Author Archives: Josefina

Hey! Originally I’m from Gothenburg, Sweden, but for the past four years (and two months) I’ve been living in Russia. I’ve lived in Saint Petersburg, in Omsk (SIBERIA!), and since August 2006 I’m a student at Ural State University in Yekaterinburg. Needless to say - I love Russia and everything Russian. Especially Russian literature. Oh and I suppopse you’d like to know that I’m a Masters student now and that I’m writing a thesis on Dostoevsky? Plus I teach Swedish to Russian students. I love teaching! Also I love grammar. It’s awesome :) plus vodka. And… wine. But that’s probably private information ;)

Word of the Week: «Герой» [hero]

November 18, 2008 – 3:02 am

«Жить в России - быть героем» [‘To live in Russia is to be a hero'].
Once upon a time, back in the time of the turbulent 90’s, there was a political party called «Народная партия» [‘The People's Party'] in Russia. I do not know anything about this party, all I know is that it no longer [...]

Posted in language | Comments (0)

The «Русский Паспорт» vs. My Swedish Passport

November 14, 2008 – 6:56 am

Some things happen for a reason. Other things happen for other reasons. Yesterday my wallet, my cell phone and my friend’s memory card (that she naively enough trusted me with) were stolen «среди белого дня» [‘in bright daylight'] from my backpack during lunch break at the university. Yes, I can think of funnier things to [...]

Posted in Culture, Soviet Union, Traditions | Comments (1)

One Year With Russian Blog!

November 9, 2008 – 11:19 am

On the 9th of November 2007 I published my first post here on this blog, which is one year ago today, something that calls for a few reflections on the year gone by. This year has been a learning experience for me; I have learned so much, much of things I never thought I’d need [...]

Posted in History | Comments (15)

Word of the Week: Барак Обама [Barack Obama]

November 7, 2008 – 10:06 am

While the world is still dizzy with joy and full of metaphysical expectations after Barack Obama won the elections in USA this Tuesday, my mind is, though not far from a cry of happiness, also filled with other reflections. One of these is how to deal with the new president’s name in Russian. With George [...]

Posted in Culture, language | Comments (11)

Introducing: «Единый день народных сметанников» [United Day of People’s Smetanniki]

November 4, 2008 – 10:12 am

Hello gorgeous! Шесть свежевыпеченных сметанников (из магазина) [six freshly baked 'smetannikis' (from the store)] and the celebration of November 4th can begin!
This morning when I woke up late there was but one question on my unglossed lips - how should I celebrate today’s beautiful holiday? «Сегодня всё-таки “День народного единства”!» [Today is after all The [...]

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There’s Something Right About This Picture…

November 3, 2008 – 1:16 pm

By the time everyone guessed right - to which I must say «молодцы!» - my Korean roommate counted just how many new words she’s been learning a week, and fixed it in the following manner: «160 (сто шестдесять) новых слов за неделю!» [160 new words a week!]. Now is there anyone out there prepared to [...]

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What’s wrong with this picture?

November 1, 2008 – 1:10 am

My Korean roommate put up this piece of paper on our wall about a month ago. Only a few days ago did I realize that it is not a correct message in Russian grammatically speaking; no matter how great and ambitious it may be generally speaking. And so I was forced to accept the bitter facts [...]

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Word of the Week: пить [to drink]

October 29, 2008 – 12:39 pm

The word of the week today is a part of a delicate subject. I know. But this is Russian language and since some people tend to consider this language to have as many words for sipping drinks as the Eskimos do for snow, then I would like to set the record straight and clear up [...]

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Проблема с iPod…ом? [Problem with the iPod?]

October 26, 2008 – 4:57 am

It was my favorite case already from the start. And no other case has ever been able to take its place as number one in my heart. Yes, I’m talking about «творительный падеж» [instrumental case]. Back when I first made my acquaintance with the six splendid cases of Russian language - yes, let’s all repeat [...]

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Who Was Sverdlov? and what’s with his statue still standing?

October 23, 2008 – 11:26 am

Seemingly a day like any other, today I was present during a literary seminary at my university dealing with the heroic and historic short novel «Тарас Бульба» ["Taras Bulba"] by everyone’s favorite Николай Гоголь [Nikolay Gogol']. After about thirty minutes of pure literary theoretic discussion, all of the sudden the professor - the sweetest пушкиновед [...]

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