also, allegedly, she was never tested in any competition in Belarus this year.
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Are the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish people aware of that? ;D
I met my first Scot in Italy when I was 16, and when I asked him if he was English I received a rather pointed answer ;D.
Sandro, how do the Sardinians and Sicilians feel about being part of Italy? Any separatist movements like those in Wales and Scotland?
There was one such movement in Sicily right after WWII, but it lost most of its followers when in 1946 it became one of our 5 regioni a statuto speciale, granting a high degree of autonomy and self-governance to these border and island regions of Italy:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Autonomous_Regions_of_Italy.svg/180px-Autonomous_Regions_of_Italy.svg.png)
Sicily is practically bankrupt now, given their long-standing habit of hiring crowds of then electorally thankful people for public service. A number of us Northerners are of the opinion that the Italian boot should kick Sicily off the map ;).
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Sicilian_Flag.svg/125px-Sicilian_Flag.svg.png)
Flag of Sicily: triscele/trinacria and gorgoneion
Sardinia never gave any trouble in this connection, probably because it had been under Savoy's rule since 1718. Sardinians are rather reserved people and, curiously for an island population, with no maritime traditions at all except for local fishing - maybe because their waters had been long infested by Saracen pirates, their flag a gruesome reminder:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Flag_of_the_Italian_region_Sardinia.svg/125px-Flag_of_the_Italian_region_Sardinia.svg.png)
Flag of Sardinia: St. George's Cross with 4 severed Moorish heads
In the 1960s we had more problems in the northernmost region with one of its 2 provinces, that of Bolzano (Bozen), a bit of Austria (Südtirol) on our side of the Alps that was annexed after WWI for strategic reasons.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Flag_of_Trentino-South_Tyrol.svg/100px-Flag_of_Trentino-South_Tyrol.svg.png)
Flag of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol: black St. Venceslas's eagles and red Südtirol eagles
Things there became much quieter after 1972, when the province was granted further independence benefits.
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Thank you, Sandro - very interesting and much appreciated.
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Anotherkiwi:
Something which I heard from back home tonight was that the testing officials from WADA were barred from entering Belarus earlier this year, so that Ostapchuk and other athletes were not given the mandatory out-of-competition tests required throughout the world. If this is true, it is yet another black mark against the Belarussian government. Also, allegedly, she was never tested in any competition in Belarus this year.
I don't know but it wouldn't surprise me if the government had barred officials. That it didn't make news however is also surprising and would speak to the problems of the Olympic Committee if they had then allowed untested athletes to participate while other countries had to meet the requirements. She reportedly tested positive the day prior to the event and again the day afterward. That the Olympic Committee allowed someone to compete at all under those conditions is puzzling.
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Why is it that choosing a football team in Russia seems just like an American Presidential election? My goodness, what a task.
At first I didn't really care as soccer wasn't even a word in the dictionary back in the hills of Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia. But over the years I've slowly come to learn more about REAL football, you know, the kind you kick with the FOOT: Soccer football.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/russia_premier-league2011-12.gif) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/russia_premier-league2011-12.gif)
Of course I will never abandon my love affair with God's favourite college team, Nebraska ("on the eight day HE created the Cornhuskers and it was good" Genesis number something), but as it's easy to enjoy real FOOTball teams in Europe, perhaps now it the appointed time to make the choice for a professional Soccer team.
There are four professional teams in Moscow, each very good and they play the finest European and Russian teams. The Локомотив (Locomotive) has a brand new and comfortable stadium plus a cool logo & uniforms and great looking cheerleaders.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/lokomotiv-moskva-fc.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/lokomotiv-moskva-fc.jpg)
Not that it matters, but they win games. Probably due to the cheerleaders. This team has been around since 12 August 1923 and originally named "October Revolution." They were connected to the Russian national railroad system. Locomotive...get it?
The CSKA team has nice uniforms too and a good logo. Cheerleaders are very fetching and not that many people have been trampled to death in post game festivities, well not lately anyway. Not lately matters in that department, I'm thinking. Hmm, they began in 1911 and at one time connected to the Russian Army so cousin Gera naturally wants me to choose them.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cska_logo-svg.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cska_logo-svg.png)
CSKA is moving to a brand new stadium next year. Wonder how CSKA cheerleaders compare side by side to the Locomotive cheer ladies? We'll need to check that out.
Next up, the Moscow Dynamo. They're "Dynamo" alright, cause these guys haven't won a championship ever, I mean EVER, though they're connected to the Russian KGB (FSB). What the heck? You mean they can't even finagle to win and they're "connected" to the main spies?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/dynamo_moscow_logo.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/dynamo_moscow_logo.png)
Wimps I'm thinking, but would never dare say so in public. Of course any good decision is made after viewing the cheerleaders.
Finally, there is the Moscow Spartak team (as in the "Spartans") so double no, nothing that even smacks of Michigan back in the USA. The only thing going for them is that they win championships and wear RED uniforms, like Nebraska.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/spartak_moscow_logo.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/spartak_moscow_logo.png)
Okay, they do have some downright HOT cheerleaders, but with a name like Spartak, even the cheerleaders don't count as much in this potential choice. Well, there are several hot blondes in the second row...
You know, I've come to the conclusion that choosing a FOOTball team in Russia is about the same as choosing a president in the USA: the lesser of all the other evils.
The rest is up to the cheerleaders.
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...There are four professional teams in Moscow, each very good and they play the finest European and Russian teams. The Локомотив (Locomotive) has a brand new and comfortable stadium plus a cool logo & uniforms and great looking cheerleaders.
...The CSKA team has nice uniforms too and a good logo. Cheerleaders are very fetching and not that many people have been trampled to death in post game festivities, well not lately anyway.
CSKA is moving to a brand new stadium next year. Wonder how CSKA cheerleaders compare side by side to the Locomotive cheer ladies? We'll need to check that out.
Next up, the Moscow Dynamo. ...Wimps I'm thinking, but would never dare say so in public. Of course any good decision is made after viewing the cheerleaders.
Finally, there is the Moscow Spartak team. Okay, they do have some downright HOT cheerleaders, but with a name like Spartak, even the cheerleaders don't count as much in this potential choice. Well, there are several hot blondes in the second row...
You know, I've come to the conclusion that choosing a FOOTball team in Russia is about the same as choosing a president in the USA: the lesser of all the other evils.
The rest is up to the cheerleaders.
So where are the photos of all these goddesses so that we can choose? >:D :blowkiss: :flowers: :couple:
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So where are the photos of all these goddesses so that we can choose?
you are welcome! ;D CSKA and DINAMO Cheerleaders!
(http://i051.radikal.ru/1208/df/2ee2b641e306.jpg)
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you are welcome! ;D CSKA and DINAMO Cheerleaders!
(http://i051.radikal.ru/1208/df/2ee2b641e306.jpg)
Thank you, Olly!
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Mendy, real FOOTball? A Husker fan from West (by-God) Virginia? Surely yoou jest :D
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Faux Pas, some of my growing up years were in the Netherland Antilles-Virginia-Ky-WV. Graduated from high school in WV. But University degrees came far from home. My allegiance could just as easily been to Kansas University but for some reason I was too busy working my way thru school and studying during those years. The time in Lincoln was really special and somehow that bond stuck and I've been a Cornhusker ever since.
Lived later in Houston and a Houston radio station carries the Husker games each Saturday.
Transferred to Chicago where a Chicago radio station plays the Husker games each Saturday.
Shipped off to Los Angeles and again a local LA radio station broadcasts the Husker games on Saturdays.
Moved to Moscow and friends at NBC's uplink centre in Southern California made sure I got Husker games via a Satellite "backhaul" even if several hours late.
We spend part of the year in Phoenix and you'll never guess...a Phoenix radio station carries the Husker games.
I probably couldn't get away from the "Big Red" even if I wanted to. :D
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Faux Pas, some of my growing up years were in the Netherland Antilles-Virginia-Ky-WV. Graduated from high school in WV. But University degrees came far from home. My allegiance could just as easily been to Kansas University but for some reason I was too busy working my way thru school and studying during those years. The time in Lincoln was really special and somehow that bond stuck and I've been a Cornhusker ever since.
Really sorry to see Nebraska bolt to the Big 10, Texas A&M & Mo go to SEC, Syracuse, PIT, WVU leave the Big East, etc.
Screwed up a lot of conferences.
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Mendy
I was just poking you a bit. Personally, I was as Lewis Grizzard (a Great American) used to proclaim, I am Georgia Bulldog born, Georgia Bulldog bred and when I die, I'll be Georgia Bulldog dead. The Huskers are expected to make a statement in the Big 10, 11 or something or whatever they are calling that conference now. Good Luck to your boys.
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Hats off to both you gentlemen and your teams. :)
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As noted today in the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Wedding padlocks: one of the meaningful traditions of a couple to observe after their wedding at the State Registry Office (ZAGS). Once a couple has completed the civil wedding ceremony it is customary to visit several important sites in their city where the couple and their wedding party pose for photos and make toasts. One of the first stops is a war memorial where some of the flowers they received as a wedding gift are laid in honour of war heroes and/or a tomb dedicated to unknown soldiers from the Great Patriotic war again Nazi Germany.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/wedding-padlock.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/wedding-padlock.jpg)
Above: Aлександра и Aлександр is "Aleksandra and Aleksandr" and they'll both share the nickname "Sasha" (Cаша) so guess we could call them "Sasha & Sasha."
The couple visits a park or famous river bridge where doves or butterflies are released and the couple attaches a padlock, with their names engraved, onto the railing of the bridge or some metal structure. It is common at some bridges to see hundreds of rusty padlocks from over the years.
.(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/wedding-padlock-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/wedding-padlock-b.jpg)
Above: Аня и Саша: Anya (Anna) and Sasha (Aleksandr) locked in love forever.
The key is thrown into the river to signify the lasting state of their love and marriage.
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While strolling through Mariinskiy Park and crossing Park Alley, you are likely to be charmed by "Unbreakable Love" symbols attached to Kyiv's "Bridge of Lovers".
Constructed in 1910-1912, the bridge was replaced with a new one in 1983— admittedly, old construction was not strong enough to bear the "burden of love" :D
(http://i.piccy.info/i4/92/3c/762d8d1dee1668c68cd21e6a5a4f.jpeg)
Who knows, maybe Alex and Julia are two romantics from RWD planet :)
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But over the years I've slowly come to learn more about REAL football, you know, the kind you kick with the FOOT: Soccer football.
excellent observation, Jim!
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But over the years I've slowly come to learn more about REAL football, you know, the kind you kick with the FOOT: Soccer football.
Just to be a stickler or a PIA,
in the only REAL football (American style), the ball is also kicked with the foot. 8)
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in the only REAL football (American style), the ball is also kicked with the foot. 8)
Then it should be more properly called foothandball or handfootball, since hand passes are more frequently used than kicks, whereas they are allowed only in very limited cases in soccer ;).
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I probably couldn't get away from the "Big Red" even if I wanted to. :D
Careful, Big Red is the official nickname of Cornell University athletic teams, where I completed my graduate studies.
Not a football powerhouse today but four national champioships in the distant past.......and more impressive - 41 Nobel laureates.
Although Ivy League, Cornell is not that old, probably about the same age as U of Nebraska.
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Then it should be more properly called foothandball or handfootball, since hand passes are more frequently used than kicks, whereas they are allowed only in very limited cases in soccer ;).
If hand passes weren't allowed in soccer, it could be called everythingbuthandsball or just hands-free-ball :-\
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Based on injuries, American football was originally called foolball. But that did not sell well, hence the name changed.
I love the sport.
A 13-yo from Russia is attempting football here for the first time in a Pop Warner league. He is black and blue but still hanging in there after three weeks of grueling contact practices. His mama and sister think it good for his conditioning and social fellowship. They urge him to be "strong man," but we all wince when boys who know proper technique pancake him. We will see.
He thinks it cool to dress like a gladiator. And he likes the cheerleaders and they like him. So that alone may keep him going.
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If hand passes weren't allowed in soccer, it could be called everythingbuthandsball or just hands-free-ball :-\
Why use a negative/privative definition ;)? We simply call it calcio (kick) or, once, il gioco del pallone (the big-ball game, so not to confuse it with smaller ball games ;D).
The rules of association football were codified in England by the Football Association in 1863 and the name association football was coined to distinguish the game from the other forms of football played at the time, specifically rugby football. The term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford "-er" abbreviation of the word "association"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football
An interesting forerunner was/is:
Calcio fiorentino was an early form of football that originated in 16th century Italy. The Piazza Santa Croce of Florence is the cradle of this sport, that became known as giuoco del calcio fiorentino ("Florentine kick game") or simply calcio (later being the name applied to soccer in Italian). The official rules of calcio were published for the first time in 1580 by Giovanni de' Bardi, a Florentine count. Just like Roman harpastum, it was played in teams of 27, using both feet and hands. Goals could be scored by throwing the ball over a designated spot on the perimeter of the field. The playing field is a giant sand pit with a narrow slit constituting the goal, running the width of each end. There is a main referee, six linesmen and a field master. Each game is played out for 50 minutes with the winner being the team with the most points or 'cacce'.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Calcio_fiorentino_1688.jpg)
Illustration of a game of Calcio Fiorentino from Harald er Stjerna, 1688
The sport was not played for around two hundred years but then revived in the twentieth century when organized games began again in 1930. Today, three matches are played each year in Piazza Santa Croce, in the 3rd week of June. The four teams face each other in the first two games. The winners go to the final, which occurs on June 24, the day of the Saint Patron of Florence, San Giovanni (St. John). The modern version allows tactics such as head-butting, punching, elbowing, and choking, but forbids sucker punching and kicks to the head.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Calcio_Storico_partita_1.JPG/250px-Calcio_Storico_partita_1.JPG)
Match between Azzurri and Rossi (Blues & Reds)
This is also called calcio storico now.
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Nice photo, Ghost of Moon Goddess.
How many years old is this "tradition" of wedding padlocks? Is it a newer tradition or an older one?
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The old wedding custom was placing a new padlock under a front door threshold and keeping it there as a symbol of "locked down" happiness and fidelity. To be honest, I am not certain whether this custom is a thing of the past or not.
The "hooked padlock" tradition is believed to have been derived from a book written by Federico Moccia. His characters attached a padlock onto a lamp-post on Ponte Milvio, sealed their love with a kiss and showed their commitment by throwing the key away.
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The "hooked padlock" tradition is believed to have been derived from a book written by Federico Moccia. His characters attached a padlock onto a lamp-post on Ponte Milvio, sealed their love with a kiss and showed their commitment by throwing the key away.
So an Italian is responsible for that :o? That's globalisation for you :D!
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Ponte_Milvio-side_view-antmoose.jpg/250px-Ponte_Milvio-side_view-antmoose.jpg)
Rome's Ponte Milvio
The Milvian Bridge has some considerable history behind it:
The bridge was built by consul Gaius Claudius Nero in 206 BC after he had defeated the Carthaginan army in the Battle of the Metaurus. In 115 BC, consul Marcus Aemilius Scaurus built a new bridge made of stone in the same position, demolishing the old one... In AD 312, Constantine defeated his stronger rival Maxentius between this bridge and Saxa Rubra, in the famous Battle of the Milvian Bridge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Milvio
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Battle_at_the_Milvian_Bridge%2C_Gérard_Audran_after_Charles_Le_Brun%2C_1666-crop.jpg/300px-Battle_at_the_Milvian_Bridge%2C_Gérard_Audran_after_Charles_Le_Brun%2C_1666-crop.jpg)
Battle at the Milvian Bridge, Audran after Le Brun.
In a way, one may consider that Christianity was an unplanned consequence of that last battle ;).
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So an Italian is responsible for that :o? That's globalisation for you :D!
As all roads lead to Rome, all signs point toward Italy ;D
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In the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com) today we asked readers if they'd had the opportunity to see Tina Kandelaki's television feature on war hero Irena Sendler. For those who missed it, Irena was a Polish/German woman who at the start of the war knew the German's plans for exterminating Jews in Poland and so she sought and received work in Warsaw, the city of her birth. The Germans invaded Poland in 1939 and she began rescuing Jews by creating false documents to help Jewish families escape the Ghetto.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/irena_sendlerowa_1942.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/irena_sendlerowa_1942.jpg)
Irena in 1942 before her arrest and torture.
Her job as a director of the Social Welfare Department meant that she had a special permit to enter the Ghetto to check for signs of typhus. She created a false bottom in her ambulance toolbox to carry small children out of the ghetto but had to rely on a burlap sack for older children. She went in and out of the ghetto each day accompanied by a dog trained to bark when Nazi soldiers approached. Co-workers began to assist with the effort and children were smuggled out by various methods from hiding under bricks in wheelbarrows to hollow compartments in trucks.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/jewish-children-homeless-warsaw.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/jewish-children-homeless-warsaw.jpg)
Photo: German Federal Archives, Herrmann, Ernst - Bildbestand (N 1576 Bild).
Eventually her activities were uncovered but before her arrest she and colleagues had smuggled out around 2500 children. The identities of the rescued children were kept buried in jars so that after the war it would be possible to reunite them with their relatives. Many of the children were sheltered in Catholic convents until they could be placed in homes with new identities.
When caught she was tortured, and even after both her arms and legs were broken, she refused to tell the Nazi's where the children had been placed and refused to reveal their identities. She was sentenced to be executed but narrowly escaped being shot with assistance from the underground. After the war she assisted in the effort to reunite children with parents but most of the parents had perished in the Nazi gas chambers.
In 2003 she was honoured with the Polish Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest award. Israel's Holocaust museum awarded her the title of "Righteous Among the Nations." She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/irena-sendlerowa.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/irena-sendlerowa.jpg)
Irena Sendler, seated at left, in black.
Late in life, in a letter to the Polish Parliament, Irene wrote that "Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this Earth, and not a title to glory. I feel guilty that I didn't do more ..."
She died on 12 May 2008.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/irena-sendler-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/irena-sendler-a.jpg)
A movie about her life, The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler was filmed in 2009 in Riga, Latvia.
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Yes, I saw that film about Irena on TV here in USA; PBS carried it I believe.
Good story and production. I recommend it.
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Irena Sendler lost the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and his book "Inconvenient Truth" *factoid*
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Yes, what a waste of a prize.
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The old wedding custom was placing a new padlock under a front door threshold and keeping it there as a symbol of "locked down" happiness and fidelity. To be honest, I am not certain whether this custom is a thing of the past or not.
The "hooked padlock" tradition is believed to have been derived from a book written by Federico Moccia. His characters attached a padlock onto a lamp-post on Ponte Milvio, sealed their love with a kiss and showed their commitment by throwing the key away.
That would make sense. I have only begun seeing padlocks on bridges in the last few years.
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Yes, I saw that film about Irena on TV here in USA; PBS carried it I believe.
Good story and production. I recommend it.
Thanks, ML. I'd love to find it...perhaps Amazon or possibly even YouTube.
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Israel's Holocaust museum awarded her the title of "Righteous Among the Nations."
A somewhat similar story involved Giorgio Perlasca (1910–1992), an Italian who posed as the Spanish Consul-General to Hungary in the winter of 1944 and saved 5,018 Jews (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Perlasca).
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Giorgio_Perlasca_szobra.jpg/220px-Giorgio_Perlasca_szobra.jpg) (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ec/PERLASCA-1-.jpg/220px-PERLASCA-1-.jpg)
Perlasca's bust in Budapest - TV drama Perlasca, un Eroe Italiano, 2002
(http://contentistheking.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/giorgio_perlasca2.jpg) (http://www.giorgioperlasca.it/Portals/0/Giusti/f-giusti.jpg)
Perlasca at age 80 - At Yad Vashem, 1989
After WWII, Perlasca returned to Italy, and didn't reveal his actions to anyone, including his family, until he was found again in 1987 by a group of Hungarian Jews.
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Yes, what a waste of a prize.
The irony of it to me was, Irena was on her deathbed when the announcement was made. She had lived most of her life a very humble woman actually doing good in the world and here comes Gore with his witchcraft science and saps the last moments of a true humanitarian. Of course they gave one to Barack Obama all in the same breath so that pretty much explains it
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Sandro, thanks for sharing that story of Giorgio Perlasca. Is the TV series available with English subtitles?
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Sandro, thanks for sharing that story of Giorgio Perlasca. Is the TV series available with English subtitles?
I'm afraid not. Youtube offers it with Spanish subtitles, if that's of any help :-\.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhkfCeizYZ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaiGYqEKBGk
However, I also found a couple of sites where apparently one can download its English subtitles:
- http://www.podnapisi.net/en/perlasca-un-eroe-italiano-2002-subtitles-p1391139
- http://subscene.com/subtitles/perlasca-un-eroe-italiano?filmId=64565
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In the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)...
Middle Eastern Christians are grateful to Russia for vetoing the USA-led resolution In the United Nations for tougher measures against Syria. From Bosnia and Serbia to Iraq and Egypt, UN efforts to topple governments have led to displacement, torture and murder of minority Christian populations as is happening now in Egypt. More and more one can see cartoons and posters like the one below.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/syria-pol.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/syria-pol.jpg)
Below: the funeral of Syrian Defense Minister Daoud Rajhi in the Church of the Holy Cross in Damascus July 20, 2012. He was part of the minority Christian population in Syria, predominately a Muslim nation.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/syrian-orthodox.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/syrian-orthodox.jpg)
The Syrian Church still uses the oldest surviving liturgy in Christianity, composed by the Apostle James late in his life. It is conducted in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic spoken by Jesus Christ and his Apostles, as its official and liturgical language. The church is led by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Russia may be a big country but it will be a very busy place this Saturday. 1 September (1 Сентября), is the traditional Первый звонок ("First Bell/Call") and День Знании ("Day of Knowledge") to begin the school year, and as Saturday is considered a work day on the calendar the first day of school across the former Soviet Union will be September 1 as per tradition.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/first-bell-day-of-knowledge.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/first-bell-day-of-knowledge.jpg)
From Russia to Ukraine to Georgia and all across the region, the first day of school is widely celebrated as a holiday in the Russian speaking world and traditionally celebrated on the first of September, except Sunday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfohbUE9x-o
The children get to bring parents to school on this day and one of the first things you'll notice are flowers, tons of flowers, as giving flowers to teachers is a time honoured tradition. Of course will be a speech given by the school director/principal and some light skits, singing of songs and recitations of poetry.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/first-bell-flowers.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/first-bell-flowers.jpg)
Первый Звонок (“First Bell”) is used often for primary and middle school students and День Знаний (“Day of Knowledge) for high school and college students.
On of the most revered traditions of the " first bell/first call" tradition is the outside school courtyard event in which a young first grade student, typically a girl, is hoisted up onto the shoulders of an older male pupil and all the kids fall in line to ring in the first day of school. In the classroom seats are assigned, parents meet teachers and all in all the first day is more fun than study.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/first-bell-girl-boy-oleg-shel.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/first-bell-girl-boy-oleg-shel.jpg)
Many schools require uniforms for students. (photo: Oleg Shel)
Students in many schools wear uniforms and everyone dresses up for the first day of school. Little boys in ties and little girls with bows and ribbons make it a delightful day. Russian students generally attend the same school for all 11 years as most schools are smaller with just a few hundred students and designed as neighborhood schools as opposed to the mega school district concepts in the West.
Academics are generally rigorous and include required numbers of science, math and language units before graduation. A national test is administered at the end of each school year and successful passage is required in order to move to the next grade level or graduate.
Generally the first day isn't for intense academics, rather a celebration of the idea that education is important and it changes lives. Russians have an adage, “Азбука – наука, а ребятам бука!” (Alphabet is a science, but a bogyman for children!)
This year the first day will be very short for some students. Moscow is celebrating her annual city day or "Day of Moscow" and being the 865th birthday, a hearty celebration is in order! School officials have planned very short activities for Moscow students so that they and parents can spend the bulk of the weekend celebrating Moscow's birthday. (http://www.educom.ru/ru/official/detail/?ID=38457 (http://www.educom.ru/ru/official/detail/?ID=38457))
Shortened school festivities are also planned in Novosibirsk where citywide celebrations with educational themes are being observed. More on the calendar of events in Novosibirsk at this link: http://www.novo-sibirsk.ru/articles/novosibirsk/den-znanij-2012/ (http://www.novo-sibirsk.ru/articles/novosibirsk/den-znanij-2012/)
In northern Russia, school children will have a full day in the Arkhangelsk (Архангельск) region. For that schedule, see this link: http://www.arhcity.ru/?page=0/22427 (http://www.arhcity.ru/?page=0/22427)
Universities in Russia and most of Europe and Asia begin on the first of September as well. Study in a University setting is naturally more rigorous and the Russians have a saying for that too, “Корень ученья горек, да плод его сладок” (The roots of learning are bitter, but the fruit is sweet)
1September also marks the official end of summer and the beginning of autumn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Buxzl6ltxK0
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In the "good ole days" of Moscow Internet, Mrs. Mendeleyev and I would walk our small dog around the neighborhood several times a day. We still do, but it was so much fun back then as Internet was new and so thrilling for us and the dog.
Yes, Internet was exciting for the dog too. You see, he'd stop at every tree and sniff for the scent of other dogs. To us, it was a sure sign that he was reading doggie emails so we'd chuckle and ask if he was keeping in social contact with his friends? He'd bark, and of course that means "yes" and I know that because he is my doggie son and we understand each other.
At some point during our walks he'd raise a hind leg and show us how fast he could "stream" which as you can imagine made us very happy. Doggy Internet "streaming" had come to Russia! We were such proud parents.
In those days we'd meander back to our high rise apartment because there was no real hurry since the FREE internet provided by the city of Moscow didn't start until midnight. We had dial up for day emergencies and my office had what was considered high speed at the time, but frankly there were days when the doggie "stream" was faster than the Internet streams at work. We'd enjoy a nice dinner and relax with tea and read, you do remember how people used to read before Internet came along, right?
When the clock struck midnight we, and thousands of other Muscovite's would crowd around our tall desktop, similar to my childhood days with those big over-sized radios found in most homes, and we'd "log on." For those of you who grew up after the advent of today's high speed, in the olden days one had to start up the computer and log onto the internet. If only a few thousand in our part of town was on, you could stay logged in, but if things got congested the system would bump you off after a while, forcing you to either give up and go to bed or log on all over again. But after midnight it was free, so who cared?!
Today we're happy to announce that the Internet has and continues to spread nicely across Russia and neighboring countries like Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Georgia, etc. Shoot, even old grandma's, we call them babushki here, are getting online!
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/internet-babushka.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/internet-babushka.jpg)
The Russian answer to Facebook is vk.com
Not to be left behind in the wave to technology advancements such as the popular doggie "streams" even cats are enjoying the benefits of a high speed Internet connection.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/internet-cat.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/internet-cat.jpg)
Russian cats use Meow recognition software.
Oh, and yes the doggie steams are still a part of life as technology keeps us moving forward.
Statistics:
Belarus: 4,436,800 Internet users as of Jun/10, 46.3% penetration
Moldova: 1,429,154 Internet users as of Dec/11, 33.1% penetration
Russia: 61,472,011 Internet users as of Dec/2011, 44.3% penetration
Turkey: 35,000,000 Internet users as of Jun/10, 44.4% penetration
Ukraine: 15,300,000 Internet users as of Jun/10, 33.9% penetration
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Russia may be a big country but it will be a very busy place this Saturday. 1 September (1 Сентября), is the traditional Первый звонок ("First Bell/Call") and День Знании ("Day of Knowledge") to begin the school year, and as Saturday is considered a work day on the calendar the first day of school across the former Soviet Union will be September 1 as per tradition.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/first-bell-day-of-knowledge.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/first-bell-day-of-knowledge.jpg)
From Russia to Ukraine to Georgia and all across the region, the first day of school is widely celebrated as a holiday in the Russian speaking world and traditionally celebrated on the first of September, except Sunday.
The children get to bring parents to school on this day and one of the first things you'll notice are flowers, tons of flowers, as giving flowers to teachers is a time honoured tradition. Of course will be a speech given by the school director/principal and some light skits, singing of songs and recitations of poetry.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/first-bell-flowers.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/first-bell-flowers.jpg)
Первый Звонок (“First Bell”) is used often for primary and middle school students and День Знаний (“Day of Knowledge) for high school and college students.
On of the most revered traditions of the " first bell/first call" tradition is the outside school courtyard event in which a young first grade student, typically a girl, is hoisted up onto the shoulders of an older male pupil and all the kids fall in line to ring in the first day of school. In the classroom seats are assigned, parents meet teachers and all in all the first day is more fun than study.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/first-bell-girl-boy-oleg-shel.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/first-bell-girl-boy-oleg-shel.jpg)
Many schools require uniforms for students. (photo: Oleg Shel)
Students in many schools wear uniforms and everyone dresses up for the first day of school. Little boys in ties and little girls with bows and ribbons make it a delightful day. Russian students generally attend the same school for all 11 years as most schools are smaller with just a few hundred students and designed as neighborhood schools as opposed to the mega school district concepts in the West.
Academics are generally rigorous and include required numbers of science, math and language units before graduation. A national test is administered at the end of each school year and successful passage is required in order to move to the next grade level or graduate.
Generally the first day isn't for intense academics, rather a celebration of the idea that education is important and it changes lives. Russians have an adage, “Азбука – наука, а ребятам бука!” (Alphabet is a science, but a bogyman for children!)
This year the first day will be very short for some students. Moscow is celebrating her annual city day or "Day of Moscow" and being the 865th birthday, a hearty celebration is in order! School officials have planned very short activities for Moscow students so that they and parents can spend the bulk of the weekend celebrating Moscow's birthday. (http://www.educom.ru/ru/official/detail/?ID=38457 (http://www.educom.ru/ru/official/detail/?ID=38457))
Shortened school festivities are also planned in Novosibirsk where citywide celebrations with educational themes are being observed. More on the calendar of events in Novosibirsk at this link: http://www.novo-sibirsk.ru/articles/novosibirsk/den-znanij-2012/ (http://www.novo-sibirsk.ru/articles/novosibirsk/den-znanij-2012/)
In northern Russia, school children will have a full day in the Arkhangelsk (Архангельск) region. For that schedule, see this link: http://www.arhcity.ru/?page=0/22427 (http://www.arhcity.ru/?page=0/22427)
Universities in Russia and most of Europe and Asia begin on the first of September as well. Study in a University setting is naturally more rigorous and the Russians have a saying for that too, “Корень ученья горек, да плод его сладок” (The roots of learning are bitter, but the fruit is sweet)
1September also marks the official end of summer and the beginning of autumn.
My older daughter started 1st grade on August 20th. Funny how my mom called and was asking me whethern she will be all dressed up and if we were bringing flowers to school! Old habits die hard!
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My older daughter started 1st grade on August 20th. Funny how my mom called and was asking me whethern she will be all dressed up and if we were bringing flowers to school! Old habits die hard!
Well we still send "first bell" greetings to your daughter and symbolic flowers to her teacher. This entire tradition would be good for some Western countries to adopt as it sets the stage in teaching the child that school is a big deal and it means something for the future. I believe that while in general most USA schools are more modern in appearance and equipment, FSU schools have the advantage of attitude. Not that they are perfect as they aren't, but there is much more of a belief that school is important in the Eastern world.
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If you have a friend or relative in the FSU that has a child beginning school on 1 September, it would be nice to send them a free Internet card to celebrate what is called the "Day of Knowledge" and "First Bell."
It is all the same day, but can be called different terms: 1 September (1 Сентября), is the traditional Первый звонок ("First Bell/Call") and День Знании ("Day of Knowledge").
Even on Saturday, 1 September is the first day of school this year across the FSU. So here is the link for sending a card: http://www.badi.ru/eng/events-125.htm (http://www.badi.ru/eng/events-125.htm)
If you have a friend in Moscow, 1 September is this year's celebration of the "Day of Moscow" marking Moscow's 865th birthday. A card is appropriate for that also. Moscow is combining school and city events this year so that students show up at school but are released early to enjoy the city celebrations.
Universities across the FSU also open on 1 September.
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Well we still send "first bell" greetings to your daughter and symbolic flowers to her teacher. This entire tradition would be good for some Western countries to adopt as it sets the stage in teaching the child that school is a big deal and it means something for the future. I believe that while in general most USA schools are more modern in appearance and equipment, FSU schools have the advantage of attitude. Not that they are perfect as they aren't, but there is much more of a believe that school is important in the Eastern world.
Thanks, Jim!
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Ed, this is the first year in decades that we haven't had a child headed to another year of school. The last one was graduated the past school Spring from Moscow State (MGU) and it felt sort of odd this year not to be making those preparations.
However we're preparing for another wedding, yet another tour of ZAGS and then an Orthodox ceremony so life moves forward. :)
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Ed, this is the first year in decades that we haven't had a child headed to another year of school. The last one was graduated the past school Spring from Moscow State (MGU) and it felt sort of odd this year not to be making those preparations.
However we're preparing for another wedding, yet another tour of ZAGS and then an Orthodox ceremony so life moves forward. :)
Life goes on... :D I'm taking my daughters to karate first, then we'll go to YMCA, then back home. We have to get ready for tomorrow's baby shower. We have friends (a Russian couple) that live in a small apartment, so we offered that we do a baby shower for them at our place since we have plenty of room for a big party here. Funny how things work - now that I have little kids my whole set of friends changed. All our friends now are couples with little kids! :D OK now, I better wake up!
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In the Mendeleyev Journal today (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)...
День Москвы! (Day of Moscow). 865 is an impressive number for a lady who like a fine wine, grows better and more beautiful with age. Happy birthday, Moscow!
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/moscow-865-in-2012.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/moscow-865-in-2012.jpg)
Saturday was the day to mark her birthday at 865 years and a variety of events from open air shows, fireworks, street fairs, talent exhibits and church services ushered in the weekend festivities. Last year the premier was an impressive light show up on the hill at Moscow State University but this year the focus was on historic Red Square.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/moscow-day-2012-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/moscow-day-2012-a.jpg)
Red Square, Day of Moscow 2012.In addition to speeches, international military bands took part in an annual festival, reenacting some of the key events of Moscow's long and turbulent history.
This year's theme of "Best City in the World" was taken from the old Soviet song by Муслима Магомаева - "Лучший город земли"! As the song dates back to 1964 and other than the similarity to Elvis Presley, one has to wonder if this was done to please Vladimir Putin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V45GrarQU0A
Not to be outdone, today's generation has re-cast the idea just a bit and while the production is good, maybe the Elvis-like sound isn't that bad after all. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ4WpDlAkTA
Speaking of President Putin, he and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin did get out and about. These days however there is a security noticeable space between the people and their leader effectively enforced by the Presidential Protective Service. The crowd gathered at Red Square were carefully vetted and security was high.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/moscow-day-putin-2012-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/moscow-day-putin-2012-a.jpg)
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, President Vladimir Putin, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.President Putin and Mayor Sobyanin delivered remarks to the crowd that had been vetted by special invitation on Red Square.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUTMtrNntSY
Admission to many museums and art exhibits across the city were free. School began also on 1 September and many of the city day activities were designed to include the history of the city and interesting exhibits for children.
1 September is also the "Day of Knowledge" or "First Bell" across Russia as the opening day for schools and universities. President Putin and Mayor Sobyanin visited Gymnasium (school) number 1519 where they sat in on a history class.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/putin-sobyanin-visit-gymnasium-number-1519.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/putin-sobyanin-visit-gymnasium-number-1519.jpeg)
President Putin and Mayor Sobyanin visited Gymnasium (school) number 1519.Later Mr. Putin joined Olympic champion gymnast Anastasia Grishina in a lecture to students about physical education.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/putin-school-pe.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/putin-school-pe.jpeg)
President Putin spoke to a PE class.
Moscow has grown into Europe's largest city and rivaling London in modernity.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kremlin-bell-towers-2.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kremlin-bell-towers-2.jpg)
The Kremlin bell towers at one time were the tallest structures in the city. No longer.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/moscow-nights-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/moscow-nights-a.jpg)
Moscow nights are beautiful whether in summer or winter.
Conspicuously absent from public observances was Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his wife Svetlana. On Thursday he chaired a meeting on programmes for orphans and children with disabilities. His official calendar only lists him as on holiday through the weekend.
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Racism in Russia and the former Soviet Union, today in the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)...
A few years back I remember several female neighbors warning me to be careful of the black men who lived on the 6th floor of my Moscow apartment. I lived a couple floors lower and wasn't really sure why we were supposed to be careful as they hadn't bothered to explain that part. I did wonder who it could be as in my view, Russia was very white for the most part and I had seen only a very few truly black folk in Moscow. Eventually I figured out that they were referring to a household of Chechen guys who lived upstairs. It was a stretch in my mind to figure them as "black" because back home in Southern California and Arizona I'd have recognized more of a light brown skin tone, closer to Hispanics in the American southwest.
Of course Russia and the FSU is racist and we're not going to try and paper over that fact. When Mr. Obama was elected president the Russian internet went viral with cartoons that were blatantly offensive, and people who knew I was a resident wanted to know how in the world a great country like the USA could allow a black man to be president? From university students to co-workers I was asked if the military was planning to step in and restore order, etc.
If nothing else it was an opportunity to talk about the meaning of free elections. During the 50s-60s-70s in Russia there were billboards, postcards, TV shows and newspaper reports of "African throngs" in the streets of America, supposedly burning the place to the ground. Newspaper cartoons showed burned out schools and hospitals with the clear message that America had "allowed the black man to go too far" and that with proper vigilance such would never be allowed in the Soviet Union.
So in 2008 and following, I understood such questions especially when top leaders in Russia were mocking Obama on Russian TV at almost every turn. To me it is amazing that Russia has actually grown up quickly and a good many people have attempted to put that behind them.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/obama-ice-cream.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/obama-ice-cream.jpg)
One ice cream company, and Russians love ice cream almost as much as vodka, came out with a new product titled "Chocolate in Vanilla.' Ads for the product proclaimed "The flavour of the week--Black in White!" Some Russians thought it cool to combine black and white, but others rushed to tell grocers who carried the product that customers would find new venues to shop if the item remained in store coolers.
Of course few can forget the reaction on national television network REN when this news anchor gave Mr.Obama the "finger" on national TV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlKLv4oq-ao
Just this week Igor Panarin, dean the Russian Foreign Ministry School for future diplomats, predicted that President Obama will announce martial law by the end of 2012 in order to stay in power should he lose the election. During the Russian presidential election in March 2012 nationalist youth printed banners showing Obama surrounded by a black staff and in the other frame was Putin with a white staff, the obvious message that if one failed to vote for Putin then "terrible things" like blacks coming to power could happen to Russia.
Quality instruction at cheap prices however continues to attract black students from primarily African countries to live and study in Russia. Black students say that if they band together, the promise of an education outweighs the danger. But still, there are risks for non-whites living in Russia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5CvldCuocU
Next door in Ukraine professional football soccer players from Nigeria tell of spectators who attend games armed with bananas and monkey chants. Some players say they try to make a joke of the fruit landing on the field by eating the fruit. In an interview with the European Press Association, they tell of having learned to avoid the random beatings, pepper spray muggings and insults these players as well as African students in Ukraine by leaving their campus for home before dark, seldom going into the city centre unless in a group and staying away from gangs of men.
Authorities in Ukraine don't seem to be interested and most claim that stories of beatings and brutality are exaggerated in order to make Ukraine look bad.
While the USA has for decades elected black officials and a black president to lead the country, Russian voters waited until 2010 for a black person to be elected to public office. A country which traces its roots to over a 1,000 years ago, only elected a black regional council representative as the first black person ever to hold any sort of public office in Russia in 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60jjeFUOk1g
Yet even in this vast land there remains the possibility of change. The 2010 census revealed that there are between 40,000 and 70,000 Russians of full or mixed-African heritage who live in Russia now. Normally racist Russians are colour blind when it comes to the most famous African-Russian, the "father of Russian literature." Aleksandr Pushkin, Russia's premier literary genius was the great-grandson of an African brought to St. Petersburg under Peter the Great in the early 18th century.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pushkin-aleksandr.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pushkin-aleksandr.jpg)
(Aleksandr Pushkin apparently gets a pass.)
As Michelle Goldhaber wrote in the Kyiv Post (http://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/op-ed/is-ukraine-racist-or-not-1-128529.html)in May, "Pluralism and diversity are your assets, not liabilities and it's time to come to terms with your history, and your present, and to stop allowing hate crimes and discrimination to be culturally accepted."
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Unless there is urgent breaking news, the Mendeleyev Journal will take a few days break this week to marry off our youngest daughter. While specific details will remain private, she will be married in a civil ceremony at ZAGS and then an Orthodox ceremony in Moscow with a party afterward to gather with close friends and relatives and share toasts and congratulations over a menu of delicious Russian salads and fish.
Mrs. Mendeleyeva and I are excited for her and of course I was thrilled at her recent decision to pursue a career in journalism/radio. Perhaps I had a hand in that or at least so she says. So, yet another young lady leaves the warmth and comfort of the Mendeleyev home печь to venture out into the world. This is number three so we're used to the last minute hustle and bustle and plan to gently release her like doves as we did the first two, with the encouragement that together they soar as eagles--as far as the jet streams will carry.
Godspeed my beautiful child. I love you, ксения.
Welcome to the family, Виктор, and may God grant you both many years!
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/wedding-license-sm.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/wedding-license-sm.jpg)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/wedding-bread-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/wedding-bread-c.jpg)
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In the Mendeleyev Journal... (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)
(11 September 2012; Moscow) Fresh from their summer recess, the Russian Duma (parliament) is pressing for passage of a total ban on alcohol when driving. The bill had passed the lower Duma prior to the summer break but still needs approval of the upper assembly, the Federation Council, and when signed by President Putin will replace existing rules which allow low alcohol levels for drivers on Russian roads.
The State Duma speaker's office reported that recent laws tightening the screws on drunk driving had proved effective, citing statistics from 2010 when new rules slowed "the number of car accidents caused by drink drivers by 11% and the number of those killed in such accidents dropped 35%." The current law provides penalties that suspend drivers' licenses along with 15 days in jail.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/emergency-03-edit.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/emergency-03-edit.jpg)
(Russian ambulances are often called to respond to emergencies.)
The new law will also allow drunk driving convictions based on traffic video cameras but the penalties for convictions based on video evidence will be less than those whose convictions were obtained by direct intervention of Russian traffic police. Current fines average around 3,000 rubles, the equivalent of $95 US dollars. The new law would raise video related fines to 5,000 rubles, or $158 US dollars.
Russian news service RIANovosti reported that an amendment has been added to the bill envisioning that people making illegal U-turns will from now on be punished by the suspension of their driver's licenses for up to 6 months. Under current laws U-Turn offenders are fined up to 1,500 rubles but licenses are not suspended.
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In the Mendeleyev Journal... (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/)
(11 September 2012; Moscow) Fresh from their summer recess, the Russian Duma (parliament) is pressing for passage of a total ban on alcohol when driving.
mendy, do you mean that at the moment it's legal to be swigging from a vodka bottle while you drive? :o
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No, what the new law when passed will mean is a zero tolerance policy, not just in blood alcohol levels but in how an officer determines the effect that even a low amount is having on a driver.
The flip side is that the penalties for drunk driving still remain low even with the adjustments in the new law.
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Hey Jim,
how would you describe the attitudes of Russians around you toward Putin these days? He used to enjoy popularity, but now more and more I hear the voice of discontent with his power grab "for life", and some people are even talking of the possibility of civil war. It's probably "just talking" but still...
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Ed, I'll try to answer that question over in the "Reforming Russia" thread in this section. :)
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It will be interesting to see if there is any reaction over the DNC convention's use of Russian battleship photos. While retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, was on stage to honour American men and women in uniform, the screen behind him was filled with the sight of battleships.
He couldn't see the screen but those at the convention and television viewers could. The battleships displayed were Russian.
http://www.navytimes.com/mobile/news/2012/09/navy-russian-warships-displayed-dnc-veterans-tribute-091112
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While retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, was on stage to honour American men and women in uniform, the screen behind him was filled with the sight of battleships.He couldn't see the screen but those at the convention and television viewers could. The battleships displayed were Russian.
Freudian slip, proving that US Democrats are just thinly-disguised Communists 8) ;D.
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It will be interesting to see if there is any reaction over the DNC convention's use of Russian battleship photos. While retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, was on stage to honour American men and women in uniform, the screen behind him was filled with the sight of battleships.
He couldn't see the screen but those at the convention and television viewers could. The battleships displayed were Russian.
http://www.navytimes.com/mobile/news/2012/09/navy-russian-warships-displayed-dnc-veterans-tribute-091112 (http://www.navytimes.com/mobile/news/2012/09/navy-russian-warships-displayed-dnc-veterans-tribute-091112)
LOL, that is too funny!
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In today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)...
It is becoming almost like a game to spot the number and variety of McDonald's knockoffs in Russia and Ukraine. This little place is one of several businesses located on the first floor of an apartment building, a common arrangement in this part of the world.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/mcd-knockoff-your-gamburgers1.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/mcd-knockoff-your-gamburgers1.jpg)
McDonald's in the Cyrillic alphabet is spelled as Макдональдс but this knockoff uses the trademark M upside down, resembling the Cyrillic letter ш (sounded as "sh") to form the Russian word for "your" which is spelled Baш and sounds like "vash." There is no "h" sound in the Cyrillic so often "g" is substituted which means that hamburger is pronounced as gamburger (accented as "gham-burger") or going the theatre to enjoy Hamlet means you're going to the theatre for Gamlet. You get the idea.
"Ваш гамбургер"or "Your Ghamburger" is the name of this knockoff. It must be good as the sign also advertises Вкусное качество (tasty/delicious quality). We haven't even stepped inside and already "I'm loving it."
So, if you're ever in Moscow and want to see it for yourself, the town is Kovrov (Ковров) a few hours away in the Vladimir region near the start of Moscow's famous "Golden Ring."
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There is no "h" sound in the Cyrillic
Sorry Jim, I have to disagree with this one. English H = Russian X
It is pronounced a bit harsher in Russian language but still it's the same sound.
i.e. Хорошо = Horosho
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Also as in cold = Holodna
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I've always wondered why an initial H in foreign names is transliterated as a G in Russian - for instance, would not ХИТЛЕР sound closer to the original than ГИТЛЕР, although that H is soundless in German ::)?
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In today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/)...
It is becoming almost like a game to spot the number and variety of McDonald's knockoffs in Russia and Ukraine.
I have seen other versions elsewhere. I have never compared them by sampling the food because the standard MickeyD's hamburger in Russia is bad enough with its truckload of mayonnaise (Russian tastes).
What recourse does McDonald's have in Russia for trademark infringement?
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I've always wondered why an initial H in foreign names is transliterated as a G in Russian - for instance, would not ХИТЛЕР sound closer to the original than ГИТЛЕР, although that H is soundless in German ::) ?
Yes, that G, H thing bugs me, as does the I, E
Harold Garold
Erina Irina
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Yes, that G, H thing bugs me, as does the I, E
Harold Garold
Erina Irina
Many of the the FSU Ladies I corresponded with always pronounced my name as Gector instead of Hector. I finally got my girl Lena to pronounce my name correctly. LOL
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I've always wondered why an initial H in foreign names is transliterated as a G in Russian - for instance, would not ХИТЛЕР sound closer to the original than ГИТЛЕР, although that H is soundless in German ::) ?
I have no idea, but after thinking about it I can think of one explanation. The person in charge of making those adoptations to Russian might have been originally from Ukraine. Ukrainians pronounce the letter "G" different from Russians even when they speak Russian all their lives at home. It's just part of the "accent" you can say. The way Ukrainians pronounce "G" is closer to H but it's more like a combination of G and H. So it is reasonable to suggest that maybe since for a Ukrainian H is pronounced very similar to G they just put G in ГИТЛЕР and other words that start with H.
But I'm just guessing off course.
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Sorry Jim, I have to disagree with this one. English H = Russian X
It is pronounced a bit harsher in Russian language but still it's the same sound.
i.e. Хорошо = Horosho
As much as I don't like to disagree with a native Russian speaker, I would tend to agree with Mendy that ''h'' isn't really the same sound as ''х'' - although it is similar.
In the same way, I would also say that there is no English equivalent of the Russian letter ''ы''. There are similar sounds in English but there is no direct equivalent of that sound in English.
So, I would say that ''х'' is similar to ''h'' but it is not a direct equivalent.
Similarly, there is no real direct equivalent of ''x'' in standard English. Although you can hear the sound in some dialects, notably the Scouse accent that you hear in Liverpool. Although in that case the ''x'' sound is actually used for the letter ''k'' rather than the letter ''h''.
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As much as I don't like to disagree with a native Russian speaker, I would tend to agree with Mendy that ''h'' isn't really the same sound as ''х'' - although it is similar.
...
