Can You See Russia from Alaska?

        Yes! You can actually see Russia from an island; they are basically next door neighbors. The U.S. bought Alaska from Russia in 18567 for 7.2 million dollars. Russia and America are divided by the Bering Strait which at its narrowest point is 55 miles wide, but there are two small islands in the middle of the Bering Strait. The Diomede Islands are differentiated by their size. There is the Big Diomede which sits in Russian territory and the Little Diomede which is part of the United States. These two islands are less that 4 Kilometers apart, making it about a 2.5 mile distance from shore to shore. In the winter when the Strait freezes any explorer could just walk from one to the other. People have been known to try and swim. Some even succeed. 

Wonder Woman: The baby making machine!

The first wife of Feodor Vassilyev, a peasant from Shuya, Russia who lived from 1707-1782 is the woman who holds the world record for the Most babies ever birthed by one woman, having had 69 babies! Out of the 69 born 67 of them survived through infancy.  Even crazier is the fact she only gave birth 27 times between 1725 and 1765!.... How'd that happen? --> She gave birth to sixteen pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets!! Talk about a lot of babies! Although there have been some doubts about the accuracy of this, it holds true enough that she still has the official spot in the Guinness Book of World Records! The mother also holds the records for giving birth to the most sets of twins and the most sets of quadruplets.

Red and Green

The Red Country is going… green?

Red Square. White Snow. Of all the colors commonly associated with Russia, I would not imagine that green is often one of them. However, it seems only appropriate that we usher in our recent season change by discussing something Spring-y, and no one can deny that Russia has something interesting going on with its trees.

Russia’s national tree (yes, countries lay claim to particular trees) is the birch.  In ancient times, Slavs would worship this prodigious plant as a goddess, thinking that it had the power to repel evil spirits and grant wishes. As time progressed birches became a common theme in traditional Russian culture, featured in everything from novels to folklore. Birch sandals were all the rage before society discovered the mystical flip-flop-foam plant, and (no surprise here) many Russians even attempted to drink the birch juices in search of its supposedly famed healing properties.

In a thought-provoking number scheme, approximately 1/4 of Russia is covered by trees – trees which collectively make up about 22% of all the trees in the world. A quarter of Russia, a quarter of the world… Scary. This number is almost twice as much as the second most forested country, Brazil.

But 22% of the world’s trees can’t all be birches – and indeed Russia is home to a number of other little arbors. In fact, Sochi’s palm trees were a common topic of conversation during this year’s Winter Olympics, because it seems absolutely absurd that such a tropical plant could survive in the frigid Russian environment. Again, people… *insert heavy accent here* In Soviet Russia, palm trees like snow.

Whether it be a birch, a palm, or some other plant, the things that I'm reading seem to suggest that Russians place much more emphasis on respecting, and benefiting from, nature than a number of other cultures. One article said something that I love: “If you see a Russian tenderly hugging a birch, do not be worried; there is no need to call an ambulance. Sometimes a tree can be much more healing than the best doctors.” A good thing to keep in mind, now that Florida is finally warming up.

Chillin' with the palms in Sochi

http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/17/10-bizarre-facts-about-russia-you-did-not-know-slideshow/

http://okmagazine.com/get-scoop/6-surprising-facts-about-sochi-russia-home-of-the-2014-winter-olympics/

http://www.otherpress.com/books/russians-love-birch-trees/

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_country_has_the_most_trees_in_the_world?#slide=1

http://rt.com/news/prime-time/birch-tree-juice-dance/

Kizhi Pogost

Kizhi pogost is a historical site, made back in the 17th century on Kizhi island. The island is located on Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia. The pogost itself consists of 3 buildings: two large wooden churches-- the transfiguration church and the intercession church-- and a bell tower. The transfiguration church has 22 domes on the top, whereas the intercession church has 9. It's pretty obvious which one is which by looking at the picture of the 3 buildings. The Intercession church was the first on the island after a fire destroyed all the churches on the island in the late 17th century. All 3 buildings are built entirely out of wood and with no nails. 

