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Hello from Russia!
- Thread starter Sergo
- Start date
Sounds like you have found a great little spot of land! I bet its very satisfactory to built your own house, to get all the things the way you want them. Not that I would know how to do it myself.Sergo said:
Sergo said:
The hell of buying IKEA furniture.lol. Everyone has tried this, getting the wrong stuff and its REALLY annoying if you get the wrong nails to go with the closet. I think they have some nice sofas but I havent bought one yet.
No this winther has started off very mild. But we can get like -20 or more but not very often. The wind is cold though.Sergo said:
How do you celebrate christmas in Russia by the way? Any special traditions? Over here we still have a proper tree inside the house! I hate the plastic ones and I love the smell of a proper tree. My cat also loves it!
Do you have photos of the sculpture that you make?
Flower
Kenny Shovel
Active Member
…and does that stop people?Sergo said:
Ah yes, with an on the spot fine.Sergo said:
…that and the alcohol..Sergo said:
There is an excellent vodka bar in my town; as well as having all the best quality vodka and schnapps you can get ones flavoured with pepper etc and these strange edible cups to drink them from. I’ve forgotten a few nights in there…Sergo said:
I’m sure you have only the very highest quality drunks in Moscow Sergo, no ones trying to take that away from you…Sergo said:
…how very different from the life of our own dear Queen, and yet how similar to the life of her sister Princess Margaret…Sergo said:
Sergo
New Member
Yep, I like it now, with all the oaks, pines and other trees we planted. This year I spent almost every weekend here, and the results are easily seen.Flowerdk4 said:
Is it not usual for people in Denmark to have bungalows in the country?
Ha. I have about as many stories about IKEA as we have items bought there... Two years ago my wife has bought a small sofa for our daughter's house, and it was delivered before she returned to our dacha that day. OK, I opened the house, and the men tried to bring in the sofa. I was quite astonished to see that the thing was made of the finest leather, and was so big we had to open the double windows in the house in order to get it inside. As my wife explained me nothing about her buy, just told that she bought a sofa, I decided that she changed her mind and bought this thing for several thousands dollars. Soon after the IKEA boys left, my wife arrived, and I asked her why she bought that leather giant. She was as much astonished as I was before, and told me that really she bought a sofa made of natural wood and some natural fabric. So we called the boys, they returned and took the wrong sofa and gave us our, they were about to deliver to some oligarh, no less...Flowerdk4 said:
Oh, I do not like plastic trees too, but I hate even more to dispose of a real one after just a few days of use. So we bring a plastic one in the house, together with lots of real branches I collect in the forests - there are lots of them falling in winter, some with the cones even. So the smell is OK.Flowerdk4 said:No this winther has started off very mild. But we can get like -20 or more but not very often. The wind is cold though.
How do you celebrate christmas in Russia by the way? Any special traditions? Over here we still have a proper tree inside the house! I hate the plastic ones and I love the smell of a proper tree. My cat also loves it!
And of course we have several firs in the garden - green, blue, dwarf and even inversa one, so we can use them as Christmas trees... Not the dwarf ones of course, though...
Our tradition is to sit at the table and wait until our Red Square clocks begin to ring, and with the twelveth ring we sip shampagne and say farewell to the old year and welcome - to the new year. The table is usually full with all kinds of food and wine (if the family can afford it, of course), and after some time we go to visit our relatives and friends. Home is usually decorated with a fir tree, wich is covered with balls, stars etc. In the night it is quite difficult to take a nap, as fireworks are shot till the morning.
What about you?
Flowerdk4 said:
Errr... Do not remember. I surely have of the netsukes, but as of the others, I am not sure.
Sergo
New Member
Err... There are people and people, you know... You wouldn't believe it, but we use our seat belts every time we go out of town, where speed could be high. And our choice of a SUV was partly because a SUV is usually a more safe car.Kenny Shovel said:
You know, I think that our traffic police function good enough for their purpose: I do not remember any single time when we were stopped for some phony reason (the closest to it was checking our OSAGO insurance policy: we have a full insurance costing us a nice sum, but just the same we have to have a "standard minimum insurance policy", which covers only a fraction of costs compared to our full one). So people hate to broke the rules as they hate to pay money, and to whom they pay is a secondary concern for them.Kenny Shovel said:
And as it is, police is very much interested personally in their work.
