President Vladimir Putin had defended the annexation of Crimea that happened earlier this year.  He called the reunification of Russia and Crimea a historical event, turning  to ancient history to extract the roots of the matter. Also had mentioned that the annexation has a special meaning because so many Russian people had already lived in Crime and the territory itself is strategically important. Crimea, as Putin said, is as important to Russia as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The president noted that Russia had always supported Ukraine's Sovereignty but not the armed capture of power that happened in Kiev prior. Russia continues to support Ukraine's economy, despite their relations with Kiev.

http://m.ria.ru/politics/20141204/1036533683.html

Russia's Ground Forces are set to purchase over 11,000 pieces of new armored vehicles and modernized weaponry by 2020.  The share of advanced weaponry in the Russian army is set to reach 70% by 2020.  The government also plans to buy over 14,000 pieces of modern sample vehicles, which will include such as:

                    -Modernized T-72B3 tanks

                    -Bronetransportyor BTR-82

                    -Modernized BMP-2

Commander-in-chief, Salyukov, has noted that by the end of 2015, their plan is to complete the development of new generation vehicles: "Armat", BMP "Kurganets", and BTR "Boomerang".

Trololo

As with everything else the internet finds entertaining, this is a strange one. Trololo is a "RickRoll"-esque video which gained popularity in late 2009. The old Russian song, similar in style to American jazz scat music, is titled "Я очень рад, ведь я, наконец, возвращаюсь домой" or "Indeed I am very glad that I am finally returning home". The performer is Edward Hill, who was given a few honors for being a popular and talented singer during the Soviet era. The result is a silly video of him failing to lipsynch a song that he supposedly sung. It's a cultural thing on a few different levels due to the age of the song, the popularity of the singer, and the video's resurgence as a joke in America. Give it a try, it'll stick with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=251Lp4fOmcM (Video)

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trololo-russian-rickroll (Article)

Russian Folk Remedies

Because medicine is expensive in Russia, the people prefer to use home remedies because they aren't as expensive, they're easier, and they seem to work great!

For a sore throat there are three different remedies you can use. They are: 1) bring a cup of milk to a gentle boil and stir in two tbsps. of honey and serve warm. 2) take three tbsps. of honey, and one tbsp. each of finely chopped onions and grated apples. 3) grate beets and squeeze out the juice until you have eight ounces and then add one tbsp. of vinegar, gargle the mixture five times a day.

For a headache there are two different remedies: 1) gently massage your temples with a grated lemon. 2) drink a cup of green tea laced with fresh mint.

For colds there are two different remedies: 1) pour two cups of boiling water over four tsps. of fresh raspberries and raspberry leaves and let the mixture steep for four hours, drink the warm concoction four times a day. 2) chop four tsps. of horseradish very fine, wrap the bits in hot gauze and then tie the gauze to the back of the head.

For nasal congestion: 1) cover one chopped garlic clove with one tbsp. of vegetable oil and let it steep overnight, strain it in the morning and use as nose drops.

For cough: 1) small pieces of paper covered with mustard flour (called gorchichnki) are soaked in very warm water and placed on the chest for ten to twenty minutes while the person is underneath a blanket; after the treatment, the person stays in bed all night so as to not lose the the warmth generated by the gorchichnki.

Russian singer Vitas!!

The lyrics are very moving and thought provoking.

His full name is Vitaliy Vladasovich Grachyov but his stage name is Vitas. He was born in Daugavpils, Latvia on February 19, 1981 and was raised in Odessa, Ukraine. Vitas was discovered by Sergey Pudovkin and invited him to Moscow based soley on his acting, but he had not heard Vitas' voice yet. He made his debut with Opera No. 2 in Russia in December 2000. He was notable because of his energetic and surprisingly high-pitched vocals. Vitas performed his concert program, Philosophy of Miracle at the State Kremlin Place on March 29, 2002; he was the youngest artist to perform a solo concert there. He tours around Russia, as well as the entire world, bringing his mysteriousness and enchantment to all those that see him. I have definitely been enchanted by him and his voice. Vitas is indeed married to a Svetlana and they have one child so far.