I agree, not really close save for both sounds are produced by the mouth. The Russian/Ukrainian 'X' sound reminds me of the sound when hacking (gacking for Ukrainians) up a loogie, only slightly softer.
Speaking of that g sound for h... I remember my first trip to Ukraine. I met the lady's brother and mother and during the obligatory conversation about what the lady had shown me around Odessa transpired. The catacombs along with some other WWII sites were mentioned. I was trying my best to understand who/what/where was this "Geetlair" thing everyone was talking about. They gave me the strangest look when I finally asked "What's a Geetlair".. live and learn...
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The x is more of a "kh" sound even for хорошо, but in Russia the most common usage is converted to "g" otherwise we'd have "KHamburger" or "KHamlet" etc.
As one PM pointed out, in Ukrainian there is more of an h sound in some instances. I can think of one immediately when you compare the phrase "Lord have mercy" in a Russian church versus Ukrainian church the "gospdi" versus "hospdi" is a good example.
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I have no idea, but after thinking about it I can think of one explanation. The person in charge of making those adAptations to Russian might have been originally from Ukraine. Ukrainians pronounce the letter "G" different from Russians even when they speak Russian all their lives at home. It's just part of the "accent" you can say. The way Ukrainians pronounce "G" is closer to H but it's more like a combination of G and H. So it is reasonable to suggest that maybe since for a Ukrainian H is pronounced very similar to G they just put G in ГИТЛЕР and other words that start with H. But I'm just guessing of course.
Thanks Eduard, that sounds at least plausible. So a bunch of Ukrainians would be ultimately responsible - I doubt a single person was entrusted with the entire transliteration task ::). Can you provide a break-down by native region of publishers' editors in Imperial Russian times ;D?
As much as I don't like to disagree with a native Russian speaker, I would tend to agree with Mendy that ''h'' isn't really the same sound as ''х'' - although it is similar.
Well, we would need to use a speech analyzer and study its phonetic spectrogram to solve the matter with some satisfaction - subjective acoustic impressions can be misleading ;).
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Spectrogram-buy.png/220px-Spectrogram-buy.png)
Spectrogram for "buy"
In the same way, I would also say that there is no English equivalent of the Russian letter ''ы''.
Nor is there in any other language I have some acquaintance with. Other Slavic languages maybe?
Similarly, there is no real direct equivalent of ''x'' in standard English. Although you can hear the sound in some dialects, notably the Scouse accent that you hear in Liverpool. Although in that case the ''x'' sound is actually used for the letter ''k'' rather than the letter ''h''.
Could you please provide an example? I had for a short time a Liverpudlian manager when I was working in London, and can only remember that his accented Us sounded like short OOs (e.g. must -> moost).
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I agree, not really close save for both sounds are produced by the mouth. The Russian/Ukrainian 'X' sound reminds me of the sound when hacking (gacking for Ukrainians) up a loogie, only slightly softer.
Speaking of that g sound for h... I remember my first trip to Ukraine. I met the lady's brother and mother and during the obligatory conversation about what the lady had shown me around Odessa transpired. The catacombs along with some other WWII sites were mentioned. I was trying my best to understand who/what/where was this "Geetlair" thing everyone was talking about. They gave me the strangest look when I finally asked "What's a Geetlair".. live and learn...
Yes, I love it when my Gal talks about charcoaling 'gomburgers.'
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I've always wondered why an initial H in foreign names is transliterated as a G in Russian ...
The answer is Old-Russian influence in current Russian transliterations !
The old Russian "Latin H - Russian Г" transliterations were quite reasonable, because the letter Г (it was a fricative consonant at that time) pretty much resembled the sound of H and, therefore, was used to denote Latin H.
FYI :
Although the modern pronunciation norms of the Russian literary language dictate that the letter Г (a plosive consonant) may only represent the sound of "Ge", some dialects spoken in southern Russian regions located along the borders of Ukraine and Belarus pronounce the letter Г as [γ] or [ĥ] - the two sound pretty much alike, with the latter having the same "origin" as the sound of the unvoiced consonant H in "Help", "Hand", etc
Ukrainians pronounce the letter "G" different from Russians even when they speak Russian all their lives at home. It's just part of the "accent" you can say. The way Ukrainians pronounce "G" is closer to H but it's more like a combination of G and H.
:clapping:
In the early nineties, the letter Г (it is pronounced as [ɦ] ) was reintroduced into the Ukrainian alphabet. Also, we have the letter Ґ (Г with upturn) representing the sound of a plosive «Ge», it is always used in transliterations to denote Latin G.
Yes, I love it when my Gal talks about charcoaling 'gomburgers.'
:D
Phonetic/pronunciation exercise:
Write down the following words:
1) full, pull
2) fool, pool
Ask your Gal to read them.
I wonder if she pronounces the words in these two groups with a different vowel sound?
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Who knows, you guys might be right and there is no "H" (X) sound in Russian language.
I'll just use your logic and say that there is no "B" (Б) sound in Russian language either, since "Libya"(Ливия) is pronounced as "Lee-vee-ya" in Russian :P
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Who knows, you guys might be right and there is no "H" (X) sound in Russian language.
I'll just use your logic and say that there is no "B" (Б) sound in Russian language either, since "Libya"(Ливия) is pronounced as "Lee-vee-ya" in Russian :P
I wonder how Libya sounds in Arabic. I doubt it's LIh-bee-uh. :)
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I wonder how Libya sounds in Arabic. I doubt it's LIh-bee-uh. :)
Its very close. Egypt is an European name I guess because Egyptians call their country something like "mosr."
When in Iran I was amazed how many Americans called it I- Ran vs. eeh-ron. It was really awful to the ears of Iranians if the speaker had a southern accent and placed annunciation on the second syllable.
The Arabic kh and gh sounds are difficult for Americans.
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The answer is Old-Russian influence in current Russian transliterations ! The old Russian "Latin H - Russian Г" transliterations were quite reasonable, because the letter Г (it was a fricative consonant at that time) pretty much resembled the sound of H and, therefore, was used to denote Latin H.
Thanks GoMG, that sounds even more convincing than Eduard's Ukrainian conspiracy ;).
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When in Iran I was amazed how many Americans called it I- Ran vs. eeh-ron.
Yes, but this is not the fault of the non-native speakers, whether they be Americans or any others.
It is the fault of the native officials or academics who dictated how the native language characters would be presented when transcribed into English letters.
If the country wanted its name to be pronounced as Eeh-ron . . . then it should have spelled it that way rather than Iran.
Similar to how the Russian names are presented in English as Irina, Ivan, etc., rather than as Ereena, Evon, etc.
Russian officials have controlled how these names are spelled in English, so they are to blame for the mispronunciation.
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I wonder how Libya sounds in Arabic. I doubt it's LIh-bee-uh. :)
Libya in Arabic: ليبيا (Lee-bee-AA)
Egypt is an European name I guess, because Egyptians call their country something like "mosr."
Egypt in Arabic: مصر (Miṣr)
The name Egypt is older than the Arabic one and comes to us from Greek Αἴγυπτος, derived from Late Egyptian Hikuptah (Memphis), a corruption of the earlier Egyptian name Hwt-ka-Ptah meaning "Home of the ka (soul) of Ptah", the name of a temple to the god Ptah at Memphis.
(http://www.touregypt.net/images/touregypt/kmt3.jpg)
Hwt-ka-Ptah (Ht-ka-Ptah, or Hout-ak Ptah)
The Arabic kh and gh sounds are difficult for Americans.
Arabic is very accurate in its spelling: 28 letters including 3 long vowels (A,I,U). The pronunciation of the short variants of the 3 vowels (usually omitted in writing) varies locally: A can be E, U can be O, etc. Misr is pronounced Mɑsr in Egyptian Arabic.
Ancient Egyptians referred to their country not as a single but as two distinct countries:
(http://www.touregypt.net/images/touregypt/kmt1.jpg) (http://www.touregypt.net/images/touregypt/kmt2.jpg)
Kemet (Kermit), or simply Kmt, the Black land: the rich soil found in the Nile Valley and Delta
Deshret, or dshrt , which refers to the "Red Land": the deserts
Our European words for desert probably derive from the latter. What we call the Sahara Desert is in Arabic الصحراء الكبرى (Aṣ-Ṣaḥrā´ al-Kubrā, i.e. "The Desert The Great"), which sounds funny to Arabic speakers who know some English because to them is equivalent to Desert Desert, a needless redundancy :D.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jiorHa6Ppw
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MY GOD!!!!!
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Thank you, Olya! I had a good laugh! A very unexpected ending! Wow!
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Thank you, Olya! I had a good laugh! A very unexpected ending! Wow!
Olly and Ed, the video is not real as I understood and made by Music Channel "U", but actually it is not far from the reality
Below are the videos of reality. And reality is that the good teachers less and less want to work in the Russian schools and technical colleges.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQNP5Hzd7_A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbWrmDoLvkQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNQxMMax2Qs
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Olly and Ed, you can understand Russian.
Here is a documentary "School of violence" in Chelyabinsk
When mother asked the teacher what is going on and why her son doesn't want to go to school, the teacher told that she is at war with the boy. She abused the boy, taped his mouth and even asked the pupils to beat the boy. The teacher is also has an alcohol problem. The school principle is on the teachers side.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhANPEeOE1I&feature=related
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Olly and Ed, the video is not real as I understood and made by Music Channel "U", but actually it is not far from the reality
Below are the videos of reality. And reality is that the good teachers less and less want to work in the Russian schools and technical colleges.
kakoj uzhas!!!
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Olly and Ed, you can understand Russian.
Here is a documentary "School of violence" in Chelyabinsk
When mother asked the teacher what is going on and why her son doesn't want to go to school, the teacher told that she is at war with the boy. She abused the boy, taped his mouth and even asked the pupils to beat the boy. The teacher is also has an alcohol problem. The school principle is on the teachers side.
yes, this is the other side of the coin... sad
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kakoj uzhas!!!
Yes it is terrible!
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One story that has jumped out in the Russian Internet is of this scene from a highway near Nizhny Novgorod. At about three o'clock in the morning these drivers came upon an accident which caused one of the cars to set on fire. According to the story bystanders stopped to watch but nobody went over to help as the blaze grew higher.
Once the Ministry of Emergency Situations and police arrived, the accident and fire had killed five people and left a sixth person badly injured and in critical condition.
http://youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T8W-42oSfPQ#! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=T8W-42oSfPQ)
Drivers in Russia are required to carry a first-aid kit, a fire extinguisher and an emergency triangle or red light but none of these were observed present at the accident.
Do you think this is normal behaviour for Russia, or an oddity?
Would this be typical in your country?
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One story that has jumped out in the Russian Internet is of this scene from a highway near Nizhny Novgorod. At about three o'clock in the morning these drivers came upon an accident which caused one of the cars to set on fire. According to the story bystanders stopped to watch but nobody went over to help as the blaze grew higher.
Once the Ministry of Emergency Situations and police arrived, the accident and fire had killed five people and left a sixth person badly injured and in critical condition.
http://youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T8W-42oSfPQ#! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=T8W-42oSfPQ)
Drivers in Russia are required to carry a first-aid kit, a fire extinguisher and an emergency triangle or red light but none of these were observed present at the accident.
Do you think this is normal behaviour for Russia, or an oddity?
Would this be typical in your country?
Unfortunately this is a typical behavior of a by-stander in any country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese)
A dozen of neighbors on NY streets saw a young woman being stubbed, raped and died; only one called the police.
This happens in every country.
There are a number of researches done into bystander effect. Unfortunately it requires either a trained professional or a person with above average sense of responsibility to intervene.
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Ah and yeah, when I had a car accident (UK) for one person stopped there were 100 or so passed by. My passenger was injured and needed help.
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Do you think this is normal behaviour for Russia, or an oddity?
Would this be typical in your country?
Yes it's a normal behavior in Russia
Not quite, they will also video it and post on Twitter
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In the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)...
Calling all compatriots, it is time to come home. That is the message from President Putin as last week he signed an executive order designed to make it more enticing for Russians to return home.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/train-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/train-a.jpg)
President Putin wants Russians living abroad to get on a plane, ship or train and come home.
(Photo: Dmitri Mikshin)
The executive order, titled On Implementation of the State Programme to Assist Voluntary Resettlement of Compatriots Living Abroad to the Russian Federation, is the President's hope to harness the potential and capabilities of compatriots abroad to return home and help with the development needs of Russia’s regions. The Programme is part of a series of measures meant to stabilize Russia’s population, especially in regions of strategic importance for the country.
Some may remember a similar call from Joseph Stalin who wanted to entice Russians who had fled prior to and during the Great Patriotic War (WWII) to come home to help rebuild Russia. Many Russians returned home, most to find themselves charged as traitors and many shipped off to the Siberian Gulag camps within months of their return.
We don't really expect a repeat of Stalin era reprisals but it is funny how quickly Russians bring up that topic when asked if they plan to return. Many Russians have fled for reasons of wealth protection, for opportunities to live without fear of a repressive government and private mafia involvement in business, or for political reasons. These folks will need more than a mere executive order if the government hopes to get their attention.
The Putin plan promises a comprehensive approach to facilitating the voluntary resettlement of compatriots abroad to Russia, offering them a choice of future place of residence, employment, and education and training opportunities, taking into account the Russian regions’ respective socioeconomic situations. The amount of state guarantees and social support provided to compatriots resettling in Russia will vary depending on the region of residence they choose.
The President has selected an intergovernmental Commission to work on implementing the programme under the guidance of the Federal Migration Service.
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Many Russians have fled for reasons of wealthy protection, for opportunities to live without fear of a repressive government and private mafia involvement in business, or for political reasons.
Jim, I found it interesting that you used the term "Private Mafia". But it is very accurate since there are 2 Mafias in Russia and Ukraine. The first one is a traditional underworld Mafia and the second being the government Mafia which some say is even more powerful. Every one in the government from the head down to a street cop and city inspectors is running some form of racket and making a very good living at it. You can't get many of these sweet jobs just like that. Many of them are for sale and you can buy them just like buying a business or you have to be well connected, or both.
I used to be very critical of all this terrible corruption in Russia and Ukraine until I realised what's happening in this country. I guess people's corrupt nature is universal...
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You can almost figure out many of the mafia in Moscow. The swagger, the arrogance. But I don't see so much of this in the smaller cities. Do you guys think it is not as pervasive there?
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You can almost figure out many of the mafia in Moscow. The swagger, the arrogance. But I don't see so much of this in the smaller cities. Do you guys think it is not as pervasive there?
actually it's the other way around, Chicagoguy. Traditional Mafia is a lot stronger in smaller cities whereas government Mafia (police, bureaucrats) is stronger in the large cities.
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Jim, I found it interesting that you used the term "Private Mafia".
Ed, I'm guessing that we'd both put the prison mafia under the private label as well as the Chechen mafia and other private groups. In a broad sense there are indeed two mafias with smaller but powerful groups and if someone wanted to break it down, the various groups of the private mafia are part of a loose federation sometimes aligned and sometimes at odds with each other. And in some cases there is crossover between the private mafia and the government mafia.
The government mafia is also splintered into various factions, yet loosely aligned. The police mafia and the army mafia often compete for territory and "clients" with the civil government mafia, yet there are overlapping connections that serve to prevent turf wars in most cases.
It will be interesting to see whether the recent order that all traffic tickets must be video taped will have an effect on curtailing corruption on Russian roads.
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69 years After the War
(condensed from the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com))
Kremenchuk, or Кременчук (Russian) Кременчуг (Ukrainian) is an industrial town in central Ukraine, in the Poltava administrative region along the banks of Ukraine's famous Dnieper River. The photos for this report, unless otherwise noted, are from: http://www.kremenchuk.org/eng (http://www.kremenchuk.org/eng).
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kremenchuk-road-todays-photo-of.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kremenchuk-road-todays-photo-of.jpg)
(Approaching Kremenchuk, Ukraine.)
The settlement of Kremenchuk was founded in 1571 and later the Kremenchuk fortress was built by French military engineer Guillaume Levasser de Boplan in 1638. The town quickly became an important city for transportation of goods from Russia to other parts of Europe.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kremenchuk-kryukov-railway-wagon-factory-todays-photo-of.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kremenchuk-kryukov-railway-wagon-factory-todays-photo-of.jpg)
The Kremenchuk Kryukov Railway wagon factory is a major job provider today.
Russian armies and the Navy was based here during the Russian-Turkish war (1787-1791) as local shipbuilders built the fleet for Russia's Black Sea flotilla. In 1802 Kremenchuk was made a part of the Poltava oblast. Today railway cars and automobiles are manufactured in Kremenchuk as well as one of the largest truck factories in Europe to produce trucks for Russian auto maker KrAZ. The city is served by passenger train service and locally by buses, trams and passenger vans called "Marshrutki" because they run on regular routes and schedules.
The city suffered during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Almost 90% of the city's buildings were destroyed and thousands died, including most of the Jewish population. War records held in the Russian Extraordinary State Commission archives in Moscow detail how the destruction of the Jewish population was a sinister goal of Nazi SS units occupying Kremenchuk.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kremenchuk-anniversary-of-the-liberation-todays-photo-of-kremenchuk.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kremenchuk-anniversary-of-the-liberation-todays-photo-of-kremenchuk.jpg)
(This year marks the 69th anniversary of liberation on 29 September 1943.)
Prior to the war almost 30,000 Jewish persons, about 47% of the total population, lived in the city. After the war there were approximately 8,000 Jewish survivors. The Germans made a point of destroying the city's synagogues, leaving only the historic "Great" synagogue standing but stripped and the roof blown off.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kremenchuk-playground-todays-photo-of.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kremenchuk-playground-todays-photo-of.jpg)
(Many of the 235,000 city residents live in post war apartments since most buildings were destroyed in the war.)
This past January (2012) the Jewish community of Kremenchug was forced to again deal with anti-Semitism after a Molotov cocktail ignited a fire and damaged the synagogue exterior in the early morning hours of the New Year. The attack took place less than a month after the dedication of a new Torah scroll. Two months prior a similar attempted firebombing failed to fully ignite and spared the synagogue of damages.
(Photos for this report unless otherwise noted are from: http://www.kremenchuk.org/eng (http://www.kremenchuk.org/eng))
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From the food pages of the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Recently an authentic Armenian cucumber appeared in the Mendeleyev Journal food pages test kitchen. Imagine!
For our Calvinistic friends, yes there is such a cucumber! Okay, maybe Armenian and Arminian are two different subjects but we digress. Being that it was your faithful editor's first experience with a cucumber native to the country of Armenia, but grown all over Asia (and California), we thought perhaps it worth an interview, so the cucumber was kidnapped and quietly spirited out of the kitchen and into our sound studio.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kodak-new-224.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kodak-new-224.jpg)
(Armenian cucumber in the Mendeleyev Journal sound studios.)
Perhaps this lowly cucumber had the answer to world peace or inner tranquility? Maybe it would impart significant theological insights to quell the disunity among churches of various denominations who still don't understand the truth of Catholicity in that debate?
Alas, the cuke made not a sound! Hey, who were we to know that the Armenian cucumber is more related to the muskmelon family albeit tasting and looking much like a traditional cucumber? Every muskmelon we've tried to interview has been just as reticent so eventually the interview project was abandoned and we gave way to a slicing knife and slaughtered the poor fruit.
It is worth noting that apparently Armenian cucumbers don't wither under bright lights.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kodak-new-230.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kodak-new-230.jpg)
(Even after intense peeling under bright lights, the cucumber remained speechless.)
It was peeled though later we learned that peeling wasn't necessary. The staff of the Mendeleyev Journal feels that perhaps we're the first team of journalists in modern history to attempt an interview with a cucumber under bright lights and with a kitchen vegetable slicing knife. Lavrentiy Beria would be so proud.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kodak-new-243.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/kodak-new-243.jpg)
(вкусный "koos-niy" = tasty/delicious.)
It was not just any run of the mill pickle either but a genuine Armenian cucumber! Oh, it was tasty by the way. With sliced tomatoes and a dash of salt, that plate rocked!
(PS...to see this fruit up close click on the photos.)
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looks yummy.
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If you're a teacher we congratulate you today on 5 October, the day of the Teacher! Members dating a teacher or mother of a school aged child may want to have this information today
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/school-5-oct-teacher-day-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/school-5-oct-teacher-day-b.jpg)
5 октября.
День учителя.
классная работа!
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Awh, heck no. I'm not letting these guys at шоколадница (Chocolate girl) get away with this!
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/blini-berries.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/blini-berries.jpg)
Just because I've been successfully losing some kilograms recently doesn't mean that they can send these kinds of ads by email to derail my weight loss plans. No way!
In fact, I'm going to march to the nearest location and order one of each of these berry and cream cheese blini (crepe pancakes) just to show that I have the willpower to eat only two plates...and no more! Now take that you evil diet busting temptation enablers!
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From the Mendeleyev Journa (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)l:
According to a report in the Moscow Times newspaper, Russia's chief health inspector says that automobile drivers should not be allowed to drink yogurt prior to driving.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/kefir-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/kefir-b.jpg)
Across Russia at precinct stations it was as if traffic officers could be heard laughing at Inspector Gennady Onishchenko's idea that yogurt could impair drivers. Police officials quickly explained that while there are serious accidents on the roads each day, none of them have been identified as being caused by the consumption of yogurt.
For Western readers we should explain that a soft yogurt drink called "Kefir" is a slightly fermented yogurt drink, a traditional use of yogurt in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia.
New Russian laws on retail alcohol sales would have required dairies to license and tax Kefir as an alcoholic product and prohibited sales to anyone under 18. The idea was abandoned after Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered Kefir removed from the list of alcoholic products.
Even Wikipedia mentioned not one concern about the dangers of Kefir and driving. According to Wiki: As it contains yeasts, kefir can be used to make a sourdough bread. It is also useful as a buttermilk substitute in baking. Kefir is one of the main ingredients in cold borscht. Other variations of kefir soups and foods prepared with kefir are popular across the former Soviet Union and Poland.
Heck even little kids drink the stuff. But then, you wouldn't allow them to drive anyway.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/kefir-child.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/kefir-child.jpg)
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The closest you can get to Kefir would be buttermilk IMO. I buy butternilk all the time, love the stuff! Also great for making pancakes.
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The closest you can get to Kefir would be buttermilk IMO. I buy butternilk all the time, love the stuff! Also great for making pancakes.
Ed, actual Kefir can be had here in USA; and not just at specialty Russian food places.
Lifeway is one brand that makes it.
Available in Florida at Publix, Albertson's, etc.
http://lifeway.net/Store/StoreLocator.aspx?&cname=BizSearchResult&Searching=1&fullcrit=&zip=&city=tampa&state=FL&country=USA&m=100&tag=All
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Ed, actual Kefir can be had here in USA; and not just at specialty Russian food places.
Lifeway is one brand that makes it.
Available in Florida at Publix, Albertson's, etc.
http://lifeway.net/Store/StoreLocator.aspx?&cname=BizSearchResult&Searching=1&fullcrit=&zip=&city=tampa&state=FL&country=USA&m=100&tag=All (http://lifeway.net/Store/StoreLocator.aspx?&cname=BizSearchResult&Searching=1&fullcrit=&zip=&city=tampa&state=FL&country=USA&m=100&tag=All)
God I hate that stuff... as much as I hate "buttermilk". What's the difference between the two?
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Ed, actual Kefir can be had here in USA; and not just at specialty Russian food places.
Lifeway is one brand that makes it.
Available in Florida at Publix, Albertson's, etc.
http://lifeway.net/Store/StoreLocator.aspx?&cname=BizSearchResult&Searching=1&fullcrit=&zip=&city=tampa&state=FL&country=USA&m=100&tag=All (http://lifeway.net/Store/StoreLocator.aspx?&cname=BizSearchResult&Searching=1&fullcrit=&zip=&city=tampa&state=FL&country=USA&m=100&tag=All)
I know, but it doesn't taste as good to me. Buttermilk is closer to the original IMO.
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I know, but it doesn't taste as good to me. Buttermilk is closer to the original IMO.
My Gal bought one quart of the Lifeway kefir, and then used it with a gallon of whole milk to create more kefir, and always uses some of it to make the next batch, etc. Also makes the cheese used for syrniki from it.
She seems happy with the taste; although very shortly it was probably not the taste of the original Lifeway kefir.
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In the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)...
The first snow, Первый снег in Russian, of 2012 came much earlier in the far north cities near the Arctic Circle, but last night was the first snow in Moscow. It didn't seem to impact traffic as it was mostly light flurries but we'll see if it becomes heavier today.
Calling it "October's wet promise of the six months of gloom," The Guardian (London) reporter Miriam Elder wrote, "Winter is, of course, Moscow's natural state. The slightest hint of frost brings Russians fumbling for their furs, checking skating rink schedules, ensuring soup ingredients are in full stock."
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/first-snow-2012-oct-23.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/first-snow-2012-oct-23.jpg)
First snow 2012 Oct 23 (foto: marsianins.livejournal)
Last year the first snow was 15 October, and in 2010 it arrived on 13 October. We can only echo Ms. Elder's observation that, "Navigating Moscow's traffic-crazed streets is a stressful experience at the best of times – in winter, it's downright exhausting."
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/first-snow-oct-13-2010.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/first-snow-oct-13-2010.jpg)
First snow of 2010 was October 13. (foto: wunderground/Jemenai)
If you are packing for Moscow do not forget a warm full length coat, a scarf, pair of gloves and a hat to keep your head warm.
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What would it be like to live beyond the Arctic Circle?
Welcome to the town of Kandalaksha where 36,000 people live in an area that in many ways shares a sense of life perhaps in rural areas near you. A longtime friend from the Appalachians asked recently what it was like in Kandalaskha. Of course he'd discovered a lady's profile there and was curious about life in that region of the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnTWPXQv_rU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnTWPXQv_rU)
At first I was about to say that very few things represent the same between his little slice of the world and hers. But then after a moment to ponder, I began to realize how many things are much the same. Of course there is no seaport, no large body of water, no seals swimming up to people, and no large oil production in Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee. There is no passenger train service several times daily and Appalachian and Cumberland states are much warmer in winter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEmPktjQaWY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEmPktjQaWY)
But there are some striking similarities: In both regions there is coal, poverty, poorly maintained roads, the good character of most residents even in the face of chronic unemployment, the wide open outdoors, opportunities for camping-hunting-fishing, kids who take school seriously, parents who care about their children, families that go to church and pray together. folk who drink beer all Friday night, good drivers, bad drivers, movie theatres, love of sport, talented artists and musicians, and corrupt politicians.
Yes, life may very different in Kandalaksha when compared to a rural area near you. Yet if you look closely, I think you'll see that in many ways life is pretty much the same.
That is a good thing.
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The Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com) would like to show you something that is illegal in Russia, but common.
Most Russian towns of any size have some developed transportation such as electric trolley trains, buses, etc. Another option is a legal minibus, called Marshrutki (Маршрутки). These minivans are privately owned but licensed by a city to run the same route as larger city buses but provide express service with fewer stops. The passenger pays a little more for the express minibuses but arrived at their destination faster. Of course the passenger can also choose to pay less and ride on the larger buses which are slower with more stops.
Another form of transportation is the “gypsy taxi” so-named because they’re non-licensed and thus illegal for a gypsy taxi to mimic the same route as official transport. Neither are they supposed to use city bus stops and shelters to pick up passengers. But they do. Private passenger cars on their way pick up passengers for a fee. The driver pulls over, the passenger announces where he/she wants to go and the driver earns some extra money on the way to work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eimI3N0fdD8
In this video the camera is inside a (Маршруткa), a licensed minivan operating on its assigned route. Watch closely as private cars arrive at each stop ahead of the minivan to pick up passengers that by all rights belong to the licensed minibus driver who pays the city a monthly fee for the route. Are the gypsy taxis guilt of illegal poaching of paying customers? Of course, and that is why the driver has made a video. But will it help if he takes it to authorities? Probably not.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/transport-marshrutka-pub-dom.jpg)
In large cities like Moscow Gypsy taxis are illegal and not supposed to operate anywhere, but the practice is common. In most smaller cities gypsy taxis are legal but drivers are not supposed to use established city routes and pick up facilities.
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In the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com)...I have always loved two Russian cars over any other, the impressive and top of the line ZIL and the Volga. Now President Putin has a new limo, a ZIL, to replace his German made limo. I'm impressed with this ZIL.
The car known as ZIL has been the signature car in Russia for decades and the company that makes the high end vehicle hopes that a new limo for President Putin will resurrect the car's sagging sales for a vehicle seen as important to past generations but lacking the sleekness desired by younger buyers. The president gets an updated car with loads of new innovations yet one that retains the historic style of a classic ZIL.
The shell of Mr. Putin's new limo was manufactured in Russia by AMO ZIL, the same company that has built Russian presidential limos since the rule of Leonid Brezhnev. The engine and transmission were made in America while the car's design and special modifications for presidential use were designed and built in Russia.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/putin-limo-d0b5d0bad0b0d182d0b5d180d0b8d0bdd0b0-d180d0b7d18fd0bdd0b8d0bdd0b0-vesti-ru.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/putin-limo-d0b5d0bad0b0d182d0b5d180d0b8d0bdd0b0-d180d0b7d18fd0bdd0b8d0bdd0b0-vesti-ru.jpg)
(foto: Екатерина Рзянина; vesti.ru)
The limousine is a ZIL-4112P, the P stands for president, a model the company hopes to continue building for security conscious business executives. The new ZIL executive limo line features technological upgrades in ergonomic design, suspension, cooling system and power supply complete with a standby generator if needed. The new engine, built by American manufacturer Allison, has been upgraded to a fuel injection system with improved fuel economy and acceleration to 200 km/h. Improvements to fuel economy are also significant, now at 25 liters per 100 kilometers from a 7.7 liter engine with 400 horse power and a five speed automatic transmission also made in America.
Mr. Putin's new limousine has six doors and a wealth of safety and anti-terror innovations. Tires for the car's 16 inch wheels are specially made at a factory near Moscow and with full armour the vehicle weighs over 3.5 tons yet boasting increased acceleration and speed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqzfbpAKEnE
Currently President Putin rides in a German made Mercedes-Benz S-Guard Pullman.
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From today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
For our American readers there continues to be worldwide coverage of Hurricane Sandy and today we highlight some aspects of the coverage from Russian media.
We'll begin with a short language glossary:
Ураган Сэнди is Hurricane Sandy and spoken as "Ora-gahn Cendi."
Супер шторм is Super Storm and when sounded is done with a Russian accent so that is sounds as "Su-pyer Storm" or "Su-pyer Stor-ma" depending on use.
США is the Russian abbreviation for USA and sounds like "Sh-Shah."
Россия is the word for Russia and sounds like "Rah-sea-ya."
Американский is the term for American and sounds as "Ameri-kahn-ski."
миллион is million; "mil-e-ohn."
долларов is the world for dollars; "doll-arovhf."
Report from Russian government TV "Channel One:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiJwSRrFRek
Report from Russian TV channel "Russia 24:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_xRnb9parE
Russian newspaper and magazine coverage is provided via news syndicates such as vesti.ru (http://www.vesti.ru/theme.html?tid=100414 (http://www.vesti.ru/theme.html?tid=100414)):
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/russian-media-of-hurricane-sandy.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/russian-media-of-hurricane-sandy.png)
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How to order at Wendy's when it is cold outside.
Привет. I'd like to start with some hot Чай (chai = tea) immediately! Ok, that is nice. Thank you. May I have the печеный картофель (baked potato) at the top left. It has беконом с сыр соусе (bacon with cheese sauce) and sure, you talked me into a Твист (potato twist). It is cold outside and a good tvist (there is no W in Russian) is good for.....well, its got to be good for something I'm sure.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/wendys-8-24-11-moscow-1569-edit.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/wendys-8-24-11-moscow-1569-edit.jpg)
(Wendy's on Old Arbat, Moscow.)
Okay, next let's have some hot Чили (chili) and I'd like the классик трипл (Classic triple) except put only one burger patty on the burger but please serve the other two on the side.
Why two patties on the side? If my wife asks then I can say that I ordered only ONE patty on my burger instead of three!
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What makes Russia so interesting? :P
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:) You are a smart lady, Ranetka!
Btw, I think that you are each correct.
The metric system deals with powers of 10: However, as Manlooking points out, a gross which is the basic bulk unit of measurement in the metric system is a group of 12 (12 in each group) equaling 144 individual units.
However you can extend it in the other direction.
10 m = dam - decameter
100 m = hm - hectometer
1000 m = 1 km - kilometer
10000 m = 10 km = 1 mil
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Today in the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
English speakers in Moscow will soon have a English language radio station, not the first but the first full time English station, on the FM dial in Moscow starting next Monday the 12th of November. Last month the Moscow Media Group negotiated broadcast rights with the city of Moscow for the 105.2FM frequency.
City officials say that the station will cater to English speaking residents and tourists. Officials believe that at least 150,000 English speakers reside and work in the greater Moscow area. In addition to expats it is estimated that over 5 million English speaking visitors come to Moscow each year.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/next-fm.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/next-fm.png)
The station will occupy the frequency currently known as "Next 105.2" a station playing mainly R&B and Rock in English, featuring a playlist of singers like Vanilla Ice, Usher, Blondie, Pet Shop Boys, Rihanna, Madonna and Pink. Currently the Next 105.2 format remains on the air as of this report.
Station Chief Igor Shestakov of Moscow Media Group told Russian news service Kommersant that much of the content will come from state owned international news channel Russia Today television. Russia Today already provides programming from its Washington, DC (USA) programming facilities on stations in New York City and Washington, DC. Shestakov said that much of the news will be of interest to English speaking expats and Moscow residents.
Moscow residents may remember when Russian Oligarch Alexander Lebedev announced plans for an English-language radio station in Moscow in 2009.
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In today's MJ (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
If finding English speakers in Saint Petersburg is of interest, then you're in luck. Whether to practice your English learning skills with native speakers or to network with other expats, the English Centre - Excellence invites you to stop by for a visit during their open house this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday (9-11 November/ноября). There will be open lessons for those who'd like to learn English and fun conversation.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/english-centre-st-p-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/english-centre-st-p-c.jpg)
The English Centre - Excellence is where one can find both English teachers and English teachers and the address is Nevskiy, 80 (Адрес: Невский 80) and you may call for directions locally in Peter at 911-52-25.
Two new evening classes for Russian speakers who would like to learn English are starting next week so this is a great time to visit the Centre.
Также центр английского языка Excellence приглашает на открытые уроки тех, кто еще не знает английского.
Адрес: Невский 80
Контакты: 911-52-25
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/english-centre-st-p-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/english-centre-st-p-b.jpg)
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In the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
Rush hour: one of the thrills for most Western visitors to Moscow is riding the underground Metro. Mostly underground with a few exceptions and the system that carries an average of 9 million riders every day.
How does it do that? Efficiently. Trains run every 90 seconds in peak hours which by the way in Russian is час пик. What is час пик? час is ch-a-s and that means "hour" or can be an expression of "time." пик is p-i-k and that means "peak" so час пик is a convenient way to describe peak hour/rush hour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=SqRgXm7UfF4
Native Muscovites however are not so happy with a new map recently released. As reported in The Moscow News (http://themoscownews.com/local/20121026/190764993.html), "Moscow metro officials are looking for volunteers to create a replacement for a recently redesigned – and widely disliked – city metro transport map, said Pavel Sukharnikov, the metro’s spokesman, on Thursday."
"The current renewed design has been criticised for displaying the wrong dimensions and leaving out the Moscow River from the scheme, among other failures. Metro officials say they will respond to passengers’ suggestions this time around."
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/metro-info-map.jpeg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/metro-info-map.jpeg)
(By permission: City of Moscow; http://www.mos.ru/en (http://www.mos.ru/en))
Meanwhile Metro officials say that a Herrenknecht tunnel boring machine (TBM) is almost assembled so that engineers can begin tunneling between the Lermontovsky Prospekt and Vykhino subway stations in Moscow.
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In the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com):
It was in November 1705 that Peter the Great issued a decree on the formation of the first regiment of marines. This new Russian service of the military was intended for service on warships as specially trained boarding & assault teams. This date, 27 November on the old calendar and 16 November on the new calendar, is now considered as the birth date of the Russian naval infantry.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/marines-day-16-november.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/marines-day-16-november.jpg)
Happy anniversary, Marines!
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It was in November 1705 that Peter the Great issued a decree on the formation of the first regiment of marines.
They beat the Royal Marines by 50 years :D:
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines (RM), are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service.The Royal Marines were formed in 1755 as marine infantry for the Royal Navy.
However, it can trace its origins back as far as 28 October 1664 when at the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company "the Duke of York and Albanys maritime regiment of foot" was first formed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Marines
While their quick march is "A Life on the Ocean Wave":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj-bi920B-8&feature=related
their slow march is Russian!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFEs_rGp1Wk
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2013 will be the year of the snake so the editors of the Mendeleyev Journal (http://mendeleyeevjournal.ru) plan to introduce several recipes in preparation for the great New Year 2013 celebration! The first recipe is a potato snake, modified slightly from the original for ease of preparation.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/year-of-the-snake-2013.jpg) (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=8423)
(photo: http://ovkuse.ru/id/24832/) (http://ovkuse.ru/id/24832/)Those)
Those who've eaten snake claim that it tastes "just like chicken" and we're about to test that theory with this New Year's snake salad with chicken.
Ingredients:
2-3 cucumbers, either fresh or 5-6 pickled.
1 large can of olives.
4-5 medium/large boiled potatoes.
3 eggs, boiled.
2 pieces of fresh chicken.
Cheese curds or package of grated cheese.
2 small carrots, boiled.
1 can/tin of corn.
Preparation:
Marinate the chicken meat with lemon juice and sprinkle with chopped dill, then boil in lightly salted water until done, then allow to cool completely.
After the chicken has cooled separate the meat from the bones and cut into small pieces.
Put the eggs, potatoes and cheese through a coarse grater prior to chilling in the fridge.
Chill the ingredients for 30 minutes.
Mix the prepared ingredients with mayonnaise, pepper and salt; then form a snake on a platter.
Olives are cut into half and thin rings of cucumber are sliced into thin circles.
Carrots finish the snake, cucumbers and olives are used to form scales and in the center of each olive place a kernel of corn. The eyes of the snake are made of olives and the tongue of carrot.
In other developments, the Mendeleyev Journal is now easier to find. We've added new urls: www.mendeleyeevjournal.ru (http://www.mendeleyeevjournal.ru) or from www.mendeleyevjournal.com.
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Salads on a Russian table are an indication of health, significance, happiness and success. A table may have one customary meat item but the more salads and side dishes, the more significant the celebration. So the Mendeleyev Journal (http://mendeleyevjournal.com) continues with New Year celebration salads in the theme of the year of the snake for 2013.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/year-of-the-snake-2013-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/russian-new-year-salads-fish-snake/year-of-the-snake-2013-b/)
(photo: http://i.ovkuse.ru/blogs/moi-mir/salatik-k-novomu-godu.html)
You can see the outline of a snake in the centre. This is a protein salad made with eggs and mackerel pike which are called сайрой in Russia. You may substitute any form of short fish if you don't like or have access to canned mackerel. This is a layered salad and each layer has it's own ingredients.
Salad layers (each layer is mixed with mayonnaise):
1 - boiled potatoes
2 - onions
3 - mackerel
4 - boiled carrots
5 - cheese
6 - egg yolk
7 - white Potatoes
Next in preparation:
Grate the carrots and cheese for the topping. Mix with finely chopped onion and mayonnaise. Chives for decorations.
Season to taste.
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That's just plain not fair. My diet over here in the apartment has consisted of fruit and things I can boil. Lucky for me Cafe Paris is right around the corner so I get my coffee and pastries. But good salads are delish and I need to find me a woman who knows how to cook - and soon.
Thanks for sharing Mendeleyev!
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Jone, I've found that Russia and Ukraine contain some of the best cooks on the planet so I'm sure you'll be rescued. Make some friends in your neighborhood and over time you'll find yourself invited to their homes and be introduced to some of the best salads you've encountered.
Salads in the Eastern world aren't built around lettuce and while I like leafy greens, I enjoy the wide variety of salads here that don't revolve around lettuce. Meat salads, vegetable salads, fish salads, etc, make a Russian table a delight.
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In the Mendeleyev Journal (http://mendeleyevjournal.com) continuing series on Russian New Year salads we introduce today a salad that is fun to eat and to see! If you like kiwi fruit and chicken then this is a salad you definitely want to try in celebrating the beginning of the year of the snake 2013.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/year-of-the-snake-2013-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=8440)
(photo: http://forum.darievna.ru/topic1488.html-sid=fdb23ca1fff4ac932461f34e125a028d (http://forum.darievna.ru/topic1488.html-sid=fdb23ca1fff4ac932461f34e125a028d))
Ingredients:
chicken fillet - 200 g
Leeks - 1
Shrimp - 200 g
boiled eggs - 4
mayonnaise-200 g
canned corn - 1 can/tin
Apple - 1
Soybean oil 1 tbsp.
soy sauce 1 tbsp.
Needed to decorate the salad:
lettuce
olives - 1 can
cucumber - 1
Kiwi - 3
Preparation:
Cut the chicken into small strips and saute with soy oil and soy sauce.
Core the apple and cut into small cubes.
Immediately mix the diced apple and mayonnaise so that the apple doesn't change colour.
Cut the onion in half and then slice into thin half rings.
Chop the eggs and shrimp cut into small pieces.
Mix the corn with the rest of the ingredients and add more mayonnaise.
Spread the lettuce in the form of snake on a platter.
Decorations:
Use slices of kiwi use as scales of the snake by laying them on the surface.
Form the eyes by making circles with the eggs and olives.
(Optional: for a dragon look triangular slices of cucumber can be used as spikes.)
Along the bottom place elongated pieces of olives. For the tongue use a small strip of red apple (or tomato).
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One of my previous gals, along with her daughters, prepared some fancy 'animals' for a dinner at her house.
They do like the idea of 'decorating' the food.
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Thank you, ML. Mrs M looked at your photos, and being the creative type, says it gave her some useful ideas for the table.
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In the Mendeleyev Journal (http://mendeleyevjournal.com) continuing series on Russian New Year salads we introduce today a salad that is fun to eat and to see! If you like kiwi fruit and chicken then this is a salad you definitely want to try in celebrating the beginning of the year of the snake 2013.
Needed to decorate the salad:
...Kiwi - 3
Decorations:
Use slices of kiwi use as scales of the snake by laying them on the surface.
mendy, you started so well I was going to applaud...then you slipped back into the bad habits!!!! :deadhorse: :wallbash:
Great recipe, by the way! :thumbsup:
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At the risk of being viewed somewhat like a supermarket tabloid the Mendeleyev Journal (http://mendeleyevjournal.com) headline for today screams "Russians fear bureaucrats, even in the forest!
It turns out that the Russian people are just like everyone else around the world, fearing bureaucrats just about as much as anything else, often even more so. So when a poll surfaced showing what Russians believe to be "the most dangerous creature in the woods at night," bureaucrats ranked second.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/creature-most-feared-at-night1.jpg?w=534) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/creature-most-feared-at-night1.jpg)
лось = elk
медведь = bear
волк = wolf
лесничий = forest ranger/game warden
леший = mythical forest dwelling spirit/spirit monster
The number one most feared forest dweller turned out to be the комар (mosquito) and if you've ever encountered a Russian mosquito, the likes of which some swear would leave a Texas mosquito quivering in it's wake, you'd understand that fear.
We're surprised that the lowly (pun intended) змея, the Russian term for snake, didn't even register with the poll. Perhaps respondents were confused and equated bureaucrats for snakes. That would make sense.
On the other hand, we're equally surprised that the bureaucrats didn't top the list and allow the mosquitoes to come in second.
Recount anyone?
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That reminds me of a joke I first heard in Ivanovo.
Two Russian Mosquitos were talking. One says to the other, hey, I've caught a cow, let's take it down by the river and eat it. The other one says, no, let's eat it here so the big ones down by the river don't steal our kill!
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:)
Hope you don't mind if I "borrow" that one for the next family gathering.
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That reminds me of a joke I first heard in Ivanovo.
Great place by the way! It is a very historic town with a honoured place in the history of Russia and a favourite of our family along the Golden Ring area. We covered then-President and Mrs. Medvedeva in their holiday stay in Ivanovo a couples of Christmases ago: http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/russian-president-medvedev-spends-christmas-in-ivanovo/ (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/russian-president-medvedev-spends-christmas-in-ivanovo/)
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Thanks,
I love the city. Known as the City of the Brides because of the textile industries. Some good musuems of the early fabric trade. But the real gem in the area is Suzdal, in the Vladimir oblast. The reconstructed churches and the Kremlins where the Tzars and Tzarinas prayed are breathtaking. Skip the nesting eggs. They make some wonderful Enamels there as well.
A funny note; I took some family members on a tour of Suzdal one trip. The tour guide was prideful of Russia and commented on those nasty Poles who invade around 1600. I started snickering and she stopped the tour to ask me what was so funny. I mentioned that Suzdal was the farthest the Polish army ever got, and they did that once. Four times the Russian army has completely overrun Poland, even to the point of eliminating the Polish nation as part of a gang made up of Austria, Germany, Sweden, etc.
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Thanks,
I love the city. Known as the City of the Brides because of the textile industries. Some good musuems of the early fabric trade. But the real gem in the area is Suzdal, in the Vladimir oblast. The reconstructed churches and the Kremlins where the Tzars and Tzarinas prayed are breathtaking. Skip the nesting eggs. They make some wonderful Enamels there as well.
A funny note; I took some family members on a tour of Suzdal one trip. The tour guide was prideful of Russia and commented on those nasty Poles who invade around 1600. I started snickering and she stopped the tour to ask me what was so funny. I mentioned that Suzdal was the farthest the Polish army ever got, and they did that once. Four times the Russian army has completely overrun Poland, even to the point of eliminating the Polish nation as part of a gang made up of Austria, Germany, Sweden, etc.
I bet you got some looks from people who understood what you said 8) LOL
Well, all countries are guilty of revising history, US is not excluded.
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I need to find me a woman who knows how to cook - and soon.
I thought you have found a woman, Jon? It says "committed" on your profile, am I missing something?
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Yeah, but she hasn't showed me her cooking skills yet. She works evenings. Typically she isn't home until around 22:00. It dovetails with my commitment back to the states. I work until late at night and sleep in because of the time difference.
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Yeah, but she hasn't showed me her cooking skills yet.
That's pretty unusual for an FSU woman.
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Okay, my flat has a hotplate to boil water in, no stove. I have the dogs here and she lives in Nove Doma, too hard for me to get to her home (although I have been there). On the weekends, we've travelled. Maybe she's a social reject. Who knows? While I love those salads - I grew up on German Potato Salad with bacon and vinegar - I'm more of a shishlik kinda guy. Although borscht can be good. Reminds me of Abondegas that we have in Los Angeles. Damn. It must be time for breakfast.
Ha.
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yeah, I shouldn't be talking/thinking about food before going to bed...
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Did somebody say борщ?
Now we're talking! I have apparently honed my borsch skills to the point that I've been assigned the task of preparing the borsch for our Church celebration of the "Holy Supper" the night of Christmas Eve. That will be a first for me in preparing a dish for so many people. Mrs. M is assisting with decorating the adjacent church hall so I'll be able to run amok in the kitchen. There are 12 dishes in a Holy Supper and borsch is just one of them but still I'm excited.
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I need one of those long term visas so I can invade your kitchen when you're not looking!
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www.MendeleyevJournal.com (http://www.MendeleyevJournal.com)
Sometimes you can learn some of the most interesting things from readers. Thanks to Mendeleyev Journal subscriber Raisa Tarasova (http://raisatarasova.wordpress.com/), herself an interesting blogger, for alerting readers to the fact that cannabis was woven into the fabric of the famous Fountain of International Friendship at the All Russia Exhibition Centre (VDNKh) in Moscow.
First built in the 1930s and later reborn in the 1950s, the park encompasses an exhibition area over 2,375,000 square metres to various agriculture, science, industry, cultural and historical exhibitions. You can imagine our surprise when Ms. Tarasova pointed out that cannabis is part of the large and popular Fountain of Friendship exhibit. Since the park's original purpose was to promote Russian agriculture it makes perfect sense.
Take a look for yourself.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/vdnkh-fountain-of-friendship-alex-zelenko.jpg) (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/cannabis-in-russian-agricultural-history/olympus-digital-camera-8/)
(photo: Alex Zeneko)
Take a closer look as there it is between sheaves of wheat and grain:
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/vd-ftns-moscow-natalya-gerasimova-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/cannabis-in-russian-agricultural-history/vd-ftns-moscow-natalya-gerasimova-b/)
(photo: Natalia Gerasimova)
Raisa (http://raisatarasova.wordpress.com/) says that, "Historically, in Russia cannabis was one of the most cultivated cereal grains, its fiber was used for hemp and textile manufacturing; status of cannabis was as high as of wheat and sunflower. In fact, you can see cannabis leaves right between wheat sheaves on the fountain of the International Friendship in Moscow."
