Walking around Warsaw on a daily basis, I have not become a stranger to witnessing memorials or places where something important in history has occurred. Everywhere in Warsaw it seems to be a reminder of the dark past. The oppression started on September 1st, 1939 when the German Nazis invaded Poland. The population was separated […]

Hundreds of people came to Kyiv’s Independence Square, or, in Ukrainian, Maidan Nazeleznosti for the third anniversary of the day snipers killed 100 protesters during the EuroMaidan Revolution, on February 18, 2017. The deceased are commonly known as the “Heavenly Hundred.” The date of thier death is now marked every year by mourners returning to […]

The following is lesson 2 of the Моя Россия advanced Russian lesson series. Hover over the bold Russian to reveal its English translation. Red words and phrases indicate the subject of this blog entry’s grammar lesson. Asterisks indicate words that have additional cultural/linguistic commentary below. Во многих странах мира — это традиционный атрибут празднования Рождества. Эта […]

The fourth Sunday of every September in Vladivostok is set aside for a local holiday called “День Тигра” (“Tiger Day”). The event celebrates the Amur (also called Siberian) Tigers, whose natural habitat is the Primorsky Krai Region of the Russian Far East. Vladivostok’s coat of arms prominently features the Amur Tiger, and there are quite […]

The following is lesson 2 of the Моя Россия advanced Russian lesson series. Hover over the bold Russian to reveal its English translation. Red words and phrases indicate the subject of this blog entry’s grammar lesson. Asterisks indicate words that have additional cultural/linguistic commentary below. Русские люди очень любят праздники. Наверное, они их любят даже больше, чем […]

Jan 27, 2014 was the 70th anniversary of the end of the Siege of Leningrad. During the Great Patriotic War (WWII) German forces cut off the Soviet city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) from the rest of the country with intense bombing raids and tank roadblocks. The siege lasted for 872 days: from September 8 […]

Besides the New Year, Victory Day and perhaps the 8th of March, the next biggest holidays on most Russians’ rosters are actually their birthdays! The sheer level of drama that they entail, and the full-scale productions that they become are most certainly worthy of them being labeled cultural events. While I have been a guest […]

To the reader: These vignettes are a collection of personal essays of my childhood experiences growing up in the former Soviet Union and my later impressions based on travels to Ukraine and to Russia as a college student. Please be aware that since most of my childhood was spent in the Ukrainian SSR while it […]

The following bilingual Russian MiniLesson is meant to build your vocabulary by providing Russian phrases within English text. Hover over the bold Russian to reveal its English translation. This topic is doubly pertinent this month, as has just passed, but also because many  are likely to be affected by the new law on NGOs. The […]