Typical Russian Weddings

In a typical Russian wedding, the groom arrives at his bride's home with his closest friends and pays a 'ransom' for the bride. A ransom would typically include: honey, candy, reading a poem, dancing, singing, etc. but he would only have to do this if he answered a question wrong about his bride. After that is done, they all would ride down to the department of public services or "ZAGS" to register their marriage. Now marrying religiously is an option, but not required since Russia does not recognize it as official. Afterwards, it is customary for the newlyweds and their close friends to go see the sights and have a few drinks for about 2-3 hours then they go to the wedding reception. At the wedding reception it is all fun and games. Literally. There is tons of drinking, drinking games, and games I have no clue what they're called! In the video. There is this one game where someone walks as fast as they can around a plate with their finger on it and then when they lift their finger off of it, they keep on spinning and run into people or people try (and usually fail) to catch them. I think that that looks like so much fun!!! A wedding reception last about 2-3 days and it is full of fun, games, drinking, eating, and sleeping by everyone.

Ruble Conversion

As Josh and I practiced reading dialogues, we came across a sentence that implied 50 rubles was worth 5 cents. This seemed outrageous to us. One dollar could not equal 1000 rubles. We thought that the conversion rate was closer to 10-16 rubles to 1 dollar. We were still wrong. This website (which updates itself every minute) gives the estimate of around 31.5 rubles to the dollar. I thought it would be neat to have a link on Bear in a Hat to a website that would always have relatively accurate exchange rate information. So here it is!

http://www.xe.com/currency/rub-russian-ruble

EDIT: We read it wrong and the original phrase that sparked this blog post was really about one ruble and fifty kopeks.

Top Song in Russia (for now)

The artist is Elka, and when I first heard the song it seemed happy and bouncy! and once I looked up/translated the lyrics, it was indeed happy and bouncy, literally! and also very colorful.


Russian Lyrics:

На большом воздушном шаре
На большом воздушном шаре

Куплет первый:
Мы с тобой возьмём мешков с песком побольше
Чтобы дольше быть поближе к метео
Мы с тобой возьмём мешков с песком побольше
Сбросим их на пляжи южных берегов

Припев (2 раза):
На большом воздушном шаре
Мандаринового цвета
Мы с тобой проводим это лето

Куплет второй:
Будь готов летать мы будем очень долго
Миллионы песен с высоты споём
Мы с тобой закрасим небо в ярко синий
Чтобы выделяться выгодно на нём

Припев.

На большом воздушном шаре



English Lyrics:

On a large balloon
On a large balloon

Verse One:
We are with you take the sandbags more
To be closer to the long weather
We are with you take the sandbags more
Dropping them on the beaches of the southern shores

Chorus (2 times):
On a large balloon
Tangerine color
We're holding this summer

Verse Two:
Be ready to fly we will be very long
Millions of songs to sing high
We paint the sky with you in a bright blue
To stand out favorably for him

Chorus.

On a large balloon

Russian Childhood Stories: Princess Frog

When I first saw the title, I thought it was going to be kind of like the American story: The Princess and the Frog. But as I was reading it, it was nothing like that story! It was very different from what I expected. The story is about three princes, they make a bow and shoot an arrow into the world and the maiden who brings back their arrow, they shall marry him. The eldest marrys a prince's daughter, the middle marrys a general's daughter, and the youngest marrys a frog because the arrow was shot into a marsh. (It gets even better!). The king sets three challenges or tasks to his new daughter-in-laws. He wanted to find out which one was the better seamtress, the better baker, and the better dancer. The youngest's wife excels in all the tasks. How you ask? well, you need to read the story! you can find it here: http://russian-crafts.com/russian-folk-tales/princess-frog.html  . In any case, the youngest prince sets out to find his wife after a year because he burned the frog skin. He went from the youngest sister's house to the eldest's house. At the eldests' house, he saved his wife from marrying someone else and they went back to Rus.