Thanks to Ms. Tarasova our next visit to the All-Russia Exhibit will be even more insightful in understanding the fountain's history.
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Russia has historically brimmed with talent in the arts, writing, poetry, painting and music. That tradition continues and around this time of year Mrs M and I enjoy some of our favourite videos of talented Russian and Ukrainian musicians and singers. One cannot help but think of the literal stream of talented performers who continue to thrill audiences at Moscow's House of Music. Situated along the Moscow River, this stunning venue has played hosted to not only Russia's finest, but the most sought after performers around the world.
The scene is 2005 and Italian singer Al Bano (Albano Carrisi) traveled to Moscow for a concert billed as "Al Bano and his ladies" featuring Russia's top female singers on stage. Some of his on-stage ladies included Fabrika, Larisa Dolina, Aziza, Anna Semenovich,Yulia Mikhalchik, and Alsou.
Alsou is the beautiful olive skinned ethnic Tatar singer from Russia's over 1,000 year old Republic of Tatarstan. Incredibly talented she possesses a silky smooth voice and is fluent in Russian, her native Tatar (a Cyrillic based Turkish language) and English. Her single "Before You Love Me" hit #1 in the UK music charts in 2001.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPeUIS32mpw
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www.MendeleyevJournal.com (http://www.MendeleyevJournal.com)
Perhaps it's just that we're hungry or maybe this is news to some of our readers: KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) will add full KFC restaurants in Kyiv to their three existing KFC owned "Kryla" (Wings) cafes already in Kyiv.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/kfc-kryla-means-wings.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/kfc-kryla-means-wings.jpg)
Kryla or "Wings" is a KFC cafe chain serving mainly wings and fried potatoes.
(photo: Mykola Timchenko / Den' newspaper)
The new KFC restaurants in Ukraine will mirror the menus of KFC outlets in Russia.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/kfc-menu-b.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/kfc-menu-b.png)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/kfc-menu-c.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/kfc-menu-c.png)
KFC is not really new to either Ukraine or Russia. A Russian chicken chain named "Rostik's" had copied the KFC recipes and developed quite a following in the years when places like Russia and Ukraine weren't as friendly to foreign fast food restaurants. KFC eventually purchased Rostik's in a joint deal with Baskin Robbins Ice Cream and operated the restaurants under the KFC-Rostik's brand.
In 2011 KFC removed the Rostik's label and renamed all 164 restaurants as simply "KFC."
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Hahahahaha
That poor girl sweeping up doesn't stand a chance. She will be eating KFC for many years and in ten years will go from her trim physique to one similar to the lady last in the waiting line.
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The scene is 2005 and Italian singer Al Bano (Albano Carrisi) traveled to Moscow for a concert billed as "Al Bano and his ladies" featuring Russia's top female singers on stage. Some of his on-stage ladies included Fabrika, Larisa Dolina, Aziza, Anna Semenovich,Yulia Mikhalchik, and Alsou.
Alsou is the beautiful olive skinned ethnic Tatar singer from Russia's over 1,000 year old Republic of Tatarstan. Incredibly talented she possesses a silky smooth voice and is fluent in Russian, her native Tatar (a Cyrillic based Turkish language) and English. Her single "Before You Love Me" hit #1 in the UK music charts in 2001.
Russians love Alsou, but they are aware of the fact that she probably would not make it without her father's financing. Her father, Ralif Safin, senator and former Lukoil shareholder, is worth about $ 500 mln. according to the Forbes.ru. Unfortunately, smooth silky voices are hardly valued by the pro singers, therefore Alsou likely stood no chance without a considerable financial investmens. Her video clip ''Winter Dream"' had its price of about $ 100k, according to compromat.ru.
Sometimes lovely Alsou was nicknamed 'a singing gas station'. They noticed a tendency that when Alsou makes her new album, the gas price in Russia goes up :)
http://www.compromat.ru/page_11846.htm (http://www.compromat.ru/page_11846.htm)
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Sometimes lovely Alsou was nicknamed 'a singing gas station'. They noticed a tendency that when Alsou makes her new album, the gas price in Russia goes up
Yes, the "princess of oil" as they say. When she married, it was dubbed the Mafia wedding of the century in Russia. Entire Moscow blocks were shut down and guarded by men in black tuxedos armed with assault rifles and other assorted automatic weaponry. Wedding gifts included a Bentley and a $10 million penthouse in downtown Moscow.
Her the-future husband had been dating Mariah Carey but dumped Mariah when he learned that she had no title to royalty. Alsou supposedly does have some link to Tatar royalty, at least enough to marry the guy.
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The most wonderful notes about the Soviet Russia and perceptions of the West:
http://forums.drom.ru/garazh/t1151238838.html (http://forums.drom.ru/garazh/t1151238838.html)
Sorry Russian only. A translation would be a brilliant idea.
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The most wonderful notes about the Soviet Russia and perceptions of the West:
http://forums.drom.ru/garazh/t1151238838.html (http://forums.drom.ru/garazh/t1151238838.html)
Sorry Russian only. A translation would be a brilliant idea.
(with the appropriate music)...
Your task, should you choose to accept it... :ROFL:
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19 January is the day that millions of Eastern Orthodox believers jumped into an icy pond, river, lake or pool. Depending on time zone, most have already done so as it is done at night. It is the Epiphany, Крещение, the commemoration of Christ's baptism by the Apostle and Saint, John the Baptist. First a priest blesses a section of frozen water and then believers, old and young, male and female, plunge three times while making the sign of the cross. From Asia to Eastern Europe this is a more common event. It just doesn't happen often in America, yet, but there is nothing wrong in hoping that someday it will.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42AK-SeaJyg
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/epiphany-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/epiphany-a.jpg)
For those of you who observe this tradition, С Крещением Господним!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On9vrmqqEOQ
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Today in the Mendeleyev Journal (http://mendeleyevjournal.com):
We're guessing that when you hear the phrase "crocodiles in Ukraine" the first thing that comes to mind is the terrifying drug sweeping Russia and Ukraine known as the "crocodile drug." That is scary enough, but imagine yourself in southern Ukraine, along the Black Sea and you run into a region seemingly fascinated with crocodiles.
From Odessa to Sevastopol to Yalta, it doesn't take long on a beach boardwalk to encounter a statue to the deadliest reptile on earth, the mighty crocodile. Most of the older statues are more elegant and from the Soviet period, but today a more casual or shall we say "folksy" legacy has come to represent the Crocodile.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/aquarium-croc.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/aquarium-croc.jpg)
Most of our readers will wonder what caused all this interest in crocodiles along the beach cities of southern Ukraine? The crocodile is native to Africa and Australia while it's cousin the Alligator is native to the American continent and China, certainly not native to the Black Sea.
While we generally see large reptiles like the crocodile in a Zoo setting, in the years immediately after the breakup of the Soviet Union it was common for exotic animals to mysteriously find their way into the collections of wealthy individuals as city and regional zoos were plundered or sold off in many cases.
In 2008 in the sea port city of Mariupol an ocean exhibit went awry when a crocodile escaped his handlers and headed out to sea. It took 3 months to capture the elusive crocodile, during which time local authorities posted signs but allowed beaches to remain open. The crocodile, named Godzik, apparently died from injuries sustained while being captured and today a small bronze statue of the crocodile stands in front of a local cafe bearing the inscription: "To Godzik of Mariupol."
Then in 2009 local fishermen in Odessa discovered two crocodile in a pond near Odessa's Lukoil oil refinery plant. Odessa Emergency Situation Department divers confirmed that two crocodiles, one at 3 metres and the other about half that size, had been released in the pond. Although crocs are not native to this part of the world, they can adapt and live in just about any kind of water.
In January of 2011 a tourist at the Zoo in Dnipropetrovsk dropped her cell phone into a tank while attempting to take a photo of a crocodile. The Croc, named Gena, ate the phone. Zoo officials didn't believe the young tourist at first until the phone started ringing in the reptiles stomach. Zoo officials injected Gena with laxatives but that didn't work.
Meanwhile the tourist, a young lady in her 20's by the name of Rimma Golovko, was demanding the return of Sim card as it contained her photographs and contacts. To make matters worse, when it became clear that surgery would be necessary to save both the crocodile and the phone, zoo veterinarians admitted that they didn't know how to treat such non-native animals at their zoo.
In December 2010 a crocodile aquarium opened in Yalta, Ukraine. Usually we associate Yalta with those stunning mountains which plunge into the Black Sea, the out-of -place yet beautiful Swallow's Nest, and of course who could forget the Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" powers; the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom was held at Yalta's Livadia Palace, the former Romanov vacation home, where leaders met to divide up Eastern Europe between the victors of World War II.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/yalta-crockodilum-anna.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/yalta-crockodilum-anna.jpg)
Current admission prices: 50 UAH adults and 30 UAH children. (photo: Anna Panchenko)
This time however Yalta gained a крокодиляриум (Crockodilyarium). Possible translation: another zoo where vets may or may not know how to treat such large animals. The facility was built to fit numerous sea creatures from sea turtles to crocodiles and 77 baby Nile crocodiles, almost one for every thousand citizens according to the 2012 Ukrainian census, were imported and are housed inside the facility.
If it makes you feel any safer, the "Krokodilyarium" is near Yalta's waterfront boardwalk and close, and by that we mean really close, to Yalta's McDonald's--just 50 metres away.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/yalta-crockodilum-birthday-party-b.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/yalta-crockodilum-birthday-party-b.png)
Oh, and if the management at McDonald's thought they had a lock on birthday parties for children, the new Crocodile aquarium has gone after the kid birthday party market with offers of all sorts of cool prizes, including new Olympus cameras!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJI5rT8jCJA]
Not to be outdone by Yalta, Sevastopol officials announced in May 2012 that a crocodile farm was ready to open. The Sevastopol crocodile farm is commercial of course, open to the public.
Just what Ukraine needs, or maybe not.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/aquariam.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/aquariam.jpg)
(Aквариум = Aquarium, in Ukrainian)
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Most of the older statues are ... from the Soviet period
Apropos of Soviet crocs:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-byKx-ZeYBps/TgI17hAcqQI/AAAAAAAAABE/e25duN2AVh4/s760/Kunzle%252C%2Bearly%2B257%2Bleft.jpeg)
Крокодил was a satirical magazine published in the Soviet Union. It was founded in 1922, and named after Fyodor Dostoyevsky's satirical short story, The Crocodile...After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the magazine was discontinued. It was reinstated in 2005 in Russia, issued monthly, headquartered in Moscow, and with editor-in-chief Sergei Mostovshchikov. The reinstated version is deliberately printed on old Soviet-style paper.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krokodil
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CMdnAFzuNkM/Txhb38mLHbI/AAAAAAAAAHU/Yo09CLmgklA/s640/1952_2+p.1.jpg)
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Apropos of Soviet "Крокодил" magazine :)
It was hugely influential, offering satire on many aspects of life.
What Sandro has posted up-thread is the magazine's traditional section to condemn a US "Capitalist" benefiting unfairly from the hard work of a low-wage Worker who was (for undisclosed reasons) named John Bull.
Capitalist: "You've been complaining that you can't afford to eat enough, whereas you, dear John Bull, keep gaining weight".
Wonder how would Крокодил's cartoonists depict what today is sometimes regarded as the modern face of poverty in the USA ---- obesity among low-income people :-\
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Wonder how would Крокодил's cartoonists depict what today is sometimes regarded as the modern face of poverty in the USA ---- obesity among low-income people :-\
It could look like this :popcorn::
(http://s002.radikal.ru/i198/1301/5a/4543c8046544.jpg)
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a US "Capitalist" benefiting unfairly from the hard work of a low-wage Worker who was (for undisclosed reasons) named John Bull. Capitalist: "You've been complaining that you can't afford to eat enough, whereas you, dear John Bull, keep gaining weight".
John Bull is a national personification of Britain in general and England in particular...John Bull originated from Dr John Arbuthnot in 1712, and was popularised first by British print makers. Arbuthnot created Bull in his pamphlet Law is a Bottomless Pit (1712).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bull
The faintly discernible date on that Крокодил cartoon is 1952. What many do not know is that WWII food-rationing in the UK only ended in 1954 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/4/newsid_3818000/3818563.stm) after 14 long years of deprivations, due to Nazi U-boats sinking most of the British merchant fleet that carried also food to the beleaguered island.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/WWII_Food_Rationing.jpg/220px-WWII_Food_Rationing.jpg)
A shopkeeper cancels the coupons
in a British housewife's ration book
The after-effects were still noticeable in 1961 when I first visited London for a fortnight and suffered pangs of hunger for lack of decent meals there ;).
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bull
The faintly discernible date on that Крокодил cartoon is 1952. What many do not know is that WWII food-rationing in the UK only ended in 1954 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/4/newsid_3818000/3818563.stm) after 14 long years of deprivations, due to Nazi U-boats sinking most of the British merchant fleet that carried also food to the beleaguered island.
The after-effects were still noticeable in 1961 when I first visited London for a fortnight and suffered pangs of hunger for lack of decent meals there ;).
I had no idea it was so long after the WW2 in the capitalistic world :o.
I remember coupons for meat, sausage (normally it was bologna sausage), butter, soap. Availability of coupons did not guarantee that the products would be obtained - there were special days when they were sold (we never knew what days and what time of the day), and long awaiting in the gray sulky lines in the stores not always was successful. There were also special coupons for shops for WW2 veterans and for troops served in Afganistan. The lines in those "ex-military" shops were significantly shorter and the range of goods bigger.
Funny story - we had an overweight boy in the class (rather rare case in Soviet times), he was lazy and often missed lessons. His mother was a seller in the grocery store. After being absent in the school for a long time he materialized one morning and brought the written notice from his mum with explanations why he was absent. The teacher of Russian took his notice and automatically started to correct mistakes with the red pen. From what I could see every line was corrected at least 5 times. When the teacher realized what she was doing, she quickly turned the paper face down. The boy was rehabilitated.
Well, sellers were "respected" people in Soviet times, they were like local kings and others felt very dependent on them. They sold "shortage" goods at their own benefit, bartered them for other goods they needed, and from the way themselves and their kids were dressed I believe they had virtually everything in materialistic terms. Probably, they formed one of the bases for corruption roots in FSU.
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I had no idea it was so long after the WW2 in the capitalistic world :o
Great Britain was a special case because most of its food was imported. Here I think rationing was discontinued 1-2 years after the end of WWII.
Some examples of our wartime ration cards that I found while vacating my dead parents' home: http://www.floriani.it/documenti-eng.htm.
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... sellers were "respected" people in Soviet times, they were like local kings AND QUEENS and others felt very dependent on them. They sold "shortage" goods at their own benefit, bartered them for other goods they needed, and from the way themselves and their kids were dressed I believe they had virtually everything in materialistic terms...
which did not go unnoticed by cartoonists ;D
The Queen of a beer-bar.
(Customer notice: no beer available)
(http://content.foto.mail.ru/list/marinaclub/_answers/i-1344.jpg)
Soviet salesperson taking over control of merchandise traffic within the area of his shop :)
(торговый зал - sales area служебный вход - staff entrance )
(http://repey.users.photofile.ru/photo/repey/1244050/115622382.jpg)
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Yes, I remember those days in the USSR well ::)
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Europe's largest city. 14 million some souls living and breathing in a region sure can cause a city to never sleep. But there is one, and only one, short period when Moscow seems abandoned. It is the few short hours on the morning of 1 January before the city again comes alive with throngs of people walking the city plazas.
Although the song proclaims that "Moscow never sleeps" in truth there is a time when the fireworks have fizzled, drunks are passed out, every party person finally slipped into bed sometime between 4 and 6am there is a time when perhaps Moscow does sleep. Public transport is on a reduced schedule and the city is down to a reduced police schedule after the events of New Year's Eve. If there is ever one time, just a single space of a few hours when Moscow is asleep, this is it.
Москва, 1 января в 9:00
Moscow, 1 January at 9am.
The beginning of the new year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa38JwdefFs
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As reported this week in the Moscow Times (http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/aeroflot-begins-wi-fi-rollout/474500.html#ixzz2JQTCsH2l), Russian air carrier Aeroflot will begin to install wireless Internet in its jets this year as part of its wide-ranging program to improve service, the state-controlled carrier said Thursday.
The company will provide Wi-Fi on 26 of its long-range aircraft by the end of 2013, including 22 Airbus 330 jets and four Boeing 777s, it said in a statement. Wireless Internet will appear on 15 of those aircraft in the first quarter of this year.
"Our goal is to make Wi-Fi available on all long-range aircraft," Aeroflot chief executive Vitaly Savelyev said. "The program to be implemented corresponds with two key elements in our strategy: introducing state-of-the-art technologies in all areas of the company's activities and joining the elite of the world's airlines in terms of the quality of services."
Other new offerings by Aeroflot include additional entertainment options on flights and upgraded VIP lounges abroad, a company source told The Moscow Times late last year. This will require tens of millions of dollars in investment in 2013, the source said.
The carrier will continue to install Wi-Fi on Boeing 777 jets beyond 2013, the statement said. Aeroflot said it would introduce Internet service on 12 Boeing 777s between 2014 and 2016.
Aeroflot is expecting deliveries in the near future of new Boeing 777s that "will significantly increase the company's opportunities on long-range routes."
Read more at the Moscow Times (http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/aeroflot-begins-wi-fi-rollout/474500.html#ixzz2JQTCsH2l).
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"Our goal is to make Wi-Fi available on all long-range aircraft," Aeroflot chief executive Vitaly Savelyev said.
I hope that access to Wi-Fi will not be available to the crew.
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I hope that access to Wi-Fi will not be available to the crew.
Good point.
I can just imagine some pilot so engrossed in facebook that he misses an important left turn at the big cloud on the corner. :)
One of my pet peeves on some long flights is the lack of an electric plug to charge phones, etc.
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Two of my favorite topics, Chocolate and Ice Cream. ML's disclaimer has it right. Bake a chocolate cake and you'll do fine.
But, some of the best ice cream recipes are the home made recipes that are actually cooked, not just churned. My favorite to make and eat is a chocolate recipe that involves a custard base. You begin with four cups of milk and 10 eggs and double boil it to blend it into a custard. Two full cups of sugar are added in and then the custard is left to cool. After adding in the chocolate (and vanilla for dissonance) two quarts of cream are added and the whole concoction is churned.
It takes about four and a half hours from start to finish but it is well worth the wait. The ice cream is incredibly rich and no one can eat more than a scoop. But I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
(This recipe is an approximation from memory - so if you want me to look for the true form, I will find it next time I'm in Wisconsin where I always make it during the summer.)
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It appears that the funny commercial (spoof) for Moscow State University will need some revisions soon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQN-9qp3_XE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQN-9qp3_XE)
From the Mendeleyev Journal:
(www.MendeleyevJournal.com (http://www.MendeleyevJournal.com))
Will Russia continue the battle to reduce alcoholism by raising the legal drinking age from 18 to 21? This past Thursday a bill raising the legal drinking age was introduced in the State Duma for consideration by lawmakers.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/beer-ban.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/beer-ban.jpg)
Earlier in the week First Deputy Prime Minister V. Zubkov had told RIA Novosti news service that Russia has seen a fall in alcohol sales over the past two years from 18 liters to 15 liters per capita a year. Alcohol advertising has been banned and the government has forbidden the sale of alcohol at nighttime and reduced the number of shops allowed to sell alcoholic beverages.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/beer-mkt.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/beer-mkt.jpg)
Yevgeny Bryun, the Health Ministry's chief drug-addiction expert, told the Moscow Times last month that the effort has reduced the amount of alcohol sales by a third over the past two years. Then President Dmitry Medvedev banned the sale of beer at street kiosks last year.
In a report on Russia Today TV, today there are more than 28 million alcoholics in Russia according to the Ministry of Health and Social Development. RT reported that out of the nation’s 10 million children who are between the ages of 11-18, more than 50% use alcohol and beer regularly.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/alcohol-study.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/alcohol-study.jpg)
(RIA Novosti News Service)
Language trivia: Пиво is the Russian word for beer, pronounced as "PEE-vah."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiVx7dHpXnA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiVx7dHpXnA)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDI1adb0Rhk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDI1adb0Rhk)
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In a report on Russia Today TV, today there are more than 28 million alcoholics in Russia according to the Ministry of Health and Social Development. RT reported that out of the nation’s 10 million children who are between the ages of 11-18, more than 50% use alcohol and beer regularly.
Of course, all Russian beer is non-alcoholic...yeah, right! :puke:
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Have you been to the "Real Russia" yet?
Two young men from Ufa host a weekly show on YouTube and their show is hitting the big time! Russia Today TV just flew them in to Moscow last week for interviews and the two guys, Sergei and Sergei, are fast making a name for themselves.
You'll enjoy the accented English, their take on life in Russia and their attempt to explain it to the West, and perhaps you'll even enjoy a well-placed "f bomb" here and there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAP9PlbH_3g
Visit their YouTube channel, subscribe is you wish, and heck, purchase a t-shirt as that is how they attempt to fund the show in this start-up phase. Neither myself or the Mendeleyev Journal has a financial interest in their success although we are in positive communication about ways to help advance their efforts so log on and enjoy their short programmes.
Lastly, the show above was short so I'll add a couple of things they didn't have time to cover fully: At the Iberian Gates entrance to Red Square they introduce the "zero kilometre" which is not the true geographical centre of Russia; rather it is the zero starting point from whence all roads in Russia are measured. When you read that a city is so many km from Moscow, this is the starting point. It is also sometimes called "Moscow Centre" by some.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vaps8cOrTM
There is a tradition to stand on the centre plaque and throw a coin behind your head for good luck. Sadly, those old babushki chasing the coins are serious. They need those for things like food.
In the Real Russia episode above, host Sergei pointed to the yellow tower with a flag inside the Kremlin. Tradition says that when the flag is flying over the Senate cupola that the president is in his Kremlin office working. That tradition remains and the flag flies most non-holidays, but these days the Kremlin is used by presidents only for official functions. The Senate building does house support functions for the presidential administration and there is an office for when the president is working from the Kremlin.
Building #14 also holds many offices of government officials and ministries on the Kremlin grounds, but the Prime Minister makes his office at the White House not far from Red Square along the Moscow River and the President has his primary office at the presidential residence in the suburbs.
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You and I may not think it a big deal to go to a McDonald's, but you'll enjoy this tour of a Russian McDonald's by the two young men of "Real Russia" TV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ul-5GoFnpo
Notes:
- Near the beginning Sergei talks of a "Mac Ahv-ta" and he is referring to a "drive-thru" lane. One word relating to auto is авто, spoken as "ahv-tah." (авто however is not what you would call a car.)
- When Sergei speaks of "potato free" he means "french fries."
- He also speaks of American marketers but in reality it was the Canadian division of McDonald's International which was responsible for bringing Mickey D to Russia and today there is a full Russian division of McDonald's International which owns and manages McDonald's in Russia. Still, when you hear the McD name, you think of America.
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I love to eat chocolates. There are many others but Korkounov and Vdokhnovenye are my favorite ever. Russian is the best in chocolate.
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очень вкусный!
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I love to eat chocolates. There are many others but Korkounov and Vdokhnovenye are my favorite ever. Russian is the best in chocolate.
Yes, I tried Vdokhnovenye a few weeks ago for the first time and really liked it. However I wouldn't go as far as declare Russian chocolate to be "the best". Belgian chocolates are of better quality IMO.
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This video will have some good tips for readers traveling to Russia so allow for a little background. Our friends from Ufa, Sergei and Sergei, were invited recently to travel to Moscow to be interviewed by Russia Today television at the RT Moscow studios.
The two have taken their YouTube show viral with an acceptance by Western audiences that the two likely never dreamed. So, in this episode we find them outside the Ufa airport. Readers who will travel there will be surprised at how modern the airport and the Aeroflot plane that will be taking them to Moscow.
Upon landing in Moscow you can see them exit the plane and enter Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO) where they proceed to first purchase a SIM card for their phones. Smart idea if you have a Quad band phone; just purchase a phone with a local number as it will far less expensive that making international calls on your cell phone from your home country.
Next our two heroes purchase tickets on the AeroExpress train from the airport to the Belorussky Rail Terminal in the centre of Moscow. Belorussky is one of nine major rail stations in Moscow and very close to the Belorusskaya Metro station. At Belorussky train station they walk the short distance to the Belorusskaya Metro underground subway where they purchase Metro tickets.
A common question is about the price of Metro tickets and how long they last. As of 1 February Metro tickets are "universal" and can be used in the Metro, bus, electric trolleybus, electric trams and select Monorail routes. Cards which were previously good up to 45 days depending on the number purchased are now good for up to 90 days when you purchase a "smart card" ticket which beginning in April will have an electronic reload feature, similar to a phone where you can reload minutes. In this case you can use an ATM card via Internet to reload your Metro smart card at any time which automatically adds another 90 days to the card. A 365 day Smart card is also available. The current rate for a single ride on the Metro is 28 rubles, approximately a dollar.
Next we see Sergei using his GPS to locate the apartment of his friend. In a large city where many of the apartment blocks look almost the same for miles and miles, that is probably a good idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sI_sRzSH5c
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Nice video Mendy. These guys look like fun to hang out with. ;D
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Thanks, Doug. They are a hoot and at times genuinely emotional about their new popularity. Sergei the host cried when leaving Moscow, tears of joy mind you, but tears just the same as the 4 days they spent in Moscow were some of the best days of their adult lives. Both have had some rough times in life but they are hard working and innovative. They left a local TV station in Ufa in order to start their own YouTube channel and while cash strapped at times, they have talent and big hearts and I think they're going to make it.
Subscribe to their channel and even purchase one of their "Soviet" t-shirts if you wish; I know they're appreciate it.
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www.MendeleyevJournal.com (http://www.MendeleyevJournal.com)
They came from all over Russia, representing 83 regions as the finalists in regional competitions for the motherland's most beautiful young ladies gathered in Moscow to compete for the title of Мисс Россия (Miss Russia) 2013. A panel of 7 jurists judged the contest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aejDfyx1EJ4
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-f.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-f.jpg)
On 13 February the ladies took a tour of Moscow, for several of them it was their first introduction to the Russian capital city.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLdpVeT4cx4
On 23 February, the day Russians honour those who have served in the military, the girls visited and performed at a military base, the Western Military District in Nakhabino. There they learned some basic hand to hand combat skills and introduction to light firearms--hopefully skills unnecessary for competition in a beauty pageant.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-guns.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-guns.jpg)
Some skills are vitally important part in any pageant and of course there were lessons on how to dance, proper exercise and cosmetic techniques.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg0k_HNbobo
Russia is the largest geographical country on earth and there are many ethnic groups found across Russia. While Russian is the official national languages, there are another 27 languages given official status and yet another 100 minority languages represented. Each girl modeled costumes representing her region of Russia and performed routines native to her local culture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4aMbtOM69M
You will see the new Miss Russia 2013 at the 1:24 to 1:45 mark on this video of the formal dress competition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brd7lb3X3HY
Miss Russia 2013 has been crowned! The new Miss Russia is 18-year-old Elmira Abdrazakova, a student at the Siberian Railway University where she studies transport and communications.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-a.jpg)
(photo: press pool coverage/www.missrussia.ru)
Reflecting the shifting demographics in the country the new Miss Russia is from a cross-ethnic family, her mother is Russian and her father is Tatar from Mezhdurechensk. Her home town (Междуреченск) is a small city of about 100,000 population in the Kemerovo Oblast, a Siberian coal mining region near the Tom River.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSqB2-P7rBM#!
Upon returning home the new Miss Russia along with officials at vkontakte (like Facebook in Russia) had to close her "vk" online account as comments to her pages were over two million in the days immediately after the pageant. Unfortunately many of the comments were nationalistic and racist in nature due to her Tatar ethnicity.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-c.jpg)
(photo: press pool Miss Russia 2013/www.missrussia.ru)
The prizes for first place include a full University scholarship, $1oo,000 in US dollars from Russian Standard Bank, modeling contracts along with a host of paid advertising endorsement opportunities, a new car and the right to represent Russia in the Miss Universe and Miss World international pageants.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-russian-standard-bank.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-russian-standard-bank.jpg)
(photo: EPA/ИТАР-ТАСС)
The first runner-up for Miss Russia 2013 was Anastasia Yazykov from Yaroslavl and the second runner-up was Irina Tumanov from the Republic of Kalmykia. Jurists for the pageant included Regina von Flemming, CEO of the publishing house Axel Springer Russia, singer and composer Dmitry Malikov, fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin, restaurateur Anastasia Myskina.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rq8oFH3VaM
For a list and photo of every contestant in this year's pageant click here (http://www.woman.ru/missrussia/missrussia-contest/contest/photo/17987258/). Any Russian girl can compete.
The competition requirements include:
- Citizen of the Russian Federation
- From 17.5 to 23 years of age
- Height of at least 176 cm
- Possessing model looks
Personal postscript regarding the negative comments on her ethnicity:
Names tell you everything in Russia: perhaps her beautiful dark olive skin colour was the first giveaway but her name, Abdrazakov Elmira (Elmira Abdrazakova) pointed to her Tatar Muslim background as well. The first name of an ethnic Slavic Russian is a saint name, the name of a Christian saint born on the same day and Elmira is not a saint, at least in the Eastern world. The family name (last name) is a dead giveaway as well. That all being said, should her ethnicity really matter?
Personally I find her both beautiful and charming but in a country concerned with rising birth rates among it's large Muslim population, some ethnic Russians have been less than gracious about the new title holder. My view is that a country that covers 1/6th of the earth with over 100 officially recognized languages and ethnic groups, shouldn't complain just because a blue eyed blonde doesn't win the title every year.
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The Miss Russia contest easily takes the most of a year and last December 2012 the final cuts began of the 83 ladies who had made it thru months of preparations and screenings. On 15 December the third to final selection took place in Volgograd, on 24 December the second to final selection was held in St. Petersburg and the final pre-selection was done a day later on 25 December in Moscow.
In any editing room there are always "out-takes" which are cuts of audio, video or photos that didn't make the final publication of a media piece. There are some among those that didn't make the final MJ version but that members might be interested in seeing. After all, we're guys and they are beautiful ladies.
All photos courtesy of the press pool coverage and Miss Russia official pageant.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-car.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-car.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-finalists.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-finalists.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-skating-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-skating-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-skating-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-skating-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-skating-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-skating-c.jpg)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-red-square.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-red-square.jpg)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-lucky-dog-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-lucky-dog-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-d.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-d.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-gun-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-gun-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-gun-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-russia-2013-gun-b.jpg)
1- Miss Russia 2013 and her new car.
2- Miss Russia flanked by her two runner-ups.
3-4-5- Skating in Moscow.
6- The finalists visit Red Square.
7- Very lucky dog.
8- Lucky security guy.
9- Unlucky army guy if that thing is loaded.
10- Military training for babes.
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Congratulations to the lovely Elmira and best of luck to her in the Miss Universe competition.
Nice post, Mendy. :clapping:
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Next time volunteer to take the pictures in person.
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www.MendeleyevJournal.com (http://www.MendeleyevJournal.com)
According to a January poll from the respected Levada Centre, only a quarter of Russians think the body of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin should remain in the dark and damp mausoleum on Red Square. That same study found that 34% of the country believes Lenin should be reburied in St Petersburg's Volkovsky cemetery and 19% wanted him to be moved to the Kremlin wall Necropolis, along with Joseph Stalin and other Soviet dignitaries.
In a Euronews interview one Moscow man said, “They made him a tourist attraction in my opinion, but you can find something else to entertain visitors. We have a lot of places in Moscow that you can show.” Those who feel he should remain in his current mausoleum generally are sympathetic to the Russian Communist party.
Although President Vladimir Putin has in the past floated the idea of moving Lenin to another location, he needs the older Communist party voters in his coalition against the opposition reformers so it is doubtful that he'll propose a move anytime soon.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/lenin-mausoleum.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/lenin-mausoleum.jpg)
For now, the mausoleum is closed, covered by a large canopy while workmen do repairs. Not only have Lenin's ideals begun to rot away, but so has the foundation of the mausoleum. Additionally, the roof leaks and engineers noticed that the walls were beginning to tilt. The presence of underground water should be no surprise; there is a river buried underneath.
The first mausoleum was constructed quickly, in a day, immediately following Lenin's death. That structure lasted just a few months before it had be replaced. The second structure lasted five years but it too had to be replaced.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/lenin-mausoleum-second.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/lenin-mausoleum-second.jpg)
Stalin was buried in the mausoleum after his death and his name was carved in the granite. However during the period of de-Stalinization his body was moved to the Necropolis and his name removed from the mausoleum in 1961 except during a brief period during the war with Germany.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/lenin-mausoleum-stalin.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/lenin-mausoleum-stalin.jpg)
The current mausoleum is a granite structure and Lenin's body has rested there since his death in 1924. By 1972 an estimated ten million visitors had toured the mausoleum but in more recent years interest in Lenin's tomb has waned considerably.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQz4c-UmR6Y
As one can imagine, when the government first announced that repairs would be made over a four month period, rumours began almost immediately as the large white tarpaulin went over the mausoleum. A few Moscow residents think that the mausoleum is being demolished and Lenin's body removed in secrecy.
Guess we'll have to wait and see...
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This year there are some interesting changes coming to the Moscow Metro system.
Just yesterday the Metro announced that in order to drive sales of e-cards for Metro passes, riders who continue to use cash will pay an extra 2 Rubles per ride. Instead of 28 Rubles, a cash ticket will cost 30 rubles while e-card rides remain at 28 Rubles each. The city says it is an experiment so we'll see if that lasts or is retracted. The rate of 28 Rubles was set on 1 January 2011, an increase of 2 Rubles from the previous year.
Next, at several stations today morning commuters were greeted with floor signs, a first for the Metro system. This is also an experiment and the Metro is asking riders to comment on the change to see if it makes navigating the Moscow Metro easier for residents and tourists alike.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/metro-floor-stickers.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/metro-floor-stickers.jpg)
(Photo: Moscow Municipal Programs)
The signs are in Russian Cyrillic and in English. If the testing goes well the concept will be rolled out across the entire system. There are currently 188 stations in the Moscow Metro with several more scheduled to open this year.
The third and perhaps largest change is the map. Over the years as the Metro has grown it has become increasingly difficult to publish a map that is concise yet at least somewhat correct in it's geography. For several years the Metro has used the prestigious Art Lebedev design studio to create maps for the Metro. This time the city commissioned the Lebedev studio to create a map with a flexible graphics system.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/metro-map-lebedev-studio-c-2013-release.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/metro-map-lebedev-studio-c-2013-release.jpg)
Called Metro Map 2.0 (the first version was released in 2010), and according to the Lebedev studio, "The second edition of the Moscow Metro Map from our studio carries almost twice as much information. We’ve put up a layer of all text in the Latin alphabet; highlighted metro stations with connection to the rail system platforms; added express buses and trains stops as well as metro-related parking; and marked rivers, airports, and handicap-accessible stations. The connection at Biblioteka Imeni Lenina station is finally represented with a circle."
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/metro-map-future.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/metro-map-future.jpg)
The Lebedev studio says that the project took almost four years to develop as they tried to create a new map that is recognizable, yet novel enough to be geographically accurate while at the same time satisfying both passengers’ demands and design requirements. In their estimation, the final design is a flexible graphics system that allows creating a whole range of maps of various size and complexity.
To see the stations in relation to well known streets and landmarks, see the 2010 version below. Double click on the photo for the largest size.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/metro-map-lebedev-studio-a.gif) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/metro-map-lebedev-studio-a.gif)
Double click on any map to make it larger.
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Is heaven on earth even possible?
Perhaps, now that Шоколадница (http://www.shoko.ru/) cafes are offering chocolate tea bags!
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/tea-bag-chocolate.jpg?w=470) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/tea-bag-chocolate.jpg)
Is Russia a great country, or what?!
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Wow, that metro map on the black background looks incredible! In 2010 when I left Moscow, that many connections were not even published! This looks like a planned map for the future to me.
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Lily, you are correct. Today there are 188 working stations.
I made a typo:
see the 2010 version below.
It should have read: see the 2100 version below.
Thank you for catching my error.
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From the Moscow Times (http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/anti-monopoly-watchdog-bans-commercial-for-insulting-bread/477565.html#ixzz2OoJLRPcg):
The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service in Kostroma fined a taxi company for an "unethical" advertisement that a local organization said was insulting to "the world's revered bread," a news report said Wednesday.
The fine involves a commercial with the slogan, "If you make five typos in the word 'bread,' you get 'taxi,'" Lenta.ru reported. The anti-monopoly watchdog fined the head of the advertising firm 4,000 rubles for the commercial and banned its further usage.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/bread-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/bread-a.jpg)
хлеб = bread.
In a statement (http://kostroma.fas.gov.ru/news/7195) on the agency's official website titled "His Majesty — Bread! You Mustn't Insult It," the watchdog says a council of experts reviewed the advertisement after receiving a complaint from the local chapter of the Council of Veterans.
The complaint said the advertisement's "insulting attitude to bread" was "rude" and that such an interpretation of bread "besmirches the Slavic people and insults the world's revered bread."
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/taxi.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/taxi.png)
такси = taxi.
In a statement on its official website regarding the advertisement, the anti-monopoly service cites a law on advertising that bans the use of swear words, obscene and offensive images, comparisons and expressions that include references to sex, race, nationality, profession, social class, age or language, human and civil state symbols, religious symbols, and cultural heritage sites.
It is not clear which category bread falls under.
(Mendeleyev observation: Veterans constitute a key voting block to the Putin administration. Not that anyone could comprehend why a group of old soldiers would feel slighted over comparing bread to a taxi, but what the hell--if they're offended, apparently we should all be offended.)
Read more at the Moscow Times (http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/anti-monopoly-watchdog-bans-commercial-for-insulting-bread/477565.html#ixzz2OoJLRPcg%20http://).
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WOW, I am quite surprised that something like this (the taxi - bread) situation would occur in Russia.
In USA, yes.
Here, it only takes one or a few people to say . . . I am offended about X.
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I agree. It almost seems like one of those intentional "slippery slope" or the "frog slowly bowling in a kettle" type situations as in recent months this same government agency ordered a beer factory to remove the sign from the front of their building for some very oddball reason.
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://MendeleyevJournal.com):
Thanks to our good friends at Moscow Municipal Programs for the latest numbers on Russian use of social media sites.
Of course Russia has them all: Twitter, Facebook, Vkontakte, odnoklassniki.ru, and the large blog hosting site LiveJournal.ru. Although Facebook seems to enjoy steady growth each year, the big dog on the block remains Vkontakte (vk.com).
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/russians-and-social-media-2012.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/russians-and-social-media-2012.jpg)
The lastest study shows that 55% of Russia's active Internet users are part of a social media network and a whopping 62% of them are subscribers to the popular vk.com (Vkontakte) social media service. For non-Russian speaking readers, the letter B in Cyrillic is a "Veh" (V).
According to the study only 9% use Twitter. The once large odnoklassniki.ru site has fallen dramatically in recent years.
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In the Mendeleyev Journal (http://mendeleyevjournal.com):
For years we've marveled at the open platforms of the Moscow Metro underground subway system. These are fast moving trains, arriving every 90 seconds on some routes, are a potential hazard for those not paying attention to their surroundings and so platforms with safety glass enclosures may be coming to Metro stations eventually.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3GBqvleMGM
If you're ever wondered what glass enclosed platforms would look like in the Moscow Metro, there is one coming your way in the future.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-forest-park-platform.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-forest-park-platform.jpg)
Beginning with станции метро Лесопарковая (Metro Station Forest Park), passenger platforms will be enclosed with glass walls 2.3 meters in height with sliding doors opening in sync with the car doors for passenger safety. Elevators will be an added feature to the standard escalators used to move passengers between levels.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-forest-park.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-forest-park.jpg)
The station will be located in the south of Moscow built at the intersection of Ring Road and the exit of Butovo. Local residents protested against the construction as the line will run through Bitsa Park.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-forest-park-plan-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-forest-park-plan-b.jpg)
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The Mendeleyev Journal (http://mendeleyevjournal.com):
The new law against smoking in public places goes into effect June 1st and we're watching this story with great interest. Some polls say that 40% of Russians smoke, one of the highest percentages in the world.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/smoking-public.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/smoking-public.jpg)
A recent poll of Russians on the potential effectiveness of the ban shows that neither smokers or non smokers are confident that the ban will curb smoking in public.
The ban, signed into law by President Putin, will include all public sites, including government buildings, health care and educational facilities, cultural sites, sports stadiums and on public transport. In 2014 the law will also ban smoking in movies and TV programs unless smoking is part of the story plot or a character's image.
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Here is a very cool "tour" of Moscow (http://vimeo.com/45427826?action=share&post_id=100001148112168_366243566780943#_=_) set to music and using time lapse photography.
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Here is a very cool "tour" of Moscow (http://vimeo.com/45427826?action=share&post_id=100001148112168_366243566780943#_=_) set to music and using time lapse photography.
I'm not a fan of the music :'( , but the photography is awesome! :thumbsup:
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Throughout the day yesterday Russians began to bring flowers to lay along the gate at the American Embassy. By nightfall candles had been added. One poster read "“The youth of Moscow grieves together with the American people.” A candle nearby sheds its light."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3s8v081AHHM
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The Mendeleyev Journal (http://www.mendeleyevjournal.com):
Summer hot water alert: The summer hot water "shut off" will begin on May 13th. In theory the number of days for maintenance of pipes, which is the reason for disconnecting hot water (provided centrally), shouldn't exceed 10 days, and in some cases the reality could be much shorter. In more recent years the average shut off is around 3-5 days for recently constructed housing developments but longer in older apartment complexes.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/apt-hot-water-cartoon.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/apt-hot-water-cartoon.jpg)
It goes back to Soviet times: the practice of shutting off the hot water has been an unpopular tradition for most Russians for a two week period between May and August. The city checks pipes and performs needed maintenance in preparation for the upcoming winter. The installation of new pipes has made it possible for city crews to shorten the time needed for repairs.
Although some new housing projects use on-site boilers or individual water heaters, most of the city's housing receives hot water from a series of boiler plants throughout the city and the water is piped underground to each apartment where it is used in normal hot water functions and to provide steam heat via radiators in winter.
If the shut off is only 3 days some Russians simply endure until a hot shower is possible again. Many however make the effort to heat water in the kitchen and carry it to the bathroom.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/apt-hot-water-itar-tass-photo.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/apt-hot-water-itar-tass-photo.jpg)
photo: ITAR-TASS
For those of us who want a daily shower, most Russian kitchens have an electric hot water kettle for tea, called a чайник ("Chai-nik"), and to fashion a temporary shower, water is heated in the chai-nik and then poured into a bucket or large mixing bowl in the bathroom. A shower is then accomplished by using a large ladle, a ковш ("kovsh"), to pour water over themselves while standing in the bathtub.
Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin last year cut the inspection and maintenance period from two weeks to only ten days in total. The shut offs are rolling by region so that not everyone is impacted at the same time. Moscow isn't the only Russian city with summer shut off, in fact many Russian cities must cope with this inconvenient tradition, however that tradition may be coming to a close as a spokesperson for the Moscow United Energy Company (MOEK) says the annual summer rolling shut offs should end by the year 2017.
The schedule for the Moscow region is available at the Moscow Energy Company’s website, www.oaomoek.ru (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/wp-admin/www.oaomoek.ru).
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Mostly, I have stayed in apartments where each unit has its own hot water heater.
However, once I found myself without hot water when shower time came around.
The gal who was with me said: Oh, no problem.
She then brought a large pan of water to boil, ran tap water into an empty 6 liter water bottle to partially fill it, then added the very hot water, and told me to get into the tub.
She then poured the bottle of water over me while I worked with the soap and shampoo.
Then we repeated the procedure for her.
Result was not too bad.
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Today we have a hot water heater but years ago I lived in an older apartment that seemed to be down more like a month in summer. I developed a routine during dinner prep as I'd heat the chai-nik, and while cooking dinner empty several kettles into a large mixing bowl stored in the bathroom. I'd continue heating that chai-nik during dinner and when the meal was finished the water was still warm but no longer scalding hot and then it was a pleasant shower, albeit short giving the limited supply of water in the mixing bowl.
Washing dishes also required a routine as there was only one sink in the kitchen. I had a plastic tub in which to pour hot water from the chai-nik, wash them in the tub, then rinse them in the one sink by pouring again from the chai-nik.
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In the Ukraine villages and former collective farm houses there are few indoor showers or toilets. When staying with Irina on her farm, all showers were outdoors. Water was heated on the gas stove in a large pot and we went outdoors to a little screened off shelter to bath.
Having experienced this, it certainly allows one to appreciate the luxury of indoor plumbing.
It wasn't that bad, but would hate to have to go outside in the winter to shower. ;D
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Amateurs, get proper equipment ;D.
Last year my old gas-fired water-heater finally exhaled its last flame, and I had to wait about a week before a new unit was installed. I managed by heating TWO large pots that I use for cooking pasta to a suitable temperature, and showered with them: soap up partly, rinse with one, soap up the rest, rinse with the second pot :D.
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Amateurs, get proper equipment ;D .
Last year my old gas-fired water-heater finally exhaled its last flame, and I had to wait about a week before a new unit was installed. I managed by heating TWO large pots that I use for cooking pasta to a suitable temperature, and showered with them: soap up partly, rinse with one, soap up the rest, rinse with the second pot :D .
You and Mendy both reported something like this . . . and used the word shower.
I contend you really can't call this a shower without the help of a second person to pour properly over the body.
Talk about amateurs !!! 8)
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Talk about amateurs !!!
Yep...at least in my case!
The first time the then future Mrs. M took a shower at my place was an afternoon after we'd spent walking for miles around the city. She said "dush" (душ is the Russian word for "shower") and I thought she had said "douche" instead. Puzzled, I said....okay....I'll go run some water for you in the ванна ("VAh-na" is bathtub) but she said that she could do it herself, which had me wondering why she needed a douche.
A few moments later the shower began running and that is when it hit me that she had said душ, which sounds just like douche. LOL
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Growing up in a family of Dutch heritage, I can tell you that the only cuisine even close to being as uninspiring is served up by the English. Let's see, the Dutch have split pea & ham soup and...and...and, well that should get us started. The English of course have double the amount of dishes as the Dutch, yes TWO dishes of note.
Sit for a meal in an English pub and the menu will list fish and chips (right proper chips by jolly) and bangers and mash. I get the "mash" in mashed potatoes but knowing the English, I'm just too afraid to ask about the bangers. It is no wonder that the sun never set on the English as those boys were out in search of something to eat!
A good friend who owns restaurants once shared the secret of international dining:
- The French prepare the pastries and desserts.
- The Greeks prepare the salads.
- The Arabs percolate the coffee.
- The Chinese make the rice and tea.
- Italians are in charge of the main courses.
- Russians provide the valet parking.
- The Germans run the business.
- The Dutch make the floral arrangements, and
- The English feed the pigeons.
What about the Americans, you ask? Ah well, it’s almost 10 o’clock and McDonald's is about to open.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/pizza-mach.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/pizza-mach.jpg)
So you can imagine my horror upon discovering that the new "Let's Pizza" vending machines rolling out at Moscow airports were developed by the Dutch! That should make the Italian who invented the machine shrink into the shadows but apparently in Italy these days, getting a pizza out on time is more important that the pizza taste.
So far they haven't tried to "Dutchify" the product but I'm just waiting for the company to announce something like a new "rusk" dough pizza.
The "Let's Pizza" machine has not only craved a verb from the rib of a noun, but offers hungry customers four choices of toppings while the machine kneads the dough, rolls out the crust, adds cheese and toppings, bakes the pizza and serves it in a box. This is advertised as a 2.5 minute process from the time you insert your Euros to the time you're ready to eat, according to the advertisement on the machine. Truth is however those Dutch may not be a punctual as we thought because 3.5 minutes was our experience.
The company just announced expansion plans to Atlanta in the USA. I'm not sure if they eat pizza in Atlanta--grits, red beans with rice, and a gagging reflex concoction termed "sweet tea" is high brow cuisine around Atlanta. Oh wait, I forgot okra. Those folk may not be ready for Italian, much less Italian in a box, but we'll take a wait and see attitude until market tests have been completed. Stranger things have happened.
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=j7_lxiU8eLM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=j7_lxiU8eLM)
With a slogan as catchy as "not touched by human hands" I'm fighting the impulse to throw all the family retirement funds into the next "Let's Pizza" market. Somehow I'll find a way resist that urge even though upon tasting the pizza made by a machine in a box, well it wasn't that bad.