Oh... And I've forgotten four or five nights in all my life... But what amazing stories can be told about some of those...Kenny Shovel said:
Sure. Our drunkards are the best. Do not forget our ballet dancers and cosmonauts.Kenny Shovel said:
Kenny Shovel said:
You mean Princess Margaret lived as interesting life as I've depicted above? Wow...
Kenny Shovel
Active Member
Seatbelts are mandatory by law in Britain, unless you have a job that involves regularly getting in and out of a vehicle; a delivery van for example.Sergo said:
I thought they were prone to tip over? Perhaps that’s just in the Simpsons…Sergo said:
A guy I know and his girlfriend got stopped by the Militia in Moscow after they had left some ex-pat bar there. I think this was because the place had many ‘working girls’ operating from it, they must have thought his girlfriend was one of them. She didn’t find that very funny I seem to remember…Sergo said:
Or at least you could, if you hadn’t forgotten them…Sergo said:
I went to the opera in Odessa; it was an interesting experience, a lot more audience participation that I had expected. As for cosmonauts, I watched a very interesting docu-drama about the space race on the BBC recently.Sergo said:
She liked a drink or twelve, liked a party, and liked the company of men. All round, a bit of a ‘goer’!Sergo said:
Sergo said:
Sounds nice that you have planted trees on your land.
In Denmark some people have summer cottages. Some of them are very luxious with spa bath, sauna, others simple with ordinary living room and bedrooms, other again very spartanious with hardly anything. Most of them look a bit like Norveigan tree-houses. I wouldnt call them bungalows, they are too small for that, most of them. Some people have summer cottages in Sweden as its fairly easy to go to Sweden. We have a bridge now between Copenhagen and Sweden. You can take the train and it only takes like 30 mins untill you reach Swedish soil. I rented a summer cottage for a week in the north of the island I live on, several years ago. It was an ordinary one but nice, had a big living room and two bedrooms + a tv. It was close to a very nice beach.
smiling, sounds like you should have kept the leather one. Over here I think that IKEA does not deliver the furniture themselves. I am not sure as it has been a while since I have been there. I just remember a delivering service had vans outside of IKEA.Sergo said:
Sergo said:
Today I passed lots of branches laying outside the supermarket, and it smelled so nice. People over here usually put light on the trees they have in their garden. Some are beginning to put so many lights, also on their houses, it looks a bit like what they do in the usa.
I think what you mention is how you spend the NEW YEARS EVE, right? it sounds very much like how we do it. We usually get together first and have a nice meal. How do you spend xmas in Russia?
Over here we celebrate xmas on the evening of the 24th of december. We eat duck, goose or turkey. Have a sweet desert where there is an almond in, and the one who gets the almond has won a present. Then we have what I believe is a scandinavian tradition, we gather around the xmas tree, hold hands and sing carrols while walking around the tree. After that we open the presents. So children over here, have a long wait before they get to open their presents. Lots of people to church at midnight. The 25 and 26 of december you usually meet up with other members of the family or friends and have a nice lunch with several leftovers etc from the xmas meal plus xmas beer and redwine and snaps. The lunches can take hours.
Sergo said:
What a shame! I would have liked to see what kind of sculpture you do.
Flower
Kenny Shovel
Active Member
Well, it seems that the ‘Russian Godfathers’ programme on Boris Berezovsky is the first in a series of, I think, eight about different Russian oligarchs.Kenny Shovel said:
This was an interesting hour-long documentary, I certainly think you’d of enjoyed seeing it, as the TV crew followed Berezovsty around for about a year. I don’t think you got much of a glimpse into Berezovstys the private man as you obviously only got to see exactly what he wanted you too. However it was still informative; he was very open that his lives work was now to get rid of Putin, the man he had put in power in the first place. Also it became more and more apparent that he had funded the Orange revolution in Ukraine, something he admitted towards the end in an interview he gave to an American reporter.
