Putin Speaks English and German (and French)

I'm waaaay behind on all the things, but here's a belated Wednesday post highlighting Putin's linguistic capabilities.

Putin speaks Russian, French (obviously), German, and English.  Is there some other one I don't know about?  Not surprised about the French because I swear every Russian book I've read uses French phrases (even after translation) and Russia's power was during the height of French's fashionability.  It's not uncommon for anyone in Europe or Russia to know French in some capacity.

 

It only makes sense that he speaks German since Putin was stationed as a KGB officer in Dresden for 5 years.  I cannot help but think of Lara in Good Bye, Lenin! because the accent is the exact same. 

Then there's English.  This is the video that came out with him speaking English.  He obviously has used English before (doubt that Obama speaks any of the other three languages), but everyone is making note of this video.  I certainly did because I've never seen video of him using English, let alone for such a span of time.  Does anyone else notice that he makes weird facial contortions with certain English sounds?  It looks like it pains him to utter them out loud.  I worked with an Italian woman in Budapest who would always repeat the hideous "er" sound whenever she uttered it, just to make fun of how ugly it sounded.  We often would just start saying "er! er! ERRRRR!" to be funny because, let's face it, it really is a hideous sound.

No videos of French, and why would I even care!  France isn't part of this blog!

Monday Book Review: Us

Today's review is a day late because here in the US, we were on holiday.  Memorial Day weekend means you are only allowed to do several things: barbeque, do yard work, and eat.  I did all three (FTW).  Now on to your regularly scheduled post (1 day delayed).

5/24 Review - Dramatics and Righting Historical Wrongs

Friday means reflecting on our past week.  Tune in to get a gist of the big news, my opinions on the news, videos, art, and music.  My discoveries are yours to enjoy!

Chechnya: A Little Background Series

Due to the events in Boston, Chechnya is the hot topic.  There is a lot of solid, fair information out there, but there's also really prejudiced, xenophobic information as well.  This post should hopefully condense the history of the neighboring north Caucus neighbors as well as Chechnya and give context since the name and history of this region will be tossed about for the next couple of weeks, at least.  Let me clearly state this now: it is unclear whether the conflict in Chechnya has any relevance to the Boston bombing and I am not endorsing a direct link between the two.  This is merely to give more information about a misunderstood, seldom-taught corner of the world and it's best to have more straight information out when it's being talked about.  Let us proceed.

Katyń (Forest) Massacre

Today's focus is on a historical event that has great significance to Poles.  Poland and Russia have a long and tangled history of clashes and Katyń was among many bloody events.  The Katyń forest is just outside Smolensk, a fact that will prove interesting later in the story. The massacre occurred in April and May of 1940 and is the result of an infamous non-aggression pact.

Baring It All: 4/12 Recap

Welcome to the recap of the week.  There's so much to read and know that I've taken the liberty of condensing it for you.  If you want to see these things as they happen, follow me on Twitter!  You just have to click that button over to the right.  It's not far...  You can also see who I follow; I discovered that Twitter is the best place to find anything on CEE and there are fantastic, smart people to interact with.

Let's get to it.

Risen Again - 4/5 Recap & Rants

It was Easter this past Sunday and it was a good time to indulge in the east European traditions, some of which seemed a little more cruel than unusual.  Particularly when it involves whipping women.  There were lovely eggs to make up for it, though.  Though Europe had it tough because snow, not flowers, came to greet them on the symbolic holiday of rebirth.  It's like winter reborn.

The cat's out of the bag. Orbán is the most sought after television personality in Hungary.  No, I'm kidding, he's stealing all the airtime available.  I want graphs on the Politburo air times for comparison, just for kicks.

April Fool's!  I thought this was a pretty USA-centric holiday, but it turns out that Odessa is the OG of pranks.  The best part was that Humorina started during the Soviet rule. That's one way to let off steam about the endless droning of ideology!

What in the World?: Reflections on 3/29

Another delightful recap of what impressed and intrigued me over the past week.

News

My CEE corner of the internet BLEW UP when Berezovsky died.  I read multiple articles on him because  I had no idea who he was.  He's an important figure since he created the monster that is Putin.  Too many articles to link here.

I am following what I need to about Cyprus, but all I have to say is: whoa.

Europe Came to Chicago

I don't mention Chicago on this blog as much as I should.  I grew up just to the north of it and came back after college.  While I hadn't anticipated staying, it seems Chicago had other plans and got me a job and married within my second year of being back.  This place has a very soft/large place in my heart and it's not just nostalgia.  Though the winters are harsh and unpleasant, the summers are season-long celebrations.  The Parks and Recreation Department blows most of its budget during those 4 blissful months by hosting all manner of free events, whether outdoors at Grant Park, the Pritzker Pavillion in Millenium Park  (with the famous "Cloud Gate"/the Bean nearby), or just any park that exists in the city.  Then neighborhoods and any organization that wants to have a party does it during that time.  There's never a thing NOT to do.  It is, hands down, the most enjoyable part of the year despite oppressive humidity and heat.  There's cool stuff to do indoors, like our fabulous museums, and year-round, but the real taste is in summer.  You see all the ethnic mixing and vibrant culture bursting out of the concrete.

Art, Music, Articles

Since I have not been following the news this week (which I am sure to regret since that's when EVERYTHING happens!), I can't do a summary.  I'm very sorry.  However, I do have a bunch of fun links and that's always a good time.  You're welcome.

