May 03, 2018

Flagging Relations, Funny Money, and Floating Laundromats


Flagging Relations, Funny Money, and Floating Laundromats

What Goes Up Must Come Down

1. It’s harder to rally round the flag when you have no flag. Russia is insisting that the United States return the Russian flag to its rightful place on the flagpole at Russia’s seized consulate in Seattle. Oh, and Russia would also like its consulate back. In the meantime, Russia polled Twitter users regarding which American consulate Russia should close, which led to the closing of the (un)lucky American consulate in St. Petersburg. As for the Russian flag, a U.S. diplomat confirmed that it will be returned to Russia. All in all, this is looking to be yet another “banner” year for U.S.-Russia relations.

Photo: Vexillus from Glasgow, Scotland

 

2. The Russian ruble was knocked down a few pegs, literally. Vandals destroyed a monument to the Russian ruble outside the Central Bank branch in Syktyvkar, Russia. The once sleek, glass-and-metal structure is now a pile of glass shards and an overturned ruble sign. This incident hits a little too close to home, as the ruble recently fell against the dollar after newly imposed American sanctions. At press time, the vandals were still unknown, but you can bet your bottom ruble that if caught, they will pay dearly.

Ruble ruckus

Photo: ProГОРОД

 

3. That’s one more item checked off the laundry list! The town of Veliky Ustyug is building floating laundromats at the junction of its two rivers. Keep in mind, these aren’t your everyday American laundromats: these are laundry stations that help people better wash their clothes in the river. There’s even a chance Ded Moroz (Father Frost), Russia’s version of Santa Claus, will give his clothes a good rinse there, as he is rumored to live in the town. If hand washing your clothes with Russia’s Santa doesn’t sound like good clean fun, then we don’t know what does.  

In Odder News:

Tiger hunting

Photo: Kaliningradru

 

  • A whole different animal: a zoo practices catching tigers by dressing up an employee in a tiger costume. Hilarity ensues.

  • A last minute goal is scored as the Samara World Cup stadium is finished the day before its first test match

  • Check out Russian artist Anastasia Bulgakova’s spot-on drawings of different countries as warriors

Quote of the Week:

“Pretty, cold, straightforward and with diplomatic skills of a sewer drain. Still, if you know her a bit, she will show you how warm and loving she can actually be.”

— Anastasia Bulgakova’s description of her personified sci-fi drawing of Russia

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Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

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The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.

 
Survival Russian
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Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

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93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

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At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

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