Whilst he talks to camera a lot in the film, the real insights into what he is trying to do come from those working for him, in particular the editor of his Russian newspaper ‘Kommesant’, who was the star of the program for me. At one point towards the beginning of the film he recalls a conversation they had:
‘Boris tells me that Putin is fucked. So I said to him, Ok, you’re the big shot. Tell me exactly how he is fucked? From the front, from the left or from the right’.
Anyway, after the trail and conviction of Khodorkovsky you see that other oligarchs, who have previously keep their distance, start to be more receptive to his ideas; and right at the very end you see Berezovsky on a trip to Latvia with his new business partner, who just happens to be President Bush’s brother.
Good old Boris, still trying to buy his way in!
Sergo
New Member
Kenny Shovel said:
Yep, I think this program would have got some audience, though not too big, as our average Ivan, as I told you, associate Mr. Berezovsky with the Chechen terrorists and everything that "have earlier belonged to the people, until it got sold out by the democrats and stolen by the oligarchs".
As to Mr. Putin - he is the star most of the time, as all of his fcuk-ups are always hanged on somebody else, and all the successes in Russia are privatized by him.
It is a shame I cannot watch these programmes...
Sergo
New Member
Oh, I've heard a lot about Finnish cottages - exactly as you said, of very different qualities. A manager from one transportation company, whom I asked once to receive @-mail or a fax when he was at his cottage, told me they have no electricity there, along with no natural gas or anything not belonging to nature of that region. They do not have even a toilet there, using some pit in the woods... I like nature myself, but that looks rather bizarre to me... And other cottages in Finland may cost millions, be equipped with just about everything and situated in the most beautiful places - that's the most important factor, according to what I heard...Flowerdk4 said:
Several years ago I wanted to buy a small cottage in Finland, then I decided it would be too much for me to live in two places simultaneously. And, of course, these cottages are not cheap...
It is the same here: they have a sub-contractor transportation firm, who have offices in IKEA buildings. But that doesn't prevent IKEA people from doing their own mistakes: it is them who deliver orders to transportation firm, and when they deliver wrong things from one corner of a shop to another, where a sub-contracting manager sits, the transporters cannot do things better by delivering wrong items to right addresses... Of course, they make their own mistakes too.Flowerdk4 said:
Yes, we put lights too, and not only on the fir trees, but on the houses etc.Flowerdk4 said:
Yesterday I fixed a 6 m by 2 m light garland on the wall of one of our houses... It will look great together with all the small lighting fixtures lighting in the garden.
Yes, you are right, that's how we celebrate New Year's Eve. Novy God, in Russian. That's when we have presents, gather around fir trees and sing... As to Xmas... You know, over all our Communist years we forgot how to celebrate that, as to celebrate the birthday of the God was illegal. Our older people may still remember how they did it long ago, but in our family there is no longer old members left, alas. I have asked our friend, who lives the life of a nun, without really living in a monastery, and even she couldn't tell how we, Russians, celebrate Xmas.Flowerdk4 said:
I remember that people were visiting each other's homes, clothed so strange they may not be recognised sometimes, sang some humourous songs, danced foolish dances, and the hosts were expected to give those guests some presents, usually in food or in small money. But that's what my grandfather had told me... And of course we went to our neighbours and relatives and celebrated together with lots of food... That's especially important, as before Xmas we should fast. We, Russians, were especially keen on fasting and feasting, and still are, really...
What a shame! I would have liked to see what kind of sculpture you do.
Flower
[/QUOTE]
Not a problem. The one with netsukes I can send you anytime you wish, but others... I have to make photos first.
Sergo said:
What about your dacchaws? (Not sure how to spell the word). I thought they would be a bit like our summer cottages. Usually they are placed together, so you have like a small place with only summer cottages. And people usually buy one only a couple of hours away, so they can go there on a weekend if they want to.
