Winter in the Urals seems like a time to settle for bland food—potatoes, frozen veggies, the occasional imported orange—but nope, the city is actually bursting with dragonfruit, lychee, and locally-grown lettuce. This carries over into the restaurant scene. Meals come … Read More
Russian vocabulary + a famous face… can you help me figure these out? #1. What’s the difference between оливки and маслины? Are they simply green olives vs black olives? #2. What’s the difference between адвокат and юрист? #3. Why is … Read More
January felt like a good month for learning Russian! This year we took part in a legit Крещение celebration, the kind that has a village priest standing on ice at night, reading aloud from the Bible, with a choir singing behind … Read More
I read this in a fashion magazine last month: Думаешь над фэмили-луком? What, фэмили-лук? Hmmm…. A few days later I passed a store window advertising matching his-and-hers holiday sweaters with the words семейный образ. What’s the difference? How do people … Read More
What are you listening to these days? I’ve been listening to a lot of radio, which Yandex drivers usually have tuned to the Top-40 stations, and I’m now ready to make an extremely official music report for you. 😉 Here’s … Read More
We’re in the middle of winter #2 in Chelyabinsk. While there are plenty of foreigners here, it’s still a bit of an adventure to explore the city. Chelyabinsk is not as well-documented as other large Russian cities. This makes everything … Read More
Anyone else out there who goes overboard when it comes to buying foreign language books? I used to bring home new Russian books all the time… until it became clear how long it actually takes to go through a single … Read More
Here’s what I’m planning to read on Kindle this year: Update: ✔️ = finished! Books I started in 2019: ✔️ The Anna Karenina Fix As they say on the internet: В любой непонятной ситуации читай русскую классику, там всё у … Read More
С наступающим! Do you have plans for New Year’s Eve yet? We don’t have anything planned so far (total 😳😳😳) but it’s been fun to see everyone getting into the holiday spirit here. This month I watched 3 movies in … Read More
Moscow in December 2018. Have you ever visited Moscow in December? Or would you prefer to visit in a different season?