An up close look at the domes of the Transfiguration Church.

Nesting dolls

For Christmas this year I received a set of Nesting Dolls from a family friend because they learned I was in a Russian class. I decided to learn a bit out the history of the Russian nesting dolls. The first set of dolls was carved in 1890 by Vasily Zvyozdochkin who used a design by Sergey Malyutin. The biggest doll is usually a woman dressed in a sarafan, then the dolls within can be any gender, and then the smallest doll is usually a solid wooden baby. Nesting dolls can come in different themes, for instance, Russian leaders.

Anna Pavlova – Innovator of Modern Point Shoe

Anna Pavlova was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev. Pavlova is most recognized for the creation of the role The Dying Swan and, with her own company, became the first ballerina to tour ballet around the world.

Anna Pavlova was born on January 31, 1881 in Ligovo, Saint Petersburg, Russia. Pavlova's passion for the art of ballet was ignited when her mother took her to a performance of Marius Petipa's original production of The Sleeping Beauty at the Imperial Maryinsky Theater. She was not accepted to ballet school until the age of 10 because she was tall and “sickly” looking. She struggled to learn the art of ballet because she had severely arched feet, thin ankles and long, thin legs. She graduated in 1899 at age 18 and became part of the Imperial Ballet. Her dancing paid little heed to academic rules: she frequently performed with bent knees, bad turnout, misplaced port de bras and incorrectly placed tours. Critics compared her to the romantic ballerinas of old time.

Her ankles were weaker than most ballerinas and her feet were extremely rigid, so she strengthened her pointe shoe by adding a piece of hard wood on the soles for support and curving the box of the shoe. At the time, many considered this "cheating", for a ballerina of the era was taught that she, not her shoes, must hold her weight en pointe. In Pavlova's case this was extremely difficult, as the shape of her feet required her to balance her weight on her little toes. Her solution became, over time, the precursor of the modern pointe shoe, as pointe work became less painful and easier for curved feet. With these newly revised pointe shoes, Pavlova created her most famous role as the Dying Swan. Pavlova passed away on January 23, 1931 after refusing to have an operation for pneumonia when the doctors told her she would never dance again.

Сегодня в лингафонном кабинете...

Здравствуйте! Сегодня среда, 19-ое марта. Что нового?? Как жизнь? What's new, how's life?

Take your quiz! On the back, you'll find a few questions to answer after you've listened to this listening exercise, Давайте послушаем! 

The store is called На вкус и свет, which is the beginning of a saying in Russian: На вкус и свет, товарищей нет! When it comes to taste (вкус)  and color (свет), there are no comrades (товарищи)! That's just a way of saying that tastes differ. 

You'll find this vocabulary useful:

When you've completed the listening exercise, have it checked by me or the tutors, then... пожалуйста, к столу! Let's do some work on the verb нравиться, to be pleasing to. 

Russian Tea Cakes

Oddly enough the Russian Tea Cake is neither Russian nor a cake nor does it have anything to do with tea. A very basic pastry made out of flour, water, butter, and ground nuts, the spherical sweet is traditionally made in the Christmas season. Traditionally in the United States, that is. The type of nut varies from family to family, recipe to recipe and doesn't matter. Another name, snowball cookies, comes from the way the individual confections are rolled in powdered sugar. Interestingly, the recipe can be more easily traced to Mexico than Europe, although some people speculate that it came through European missionaries and nuns. 

Ingredients: recipe makes 3 dozen

 1 cup butter

 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

 2 cups all-purpose flour

 1 cup chopped walnuts

 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Check All Add to Shopping List

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a medium bowl, cream butter and vanilla until smooth. Combine the 6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar and flour; stir into the butter mixture until just blended. Mix in the chopped walnuts. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, and place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. When cool, roll in remaining confectioners' sugar. I also like to roll mine in the sugar a second time.

Сегодня в лингафонном кабинете...

Здравствуйте! Сегодня среда, двенадцатое марта. Как вы поживаете? How's it going?