Yes I know. The world and IKEA is not always like we want them to be. But I think IKEA has a high wrong-delivery statistic.Sergo said:
Oh that sounds nice and pretty romantic too! I can just picture your house.Sergo said:
Sergo said:
Its a bit hard for me to imagine that a people does not know how to celebrate xmas. What about the churches, the russian othordox church, dont they celebrate christ??? By the way I have seen a tv programe about your churches, wauuuu some of them are really beautiful.
Sergo said:
This sounds like what we do in february! We have a celebration a bit like the american halloween, but not a scary one though. Children get dressed up, and we hang a barrel filled with candy and they have to hit it, untill its completely wrecked. All the candy falls out at one point. In the old days they had a cat in the barrel, horrible. The children also go to knock on peoples doors and sing a special song and get either sweets or some money to buy sweets. Its a very very old tradition, dont really know they story behind it, but I think it has to do with spring coming, hard times are over etc.
Sergo said:
Thanks Sergo! I shall look very much forward to see your art.
If you want I can email you one large drawing I did a long time ago in art school. pm me your email adress and I shall mail it to you.
Flower
Sergo
New Member
Yes, our dachas... Really, we, city people, have three variety of country property:Flowerdk4 said:
1. Cottage. Usually it is a big house or houses, quite expensive and well equipped, sitting on a nice peace of land, situated not too far from the city;
2. Dacha, there are very wide range of dachas, very differently equipped, situated from several hundred meters to several hundred kilometers from a city. Pieces of land could be from 600 sq. m. to several hectares, if far enough from a city;
3. Ogorod - a small piece of land for growing vegetables sometimes with a small shanty cabin on it.
So our country home should be considered a dacha too.
Flowerdk4 said:
Oh, it is not too difficult to imagine:
For example, I was born after nearly 50 years since the revolution, which made Christ illegal. So it were my parents who never really celebrated Xmas in accordance with our old ways. Now it is not illegal to be a christian any more, but I think it is not good to shift one ideas back and forth, like they call us: "One!" and we run to church, then "Two!" and we demolish churches, then "Three!" - and we run to rebuild and pray furiously. To have two such moves in one's life is not healthy.
And our churches are surely beautiful.
Flowerdk4 said:
Yep, that's very much like it. And I am told they have about the same thing near Boston, where several friends of mine are living now.
Flowerdk4 said:Thanks Sergo! I shall look very much forward to see your art.
If you want I can email you one large drawing I did a long time ago in art school. pm me your email adress and I shall mail it to you.
Flower
Oh, I cannot consider that as art. It is more like craft...
Kenny Shovel
Active Member
The acusation of links to Chechen terrorists wasn't mentioned, I don't think they're taken too seriously outside of Russia.Sergo said:
The issue of oligarchs getting thier hands on the big utility companies and the resentment about that was mentioned briefly. I suspect this will be explored more in the other programmes; there were more interesting subjects to cover with Brois.
The BBC do put lots of their programmes out on DVD, but normally only things that will sell.Sergo said:
HermioneWeasley
Member
Sergo:
privet, i dobro pojalyvat' v etot forym!! ya iz Bellorysii, i toje govory po ryski. kak dela?
privet, i dobro pojalyvat' v etot forym!! ya iz Bellorysii, i toje govory po ryski. kak dela?
Kenny Shovel
Active Member
Just found this newspaper review of last weeks Russian Godfathers:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv_and_radio/story/0,3604,1663196,00.html
The next episode is on Thursday and is about the Khodorkovski trial:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tvandfilm/t...&headline=russian-godfathers--name_page.htmll
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv_and_radio/story/0,3604,1663196,00.html
The next episode is on Thursday and is about the Khodorkovski trial:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tvandfilm/t...&headline=russian-godfathers--name_page.htmll
Sergo
New Member
Kenny Shovel said:
I see. So I do not think they will issue such a program on DVD, and even if they do - I would not have known how to obtain one... OK, I could order it and arrange payment and delivery, say, by UPS... It is possible it should be confiscated here, as our customs is very keen sometimes on author's rights... OK, I can try to arrange for the parcel to go through customs without being checked, but that is rather expensive. So... I know. I can have it delivered through our Finnish warehouse.
BTW, we are in the process of moving our business to another one.