Russian Word of the Day: Форточка...doesn't quite translate, read below

Форточка-fOrtochka

A small window above the main window.

Alright, you're thinking, "why would I ever need to know this word?"  Once you've lived in Russia during the winter you'll understand.

THIS IS A ФОРТОЧКА, YOU IGNORANT FOOLS!

Wikipedia describes the форточка as a 'предназначенная для вентиляции' ('part of the window designated for ventillation) and that it's 'характернa для стран с холодным климатом, где есть необходимость проветривать помещение, не охлаждая его чрезмерно' (characteristic of countries with a cold climate where it is necessary to air out the place without cooling down the room too much).

As you might know, Russians are very wary of drafts and cold air (which is why even when it's 100 degrees outside people refuse to open windows on the steamy, stinky and crowded buses).  Thus, the форточка is up high so that cold air doesn't flow directly on you.  Furthermore, in apartment buildings with a boiler system you don't have control over how hot your apartment gets and it can get really warm.  So these little форточки are very handy.

One time my friend Pasha, whom I've mentioned in many posts on this blog, was trying to tell me some story.  But I don't really remember why he was telling me that story or even what the story entailed because we got so caught up on the impossible translation of the word форточка.

If I remember right it was something about a bird flying in through the форточка. But Pasha didn't know how to translate форточка and kept saying, "you know, that little window at the top that you open". We don't have these in America where I live so I didn't know what he was talking about.  He got increasingly more irritated when I insisted that we don't have those in America.  He kept saying, "Well what do you do in the winter when it gets hot inside?" Umm, you just turn down the heat. He was not satisfied with this answer and just got so irritated that we couldn't see eye to eye on this matter that he just dropped the subject altogether. To this day I don't know the end of his story about the bird that flew in through the 'little window at the top', but I do know the moral of it: Be culturally sensitive--know what a форточка is.

Russian Word of the Day: Блин-pancake, crap

Блин- bleen - a pancake or 'crap' as in an exclamation

Русские блины Russian crepe-like pancakes. They definitely don't taste like crap.

When I first lived in Russia I taught English at a school where wrestlers were training.  After my classes I would hang out with these wrestlers and just shoot the breeze and try and learn Russian. Well one word that I heard these wrestlers saying all the time was (one of many) Russian f-words  and it begins with БЛ... Well, I heard them saying it CONSTANTLY, felt like it was obviously a very important part of Russian speech and so I asked what it meant.  One of the wrestlers tried to explain (they didn't speak English at all) by picking up a book and dropping it on the floor and then casually saying "БЛ***".  So I thought to myself, "Oh, it's like what you say when you drop something or something not good happens. Easy enough".  So I went around saying that when even the tiniest misfortune befell me.

It wasn't until many months later when I was back home in America with a new set of sportsman that I was acting as a chauffeur and host for, that I took a wrong turn and casually said, "БЛ***". These boys exclaimed/giggled. They explained, "не надо сказать такое слово, лучше сказать БЛИН" (Don't say that word, it's better to say 'crap').  So just like 'fudge' is a euphemism for "f***" simply because the first part of it sounds the same as the bad word, Блин is a euphemism for a much more offensive, similar-sounding word.  So that's how I came to learn the word блин as a much more appropriate word to say when you drop something, take a wrong turn, or when something not good happens.

In the Details-My Photography of Russia

My favorite book when I was young was called, The Fool of the World and The Flying Ship, it was a gift from my grandmother. I just found it for the first time a little while ago. Having read fairy tales in my adult studies of Russian, I realized that this was an English translation of a famous Russian fairy tale. I went back through and flipped through the pages, and I remembered the magical enchanment that I felt as a child reading this book, looking at the details of the onion domed churches and bright colors and intricate embroidery on the characters’ costumes. Every thing seemed so rich and so completely different than what I could even imagine.

This was my favorite book long before I had ever been to Russia. But as I made my way, traveling through Russia as an adult, I felt that same magical enchantment. These are my photos of some of the charming little details that I found in cemetaries, on old gravestones, or on little ornamental details–all of it so rich and so foreign.

One of my favorite things to do while I was studying in Moscow was taking my little Nikkomat(it was my grandpa’s SLR from the 50’s) out and about on photo excursions. I was completely charmed by Russia by the beauty of Russia before I had even set foot on Russian soil. I remember looking out the window of our airplane as we flew in to Moscow, and I could feel this kind of aching pit in my heart. As I look at the little red roofed dachas, black soil and deep green patches of forrest, I thought, “Uh-oh, I’m not going to be able to let go of this place.” And that deep, aching adoration for the place has only intensified.

So here are a few of the scapes that I found so charming. Maybe it takes a fellow russophile to think so.

This picture doesn’t really do it justice, but all of the old headstones are covered in a beautiful green moss. I come from a desert so moss is a strange and beautiful thing for me. The inscription on this headstone is in old Russian(before the alphabet reform in 1919).

Novodevichy Cemetery was my favorite place in Moscow. Maybe I’m morbid for think that cemeteries are one of the most beautiful and interesting places in any city, but this one is so beautiful. You learn a lot about a society from their ccemeteries. I went to Russia the first time not even knowing the alphabet, so just to see the letters engraved on headstones was rich and foreign for me.

Autumn is my favorite season. I remember the first time I heard Pushkin’s name was when I was going for a walk with a Russian friend(within a month of my arrival) and I sighed and said how much I loved the fall. And Sergey replied, “Yes, Pushkin loved the fall as well, he wrote many poems about it."

One of my other favorite places in Moscow is ВДНХ, Выставка достижений народного хозяйства, or a rough translation: Exhibition of the Peoples Agricultural Achievments It was a place where people from the 15 different republics could come to show off their agricultural achievements. Every republic had its’ own building and they were built and adorned with ornament native to that republic. I think I’ll do an entire blog on this place sometime because it is really incredible.

This is the entrance to the center. True Russian architecture is so unique and intricate. But don’t get me wrong, I am just a fascinated and impressed by that good old fashion Soviet Empire style. I love the drab colors and the stark grandeur of the soviet era.

The ornamentation here is not frivolous, it is a celebration of socialist labor. This was where the people could come to celebrate the contributions to the mighty soviet empire.

One of the most ornately designed and decorated buildings is the Ukraine building. You can by the metro station dedicated to Kiev and by this building that the Russians felt that Ukraine represented every thing that was rich in detail and culture.

This is just a strip of mosaic that runs along the outside of the Ukraine building. The whole building is decorated with traditional ornament and folk designs of the country.

The park is huge and just when you think that you have wandered out of the park and into some far away forest, you will stumble upon yet another building with a sign that says something like “House of Honey Cultivation” or some other random aspect of agriculture you didn’t even know existed. It is kind of like a ghost town, a representation of what the country was left with after Communism.

This is the side wall of a building we found way back in the forest. The building was closed up and had been vandalized. I love the colors and style. It’s so soviet and I can imagine that it must have been a very hip and exciting design, but now practically no one sees it, which is said considering that the words say ”Выставочный Центр”, or ”Display Center”.

It is eerie to picture our bustling centers of capitalism, our triumphant symbols of all our hard work, like this…empty, useless, except to remind us that all great empires must come to an end. I just pity that the Soviets had to see it come, shine and fizzle all on their lifetime. It’s no wonder older Russians get depressed when they come to this park.

So maybe in the end the cemetery was not that different from the park. Whether it’s once inhabited bodies or buildings, I’ve always been fascinated by abandoned things and the stories they enclose. I love eerie unresolved plots and histories, and perhaps that is why I am so drawn in by Russia.