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that is when it hit me that she had said душ, which sounds just like douche. LOL
Actually it's an imported French word :
First Known Use: 1766. The word douche came to English via French, from Italian: doccia "conduit pipe" and docciare "pour by drops" to douche, from doccia water pipe, probably back-formation from doccione conduit, from Latin duction-, ductio i.e. means of conveying water, from ducere to lead – where today it means shower.
A 'doccione' is the gargoyle on church façades that spouts water when it rains:
(http://www.roberman.net/images/20070826125405_doccione.jpg?dur=4781)
Douche was adopted in English with a curiously restricted meaning 8).
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So you can imagine my horror upon discovering that the new "Let's Pizza" vending machines rolling out at Moscow airports were developed by the Dutch!
I don't think the Dutch are to blame for it ;D:
The device was invented by Claudio Torghele, an entrepreneur in Rovereto, Italy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let's_Pizza
Website: http://www.letspizza.it/.
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The device was invented by Claudio Torghele, an entrepreneur in Rovereto, Italy.
I understand that sometimes Italians don't build anything more complex than a brick oven, but to turn it over to us Dutchmen?! Sounds like he valued Dutch functionality more than a good pizza. ;D
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Truth is however those Dutch may not be a punctual as we thought because 3.5 minutes was our experience.
That is because the little Chinese in there who is making the pizza had his coffee break. Dutch union laws....
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I understand that sometimes Italians don't build anything more complex than a brick oven
Actually, last year we exported 73% (€3,66 billion's worth) of our overall production of machine tools, which are slightly 'more complex than a brick oven' ;).
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I believe you, Sandro. But there are few on the planet who can out create the Italians when it comes to good cuisine.
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That is because the little Chinese in there who is making the pizza had his coffee break. Dutch union laws....
Growing up in the Dutch Antilles we had Chinese restaurants and laundries. Local Dutch laws back then stipulated that to immigrate they had to work in one of those two professions.
Those mandatory 2 hour long lunch breaks back then were something I found boring as a kid as most of the shops shut down, but I'd love to have those kinds of work breaks as an adult. I doubt that they still have those laws?
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Victoria & Anastasia Petryk (Вікторія та Анастасія Петрик) are singing sisters, proud daughters of Ukraine and for good reason. Anastasia (Ah-nah-stah-si ya) burst on the scene two years ago while singing backup for her 14 year old sister. There she was, a mere 6 year old singing angel with an incredible alto voice. Today at the age of 8, Anastasia continues to steal the hearts of not only her native Ukrainians, but foreign fans as well.
Here she sings "Аллилуйя" (Alleluia) at the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian National Opera House in Kyiv (Kiev).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmId5LjYEX4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmId5LjYEX4)
In this video she sings "Снег" (snow) with popular Russian singing star Philip Kirkorov (Филипп Киркоров).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=M-xJVSmYJL8# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=M-xJVSmYJL8#)!
Finally, this wonderful version of "Скрипаль Осінній" (Autumn Violin) in a duo with Нина Матвиенко (Nina Matvienko).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_2CSDWUFEY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_2CSDWUFEY)
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Growing up in the Dutch Antilles we had Chinese restaurants and laundries. Local Dutch laws back then stipulated that to immigrate they had to work in one of those two professions.
Those mandatory 2 hour long lunch breaks back then were something I found boring as a kid as most of the shops shut down, but I'd love to have those kinds of work breaks as an adult. I doubt that they still have those laws?
They still have, just like in most countries in Southern Europe.
Reason is people are used to eat a warm meal at lunch, and due to the sun being the highest a small nap is customary after lunch.
Though for us who are used to the pace of big cities everything there seems to be done like a small nap...
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www.mendeleyevjournal.com (http://www.mendeleyevjournal.com)
According to the Metro management around 150 persons die annually by falling onto the tracks. Granted, a certain number of these are suicides but most seem to be accidents and with unprotected platforms, it is easy to make a misstep or in a crowd in rush hour be pushed to the edge of a platform.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-kitai-gorod-tile-platform.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-kitai-gorod-tile-platform.jpg)
Platform at "China Town" Metro station, Moscow.
In an effort to reduce accidents the Metro has released a helpful guide on what to do should you fall from the platform onto the tracks. This safety card contains several great tips on what to do to avoid injury or death and will be available around English speaking tour guide kiosks.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-safety-card.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-safety-card.jpg)
As we reported to you recently, new stations will be built with glass enclosures on the platforms with automatic doors that will open only when the train is stopped for entry/exit. It will take some time however to refit 183+ existing stations with the glass safety enclosures.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-forest-park-platform1.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-forest-park-platform1.jpg)
The new station "Forest Park" will be the first with glass enclosures on platforms.
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www.mendeleyevjournal.com (http://www.mendeleyevjournal.com)
According to the Metro management around 150 persons die annually by falling onto the tracks. Granted, a certain number of these are suicides but most seem to be accidents and with unprotected platforms, it is easy to make a misstep or in a crowd in rush hour be pushed to the edge of a platform.
Very true, and not just in Moscow.
In an effort to reduce accidents the Metro has released a helpful guide on what to do should you fall from the platform onto the tracks. This safety card contains several great tips on what to do to avoid injury or death and will be available around English speaking tour guide kiosks.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-safety-card.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-safety-card.jpg)
That's terrific news. I wasn't aware of the contact rail at the side - I just assumed that there was a live rail on the ground.
As we reported to you recently, new stations will be built with glass enclosures on the platforms with automatic doors that will open only when the train is stopped for entry/exit. It will take some time however to refit 183+ existing stations with the glass safety enclosures.
The new station "Forest Park" will be the first with glass enclosures on platforms.
Having experienced the glass doors in Shanghai and Hong Kong, I can thoroughly recommend them. However, they still don't stop people trying to shove their way on while others are trying to get out. :wallbash:
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Among the steps that officials in Russia and neighboring Ukraine are taking to enhance tourism is the Latinization of major street and attraction signs. From Moscow to Saint Petersburg to Kiev and the region of Crimea, more maps and street signs are being lettered to help foreign tourists get around more easily.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-tourist-bus-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metro-tourist-bus-b.jpg)
Moscow has added double decked red tourist buses based on their success and popularity among tourists in the Saint Petersburg area. This summer Moscow will add street kiosks with English speaking guides near major attractions to answer questions and hand out English language street maps.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/yalta-road-sign-english.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/yalta-road-sign-english.jpg)
Above: this sign indicates the number of kilometers to the Crimean peninsula cities of Yalta and Alushta, Ukraine.
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Above: this sign indicates the number of kilometers to the Crimean peninsula cities of Yalta and Alushta, Ukraine.
Now, if they could just switch all signs to MILES also . . . 8)
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And reminds me of joke.
Highway patrolman pulls over a car being driven by 90 year old woman.
Patrolman: Ma'am . . . why are you going only 19 miles per hour on this this major highway?
Woman: The sign back there said 19 miles per hour.
Patrolman: The sign said Route 19.
Patrolman (Looking at 3 other elderly lady passengers): Is everything OK; why are those ladies so quiet and white as sheets?
Woman: We just got off of Route 92 a ways back.
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Now, if they could just switch all signs to MILES also . . . 8)
Why? Every other country in the world (except the UK) uses kilometres! :cluebat:
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Why? Every other country in the world (except the UK) uses kilometres!
I know. It just shows how much change is needed to correct things.
Do your part there in NZ to get the ball rolling.
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It just shows how much change is needed to correct things.
You should start getting over YOUR obsession with anatomical body parts - I mean inches, feet, yards, fathoms, etc. not THOSE other parts not used for measurements ;D.
Granted that the metric system was introduced by the French in 1795 and they were not too popular with Britain then - and thereafter - but that's carrying an old grudge too far ;). Countries in black (3: USA, Liberia, Myanmar) are the only ones not yet accepting it:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Metrication_by_year_map.svg/800px-Metrication_by_year_map.svg.png)
Countries by date of metrication. Colours red to green show the pattern of metrication from 1795 to 1998. Black identifies countries that have not adopted the metric system as the primary measurement system. White identifies countries that already used the metric system at the time they gained their independence
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I love the Russian people so much and have come to identify with them in many ways. Often they get a bad rap for being blunt and supposedly cold to others. But that is not a true picture of these wonderful folk.
On the internet you can find dashcam videos of bad drivers (yes they exisit) and of rude people (you'll find them in any country), so perhaps that is why I enjoy this dashcam video because you see a slice of ordinary and real Russian people in their true spirit, very kind and willing to sacrifice--reasons to love them so much.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TzBInt4zljQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TzBInt4zljQ)
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Beat you to it Mendy :):
http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=16020.0
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As usual. :)
I need to have the KGB put you under surveillance. LOL
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Often they get a bad rap for being blunt and supposedly cold to others. But that is not a true picture of these wonderful folk.
Jim, we are always cautioned about stereotyping.
However, there must be more truth in stereotyping than not; otherwise why would these sayings and ideas get started and continue?
Is there a lot of talk about how great Jewish guys are at basketball?
Is there a lot of talk about how great black people are at dealing with money?
Is there a lot of talk about the great sense of humor of Germans?
Is there a lot of talk about how great the cooks are in England?
Is there a lot of talk about how great are the teeth of English people?
Granted . . . in any group that is stereotyped, there are some that don't fit the stereotype, and that is why we should not automatically assume something about an individual.
However, wouldn't you think the vast majority must fit the stereotype or it would not persist?
[/size]I don't have super strong convictions about what I wrote above, so I am willing to consider other viewpoints[/size], but just from a logical standpoint it makes a lot of sense to me.
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Is there a lot of talk about how great Jewish guys are at basketball?
Ah, basketball..I've been told that the boys can't run fast because the little beanie skull caps fly off. ;D
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Ah, basketball..I've been told that the boys can't run fast because the little beanie skull caps fly off. ;D
Maybe the circumcisions have some affect also.
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Helpful article from Russia Beyond the Headlines (http://rbth.ru/society/2013/05/07/mastering_professional_russian_25771.html) on changes in Russian language usage:
When Tanya Brahmann, a German manager of a major international company in the field of business communications, suggested that she and a Russian colleague switch to informal "you" ("ty" in Russian, or "thou" in older versions of English), her innocent request was unexpectedly refused. This was her baptism by fire in the art of Russian business etiquette, which sometimes differs radically from the Western code of conduct.
How to begin a letterIn business correspondence, it is customary to address Russian nationals by their first name and patronymic. To up the politeness, the word "uvazhaemy" ("uvazhaemaya" for a woman) can be added, which literally means "respected." Hence, a salutation such as "Uvazhaemy Ivan Nikolaevich" (in Cyrillic, obviously) would be considered good form.
The use of "gospodin" and "gospozha" ("Mr.," "Mrs.," and "Ms.") in combination with the addressee's surname is also becoming widespread: "Uvazhaemy gospodin Nikolaev.""If you write to a colleague from another department or to a superior, it's better not to forget the patronymic," says U.S. citizen Jesse Loeb, who currently lives in Moscow.
Which "you"?When it comes to the pronoun "you" (lowercase) or "You" (with a capital letter), attention to detail is required. In Russia, "you" is customary when addressing more than one person, whereas "You" is a courteous address to a particular individual.Recently, however, many Russians – especially in the "creative professions" – have begun to turn their noses up at "You," considering it to be overly formal."
I can't stand it when someone addresses me as ‘You’ in a message. Secretaries are especially guilty. It's so pompous! Lowercase ‘you’ is already polite enough," journalist Olga Frolova told RBTH."This rule drives me crazy," says Loeb. "Lowercase or capital letter – I still rack my brains over it sometimes. In English, the difference is always perfectly clear, and, in informal correspondence, caps are often ignored completely."Therefore, experts advise: Write "You" to begin with.
If the reply contains "you" instead of "You," switch to lowercase in further correspondence with the recipient.Meanwhile, the transition to informal "you" ("ty") is a more tortuous process than in Western languages. Foreigners attribute this to the strong hierarchical traditions that prevail in Russian business etiquette.
Read the entire article here (http://rbth.ru/society/2013/05/07/mastering_professional_russian_25771.html).
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When Tanya Brahmann, a German manager of a major international company in the field of business communications...
Chumminess in German offices :o?
Granted it was a LONG time ago (1969), but when at the IBM Deutschland Lab in Böblingen (below), I was astonished by the prevailing atmosphere of stiff formality: our German colleagues would address each other using the respectful Herr or Frau/Fräulein+family name, and Sie rather than the informal Du :(.
(http://www.neuffer-fenster.de/en/images/content/referenzen/ibm_boblingen.jpg)
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Chumminess in German offices :o ?
Granted it was a LONG time ago (1969), but when at the IBM Deutschland Lab in Böblingen (below), I was astonished by the prevailing atmosphere of stiff formality: our German colleagues would address each other using the respectful Herr or Frau/Fräulein+family name, and Sie rather than the informal Du :( .(http://www.neuffer-fenster.de/en/images/content/referenzen/ibm_boblingen.jpg)
Exactly what I was thinking of when I read the article. The Russian etiquette is very close to what the German used to be.
On the other hand, it is customary in Germany that after a number of exchanges the matter of 'Sietzen oder Dutzen' is adressed, where both answers can be correct.
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Jim, we are always cautioned about stereotyping.
I recently had the pleasure of talking with a RW psychologist who counsels RW. She certainly stereotyped RW with regard to certain behaviors. Her stereotyping surprised me.
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I recently had the pleasure of talking with a RW psychologist who counsels RW. She certainly stereotyped RW with regard to certain behaviors. Her stereotyping surprised me.
Now THAT sounds like an interesting conversation. Care to share anything she said?
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Not now, maybe later.
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On the other hand, it is customary in Germany that after a number of exchanges the matter of 'Sietzen oder Dutzen' is adressed, where both answers can be correct.
Then things must have improved considerably since I last was there ;), the German colleagues I referred to had been working together for quite some time.
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How to begin a letter In business correspondence, it is customary to address Russian nationals by their first name and patronymic. To up the politeness, the word "uvazhaemy" ("uvazhaemaya" for a woman) can be added, which literally means "respected." Hence, a salutation such as "Uvazhaemy Ivan Nikolaevich" (in Cyrillic, obviously) would be considered good form.
I've seen this written so many times...and nobody tells you how on earth you're supposed to find out those names! :wallbash:
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I've seen this written so many times...and nobody tells you how on earth you're supposed to find out those names! :wallbash:
You ask their mothers.
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You ask their mothers.
Which leads to an interesting question. If a mother divorces and re-marries, does the patronym change? And is it considered a stigma if the patronym of a child does not match the first name of the stepfather?
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Good question, Shadow. The patronymic does not change as it identifies the father and is part of the birth documents/records of the child.
Stigma? Not usually.
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Good question, Shadow. The patronymic does not change as it identifies the father and is part of the birth documents/records of the child.
Stigma? Not usually.
Seriously, mendy, how do you find out the name? Just as an example, imagine that I'm going to Moscow on business for the first time. Someone in the same industry has suggested a couple of good contacts, and has set up a meeting. I've never corresponded with these particular people, so how on earth am I supposed to know that Boris Ivanov's father is called Alexander? Or that Maria Romanova's father is called Ivan?
Even if our mutual friend knows the answers, and has told me, what would happen at an evening function (as another example) where I'm introduced to half a dozen new people?
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Seriously, don't sweat it.
I have met with hundreds of business men and women in FSU.
I only use their first names, and some I mangle quite badly.
No one cares. These are sophisticated people and realize it is hard for outsiders to get all the formalities correct, just as they don't get everything correct referring to us.
Just be careful in use of the 'tender' names with business men and women.
i.e. Probably shouldn't start calling Svetlana, Sveta too soon or Valentina, Valusha too soon.
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...I only use their first names, and some I mangle quite badly.
No one cares. These are sophisticated people and realize it is hard for outsiders to get all the formalities correct, just as they don't get everything correct referring to us.
Thank you! :clapping: That's all I wanted in the first place. :-[
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You often have to wait until they are introduced. If the use of patronymics is necessary in a conversation, then the person doing to the introduction will include it for your benefit. If you are meeting the other person without the benefit of a neutral person doing the introduction then they'll announce it themselves such as "hello, I'm Лев Николаевич Толстой (Lev Nikolayevhich Tolstoy) or they may drop the family (last) name and go with the first and patronymic.
In correspondence, match what you see. Whatever they use in a letter is what you'd use to reply. If you are the first to make correspondence do a little research even if it means calling that person's office to inquire.
When all else fails, play it safe to start. Use господин и госпожа ("gah spah dEEn" = Mr and "gah spah ZHA" = Mrs/Ms) until you see the direction the conversation is going. Those titles fell out of favour during the Soviet period but are making a handy comeback. I carry 3/5 cards and make notes in group settings.
If single, it doesn't hurt to play the "struggling foreigner" role either. Stroll over to a friendly looking pretty face, show your 3x5 card notes and ask for help. 99% of the time she'll lead you over to the persons in question and facilitate the introduction and you'll have scored points all the way around as everyone will both understand your language struggles while at the same time appreciating the level of effort you've shown.
If you're lucky and the pretty face isn't already married, such as to some government official or a Chechen mafia heavy, you may have enlisted the willing assistance of a new friend to help you learn more of the non-business side of Russia.
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If you're lucky and the pretty face isn't already married, such as to some government official or a Chechen mafia heavy, you may have enlisted the willing assistance of a new friend to help you learn more of the non-business side of Russia.
But do keep in Mind that in Russia she does not have to be married to be considered 'property' by said official or 'brother'.
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Ah, good point Shadow.
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The Mendeleyev Journal: (http://mendeleyevjournal.com)
(German colony outside Kherson, Ukraine)
In 1919 the Red Army was killing landowners of estates across Ukraine. In the German colony of New Askaniya, Sofia-Louise Bohdanivna Knauff owned a large estate that her family had turned into a nature and wildlife preserve. From buffalo to deer to Ostriches and Peacocks, the estate was open for the public to enjoy with hiking trails and opportunities to picnic and enjoy nature.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/new-askaniya-anna-sign.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/new-askaniya-anna-sign.jpg)
Fearing that the communists would not care for the wildlife and the preserve her family had created, she refused to turn over the property for which she was shot on the spot.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/new-askaniya-anna-founder-friedrich-jacob-eduardovych-falz-fein.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/new-askaniya-anna-founder-friedrich-jacob-eduardovych-falz-fein.jpg)
(New Askaniya founder Friedrich-Jacob Eduardovych Falz-Fein.)
The new Soviet state turned the estate into a reserve for researching plant life on the Ukrainian steppes and over time began to reintroduce the animals which the founders had once protected.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/new-askaniya-anna-m.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/new-askaniya-anna-m.jpg)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/new-askaniya-anna-park-2.jpg)
Located near Kherson, New Askaniya Park remains a haven for wildlife and a treasure for the Ukrainian people. The ducks seem happy to swim in the ponds and the buffalo are content to graze on the rich grasslands of the estate.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/new-askaniya-anna-l.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/new-askaniya-anna-l.jpg)
The founder, Friedrich Falz-Fein was the first zoologist in the world to implement a model of natural reserve to be later recognized by UNESCO as the prototypical structure of a biosphere reserve in 1972.
No, those aren't retired football referees, those are real Zebras!
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/new-askaniya-anna-zebra.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/new-askaniya-anna-zebra.jpg)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/new-askaniya-anna-buffalo.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/new-askaniya-anna-buffalo.jpg)
The largest bio-sphere of this kind in Europe, the estate covers 825 km² (318.5 sq mi). New Askaniya is officially one of the seven wonders of Ukraine (http://7chudes.in.ua/content/askaniya-nova-biosfernii-zapovidnik-khersonshchina-1).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHCUo2pRwYE
(Photo tribute to photographer extraordinaire Anna Panchenko)
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Months of repairs have been completed to Lenin's mausoleum on Red Square and public tours are again available.
Other than the TV reporters mistaken pronouncement that the tomb is a "popular" tourist attraction (it isn't and hasn't been for several years) and the ditzy American blonde's question about whether the body is really Lenin or just a wax figure, yes the tomb is now open for tourists.
Don't worry, you won't have to wait in a long line.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE4CpDNlk5Y
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Yalta is one of the most beautiful spots in Ukraine's Crimea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFX2vYw_gdg
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On Monday a deadly tornado struck Oklahoma in the USA, on Tuesday President Putin called USA President Obama to express his condolences, and on Wednesday a small tornado-like storm struck a suburb outside the Russian city of Tula.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tula-tornado-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tula-tornado-b.jpg)
Storm clouds form over Tula, Russia. photo: VOR
In his message to the Americans, President Putin expressed his sympathy and support to the families and friends of the victims, conveyed wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured, and stressed Russia’s readiness to provide any assistance that may be required during the relief efforts.
It is a small world and we are connected by means often other than geography. Not yet 24 hours after that message, wind shears from a micro burst ravaged 29 blocks of high rise apartments, 4 schools, 2 kindergardens, and 167 single family homes in the town of Yefremov, a suburb of the city of Tula.
Technically different from a tornado, micro bursts can cause large amounts of damage but generally are not as deadly as a tornado. Micro bursts can be wet in rain storm prone conditions or in dry desert areas.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tula-tornado.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tula-tornado.jpg)
Voice of Russia radio is reporting that the Ministry of Emergency Situations has declared a state of emergency in the western Russian region of Tula. Thankfully no deaths have been reported so far and local hospitals have treated around two dozen injured persons.
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www.MendeleyevJournal.com (http://www.MendeleyevJournal.com)
They came to the Donbass Arena, orphan children eager to prove their football (soccer) skills against the professionals. After four seven minute quarters, the kids won by a score of 2-1!
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/football-club-shakhtar-donetsk-plays-orphanage.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/football-club-shakhtar-donetsk-plays-orphanage.jpg)
Ukraine's best professional soccer team, Shakhtar Donetsk, recently crowned Ukrainian Premier League football champions and Cup winners, played valiantly but was no match against the kids as the orphan children outplayed and outscored the professionals on Friday, 24 May.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/football-club-shakhtar-donetsk-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/football-club-shakhtar-donetsk-c.jpg)
The team donated new uniforms and shoes and paid for the children to travel to the stadium. The team, Shakhtar Donetsk, played a charity match against a team comprised of 111 children from area orphanages.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/football-club-shakhtar-donetsk-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/football-club-shakhtar-donetsk-a.jpg)
The kids won! Imagine that, final score 2-1 in favour of the children. All the children got the chance to play in the rotation.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/football-club-shakhtar-donetsk-orphanage-autographs.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/football-club-shakhtar-donetsk-orphanage-autographs.jpg)
After the game the players autographed the children's jerseys. Very classy.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/football-club-shakhtar-donetsk-d.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/football-club-shakhtar-donetsk-d.jpg)
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(www.mendeleyevjournal.com (http://www.mendeleyevjournal.com))
Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem is making his first official visit to Russia and yesterday had an opportunity yesterday to sit down for a visit with President Putin at the presidential summer residence in Sochi.
(http://eng.news.kremlin.ru/media/events/photos/medium/41d468d82701a7ca17e3.jpeg) (http://eng.news.kremlin.ru/media/events/photos/big/41d468d826f89f4148c8.jpeg)
After thanking the two Patriarchs, Kirill of Moscow and Theophilos of Jerusalem, the president welcomed them and their guests to his summer home.
Mr. Putin began his formal remarks by thanking Patriarch Theophilos for supporting the Russian initiative to build a pilgrims’ house in Jordan by the River Jordan. Mr. Putin went on to say, "We have very good relations with Jerusalem. Many Russian pilgrims visit the Holy Land. Our Russian Orthodox Church and the Moscow Patriarchate have a longstanding presence there too. I am very pleased to see that the two sister churches have developed such good relations."
Patriarch Kirill of Russia stated that "such meetings strengthen the relations between the Moscow and Jerusalem Patriarchates and further the cause of peace in the Middle East."
Patriarch Theophilos III acknowledged that the visit to Russia was of great importance for both churches, saying that "we see it as a historic event that seals the good relations between our two churches and also the ties that exist between the honourable Russian people and the honourable people of Palestine."
President Putin also invited Patriarch Theophilos to return for the Russian celebration of the 1025th anniversary of the baptism of Rus in July of this year. The celebration will begin in Moscow on July 24, on the feast day of the Holy Blessed Princess Olga, grandmother of Prince Vladimir who brought Orthodoxy to the Kievan Rus in 988.
Recently Russian Patriarch Kirill had announced that the festal liturgy would be served in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It is expected that other Orthodox Churches will participate and the sacred celebration will move to Kyiv (Kiev) the place of Prince Vladimir's baptism where a solemn divine service take place on St. Vladimir's Hill, at the monument to Prince Vladimir.
The July celebration will conclude in the Belorussian capital of Minsk with divine services held outdoors and followed by a large folk procession.
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Il Palazzo del Quirinale
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quirinal_Palace)
(http://www.quirinale.it/qrnw/statico/palazzo/Visita/immagini/gra_PalazzoNuovo.jpg)
What has it got to do with Russia ::)? Allow me a LONG, off-topic digression and I'll explain, eventually ;).
Today, June 2nd, is our Festa della Repubblica:
commemorating the institutional referendum held by universal suffrage in 1946, in which the Italian people were called to the polls to decide on the form of government following the WWII and the fall of Fascism. With 12,717,923 votes for a republic and 10,719,284 for the monarchy, the male descendants of the House of Savoy were sent into exile. To commemorate it, a grand military parade is held in central Rome, presided over by the President of the Italian Republic in his role as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
Our President decided that this year our Festa should be less grand than usual - no military parade on the central Via dei Fori Imperiali in Rome - as an example to save public expenditures in our still difficult economic situation.
Our national TV aired tonight an interesting documentary on the Palazzo, the enormous official residence of our President on the Quirinal Hill - Collis Quirinalis is one of Rome's 7 hills - which was built in 1583 by Pope Gregory XIII as a papal summer residence. It was also used as the location for papal conclaves in 1823, 1829, 1831, and 1846. It served as a papal residence and housed the central offices responsible for the civil government of the Papal States until 1870. In September 1870, what was left of the Papal States was overthrown. About five months later, in 1871, Rome became the capital of the new Kingdom of Italy. The palace then became the official royal residence of the Kings of Italy.
Among other things, the documentary showed the huge collection of tableware amassed there over the centuries, including sets of fine Sévres porcelain used for official dinners.
And now we finally come to the Russian involvement :D.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Boris_Ivanovich_Kurakin_by_Peter_Gunst.jpg)
Prince Boris Ivanovich Kurakin (1676-1727) was the Imperial Ambassador to the court of Louis XV in 1724-7, where dinners were served placing simultaneously on the tables ALL the courses, so that what was warm would soon become cold and viceversa :(.
It seems that Kurakin then suggested to bring the fare to the tables one course at a time, thus establishing a new modus operandi that we still observe nowadays :).
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Nice job, Sandro.
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http://youtu.be/JN-n9qawVJc (http://youtu.be/JN-n9qawVJc)
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http://youtu.be/NyiEaSzpdMk (http://youtu.be/NyiEaSzpdMk)
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Who knew that the resignation of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin would generate so much heat on the day of his resignation in order to hold new elections for the position on 8 September of this year?
So when black smoke began to pour out of downtown Moscow Metro entrances, commuters joked that only when white smoke appeared would there be a new mayor, humorous references to how Western Popes are elected. As cute as the jokes went however, it was a serious situation inside as electric cables caught fire forcing the busy Red Line to shut down for several hours and commuters to be evacuated from the trains.
The high-voltage cable caught fire around 8:30am in a tunnel between the Okhotny Ryad and Biblioteka Imeni Lenina stations of the Sokolnicheskaya (Red) line, just a stone's throw from Red Square and the Moscow Kremlin. The fire started just as the crowded morning commute was thinning out yet some 4500 passengers had to be evacuated by fire and emergency workers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmGwUhX1Hyc
Ambulances filled the streets outside the stations and at last count the number of injured stood at 76 persons. Sixteen of them were hospitalized of which four are in intensive care.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/metro-fire-june-5-foto-teh-nomad-livejournal.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/metro-fire-june-5-foto-teh-nomad-livejournal.jpg)
foto: teh-nomad.livejournal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoM8LhfBzlA
Metro officials are asking commuters to use other stations and say that the Red Line will be returned to service by sometime today (Thursday).
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/metro-fire-june-5-twitter-useranna09d.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/metro-fire-june-5-twitter-useranna09d.jpg)
foto: twitter user@Anna09d
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZBFqsW1cNQ
Mayor Sobyanin had been appointed in 2010 to a five year term by then-President Medvedev but surveys showing overwhelming support for direct elections led the mayor to announce his resignation and to declare his desire to run for another term in September. Some say that the calling of an early election may yield to the people's demands for direct election instead of presidential appointment, but a quick election gives little time for challengers to plan and wage an opposition campaign.
Who will run the city in the meantime? Moscow is a federal city, operating much like a state, and one of only two such cities in the Russian Federation. Not to worry friends, Kremlin sources say it is likely that President Putin will appoint Sobyanin as interim mayor to serve until the election.
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Metro officials are asking commuters to use other stations and say that the Red Line will be returned to service by sometime today (Thursday).
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/metro-fire-june-5-twitter-useranna09d.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/metro-fire-june-5-twitter-useranna09d.jpg)
One great advantage of the stations on the Ring line (for a foreigner, at least) is that they each have such distinctive architecture. I can therefore say for certain that this is the wonderful Komsomolskaya station, looking rather more crowded than when I spent a day just taking photos of all the stations around the Ring.
Hopefully, mendy, there have been no further problems and that everyone in hospital is on the improve.
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The final total hospitalized ended at 11 and most of those for smoke inhalation.
Yes, that is one of the most beautiful stations!
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Plov (плов) is a middle eastern rice pilaf dish found often in places like Uzbekistan. Cooked all day in large containers outdoors, the dish is a delicious blend of rice, meat and vegetables with seasonings.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/plov-uzbek.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/plov-uzbek.jpg)
Ingredients
Rice, 500 grams
Meat: lamb, pork, chicken or beef
2-3 large carrots, 400-500g
2 onions
2-3 garlic heads
Seasonings for pilaf (cumin, salt, black pepper, barberries, coriander, chili)
Preparation:
Wash/soak the rice for an hour
Cut the onions into half rings
Cut the carrots into strips
Garlic: peel off the top of the husk
Cook:
Saute onions for 6-7 minutes, add the meat and fry until brown
Add the carrots and cook until carrots are tender.
Pour boiling water into the pan to cover the meat and turn down the heat and simmer for an hour.
Add rice over the meat slowly while stirring, add seasonings and increase the heat to / medium / high.
Pour boiling water to cover the rice by 1-2 cm
After the water reaches boiling add the garlic to the rice and reduce the heat and simmer until cooked.
When the rice is cooked reduce heat to low and leave for 30 minutes.
Serve hot
Total cooking time is about 3:00
Salad:
Rinse an onion in cold water and cut into half rings
Add greens such as spinach or lettuce
Season with black and cayenne pepper
Lightly add vinegar and then olive oil. mix
Stir in chopped tomatoes and season with salt
Sprinkle with basil, gently stir
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Okay, so it isn't Russia or Ukraine. But it is Mongolia, on Russia's southern border and on the Trans-Mongolian route to Beijing. I don't know if you are familiar with the TV programme "An Idiot Abroad" but this is very entertaining. Plus, you'll learn a lot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po51etssxKQ
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Okay, so it isn't Russia or Ukraine. But it is Mongolia, on Russia's southern border and on the Trans-Mongolian route to Beijing. I don't know if you are familiar with the TV programme "An Idiot Abroad" but this is very entertaining. Plus, you'll learn a lot.
Never seen it before, but definitely entertaining!
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Plov (плов) is a middle eastern rice pilaf dish found often in places like Uzbekistan. Cooked all day in large containers outdoors, the dish is a delicious blend of rice, meat and vegetables with seasonings.
Interestingly, I just had this yesterday, and will be having more in days to come.
Ochka made a large batch of this before she left, put it into meal size containers, and then into freezer. She also made some other items for freezer also.
She was afraid I would be eating too many TV dinners if she didn't do this for me.
Nice woman.
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She was afraid I would be eating too many TV dinners if she didn't do this for me.
I'm sorry to say this but "plov" out of the freezer IS a TV dinner. ;)
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Yes, in one respect. But, in her view, it was made with loving hands and tender thoughts, and . . . does not have all those unhealthy add-ons that food processors put in. Very tasty also. :) :)
Anyway, quit trying to screw up my romantic food stories. 8) 8)
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Anyway, quit trying to screw up my romantic food stories. 8) 8)
(http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-scared003.gif)
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Today, 12 June, is День России, the "Day of Russia" and marks the independence of Russia from the former Soviet Union.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/12-june-day-of-russia-f.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/12-june-day-of-russia-f.jpg)
We should point out that Russian's don't view this in quite the same way an American would look at the 4th of July. For Russians alive today their country was the Soviet Union and it is hard to claim independence from yourself. Instead most Russians see this period in history as another incarnation of a state that has existed for over a thousand years.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/12-june-day-of-russia-h.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/12-june-day-of-russia-h.jpg)
For some Russians it is a day to travel to the dacha and tend to the summer garden and cut grass & weeds. Others took part in sport and educational competitions or in city celebrations and cultural presentations.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/12-june-day-of-russia-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/12-june-day-of-russia-c.jpg)
Meanwhile at the Kremlin President Putin presented the annual Russian national awards for achievement.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/12-june-day-of-russia-national-awards-d.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/12-june-day-of-russia-national-awards-d.jpg)
The ceremony took place at the Grand Kremlin Palace’s St George Hall. The Russian Federation National Award in Science and Technology was conferred to Anatoly Derevyanko for his outstanding research and publications on the earliest history of humans in Eurasia and the formation of anatomically modern humans.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/12-june-day-of-russia-national-awards-f.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/12-june-day-of-russia-national-awards-f.jpg)
Also receiving awards were Georgy Karzov, Yaroslav Shtrombakh and Alexei Dub for developing a new class of high radiation-resistant materials for nuclear reactor pressure vessels and methods for increasing their lifespan; and to Yefim Mezhiritsky, Sergei Nikulin and Viktor Shurygin for creating the Yars strategic missile system.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/12-june-day-of-russia-national-awards-science-to-dmitry-pavlov.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/12-june-day-of-russia-national-awards-science-to-dmitry-pavlov.jpg)
Others receiving awards for Science included Gleb Dobrovolsky (posthumously), Dmitry Pavlov and Andrei Adrianov for a series of fundamental works in studying biological diversity and its preservation and environmental safety assurance.
Recommended reading on the significance of the Day of Russia:
http://rbth.ru/society/2013/06/12/june_12_how_declaration_of_sovereignty_saved_russia_27001.html (http://rbth.ru/society/2013/06/12/june_12_how_declaration_of_sovereignty_saved_russia_27001.html)
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Yes, always interesting how the entities making up FSU celebrate independence from SU . . . as if there were some other country or group of people (outside the FSU) that kept them in bondage.
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Happy birthday Trans Siberian Railway!
Nine time zones, over 9,000 kilometers, sixteen major rivers, and from one continent to another is what happens while traveling through twenty-one regions on the Trans Siberian.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/train-trans-siberian_railway_map.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/train-trans-siberian_railway_map.png)
This trip can be traveled on three different routes and all trains travel using Moscow time which can be confusing when you several times away from Moscow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqFw1k03aik
June 13, 1891 was the date, 122 years ago, when Emperor Alexander II approved construction of a Trans-Siberian railway, opening up the east to European Russia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3NIWiaW1n8
The journey is long--7 days from start to finish and so we encourage Western passengers to purchase tickets for either Kupe (2nd class) or Spalny (first class).
Here is a great link with very helpful information (http://www.seat61.com/Russia-trains.htm#.UbleaZwkO_Q) for travelers.
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Russia turns right on red.
Oh boy, we could play word games with that headline, but we won't. Starting this coming Monday the city of Moscow will test the idea of allowing motorists to turn right on red at six city intersections. Hopefully the city will do a good job of educating drivers to come to a complete stop before turning on red.
This is a city where accidents are already high and streets usually congested but many other countries use this successfully as a way to alleviate traffic backups at busy intersections and the city hopes that the right on red experiment will lead to increased traffic flow.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/sergei-sobyanin-and-pyotr-biryukov-dept-mayor.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/sergei-sobyanin-and-pyotr-biryukov-dept-mayor.jpg)
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin (r) with Deputy Mayor Pyotr Biryukov (l) inspecting improvements near Triumfalnaya Square.
The experiment will also be tested in Russia's southwestern city of Belgorod. Currently it is illegal to make a right turn on red in Russia.
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Sometimes I'm asked if the "chicks" in Russia are prettier than in the USA? Well, while there are pretty chicks in every country, of course they are prettier in Russia. What kind of answer do these cats expect me to give?!
So, to illustrate the point that Russian chicks are prettier, here is a one minute video with proof positive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLCUs50-jPM
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Currently it is illegal to make a right turn on red in Russia.
As mostly everywhere else. How about the pedestrians who are crossing the same intersection with their GREEN light ::)? Is the Moscow Municipality increasing the number of ambulances :D?
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Sometimes I'm asked if the "chicks" in Russia are prettier than in the USA? Well, while there are pretty chicks in every country, of course they are prettier in Russia.
Mendy, I'm afraid that your assertion that the Russian chicks are prettier than their Western "sisters" can be regarded as "politically incorrect" :D
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Mendy, I'm afraid that your assertion that the Russian chicks are prettier than their Western "sisters" can be regarded as "politically incorrect" :D
Yes, just wait until this is reported to the American Poultry Association, then translated into chick talk and reported to subjects.
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Yes, just wait until this is reported to the American Poultry Association, then translated into chick talk and reported to subjects.
What about cocks' opinion, is it supposed to take it into account in decision making on this subject? :D
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Still waiting to hear from the Russian and American Hens on this matter.......let alone their cocks'...... :o
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Mendy, I'm afraid that your assertion that the Russian chicks are prettier than their Western "sisters" can be regarded as "politically incorrect" :D
I imagine it would be politically incorrect. But I think it's true. One of the goals of political correctness is to remove certain questions from debate and discussion. If these things cannot be examined and debated then one side has won the non-debate.
I think this has some similarity to techniques the Bolshies used, although in considerably milder form. People were not allowed to question certain things. If they did so they were enemies of the people and thus in line for retribution of some kind.
I expect one of the defenders of political correctness to come along and tell me why it was a bad thing that the Communist Party got to decide what things could be debated but it's A OK that the arbiters of political correctness get to decide what things can be debated.
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As mostly everywhere else. How about the pedestrians who are crossing the same intersection with their GREEN light (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/Smileys/default2/rolleyes.gif)? Is the Moscow Municipality increasing the number of ambulances
Good point, Sandro, especially given Russian drivers. Oy Vey!
In countries who have it, two things are present:
- Drivers have cultivated a respect for the rights of Presbyterians pedestrians.
- Drivers are taught to look and yield to Presbyterians pedestrians.
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Mendy, I'm afraid that your assertion that the Russian chicks are prettier than their Western "sisters" can be regarded as "politically incorrect"
8)
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In countries who have it, two things are present:
- Drivers have cultivated a respect for the rights of Presbyterians pedestrians.
- Drivers are taught to look and yield to Presbyterians pedestrians.
Or you are in China and then none of the rules apply. :D
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What about cocks' opinion, is it supposed to take it into account in decision making on this subject? :D
Be careful when using this word with WM as it has a second meaning.
Similar to carefulness needed when talking about pussy cats and not using the word cat.
A business woman in Russia said to me: You must come to my home and look at my tri-colored pussy. I was in a panic until she clarified and I realized that she had a calico kitten.
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Be careful when using this word with WM as it has a second meaning.
Similar to carefulness needed when talking about pussy cats and not using the word cat.
A business woman in Russia said to me: You must come to my home and look at my tri-colored pussy. I was in a panic until she clarified and I realized that she had a calico kitten.
Don't worry, I've been careful around WM for donkey's years ---- armed with some pages torn out of my English through pictures Workbook that I always keep on hand for the WM that look for a double meaning. :D
For instance, these ones are helpful in situations when men lose focus and start panicking over names for domestic fowls or domesticated mammals ;D
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b_XsTLJRhDE/TWTcEESXaAI/AAAAAAAAGd4/PmsifAtjcI0/s1600/cock.jpg)
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8-t96hB3mek/TWTdksUX7WI/AAAAAAAAGeU/a8yoV35JKpw/s1600/donkey.jpg)
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Don't worry, I've been careful around WM for donkey's years ---- armed with some pages torn out of my English through pictures Workbook that I always keep on hand for the WM that look for a double meaning.
I guess you have the pictures with both meanings for clarity sake ? ;)
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Don't worry, I've been careful around WM for donkey's years ---- armed with some pages torn out of my English through pictures Workbook that I always keep on hand for the WM that look for a double meaning. :D
For instance, these ones are helpful in situations when men lose focus and start panicking over names for domestic fowls or domesticated mammals ;D
Simpler . . . just refer those as roosters and donkeys. 8) 8) 8)
Unless you are asking for the first or calling them the second. :o :o :o
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Simpler . . . just refer those as roosters and donkeys. 8) 8) 8)
Unless you are asking for the first or calling them the second. :o :o :o
For the sake of clarity, I prefer "more than one could dream of" ----- capons by Golden cockerel*
To avoid double entendres (if any)
*Cockerel: male chicken, i.e. young, i.e. not fully matured, i.e. never mated with hens rooster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lypub_mJT_M (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lypub_mJT_M)
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For the sake of clarity, I prefer "more than one could dream of" ----- capons by Golden cockerel*
To avoid double entendres (if any)
*Cockerel: male chicken, i.e. young, i.e. not fully matured, i.e. never mated with hens rooster
Ah yes, I love the 'cordon bleu' and also 'chicken Kyiv.'
Lucky for you that you are not in the USA, given your preference for cockerel vs cock. :o :o :o
Here, there are penalties for adult females, as well as for adult males.
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Oh man! :-[ Had the Sun of Russian poetry known Americans, he might have altered his phrase: a Russian without opinion is like a "popka" without a hole.
Or was it Gogol who coined it? :D
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A business woman in Russia said to me: You must come to my home and look at my tri-colored pussy. I was in a panic until she clarified and I realized that she had a calico kitten.
I don't understand why that put you in a state of panic. ???
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I don't understand why that put you in a state of panic. ???
Because I thought that, after viewing, she might expect a compliment or something; and I might not be up to it.
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Because I thought that, after viewing, she might expect a compliment or something; and I might not be up to it.
Or was it because of the time it takes for the ED pills to take full effect? ;D
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Normally on a Metro train, you hear this: Осторожно, двери закрываются!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDyrnrR6AMw
That is comforting sound to know that passengers are warned, "Caution, the doors are closing." As everyone knows, there is a fail safe feature that the wagons cannot move if the doors are open, right? Right? That is the theory at least but as these passengers in Saint Petersburg discovered, maybe that fail safe isn't so safe after all!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqCA00o-0y8
But that sort of mistake can only happen on the Metro, right? It would never happen on a regular train, surely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-hwkZdMwjY
Open doors while dangerous would be nothing if there was a large malfunction on the Metro. Released earlier this year, the film "Metro" depicts a scenario in which construction on streets above the Metro causes a leak that allows the river that runs above parts of the Metro system to plunge into the Metro system.
As you can imagine the movie has been a box office hit in Russia as the Moscow Metro carries over two Billion passengers annually, second busiest in the world only to the Tokyo Metro system. Russians worry that such could happen and it already did on a smaller scale in 2006.
Enjoy the full length movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0wwLq36g3Y
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Normally on a Metro train, you hear this: Осторожно, двери закрываются!
...
In 1980, during the Olympic games Moscow Metro passengers could hear announcements in 3 languages: Russian, English and French. At the time English speaking passengers were warned "Mind the doors". As far as I know Moscow Metro stopped announcing in English and French shortly after the Olympics left the city.
Meanwhile, on a Kyiv's Metro train you can still hear announcements of stations in two languages — Ukrainian and English. And of course: caution, the doors are closing ! :)
As a reminder, "American announcer" ;) was introduced to Kyiv metro passengers on the eve of the Euro 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6zJZ8LVFFo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6zJZ8LVFFo)
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Although often maligned, there is no doubt that the Russian Postal Service has made tremendous strides in recent years to modernize systems and improve service.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/russian-post-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/russian-post-c.jpg)
For many Russian citizens, the Postal system today often looks like the frequently circulated joke that if one wishes to see what Soviet customer service was like, visit a post office.
Even critics admit that perhaps the crowning accomplishment of the Russian Post was the delivery of some 70 million parcels per month under dangerous conditions to Soviet army units during the Great Patriotic War (World War II). They just wish it worked as efficiently and with the same sense of urgency today.
Postal authorities point to improvements and say that in reality the system is getting better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baesF1Kh0Ro
According to the Moscow Times (http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-post-to-investigate-negligent-parcel-handling-video/481937.html#ixzz2WgEqAjDf), Russian Post has 42,000 post offices, 380,000 employees, 52 million parcels, and processes 1.5 billion letters annually. Meanwhile, the company received 27,000 complaints, 15,000 burned letters, and 7.5 million rubles of fines in the last six months.
In a report from January of this year, Russia Behind the Headlines (http://rbth.ru/society/2013/01/23/the_russian_post_does_not_deliver_22127.html) wrote that the average delivery time for a package from the UK to Russia is two months. As to frequent delays, many of those are the fault of Customs as the Postal Service simply must wait until each incoming package has been inspected.
There are even delivery games created to play "Postal Express."
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/russian-post-game.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/russian-post-game.jpg)
Those critical of the service point to a shortage of employees and low pay thereby contributing to a "why should I care?" attitude among mail handlers and those who make deliveries.
Disgruntled customers went so far as to create a website detailing problems at the service, http://anti-russianpost.ru (http://anti-russianpost.ru). That website appears to have been closed but not to worry, there are plenty of ways to hate on social sites such as Facebook (I Hate Russian Post) and vkontake.
If things like low wages and disregard for customer service weren't bad enough, how is your package treated en route? An online video has "gone viral" as the expression goes when passengers on a train filmed this scene of postal packages being tossed from a train wagon onto the concrete platform in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOe3eloICT4#!
Postal authorities are currently investigating the Novosibirsk train incident. In April of this year then-Chief Executive Alexander Kiselyov of the Russia Post was fired after several scandals surfaced. It remains to be seen what impact the Novosibirsk matter will have on current director Dmitry Strashnov. Russia has seen five different Postal Service Chief Executives since 2007.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/russian-post-a1.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/russian-post-a1.jpg)
Need to track a package online? Here is a tracking tool (http://www.russianpost.ru/rp/servise/en/home/postuslug/trackingpo) for the Russian Postal Service.
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April 9, 2013
Customs officials of Moscow region can not keep up with the mails. 500 tonnes of mailed packages got stuck at the Russian border, most of the packaged since New Year and Christmas time. Europeans complain they lose money and clients.
http://radiovesti.ru/article/show/article_id/88613 (http://radiovesti.ru/article/show/article_id/88613)
April 15, 2013
Finally Russian Post decided to increase their staff up to 30% in two days.
http://sibdepo.ru/news/89207-rossiyskaya-pochta-boretsya-s-kollapsom-bolshimi-bukvami.html (http://sibdepo.ru/news/89207-rossiyskaya-pochta-boretsya-s-kollapsom-bolshimi-bukvami.html)
Khabarovsk Post November 2012. Lack of staff to sort the mails.
(http://copypast.ru/fotografii/foto_prikoli/pohta_rossii_dostavlaet_0_/pohta_rossii_dostavlaet_0_002.jpg)
(http://copypast.ru/fotografii/foto_prikoli/pohta_rossii_dostavlaet_0_/pohta_rossii_dostavlaet_0_003.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11efA23ujso
A stone instead of phone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0mAmDRnXuA&feature=share&list=PL0D050386140CE2B5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xy6p4vPnYQ&feature=share&list=PL0D050386140CE2B5
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Olga, years ago I used to wonder why Russians seemed so obsessed as to how packages were wrapped at the Post Office. It seemed that they'd wrap a package in tape over and over again. I remember thinking that such extremes were a waste of wrapping tape. Today I understand: thieves go for the easiest mark and a heavily wrapped package takes effort and time to open. Hopefully they'd leave your package alone and go find an easier one to plunder.
Now if the customs form reveals the contents worth the effort, then no manner of taping will matter.
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Now if the customs form reveals the contents worth the effort, then no manner of taping will matter.
Not postal; but rather airline luggage.
I was with a RW on vacation in Cyprus. She told me how she had bought a new suitcase and with great effort [using nail files, phillips screwdrivers, etc.] had enlarged the holes on the zipper ends to accommodate a sturdy padlock.
I told her it was a waste of time, effort and money to put on any lock because someone in baggage would simply use bolt cutters to snip off her lock. She poo pooed me and said everything had arrived OK in Cyprus.
