The Saiga Antelope

http://www.rawstory.com/

Saiga antelopes used to have widespread populations throughout the northern hemisphere.  Today’s saiga antelope populations are mainly isolated to Kalmykia and Kazakhstan.

http://www.ultimateungulate.com/

 In May of 2015, the already endangered saiga antelopes faced huge die-offs, killing half of their populations in a few months. 

http://thewildlife.wbur.org/

This picture shows one heard that died off

The die-offs have now ended but the cause of the deaths is still unknown, many speculate that a bacterial disease was at fault.

Here's a link to a cute baby saiga antelope video

Russian 101, Unit 3: Zinaida Serebryakova

 

(Self Portrait at the Dressing Table)

Zinaida Yevgenyevna Serebryakova was born into a family that encircled themselves in the art world. Her father Yevgey, a famous sculptor, her mother a painter and her three brothers (one a painter, one a graphic artist, and one a sculptor)—naturally, in this family, she’d be not only interested in art but also, have talent in painting. After grammar school (or high school in Russian), she went to an Art School created by Princess Tenisheva (school name was known as Princess Tenisheva Art School) in St. Petersburg where she was directed by the realist painter Ilya Repin. Later, she studied at a studio directed by Osip Braz—and after studying at the studio, she decided to travel to Italy from 1902-1903. In going to Italy, she traveled to paris and studed for one full year at the Academie de la Grande Chaumierce. In returning home, she joined a type of Artist alliance in Russian where she displayed her paintings at a exhibition. A particular painting that led Serebryakova to her first step to fame as one of the first female Russian painters was her Self Portrait at the Dressing table—the painting was critique for its originality and its lack of pretension. Serebryakova was very interested in having her paintings be brought to life with the use of vivid colors and making her art so realistic (by using the geographical landscape and using the sculpture bodies as reference for her subjects). Later on in life, she married a famous writer and railway engineer named Boris Serebraykov—which they had 4 children together. Unfortunately, for Zinaida, her life took a turn for the worst when the October Revolution began. Riots took place in St Petersburg first and later spread to the capital of Russia, spreading chaos. This revolution had made Zinaida  lose her home, her husband (who died of typhus)—leaving her no choice but to escape to Paris with her 4 children. Over at Paris, she had to work to make a living. Although she could continue to draw and paint in her spare time, due to the low income, she had to use more charcoal, papers and pencils rather than paint to save some of the money. However, with that lack of art supplies, she was able to create a masterpiece that also gained Zinaida fame, the Castle of Cards--which depicted the lifestyle she and her 4 childrens faced during the October Revolution and their lifestyle at Paris. From that point on, with charcoal, pencil and some colors, she was able to draw some beautiful paintings--from ballerinas to nudity. And in the end, Zinaida Serebryakova spent her last moments at Paris.

When I look at the Self Portrait, rather than a lack of pretnsion, it seemed brilliant and vivid. It was almost like I was looking at someone else or myself through the mirror.

Russian 101, Unit 2: Kulich

Russian Pasteries vary from pancakes to just regular cakes. However, there is one speacial cake that is offered every year on Easter Sunday known as Kulich. The Russians or families linage is from Russia sometimes say that this recipe was passed down by their great-grandmothers. The Kulich is a very tall, cylinder sweet cake that sometimes contain lots of almonds, raisins or fruits on the cake. The cake is usually sliced and is spread with a special sweet cheese known as paskha. The origins of the cake was to be said dated back when the Greek Orthodox Church forbid the comsumption of the 'forbidden ingredients' such as: eat meat, eggs, butter or other dairy products. Then, when Easter Sunday comes, the Church allows the people to eat the forbidden ingredients, making the cake famous for its large porportion of eggs and butter in the cakes ingredient.

Ingredients for Kulich

200 ml whole milk
25 g fresh yeast
450 - 500 g flour
200 ml sugar
4 egg yolks
3 - 4 egg whites
100 g almonds + some for garnishing
¼ tsp salt
150 g butter
(1 tsp vanilla sugar)
pinch of saffron threads
½ - 1 tbsp vodka

To Russia in 2018!

So, I'm sure a lot of you have heard about the results of the location decisions for the FIFA World Cup in футбол. Here's some more info on it and its other sporty activities :)

Taken form the BBC News Website:

The impact of winning the bid was illustrated in the headline "Russia, live with the World" which appeared in one of the main Russian newspapers.

And analysts suggest that the World Cup will improve the institutions of civil society and the well-being of the nation.

Government support was a key factor in securing the tournament for Russia and the country will be a focus for major sporting events in the next eight years.

Apart from the Winter Olympics and Kazan Universiade, there will be a first Formula One grand prix in Russia in 2014, the World Athletics Championships in 2013 and, more than likely, the ice hockey World Championship in 2016.

Also, my recordings are with David Kincaid's post.

Russian Online Radio Website

http://www.101.ru/

This is a great website full of different types of online russian radio stations It's all in Russian, but радио isn't all that hard to figure out, now is it? :P

Also, my recordings are with David K's post.