Moscow, Russia
 

Hi there! Is anyone interested what happens there?

Nothing special at all in fact. But where should I start with my 1st posting on Cellar? ;)

Welcome Dammian,

I only just know ''spassiba'' in Russian but it's quite a good beginning.

You can start by 'splainin' "BDSM." :mg:

What do you mean? I'm not very friendly with modern slang... :worried:

Thanks! :)

The standard reply is "pajaluysta". Now you khnow 2 words and this is a great improvement. ;)

You have started in a fine place!

Spassiba and puhjahulsta make up a good percentage of my Russian vocabulary as well. I also know "Yob Tvyoo Maht" and "Yahitza kuritzu ni uchat" (which I apparently say with a very good accent, according to a Russian doctor that I used to work with).

Wow. Trying to type Russian phoenetically is much harder than to write it in Cyrillic. If I think about it very, very hard I can recall the sounds associated with most of the letters. That backwards "R" is an "a" thing tends to throw English speakers for a loop! (that just means it confuses us easily.) I took a year of Russian in college, but since the class met at 8AM I didn't make it to class as often as I should have, and also didn't retain much. I keep meaning to give Russian another try.

'splainin just means "explaining". There was an American television show in the 1950s called "I Love Lucy." Real life husband and wife Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball played Ricky and Lucy Ricardo. Ricky was Cuban, and had a strong accent. Whenever Lucy would do something bad and he found out about it, he would say to her, "Lucy, you got some 'splainin to do."

Hi Dammian. :biggrin:
What is the price of gasoline in Moscow?

Your profile showed your interests as Hitech, BDSM, etc. "'splainin'" just means I wanted and explaination as to what you meant. Srry for the corn-fusion (that's confusion). :)

However, you changed your interest line now, so disregard.

:litebulb: I know one thing we need, Pictures, lots and lots of pictures of Moscow and other places around Russia.

Привет, Дамиан! Why did you take BDSM out of your profile?
С наилучшими пожеланиями!

On BP Super (95 octane) is about $0.64 (1 liter). The lowest price is $0.56, but I will never fill my car with it. ;)

И тебе привет! :) I took it off because I'm not sure that this theme is welcomed on Cellar.

Hobbs, if you need an explanation about BDSM - Google rulez :) You are not very impressive, aren't you? :cool:

Pictures... I'm just thinking to become a photomaniac, so lots of them are possible, but later. :biggrin:

ps: 10x 2 all 4 'splainin' aboot 'splainin' :D

I know what BDSM it with or without Google. I mearly wanted to make sure you meant the same thing or whether it was one of those "Russian" things.


I know you didn't mean this the way it sounded to I am going to overlook this comment due to fact that your your master of the english language is hindered by your Russian accent.;) Google is my best friend, and so was BDSM (in a former life).

I'm given to understand it's rather like riding a bike. You can get back into the swing quite easily ...

In Russia it means exactly the same as in all other world. Or you are interested what part of BDSM am I" ;)

Wait a minute! I don't know how it sounded, but I meant that if you don't know what is BDSM, you may be shoked if you type this in Google ;)

Why "was"?

Ah. Got ya. Belive me, it would take a lot more than this to shock me.

Different life now. Different person now. Kids make it more difficult to...be noisey. :blush: It was fun though.

Got it. Will invent smth else... :cool:

And that's all? :lol: It is not a problem if you live in a big town ;)

Gags?

"You're not very impressive" means other people are not impressed with you, or you are pathetic.

You want to use a phrase like "You're not easily offended, are you?"

Thanks for explanation!

Been there. Ball gags for everyone. The thing that can't be masked is the paddle on the booty.

But we digress.
This is not the sex thread now is it?

Let's talk Moscow.

I still would like to see pics of Moscow. I'll wait....

I love all things Russian....
 

I am intriqued by the history, the people, the land, the music....I find such romance in it all...such tragedy, strength, joy and awe.

I know my name is Varvarra...used to know more, as I had a friend named Valentina (a much older lady than myself) but that was sooooo long ago.

I've dreamed of being there....touching the earth, the snow, the history. I wonder if I could ever muster the strength to take such a long flight and go?

B.

My sister and her husband lived in Moscow for a couple of years . I never visited her , unfortunately .

There are a few little vignettes she gave me which remain in my mind . She spoke of the market , and how the ladies who sell cream have to keep turning the cream to stop it freezing . She also spoke of the flowers sold on the market . They are sold in upright sealed packages , and are protected by a little flame to stop them from freezing . She also said that people walk around drinking beer from cans . She tried it one day , and found that the drops of beer froze as you walked .
My sister was also amazed by the beauty of young Russian women . As Brits , we had always been brought up on sad images of fat peasants selling potatoes . She said that these beautiful women appear from disgracefully filthy lavatories .
Another image : in the office there is a big bottle of medicine ( and I do not mean vodka) for the staff .

Concerning the vodka , she could not believe how they knock it back , and hell , we are British and we know about overdoing the booze . But this is in a whole different sphere . Vodka is delivered from huge tanker-style lorries .

She says that when you go on the train , people have little packages of dried fish . This is special train food .

Talking of trains , I dream of the Trans-Siberian . Anyone done that ? I have only read Theroux on the subject .

Complete and utter nonsense…!
 

I am very sorry if I sound offensive, but I have rarely come across such uneducated nonsense.

I have lived in Moscow for more than 4 years and can tell you that life here is just a tab more sophisticated that you describe in your note, i.e. we do not buy Vodka from tanker trucks – we buy in kiosks or supermarkets like you would in Britain or elsewhere.