But, upon her return to Russia . . . she sadly admitted to me that I was right.
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Now if the customs form reveals the contents worth the effort, then no manner of taping will matter.
Problem is that the content of many mails from abroad disappears right at the Custom center during the sorting. The whole packages disappear there as well without a trace.
A man ordered the watch from the US as a present for his girlfriend, when he came to the Post office they gave him an empty ripped box with a paper from the Custom center stated that the box was empty.
http://youtu.be/jw9kh8ueBZQ
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Or was it because of the time it takes for the ED pills to take full effect? ;D
Perhaps. :o :o :o That was included in my subtle 'might not be up to it.'
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Not postal; but rather airline luggage.
When first moving to Russia I used several trips back and forth from my company's California production centre to bring things to Moscow. On one trip I had about 6 way oversized suitcases and to mark each with additional identification I placed some red tape around each handle. Easy to recognize.
After making my way thru passport control I headed into the old SVO luggage area which at that time was a dimly lit basement. I grabbed a cart and set off amongst the belts to find my cases. There was a large Chinese family with lots of luggage and I noticed a couple of my bags on their cart. They spoke neither English or Russian and I spoke no Chinese. So, I pointed to the red tape and took 2 bags from their cart and loaded them onto mine.
Soon I spotted one of my bags on the line so went to retrieve it. When I returned to my cart, the first 2 bags had been removed and were back on the Chinese cart. I walked over and took them back to my cart. They had a lot of bags which surprised me as Asians usually travel light. I had a lot of bags which was surprising to nobody as Americans don't travel light, plus I was moving. Perhaps they were moving too.
Well we played that game of taking bags back and forth and after awhile the Chinese lady and her husband were yelling at me and having become tired and frustrated, I returned the favour. I told the husband that he should have been the one to wrap RED tape on his luggage but I'd beat him to it. A fine diplomatic scene, I'm sure. Had YouTube been around then we'd have gone viral instantly.
We were the last two parties collecting luggage from that flight. My cases were so large that a second cart was necessary. Being a large family they had a boatload of carts. Our little experience however turned out to have a least one advantage--the customs crews were tired after dealing with all the other passengers. I was tired too and decided to take a gamble and wheel my carts thru the green line, and if you've ever tried to maneuver two of those carts at the same time it is no easy task.
What the heck. I made it thru unchallenged as the customs officials were seated and not interested in inspecting any more bags. Unsure of what to do, the Chinese family hesitated at first and then followed me with their boatload of bags. They also sailed thru without a challenge.
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... as Asians usually travel light. ...
On contrary - Asians always check-in tons cardboard boxes with stuff and most of Asian airports have special suitcase/box wrapping machines available (it protects luggage from theft and damage).
(http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQDgR99NTzoHXm68k3PhTGsrcWyiZ653hY0V6jji15pAezSMonBaw)
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Olga, years ago I used to wonder why Russians seemed so obsessed as to how packages were wrapped at the Post Office. It seemed that they'd wrap a package in tape over and over again. I remember thinking that such extremes were a waste of wrapping tape. Today I understand: thieves go for the easiest mark and a heavily wrapped package takes effort and time to open. Hopefully they'd leave your package alone and go find an easier one to plunder.
Now if the customs form reveals the contents worth the effort, then no manner of taping will matter.
Actually most recent problems of the postal crisis in Russia are connected with the rising level of online purchases system, Russian people started buying stuff online more often and the whole old system failed. I think it was either April or May this year when all that information was in the news and the head of Почта России was fired. Hopefully the new one will find a solution.
Not a video but my personal experience with luggage. On my way back to Russia a couple of months ago I had 3 bags/checked luggage and a smallER carry-on bag with expensive equipment and a bunch of important documents in it. But even the smaller bag had wheels and looked big enough, so they made me check the small bag before entering the plane, too, so I had to reorganize my stuff very fast, so I only took the documents and a reader out of the carry on and put them in the purse.
After hearing all those :"OMG, all expensive stuff are gonna be stolen in Russia" stories I realized there was no way for me to lock the bag at that moment and protect my stuff, so I checked it the way it was, right before entering the plane, no locks, no wraps, nothing and said good bye to the laptop, and the heavy video equipment, as soon as the plane took off I remembered I'd left my small bag with expensive jewellery in the side pocket of the video bag.
I didn't lose anything. It all came the way it had been packed, nothing was missing, not even my expensive wedding ear-rings in the side pocket.
I guess good people get good service even in Russia :P
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Problem is that the content of many mails from abroad disappears right at the Custom center during the sorting. The whole packages disappear there as well without a trace.
A man ordered the watch from the US as a present for his girlfriend, when he came to the Post office they gave him an empty ripped box with a paper from the Custom center stated that the box was empty.
http://youtu.be/jw9kh8ueBZQ
That's interesting. So what is your opinion of the postal service connected with the mail order brides delivery? Do you think the brides are delivered fresh or expired with some parts missing, or dissapear without a trace?
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That's interesting. So what is your opinion of the postal service connected with the mail order brides delivery? Do you think the brides are delivered fresh or expired with some parts missing, or dissapear without a trace?
I thought there was no trouble getting stuff out of Russia!
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I thought there was no trouble getting stuff out of Russia!
You are wrong, there can be valuables or antique stuff, the customs may give you really hard time and of course the service is slow both ways.
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You are wrong, there can be valuables or antique stuff, the customs may give you really hard time and of course the service is slow both ways.
One would hope that the average mail-order bride, although extremely valuable, is not an "antique." And one certainly trusts that she will exit Customs, and won't have parts missing or damaged. :cluebat:
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One would hope that the average mail-order bride, although extremely valuable, is not an "antique."
Depends on her DOB:
"Objects of cultural significance
This broad category refers to any item that is of unique importance culturally, artistically, scientifically, or historically. It includes anything manufactured over 50 years ago... "
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On contrary - Asians always check-in tons cardboard boxes with stuff and most of Asian airports have special suitcase/box wrapping machines available (it protects luggage from theft and damage).
(http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQDgR99NTzoHXm68k3PhTGsrcWyiZ653hY0V6jji15pAezSMonBaw)
we have such machines in Russia for service quality improvement as Abakan airport advertizes "it protects from theft..."
;D http://www.sib-info.ru/content/5599/15684/15686/15703.html (http://www.sib-info.ru/content/5599/15684/15686/15703.html)
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we have such machines in Russia for service quality improvement as Abakan airport advertizes "it protects from theft..."
;D http://www.sib-info.ru/content/5599/15684/15686/15703.html (http://www.sib-info.ru/content/5599/15684/15686/15703.html)
The only times I've ever seen these have been in Russia (first at Sheremetyevo). I wondered what on earth everyone was doing when all I had on my suitcase was a tiny combination lock (which is still all I use). My case got safely to its destination - I imagine all the wrapped ones did too.
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The only times I've ever seen these have been in Russia (first at Sheremetyevo). I wondered what on earth everyone was doing when all I had on my suitcase was a tiny combination lock (which is still all I use). My case got safely to its destination - I imagine all the wrapped ones did too.
My first time seeing the stretch wrap machines too was on my first trip to Russia. I scoffed at the notion of doing so. On my second trip over a handle had been torn off of a new piece of luggage and on the way back a front pocket ripped to the point that the new (and expensive) bag was useless. Both happened between Moscow and Siberia. Nothing was ever stolen. I learned my lesson. I stretch wrap everything now :D
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The only times I've ever seen these have been in Russia (first at Sheremetyevo). I wondered what on earth everyone was doing when all I had on my suitcase was a tiny combination lock (which is still all I use). My case got safely to its destination - I imagine all the wrapped ones did too.
They are available in most European airports, too. Apart from making thefts harder, wrapping also protects luggage from rough handling and consequent damage ;).
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Sort of strange that this wrapping works . . . in some situations.
For instance: Leaving Russia (or another country) carrying some of the antiques that have been discussed here. The wrapping machines are before customs control when leaving the country. So why do the authorities let wrapped baggage through without searching for antiques? This should be the ideal way to smuggle items out of the country.
Also, for example: Flying from USA with a stop in Moscow before heading on to Siberia. Customs control happens at your first stop in a country. Do Russian customs Moscow just let through un-inspected those bags that are wrapped? If yes, wouldn't this be the way to go for smugglers, etc.?
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Sort of strange that this wrapping works . . . in some situations.
For instance: Leaving Russia (or another country) carrying some of the antiques that have been discussed here. The wrapping machines are before customs control when leaving the country.
and that's why the wrapping is not allowed before the search. :) if you did wrap they will ask you to take the wrap off.
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Sort of strange that this wrapping works . . . in some situations.
For instance: Leaving Russia (or another country) carrying some of the antiques that have been discussed here. The wrapping machines are before customs control when leaving the country. So why do the authorities let wrapped baggage through without searching for antiques? This should be the ideal way to smuggle items out of the country.
Also, for example: Flying from USA with a stop in Moscow before heading on to Siberia. Customs control happens at your first stop in a country. Do Russian customs Moscow just let through un-inspected those bags that are wrapped? If yes, wouldn't this be the way to go for smugglers, etc.?
Every piece of luggage, I assume, as in the US, is Xray inspected.
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and that's why the wrapping is not allowed before the search. :) if you did wrap they will ask you to take the wrap off.
Olga, all the wrapping machines I saw in FSU were BEFORE the search stations.
And, I never saw one package or suitcase being unwrapped.
That is why I am mystified by this.
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Every piece of luggage, I assume, as in the US, is Xray inspected.
For flights out of USA, some of the checked bags are hand searched, supposedly on a random basis. Wrapped bags, of course, would hinder this process. But I have never seen a wrapping machine used in USA either. Not saying I have 100% knowledge of this; just have never seen myself.
I have seen wrapped bags coming into USA, but never followed one through customs to see what happened. Did it have to be unwrapped before passing through . . . or not. Perhaps others can tell their experiences.
I wouldn't mind wrapping mine to save some wear and tear.
But the process just seems counter-intuitive from a security control standpoint, so I figured that any cost I incurred for such would just be wasted when it was unwrapped before being loaded or worse . . . denied loading entirely.
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But I have never seen a wrapping machine used in USA either.
Go to JFK.
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Olga, all the wrapping machines I saw in FSU were BEFORE the search stations.
And, I never saw one package or suitcase being unwrapped.
That is why I am mystified by this.
They have them before and they have them after. They also have signs advising that wrapping should be done after search as I saw and remember during my flights inside Russia )) People paid for wrapping in a separate window. But I think all the rules also depend on airports. I also saw some people wrapped their suitcases before search. One man was asked to unwrapped his suitcase after Xray.
I never used any wrapping when I flew from Russia to the US.
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For flights out of USA, some of the checked bags are hand searched, supposedly on a random basis. Wrapped bags, of course, would hinder this process. But I have never seen a wrapping machine used in USA either. Not saying I have 100% knowledge of this; just have never seen myself.
I have seen wrapped bags coming into USA, but never followed one through customs to see what happened. Did it have to be unwrapped before passing through . . . or not. Perhaps others can tell their experiences.
I wouldn't mind wrapping mine to save some wear and tear.
But the process just seems counter-intuitive from a security control standpoint, so I figured that any cost I incurred for such would just be wasted when it was unwrapped before being loaded or worse . . . denied loading entirely.
It's not that complicated ML. They x-ray all baggage in customs as well as canine sniffers. If there is plastic on a bag they are interested in, they simply cut it off.
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From www.MendeleyevJournal.com (http://www.MendeleyevJournal.com)
Apple, which has been without a new product since 2011, has applied for trademark status on the new "iWatch" product in Russia, Japan, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Turkey and Taiwan.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/iwatch.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/iwatch.png)
According to Voice of Russia Radio, Apple's main rivals, Google and Samsung, are reported to be developing similar devices, which rely on the miniaturization of electronic components to provide a wide range of services on a handy, wearable screen.
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It has been awhile since we've visited with our friends Sergei and Sergei. Sergei the younger not only has a new car but a brand new apartment and he is going to take you for a ride in the car, then a tour of his new flat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwHfnIs_Ico
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Just across the street from the Kozhukhovskaya (Кожуховская) Metro station is this Halil Market, халяль-маркет.
Halil is a Muslim approved way of butchering meat. The animal must be killed quickly without prolonged suffering, all the blood must be drained from the body, the butcher must be Muslim and invoke the name of Allah as the animal is slaughtered. It is a surprise to some that Muslims are allowed to eat Kosher when no Halil products are available.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/halil-market-moscow-2-041-ed.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/halil-market-moscow-2-041-ed.jpg)
This part of Moscow is home to hundreds of thousands of Caucasians who are majority Muslim. They are from the Caucasus regions and typically with skin tones that are neither black nor white.
We took this photo not only for the market signs but because of the variety of types and ages of cars from the old purple/plum "Lada" to more recent foreign and domestic cars and vans. The one thing you'll hardly ever see in Russia is a pickup truck, but you will encounter plenty of sedans and vans. Most vans are commercial of some sort.
Vehicle taxes are based on horsepower and in the case of vans and trucks based both on horsepower and type of use, therefore the average person would seldom drive a pickup while the average business needing a truck would go for something bigger although GM has plans for a 4 person cab pickup they hope to market in Russia.
Where you can find a few pickups: the Caucasus regions such as Chechnya and Dagestan. Pickups are also popular in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan where Islamic fighters use pickups as a cheap way to mount a machine gun and carry a load of fighters across hilly and rocky terrain.
Russia is in violation of their WTO agreement as Russia charges a "recycling" tax on cars imported from other countries.
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Hopefully you'll never find yourself in need of a tow/crane truck in Russia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64dToZiUMW8
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It is a surprise to some that Muslims are allowed to eat Kosher when no Halil products are available.
Not really, it makes good sense since حلال (ḥalāl='permissible') and כָּשֵׁר (kashér='fit') rules are similar, particularly as regards the draining of blood from butchered animals - blood rots very quickly in a hot climate like the Middle East, where refrigerators were unknown until comparatively recently ;)-
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I agree, but as I wrote it is a surprise to some. :D
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This part of Moscow is home to hundreds of thousands of Caucasians who are majority Muslim.
a year old news, but...
a Dagestani wedding motorcade was moving towards Kremlin and shooting into the air. The wedding motocrade was stopped by OMON blocking the road. What they say in the news that the behavior of Caucasians getting more and more outrageous, and if such migration policies and protection of Caucasians by the Russian government will continue it can lead to the same situation as it happened in Karelia.
Hatred and violence flares up between Slavs and Caucasians in Russian Karelia (http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Hatred+and+violence+flares+up+between+Slavs+and+Caucasians+in+Russian+Karelia/1135221403960)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZHvXE8Wtp8
What they also mentioned in the news is Lev Gumilev's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Gumilev) work Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere (http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/English/ebe.htm)
The superethnic system arising in consequence of an impulse is closely linked with the nature of its region. Each of its constituent parts and subsystems - ethnoi and subethnoi - finds an ecological niche for itself. That gives them a possibility to reduce the struggle for existence to a minimum and get a chance to co-ordinate them-selves, which in turn facilitates the moulding of social forms. Blood also flows in this situation, but not very abundantly, and it is possible to live. But if a new, foreign, ethnic entity invades this system, it is forced, not finding an ecological niche for itself, to live at the expense not of the territory but of its inhabitants. This is not simply neighbourhood, and not symbiosis, but a chimera, i.e. a combination in one entity of two different, incompatible systems. In zoology the combination of an animal and a helminth in the intestine is called a chimeral construction. The animal can exist without the parasite, but the latter will perish without the host. But living in his body the parasite takes part in his life cycle, dictating a heightened need for food and altering the organism's biochemistry by its own hormones, forcibly secreted into the blood or bile of the host or parasite carrier. That is the difference between the chimera and the symbiosis...
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This is the area of the Mendeleyev Journal office and while guns are outlawed in Russia (see the thread on guns), one could raise a fully equipped army here within 48 hours, that is if it were an Islamic army. The only reason they fly Chechen flags and fire automatic weapons into the air from moving cars is to remind the existing population that:
- We are here.
- Someday we will use these weapons against you.
I saw the same thing on a visit to Chicago a few years back. I had just exited Lake Shore Drive in a rental car at night and came alongside a pickup and two SUV filled with punks firing weapons into the air all the while fanning flags of Mexico.
I don't know if such uneducated morons are too simple to understand that their bullets go up into the air and rain back down on the innocents, or if they're so disrespectful that they don't care. My suspicion is the ladder and were I a dictator, I wouldn't hesitate to skip trails and order such morons executed on sight, whether in Chicago or Russia.
Perhaps that is why I'd never make a good dictator. :D
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My suspicion is the ladder
"Yes Watson, it's Moriarty's latest cunning disguise" ;D
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nyJgzHZxPq4/UCVqOP3s3BI/AAAAAAAACdE/o5nD5ok-kuY/s400/ladder.gif)
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:D
I also believe it to be the latter, so let's make it a double!
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:D
I also believe it to be the latter, so let's make it a double!
OK, then the configuration must be changed somewhat for a double ladder; if you really were referring to the latter type of ladder.
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:)
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For those with a committed lady in the FSU, 8 July is с днем семьи, любви и верности which is the official observance known as the Day of the Family, love and faithfulness.
It is not the biggest holiday in the FSU but in 2008 the obvervance was signed into law by then-President Dmitry Medvedev. The second name of the holiday is the Day of Peter and Fevronia, the Orthodox patrons of marriage and family.
If you are married or you have a steady/committed relationship it is okay to greet her with this day. In fact, copy and send her one of the photos below.
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With the understanding that it will cost you to send the SMS, and it may cost your lady to receive it, here is a link (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.greets.ru/hol/familysday/&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%25D1%2581%2B%25D0%25B4%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BC%2B%25D1%2581%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BC%25D1%258C%25D0%25B8%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DgnG%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official) where the voice of President Vladimir Putin delivers the greeting for the Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness.
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With the understanding that it will cost you to send the SMS, and it may cost your lady to receive it, here is a link (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.greets.ru/hol/familysday/&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%25D1%2581%2B%25D0%25B4%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BC%2B%25D1%2581%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BC%25D1%258C%25D0%25B8%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DgnG%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official) where the voice of President Vladimir Putin delivers the greeting for the Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness.
... where the voice of recently divorced President Vladimir Putin delivers the greeting for the Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness. ;D
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Touche, Olga. :)
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With the understanding that it will cost you to send the SMS, and it may cost your lady to receive it, here is a link (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.greets.ru/hol/familysday/&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%25D1%2581%2B%25D0%25B4%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BC%2B%25D1%2581%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BC%25D1%258C%25D0%25B8%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DgnG%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official) where the voice of President Vladimir Putin delivers the greeting for the Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness[/i].
Yeah I'm thinking that would be a surefire way to piss my wife off ;)
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for those who loves sporting events, the opening ceremony of the 27-th Universiade in Kazan, Russia, 2 days ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he8qwEFDmW8
Also the pictures:
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When it comes to technology advances, credit Russia with another cutting edge idea: floating nuclear power plants.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/nuke-plant-floating.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/nuke-plant-floating.jpg)
It seems like the Russian nuclear power plant of the future will have the ability to float. These ships re-purposed into power plants are projected to be ready for service by 2016 and will function like barges that can be towed to and from various destinations as needed.
With a crew around 70 persons and a weight of 21,500 tons, the first ship in the fleet will be named the Academic Lomonosov, in honour of Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov, the founder of Moscow State University an important scientist from Russia's imperial period.
Two naval propulsion reactors generating around 70 megawatts of electricity is enough to power a city of 200,000 people.
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When it comes to technology advances, credit Russia with another cutting edge idea: floating nuclear power plants.
In 2000-2001, Green Cross Russia and the Centre for Russian Environmental Policy published a 1st and 2nd English edition of the book "Floating Nuclear Power Plants: A Threat to the Arctic, World Oceans and Non-Proliferation Treaty" (originally printed in Russian).
http://globalgreen.org/docs/publication-166-1.pdf (http://globalgreen.org/docs/publication-166-1.pdf)
2006 article
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/danger-at-sea-russia-to-build-floating-nuclear-power-plant-a-423168.html
At a cost of €270 million, a 140 meter long by 30 meter wide ship will be fitted with two reactors on its keel.
Weapons-grade uranium
The problem is the fact that reactors of the KLT-40C variety are to be used on the ship. Plants of this type are also used to power Russia's nuclear-powered icebreakers. Sure the reactors would be modified for their use as energy suppliers, but that doesn’t change their delicate, accident-prone design. The reactors are run using fuel rods, 40 percent of which consist of the easily fissionable Uranium 235. That type of uranium is weapons-grade and could be used to construct dozens of nuclear warheads. Soldiers would be needed to protect the ship from terrorists.
The operational safety is also far from certain. Although reactor accidents on board Russian ships are kept secret, information about several serious incidents on board nuclear-powered icebreakers have reached the West. On at least two occasions, nuclear meltdowns almost occurred on ships after there reactor cooling systems failed.
Because the plant will be cooled using sea water, a reactor incident could lead to the contamination of entire maritime regions. According to the Swedish nuclear expert Oddbjörn Sandervag, the effects of a normal tanker accident would be negligible in contrast.
The concept remains unconvincing economically, too. The price per kilowatt hour would be six cents, according to the project leader. Gas power plants produce energy for 2 cents. And that doesn’t take into account the costs for insurance, security or the disposal of the nuclear ship after its estimated 40 years lifespan. Of course, cynics could easily point out that Moscow has a pretty effective system for getting rid of its rotting nuclear fleets: The disposal of the Russian nuclear submarines on the Artic Sea was paid for by neighbor Norway and the United States.
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If we sink the idea of floating nuclear plants we'll lose a great source of jokes:
A neutron walked into the floating nuclear plant bar and asked, "How much for a drink?" The bartender replied, "For you, no charge." :D
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Since the sacking of Constantinople (modern day Istanbul), Moscow has been considered the "Third Rome" of Orthodox Christianity and this naturally means that Russia generally views the mistreatment of Orthodox Christians elsewhere with concern. The US war in Iraq pretty much destroyed the minority Orthodox Church there with few left that weren't killed or relocated to the West.
In Syria the Russian government has proclaimed it's interest in the large minority Orthodox Church there which has been protected by President Assad from being killed off by Islamic rebels. In 2012-2013 several thousand of Syrian Christians have been relocated to Russia. Russia will back Assad for several reasons, including his role as protector of the Syrian Orthodox community from Islamic persecution.
Fast-forward to Egypt where Egyptian President Morsi, thankfully ousted, had allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to create a new reign of terror on the Coptic (Egyptian) Orthodox community. The Coptic Orthodox is a minority faith, but the second in size after Islam and the oldest continuing minority community in Egypt.
The USA had turned a blind eye to the destruction of Egyptian churches and killing of Christians for fear of upsetting the Muslim Brotherhood but with Morsi out, things may return to some sort of normalcy for Orthodox Christians in Egypt, especially as water wars are heating up in Africa. Next door neighbor Ethiopia, a friend of Russia and an Orthodox nation, is building the largest dam in Africa, sparking concerns from other nations which share water from the Nile.
Maybe those Egyptian Orthodox Christians might be best left alive after all. Ethiopia, a Christian Orthodox nation surrounded mostly by Muslim neighbor countries, is building a large "grand" dam on the Nile. Egypt is asking the Coptic Christian Orthodox Church, the largest and oldest minority Christian body in Egypt, to help negotiate water issues with Ethiopia.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/ethiopia-nile-river.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/ethiopia-nile-river.jpg)
Ethiopia: the Nile River (above).
In the map below the smaller blue line close to the centre is the Nile (Нил) river running from the bottom in Ethiopia (Эфиопия) thru Sudan (Судан) and Egypt (Египет). The larger body of water you see in blue to the centre/right is the Red Sea (Красное море). The Nile empties into the Mediterranean Sea (Средиземное море) at the ancient city of Alexandria (Александрия).
The map is correct; the Nile flows northward.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/africia-map.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/africia-map.jpg)
Egypt gets 95% of its drinking water from the Nile, and being a desert country with almost no rain, depends on water from the Nile for drinking, agriculture and industry.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/egypt-cairo-nile-river.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/egypt-cairo-nile-river.jpg)
The Nile runs through most of Egypt's major cities. Above is the capital, Cairo.
Under 1960s agreements Egypt is entitled to 66% of the Nile's water but other neighboring countries are thirsty, and want to renegotiate. There is talk of war over water as eleven countries get most of their drinking and agricultural water from the Nile.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/ethiopia-nile-dam-construction.gif) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/ethiopia-nile-dam-construction.gif)
Dam construction has begun in Ethiopia. (Photo: rushydro.ru blog.)
At times the river splits into two before coming back together. They are called the Blue Nile and the While Nile. When separated the Blue Nile is the larger river.
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I am missing the relevance of the Nile to Russia; nevertheless, I read because part of my education was in water resources and I have long been interested in the Nile. Plus I have traveled through Egypt and Ethiopia.
Egypt constructed a huge dam on the Nile at Aswan, a project financed by the Soviets and completed in 1970. Sudan has dams. So why not Ethiopia? The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will be a huge boost to the Ethiopian economy.
The Blue Nile originates in Ethiopia, and together with a second Nile tributary to the north (the Atbara River), Ethiopia is the source for a majority of the Nile annual water flow, mostly as runoff in a 3-month rainy season (see graph http://www.mbarron.net/Nile/fctfl_nf.html (http://www.mbarron.net/Nile/fctfl_nf.html))
Downstream countries of Egypt and Sudan could be affected. "Morsi said Egypt would not tolerate losing 'one drop' of Nile water and made thinly veiled threats of military action by saying 'all options are open.' " OTOH, Sudan has endorsed the project.
The water resource experts believe the Ethiopian dam will have a net positive impact. Its primary purpose is hydroelectricity not irrigation, so not that much water will be diverted. Evaporation is a major loss of water in the region, and the evaporation rates in Ethiopia are much less than at the Aswan impoundment. Thus, annually regulating flow to store more water in Ethiopia and less in the Aswan, will increase the amount of water available from the Nile in Egypt.
The sensitive period will be filling the huge reservoir created by the Ethiopian dam. The issue of how many years to take to fill the reservoir has not been resolved. The issue is being addressed by the Nile Basin Initiative, an organization of water ministries of the countries bordering the Nile (population of 300 million). In the long term, one would think that Ethiopia may be interested in irrigation as well, and such would reduce water flow to the Nile.
At times the river splits into two before coming back together. They are called the Blue Nile and the While Nile. When separated the Blue Nile is the larger river.
The Nile never splits except at its Mediterranean delta. The Blue and White are the two largest upstream tributaries.
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Gator, thanks so much for your contribution!
The interest to Russia lies in ties to Orthodox Ethiopia and Egypt's relation to Russia in terms of wheat/grains. Egypt is the world's largest importer of wheat and as ties have begun to improve, Russia will likely step in with aid now that Morsi is gone. There is naturally a desire on the part of Russia to develop a relationship with Egypt in terms of Russian wheat sales.
Mrs. Mendeleyeva (ethnic Russian) was born in Ethiopia, her family lived in Egypt for a time, and as a result this story is of importance to her also. Addis Ababa the capital is also headquarters of the African Union.
Yes, the net result should be positive for Egypt in the long term however there is the issue of whether or not they will retain the 66% share of the Nile's water. What are your thoughts on that issue?
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Mrs. Mendeleyeva (ethnic Russian) was born in Ethiopia
Another famous Ethiopian-born woman, albeit somewhat earlier (3,4 million years ago) ;D:
(http://www.crystalinks.com/lucypaleon2.jpg)
"Lucy" (Australopithecus afarensis) and partner
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Russian journalists' team "Correspondent" (Reporter) conducted an interesting experiment at the Wine - Vodka competition in Sochi.
Their mix consisted of fermented apple juice, pure ethyl alcohol, cheap import wine, baking soda, citric acid, and glycerin.
They filled the wine bottles with the mix, put fancy labels on the bottles and displayed the wine under a fictitious and also fancy company's name "Melange Infernal" along with the famous Russian wine and liquor companies.
Russians who tasted the mix were very pleased with the mix giving their compliments and raving about the "wine" bouquet :D and... "Melange Infernal", the "Correspondent" team, won a silver medal for the excellent quality of their experimental mix :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgalACr2bEE
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Oh my, you'd have thought the name would give it away. ;D
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17 July marks the anniversary of the murder of Tsar Nikolas II and his family after the Bolshevik revolution.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-colourized.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-colourized.jpg)
Held under house arrest in the Siberian city of Yekaterinburg, Russia, Tsar Nikolas II and his family are executed by the Bolsheviks. The brutal murder brought an end to the three-century-old Romanov dynasty.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-billboard-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-billboard-c.jpg)
Billboards around the country call attention to the Romanov family's impact on the Russian nation.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-billboard-f.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-billboard-f.jpg)
In July of 1918 the White Army was advancing on the city of Ekateringburg and so the local "Soviet" (committee) ordered guards to kill the Tsar and his family.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-billboard-d.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-billboard-d.jpg)
On the night of 17 July the family was awoken from sleep and told that because of trouble in the town, the family would be safer in the basement of the house they were living, the Ipatiev House. The entire family including Doctor Botkin the family physician and three servants were led down to the basement.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-collage.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-collage.jpg)
In the basement they were lined up for a group photograph. Suddenly A group of four Bolshevik officers and seven Hungarian soldiers appeared in the basement and begin firing.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-billboard-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-billboard-a.jpg)
The seven soldiers were Hungarian prisoners-of-war who didn't speak Russian but had joined the Red Army as Communists. The Hungarian soldiers were chosen out of fear that ethnic Russian soldiers would not shoot at Nikolas and his wife and daughters.
After the firing stopped the princesses had to be finished off with bayonets as they had stuffed jewels in their blouses which had deflected the bullets.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-children.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-children.jpg)
Celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty in St. Petersburg was marked by a solemn Divine Liturgy observed on 12 July in Saint Peterburg's Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-st-p-kirill.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-st-p-kirill.jpg)
The liturgical observance of the 400 year anniversary since the beginning of Romanov rule was celebrated by Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-icon.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/romanov-icon.jpg)
In 2000 the Russian Church canonized the family as passion bearers: people who face death with resignation and in a Christ-like manner, but as distinguished from martyrs who are killed explicitly for their faith.
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Mendy,
Nice writeup about the killing of the Tsar and his family. A number of articles have been published because it's the anniversary of the killings. Here is one:
The tsar files: Who killed the Romanovs
In the night between the 16th and 17th of July 1918 the family of Russia's last Emperor, Nicolas II, was killed in Ekaterinburg. RBTH investigates the identities and lives of the killers of the tsar.
Even now, 95 years after the murder of Russia's last czar, Nicholas II, we do not know precisely how many people took part in the deed. One account of the event claims there were eight, and yet another insists there were 11—one for each murdered member of the Russian royal family.
It is clear, however, that the killing squad was led by two men named Yurovsky and Medvedev-Kudrin. Both later penned memoirs in which they described in great detail the night that Nicholas II was killed: both were proud of their role in Russian history; both held important jobs until their death, and remained respected members of Soviet society.
Yakov Mikhaylovich Yurovsky (1878–1938) served as the superintendant of Ipatyev House in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), where the royal family was held by the Soviet government. He also led the shooting squad. He claims that he personally fired the bullet that killed the czar. The participation of Yurovsky, who was Jewish, in the killing of the last Russian monarch later gave nationalists reason to complain that “our father the Czar was murdered by foreigners.”
There were, in fact, only two “foreigners” in the killing squad: Yurovsky and Tselms; the latter was of Latvian extraction, and his participation in the killing is questioned by many.
Yurovsky was a jeweller by profession, and, on the night of the killing, he was determined to find the czar’s diamonds. In this he succeeded; after the bodies of the czarinas were searched, about 17 pounds of jewellery was found sewn in their clothes. Yurovsky later handed it all over to the superintendant of the Kremlin. For the most part, the first Bolsheviks were not interested in money—but they undoubtedly were extremely ruthless.
Yurovsky later served as chairman of the Urals Regional Emergency Committee (the forerunner of the Soviet NKVD and later KGB), head of the gold directorate at the State Reserve, and head of the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow. These were all very senior positions in the strategically important first years of Soviet government. Yurovsky died in the Kremlin hospital, which was completely off limits to all but the most senior government officials. The cause of death was perforation of the duodenal ulcer. According to eyewitnesses, he died in great pain.
Some of the czar killers remained friends for the rest of their lives and would often invite each other for dinner. Yurovsky, Goloshchekin and Medvedev (who were also part of the shooting squad) sometimes chatted about their shared crime over a cup of tea. They especially liked to argue over who fired the first shot that night. On one occasion, Yurovsky arrived at the party in a triumphant mood. He had just received a book published in the West, which said in no uncertain terms that he was the one who had killed Nicholas II. He was extremely delighted.
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Medvedev-Kudrin (1891–1964) also held senior jobs after the Bolshevik Revolution. He served for a time as assistant to the head of the First Directorate of the NKVD. In the 1930s, he toured provincial universities and colleges, regaling students with his account of the czar-killing. In the late 1950s, he was awarded a personal pension of 4,500 rubles, which was a vast sum of money at the time. During his meetings with law students at Moscow State University, he fondly reminisced about 1918, when he and his fellow Bolsheviks had to save ammo and use bayonets to finish the enemies of the working class.
Medvedev eventually achieved the military rank of colonel. Before his death, he wrote detailed memoirs about the murder of the Russian royal family. The manuscript, entitled "Hostile Winds,” was addressed to then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev—but it was never published. In those memoirs, Medvedev disputes the leading role of Yurovsky in the killing of the royal family, insisting that credit for the murder should have gone to himself.
Medvedev was buried with military honors at the Novodevichye Cemetery in Moscow—the most prestigious graveyard in the country. In his will, Medvedev left the Browning pistol with which Nicholas II was shot to Nikita Khrushchev.
After Medvedev’s death, his son persuaded the son of one Nikulin to testify about the events of the night the royal family was killed, in an oral statement recorded at a radio studio. It is believed that Nikulin was merely a witness of the post-mortem identification of the bodies. Nevertheless, his son had this to say on the matter: "I remember that in 1936, when I was little, Yakov Mikhaylovich Yurovsky would visit us and write something... I remember him discussing something with my father, sometimes arguing… over who was the first to shoot Nicholas… My father said he fired the first shot, but Yurovsky insisted otherwise…"
Another member of the shooting squad, Radzinskiy, recorded his memoirs on audio tape. “One man went into the water with ropes and dragged the bodies from the water. The first body to be dragged out was that of Nicholas. The water was so cold that the faces of the bodies turned red-cheeked, as if they were still alive… The truck got stuck in the mud, we barely got it out… And then a thought came to us, and we acted upon it... We decided that this was the perfect place... So we dug up that mud, poured sulphuric acid on the bodies... defaced them... There was a railway branch nearby... So we brought some rotten railway sleepers to hide the grave. We buried only some of the bodies in the pit, the others we burned… We burned Nicholas's body, that I remember well... And Botkin's body also... and Aleksey’s as well, I think..."
In the early 1980s, KGB chief Andropov liked to listen to the testimonies of the czar-killers in the evening. Rumor has it that those audio recordings are still being held in the archives of the Russian security agencies.
http://rbth.ru/society/2013/07/16/the_tsar_files_who_killed_the_romanovs_28121.html
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Thanks, Larry.
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Yes, the net result should be positive for Egypt in the long term however there is the issue of whether or not they will retain the 66% share of the Nile's water. What are your thoughts on that issue?
Law of conservation of mass.
If Ethiopia uses the dam just for hydropower, the total annual volume of water flowing in the Nile below the Aswan would be about the same, maybe more because there would be less evaporation from an Ethiopian reservoir than from the Aswan.
With the Ethiopian dam the total reservoir capacity along the Nile will be increased significantly, thus the amount of water in storage in the Aswan reservoir during historic peak flow months may be less because not all reservoirs can be filled simultaneously to capacity. However, the same annual flow of water will reach the Aswan but at a later time than before the Ethiopian dam were constructed. I mentioned in an earlier post that a critical decision will be the initial filling of the Ethiopian reservoir, whether done in a few years or over a much longer period.
I assume that Ethiopian's current agricultural base is small in comparison with Egypt's. However, over the long term Ethiopia could boost its agricultural output via irrigation, which would result in water losses via evapotranspiration. Maybe some water could be diverted to dryer parts of Ethiopia (the same as California water is diverted from the north to the south). How long would it take for Ethiopian agricultural industry to change such that this is an issue? Maybe a couple of generations? So there is time to settle this peacefully. Egypt does not need to bomb the dam now.
Water is a finite resource. Competitive uses of water resources has historically been an issue in many societies. During the future negotiations along the Nile, critical will be whether the water is divided based on riparian rights (as practiced in eastern US) or rights of prior appropriation (as practiced in western US).
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During the future negotiations along the Nile, critical will be whether the water is divided based on riparian rights
Ah, a nice Latin etymology: from Latin riparius (riverside), adjective from ripa, ripae (bank, shore). It became riva in Italian, and tonight I had dinner at a nice Sardinian-owned fish restaurant on the Alzaia Naviglio Pavese, facing the canal flowing south of Milan towards Pavia and eventually into the Ticino river just south of Pavia:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Navigli_XX_secolo.png/250px-Navigli_XX_secolo.png)
Our Navigli (navigable) canals (legend has it that Leonardo da Vinci was involved in designing some of their locks) were built from the XII century onwards and were used to convey goods to Milan, including the marble from Lake Maggiore used for the construction of our Duomo (cathedral) which was prominently marked AUF (Ad Usum Fabricae: for use at the cathedral construction site) and were therefore exempt from duties/levies - in Milanese and then Italian a ufo became a term used to designate freeloaders, similar to the Romans' alla portoghese (in the Portuguese fashion) because in the XVIII century the Portuguese ambassador to the Holy See invited his compatriots to attend freely a theatrical performance.
One side of the canals was/is called Alzaia (rise) because that is where horse/mule teams would ride to draw the barges against the current. The last canal barge docked at Milan's darsena (port, harbour) in 1979.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/MI-Milano-1964-porta-Ticinese-Darsena-del-Naviglio.jpg/260px-MI-Milano-1964-porta-Ticinese-Darsena-del-Naviglio.jpg)
Milan's darsena in the 1960s
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She may be Ukrainian but little Anastasia sure knows how to belt out this country rock hit! Wow!
Cool name: Anastasia. As Sandro or someone mentioned some time ago, the Western way of saying it is deeply ingrained but if you'd like to hear how it is spoken in her world, "ah-nah-sta-sea-yah" then you'll hear it when the song ends at 3:40 into the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiZFaW4y2JE
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It's all part of the summer tradition in a land were summer is short and winter is long; tasks like repairing streets and the painting of public fences, street and parking lot markers. For many years that tradition has included the colours of green and yellow.
The best answer we received for the choice of colours was safety related. We were told that green and yellow was good for everyone from distracted drivers to drunks to those suffering from colour-blindness.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/paint-green-yellow-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/paint-green-yellow-b.jpg)
Green and yellow outside the Mendeleyev Journal parking lot.
Okay, in the absence of logical information we'll accept the safety related answers--for the time being. This is Russia, after all. Besides, Moscow is busy putting on her cosmetics as the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi will be here before you know it and the primary destination for those traveling to Sochi is via Moscow.
This may be the last of the traditional yellow-green borders as Central Administrative District director Viktor Fuer has decreed that after this year neighborhoods can elect to paint borders gray, and fences black.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/paint-green-yellow.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/paint-green-yellow.jpg)
This year crews are busy sprucing up Moscow. (photo: The Village)
However, changes in colour must wait until after 2014. For now, we must make ready for the Olympics and so the bright green and yellow will continue until then.
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She may be Ukrainian but little Anastasia sure knows how to belt out this country rock hit! Wow!
Me too! She has a big sister, Viktoriya, who is five years older and also a fabulous singer. They sing as a duo as well as solo.
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She may be Ukrainian but little Anastasia sure knows how to belt out this country rock hit!
Country rock ::)? Her Majesty's Ambassador and the Louisiana Governor will notify you a joint formal protest ;D.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLnVOyhqSi8&hd=1
Influences
"Oh! Darling" appears to have drawn heavily on the New Orleans rhythm and blues sound popularised during the 1950s and early 1960s by African-American musicians like Fats Domino; it also seems to have drawn on the Louisiana swamp blues sound found in songs like Slim Harpo's "Raining In My Heart" and Charles Brown's "Please Come Home for Christmas". Furthermore, it may have drawn on the related Louisiana genre known today as swamp pop, whose distinctive sound bears an uncanny resemblance to the basic structure of "Oh! Darling" — so much so that some in Louisiana originally thought the song had been recorded by a local musician. (When swamp pop musician John Fred met the Beatles in London in the 1960s, he was shocked to learn that "they were very familiar with Louisiana music.")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh!_Darling
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Ah, Anapa (Ана́па), the quiet town of just over 50,000 in Russia's Krasnodar region along the Black Sea. The water is moderate and comfortable this time of year and a great place to relax, sunbathe, swim and enjoy the water.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/anapa-centre.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/anapa-centre.jpg)
Anapa is a Greek city dating back to the 6th Century like so many other towns along the water in nearby Ukraine. Anapa is serviced by a small local airport, rail service and bus service to other Russian destinations.
Anapa does have one thing the other more popular spots don't: sandy beaches. Anapa is one of those rare beach areas along the Black Sea that has sand on the beaches instead of small pebbles.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/anapa-to-ukraine.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/anapa-to-ukraine.png)
As you can see from the map however, getting there is an issue. Thousands of tourists visit the nearby Ukrainian Crimea area and Anapa would be in high demand were it more easily accessible. There is a ferry with daily service from Kerch but the schedule seems to change daily and any hint of bad weather means you are stranded until skies are clear. Once on the roads, they aren't the modern highways tourists enjoy in the West and foreign tourists traveling from Crimea to Anapa need a Russian visa.
Prices here are modest because accommodations are modest. I suppose that someday the world will discover Anapa and when it does, the modest prices for the admittedly modest hotels will skyrocket with development. Local cafes are decent but this is decidedly a Russian vacation spot, lacking amenities commonly desired by Western tourists.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/anapa-hotel-cruz.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/anapa-hotel-cruz.jpg)
Local apartments are often available during the summer for short stays and hotels seem to vacancies if you do some reasonable planning. Judging from swimsuit sizes in the photos there must be a McDonald's nearby.
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I used to laugh at Vladimir Putin's insinuations that the USA was preparing to invade Russia. Look, if you can't defeat Afghanistan where the fighters are untrained third-world Poppy seed growers, then anyone with a brain knows better than to challenge Russia.
But, guess I was wrong. Yesterday the USA invaded St. Petersburg. They came rolling in on pink bicycles. Correction: He came rolling in on a pink bicycle.
A car with one of those popular dash cams caught the invasion maneuver across the street from the former Palace of the Soviets in St. Petersburg.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo8coaxQvlM
There has been no word yet of any declaration of martial law so perhaps he came for some blini or to see the local girls. The pink bike is a pretty clever disguise--no one would see the invading troops until it was too late.
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And you thought that this post would be about the raccoon that bit off a Russian man's
penis, didn't you? Nope, that was back in 2009 but if you really want to know how the guy, drunk of course, thought it would be fun to rape a raccoon, well let's just thank God for plastic surgery and here is the link: http://blogs.app.com/saywhat/2009/01/26/raccoon-bites-off-mans-manhood-in-rape-attack/
But we do plan to show you two raccoon videos. Oddly enough the first one is popular on Russian social media. For some reason Russians find American hillbilly characters to be fascinating and if a raccoon is part of the story, even better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8rnHXV7A8Q
The second video is also a raccoon video. In Russia. This time the fire department is called out to rescue the raccoon that has escaped a local zoo and was terrorizing city neighborhoods. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqtxx2oG5l4
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Man who created own credit card sues bank for not sticking to terms:
When Dmitry Argarkov was sent a letter offering him a credit card, he found the rates not to his liking. But he didn't throw the contract away or shred it. Instead, the 42-year-old from Voronezh, Russia, scanned it into his computer, altered the terms and sent it back to Tinkoff Credit Systems.
Mr Argarkov's version of the contract contained a 0 percent interest rate, no fees and no credit limit. Every time the bank failed to comply with the rules, he would fine them 3m rubles (£58,716). If Tinkoff tried to cancel the contract, it would have to pay him 6m rubles. Tinkoff apparently failed to read the amendments, signed the contract and sent Mr Argakov a credit card.
"The Bank confirmed its agreement to the client's terms and sent him a credit card and a copy of the approved application form," his lawyer Dmitry Mikhalevich told Kommersant. "The opened credit line was unlimited. He could afford to buy an island somewhere in Malaysia, and the bank would have to pay for it by law."
However, Tinkoff attempted to close the account due to overdue payments. It sued Mr Argakov for 45,000 rubles for fees and charges that were not in his altered version of the contract.
Earlier this week a Russian judge ruled in Mr Argakov's favour. Tinkoff had signed the contract and was legally bound to it. Mr Argakov was only ordered to pay an outstanding balance of 19,000 rubles (£371).
"They signed the documents without looking. They said what usually their borrowers say in court: 'We have not read it',” said Mr Mikhalevich.
But now Mr Argakov has taken matters one step further. He is suing Tinkoff for 24m rubles for not honouring the contract and breaking the agreement.
Tinkoff has launched its own legal action, accusing Mr Argakov of fraud. Oleg Tinkov, founder of the bank, tweeted: "Our lawyers think he is going to get not 24m, but really 4 years in prison for fraud. Now it's a matter of principle for @tcsbanktwitter."
The court will review Mr Argakov's case next month.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
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I tend to agree with the bank since he fraudulently modified the original documents.
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I tend to agree with the bank since he fraudulently modified the original documents.
Not really fraudulent, the bank has as much responsibility to read before signing as does the consumer. They agreed to the terms with the signature. It wasn't his responsibility to point out the changed document was it? How is that fraud? Deceptive but, banks are deceptive all the time
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The Moscow Times: (http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-tells-tourists-not-to-go-to-egypt/484653.html#ixzz2cExiSP00)
The Russian government advised its citizens not to travel to the Middle Eastern nation, one of the most popular holiday spots for middle-class Russians. But despite the sudden upheaval in the country, with Egyptian authorities having declared a nationwide state of emergency, the Federal Tourism Agency decided at a meeting Thursday not yet to evacuate any of the 40,000-60,000 Russian tourists estimated to be vacationing there currently, Interfax reported. The Federal Consumer Protection Agency said Russian tourists could ask to be evacuated from violent areas free of charge.
Given the significant number of Russians who visit Egypt on holiday, many of them staying at all-inclusive resorts on the Red Sea, both Russian and Egyptian tour companies and hotels stand to lose up to millions of dollars in canceled bookings, another blow to an already fragile Egyptian economy.
"The clashes and riots that began in the [Egyptian] capital are quickly spreading to other cities and areas of Egypt, including to those visited by tourists," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement Thursday afternoon. "Given these conditions, the Russian Foreign Ministry recommends that Russian citizens refrain from trips to Egypt."
At least a handful of Russians were caught up in the mayhem that took hold in parts of Cairo. A television crew from state news channel Rossia 24 was stopped in their car by armed men who threatened them with knives and took their computers, passports and about $6,000 in cash, one of the channel's reporters told news agencies.
But no one was injured as a result of the incident, and the Russian Embassy in Cairo said no Russian citizens had sustained injuries in clashes in the city. The embassy's consular section has been closed for two days due to the upheaval.
Read more at the Moscow Times. (http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-tells-tourists-not-to-go-to-egypt/484653.html#ixzz2cExiSP00)
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What do Mexico, Portugal, Brazil, Russia, India, Egypt and Turkey all have in common?
Soaps. Novelas. Novellas.
From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://wp.me/peVMt-2R9):
Oh the drama. Literally. The violence is not over but sometimes you get a glimpse of the oddest things in a crisis, soap operas being one of them. So here is the news: Egyptian TV networks are cancelling soap operas.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/turkish-soap-opera-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/turkish-soap-opera-b.jpg)
Mind you, it's not a part of the emergency declaration, but most soap operas in the Middle East are produced in Turkey. The government of Turkey these days is run by an increasingly radical government that is of late very friendly with the Muslim Brotherhood and on 14 August the two countries recalled their ambassadors which is a diplomatic way of spitting in the other guy's eye and telling him to stuff it.
In the past, Turkey and the Brotherhood were often at odds, but lately they've kissed and made up. It happens. The most recent straw was when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Egyptian military leaders should stand trial for removing his radical pal Morsi. Turkish soap operas are produced in Arabic and generate a lot of money for Turkish television companies. So, pulling all the soaps, and we mean all of the soaps, is a financial blow.