A lot of news about Russia and the Ukraine. MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Next Tuesday, at 4 o'clock in the Language Commons (lab) of Sampson Hall, we'll have a second "What's happening in Ukraine" flash-forum. Our guest will be the eminent expert Dominique Arel, the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at University of Ottawa. He'll join our own local eminent experts, Dr. Eugene Huskey and Dr. Mayhill Fowler. In addition to cultural credit and wisdom, I'll incentivize your attendance by removing an absence from Elementary Russian rolls! 

If you are at all interested in security, political science, politics, history, etc etc... you should read this article about the shortage of experts on... Russia and Eurasia. SO COOL! ТАК ЗДОРОВО! You're so smart, you're ALREADY studying Russia, Russian, Russian politics, Ukrainian history, etc. etc... 

OK, за работу! Let's get to work... 

You need to take your quiz, work at tables, sit with me while I grade your portfolio... But, here and now, пока вы сидите за компьютером... while you're at the computer, read and listen to this (exciting!) Power Point on the past tense of the verb быть, to be. There's a brief listening exercise at the end of the presentation. 

It should take you five minutes. 

Then, either head to the tables for a little more work, and find me so we can grade your portfolio... 

Maslenitsa

Here in America, we celebrate winter coming to into spring simply by throwing all of our heavy clothes to the back of the dresser until the following year. In Russia, the celebration from winter to spring is a week long even known as Maslenitsa. It has both a pagan and christian history; in Pagan, Maslenitsa is celebrated on equinox; in christianity, it is celebrated the week before lent and is in preparation for spring.
In the christian religion, there is merrymaking happening all around, but one also must rid oneself of all meats, dairy, fish and eggs. This time is used to celebrate spiritual life and nothing more.

The Traditional Maslenitsa schedule looks on the line of this:

Monday-  The day of welcoming: The children assemble a Maslenitsa doll that is made of straw and women's clothing. They then place it on a pole and go dancing in khorovods. Afterwards, it is carried up to a snow hill and people then slide back down. "The rich start baking pancakes on this day, while the poor can only afford it doing it on Thursday or Friday. Traditionally, the first pancake goes to beggars to pay the tribute to the memory of deceased relatives. It was a common knowledge that if one doesn’t have as much fun as he or she could during Maslenitsa, they are doomed to grow old in loneliness and misery. Daughters-in-law are sent to their parents’ homes, with their husbands’ families joining them by the end of the day for a substantial holiday meal."

Tuesday- The day of fun and matchmaking: This day is full of fun and mischief. Children play in ice castles and eat tons of pancakes. Men kiss girls on the streets as if it means nothing and single guys rent sleighs to impress all of the beautiful girls. 

Wednesday- Visitation: Sons in law would pay to enjoy their mother in law's pancakes and the mother would then invite other guests over as well to enjoy the visitation. 

Thursday- Anger retreat: On this day, all work and merrymaking ceases and now violence begins. "On this day fist fights traditionally take place. Fist fighting is said to commemorate Russian military history, when soldiers supposedly fought each other in hand-to-hand combat. “Never hit a man when he is down”, states a Russian proverb, and its roots are found in this Maslenitsa."

Friday- Mother's day: Basically another day of family reunions and eating pancakes

Saturday- Sister day: "On this day young wives would invite their sisters-in-law for a feast to cajole them and win their favor. If husbands' sisters are single, young men are expected to attend the party. If they are married, she would invite all her married relatives along and the whole train would travel from one household to another.This ritual was of significance, since the relationship between the young wife and her sister-in-law initially was expected to be rather tense."

Sunday- Forgiveness day: On this day, presents are present to family members and/or sweethearts and forgiveness is asked for from those around them for all sins that had been committed in the year. This day is also when the doll made on Monday is burned and, once it was reduced to ashes, the young generation would walk over it, thus ending the festivities. 

http://russiapedia.rt.com/of-russian-origin/maslenitsa/

-Brooke Shepko