Monday Book Review

I was aware that The Master and Margarita was a seminal piece of work for Mikhail Bulgakov, but not much else.  Several people, unbeknownst to the each other, recommended I read it.  Fate sealed it as I perused a book store in Hyde Park and found it waiting there for me.  I was barely looking for it and it manifested itself to me, which sounds quite spooky, I know.  I read the Diana Burgin and Katherine Tiernan O'Connor translation for Picador.  It became apparent to me that the further I delved into this story, the more useful reading it in Russian would be.  Bulgakov does employ word play and the meaning of Russian names makes identifying the book as a satire much easier.  Sadly, I discovered all the annotations––written by Ellendrea Proffer––for the novel about halfway through and didn't get the full effect until past the climax.  If you read a translated version, I highly suggested checking for annotations/footnotes/end notes to accompany it.  I would not have appreciated the depth of work without it.

So We Extradited An Axe Murderer

So this happened.  I wish I could speak to international criminal justice laws, but that remains a large mystery to me.  It is suspicious, however, that there was a deal on the table with Azerbaijan and Hungary has been trying to wrangle itself "free" from the EU's political ambit.  Oh, and that it has to go through the EU to get IMF money to make their economy more stable.

Minimal Olympics Coverage

I haven't been able to watch the Olympics--no TV and no time--but I try to keep abreast in the major events of the Olympics.  I would do more in-depth coverage of ECE nations if I didn't have a day job and public transit didn't eat up additional hours of my day.  I would love to simply watch athletics for hours on end, but being an adult has completely eroded whatever time and enthusiasm I have left at the end of the day.

I wasn't aware that Slovakia had a company that made competition canoes.  Were you?  Luckily, my RSS feeds (see my page for the ones I follow!) brought this to my attention.  I see that Eastern Europe is doing pretty well in the medal count, all things considered.  The full list of medal counts are here on ESPN, but here is the individual list linked for your quick reference (these only include counties that have medals):
Belarus
Croatia 
Czech Republic
Germany
Hungary
Lithuania
Moldova 
Poland
Romania
Russia
Serbia
Slovakia (notice the number of canoeing medals!)
Slovenia
Ukraine

The medal count per capita in these countries must be higher than the USA, which has a ridiculous number of medals.  It seriously resembles the 1% getting the larger part of the spoil.  It is worthy to note that Hungary has more medals than Brazil (where my mother-in-law is from) or India, which is embarrassing for those BRIC countries.  You'd think that a "backwater" Eastern European nation with a despotically inclined PM would not get more medals than two of the fastest growing economies with large populations.  Funny, ain't it?

EuroCup

I haven't posted anything on the EuroCup because I'm an ignorant American who doesn't ever watch football (I know enough to call it football!).  I should get more into it since football plays a vital role in politics (re: Central and South America).  History plays a huge role as well, as the whole world realized today.  Just in case they forgot that some wounds go pretty deep.

Russian Hair Tutorials

I normally try to avoid posts on Russian things, but I just got suckered into hair tutorials on YouTube and I don't know how I do it, but I ended up in the Russian corner of YouTube hair tutorials.  This is such a typical occurrence: I will be browsing through various suggested videos and then I end up east of Germany on the internet.  It must be the law of attraction.

I found so many tutorials from Russia, some of them nuttier than others.  I was fascinated by the prevalence of hair twisting.  Most of the western world (at least through the lens of Pinterest..) is obsessed with good ol' fashioned braids, while the Russians seem to like twisting their hair.  My glib survey of Russian hair tutorials have given me quite a variety.

Satellites by Jonas Bendiksen

I haven't much energy or time with the wedding so close, so I thought I would share this video of Jonas Bendiksen's photo essay.  He explored the fringes of the Soviet Union for  a number of yearsand has some interesting insights into the forgotten places of the world.  Christine from the Half Day Around project showed this to me a few days ago and I was captivated.  I hope you love it as much as I did!

Dreams CRUSHED

All I have time to say is that the Gorbachev event is SOLD OUT and I didn't get a ticket!  My dreams of seeing Gorbi in the flesh have been dashed, crushed, pulverized, and mangled beyond recognition.

All I wanted was Gorbi.  All I got was broken dreams.


Sigh.

Judson University isn't a real university anyway. {bitterness and a hint of truth}

Bookin' It: Review

via

Today's book is The Foundation Pit by Andrei Platonov.  The same friend who recommended The Siege recommended this book.  Andrey Platonov is an influential Russia writer of the early 20th century.  He was a Freedom Fighter for the Communists in Russia and a well known writer, but then the rose colored glasses must have come off because he became one of communism's harshest critics.  His work was banned and Stalin had a particular dislike for Platonov.  This book is one of his most famous works and for good reason: it's a satire on Soviet collectivism.

Friends In Need

My friend Christine, who has been featured twice, is looking for funding for her project, featured here.  The money is being raised through Kickstarter and they're shooting for $7,000 in total.  For those unfamiliar with Kickstarter, donations are promised, but are only given if the project meets its goal.  If the $7,000 mark is not reached, no money is given out.  Donations are rewarded with special thank-you gifts, but depend on the amount given.  Check out their page for more details on the project and what you will receive for a donation.  The video is very cute.  (Otherwise, check out her blog, Half Day Around, which is listed on the "Featured Blogs & RSS" page.)

For my regular readers, this is a great opportunity to support projects about and in the CEE region.  Their project covers a lot of topics the world has largely forgotten and that I am trying to reawaken.  If you put money where your hobby is, it will begin to flourish.  Money talks.  This money won't be wasted because I can attest that she has integrity, both artistically and otherwise.  So donate what you are willing and able for her project.  We care!

Other Problems to Worry About

I've been following the eurozone crisis from a distance because I cannot summon enough economic knowledge to fully understand this financial crisis.  The CCGA panel was helpful, but I still feel like I don't understand the complicated world of imaginary money.  Does anybody really understand it?  I always get the sense it's morphed into a complicated beast no one knows how to tame.  So now I need something else to talk about, which is difficult since most of the news outlets are freaking out about that.