Look, we understand all about soap operas coming from another country: until recent most soaps in Russia were from MEXICO. Which is why the cognate (borrowed word) "Novela" is a pretty well understood term in Russia. Now before you go running off with the idea that Russians were speaking the same dialect of Spanish spoken along the southern USA border, we should let you know that the scenes were over-dubbed in Russian.
Today most Russian soap operas are produced in Russia and India. Around the world soap operas are the same. The story lines apparently are inspired by families from Alabama with some rich farmer or businessman having sex with his granddaughter who gets pregnant with twin boys who then grow up to divide the family asunder as each wants to control the family business. Naturally, all the while the boys are carrying on affairs with their cousins girlfriends.
Add in the discover of oil with a storyline that includes a doctor or two and damn, you can keep the folks glued to the set for months. In any country! Wait! Rich and doctors... Forget what we said about Alabama. Maybe the inspiration comes from Texas.
We just can't imagine the content of a Arab soap opera. How in the heck does one write a decent story line for soap operas targeted primarily at audiences who walk around all day while wrapped up in over-sized bathrobes?
They have oil, plenty of it, and women are property so there must be something to get a good Novela going. The Turkish authorities have slowly injected politics into their soap operas along with other themes, like learning to kiss. “You have to understand that there are people still living even in (Istanbul) who say they only learned how to kiss or learned there is kissing involved in lovemaking by watching ‘Noor,’ ”according to Istanbul University professor of Television, Sengul Ozerkan.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/turkish-soap-opera-noor-set.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/turkish-soap-opera-noor-set.jpg)
The set for the soap opera "Noor" is this waterfront mansion.
We should point out that the popular show "Noor" is distributed in no less than 56 countries. Okay, now make that 55 other countries.
Well there isn't much kissing going on between the Turkish government and the Egyptian military these days, and frankly both countries have problems making it impossible to sit down and watch a Novela anyway. For Egyptians the soaps may be going away but at this stage in the crisis their absence could just go unnoticed.
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I read this post and am reminded of RTs reporting which portrays a juandiced presentation of how bad the world's problems are that you forget to ask questions internal to Russia.
A popular Syrian soap moved to the gulf states which has affected the creativity and aesthetic of the franchise.
I hope this new tone in your reporting is temporary M. It is important to point short comings in others without glorying in them.
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LT,
Other than a brief mention, only in passing, about Russia's experience in soap operas, what questions about soap operas should I have asked Mr. Putin?
Are there any facts in this feature that I got wrong about soaps being cancelled in Egypt, the majority of Arab soaps coming from Turkey, the Turkish government's recent embracing of the Muslim Brotherhood, the number of countries airing Arab soaps, etc?
Enlighten me.
Mendeleyev
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We've featured the YouTube channel "Real Russia" several times previously and for those of you who follow the show, Sergei (Baklyhov) of "Real Russia" had his gall bladder surgery but perhaps you already knew this.
I think most members will find this interesting to see the inside of a Russian hospital and to see procedures performed.
In my view socialized medicine is rarely a good deal for patients whether in cost or care. I hope that Russia can complete its transition to a market based health care system by 2025 but the economy is slowing so we'll keep our fingers crossed.
As you can see in the video, patients are allowed to pay extra for things like a more private room with a call button to summon nurses which I can tell you is not the practice of every hospital. However there are many hospitals, especially outside the larger cities, that don't have call buttons at all.
Sergei paid $10 day additional for a room with only 3 beds versus a hallway or ward full of beds. His care included two meals with oatmeal and bread for breakfast and soup and bread for dinner. Hot tea is always available. In many cases Russian families provide meals for family members and in other cases some meals are included. In hospitals that include meals you walk to the столовая, the dining room. You'll notice that visitors to other patients almost ALWAYS bring food gifts--there is a reason for that.
In some cases family members assist with basic care as there are only a handful of nurses per floor in some hospitals. Generally you make your own bed and new sheets generally are handed out weekly.
In fairness, I've seen nicer facilities but at the time I've seen much worse in Russia. This was probably average for a hospital outside of Moscow or St. Petersburg. My friend Rob in Saint Petersburg in his blog writes that when it comes to medical care, "Moscow is usually a step ahead of St Petersburg, the other cities less advanced, and the vast rural section of Russia can seem fifty years behind the times."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyWAJWlHtSU
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Im presently in Transnistria for six weeks, heaven help me if I need any hospital treatment :'(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI9Yj7CRfSY
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Im presently in Transnistria for six weeks, heaven help me if I need any hospital treatment :'(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI9Yj7CRfSY
You mean you are in Moldova Romania? ;)
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I am somewhere that does not exist 8) The "Black hole of Europe" as it is labeled by the US and many other countries. A great place to visit, I couldn't be ***** to make any registration, I have a good tactic to avoid this but last week a cop caught me at the border control. A $5 fine ;D
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Fascinating place, Steve. It is like stepping back into the CCCP about 1970 or at least was on our last visit several years ago. One of the poorest spots in Europe outside of Albania.
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Around the world soap operas are the same. The story lines apparently are inspired by families from Alabama with some rich farmer or businessman having sex with his granddaughter who gets pregnant with twin boys who then grow up to divide the family asunder as each wants to control the family business. Naturally, all the while the boys are carrying on affairs with their cousins girlfriends.
There is an annual (huge) neighborhood picnic hereabouts.
At the last picnic, a man revealed to me of his pending divorce.
He said that wife and he greatly enjoyed these picnics, and wondered if the two could still attend separately in the future.
I said: Don't worry . . . even after a divorce . . . you will still be brother and sister.
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Yes, I like it here. I went to a club last time I was here in Tiraspol, a huge plate of food, whisky colas for two on tap all night and a taxi home $15.00 8)
Beer in a bar $0.50c
A weeks shopping $25.00 8)
Bus into town $0.30c
Gas bill for a month $1.00
It makes a change from the expensive shopping trips in St petersburg, or a night out at just a normal club for a min $150 :-[
The republic is supposedly broke, but I have seen worse conditions in deep south US.
I think Mother Russia has just bunged them a few billion roubles as the great Patriarch from Moscow arrives in 3 weeks time, the first time in local history here and they have re surfaced all the roads, never seen before not a single pot hole anywhere until you set foot over the border to Moldova ;D
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If Putins' mitts are on this Syria attack, he is done.
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We've not discussed the idea of "personal space" something for which there are no good Russian words to describe the concept of privacy as Westerners understand it. Perhaps that is because the concept is absent in Eastern cultures.
As a Fulbright student on a teaching exchange told me in 2012, "if you are standing in line, and there is a hair’s width of space between you and the person in front of you, then you are not considered to be in line."
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/train-platskart-bunks.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/train-platskart-bunks.jpg)
It is not uncommon when in the heat of summer that some men will strip down to their shorts when train temps are stifling, can't blame them, but how would your sense of privacy react? Could you do the same?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/train-platzkartny-sleeping.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/train-platzkartny-sleeping.jpg)
From trains to communal apartments, Russians are used to a crowd. What about you?
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If Putins' mitts are on this Syria attack, he is done.
Wrong topic, LT. This series has nothing to do with normal politics.
It is a silly comment but I'll respond on the appropriate topic.
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Silly topic? what's funny about dead kids Mendeleyev? tell me
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From trains to communal apartments, Russians are used to a crowd. What about you?
I am pretty squeamish about it.
I even have to get into the swimming pool, before I pee in it.
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Silly topic? what's funny about dead kids Mendeleyev? tell me
Nobody said that it was a silly topic, LT.
However given the subject matter of this thread, it is out of place. I've answered your comment on the appropriate thread.
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(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/pool.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/pool.jpg)
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no sir, not out of place. Your reporting on arts and culture is filtered by RT.s lens. RT is a Putin puppet. Your reporting apriori Syria is top notch but the tone of your defense of Bashar is very worrying. I hate my President more than you do but I am an American first
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The Russian Navy hovercraft is currently the largest in the world and takes a while to come to a stop. So what happens when you have a Navy exercise on an afternoon when the local populace has decided to spent the afternoon on the beach...which just happens to be part of a Navy training area. Oops. Thankfully nobody was hurt.
Kaliningrad is not connected to Russia geographically so in that sense is similar to how Hawaii or Alaska are separated from the mainland USA. It belonged to a country named Prussia (German) that no longer exists and after WWII was ceded to Russia by the Western Powers at the Potsdam Conference. It is Russia's only ice free link to the Baltic Sea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVdwlYLAMxI
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As to the above story, we should add that the beach is not a public area but obviously it wasn’t closed off very well to the public either. Again, it is fortunate that nobody was hurt.
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Adele sang Скайфолл,"Skyfall" the theme to the James Bond movie.
Now a small ensemble/choir of Russian Army guys has, as they say in the industry,"covered" her ballad. Well, sort of.
Three judges to the right react frequently to the excitement of this thrilling performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=hg7E081BW6k#t=79 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=hg7E081BW6k#t=79)
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Our friends Sergei and Sergei of Real Russia have invited us to visit a nightclub/blues bar in Ufa. Formerly known as the Yellow Submarine, the bar is near the Rodina Theatre and is now named after Jimi Hendrix. For those of you who may travel to Ufa (Уфа), Sergei will pronounce the city name several times so this is a learning opportunity as well.
From a genuine Texas license plate to decorate the men's toilet to a band that plays Credence Clearwater Revival songs in a bar named for Jimi Hendrix, you know its Russia!
http://youtu.be/5Qv6yz0lXRo
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Sorry, this one belonged in the Language thread so I moved it there.
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Cool clip there Mendy
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Thank you, FP. :)
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Traveling outside the normal large cities of the FSU is always an interesting experience and here is a video trip filmed by a young man on the Trans Siberian, starting in China and traveling into Russia. He hitchhikes thru a number of abandoned towns and sleeps wherever there is shelter. Turns out he is a budding concert pianist in video #2 and if you've never seen Kamchatka, you must watch video #3.
http://youtu.be/tgTfBNhfAWs
http://youtu.be/dYVq2qzMkFk
http://youtu.be/KIsPRcz2uoo
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One can hardly resist being smitten by this little girl--at 2 years and 1 month she is so smart and cute. Out for a walk, her Mum films while her Papa (Dad) asks her to identify each parked car. He asks "what kind of machine (car) is this? This smart little doll answers and most of them she nails! Some she says with a Russian accent so you'll have pay attention.
Each time she answers correctly he praises her by saying молодец, "ma-la-dyets" which means "well done/good work."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F7t2OwuvpY#t=57
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Tim Tebow in Russia?
From this edition of the Mendeleyev Journal (http://wp.me/peVMt-2U3):
They met near Moscow's famous Victory Park in February, ready for a bus ride to take on the team in Minsk, capital of Belarus. With snow and ice everywhere, Russian football players, American style football, boarded the bus for the long ride to Minsk, capital of Belarus known as one of the last standing Communist dictatorships in Europe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1XCmIkcqoE
As the bus rolled along one coach held a map to assist the bus driver with directions while another coach wearing a USC Trojans sweatshirt drew plays on a small whiteboard, discussing them with other coaches for additional input.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-coach-usc-trojans-shirt.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-coach-usc-trojans-shirt.jpg)
This coach, wearing a USC Trojans sweatshirt, drew up plays.
The bus arrived in Minsk in the very early morning hours, greeted by a lit city sign that read: Мiнск (Minsk) along with the Cyrillic lettering for "hero city" the designation of honour given to cities that survived extraordinary battles in the Great Patriotic War (WWII). Using a press facility for a locker room the team prepared for the game.
Like baseball, American styled football has been exported to Russia although the growth of football has been slower. Russia's main sports are hockey and soccer football, and soccer fans like to tease American football players about the slower pace of the game and the breaks taken after each down is played. Soccer is a faster paced game with few chances to rest as play is continuous and players must be competent at quickly adjusting from offense to defense.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-f.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-f.jpg)
(Storm football. Photo: MrBy/Roman Redkobaykin)
Those things being said, you might be surprised that American styled football has been in Russia since the later Soviet years and as explained in a recent story in Russia Beyond the Headlines (http://rbth.ru/arts/sport/2013/09/09/tim_tebow_may_join_russian_football_team_29645.html), seems to have caught the fancy of a few sports fans. Some would argue however that most fans are the football players themselves and the few in attendance to watch the games are primarily family and close friends.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-b.jpg)
(photo: Black Storm versus the Russian Jets team)
According to the story in RBTH (http://rbth.ru/arts/sport/2013/09/09/tim_tebow_may_join_russian_football_team_29645.html), the Russian American Football Championships have been held annually since 2002, though the story of American football’s development in Russia began back in the perestroika years. The first team, the Federaly (Federals), was founded in the town of Ozersk (Chelyabinsk Oblast) (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Russia,+Chelyabinskaya+oblast,+Ozersk&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=58.72842,117.333984&oq=ozersk&t=h&hnear=Ozyorsk,+gorod+Ozersk,+Chelyabinsk+Oblast,+Russia&z=11), where a local hockey coach, Alexander Kovrigin, trained the first Soviet football players in the American version of the game. In those days, no suitable equipment was available in the Soviet Union, so they used hockey gear and motorcycle helmets. In 1987, the Federaly won the first American Football Championships in the Soviet Union.
So here we are in September 2013 and one Russian Football team, the Moscow Black Storm, says that they're interested in talking with Tim Tebow after his recent release to free agent status. In America Tebow has the ability to draw fans, but would he represent enough drawing power to make an attendance impact in Russia?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-court-tim-tebow.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-court-tim-tebow.jpg)
(Photo: Denver Broncos media)
Will Tebow play for the Russian Black Storm?
While some NFL games are shown on Russian sport channels, the largest average attendance at a Russian American styled football game is around 500 fans. Small numbers in a country where games are often played in soccer stadiums designed to seat thousands.
Except in larger cities, most games are played without goal posts and officials watch carefully to see if the kicker has cleared the field's lower and more narrow soccer goal for the kicking game.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-vs-spartans-yulia-ivanova.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-vs-spartans-yulia-ivanova.jpg)
This Moscow soccer field has a regulation goal post for American football.Some Russian teams are on the verge of shutting down for lack of revenue and the lack of a fan base is an obvious economic factor. Even so, some businessmen are banking on the sport eventually growing. But when and how fast?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-olympic-stadium-nizhy-novgorod-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-olympic-stadium-nizhy-novgorod-b.jpg)
(Moscow Black Storm visit Nizhny Novgorod.)
Even the bigger and better funded teams play an amateur style at best. A player like Tebow would stand out immediately but he wouldn't have the same caliber of supporting cast on the team. The season runs from January with championships played in May.
Tebow might enjoy the challenge just to play the Russian Бронкос (http://www.moscowblackstorm.ru/index.php/md/stbr)(Broncos) and exact a little revenge.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-pizza.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/football-black-storm-pizza.jpg)
Linemen and pizza must be an international thing.
Team sizes are smaller in Russia and most players must play offense and defense. Substitutions are crucial as subs are expected to learn more than one position. The pay is low and travel is long--mostly long distance by bus. Because of the distances many teams schedule back to back games, playing a game on Saturday and then again on Sunday against the same team.
Some games are played inside indoor soccer facilities such as this game between the Moscow Black Storm and the Saint Petersburg Griffins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8a6EZ3C2Ew
In Soviet days when American football was just beginning in Russia, the average player salary ranged from 500-to-1,000 rubles a month, two-to-three times more than the average worker's salary in the Soviet Union. Today most teams refuse to discuss salaries and it is rumoured that a few of the smaller teams haven't paid players for months.
Who needs a salary when the teams has cheerleaders? Known in Russian as a "support group" cheerleaders are so important that the Black Storm website explains it this way: they captivate the audience in a wave of positive emotions and good mood!
One can only imagine.
(photo credits: Roman Redkobaykin, Konstantin Konstantinov and Yulia Ivanova. Moscow Black Storm website: http://www.moscowblackstorm.ru (http://www.moscowblackstorm.ru))
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Let's see, we can lead with the fact that Ufa city has a street named after me, Mendeleyev; or perhaps we can lead with the fact that this video contains young ladies in miniskirts. Hmm, what could be more interesting that an street? Probably little so now it is time to join Sergei and Sergei of "Real Russia" TV for a birthday party in Ufa!
Did we forget to mention that the birthday party takes place at an address on Mendeleyev Street with young ladies in miniskirts?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnbHnhz4t-U
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Is racing popular in places other than the USA? Yes, however I don't know if Sergei # 2 was more interested in filming legs, wait, I do know. He was. Sergei # 1 does a good job of providing commentary so let's go to the Russian drag races!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fytA30Em8lo
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Congratulations to Sergei and Sergei of Real Russia Television on your first anniversary! I've enjoyed watching your success every step of the way and look forward to even larger success in the next 12 months. You started from nothing, two local guys in a town far away from the national spotlight and with a personal camera and a $ 5 microphone you've made something with content that is always new and interesting. As we say in Russia, "many years!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lZIAsHtEcU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lZIAsHtEcU)
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://wp.me/peVMt-2Xd):
Everything about Marina Tsvetaeva, one of Russia's most celebrated poets, is complicated; even the day she was born in 1892, on 26 September Old Calendar corresponding to 08 October New Calendar, is confusing. Her life, her loves, her family and her writing reflected the confusing times in which she lived.
A first-hand witness to the Bolshevik revolution, she was no Communist and hated the deceit and confusion spawned by the Soviet system. Her young husband, Sergei Efron, fought on the side of the White Army during the civil war that followed.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/marina-tsvetaeva-aida-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/marina-tsvetaeva-aida-a.jpg)
Artist: Aida Lisenkova-Hanemaayer/Marina Tsvetaeva Museum/Yeltsin Foundation Cultural Fund
As to her deep connection to her writing, Tsvetaeva expressed that “every verse was a child of love” and it showed.
Every verse is a child of love, A destitute bastard slip,
A firstling - the winds above - Left by the road asleep.
Heart has a gulf, and a bridge, Heart has a bless, and a grief.
Who is his father? A liege?
Maybe a liege, or a thief.
Not widely known outside Russia is that the Bolshevik revolution ushered in a long five year famine in Russia and one of her daughters, Irina, died of starvation in 1919. She fled to Europe for several years and received her formal education at the Sorbonne (University of Paris) and the Charles University in Prague. She was the mother of three children; Irina, Ariadna, and Georgy.
Her father, Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev, was the founder of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and her allegiance to Russia was strong but she hated Communism with an even stronger passion.
O, tears that in eyes freeze!
The cry of love and pain!
My Chekhia's in tears!
In blood is all my Spain!
O, mountain of black,
You shaded all the world!
It's time to return back
My ticket to God.
Yes, I refuse to be
In Bedlam of non-men.
Yes, I refuse to see
How wolves of squares do slain.
Yes, I refuse to wail
With field sharks of all ranks.
Yes, I refuse to sail
Down the stream of backs.
My ears I need more not,
My eyes I needn't to use,
To all your crazy world
One answer - 'I refuse.'
After returning to Russia her husband Sergei and daughter Ariadna were arrested in 1941 and Efron was executed on charges of espionage although unbeknownst to Marina he had been recruited by the NKVD. Marina Tsvetaeva committed suicide later that same year.
In Moscow visit her home, the Marina Tsvetaeva Museum and Cultural Centre at 6, Borisoglebsky Lane. For hours, telephone the museum at 495-695-35-43 or 495-697-53-69.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/House-Museum_of_Marina_Tsvetaeva.jpg/300px-House-Museum_of_Marina_Tsvetaeva.jpg) (http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:House-Museum_of_Marina_Tsvetaeva.jpg)
Museum of Marina Tsvetaeva. Moscow, Borisoglebsky Lane, 6. Русский: Дом-музей Марины Цветаевой. Москва, Борисоглебский переулок, 6 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Museum website: www.dommuseum.ru (http://www.dommuseum.ru/)
Click this link (http://russiapastandpresent.blogspot.com/2013/09/for-great-poet-marina-tsvetaeva-every.html) for our highly recommended site to learn more about the life and writings of Marina Tsvetaeva (http://russiapastandpresent.blogspot.com/2013/09/for-great-poet-marina-tsvetaeva-every.html).
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Great story, Mendy! I shall look up the museum before my next trip to Moscow and pay it a visit. Reading the short verses, I could relate to her pain.
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Thanks, Jone. I know that you will enjoy it. Her former apartments in Korolev (outside Moscow) and Yelabuga (Tatarstan) have been made into memorial museums too.
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Thanks, Jone. I know that you will enjoy it. Her former apartments in Korolev (outside Moscow) and Yelabuga (Tatarstan) have been made into memorial museums too.
Yelabuga is where she died and is buried. I only wish that I had known of her before I visited that city. I spent a few hours there during my trip to Naberezhnye Chelny (it's about 30 minutes away by bus). We went to the Ivan Shishkin Museum (the great painter's former home) and the small but wonderful City Museum just about next door, with its amazing collection of traditional costumes from all around western Russia. The War Memorial Park, with a commemorative wall, is well worth visiting, and we had a fabulous cafe lunch which cost about $5 for the two of us.
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Mendeleyev Journal (http://mendeleyevjournal.com):
Barbie is 55 years old. She is still younger than some of us at the Mendeleyev Journal but 55 is a recognition of the staying power of the world's most famous doll from generation to generation of little girls. Very impressive!
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/barbie-anniversary-rbth.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/barbie-anniversary-rbth.jpg)
Six Russian designers have come up with new Russian style fashions for Barbie; Kira Plastinina, Alena Ahmadullina, Alexander Arutyunov, Anastasia Romantsova , Oleg Ovsiev and Natasha Goldenberg.
Several of the Russian Barbie dolls were outfitted with the famous Orenburg shawls accompanied with fur headbands, pearl earrings and shoes with silk laces.
According to Russia Beyond the Headlines (http://rbth.ru/news/2013/10/01/russian_designers_revamp_barbie_outfits_30417.html), the new doll collection will be available for sale during the International Charity Bazaar, with money raised from the sale of Barbie dolls in Russian designer outfits benefiting Russian charities.
Popular Russian singer Alla Pugacheva has agreed to model for a new series of Barbie dolls.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/barbie-anniversary-woman-ru-alla-pugacheva.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/barbie-anniversary-woman-ru-alla-pugacheva.png)
(photo: woman.ru)
Our Russian speaking subscribers can read more at woman.ru (http://www.woman.ru/fashion/medley3/article/95929/)
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Ford has always had a strong presence in Russia given it's factories there since the times of Joseph Stalin. I like the new Ford Kuga, called the Escape in some areas of the world. Pickup trucks never caught on in the FSU, mainly as to how they are taxed as commercial vehicles but it will be interesting to see how SUVs continue to make inroads.
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Two leading stars of Ukraine's X-Factor at first went out of the way to belittle this young lady, but eventually their conversion to accepting her talent is well, nothing short of a miracle.
Fans, especially young kids looking for position role models, have embraced her and she is climbing in the charts and CD and concert sales are booming for this budding pop star.
Meet Aida Nikolaichuk (Аида Николайчук). Hmm I like that first name, same as my wife, but no relation.
Here she gives a brief television interview in the city of Херсон (Kherson) Ukraine and as you can see she has become a popular role model for kids. With an endorsement from Ukrainian star Ani Lorak and the recent signing of a recording contract with Sony Records, obviously someone other than the kids recognizes her talents.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dIXEHQaLl4
Her singing...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlQK-hYGCTg
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There is a thread that runs through each of Andrei Kovalev's songs.
The thread? A beautiful woman.
The beautiful lady in this first song is actress Elena Korikova.
At 41 years Elena is very lovely; almost (but not quite) as beautiful as the lovely and talented Mrs. Mendeleyeva. But I digress. In this song, "My Woman" Andrei sings and Elena gets the staring video role. She is easy on the eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQNoqpD78qA
Many of his songs are serious and about love but some of his music pokes fun at life, like this video with Katya Lel, "Men and Women" portraying how each prepares for a date. Pay close attention to what happens at the very end of the song. Funny, just like Andrei:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTXL74TyVnI
Common themes in his songs are either getting the girl or losing the girl. Hmm, maybe he is just like the rest of us, after all. If you find it necessary to chase down a girl to keep her, at least do it in a nice sports car...like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZsHvC-whUs
Perhaps a little early for October but one of our favourite Kovalev songs is this holiday song about snow. In the video, Kovalev picks up a drunk Grandfather Frost on New Years' Eve and takes him home to show his wife and daughter. Very cute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo4aOmq62cU
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Fashion Week in Moscow, followed by the Miss Universe pageant. Dang, it has been 3 weeks of eye candy for guys in Moscow.
Mendeleyev Journal coverage: http://wp.me/peVMt-2Z0 (http://wp.me/peVMt-2Z0)
This last week was Fashion Week in Moscow, sponsored by Mercedes Benz and admittedly it was a good week to be in Moscow with beautiful ladies seemingly everywhere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbZ7WftkO_8
Fashion week is an annual event in Moscow and this year took place a week earlier than normal in order to coordinate with this week's Miss Universe festivities. The Miss Universe contestants celebrated Fashion week along with Moscow residents.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-fashion-day-crocus-city-mall-2013-diana-schoutsen-mendoza-of-honduras.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-fashion-day-crocus-city-mall-2013-diana-schoutsen-mendoza-of-honduras.jpg)
Miss Honduras,Diana Schoutsen Mendoza enjoyed Fashion week festivities at the Crocus City Mall in Moscow.
The Miss Universe contest is currently underway at Crocus City Hall in Moscow. The reigning Miss Universe, Olivia Culpo, is from Rhode Island, USA. Miss Culpo is a professional musician who plays with the Boston Accompanietta.
.(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-olivia_culpo_2012.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-olivia_culpo_2012.jpg)
Miss Universe 2012, Olivia Culpo, Rhonde Island, USA. (Photo by Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com (http://www.PacificProDigital.com))
Miss Culpo was one of the judges for the Miss Russia pageant and of course you're wondering how did she like Russia and Moscow, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZT0drCu4Gs
The girls have been here for three weeks and the finalists will be selected on 5 November, this coming Tuesday. Tuesday's preliminary competition will not be shown on television but will be streamed live at www.MissUniverse.com (http://www.MissUniverse.com).
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-novodevichy-convent-2013-riza-santos-of-canada.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-novodevichy-convent-2013-riza-santos-of-canada.jpg)
Miss Universe contestant Riza Santos of Canada outside the Novodevichy Convent.
A few days ago the girls, there are 86 of them from around the world, toured the Moscow Raceway where some of the girls tried their luck at driving race cars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF4rwaV5e1c
Friday night the girls attended the Atlant Moscow vs Lev Prague hockey game where they posed for photographs and handed out most valuable player awards after the game.
.(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-hockey-game-moscow.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-hockey-game-moscow.jpg)
Miss Universe ladies at a hockey game in Moscow.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-hockey-game-moscow-lotta-hintsa-of-finland.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-hockey-game-moscow-lotta-hintsa-of-finland.jpg)
Miss Finland, Lotta Hintsa, seemed to enjoy the action.
There are three main categories to the pageant; the bikini competition, an evening gown fashion show, and the interview segment. Interestingly the Miss Universe pageant was borni n 1951 because a Miss America contestant objected to the swimsuit category and a separate contest was formed to give ladies an alternative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VNT2Yeu4fM
According to Miss Universe managing partner Donald Trump, the 2013 show is promised to outshine all previous shows in the pageant's 60 plus year history. Trump and NBC Television own the Miss Universe Organization. NBC will air the main pageant on 9 November at 9pm Eastern Time in the USA.
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Some of my friends may freak out if only reading that the preliminary judging will not be televised. So here is reassurance that you can watch the ladies prance around on stage:
NBC will air the main pageant on 9 November at 9pm Eastern Time in the USA.
NBC Universal sells the rights to TV networks worldwide so check your local listings.
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Thick eyebrows are back in fashion, I see… Brezhnev would be proud. :)
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:clapping:
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I was just watching "Office Romance" couple of days ago. "Eyebrows have to be thin as a thread and risen in wonder." :D Sweet 80s… :D
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It is time to take a short 3:41 minute journey. Through the wonder of time lapse photography you will in 3 short minutes see the small city (300K pop) of Vologda. The city was founded in the year 1147 and is filled with historical buildings, monuments and churches. Nestled along the Vologda river, northwest of Moscow and south of Saint Petersburg, it enjoys life in between Russia's two capitals.
The city has its own Kremlin (fort). A beautiful and rare style of ancient Russian pillow lace is made here and Vologda is a transportation hub for the region. The Vologda river is large and carries major freight transportation. Oh, and some of the best butter in the world is produced here. This is awesome video so click on your wide screen to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2wtzzmCtxc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2wtzzmCtxc)
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It is time to take a short 3:41 minute journey. Through the wonder of time lapse photography you will in 3 short minutes see the small city (300K pop) of Vologda.
...This is awesome video so click on your wide screen to watch.
Very nice! Mendy, I see that it was made by an oufit called "gorodvideo." Are they a company which does this sort of thing for other cities as well? I can't get into their website to find out anything about them.
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Kiwi, I had the same experience but found them on vk. http://vk.com/gorodvideo
It looks as if that may be their first but apparently they're planning more. I hope they do!
It also appears that they created this video as a byproduct of a music video they produced using the same footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shYV5xkOaAo
The singer in the video is Oleg Skretch. He and Alexei Zorin co-produced the city video as well and are possibly the principals of the production company.
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Kiwi, I had the same experience but found them on vk. http://vk.com/gorodvideo (http://vk.com/gorodvideo)
It looks as if that may be their first but apparently they're planning more. I hope they do!
It also appears that they created this video as a byproduct of a music video they produced using the same footage:
The singer in the video is Oleg Skretch. He and Alexei Zorin co-produced the city video as well and are possibly the principals of the production company.
Thanks Mendy. :applaud:
I would love to see what they could do in other Russian cities that I've visited, such as Kazan or Sochi - Moscow and St Petersburg already have many similar videos.
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http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/completely-unexplainable-russian-dating-site-pictures
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Ooooops, just proof that Americans don't hold title to the only weirdos in the world. They come from every place and in every shape and size. :clapping:
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In conjunction with Ooooops dating photos, here are some funny Russian photos not of dating but just odd life. They are from a blog post titled "Meanwhile in Mother Russia."
http://thechive.com/2013/11/06/meanwhile-in-mother-russia-35-photos/
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For those readers who were sitting around asking themselves the age-old question of how Gusli are made, here you go. This video features beautiful sounds as the instrument is being made. Gusli is said to be the oldest handmade musical instrument in Russia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE_xH19Ld-U
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In conjunction with Ooooops dating photos, here are some funny Russian photos not of dating but just odd life.
I like the beaver photo :D
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Move over, Pharrell Williams and Daft Punk. It's time for someone else to Get Lucky.
That someone else just happens to be a group of Russian policemen as recorded in a Ekaterinburg performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quGSJmqiAwM
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There is a general media blackout from the Miss Universe contest in Moscow as the contest won't air in the USA until 9pm Saturday but we can report that the top 10 are Miss Spain, Miss Philippines, Miss Great Britain, Miss India, Miss Brazil, Miss USA, Miss Ukraine, Miss Ecuador, Miss Venezuela, Miss Dominican Republic.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-contest.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-contest.jpg)
The contestants gathered for their final appearance at Moscow's Crocus City Hall.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-a.jpg)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-ukraine-catwalk.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-ukraine-catwalk.jpg)
Next photo: Miss Ukraine, centre.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-b.jpg)
Next photo: Miss Ukraine, left and Miss Estonia, right.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-estonia.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-estonia.jpg)
Next: The 3 gals together are Miss Ukraine, Miss Poland and Miss Russia who is not in the finals.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-ukraine-poland-russia.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-ukraine-poland-russia.jpg)
Next: Miss Ukraine, left and Miss Russia, right.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-ukraine-russia-b.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-ukraine-russia-b.jpg)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-ukraine-russia-c.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-ukraine-russia-c.jpg)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-ukraine.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-ukraine.jpg)
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C'mon Mendy! Being a member at RWD supercedes any other agreements you have for confidentiality. Plus, membership do have it's privileges.
Fess up
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(The Mendeleyev Journal (http://wp.me/peVMt-30R))
The program will air "live" in approximately two hours and thirty minutes for USA viewers but as a Russian news organization our blackout is over so we'll congratulate the winner of this year's Miss Universe contest from Moscow.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-banner.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-banner.jpg)
Before we reveal the winner for Miss Universe 2013 it would be fitting to compliment our more local girls. We really fell in love with Miss Russia, Elmira Abdrazakov, this year. What a wonderful personality and representative for this great country.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-miss-russia.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-miss-russia.jpg)
Elmira Abdrazakov, Miss Russia 2013.
Had we been the judge, Miss Ukraine would have won easily. She was impressive! (Please, somebody throw me a towel, I'm drooling!)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-ukraine-dress.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-ukraine-dress.jpg)
Miss Ukraine, Olga Storozenko, made it to the Top 10 finalists.
Miss Poland and Miss Estonia did well in the semi finals, too.
So are you ready for the winner of the 2013 Miss Universe contest? Then here she is, Gabriela Isler, Miss Venezuela!
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-venezuela.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-venezuela.jpg)
Gabriela Isler, whose full name is Maria Gabriela de Jesus Isler Morales is Miss Universe 2013!
This marks the seventh time a contestant from Venezuela has won the title, including back to back titles in 2008 and 2009.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-venezuela-tall.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-venezuela-tall.jpg)
The previous Miss Universe, the United States' Olivia Culpo, relinquished her crown and placed it upon Miss Venezuela. Miss Isler was born in Maracay and works on Venezuelan television.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-venezuela-trump.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/miss-universe-venezuela-trump.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe6kNFppkRU
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BTW, that crown was a part of married women head dress. And once married woman wasn't supposed to show her hair, cover it with shawl and kokoshnik. Pretty much like in Muslim countries, btw.
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Mendy, you forgot to add that Miss Poland took the prize for Miss Photogenic. Miss Ukraine can't have been far off that one, either - she's gorgeous.
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Kiwi, sorry for not pointing that out. I agree that both are lovely.
I was disappointed that none of the Slavic or Asian gals made it all the way. As you say, Miss Poland, Paulina Krupińska, is beautiful. Miss Kazakhstan, Aigerim Kozhakhan, was another local beauty as was the extremely beautiful Miss Azerbaijan, Aysal Manafova. Along with Miss Ukraine, any of them could have risen to the top.
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Trivia questions:
- Which former FSU republics/countries that share a border with Russia had no representative in the Miss Universe contest?
Answer: ___________________ and _____________________ and ______________________
- Which Asian country that shares a border with Russia sent no representative to the Miss Universe contest?
Answer: ___________________
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2012 was a rough year for Russian vodka producers as the government stepped up efforts to reduce chronic alcoholism and toughened regulations on the sale of vodka.
Now the government is taking the battle a step further after officials declared that Russians drank 24% less vodka in 2012 than the previous year. The next step is to remove small bottles from market shelves, forcing consumers to purchase larger bottles but a higher prices. Officials believe that the smaller bottles are a favourite of alcoholics due to the price as compared to larger bottles.
As reported in RIA Novosti, one proposed regulation is to force regulators to sell 0.375-liter and 0.5-liter bottles at the same price thus forcing the smaller bottles off the market. Many producers distribute bottles that are less than 0.5 liters as a way to get around the government's minimum price of 174 rubles (approximately 5.30 USD), per half-liter.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/vodka-russian-standard-minature.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/vodka-russian-standard-minature.jpg)
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2012 was a rough year for Russian vodka producers as the government stepped up efforts to reduce chronic alcoholism and toughened regulations on the sale of vodka.
Well, I remember about that big fiasco when that was attempted last time… Illegal counterfeits will be sold and bought and it's much worse for the population health.
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You may be on to something, Ooooops. The counterfeit stuff isn't reported thru the system obviously and that may be a factor in the 24% drop, which is quite a big drop give the culture of vodka in this region.
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Counterfeits and home made booze.
Пили, пьём и будем пить. [/size]Нас ничем не удивить !Если водка будет восемь,Всё равно мы пить не бросим !Передайте "Ильичу",Нам и десять по плечу !Ну, а если двадцать пять -Будем снова Зимний брать ! [/color]
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;D
Ooooops, wasn't that poem from the Brezhnev era anti-alcohol efforts?
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Ooooops, wasn't that poem from the Brezhnev era anti-alcohol efforts?
Yep. 8) One of the variations. There were lot of them
Если водка будет 7, пить не бросим мы совсем,
если водка будет 8, всё равно мы пить не бросим.
Передайте Ильичу, нам и 10 по плечу.
Ну а если будет больше, будет то же, что и в Польше.
And then, of course, was the dry law during Gorbachev's era
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(Mendeleyev Journal)
What do a Russian toilet and the IRS have to do with this article?
I took this photo at the famous Jamz Cafe in Moscow to show you the flush button on top of the tank and the metal paper protector roll which are so common in Eastern Europe. The toilet is a good tie-in to the IRS as many American readers will agree.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/8-24-11-moscow-449-edit.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/8-24-11-moscow-449-edit.jpg)
Yesterday I had a sobering conversation with a younger Black American woman, around age 40 or so, who was traveling in Russia. We don't see many Black folk from the USA as it is more common to see someone from Africa.
She had taken part in a tour with an older relative and was headed back to the USA, in the process of moving her small family out of the Memphis, Tennessee area and headed West. For generations her family has lived in and around Tennessee so naturally we were curious as to the reason for the move. Leaving friends and family behind isn't easy for anyone, especially a single mother.
The IRS was her answer. Since graduating from college she has worked for the IRS, a little over 15 years. "Evil" was her next answer. "I see those people who stay and it scares me. If I stayed, I'd eventually become like them."
Knowing that her personal faith was Christian, her bosses thought it fun to give her cases that targeted other Christians, especially pastors and priests. She was yelled at for not being "mean enough" if she helped her audit clients with resources to know their rights as taxpayers. She worked in a "stick it to them" culture.
There were also the parties, the trips, the expense accounts and she described the atmosphere of the office as like an "cloud of oppression." She could have stayed. The pay was good, the benefits and time off were unrivaled in the normal world, and the retirement very secure. But she valued her faith, her dignity and her sense of self worth.
She has a job waiting for her out West and the pay is less than half of what she's used to making and benefits are nowhere close. However she is a woman of integrity and staying in a posh government job was not worth selling her eternal soul to a corrupt government.
Why not a whistle-blower? She is scared, very scared and made us promise not to reveal her identity. "They are evil and will stop at nothing to protect their culture" was her genuine fear.
It isn't everyday that you meet a real American hero, especially a Black American in Russia, but there is always a first time for everything and yesterday was the first.
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Money makes the world go around, or so they say.
Here is the Mendeleyev Journal tutorial on Russian money, assisted by the able guys of REAL RUSSIA television.
The official form of currency in the Russian Federation is the ruble, or рубль in the Russian language. A ruble is just one and anything more takes on the plural form, рубли́ which is spoken as "ru-bli."
The official abbreviation for the ruble is (RUB) expressed as руб in the Cyrillic alphabet and you'll find that in advertisements and some stores:
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/6699_495096590525786_1474842078_n.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/6699_495096590525786_1474842078_n.jpg)
руб = rubles. The number shown below the price is the amount of kilograms for each beverage.
In other advertisements and in some markets and stores you'll find a single p, the letter R in Russian Cyrillic to mark prices in rubles:
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/nestle-fitness.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/nestle-fitness.jpg)
A single ruble equals 100 kopeks and one kopek is копейка, spoken as "ka-pek-ah." The plural Russian form is копейки and sounds like "ka-peki."
For the moment there is no official sign or logo for Russian currency although the Bank of Russia is holding a contest in which citizens can submit drawings and logo ideas for the ruble.
Some say that the term "ruble" was taken from the Russian word руби́ть, "ru bit" which is translated as to “chop.” Supposedly a "ruble" was a small chip of silver that had been chopped from a silver ingot, known as a grivna. That is indeed interesting because "Grivna" is the name today for money in Ukraine.
And how about those Russian coins and bills--how do they look and what is their story? For that we turn to Sergei and Sergei from REAL RUSSIAN television:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjG9EVS926M
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Over the years maybe you've noticed that a certain Russian artist appears on the Mendeleyev Journal pages from time to time. That is no accident as she bears my last name and I'm very proud of her. It is a wonder that I don't feature her work more often. Maybe I should!
Photos from a Moscow exhibition:
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/march-2010-exhibition-b1.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/march-2010-exhibition-b1.jpg)
She has always melted my heart in pink and that hasn't changed a bit. Her agency arranges several of these exhibits annually and at this one she was the feature of the entire exhibit so the hall was filled with her art, portraits on one wall, still-life paintings on another, etc.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/march-2010-exhibition-self-portrait-with-mirror1.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/march-2010-exhibition-self-portrait-with-mirror1.jpg)
Photo 2 is genius: a self portrait of herself and a mirror so that whoever stands to observe the portrait is seen as standing with her.
Her latest project is one that has been ongoing for a couple of years as she is part of a small handful of artists contracted by the Russian Military Museum to interview, photograph, and paint surviving heroes from the Great Patriotic War (WWII). Upon completion of each portrait there is a presentation at the museum in Moscow to honour the hero and afterward the portrait is displayed for several months before going on rotation to other museums across Russia.
Read the entire article with a few more photos at the Mendeleyev Journal (http://wp.me/peVMt-33i).
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Last Saturday the city of Moscow honoured the long history of the motorized троллейбус (trolleybus) in Russia.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trolley-bus-moscow-old-1936-model.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trolley-bus-moscow-old-1936-model.jpg)
Moscow: 1936 modelTrolleybuses run on electricity drawn from power lines above the street and are quieter and produce less pollution than fossil fuel powered vehicles. They were invented by a German scientist in 1882.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_JhkCjVwhg
The parade featured retro trolleybuses to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the service as the show began at the First Trolleybus Park on Leningradsky Shosse.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trolley-bus-moscow-old-martin-lj-parade.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trolley-bus-moscow-old-martin-lj-parade.jpg)
(Photo: Martin.LiveJournal)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpGYuYZ_lFo
Media crews interviewed older passengers who remembered the antique vehicles. (Photo: Martin.LiveJournal)Media reporters were there to document the event and it was obvious that riders were enjoying the experience.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trolley-bus-moscow-old-kronos-lj-a.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trolley-bus-moscow-old-kronos-lj-a.jpg)
(Photo: Andrey Kronos.LiveJournal)
Crowds gathered along the parade route to ride the old trolleybuses. Along the parade route were a variety of trolleybus models since their launch in 1933. In the photo below, a statue of Karl Marx watches over the parade.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trolley-bus-moscow-old-kronos-lj-karl-marx.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trolley-bus-moscow-old-kronos-lj-karl-marx.jpg)
(Photo: Andrey Kronos.LiveJournal)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trolley-moscow-nikita-miroshnichenko-cables.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trolley-moscow-nikita-miroshnichenko-cables.jpg)
(Photo: Nikita Miroshnichenko)
The oldest working trolleybus in the parade was a MTB-82D model from the year 1954. Unlike electric trams which travel on rails, the trolleybus uses rubber wheels just like a bus and has a driver who steers the bus.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trolley-bus-moscow-old-kronos-lj-wires.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trolley-bus-moscow-old-kronos-lj-wires.jpg)
(Photo: Andrey Kronos.LiveJournal)
Crowds gathered at each stop to ride the trolleybuses despite the cold and rain.
Trolleybuses still play an important role in providing transportation for Europe's largest city. The newest addition to the Moscow trolleybus fleet is a group of new TrolZa models, produced earlier this year.
The trolleybus system in Moscow today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pYZf4Yd2Eg
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These guys are a hoot! The Russian Hackers are going to hack a lot of stuff, but probably no computers. We'll start by hacking some tuna fish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH2NahLjx-Y
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How to peel a potato like a Russian. Hmm, very novel idea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8we-aAv9GA
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Terrible… :ROFL: :ROFL: :ROFL:
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Ooooops, if you think that is bad, watch their episode on boiling an egg in a thin plastic cup. It works, they're a hoot, and I was blown away by the last 30 seconds on how he "peeled" the egg after it was boiled. :D
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Ooooops, if you think that is bad, watch their episode on boiling an egg in a thin plastic cup.
Not sure if I have the nerves for that… :D
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Try it...you'll like it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YBAnSfl6cs
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Try it...you'll like it!
I would never take food advise from somebody who's fingers look like that! :o
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So you're out of Lake Baikal where the ice freezes up to (or in this case down to) nine feet deep. But you hit a soft spot of ice not far from shore and the SUV you're driving sinks into the water.
How do you retrieve your vehicle without heavy equipment? This is interesting; just watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z68OhsMRRU
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So you're out of Lake Baikal where the ice freezes up to (or in this case down to) nine feet deep. But you hit a soft spot of ice not far from shore and the SUV you're driving sinks into the water.
How do you retrieve your vehicle without heavy equipment? This is interesting; just watch:
Very ingenious! :applaud: I really love the frame to protect the underside of the car.
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The biggest lake in the world is home to a lot of things, like the only freshwater seals on the planet and some 1700 species of animals, fish and plants, of which 1300 are not found anywhere else in the world. It is a Siberian wonder, containing 20% of the earth's fresh water reserves.
Lake Baikal creates its own weather systems and freezes around nine feet deep in winter. Waves seemingly freeze in mid-air and recently a unique group of musicians have discovered that the ice has its own unique sound characteristics as well. Listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en0p1Y35p3w#t=32
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Very clever and entertaining.
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Those ice sounds remind of a xylophone, a percussion instrument made of wood rather than solidified water :).
Percussions were probably the first musical instruments ever devised - it being simpler to make sounds by knocking on a stone, a hollow tree trunk, an empty gourd, etc. than from other natural materials - and mostly they provide 1 of the 3 basic elements of music, rhythm, the simplest of which is the 2/4 imitating our heartbeat, which incidentally was that used by the Baikal ice players.
Here's a learned and authoritative dissertation on the gradual development of musical instruments ;D:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjHrmmFIErY&hd=1
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Russia Beyond the Headlines has just released some interesting information on Siberia at this link (http://rbth.ru/multimedia/infographics/2013/12/06/siberia_the_biggest_part_of_russia_32321.html).
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/siberia-map-941-rbth.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/siberia-map-941-rbth.jpg)
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This looks a little scary . . . if you don't think about music.
Anyone remember Marie's sculpture on "Everyone Loves Raymond?"
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(Mendeleyev Journal (http://mendeleyevjournal.com))
Some say that she is a bull in a China shop. We find her entertaining, and of course easy on the eyes. This TV journalist on Ukrainian television is also a fashion model and represents a contemporary fashion clothing designer and represents a line of designer travel luggage, too.
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She is Olga Freimut, Ольга Фреймут, the Inspector, Ревизор, and her TV show travels to cities around Ukraine as she and her camera crew video the good, the bad and the outright filthy.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/noviy-channel-olga-freimut-6.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/noviy-channel-olga-freimut-6.jpg)
She examines public facilities, mainly restaurants and hotels, and her coveted white glove award is proudly displayed by those establishments fortunate enough to meet her standards.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/noviy-channel-olga-freimut-9.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/noviy-channel-olga-freimut-9.jpg)
Have a favourite restaurant? You might change your mind after watching this inspector go to work with her white gloves. She has a nose for cockroaches and doesn't run when restaurant owners call the police. She stays and shows the result of her work to police officers who can't seem to make up their minds on how to handle this roving television journalist.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/noviy-channel-olga-freimut-5.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/noviy-channel-olga-freimut-5.jpg)
Hotels? She strips sheets off the beds and looks under sofas to find bugs, leftover food and other things that the housekeeping staff missed.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/noviy-channel-olga-freimut-4.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/noviy-channel-olga-freimut-4.jpg)
Olga does have somewhat of a connection to the mail order bride industry, too. She is said to be among the top five Ukrainian models whose photos are stolen and used in fake dating profiles. Given her stunning looks, somehow we're not all that surprised.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZcQ1STppC0
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After a year of contests and publicity, the Central Bank of Russia has unveiled the new symbol for the Ruble.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/ruble-sign-sm.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/ruble-sign-sm.jpg)
The market place had given way to several common symbols previously, from the simple Russian "r" which is expressed like this Рр in the Cyrillic alphabet to an abbreviation of the term ruble (рубль) like this, Руб.
Today the Central Bank introduced the symbol to the left, one that has resembles the Russian (r) P, but also has an element of the Russian (f) ф as well and if that was the logic then it would make sense as the abbreviation for Russian Federation is those two letters: РФ.
A contest was held during the past year to encourage ideas for a symbol for the ruble, one of the few world currencies which had no official symbol. Participants took part in voting over a 30 day period from 5 November to 5 December.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/ruble-contest-sravniru-lj.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/ruble-contest-sravniru-lj.jpg)
sravni.ru/novost/2013/11/25/rossijane-vybirajut-novyj-simvol-rublja/
Bank officials say that the new Ruble symbol will begin appearing next year as new coins and banknotes are printed.
