We discovered another fairy tale park. Or maybe it’s a Soviet cartoon park? This place is hidden away in a larger park in the city’s metallurgical district. Let’s see who lives here… Ну, погоди! Meet Волк and Заяц, stars of … Read More
Summer is high season for children’s camps in Russia. Although I don’t usually work with young kids, I couldn’t escape it this time. 😂 To be fair, they were adorable. And I quickly realized that if I worked more often … Read More
How to spend a weekend in Chelyabinsk… The Кумыс Farm Кумыс – fermented mare’s milk – is a popular drink in many parts of the country. It supposedly can cure all sorts of ailments; Tolstoy and Chekov both used it … Read More
Here’s a look at what I have been reading lately… Picnic at The Iron Curtain: A Memoir 1986. A Canadian woman, studying for her M.A. in London, is hit by a truck and confined to a hospital bed. Her convalescence … Read More
Welcome to Фестиваль песочных скульптур, the Chelyabinsk Sand Art Festival!🥳 This exhibit opened downtown a few weeks ago as part of the city’s 285th anniversary celebration. The sand – all eight hundred tons of it – is from the nearby … Read More
It’s real summer now, and Russia is again entering into unreasonably hot days. There’s a 35C (95F) band of weather that keeps bouncing between the Urals and European Russia. Moscow and St Petersburg just made it through an unpleasant heatwave, … Read More
My dream came true! Моя мечта сбылась! We finally visited Innopolis! 😁 What is Innopolis? “A city for your ideas.” Innopolis is a brand new Russian city. As you can imagine, building a city from scratch is a daunting task. … Read More
Last month my husband attended an event at Innopolis University, and I tagged along with him. Innopolis is a small, brand-new city 40 kilometers from Kazan. It’s an incredible place, full of self-driving cars, food delivery robots, and smart students … Read More
A sequel to 2020’s Covid vocab in Russian, in which we examined news headlines. This time, let’s take a look at billboards and signs… Phrase #1. наденьте маску = put on a mask. If you want to talk about putting … Read More
Last year I read a book about Russian moms. Although the book itself wasn’t spectacular, the chapter on school was full of interesting stuff. Schools in Russia – especially high schools – are no joke! Even understanding all the available … Read More