This is Lesson 10, Part 1 of Olga’s Blog, a series of intermediate Russian lessons.Hover over the bold Russian to reveal its English translation (note that most of the highlighted words will have additional linguistic/cultural commentary below). Red words and phrases indicate the subject of this blog entry’s grammar lesson.  Привет всем! Наступили долгожданные каникулы. Чем […]

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. In the 20th century,   5 times, and each time the elections procedure was different. However,  of the 16th Patriarch, which are scheduled for the end of January, […]

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 […]

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. Russian has two distinct words for truth, although both can be translated to English as simply “truth.” “Правда” is generally thought of in the same context as […]

Ghosts of Holidays Past: Interview with Kim Balaschak by Josh Wilson The expat community in Moscow functions much like a smaller town in the US, where the degrees of separation between individuals rarely total more than two. So it was that my email address had crossed Kim Balaschak’s computer (through a mutual Russian acquaintance) and […]

While stories about Dobrynya Nikitich, Ilya Muromets, and Sadko were being sung in Kievan Rus’ – the Slavic state dominated by the city of Kiev from the ninth until the twelfth centuries – Anglo-Saxon, or Old English poetry had already extended from oral to written production in the form of Beowulf.[1] Beowulf is a Christian reworking of oral […]

The Tran-Siberian Railway is the ultimate rail journey: the longest in the world – possibly the coldest if you go at the wrong time of year. A journey of almost mythical proportions that spans two continents while staying in a single country; without leaving your seat you clatter your way along almost a third of […]

In Kiev store signs and street markings are in Ukrainian, and although I could still read all of them, half the time, I could not understand what they meant. The drive from Borispol airport to T. Clara’s apartment deep inside Kiev was speedy, thanks to our driver who traveled well over the km/hr speed limit. […]