Will the new symbol be confusing? To native Russians likely not as the ruble has existed without an official symbol for so long. While some critics say it will confuse visitors since the Cyrillic letter P (r) looks like the letter p to tourists from most Western countries, supporters say that the new symbol will give the currency a common and recognizable symbol worldwide.
Russian officials say that eventually the Ruble symbol will be added to new Russian keyboards and mobile phone devices. The symbol and it's approved variants were designed by the Art Lebedev agency, the artist group that designs maps and symbols for the Moscow Metro system.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/ruble-symbol.gif) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/ruble-symbol.gif)
(Art Lebedev Studio.)
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So our friends at REAL RUSSIA produced a video on pedophile activities in Russia, exposing some of the adult males who seek out and stalk underage children on the Internet. However YouTube has decided that the video was guilty of bullying a class of individuals (the perverts) and has banned that particular broadcast.
Thanks YouTube. Given all the porn you allow, you've shown your true colours. Now we know.
http://www.youtube.com/user/realrussiablog
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Here is a photo I have entered for a contest by Russia Beyond The Headlines magazine. The photo showcases the beautiful blue domes of the Kazan Cathedral at Kolomenskoe Park, an outdoor museum/reserve created around the ancestral summer home of the grandparents of Peter the Great. This beautiful church took 5 years to build, 1649-1653, and is breathtaking both inside and out.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/moscow-2-222-ed.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/moscow-2-222-ed.jpg)
The young Peter (the Great) hunted in the nearby woods which have been converted into a large outdoor park and nearby are sprawling shops and tall apartment buildings. Catherine the Great brought her grandchildren here to spend summers with her family. As one walks the grounds of this beautiful place it is hard to comprehend that Ivan the Terrible spend his childhood summers here at Kolomenskoe.
Daughter Kseniya took some time off to assist me the day I took a series of photos here and not only was she a competent assistant, but it was enjoyable to spend the afternoon with just the two of us. Later that evening we sat down inside one of the outdoor museum's little village cafes to drink tea and relax.
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Bristol: You know Брiстоль (in Ukrainian) as a 150 year old fine Hotel in Yalta, Ukraine along the shores of the Black Sea. This is the mountain city of Yalta and near the palace where Stalin, Churchill and FDR divided up Europe as the spoils of war with FDR giving Stalin the countries of Eastern Europe in exchange for his joining the fight against Japan.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/yalta-bristol-anna.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/yalta-bristol-anna.jpg)
(photo: Anna Panchenko)
In Odessa there is another hotel named Bristol, spelled in Russian as бристоль, an elegant 5-star hotel is popular. And, it is beautiful.
Of course there is the college named Bristol in England (UK) which is named for the city of Bristol there. Bristol literally means "the place at the bridge" in English and refers to the trading town founded around the year 1,000 in what is now modern day England.
But did you know that there is a "Bristol" in the southern USA? Complete with a speedway, the southern USA Bristol is located in two states, it straddles the lines of Tennessee and Virginia. It is where we used to go Christmas shopping when I was a kid--it had a "five and dime" store, the only one within a day's drive back then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHqNCVxXJfg
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Paris Hilton in Russia?
Ufa even! Ufa is not some small village and it is the capital of the Bashkortostan Republic, but it is a distance from Moscow. It is the only Russian city linked with Moscow by 2 federal highways.
We've crossed the Urals and so the Asian influence is very evident here as is the Muslim faith whose adherents outnumber the Orthodox of the 4.1 million residents of this republic. The city itself is over a million in population. A third of the population speak the Tatar language in addition to Russian. The city has two professional hockey teams and a minor league team.
We'll join Sergei and Sergei of Real Russia at the июнь shopping mall. июнь is the month of June and spoken like i-YUN. The "e" is sounded at first but not accented as the accent is on the YUN sound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s-6Ppv7_hE
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I am captivated by a fascination with Joseph Stalin. This pig, coward, mass murdering criminal, was quite an extraordinary person of history.
That is not a single good thing one can say about the man. Even his victories of the great war against Nazi aggression were not really his victories as much of those behind the scenes and often countless lives were lost due to his very evil nature, but even so he had the power to cause those close to him to tremble in submission.
We have visited the Mysra dacha in Abkhazia. One could imagine him sitting in the parlor or on the expansive porch or strolling to the kitchen where food was delivered via tunnel from a secure staff building nearby as the man who constantly feared everyone around him, checked to see whether his taster still lived or had died from some poison. Outside one could look to the valley below and relax at the beauty of summer...but soon the seeming ghost of a child starving to death in Ukraine would spoil the mood.
Stalin had five dachas in Abkhazia, but the Mysra was where he liked to be the most when in that part of the world. It had three identical suites consisting of a bedroom, an office, and a bathroom. Guards were never told in which suite the dictator would sleep as Stalin was afraid of even his security.
So it was interesting to watch Professor David Reynolds on the BBC with "1941, Stalin the Man of Steel." One cannot use such adjectives as "enjoyable" with anything having to do with one of the world's most evil mass murderers, so in absence of a good description we'll simply invite you to watch and learn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRlOt-wqFHY
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(http://img.izismile.com/img/img6/20130827/1000/redneckstyle_solutions_to_common_daily_problems_77.gif)
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Visit to an unmanned Norway-Russia border checkpoint:
This short video will give up a view of the roadway up to the checkpoint and is interesting as the road conditions and views of nature change along the way. At the checkpoint there is a turnabout with a couple of signs, border markers, a metal fence and a single padlock.
Roadway sensors at the checkpoint alert a single Norwegian soldier who lives nearby and he swings by briefly on an ATV to see who is at the border. His brief exchange is edited out as it was uneventful and so the car turns around and drives back into Norway.
Kinda cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXkAQ9jqcPI
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We've been a tad busy lately and so have invited the half-decent journalists (their self description) from Russia Alright to come to RWD and update our audience and readers by
reading singing the end of the year news from Russia. Here is news anchor Marina Vodka:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNSmRdOWa7g
I've really enjoyed getting acquainted with this talented young group of aspiring Moscow-based "half-decent journalists" and invite you to like them on facebook and/or visit their website: http://bearsandvodka.com/
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Travel correspondent from Janna's Travels is going to take us shopping in a typical small town market area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB5GdhtYpEo
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For those who have not yet traveled, here is a beginning guide to how public transport works in Russia. (We'll cover Metro systems soon.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa9FC4i5bkw
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For those who haven't heard, Russia is now accepting volunteers for a permanent colony on Mars set to lift off in 2018. Volunteers sign agreements acknowledging that they will never return to earth and believe it or not, the programs already has enlisted people.
More info here: http://rbth.ru/science_and_tech/2014/02/03/mars_or_bust_two_ordinary_russians_prepare_for_the_ultimate__33769.html (http://rbth.ru/science_and_tech/2014/02/03/mars_or_bust_two_ordinary_russians_prepare_for_the_ultimate__33769.html)
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I find the idea of signing up as a colonist intriguing.
The question that I have for any reading this forum: What is a life worth in the pursuit of the upward march of humanity? A mainstream film examined this question last year in a movie called: "Europa Report". I will not spoil the movie for those who might want to watch it. But it does raise the question that if you were faced with an idea that you could advance man's knowledge and place in the universe by sacrificing your life, would you?
The other question that comes to mind is the Jamestown / Botany Bay type question. The first settlers to a new world will forever be enshrined as the forefathers (and mothers) of their new homeland. Is that not something worth spending a lifetime (although it might be a short lifetime) pursuing?
I grew up reading the great sci fi authors. These authors wrote lovingly about the challenges of colonization and securing our place among the stars. Robert Heinlein was perhaps one of the best colonist writers. I can remember three of his books which discussed the first people to venture on a colonization mission:
1950 - Farmer in the Sky
1955 - Tunnel in the Sky
1963 - Orphans of the Sky
These are timeless in advancing the ideals of striking out into the unknown with no probable return to Earth. Today these books would seem rather 'campy' but they are still a good read.
(what was affectionately known as his 'Sky' series)
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For those who have not yet traveled, here is a beginning guide to how public transport works in Russia. (We'll cover Metro systems soon.)
I found it very interesting that Sergei never described the shared taxis as "marshrutki," but only by the manufacturer's name (GAZ-el). Is this common, or just a localism?
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Good question. Not so common and I'm guessing that in his attempt to describe and explain that he felt compelled to describe the bus rather than its role as a form of transport.
He is a car owner and doesn't ride public transport in Ufa often and that may have something to do with it as well. Now that both have moved to Moscow they'll find that car ownership has a many disadvantages in where to park it at night, vandalism, and traffic conditions that make riding public transport a real plus.
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The Russian Duma's Committee on Culture is recommending that Parliament pass a bill that would ban foreign words from being used in public speech or advertising.
Lawmakers representing the LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party) want to protect the purity of the Russian language, making it a crime to utter foreign words in public or for companies to use them in advertising and the State Committee on Culture, which rejected such a bill last year, has this time given lawmakers the green light.
Which leads one to ask, what about a company like Burger King? Will they be forced to find a new name? Somehow "Blini Tsar" just doesn't fit the bill.
As detailed recently in the Moscow Times the law, if passed, would make the use of 'linguistic imports' punishable by a fine of up to 2,500 rubles ($73) for ordinary citizens, and up to 50,000 rubles ($1,460) for companies or organizations. What is unclear at the moment is whether the intent is to ban words and phrases such as "fat free" and "ipad" or "iphone" and branding for Western companies such as Coco Cola, McDonalds, etc.
Will Prime Minister Medvedev be forced to surrender his coveted Apple iphone?
Some linguists estimate that as much as twenty-five percent of the Russian vocabulary consists of cognates, borrowed words, and thus we doubt that the purpose of such a law truly targets foreign words as much as it seeks to ban foreign ideas. According to documents posted on the Duma's public website, efforts to eliminate banned words would include the confiscation of books and other publications containing foreign terms.
Many of Russian language borrowed words are French such as "toilet". For example in the photo below "Cafe" and "bistro" seen here in Russian Cyrillic spelling are borrowed words.
The list of foreign or borrowed words in Russian is extensive, easily in the hundreds. Terms such as журналист (journalist), видео (video), меню (menu), секс (sex), экзамен (exam), директор (director), aлфавит (alphabet) and hundreds of others would have to disappear if the law were truly about protecting the Russian language.
If true that the real intent is to ban Western influences, then the question also looms over what would happen to hundreds of thousands of street and Metro signs that have English tranliterations in Russia's drive to attract more tourism. Will lawmakers ban those too?
One of the most beloved features of large Russian cities and especially in places like Moscow is the famous transportation system, the Метро (Metro). That too is a foreign term. Would such a law cause the Metro to be renamed? No, we already know the answer to that question.
As the Guardian's Moscow correspondent Shawn Walker noted, In the near future, if two Muscovites go for a biznes-lanch, they could be fined. If they then order a gamburger, they could be fined again. And if they get out their smartfon to check their Feisbuk, there could be serious trouble.
We suspect that the bill has less to do with language purity but instead is yet another thinly veiled piece of anti-Western legislation driven by the current insane frenzy of nationalistic zealotry. In fact some critics of the legislation inside Russia admit that the motivation is an attempt to isolate the Russian people from Western ideas and also to punish Western companies who do business in Russia in response to Western sanctions over the annexation of Crimea.
Just last year the same Duma committee had refused to advance similar legislation saying then that there was no need to protect the Russian language from foreign words and phrases. Keep in mind however that this is the same committee that spearheaded legislation passed in 2010 that outlawed the use of the Roman/Latin (Jaŋalif) alphabet letters used by the Tatar language in places like Tatarstan, so for now we'll wait and see.
Meanwhile I'm going to Vendy's as all this talk of food has me hankering for a беконатор (baconator) about now.
(From the Mendeleyev Journal)
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(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/alphabet-polite-hate.jpg)
The Russian attitude seems to be that if they can't win the Ukrainians over, then we'll make sure they hate us and one example of this thinking is in Russian schools as children are being introduced to a new "polite alphabet" meant to simultaneously engender Russian patriotism and denigrate anything Ukrainian while teaching the Russian Cyrillic letters. The Russian Cyrillic letters remain the same but the word examples for each letter now inject a healthy dose of propaganda, patriotism or both.
The new alphabet is being introduced to Russian school children in the Irkutsk region by Project Network, a pro-Kremlin group with plans to roll the new alphabet learning tools to more schools across Russia next year. They group is part of the "togetherness" project and say they are tasked to teach young Russian children that Russia, Crimea and parts of Eastern Ukraine are meant to be together.
For example the new alphabet primer and accompanying charts teach students that "A" stands for "Anti-Maidan," the letter "Ya" is for "Yalta," and as any good propagandist would hope, "P" is for "Putin." Naturally "R" is for "Russia" and the face of Russian foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is matched to the term for "firmness" while the letter B represents the "berkut" Ukrainian riot police who defected to Crimea. Some older alphabet charts had the golden eagle (berkut) with the letter and a photo of the golden eagle.
Some will question why the letter "D" stands for Donetsk, a Ukrainian city instead of the more common word for "dom" (home) as on existing charts. Organizers are quick to point out that Donetsk should and will be a part of Russia and thus school children should learn to think of Donetsk as Russian instead of Ukrainian. Some of the letter equivalents are a bit of a stretch.
To make the point about Ukraine, the chart assigns the letter ы for Крым, spoken as "Krem" (Crimea). No Russian words begin with the letter ы so Russian school children will meet the new polite alphabet with Крым for Crimea. To make the point that Crimea has been annexed into Russia the Ukrainian term for Crimea, Крим, has been circled with an arrow drawn through it.
Two letters within Russian Cyrillic, ь and ъ, have no sound themselves but serve to modify letters adjacent to them. The new "polite alphabet" did find patriotic words which included those letters and for example they assigned ь, the letter which serves to soften other sounds, to мягкость which is a term commonly used to express the idea of gentle or soft in relation to a mother and her baby. Some Ukrainian groups have responded on social mean with an alternate "war alphabet" that mocks the Russian attempt at indoctrination.
It is no accident that Project Network calls it the "Polite Alphabet," as it is named for the so-called "polite" but armed forces that forced Russia's annexation of Crimea earlier this year. The Project Network website claims that as Russian school children meet the new polite alphabet they "...will be taught to love the motherland, respect its people and culture."
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And this is my city. Orekhovo-Zuyevo
So we go to salary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ChNHjxCIqc
This fight
Мусара - debris, dustbin, trash
Пидарасы - gay loves in the ass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbEiYRyruBI
Всем пока.
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The year 1790, Alexander Radishchev, Chief of the St. Petersburg Customs House, publishes a book in which he describes his imaginary journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow, harshly criticizing social and moral abuses in Russian society.
Exposing the large scale corruption that effects daily life of people from small towns and villages located along the road that connects Russia's two major cities and openly condemning serfdom in Russian public life, he becomes an outspoken critic of the societal order. Not surprisingly, his book doesn't go unnoticed by Empress of Russia, Catherine the Great, who calls its author a 'rebel worse than Pugachev'. A warrant for his arrest is issued shortly after publication of his book. The perceptive observer and critic of social ills ends up being banished to Siberia …
224 years later, a crew from Rain TV repeats Radishchev's journey for a new documentary series, also titled Journey from Petersburg to Moscow, to take a look at how things in some provincial towns through which Federal highway passes have changed since then.
''Tell me in whose head can there possibly be more incongruities than in that of a czar?''
A. Radishchev 'Journey from Petersburg to Moscow'
Unfortunately, I failed to find the video with English subtitles, so the one posted below is of little to no value to non-Russian speakers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XJwaMXaKuk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XJwaMXaKuk)
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Thank you for posting that--it looks very interesting and I plan to watch someone during the weekend.
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So, exactly why did the passengers of a Russian flight have to push the plane before it could fly? The undercarriage was frozen and the plane couldn't move. The temperature in the Russian city of Igarka had dropped to -61 degrees (F) on November 25, typical of weather that far north in Siberia, and the plane's undercarriage was frozen. 7 crew members and 74 passengers were on board and there were enough volunteers to get the plane unstuck.
The government is investigating because the plane's braking system was frozen and while the flight went up okay, the potential hazards were serious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y615QAzc418
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y615QAzc418)
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The new 'polite alphabet' in Russia is truly Orwellian. Orwell should be required reading in Russia. It's probably banned...
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from Putin's speech:
'It is well known that Russia not only supported Ukraine and other brotherly republics of the former Soviet Union in their aspirations to sovereignty, but also facilitated this process greatly in the 1990s. Since then, our position has remained unchanged...'
This is a joke. Putin continually contradicts himself. He has stated that he respects the results of the Presidential election back in May and the more recent Parliamental elections. He does?!! How? He 'respects' these elections and at the same time, also continues to talk about a junta, a coup d'etat in Kiev. So is he crazy? An idiot? In these Ukrainian elections, the right-wing 'fascist' political parties won a VERY SMALL percentage of the vote. And Putin respects the elections, while calling Ukrainians 'fascists', a 'fascist' threat! Ridiculous. How do Russians view this?? Don't they see the obvious contradictions, the illogic?
...and Putin's words are killing people in Donbas. Putin's entire speech shows disrespect for non-Russians, as well as ethnic Russians who prefer freedom and democracy over Putin's totalitarian system.
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Given the heated political discussions at present the following post may be controversial to some. That is a shame as we are all humans created to live in peace on the earth.
Please allow this post to do what is intended, and that is to educate readers about what is contained in the RF Constitution. Maybe each of us can learn something in the process.
Thank you,
Mendeleyev
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From the MendeleyevJournal (http://wp.me/peVMt-3qr):
On the Twelfth day of December, my true love gave to me a copy of the Russian Federation Constitution. Sort of has a ring to it, right? It is the twelfth day of this month that marked "Constitution Day" in Russia. Russians call it день Конституции, and frankly most of them have never read it.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/12-dec-day-of-constitution-c.jpg)
The Soviet Union had a constitution too, and most of the Soviet populace understood that it meant little to their ordinary lives, so please do not be surprised that most have not read this current one, either. The document became the law of the land in 1993 after a nationwide referendum, and until the middle 2000s, the day was an official national holiday.
The Levada Centre released a nationwide poll showing that most of Russia's citizens believe that it is a good document, but most seem to have only a basic knowledge of the contents, nor have read it. That is hardly surprising, and we might guess that similar results could be said of any number of Western countries. The poll found that only 12 percent of those asked claimed to have a working knowledge of the contents.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/12-dec-day-of-constitution-d.jpg)
Levada reported an increase in the number of Russian citizens who trust the Constitution to enshrine their rights and liberties. Last year that number was 29 percent and has since grown to 38 percent in 2014. For many, the Constitution does not matter in everyday life. The same polling firm in April of 2010 reported that a majority of Russian preferred "order" over the concept of democracy, so perhaps such attitudes are to be expected.
2013 was the twentieth anniversary of the Russian Federation Constitution and at a gala celebration, President Vladimir Putin remarked that,"Our people made a historical choice in favour of the Constitution at the referendum on December 12, 1993. Russia got a directly effective document that allowed us to avoid the tragedy of the dissolution of our state, helped stop the devastating spread of civil confrontation, and prevented the nation from once again descending down the path of settling political accounts, as had already happened several times in our history."
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/12-dec-day-of-constitution-e.jpg)
Mr. Putin went on to say last year that "The Constitution opened a new, constructive path to development on the basis of clear goals, intentions and values. And today, we have every right to state that all the constitutional norms and provisions are in demand. You can open any chapter or article in the Constitution to see this for yourself."
The Russian Federation Constitution is made up of two sections which are divided into nine chapters. Readers may click on any of the chapter links below for a English version of each chapter.
SECTION ONE
Chapter 1. The Fundamentals of the Constitutional System (http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/ch1.html)
Chapter 2. The Rights and Liberties of Man and Citizen (http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/ch2.html)
Chapter 3. The Russian Federation (http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/ch3.html)
Chapter 4. The President of the Russian Federation (http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/ch4.html)
Chapter 5. The Federal Assembly (http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/ch5.html)
Chapter 6. The Government of the Russian Federation (http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/ch6.html)
Chapter 7. The Judiciary (http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/ch7.html)
Chapter 8. Local Self-Government (http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/ch8.html)
Chapter 9. Constitutional Amendments and Revisions (http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/ch9.html)
SECTION TWO
Concluding and Transitional Provisions (http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/conclud.html)
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Again, given the heated political discussions at present the post on Constitution Day may be controversial to some. I hope that you will refrain from posting insults here. There are plenty of places to fight and argue elsewhere.
Given the state of the world today, each of us should re-read our own Constitutional documents and then demand that our respective leaders follow what they have sworn to defend. It would not solve every problem or cure every evil on the planet, but it might be a nice start.
Please allow this post to do what is intended, and that is to educate readers about what is contained in the RF Constitution. As I wrote earlier, perhaps each of us can learn something in the process.
Thank you,
Mendeleyev
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So, exactly why did the passengers of a Russian flight have to push the plane before it could fly? The undercarriage was frozen and the plane couldn't move. The temperature in the Russian city of Igarka had dropped to -61 degrees (F) on November 25, typical of weather that far north in Siberia, and the plane's undercarriage was frozen. 7 crew members and 74 passengers were on board and there were enough volunteers to get the plane unstuck.
The government is investigating because the plane's braking system was frozen and while the flight went up okay, the potential hazards were serious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y615QAzc418
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y615QAzc418)
My SIL who often worked in the North of Siberia in the oil industry had a comment on the passengers having to push the plane. Apparently it is not all that uncommon and those who were pushing the plane were oil field workers looking to get home. They knew if they did not help and push the plane they could sitting on that tarmack for a very long time until maintenance came to assist. She said she's done it herself
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Impressive that she has done this before!
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On the third day of January in 1989, the first commercial advertisement was published in the prominent Soviet newspaper, Izvestia. The name Izvestia means "the news." In those days, instead of inserting ads inside of regular articles, Izvestia printed a section of the paper just for advertising.
From the October Revolution in 1917 and until the 1920s, advertising had been banned in the Soviet Union. Along came what was called the Новая экономическая политика (НЭП) or "new economic policy." This was Vladimir Lenin's attempt to light a fire under the failed economic ideas of the Communists. He called it "state capitalism," and it was naturally limited to the state. Heaven forbid that individuals might enjoy any measure of prosperity.
The dawn of Soviet commercial advertising began in the 1920s, the time of the so-called New Economic Policy. In those days, advertising was not free, as it had been before the October Revolution of 1917. The advertising was state-controlled and was only allowed in national newspapers. In addition, the majority of advertising was placed by national enterprises, which actually had no competitors.
Lenin's new economic policy did not last, and neither did advertising. Iosef (Joseph) Dze Jugashvili (nicknamed "Stalin" meaning "man of steel") rose to power in 1922 and by the 1930s the economic policies had changed. As a result, advertising was banned and would only return in the 1960s.
The state could advertise and did so mainly via posters and billboards. The criteria for production of these posters was an ideal termed as "Soviet realism" and only such themes that promoted Soviet messages could be printed. Much of this art featured a cross section of society looking brightly ahead, confident in the future under communism.
The poster pictured below proclaims "Glory to the Soviet Railroad."
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/poster-a.jpg)
In the 1960s the Soviet economy was struggled for access to convertible currency and so the government began attempts to develop broader trade relations. For those reasons, advertising was dusted off and brought back for public consumption. Such advertising was subject to strict government control.
Other posters, such as the one below, admonished workers not to lose/waste working time. Such ads were designed to enshrine Communist ideals in society.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/poster-d.jpg)
As part of the перестройка or гласность (openness) of the late 1980s the doors to advertising were opened again. Today, advertising plays a very important role in former Soviet countries, encouraging consumers to purchase goods and services.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/busboard-near-christ-cathedral-moscow-1006.jpg)
The Holsten beer advertisement was photographed on a bus board near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and just a short stroll from the Kremlin.
Below, the large Крошка Картошка (Little Potato) kiosk near Victory Park is adorned with advertisement for their potatoes. (Editors note: despite the name, there is nothing little about the potatoes served at Kroshka Kartoshka cafes.)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/kartoska-moscow-617.jpg)
Recent laws passed are aimed at prohibiting anything that, in the eyes of government regulators, promotes ideas or themes contrary to values deemed appropriate for society.
(Photo credits: the Mendeleyev Journal. Content credits: the Mendeleyev Journal, and RT.)
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I was born in the Grundy, Virginia, hospital and until junior high, my childhood was spent primarily in that area. So, the name of Francis Gary Powers was well known during that childhood. Powers was also born in the same region and went to Grundy High School.
Amazingly, I would someday run across someone else from that part of the world--in Moscow, Russia. An elderly lady, from Phoenix of all places, had also been born in Grundy, and knew the Powers family. She was in Russia doing charity work with Orthodox Christian orphanages. She had taken a weekend tour of the American U-2 exhibit at Central Air Force Museum, housed at Monino Airfield just outside Moscow. That exhibit features the plane Powers was flying when he was shot down on the first day of May 1960.
Here is one of the best, and accurate, articles that I have read on that U-2 spy incident.
http://blueridgecountry.com/archive/favorites/francis-gary-powers/
It was not until June 2012 that the US Air Force posthumously awarded Powers with the Silver Star.
(Footnote: I am not sure if the U-2 exhibit is still featured at the museum. I was told sometime back that the U-2 incident was from a different time and era and of fading interest to most Russians.)
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(Footnote: I am not sure if the U-2 exhibit is still featured at the museum. I was told sometime back that the U-2 incident was from a different time and era and of fading interest to most Russians.)
There are some interesting items from the Powers incident at the private KGB museum in Moscow. My ex-wife, whose father and grandfather were KGB, guided me.
Inside the museum there are many of Powers' artifacts captured when his U-2 did not self destruct. Among a pistol and electronic items, the exhibit had a vial of some US-issued poison for Powers to commit suicide. Part of his U-2 was also on display. (I had to depend upon my wife for translation as there was no English).
It is clear that the US has been clandestinely poking around Russia for a long time. One captured item was a Winchester 1873 carbine.
I was more fascinated by the poison-tipped umbrellas.
You are correct. U-2 happened a long time ago. I believe I was still a virgin, literally and figuratively.
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"The Russian attitude seems to be that if they can't win the Ukrainians over, then we'll make sure they hate us and one example of this thinking is in Russian schools as children are being introduced to a new "polite alphabet" meant to simultaneously engender Russian patriotism and denigrate anything Ukrainian while teaching the Russian Cyrillic letters. The Russian Cyrillic letters remain the same but the word examples for each letter now inject a healthy dose of propaganda, patriotism or both."
This has got to be one of the most disgusting things I have read here.
There seems to be no limit to how 'low-life' Russians are.
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The Guardian has an interesting series on photography--specifically on how foreign photojournalists capture the FSU in photos.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2014/dec/22/foreign-photographers-russia-post-soviet-world-in-pictures
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Wow, over 99,000 views for this thread! Thanks to each of you who have contributed and/or stopped by to read.
This next series on Soviet life will be tempting for some to take potshots. I'd kindly plead with you to not do that. We have a volatile situation in the world already and my hope that this next series of posts will promote understanding and respect between you, your lady, her family, and to know more about the countries and experiences that formed her worldview.
If you feel the need to drag the current war here, please resist that urge. There are plenty of spaces on the forum for us to debate current affairs.
Thank you! :D
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I stumbled across some old videos recently from a documentary series done in the 1980s, portraying life in the Soviet Union. These are actually pretty cool. I thought it would be interesting to show how much life has changed from Soviet times to now, and so we'll try to intersperse pieces showing "before and after."
Invariably, this series will attract a Russian member or two who will think that we're making fun, belittling, or smearing Russia. However, just the opposite is true: I firmly believe that only when you know about the life from which your wife or lady emerged, can you then hope to understand and feel her perspective on life today. There is nothing wrong about recalling how life was, and then celebrating how much improvement we've seen since.
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Wow, over 99,000 views for this thread! Thanks to each of you who have contributed and/or stopped by to read.
thank you! :D
Congratulations and thankyou. Your contribution to the forum is unrivalled and a major feature of the forum--on all topics!!
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Everyone likes to eat, and we do this all over the world! So, here are some "before and after" views of grocery shopping:
Moscow, Russia 1986:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWTGsUyv8IE
Tallinn, Estonia 1990:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKVhrzhAI8I
Now, keeping in mind that prices shown next are before sanctions, let's tour a 2012 era Russian grocery market:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKXkLbq7TRY
Ufa, Russia 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzmZxiIv8mA
Moscow, Russia 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anO6Dh8Qv6g
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But they make you pay for the plastic bags, Mendy. What a corrupt system!
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Jone, Years ago, one of the ladies at the Kyiv Symphony asked me to start bringing cloth/vinyl shopping bags with me on each trip from the USA. I brought something like 50 (approximately) the next time, and to my surprise those were quickly grabbed up. So I began bringing them by larger quantities.
Now anytime we are in the West, we take lots back with us. You see more and more now in Russia, but even still those are popular with relatives and friends. I carry one around Moscow often; it serves both to keep my camera case out of view, and is the perfect "perhaps" bag--Soviet era folk remember those fondly.
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But they make you pay for the plastic bags, Mendy. What a corrupt system!
Is Oregon corrupt? The also charge for plastic bags.
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Mendy,
What is a 'Perhaps bag'?
I get good pay to set him up with these questions!
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Mendy, What is a 'Perhaps bag'? I get good pay to set him up with these questions!
Wishful thinking about being able to buy something to put into it ;D?
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Perhaps you both win the prize! :)
An авоська (perhaps bag) was carried during Soviet times especially, when there were shortages. Perhaps you'd stumble across the right size of shoes for a child, or find a hard to get item at the market. My mother-in-law still keeps one tucked away in her purse today, just in case it is needed.
Many of them looked like this: http://russiapedia.rt.com/of-russian-origin/avoska/ (http://russiapedia.rt.com/of-russian-origin/avoska/)
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Shopping has changed considerably over the years. Russian store owners understand the pent-up demand, and that today's modern consumers have choices.
Soviet shoppers only had the choices their status allowed: party members and officials had access to the nicer things, while everyone else faced more limited choices.
So, let's go shopping!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYmURKVd2so
This next video from the 1970s features film only; no sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=munr3OhtrDI
In 1957, the famous "Children's World" store opened:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePyLpqeLzv4
Oh my, how things have changed!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sqsD9LaDiw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY5ogQVTUKI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s-6Ppv7_hE
For today's ladies fashion trends, here we go to Kiev:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgip6do3ydw
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Related to Mendy's posts #970 and 977 above, here is a description of Boris Yeltsin's first trip to the US, in the final years of the Soviet Union. He visited a typical grocery store and was reportedly shocked at the quality and variety of the food available to ordinary Americans.
In 1989 Boris Yeltsin, at times just a Soviet parliament and High Council member, has visited United States of America with an unofficial visit. The program of the visit consisted of visiting different landmarks like a Lindon Johnes Space center in Texas etc, but Yeltsin also wanted to see how regular Americans live so he headed directly to the grocery store he saw on the street. The journalists that were with him on a trip were telling Yeltsin was pretty much shocked by the diversity in the store and was waving his hands all the time – like here on a photo. Inside you can see more photos of him in a store...
The guy which followed him on a trip was telling later that this supermarket shocked first Russian president too much. “He was heading home on a jet and was sitting holding his head with two hands saying – They were lying to the people all the time, telling the fairy tales, inventing something – but everything is already invented!”, was mumbling Boris...
When they got into the store, as one of the guys remember, the manager appeared and helped them to see the store in detail. “Yeltsin asked how many different goods are in store. The store staff answered that there is around 30,000 different things for sale now. Yeltsin then said – did I get the number correctly? Does my interpreter misheard the seller?”. So he was really in a shock look at his face and on a manager’s face. The Lev, guy who was with him, says that Yeltsin before never was in a Western store.
http://englishrussia.com/2015/01/20/borist-yeltsin-in-american-supermarket/#more-155934
(http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa415/larryr1431/BorisYeltsininamericangrocerystore2_zps274c02d4.png)
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Anyone have current video inside typical Russian supermarket? In Kiev and elsewhere in Ukraine they would not allow me to film or take photos inside stores or restaurants.
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That's because you look like a terrorist, Calmissile.
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Anyone have current video inside typical Russian supermarket?
Go back a page--3 video examples of modern supermarkets. :)
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I enjoyed the video with Paris Hilton and the video of the "Main Department Store" (GUM) very much. This may seem like a silly question however I am wondering, if you use the public restroom at GUM is it up to western standards or is it just a whole in the floor like so many other public restrooms? Very large and beautiful architecture, I could spend most of a day at a place like that.
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I enjoyed the video with Paris Hilton and the video of the "Main Department Store" (GUM) very much. This may seem like a silly question however I am wondering, if you use the public restroom at GUM is it up to western standards or is it just a whole in the floor like so many other public restrooms? Very large and beautiful architecture, I could spend most of a day at a place like that.
I can tell you (with great confidence) that the facilities at GUM are up to Western Standards. They ought to be. There is a 75% mark-up on all items in this godforsaken mall. I once bought a pair of gloves there for $30.00 that I could have gotten from a street vendor for around six dollars.
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I can tell you (with great confidence) that the facilities at GUM are up to Western Standards. They ought to be. There is a 75% mark-up on all items in this godforsaken mall. I once bought a pair of gloves there for $30.00 that I could have gotten from a street vendor for around six dollars.
Your maths is a bit off, jone! That's a 400% markup.
I agree about the facilities, though. You wouldn't know that you were in Russia if you use the toilets at GUM - they look just the same as any in the equivalent mall in the West (probably even cleaner than most).
One thing I did find, though - in amongst all the plutocracy and pretention, there are a couple of very affordable café-type eateries with very good food. Admittedly there are also a couple of incredible rip-off merchants in the food category as well.
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Your maths is a bit off, jone! That's a 400% markup.
I agree about the facilities, though. You wouldn't know that you were in Russia if you use the toilets at GUM - they look just the same as any in the equivalent mall in the West (probably even cleaner than most).
One thing I did find, though - in amongst all the plutocracy and pretention, there are a couple of very affordable café-type eateries with very good food. Admittedly there are also a couple of incredible rip-off merchants in the food category as well.
By any chance can you recall the name of the eateries there which you would recommend? Thanks!
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First meal I ever ate at GUM (Ghoom) was at Rostik's Chicken. It was the pirated KFC. Later KFC entered the Russian market and purchased Rostik's, and over time have rebranded all locations to the KFC name.
First floor: Ice Cream kiosks, Lemonade stand, Bosco Bar and the Fountain Cafe.
It is a large place and several eateries are on the 2nd floor. Options include Coffee House, Coffee Mania, Illy Cafe, Emporio Armani Caffe.
The food court area on the third floor includes: Festival Cafe, and one of the most popular inside GUM is Stolovaya #57. Worth the visit as they feature Soviet and Russian dishes in a retro atmosphere! http://www.gum.ru/en/projects/s57/ (http://www.gum.ru/en/projects/s57/)
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I enjoyed the video with Paris Hilton and the video of the "Main Department Store" (GUM) very much. This may seem like a silly question however I am wondering, if you use the public restroom at GUM is it up to western standards or is it just a whole in the floor like so many other public restrooms? Very large and beautiful architecture, I could spend most of a day at a place like that.
I've traveled Russia quite a bit and while I have seen a couple of the hole in the floor crappers, most places have regular toilets. Don't buy into the hype
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By any chance can you recall the name of the eateries there which you would recommend? Thanks!
Sorry, not offhand, but...
First floor: Ice Cream kiosks, Lemonade stand, Bosco Bar and the Fountain Cafe.
It is a large place and several eateries are on the 2nd floor. Options include Coffee House, Coffee Mania, Illy Cafe, Emporio Armani Caffe.
The food court area on the third floor includes: Festival Cafe, and one of the most popular inside GUM is Stolovaya #57. Worth the visit as they feature Soviet and Russian dishes in a retro atmosphere! http://www.gum.ru/en/projects/s57/ (http://www.gum.ru/en/projects/s57/)
I'm pretty sure that the one I'm thinking of was on the top floor. It's not a food court in the way that you would think of in a shopping mall, with everything grouped around the outside of dozens of tables, because the railed galleries are on all floors, with bridges across the empty space.
I can't remember the name of the bar/restaurant in the first photo, although I'm sure that Mendeleyev or Chivo will know it - all I can remember is that it was expensive! Same goes for the Armani Café in the second photo, but add the adjective "extremely." Where I ate was on the bridge in the third photo, although this wasn't actually taken to show that. There are cafés on the galleries on each side of the bridge.
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AnotherKiwi, that top photo looks like the Illy Cafe, very near the Empero Armani Cafe. Illy is closed, signs say for renovations, and that leaves Coffeemania and Coffee House, along with Empero Armani, on the second level.
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FP,
When I first started to go to Russia, there were many hole in the floor jobbers. But I did not stay in the Federal Cities. Now, I never stay anywhere but nicer facilities, some which we have even built ourselves. But, just 15 years ago, it was still the norm. (I never was very good at doing the stoop to poop.)
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First meal I ever ate at GUM (Ghoom) was at Rostik's Chicken. It was the pirated KFC. Later KFC entered the Russian market and purchased Rostik's, and over time have rebranded all locations to the KFC name.
First floor: Ice Cream kiosks, Lemonade stand, Bosco Bar and the Fountain Cafe.
It is a large place and several eateries are on the 2nd floor. Options include Coffee House, Coffee Mania, Illy Cafe, Emporio Armani Caffe.
The food court area on the third floor includes: Festival Cafe, and one of the most popular inside GUM is Stolovaya #57. Worth the visit as they feature Soviet and Russian dishes in a retro atmosphere! http://www.gum.ru/en/projects/s57/ (http://www.gum.ru/en/projects/s57/)
Rostik's chicken or KFC would interest me. Coffee houses generaly only feature pastries which is a lot of carbs and sugar. I don't consider that to be food nor do I consider a Cafe to be a proper place to eat, unless they have healthy sandwiches.
Thanks.
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Personally, I wouldn't go to GUM.
I would go to Охотный Ряд.
There used to be plenty of fast food restaurants there. My favorite was one that began with the letter 'S' and seemed to be an Italian name, but I can't remember it.
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FP,
When I first started to go to Russia, there were many hole in the floor jobbers. But I did not stay in the Federal Cities. Now, I never stay anywhere but nicer facilities, some which we have even built ourselves. But, just 15 years ago, it was still the norm. (I never was very good at doing the stoop to poop.)
My first trip was in 07 and I saw some. I've even used a couple while off the beaten path. I would take a dump in my pants before used one for that. Just taking a pee I got out as soon as possible. To date I've never been in a position where it was dire and I "had" to use one and frankly don't expect I ever will as it is an oddity at the places I frequent. There is a lot of hype on the forum as to "having" to use one
I've been to India and Hong Kong where it was just about all that was available except at the hotel or a modern building
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My first trip was in 07 and I saw some. I've even used a couple while off the beaten path. I would take a dump in my pants before used one for that. Just taking a pee I got out as soon as possible. To date I've never been in a position where it was dire and I "had" to use one and frankly don't expect I ever will as it is an oddity at the places I frequent. There is a lot of hype on the forum as to "having" to use one
I've been to India and Hong Kong where it was just about all that was available except at the hotel or a modern building
I know what you mean. :o I've posted a note about this particular coach trip before, but it bears repeating in this context. On my first visit to Russia I spent some time in a city called Naberezhnye Chelny, about 230 kilometres east of Kazan. One day we went to Izhevsk, about 200 km away to the north-east, and stopped for a break at a place called Mozhga. The male "facilities" there hardly even rated Stone Age - two holes dug in the concrete, out in the open, each surrounded by a huge pile of excrement (think the top of a volcano, with an ill-defined path to the lip of the crater, and you'll get the idea). I took one look and bolted back to the bus. By the time we got to Izhevsk I would have been ready to poop in the street if I had to, but luckily the toilets at the bus station there are top class.
I dreaded the trip back, but we were on a bus from a different company, and the stop in Mozhga was at a café with proper toilets. 8) Thank goodness!
This is one reason why I have subsequently recommended that you try to complete all "number twos" (or whatever you call it) in your apartment or hotel room before venturing out for the day.
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I know what you mean. :o I've posted a note about this particular coach trip before, but it bears repeating in this context. On my first visit to Russia I spent some time in a city called Naberezhnye Chelny, about 230 kilometres east of Kazan. One day we went to Izhevsk, about 200 km away to the north-east, and stopped for a break at a place called Mozhga. The male "facilities" there hardly even rated Stone Age - two holes dug in the concrete, out in the open, each surrounded by a huge pile of excrement (think the top of a volcano, with an ill-defined path to the lip of the crater, and you'll get the idea). I took one look and bolted back to the bus. By the time we got to Izhevsk I would have been ready to poop in the street if I had to, but luckily the toilets at the bus station there are top class.
I dreaded the trip back, but we were on a bus from a different company, and the stop in Mozhga was at a café with proper toilets. 8) Thank goodness!
This is one reason why I have subsequently recommended that you try to complete all "number twos" (or whatever you call it) in your apartment or hotel room before venturing out for the day.
That might make a useful thread.
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That might make a useful thread.
What? "Toilets I have known?" :ROFL:
Another one to add to the bad list - Sochi Railway Station. You would think that a major railway hub would cater for all sorts of male visitors, but no - squat toilets for all. I was treated very disdainfully by the staff (and my travelling companion!) when I insisted on being allowed to use the "invalid's" toilet (but at least they had one). :-[
On the other hand, one of the best I've seen anywhere - next to the Admiralty building in the grounds of Catherine Palace, St Petersburg (see photo).
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On the other hand, one of the best I've seen anywhere - next to the Admiralty building in the grounds of Catherine Palace, St Petersburg (see photo).
Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure I've been in that bathroom :D
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Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure I've been in that bathroom :D
It's on the opposite side of the lake to the Palace. I was there in 2006.
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Personally, I wouldn't go to GUM.
I would go to Охотный Ряд.
There used to be plenty of fast food restaurants there. My favorite was one that began with the letter 'S' and seemed to be an Italian name, but I can't remember it.
I want to see GUM for anyways. Hopefully someday after regime change in the Kremlin. Doubt if I would go until then. Can you spell that one in English?
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Russian: ГУМ
English: GYM or GUM
Spoken as: "Ghoom"
This next video is in Russian, and to speak the name of this mall correctly, just follow closely to the :47-48 second mark when the Soviet announcer says "ghoom" right after he says the full name of the mall, Главный универсальный магазин. Literally that is "main universal store/market."
Even without Russian knowledge, this is a cool video from 1954.
By the way, those of you who have strolled along Red Square will be surprised to learn that there used to be street traffic there!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgqL2lFGRjs
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Any time is a good time to visit, but there are really two extra special times to visit GYM mall.
The first is pretty much the entire month of December and early January when Red Square is turned into a giant family park featuring a large outdoor skating rink and special rides like the merry-go-round.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSvM7T7Rnv8
The other special time is the first week of July when the mall celebrates its anniversary. This past July marked 120 years! A special ice cream is given to all who visit the mall, usually served by members of the media, popular singers, TV and movie actors, etc.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/gym-birthday-ice-cream-2014-tv-andrei-malakhov.jpg)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/gym-birthday-ice-cream-2014-by-anastasia-ivanova.jpg)
Here is a little history from GYM:
Known during the Soviet period as the "State Universal Store," Stalin hated GUM. Thus the first order of demolition was signed in 1935 in order to extend the square for the parades, the next order in 1940, then in 1947, and finally by Second Secretary General of the Communist Party, Mikhail Suslov, in 1972.
When Suslov made the order in 1972, he had no idea that Brezhnev's wife had just ordered a tailor-made fur coat in the 200th department of GUM, and when she came to the next fitting, she saw the dressmaker sobbing, who told her that GUM was going to be closed. At the next regular meeting of the Political Bureau, Leonid Brezhnev asked the question: "What kind of idiot is going to close GUM?"
That was the last time anyone spoke of shutting down the mall.
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Wow, this thread brings back some memories. My first trip to the Russia was in 1975 with my parents. Toilets were a challenge then and never really got much better for the longest time.
Later I had a chance to travel often with my mom in the FSU. Taking pictures of all the terrible toilets became her hobby. I have seen far worse than you could possibly imagine. i remember one toilet that someone did an upper decker to it. It in the arrival halls in Sochi. Then on top of it looked like has someone had projectile vomiting but it wasn't vomit that was basically oozing down the wall about half a meter above the top part of the toilet where someone had did the upper decker.
Ahh yes, the joys of living and working in Russia. I don't miss those days much at all.
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Is it some kind of American obsession- in both threads about Russia and Russian wives people are talking about toilets? :D :D
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Is it some kind of American obsession- in both threads about Russia and Russian wives people are talking about toilets? :D :D
Not an obsession just that Russia is not up to standards of the West in so many ways. When are you moving back?
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Russia is not "West" and doesn't have to have Western standards.
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Russia is not "West" and doesn't have to have Western standards.
When are you moving back? (you said you were going to, so just curious)
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When are you moving back? (you said you were going to, so just curious)
I said when
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This question was brought up in another thread, so as it is part of what makes Russia and the FSU so interesting, we'll take a stab at it here:
The other thing that seems strange to me is having the clothes washer in the bath room in a flat.
Answer: After the revolution, most apartments were communal, meaning that several families shared an apartment. In that arrangement, everyone shared the kitchen and the bathroom/toilet areas. Each family, according to size, was allotted a room(s). That room was all purpose: living room by day, dining room in evening, and bedroom at night.
Depending on size of the apartment, the kitchens might have multiple sinks and stoves, one for each family. These arrangement were often found in former large homes that had been nationalized by the government and turned into multi-family communal apartments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_mlzDC3V_k
Just as common was an ordinary small kitchen with posted schedules; each family would do meal preparation according to the schedule. Laundry was generally something done in a single old style wringer washer, or using a washboard in the bathtub. Drying was either done in the courtyard outside, on a balcony, or on clotheslines hung over the bathtub, etc.
Over more recent years the use of communal apartments has decreased and as families gained access to a single family flat, most were still very small and the only space near water and drain connections are typically either in the bathroom or the kitchen. There is neither any space, nor plumbing connections, to put a washing machine anywhere else.
By the way, compact plumbing connections is the reason why you see kitchens and bathrooms next to each other in most FSU apartments. It is why in many older apartments one swivel faucet serves both the bathroom sink and the tub. See below, and also note that many "showers" are simply hand held, not built-in. Do you see the small washing machine under the sink?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/apt-bath-ksenia-fedosovskaya-c.jpg)
Often the "toilet" is in a separate room, next to the "bathroom" and the reason is for efficiency. Even in such small spaces, one person can be in the bathroom taking a shower, etc, while another person is using the toilet area. On this modern commode, flushing is done by pushing the button on the top.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/apt-bath-b.jpg)
In the photo below of a very modern apartment, this bathroom has its own water heater on the wall. Many flats still use hot water from neighborhood steam plants. That is a front-loading washer on the left.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/apt-bath-laundry.jpg)
Often you will find that Eastern washing machines are much more compact than Western machines, thus loads are smaller and that means that the time to do a family laundry is a longer process than what most of us might think.
The compact construction concept also explains why in many older apartments the light switches were grouped together. My first apartment in Russia had one plate with three switches just inside the doorway. Each was an old fashioned push button switch and the top one controlled the entryway and kitchen. The one in the middle of the plate was for the bathroom, and the bottom button controlled the toilet. The only other switch plate was located down the hall and it controlled the living room and the bedroom. At night when ready for sleep, it was necessary to step out into the hallway to push the switch button that controlled the bedroom light.
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Mendy, perhaps you can solve a puzzle for me. In several flats I rented, the washing machine would seem to go through a wash cycle and stop before the spin cycle. The door is locked and you cannot open it. What's the secret to using these machines? Having all of your underwear locked up when you need to get dressed and go out, is a bit of a challenge. :)
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These machines are often built in Asia, and have water-saving features designed for that part of the world. So, the soak cycle is a very important part of the process. That means a longer cleaning cycle.
One must really think and plan around laundry in the FSU, especially if during winter you wish to wear certain items tomorrow. With very few automatic dryers in flats, this is especially important in winter as most apartments are heated with centralized steam heat. Filling the home with hot steam, and hanging laundry out to dry at the same time, lengthens the drying time needed. That is especially the case for heavy clothing like sweaters, and materials made of flannel, wool, etc..
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These machines are often built in Asia, and have water-saving features designed for that part of the world. So, the soak cycle is a very important part of the process. That means a longer cleaning cycle.
