Ivan Vasilievich changes career

Shurik has built a time machine in his apartment. When it accidentally sends the apartment manager and a thief to the tsar’s palace during Ivan the Terrible’s reign, and the Tsar finds himself in modern Moscow, things get interesting…

(О) Я окончила СПбГУ. Училась на кафедре английской филологии. Также у меня есть специальность по РКИ (прим. русскому языку как иностранному).

(В) Что запомнилось больше всего, когда Вы работали в Колледже им. Вильяма и Мэри?

(О) Во-первых, конечно же,  жизнь в Русском доме: у всех на виду, на глазах у интересующихся. Студентов всегда очень интересовало, с кем я дружу, общаюсь, где бываю и т.д. Во-вторых, работа в Колледже дала возможность  познакомиться с американской системой образования. И наконец, я встретила людей, по-настоящему интересующихся Россией, русской литературой и культурой. Я до сих пор общаюсь с ними.

(В) Как Вы применили опыт работы в жизни?

(О) Профессиональный опыт – в преподавании языков (прим. Наталья – преподаватель СПбГУ). Лингвокультурный опыт пригодился в переводческой деятельности. Личностный опыт общения с людьми разных культур, традиций, интересов, желаний и чаяний ценен сам по себе.

Ostrov (Russian: Остров, The Island) is a 2006 Russian biographical film about a fictional 20th century Eastern Orthodox monk. The film closed the 2006 Venice Film Festival, proved to be a moderate box-office success and won both the Nika Award and the Golden Eagle Award as the Best Russian film of 2006. The filming location was the city of Kem, in Karelia, on the shores of the White Sea.

During World War II, the sailor Anatoly and his captain, Tikhon, are captured by the Nazis when they board their barge and tugboat which is carrying a shipment of coal. The Nazi officer leading the raid offers Anatoly the choice to shoot Tikhon and stay alive which Anatoly reluctantly takes, and Tikhon falls overboard. The Nazis blow up the ship but Anatoly is found by Russian Orthodox monks on the shore the next morning. He survives and becomes a stoker at the monastery but is perpetually overcome with guilt.

Thirty years pass. Anatoly now has the gift ofclairvoyance and healing. But the other monks do not really understand him. People come to see Anatoly for cures and guidance, but even now, he remains in a perpetual state of repentance. He often gets in a boat and goes to an uninhabited island where he prays for mercy and forgiveness.

Wait for all of you!

Try yourself! Come and play Trivia in the Russian House!

WHO: YOU

WHEN: November 30th, 7 -8 pm

WHERE: Russian House

Russia, 2010, Director: Dmitrii Diyachenko

Judging from the raving Russian internet forums, reviews, and box office results, Dmitrii D’iachenko’s recent comedy What Men Talk About appears to have gained the love and following of wide audiences. Worn out from primitive slapstick comedies, compulsory nudity, and smutty “below-the-belt” jokes, contemporary Russian moviegoers readily appreciated the film’s gentle quality humor, reminiscent of the extraordinarily popular comedies of El’dar Riazanov from the Soviet era and free from hackneyed clichés populating the comedy genre nowadays.

The film features an uncomplicated storyline using highly subjective, self-conscious narration, elevated by the use of medium shots and frequent close-ups, and featuring flashbacks, fantasies, dreams and childhood memories. The plot revolves around four old friends–Kamil’ (Kamil’ Larin), Lesha (Leonid Barats), Sasha (Aleksandr Demidov) and Slava (Rostislav Khait)—all well-to-do professionals in their late 30s embarking on a two-day road trip from Moscow to Odessa (the Olympus of humor in Russian and Ukrainian cultures). They wish to escape the metropolis and the everyday routine of work, family and girlfriends to relax in a nightclub run by Slava’s friend and to see the concert of a popular band B-2 (who wrote all original music for the film). Despite its promise of the road movie genre (by D’iachenko), this road trip is completely stripped of action, juicy adventure, sex and violence. Thus, the quad makes three completely adventureless stops on the way to Odessa: at the off-road café run by a Georgian man who, unlike other Georgian men, can’t sing but cooks wonderful inexpensive shish kebab (shashlyk); in Bel’diazhki, a poky hole of a place (with all-time favorite Nina Ruslanova and stunning Zhanna Friske in secondary roles), where the quad spends a night in a filthy motel full of cockroaches and bugs; and in Kiev, where they savor traditional Ukrainian cuisine, as well as art in a local gallery. Close to Odessa the four miraculously survive a car accident (the only hint of adventure in the film), which causes Kamil’, Lesha and Sasha to undergo some kind of change, but doesn’t affect Slava at all. The quad eventually gets to Odessa, meets Slava’s friend– the owner of a glamorous nightclub filled with crowds of sexed-up women, goes to the beach to do some reflection, and eventually to the concert of B-2. The final crane shot shows the four friends at the B-2 concert singing along with hundreds of other fans.

For more information about film click HERE

Mmm… Potatoes?

Yes and No

Yes: these are very popular cakes in Russia.

No: these cakes just look like potatoes!

There are two ways to cook these delicious a-la potato-cakes: right way means to be prepared  by GOST (по ГОСТу) and simple way (used when you run out of time).

ГОСТ means Государственный СТандарт (if you don’t know what it means go take your Oxford / Cambridge / Longman  dictionary and check. OR use www.multitran.ru to translate it). Got it? Well done!

What you need to know about ГОСТ is “GOST standards were originally developed by the government of the Soviet Union as part of its national standardization strategy. The history of national standards in the USSR can be traced back to 1925, when a government agency, later named Gosstandart, was established and put in charge of writing, updating, publishing, and disseminating the standards. After World War II, the national standardization program went through a major transformation, which provided the necessary methodological, logistical, and technological support for the long economic expansion that lasted into the early 1980s. The first GOST standard, GOST 1 State Standardization System, was published in 1968″. (Thank you, Wikipedia!)

Even though it’s not a Soviet Union era anymore, many people in Russia like to cook by ГОСТ and say “‘это приготовлено по ГОСТу” (It’s cooked by GOST). And they add very often “Это вкус моего детства” (lit. This is a taste of my childhood) or “Вот это настоящее пирожное-картошка” (THIS is a real a-la potato cake).

Now you have an opportunity to cook пирожное-картошка by GOST. Join us for a cooking class at the Russian House!!!!!

Let’s meet our W&M ALUMNI at the Russian House together!!!

[Show as slideshow]

Alumni are speaking at Homecoming Reception in the Russian House:

Sean Fox (class of 2007) : What is you best memory about the Russian Program?

Ginny Bacon and Aylara Odekova (Russian House roommates ) talk about their most memorable Russian House experience.

Tim Lee (class of 2008) talks about St. Petersburg Metro.

The main character Semen Semenovich Gorbunkov (Yuri Nikulin) is sent abroad on a tourist trip on a cruise ship. During a walk in one eastern city he accidentally slipped and got dislocated arm. But it turns out, when he exclaimed “Damn!” because the word smugglers used as a password. Semen Semenovich lost consciousness and smugglers plastered bandage, packed with gold and diamonds on his arm…