Yes, it does get very cold in winter – it went all the way down to -38C this year. However, it also gets very hot during the summer 30+ C.

If you want to know more real facts about Moscow feel free to contact me on mr_iceman13@yahoo.dk and I will try to shed some light on your misconceptions about this lovely city.

Welcome to the cellar, Mr_iceman13!

It is always nice to learn from a local. I'm sure you'll be getting more questions, but in the meantime, please feel free to post your first hand experiences about your lovely city. Pictures would be nice too.

By the way, your English is impeccable. Are you Russian?

My guess is MrIceman is Danish.
My other guess is that Buddug confused vodka with Kvass, another Russian national drink made from fermented rye bread and therefore slightly alcoholic, which certainly used to be sold from little tankers at the roadside (but then so did milk, once upon a time ...).

I am a TAD surprised to note that cream , flowers , markets , wonderful train journeys , tiny flames , and beautiful women count as being unsophisticated in your eyes, Mr Iceman .

As for the heat , perhaps your nom de plume reflects the fact that you are putting lots of ice-cubes in your drinks at the moment ?

Concerning the vodka lorries , I may have been wrong , of course . Thank you , Limey for suggesting another possible explanation . And thank you all for keeping a TAB on the subject in hand .

Do you think the Danes are plotting , Limey ?

Not necessarily ...

I really want to learn Russian; am I the only one that thinks it just sounds -cool- when you hear people speaking it? :blush:

No, you're not. Think of the film "A Fish Called Wanda" in which John Cleese excites Jamie Lee Curtis by reciting Russian poetry as he takes his clothes off ...
At least two of my male friends also go all gooey and gaga when they hear me speaking Russian.

It shouldn't be too hard to find a way to learn ... check out your local evening classes or put up a small ad in a newsagent or your local Co-op to see if there is a Russian near you who could teach you. There are lots of Russian emigres around ...
Good luck!

Thanks! :) I'll see what I can do; I never thought of putting an ad in the paper. Good idea! *sudden burst of enthusiasm*

We never did get any pics, did we?

I'm doing a whistle-stop visit to the Big M on the 21st of this month - most of the time I will be in a lecture room, but faithfull digital camera will be ready by my side so a few shots through the taxi window and when I escape at break times should be do-able.

Watch this space...!

Well you should be. There is nothing to fear my friend.

Slang loves to travel and would enjoy seeing photos of where you are.

I'm starting to sound like Bob Dole.

Do they let you carry your pen through airport security?

No, it has to go in the hold - along with the sheep!

Right then! I'm back after my whistle-stop trip to Moscow.

Out on the Wednesday night catching the Aeroflot 22:30 flight from Heathrow, then 3 hrs and 30 mins later plus a 3 hr time difference and we're touching down at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport a little after 5.00 am.This is followed by a 1 hour taxi ride to the hotel on te west side of the city where the training course, and my one-day session, is to take place.

The journey into the city was relatively uneventful some aprtment blocks, and cpnstruction going on.... but then.... well, I suppose I should have guessed...


.

Yes, the IKEA influence even stretches this far!

The hotel wasn't qyuite what I expected either, having the idea that it would be in amongst the concrete slabs of architectiure I had seen in photos of Moscow before. But thsi hotel was out in the countryside.

The taxi drove down some narrow country lanes with fenced woodland either side. We passed several large pairs of stout solid wooden gates, and finally turned left towrds one particular set. A wave from teh driver and the gates opened, and I was to witness the other side of communism. A large park in and around which were dotted several dachas. And in the centre the hotel - more bold 1920's, and as a result a little out of place.

.

No time for sleep, however. Instead a quick shower and hasty breakfast (in the half-octagonal glazed room in the second hotel picture, and thenit was acroos to the bulding where the course was to be held - simlar in design and construction to the hotel.

No more time to view the surroundings until the lunch break, and then a few more photos of the dachas in the park - some new, some old - one (which I could not reach) having beeb Joe Stalins country residence...

.

And a photo of the general grounds, plus a modernistic building that seemd like a gymnasium or something similar

.

Back to the course, and before I knew it, it was approaching 5.00pm - the course had reached its conclusion, and I was receiving enthusiastic applause from my 60 delegates!

.

Well, not really - just an olde lecturer's trick - ladies stand up first and are asked to hold their hands clasped together, and then the gentlemen ar also asked to stand, but to hold their hands slightly apart.

It looks like applause if you don't scrutinise the photo too much...

But now it was time to return to the airport!

And the Moscow traffic - a 4-lane highway that was jammed for 20 of the 27 kilometres to the airport and which took nearly 2 hours to traverse...

.

Still, I at least had the company of a taxi driver who enjoyed speaking English - constantly... for two hours... about everything and anything - I could almost have been in a London taxi cab!

Time enough, though to take some shots of aprtments and other buildings - sorry, that's about it!

.

..

Back home in the UK by 10.00 pm courtesy of Aeroflot again.

Welcome back. It sounds like a hectic trip, but the pictures are cool and you must have had a little free time.

Exhibit A ;)

I've done that awful red-eye "leave at 10pm arrive at 5am" flight with Aeroflot, it really is hell and certainly not the best way to prepare to give a lecture - your employers surely don't love you very much ... :3_eyes:
The pics of Moscow made me homesick for it - I'll try to remember to look out some I took six or so years ago when I was living there ...