One must really think and plan around laundry in the FSU, especially if during winter you wish to wear certain items tomorrow. With very few automatic dryers in flats, this is especially important in winter as most apartments are heated with centralized steam heat. Filling the home with hot steam, and hanging laundry out to dry at the same time, lengthens the drying time needed. That is especially the case for heavy clothing like sweaters, and materials made of flannel, wool, etc..
ok, makes sense. There is no indication it is in any kind of cycle. The machine seems 'dead' in this case. Perhaps if I had waiting another hour or so it would let me have my underwear back. :) Next time I am in Ukriane I will find one of these machines and try it. I can't let a damned machine get the best of me! Must be the engineer in me.
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Russia is not "West" and doesn't have to have Western standards.
You mean modern standards?
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You mean modern standards?
Exactly. In many hotels across the FSU at check-in you may be asked if you desire a "Russian standard" (not yet remodeled) or "Western standard" (remodeled) room.
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We have looked at old Russia, and I plan to return to that theme, but how about something that stretches into the present to the point that it was almost too much for an baby boomer age guy like myself.
This guy is fascinating. Apparently he has connections with stars such as Anthony Bourdain of No Reservations and CNN's Parts Unknown (one might divine those connections at seeing the quality of the production).
While this Chinese-American kid from New York can rapid-fire F-bombs at a rate that would embarrass any self-respecting machine gun, I still found him to be interesting. Even more intriguing: episode of his Russia visit was to see a Black teacher of English who specializes in teaching Ebonics to Russian students.
His clothing, OMG! Dress aside, he knows food and is rumoured to be a more than decent chef in the kitchen. A foodie who dresses weird, hmm. That explains why food is an important part of his travels around the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unJngK-6zxg
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Episode Two with Eddie Huang in Moscow:
We call it Kyrgyzstan but the official name is the Kyrgyz Republic. Yes, still in Moscow, but workers from the republic make up a good percentage of the illegal workforce in Moscow. As such, they are often mistreated, underpaid, and overworked.
Eddie will also take you on a tour of the Moscow Metro. The station is Park Pobedy (Victory Park), and really isn't the deepest in the world, but it is the deepest/longest escalator in Europe. Also shown is Площадь Революции, the station known as Plaza of the Revolution and its fascinating bronze sculptures.
He also has a startling visit from someone (surprise!) of the No Reservations show as they tour the famous VDNKh Park (All-Russia Exhibition Centre).
Not a surprise, more interesting food, in fact dishes from Kyrgyzstan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsCRkaJUvPY
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Episode Three with Eddie Huang in Moscow:
More food, and that is a welcome feature for those of us who are foodies. This third and final episode features $400 caviar, heading up to Moscow State University for an unnerving ride with the Godfather of Russian street racing, an introduction to playing checkers using vodka shot glasses, and his reaction to being served Kholodets, that famous Russian "meat jelly."
So much of what makes Moscow is in this episode, from a walk along the Old Arbat to Russia's most famous grocery store, the Eliseevsky on Tverskaya (his producers mislabeled it as the Eataly, and they should correct that). Personally I thought his interaction with the Russian girl behind him in the check-out line to be somewhat rude. She was clearly interested in communicating with him in English, but he could not dialogue with respect, in my opinion.
So, if you like his style and get past the clothing...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGiyw7EN8Rg
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Mendy,
Huang is far more sophisticated about food than his dress would suggest. The coverage of food is excellent. A hip Chinese-American version of Anthony Bourdain.
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I think that you are correct, Gator. I'm not a seriously trained chef, but his knowledge is apparent and his use of culinary terminology, and understanding of techniques, seems to hint at his comfort in that world. I watched his three-part series on Mongolia, and it was very interesting, too.
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Wait....she is Russian....and redheaded?!
Is she a spy, like the redheaded Anna Chapman?
No, Anna Chapman this is not, but Marina V as her stage name goes, is a young Russian redheaded gal who cooks, writes, and sings. Oh, and she lives in Los Angeles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN5VvqEATGA
Okay, red hair like Anna Chapman. Pretty, like Anna Chapman. Lives in Los Angeles. Of course that settles it, yes she is a spy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqnOFCMNe1M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M7KvWIGbdw
But wait, she has taken an old Neil Diamond song, Solitary Man, and translated it into Russian. She sings it in Russia.
Maybe, just maybe, she could be legitimate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmDWjyddqkY
Solitary Man perhaps is not the best of her work, but she gets a solid A+ for the thought and the effort. Besides, she knows how to make borsch. A pretty young redheaded Russian borsch-making, Neil Diamond fan: that is an impressive deep cover.
But just think about it, any Russian who even knows about, and likes Neil Diamond, simply cannot be a spy.
She is just a pretty redhead from Russia who lives in Los Angeles. Oh, and she sings.
I like that.
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Okay, red hair like Anna Chapman. Pretty, like Anna Chapman. Lives in Los Angeles. Of course that settles it, yes she is a spy!
She is just a pretty redhead from Russia who lives in Los Angeles. Oh, and she sings.
I like that.
Only Russian criminals have tattoos, so she must be a spy. Oh, and the red comes out of a bottle, so that just proves it. Ordinary people don't dye their hair - only crooks do that!
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Oh, and the red comes out of a bottle, so that just proves it. Ordinary people don't dye their hair - only crooks do that!
Exactly, it must be part of her cover. Man, you have caught her redhaired! :D
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Russia to replace Internal Passports with digital ID cards:
The Federal Migration Service has announced that effective immediately, Russian internal passports are being phased out in favour of new plastic ID cards with data chips embedded.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/universal_electronic_card.jpg)
The FMA told RIA Novisti News that the new cards will contain pertinent "personal data of the citizen, including biometric personal data, as well as other data, recorded in electronic form on an integrated circuit."
The name of the new IDs will be called Universal Electronic Cards (универсальная электронная карта).
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Russia to replace Internal Passports with digital ID cards:
The Federal Migration Service has announced that effective immediately, Russian internal passports are being phased out in favour of new plastic ID cards with data chips embedded.
The FMA told RIA Novisti News that the new cards will contain pertinent "personal data of the citizen, including biometric personal data, as well as other data, recorded in electronic form on an integrated circuit."
The name of the new IDs will be called Universal Electronic Cards (универсальная электронная карта).
Long overdue. Plastic cards will be a heck of a lot easier to carry around (and probably lose :'( ). So long as the information contained in the chips doesn't include political leanings, this should be a "win-win" situation for all Russians. :applause: :thumbsup: The only problem is that Russia doesn't have the money to pay for them - unless the budget comes out of what has been allocated for military spending, or as part of the raiding of the pension funds to restore the bank balances of the oligarchs.
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The only problem is that Russia doesn't have the money to pay for them - unless the budget comes out of what has been allocated for military spending,
Like that's ever going to happen as long as mongoloid Putin is running the show...
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(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/menduza-quiz.png) (http://meduza.io/en/quiz/let-s-put-russia-in-its-place)
We must admit that the name is quite catchy, "Lets Put Russia In Its Place" will evoke emotions to be sure. Relax, it is just a quiz to test your knowledge about how Russia ranks as compared with other nations around the world.
Created by the Menduza Project, this quiz is about the important stuff: who drinks the most beer, who watches the most television, etc. Actually, it is quite entertaining. For the record, your esteemed Mendeleyev Journal editors scored a mediocre 8 out of 12. Not bad, but then again, not that great either.
So, click this link to try it (http://meduza.io/en/quiz/let-s-put-russia-in-its-place) for yourself!
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9/12. Got the potato, cable and tv questions wrong. >:(
Brass
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I only got 6 of 12 but I thought several were misleading
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I only got 6 of 12 but I thought several were misleading
That was my score also. No better than answering randomly.
Here's another quiz: http://www.theguardian.com/world/quiz/2015/feb/27/how-much-do-you-know-about-russians-quiz
I didn't do very well on it either:
Your results
4 out of a possible 11
Oh dear, looks like you can't tell your pelmeni from your pirozhki. Time to brush up
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Your results
2 out of a possible 11
Oh dear, looks like you can't tell your pelmeni from your pirozhki. Time to brush up
Bummer. :(
Brass
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6 out of 12. Interesting quiz.
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That was my score also. No better than answering randomly.
Here's another quiz: http://www.theguardian.com/world/quiz/2015/feb/27/how-much-do-you-know-about-russians-quiz
I didn't do very well on it either:
I did a lot better on that one although admittingly, I really did not have a clue on half of them and guessed. Multiple choice of attitudes is pretty subjective
Your results
9 out of a possible 11
Wow, you really know your Volgograd from your Vladivostok
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7 out of 12 on the first one; 5 out of 11 on the second.
I can only take solace from the fact that the average score on the Guardian quiz is a miserable three!
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Mine were 8 and 4. But I was simply guessing on the second test. I had no idea with most questions.
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My scores were low as in very low. I based it on the my conversations with the 50-70 Russians who have visited our home plus my many trips to Russia. Clearly I am not observant, the Russians I know are not mainstream, and I am a bad guesser. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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My scores were low as in very low.
Some guys are experts on Russia and the language, other guys are experts with Russian women. If I had to pick and choose, I prefer the latter.
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Some guys are experts on Russia and the language, other guys are experts with Russian women. If I had to pick and choose, I prefer the latter.
And some of us are experts on all of them. I take it, you don't test very well? ;D
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This is funny: a guy in the USA offers Russian rubles to cashiers at American drive-thru locations. While I am sure that he has broken several laws, it is humorous!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuzPri1V_OA
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Obviously, the exchange rate has changed dramaticly since 2013, but the knowledge of Russian bills and coins is an important part of travel to Russia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqYEi9Bw9OE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2f4D_3bMEY
Now, lets go spend some:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjG9EVS926M
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To a great extent, even today, the maternity hospital experience is very different in much of the FSU than what most Western readers have experienced. Think back to the 1960s and perhaps then it was closer to the normal maternity routine to which most FSU ladies are accustomed. The modernization of facilities, birthing rooms and the equipment may be upgraded, but the general mentality has not, yet. But, there are signs that it is changing, albeit slowly.
Many FSU folk think it a tad odd for a man to be present at the birth of his baby. While that attitude is gradually changing, there is still the routine for the expectant mother to be checked into a maternity hospital, the midwives and nurses facilitate the birth, after the birth it is the nursing staff who give most of the care to the newborn, and the father arrives afterward on the day when mother and baby are released to go home.
The fathers generally arrive to much fanfare and it is common for them to arrive with flowers for the mother, flowers and/or chocolates for the staff, a toy for the child, and today much of that is captured on a video camera by family members to become part of the family's memory collection.
My prediction is that the trend toward more Western style approaches to birthgiving will continue, and so it is helpful to learn now how your lady likely gave birth to children she brings into your relationship. It is also helpful for you to understand her expectations, and how her experience of delivering a baby in the West could possibly be another point of culture shock in her adjustment process.
Here is a popular TV series, and while the programme is not really about maternity hospitals, the opening episode features the experience by two different couples and thus provides a glimpse into the experience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxCZbjXUxpQ
One of the most interesting changes to the birth experience in the FSU is the introduction of the idea for the father to be present during much of the process:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JcynfS9RBM
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Sure to generate controversy, angst, denials, denunciations, and good ole fashioned hate mail, here is a list of 25 things that the group "List 25" believe to be true about Russia. Some strike me as spot on, others, well let the debate begin. :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27wu2kfIzEI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27wu2kfIzEI)
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Mendy, Thank you for posting the video. I started watching it and then ran to get Larissa to watch it with me. You have us hooked! LOL
Please post the following episodes. It is far more interesting than US programs. The English subtitles allow us both to enjoy the film. It also allows me to understand the more of the FSU culture.
Also, please tell me if it is common for FSUW to talk constantly during a move when you are trying to listen and read sub-titles? ;D
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please tell me if it is common for FSUW to talk constantly
Yes.
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How would you feel if your 13 year old daughter hoped to be a model? What if one of her few chances in life to break out of the cycle of poverty was to stand in front of agents in nothing more than her bra and panties?
Tough decisions, and while sad, at the same time I found myself cheering for the girls to succeed. I think that you will appreciate this special on Siberia's teen modeling factories by the BBC's Reggie Yates.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKGoRGq_p2E
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Great video. It does create a lot of mixed emotions about whether to allow your child to get involved in the 'modeling industry'.
Thanks for posting, Mendy. You are an asset to our forum that many of us hope you will not leave again. You are appreciated much more than what is expressed in postings!
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Thanks, Doug. I have not left, but have not been able to post much lately due to swimming, and wrestling, with the Russian alligators.
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Mrs. M had a birthday last week (25 for yet another year!) and we celebrated at home with about 25 +/- guests. It was a cool celebration and my gift to her was a new camera, along with a tripod, various accessories, and a selfie stick. Neither she nor I are into the "selfie" generation, however those are great for extending reach of a camera. Her version has a 360 degree swivel action, which I suppose many do, and that makes it even more versatile.
As you can imagine, those selfie sticks have become very popular in Russia. That being said, there are dangers to selfie sticks as this funny video illustrates:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fmQs37YqXg
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From the Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2015/07/22/karl-marx-in-moscow/):
Despite all the changes, some things remain the same in Russia. A few years ago the term "democracy" was amended to "managed democracy," the government's way of sugar-coating the scrapping of direct elections for regional leaders. Today, the term "democracy" is considered as a four-letter word.
While capitalism, still very much the wild West style, rumbles on for those at the top, the country continues to find itself with one foot in the old ideology of Marxism-Leninism, and the other foot in the race to make more and more money for those with the right political connections.
Despite all the talk of change, the grand statue of Karl Marx remains standing across from the Bolshoi Theatre, near the Teatralnaya Plaza and Metro station, and opposite the Plaza of the Revolution.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/karl-marx-moscow-june-2015-w-203-ed-med.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/karl-marx-moscow-june-2015-w-203-ed-med.jpg)
(Click on the photo for a close-up of the birds.)
While this monument to Marx has stood at this location since 29 October 1961, the first monument to the discredited theorist was unveiled by Vladimir Lenin on 7 November 1918, commemorating the first anniversary of October Revolution. Lenin's "Program of monumental propaganda" was touted to replace statues from the Tsarist era.
The original statue was nearby, on Revolution Square, which had just been renamed from its former title of Resurrection Square. The first monument featured Marx and Engels together, and due to the design quickly led locals to dub it "Two in a Bathtub." That statue, made of plaster of Paris, collapsed a year later, and so a new marble stone was set at the present location to show where a new monument would be constructed.
Communism wasn't exactly the economic engine that Marx had prophesied, and so construction languished--for decades. The single marble stone at the new site read: "First stone of the monument to the great chieftain and teacher of the world proletariat." It would be in 1957, long after Lenin's death, before construction fully resumed. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced a competition to complete the monument, and the job was awarded to Lev Kerbel, a favoured Soviet realism sculptor.
In 2009, officials with Moscow’s Committee for Monumental Arts proposed that the monument be removed from such a prominent spot in the centre of the city. The committee argued that the founder of communism had no place in Moscow since he had never visited during his lifetime. Others have suggested that a life size statue of Vladimir Putin would be more appropriate at that site, but at least for now that idea has been tabled. Engineers say that the monument is one of the heaviest in Moscow, and therefore very difficult to move.
On the statue is an inscription reading: “Proletariat of all countries, solidarity!” At least some of the proletariat, in the form of local birds, visit the spot daily and are clearly united by showing their respect in the form of droppings on his head. It seems that the only human workers who remain united are the city maintenance crews who are dispatched to clean the statue daily.
Given the substance of his ideas, perhaps it would be just as well to allow the bird poop to accumulate.
(Photo courtesy of the Mendeleyev Journal)
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I have seen that monument. I didn't lay flowers. :) However, I think some of Marx's economic theories have proven accurate, though I disagree with his conclusions.
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I have seen that monument. I didn't lay flowers. :) However, I think some of Marx's economic theories have proven accurate, though I disagree with his conclusions.
That reminds me of one of my favorite quotes about Marxism, from British historian Niall Ferguson, who is now teaching at Harvard: "Something that's seldom appreciated about me is that I am in sympathy with a great deal of what Marx wrote, except that I'm on the side of the bourgeoisie."
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It has been a while since we've checked in with Sergei of Real Russia. He is living back in Ufa, and many of his more recent videos are of the city and region in and around Ufa.
Thinking that some readers may someday travel to this region, here is Sergei's report on the Ufa International Airport (IATA code UFA):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7aLl5s-MG4
UFA airport info in English: http://www.airportufa.ru/en/main.html
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Perhaps it is not so new to you, but I have just been introduced to the Western television series, An Idiot Abroad.
The seemingly reluctant star of the show, British Karl Pilkington, is sent off to various parts of the world by two friends who seem to delight in taking Karl out of his comfort zone.
And, Karl meets Russia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqQPkrUitGY
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A belated happy 110th birthday to the Kyiv Funicular (Фуникулер )!
There are only a few of these in the world, such as Paris, and this jewel costs the equivalent of about .15 cents to ride. The short ride up a very steep hill connects downtown Kyiv to the historic Mykhailivska Square area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocjh8dg3hAw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_-LWskcz7U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzWtQDMUe4Q
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A belated happy 110th birthday to the Kyiv Funicular (Фуникулер )!
There are only a few of these in the world, such as Paris, and this jewel costs the equivalent of about .15 cents to ride. The short ride up a very steep hill connects downtown Kyiv to the historic Mykhailivska Square area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocjh8dg3hAw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_-LWskcz7U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzWtQDMUe4Q
I went on that late at night. It was an exceptional experience.
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(In today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/tea-or-coffee-%D1%87%D0%B0%D0%B9-%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%84%D0%B5/)...)
Чай или кофе? (Tea or Coffee)
There was a time when drinking coffee in the FSU was almost a rarity of sorts. Tea reigned supreme, and any coffee consumed was typically a "Turkish" brew which was incredibly strong. Instead of a morning staple, coffee was a dessert beverage, usually after dinner, if at all.
The times, they are a changin' it seems.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/mcdonalds-coffee-june-2015-w-286.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/mcdonalds-coffee-june-2015-w-286.jpg)
McCafe made the first inroads, adding upscale dessert shops that served both coffee and tea, usually located next door to a McDonalds. Then came CoffeeHouse, Costa Coffee, several others, and then late-comer Starbucks entered the market after a protracted legal battle with a home-grown cafe that had already latched onto the Starbucks name.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/choc-cafe-d188d0bed0bad0bed0bbd0b0d0b4d0bdd0b8d186d0b0-d0bad0bed184d0b5d0b9d0bdd0b0.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/choc-cafe-d188d0bed0bad0bed0bbd0b0d0b4d0bdd0b8d186d0b0-d0bad0bed184d0b5d0b9d0bdd0b0.jpg)
Today the most popular coffee in the FSU is instant coffee, and Russia is near the top of the world rankings for consumption of the instant variety. Coffee suppliers recognize this and have developed high quality options not sold in most Western nations.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/coffee-nescafe.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/coffee-nescafe.jpg)
One possible explanation for the popularity of instant coffee is the set up of the typical FSU kitchen. In Western homes it is common to find a "coffee maker" in the kitchen. Not so much in the FSU, instead one is much more likely to find a "chai-nik", a hot water kettle used for brewing hot water for tea. That same hot water can be used for instant coffee without the need to purchase another appliance--or try to find room for it in kitchens that are generally much smaller than in the West.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/double-coffee-8-24-11-moscow-1605.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/double-coffee-8-24-11-moscow-1605.jpg)
But it isn't just instant coffee that has caught on, and one might reasonably argue that the coffee house concept has driven popularity, especially among younger consumers. Most coffee houses offer high quality desserts, and some have limited entrees, but the idea of free WiFi packaged with good coffee in a hip meeting place has taken off. You can thank McCafe for that, although McDonalds McCafe market share has shrunk while others is exploding.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/coffee-house-8-24-11-moscow-1130.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/coffee-house-8-24-11-moscow-1130.jpg)
What seems to be the most popular coffee brew ordered in Coffee Shops as of late? Despite all the anti-American rhetoric often heard these days, the most popular brew is "Amerikano", American.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/coffee-americano-june-2015-w-908.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/coffee-americano-june-2015-w-908.jpg)
Here is a handy chart to help you navigate your coffee options the next time you are in the FSU:
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/coffee-translations.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/coffee-translations.jpg)
This primer on coffee choices may have come just in time. Next month, the newest player to get into the coffee business will be the Moscow Metro System. Sometime in October, coffee vending machines will begin to appear in the Metro subway system stations. Vending machines for cold drinks have been appearing in various pedestrian spots, but coffee on the Metro will be a whole new experience.
So, what is your choice - Чай или кофе?
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For readers interested in coffee in Russia, we just published a follow-up story entitled, "Here is Another Serving (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/tea-or-coffee-here-is-another-serving/)" at the Mendeleyev Journal.
This edition gives readers the chance to obtain free admission tickets to the upcoming Coffee & Tea exhibition planned for 1-3 March 2016.
It also features a video tour of several popular Moscow coffee cafes.
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Red Cup is the big Coffee Shop in the Southern Urals. I had coffee there yesterday. An Americano.
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Jone, how did you like the Americano?
Red Cup is growing fast. In fact, they are actively recruiting franchise opportunities:
Откройте свою фирменную кофейню Red Cup
с прибылью 180 000 р. в месяц Tel: 8 (800) 500-15-36
According to their ads, an owner can net around 180,000 rubles each month. There are 55 locations in Russia, from St Petersburg to Krasnoyarsk, but mostly concentrated in the areas Jone mentioned.
They are very aggressive in marketing coffee and have been successful in capturing a younger demographic that has some disposable income, and are fascinated with the idea of drinking coffee.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/coffee-red-cup-menu.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/coffee-red-cup-menu.jpg)
You can find them out and about often, from offering "master classes" on how to brew, and with promotions to try new coffee products.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/coffee-red-cup-pour.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/coffee-red-cup-pour.jpg)
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Okay,
I have a hint for anyone coming to Russia or Eastern European countries. I brought with me a conical plastic filter holder that sits on top of a coffee cup. Then I brought a box of Number 2 coffee filters. It is almost time to head back to the US because the filters are almost gone.
My woman has become a coffee affectianate to any coffee cup which is a receptacle of this filter. I am no longer invited to make coffee. I would think that such filters and the plastic holders would make a great item for import into Russia as everyone who sees it goes gaga over it.
As for the Americano, I like the Espresso with Milk better. But tried it with water because we were adding in Hazelnut to try a different taste.
***** That cheap plastic cup filter and a couple of boxes of the #2s would be a great introductory present to anyone you are meeting for the first time. I do not recommend taking ground coffee in your luggage as it is a widely used distraction for dogs that sniff for drugs.
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I bring ground coffee (flavored and decaf) in my luggage from US to Lviv on almost every trip. No problems in 25+ trips.
We purchased an 8 cup electric drip coffee maker, with an onboard permanent filter, from the local Metro warehouse store for only the equivalent of $10 to $15. Works great and the filter does not allow grounds migration into the coffee.
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Mendy, I discovered the McCafe over 10 years ago in Moscow. Good coffee and good pastry. Mickey D's has not implemented the concept in the US.
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I love good coffee, and one can DIY during a trip to the FSU.
- Pregrind good beans or buy those small espresso grinds prepacked in metal foil.
- Bring a small stove top coffee maker: either the Turkish pot (cezve) or the small Italian steamer pot.
In my travels starting 13 years ago, some Russians had the Turkish coffee pots. The device is simple (stove top) and makes an excellent coffee given you have QUALITY BEANS. Bring to a boil, stir, boil again, stir, boil again, serve. Decant to not disturb the sediment.
I saw a shop in Chelyabinsk selling copper cezve of many different sizes, including a muy grande that could make coffee for about 6-8 people.
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They are still here, Gator. Where I am. In Chelyabinsk.
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They are still here, Gator. Where I am. In Chelyabinsk.
Splendid! The proximity to the Stans makes the place a little different from the more easterly Russian cities.
Are you meeting women? Working at the nearby chemical weapons destruction facility (I met a couple of Americans working there)?
I suppose you have already found the best places. If you need a suggestion, I will ask my wife who is still well connected. If you have an opportunity to travel to a dacha, I suggest you go. In town, the opera house is a good venue.
Hold your breath when driving through the industrial zone, especially if the plumes are yellow. The purple plume did not seem as harsh.
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We typically use a French Press, which are easy to obtain in most large department, grocery, or appliance stores across the FSU. I think that it would also make a good traveling gift as they are sold on Ebay and Amazon, etc.
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I used to bring my own coffee maker but have discovered that Starbucks instant is really good - IMO. Takes up less room also. A little expensive but I go to Costco for a better deal.
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McDonald's coffee regularly beats Starbucks in blind taste tests.
And at what, one fourth or so the cost.
Another nail in the coffin idea that 'you get what you pay for.'
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As an aside, but contributing to the cultural differences ....
My woman keeps our used coffee filters, dries out the coffee grounds, and then uses the grounds as an exfoliate and skin conditioner. Had never head of that before.
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That is cool, Jone. We use our tea and coffee grounds for compost--great earthworm food.
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That is cool, Jone. We use our tea and coffee grounds for compost--great earthworm food.
But don't use decaffeinated types.
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We only use "high test" in the vernacular of someone my age, but is decaf not safe because of the acids?
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(The Mendeleyev Journal)
Royal Flush on the Moscow Metro (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2015/09/24/a-royal-flush-on-the-moscow-metro/):
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-prospect-mira-toilet-a.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-prospect-mira-toilet-a.jpg)
Officials say that the new toilet on the train platform at Metro Prospect Mira is a test of the concept.
Several years ago Moscow began adding coin operated toilets, permanent units, to replace the old "construction site" style toilets near Metro stations. However, if there is a coffee shop nearby the trend is to head there for a toilet stop.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-prospect-mira-toilet-b.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-prospect-mira-toilet-b.jpg)
Access is gained using a Metro ride card. Doors automatically lock once a passenger enters. Exit is accomplished by push button.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-prospect-mira-toilet-f.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-prospect-mira-toilet-f.jpg)
Along with the addition of coffee vending machines in the Metro, system managers announced plans for toilets inside stations near the transition areas. It is a pilot project with the first one opened at the Prospekt Mira station earlier this week.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-prospect-mira-toilet-e.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-prospect-mira-toilet-e.jpg)
Officials say that the toilet is "self-contained" and needs no plumbing or water connections. However, toilets do flush and there is water for washing one's hands.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-prospect-mira-toilet-d.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-prospect-mira-toilet-d.jpg)
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-prospect-mira-toilet-c.jpg?w=660) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-prospect-mira-toilet-c.jpg)
It had been speculated that Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin might attend the opening of the new toilet, and perhaps give a guided demonstration. Alas, he was a "no show" and instead, opted to make an appearance at the opening of Moscow's new station "Kotelniki."
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-kotelniki-opening.jpg) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/metro-kotelniki-opening.jpg)
Kotelniki is the 195th station on the Moscow Metro system. While Kotelniki has a fancy new vending machine for purchasing disposable umbrellas, there is no toilet.
Yet.
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Officials say that the toilet is "self-contained" and needs no plumbing or water connections. However, toilets do flush and there is water for washing one's hands.
I guess it features a vacuum flush such as on commercial flights to minimize water usage. This is expensive technology.
Over the years of my travel in FSU cities, finding a place to pee other than at a restaurant was not easy.
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As an aside, but contributing to the cultural differences ....
My woman keeps our used coffee filters, dries out the coffee grounds, and then uses the grounds as an exfoliate and skin conditioner. Had never head of that before.
Same here.. Is this practice limited to Chelyabinsk?
Back to toilets.
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Sergei Baklykov of REAL RUSSIA visited a Russian collective milk farm this past August, and here is all you need to know about collective milk farming:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV4W1Xpjj7M
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Someday I would like to learn how to stack firewood like this. One can imagine that learning the skill to take wood for winter use, without bringing the whole pile down, to be equally important.
(http://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/t31.0-8/12068958_10207025684913191_7313943824146927243_o.jpg)
Most often you find these in rural areas, and especially in Ukraine. However, I took this photo at a quiet monastery near our home just outside Moscow.
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Someday I would like to learn how to stack firewood like this. One can imagine that learning the skill to take wood for winter use, without bringing the whole pile down, to be equally important.
(http://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/t31.0-8/12068958_10207025684913191_7313943824146927243_o.jpg)
"Wow" is all I can say! :clapping:
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It seems that as human beings, we cannot help but to be inspired by music, and young people. This is Sergei and Tetyana, two young Ukrainians from Kyiv (Kiev) who are making some great music with instruments that are very popular in the Eastern world, but I don't think that these instruments are heard much any longer in the non-European West.
They have "covered" the Scorpions, Metallica, and others. I hope that you will enjoy this cover of a great Adele song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQDB7_pyoF0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQDB7_pyoF0)
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It seems that as human beings, we cannot help but to be inspired by music, and young people. This is Sergei and Tetyana, two young Ukrainians from Kyiv (Kiev) who are making some great music with instruments that are very popular in the Eastern world, but I don't think that these instruments are heard much any longer in the non-European West.
Wrong as far as the accordion is concerned ;) which bears the visible mark of PIGINI (http://www.pigini.com/en/), a company based in Castelfidardo (Ancona), the Italian capital of accordion manufacturers:
(http://en.rivieradelconero.info/images/territorio/Castelcomune.jpg)
As for the other instrument, the bandura, it's a type of finger-plucked zither or dulcimer that is still quite popular in various Eastern countries, with varying local names:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/Zither.png/220px-Zither.png)
Better know in the West is the cognate Hungarian hammered cimbalom:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9d/Cimbalom_-_Vencel_J%C3%B3zsef_Schunda.JPG/800px-Cimbalom_-_Vencel_J%C3%B3zsef_Schunda.JPG)
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Hey. I love an old squeeze box. Lawrence Welk, RIP. - A one-ah and a two-ah
Here's Tea for Two.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpDaD6BFdx8&index=5&list=PLTe2kKauCvudmvd3Ph8aTxBDRCZ3h0UCy
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Sandro, of course. That is why I mentioned the "non-European" West. :D
It is interesting to learn from you the origin of these instruments. Both are often featured when the Kyiv Symphony tours, but my memories of them lapses after about age 15 in the States.
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Hey. I love an old squeeze box.
Two different traditional schools, Parisian and Bairense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhEfiPjNZHg&hd=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6ZoH_7x5QY&hd=1
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Carajo!!!
Esto es bailar, no joder el pavimento como hacen otros.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lAKlYTQVKY
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There will be dancing on Sunday night at the Hard Rock Cafe in Moscow. The expats celebration of Halloween will begin around 6pm. The place is easy to find:
exit the Metro at Smolenskaya (line 3) Metro Station. Go outside to street level. Once outside, hang a right and walk to nearby Arbat street. Go straight and you will come to a large building (#44) with the Hard Rock Cafe flag flying at street level.
Google Maps: http://goo.gl/maps/IKopZ (http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fgoo.gl%2Fmaps%2FIKopZ&h=IAQF7J6xo&enc=AZPoMQ-osp5IadnR2_O0dLGMT0cXtVl8zlgqvoZKCiAyfJNFR2Jxpk11PXw1KSYtCvI&s=1)
Yandex Maps: http://maps.yandex.ru/-/CVvuqD26
Web: http://www.hardrockcafe.ru/
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The place is easy to find:
exit the Metro at Smolenskaya (line 3) Metro Station. Go outside to street level. Once outside, hang a right and walk to nearby Arbat street. Go straight and you will come to a large building (#44) with the Hard Rock Cafe flag flying at street level.
Which exit, Mendy? :D Don't forget that all Metros have several and, if you pick the wrong one, you're toast. :cluebat: Unless Smolenskaya has an exit actually labelled for Arbat, you may never get to the party.
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Sorry, and you are right. I sometimes forget that not everyone has been to Arbat, one of Moscow's oldest and popular pedestrian walking places.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/hard-rock-cafe-map.png) (http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/hard-rock-cafe-map.png)
(Click on sign to make it bigger.)
The easiest way is to follow this girl in the miniskirt. It is so fun to follow the leader sometimes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5e3aM2KEsE
She exits the Metro by following the signs that say "exit to city" (in Russian) in the direction of Old Arbat. Upon exiting she turns right and it looks as if you're walking into an alley, and you are briefly. She is headed for the McDonald's. If you get lost anywhere near Metro Smolenskaya, just ask for McDonalds. She walks past the McD "Express Window" and at the corner (welcome to Arbat Street!) she walks out into the intersection. You'll slant left and follow her--why not, those are nice legs. Quickly she will point to a blue/greenish building on the right--that is Pushkin's home, and the camera pans it briefly. Immediately she turns and points to the left--that is the Pushkin memorial statue. The next building on the left is the Hard Rock Cafe and at about 2:45 on the video you can begin to make out the Hard Rock logo to the left.
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If you end up on a large bustling thoroughfare, instead of the alleyway, just circle around the building. That large busy street is not Old Arbat.
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Georgia is a great place to visit. Several of our members, 2TallBill quickly comes to mind, have spent time there. Chris Botti, famed Boston classical and smooth jazz musician has visited Tbilisi (capital city) twice. His concerts are inspiring and here is Chris on his second concert to Georgia.
You might wish to skip past the introduction which is not in English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llClP4WHEjs
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The Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2015/11/09/who-are-the-expats-in-russia/):
Count us as normally cautious when something seems too slick, or too glossy, at first sight. Thus, a group calling themselves "Foreigners In Russia" has peaked our interest, but not necessarily our endorsement as of yet. When something hits social media so polished at the outset, there is the possibility of a tie to the government's propaganda machine, which frankly in Russia is very sophisticated. We will provide some insight at the end of this article.
Meanwhile we'll give at least some leeway for the sake of argument. That includes the makeup of the expat (foreign) population in Russia. Most expats living in Russia did not just wake up one morning with the epiphany along the lines of "I will move to Russia today!" Instead, most have either work or family connections upon moving to Russia. All expats must have reasons that pass the muster of the government.
So, that being said, where do these expats (supposedly) come from?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/foreigners-in-russia.jpg)
According to this chart, once you subtract the CIS (former Soviet) countries, most expats are from Europe. When you look at these numbers, it is useful to understand that they very likely represent trading and business relationships between Russia and abroad. Most of the expats are employed by companies that have origins in these European nations, or at companies that do business with those nations.
What about Latin America?
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/foreigners-in-russia-latin.jpg)
The numbers are much smaller for several reasons: the ability of poor countries to afford travel and options to live abroad, the reality that people with darker skin are not so readily accepted in Russia, and that only recently has Russia began to cultivate relationships with Latin American nations via the BRICS trading alliance.
There are legitimate reasons for Western expats to be concerned about life in Russia. New laws dictate that any foreign resident declared as an 'undesirable' might well be required to pay a 500,000 Ruble fine (approximately $7,700) and be sentenced up to six years in a Russian prison. Such laws are designed to keep foreigners from migrating illegally, and from participating in activities that the government views as political in nature.
The Russian economy is contracting and Russia's Federal Migration Service reports that since early 2014, "some 41 percent of Spanish nationals, 38 percent of British nationals, 36 percent of U.S. nationals and 31 percent of German nationals have left Russia", according to a report in The Moscow Times (http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/economic-crisis-driving-foreigners-out-of-russia--experts/525880.html).
Currently, there is even more concern for American expats given the current tensions between Moscow and Washington. When Americans do run into trouble with Russian authorities, Russia does not recognize the standing of the US Embassy and its diplomatic missions to assist American citizens. The mood in Russia has turned decidedly anti-American in recent times, especially since the annexation of Crimea and Russia's war in Eastern Ukraine.
Russia actively screens potential expats for their suitability to live in Russia. Under new migration rules, those applying to live in Russia must pass a basic language test that includes a minimum vocabulary of 1,250 words. A test on Russian civics must be passed, and new questions added to the Russian history test include the applicants view on the annexation of Crimea, and a question on Stalin's policy of farm collectivization. Passing the test is required: 60% is the minimum score for those with a work permit, and 75% is needed for those seeking a residency permit.
As to the truthfulness in the charts and their percentages listed above, how many American live in Russia? The answer is about the same number who live on the Netherlands Antilles island of Curacao: about 6,000. How many Britons live in Russia? The answer: 6,100 according to the British Institute for Public Policy Research. The first chart lists the number at 10%, yet it fails to list the number of Americans.
Our suspicions remain just that: suspicious.
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Sergei Baklykov and his new cameraman Renat released last week another Real Russia episode on housing development. Here is that program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPw2b71dA_k
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Are modern Russian apartment buildings as poorly constructed as they are in Ukraine?
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It depends on the target market for buyers. In Russia, when it comes to new housing, think Sochi in regards to shady land deals and shoddy construction. However, there are German and French developers in several large cities and not only is their focus on quality, but they are held to a higher standard by inspectors. At the same time, their developments are not cheap--it seems to be a case of "getting what you pay for" in that respect.
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Georgia is a great place to visit. Several of our members, 2TallBill quickly comes to mind, have spent time there.
Georgian Legends are one of my favorites. They combine authentic Georgian music,
dance and of course the amazing Georgian countryside. Georgia was at the crossroads
between Europe and Asia and their unique dance was designed to be a preparation for
fighting. Many countries wanted to control the trade routes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwr25eiPgik
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Readers by now understand that I have been an Orthodox Christian for many years and have a home church in Moscow. However, there are other churches represented in and across Russia.
The very first non-Orthodox body was given permission by Ivan (the Terrible) to have weekly services. Given that Ivan first opened Russia to the English, and allowed England to have the first Embassy in Russia, it was natural for the English merchants to be allowed to have their own church services. That Embassy, now a museum property called the "Old English Court" is just two minutes behind Red Square on Ulitsa Varvarka (Barbara Street), which is the oldest street in Moscow.
The Anglican "Embassy Church" to the Russian Orthodox Church is Saint Andrews, a beautiful structure also not far from the Kremlin. The Bolsheviks used the tall tower of this church to place machine guns during the fighting the ensued with the Communist revolution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COBBcAADcCk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiypcnNC0dc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8vWnrWVMOU
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How does Red Square look during the winter holidays? It becomes a giant skating rink with food and speciality vendors. The best time to go is in the evening to take in the lights and action. You will stand in long lines to enter, and you must pass thru metal detectors, but it is definitely worth the wait.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oX_2zf4Q2U
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In today's Mendeleyev Journal. (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/moscow-novospassky-monastery/)..
The beautiful Novospassky Monastery (Новоспасский монастырь) in Moscow. The monastery itself dates to the 14th century. It is considered to be the oldest monastery in Moscow. It was originally located inside the walls of the Kremlin.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/sam_0919-ed.jpg?w=680)
Most of the surviving structures were completed when Mikhail Romanov became Tsar in 1612. of Several members of the early Romanov dynasty are interred in the basement of the main Cathedral which dates to 1645.
At the bottom right you can see a glimpse of Mrs. Mendeleyeva ready to enter the basement.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/sam_0910-ed.jpg?w=680)
The photo below caught a scene of onion domes in the snow while an unknown girl was spending a moment of silence to pray. The main Cathedral features an area where visitors can light candles and pray for cancer victims.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/sam_0905-ed.jpg?w=680)
Napoleon's troops ransacked the monastery but it was restored after the French were driven out of Russia. The Communists closed the monastery and turned it into a political prison during much of the Soviet period.
In 1991 the government returned the property to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Address: Krestyanskaya pl., 10, Moskva, Russia, 115172
Hours: 7AM–8PM
Moscow phone: 495 676-95-70
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In today's Mendeleyev Journal (http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2016/01/22/the-last-stone-building-in-moscow/)...
The Last Stone Building in Moscow (for awhile):
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/sam_0850-ed-sm.jpg?w=680)
During rush hours Moscow's Taganskaya Square is one of the most congested points in Moscow with a multi-junction intersection with six lanes of traffic in each direction. At the far right you can make out the Golden Arch of a McDonald's cafe, and below it is the logo of a KFC restaurant.
The beautiful onion domes call attention to the Church of Saint Nikolas on Bolvanovka at Taganskaya Square with a view of the electric tram & trolleybus cables overhead.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/sam_0851-ed-sm.jpg?w=680)
The sign is in Russian Cyrillic and reads "stop." Seen in the lower part of the photo is the red "M" denoting a Metro subway station, the Taganskaya station.
The Church holds a special place in Moscow history, not only because it is a Bulgarian Orthodox Church, but construction was barely completed in the year 1712, just before Peter the Great's order than no stone buildings could be built in Russia outside of his great capital city, St. Petersburg.
During the oppressive Soviet period the Communists closed the church and used it as a warehouse. It was returned to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in 1990 and today it is an active parish.
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What these young adults are doing is illegal in Russia, so my thought is that they received special permission to ski behind a vehicle in Saint Petersburg, and especially on Palace Square.
These are very beautiful scenes of Piter in a nighttime winter setting!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXDcRJQmjT8
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Mendy - why are some of the STOP signs in Russia written in English and look exactly the same as U.S.
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Mendy - why are some of the STOP signs in Russia written in English and look exactly the same as U.S.
For dumb non-Russians ;D?
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I have not seen STOP signs in English. All were in four Cyrillic letters that spelled S T O P.
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I have not seen STOP signs in English. All were in four Cyrillic letters that spelled S T O P.
I've seen a lot of English stop signs outside the Moscow area. I asked my wife and her parents why and they gave me a strange look like it was all normal but couldn't answer me.
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Mendy - why are some of the STOP signs in Russia written in English and look exactly the same as U.S.
Years ago I encountered my first of such just outside the Sergiev Posad monastery along the Golden Ring area. They started to appear in the early 2000s and whenever I'd spot one, it made me wonder if somebody in public works had somehow run across a clearance sale on American stop signs? :-)
More recently they've become much more prevalent, and especially as Russia was preparing for the Olympics. They are an international symbol recognized universally which is the best explanation that I've received. As to why they have not switched all such over is likely one of economics, first, and politics second. Even this long after the Olympic games, English transliterations on street and highway signs are slowly being rolled out. In addition to the economics of such a endeavor, given the backlash against anything perceived as American, such projects are slower.
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. . . the backlash against anything perceived as American . . .
Why . . . what did we do ?
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Why . . . what did we do ?
Other than being the target of intense controlled media pounding day after day...we didn't.
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Other than being the target of intense controlled media pounding day after day...we didn't.
But you 'did' ..
America is the reason Yanu' needed a Russian escort to leave Ukraine ;D
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Actually, no Moby. When Yanu's MAJORITY Party of Regions in the Rada agreed to impeach, he needed to get out of town.
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Hi Mendy,
excuse me
I was being ironic ;)
If folks don't realise that his own political party has disowned him....and his number was up ..
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Despite an overwhelming daily dose of anti-American pounding in media, where would many Russians want to live if given the opportunity?
You guessed it, the bad ole USA.
The most recent form of anti-American propaganda has to do with international trafficking of women and children. Most organizations fighting this legitimate fight will say that the worst offenders are Middle Eastern Muslim countries and Israel.
The new Russian narrative however is that the USA is the hot spot destination. To a degree, some of those claims are true, but Russian media conveniently overlooks the fact that it is organized crime in Russia that supplies "dancers" and "escorts" to Russian mafia groups in the USA, primarily via New York. Many of these are modern serfdom situations with girls lured by the promise that if they will "work" for a certain period of years, they will be released with proper documents, etc, to stay in America. Rarely are those promises of freedom realized.
All this is very interesting in light of a new poll taken by Moscow's English language radio station, Capital FM (formerly known as Moscow FM). Moscow listeners are being asked in a current survey the question that "if you could live in any city of the world, which city would you prefer?"
Program director Pete Cato says that so far, the overwhelming response has been--you guessed it, New York.
Pete also indicated that Russian listeners make active use of Viper and What'sapp (#capitalfmmoscow) to respond to radio surveys, requests, etc, these days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmfF2rg363A
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Pretty funny . . . the anti-Americans who would like to live in New York.
But almost as funny (or sad), are the number of anti-American Americans who make no effort to move to another country.
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The "White Nights" of Russian summers are returning. Saturday night we went to bed and it was dark. We have blackout curtains but I didn't bother pulling them shut. Well, I woke to very bright sunshine. It was Sunday morning and so I roused Mrs M and told her that likely we would be late for church.
She calmly suggested that I look at a clock because it felt like about 4-5am to her. Okay, but it looked bright and warm enough to be 10am to my eyes. As is most often the case in marriage--the wife was correct. It was only 4:30am upon checking.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/sam_1152-ed-sm.jpg?w=680)
We made it to church just fine after sleeping a couple more hours.
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Fourth of July in Russia
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/spaso-house-4th-a.jpg)
The 4th of July is celebrated in Moscow at Spaso House, the home of the US Ambassador to Russia since 1933. Spaso House is the Ambassador's residence, not the Embassy, and is located at #10 Spasopeskovskaya Square.
If memory serves correctly, there is a precise 7-step formula for celebrating the 4th in America: beer-BBQ-beer-hamburgers/hotdogs-beer-potato salad (potatoe for you Brits)-beer. In that exact order. Parades, flags, fireworks, apple pie and ice cream, etc, are merely garnishments (patriotic styled condiments) to the above, and optional.
(http://russianreport.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/spaso-house-4th-b.jpg)
Not being much of a drinker, well aside from the obligatory vodka and champagne toasts at the New Year, so admittedly this editor is out of sync with the American precise 7-step formula. My quest to acquire an American beer was a failure. There was a "Union Jack" beer, but it represented the wrong side of that conflict.
Some readers might suggest that it would be appropriate to ask "What Would Jesus Do?" That was no help either. Jesus had class--he was a wine guy. You must admit that he didn't turn the water into Bud Light any more than he turned it into Tang as some mistakenly believe. Judging from the comments recorded at the wedding feast, Jesus knew his wines.
With all other options exhausted, it was deemed necessary to settle for a Belgium IPA. Belgium succeeded in seceding (gawd, we are good!) from the Netherlands in 1830, and so it seemed that the revolutionary spirit might come alive in their "Rampant" Imperial IPA. Sadly, something is missing--maybe it is the fireworks-but if anyone wishes to try one, there is about half of a small 355ml bottle sitting in the fridge. Help yourself.
Now seems about time to join Jesus for a glass of wine.Save
Save
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If memory serves correctly, there is a precise 7-step formula for celebrating the 4th in America: beer-BBQ-beer-hamburgers/hotdogs-beer-potato salad (potatoe for you Brits)-beer. In that exact order. Parades, flags, fireworks, apple pie and ice cream, etc, are merely garnishments (patriotic styled condiments) to the above, and optional.
How do you figure that one out, mendy? Brits (and Kiwis and Aussies) spell potato just the same as anyone else. The "e" is only added when it's a plural - potatoes.
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I've been trained wrong! Thank you for setting me straight. :)
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Pretty funny . . . the anti-Americans who would like to live in New York.
just as funny as Americans voting for Hillary because they want "Change" ;-)
This must be human nature... have you noticed that many new immigrants to the US stay loyal and patriotic to their country of origin? They do not even try to assimilate. Given the opportunity many of them would turn this country into the same place they came from... try to make sense out of that one! LOL
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Why . . . what did we do ?
Russians respect and admire strength. America is no longer perceived strong in the eyes of Russians and other nations around the world. Combined with lots of subtle and not so subtle anti-American propaganda this explains the anti-American sentiment among Russians.
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Russians respect and admire strength. America is no longer perceived strong in the eyes of Russians and other nations around the world. Combined with lots of subtle and not so subtle anti-American propaganda this explains the anti-American sentiment among Russians.
I think it is better explained by aspect of Russian media wanting to blame any negatives on anyone but the actual perpetrator....
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Bump All newbies should read this thread
Note to mods: Why is Eduard still on the restricted punishment?
Hasn't he served his time?
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+1
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For those interested, there is some good content here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/russian/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Resource%22&restrict_sr=1
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I have not seen STOP signs in English. All were in four Cyrillic letters that spelled S T O P.
Me too, this is what they look like.
(http://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-94c02e3cda1325ddd09d151033af21d3.webp)
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STOP
This is one of the words that is same in English and Russian.
An interesting tidbit regarding this.
I took a UW to Antalya, Turkey for a month.
We rented an apartment that was in a complex where most of the units were purchased by wealthy folks from all around Europe.
It had a pool, club house, and a place where you could get Turkish baths.
I never much care for those Turkish baths, but usually the FSU gals love them, so this gal wanted to go.
She was in there a very long time.
I asked her how it went, in view of fact that the pictures on the wall showed the women going topless.
She went topless and, of course, got a male assigned to give her the treatment.
She let him wash her breasts.
Then he made moves to massage her pussy (she had on bikini there) and she said strongly STOP.
I said: How would he know what that word was?
She said: It's the same in English and Russian, so I am sure he knew the meaning; and he did stop . . . or so she told me !!
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STOP
This is one of the words that is same in English and Russian.
They pronounce it here Shhh-topp
Stop is a good word to know for taxi drivers. Other words that are good know is Pre-yama (Straight ahead) Na-prava (To the right) Na-leva (To the left)