Just for a Laugh

I’m writing my last paper of the semester (which ended last week… hmm) about the role of the Spetznaz in counterterrorism operations, but I stumbled across this and it made me laugh…

They’re pretty awesome, but if you’re a hostage in Russia, you’re more likely to die from their trying to save you than from the terrorists.

Заниматься vs. Изучать

Кейси: Мы с Сарой решили заниматься ядерным терроризмом…

Джейк (pulling out his cell phone): Hello, FBI?

Анна: Ядерный терроризм… это плохое поведение.

Кейси: Изучать ядерное терроризм!

Russian Reading Challenge

One of my friends passed on this website to me and I thought it was kind of neat. Basically, it’s an idea by someone who has been interested in Russian history for a long time, but who hasn’t been exposed to very much Russian literature, so she’s going to tackle some books this year and is inviting people to join her. The suggested number of books to choose is 4 – I picked 5, but only because I don’t expect to finish the 5th one, I just want to make a dent in it.

So here’s my list:
1. “The Gulag Archipelago” by Solzhenitsyn
2. “Master and Margarita” by Bulgakov
3. “Dead Souls” by Gogol
4. “In The War” and Other Stories by Vasily Grossman
5. “Anna Karenina” by Tolstoy (Actually in Russian…. I won it in my first Russian class, but have been too intimidated to start it)

Here’s the website if you’re interested

Maybe Russian isn’t obsolete?

People always tell me that if I want to work in national security, I should be studying Arabic and not Russian. I’m willing to bet that might be changing soon…

From Times Online

This one:

” ‘We will develop missile technology including completely new strategic (nuclear) complexes, completely new. Work is continuing and continuing successfully,’ Mr Putin said. He gave no details about the new nuclear weapon, but went on: ‘We have plans that are not only big, but grandiose, and they are fully realistic. Our armed forces will be more compact but more effective and better ensure Russia defence.’ ”

And this one:

“President Putin forged an alliance with Iran yesterday against any military action by the West and pledged to complete the controversial Iranian nuclear power plant at Bushehr. A summit of Caspian Sea nations in Tehran agreed to bar foreign states from using their territory for military strikes against a member country. [...]. The declaration of the five states did not specify a particular threat. Rumours have long circulated, however, that the US is seeking Azerbaijan’s permission to use airfields for possible military action to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.”

My Russian teacher asked us on Tuesday if we thought there was going to be another Cold War and most of the people in the class said no. She said we are very optimistic.

Waiting…

I inherited terrible luck from my father’s side of the family – well, that’s probably not true. In general, if there is a possibility that something will be simple or extremely difficult for me, it will be, without a doubt, as difficult as possible, but the results are generally good.

We had all our exit testing for the language school this weekend and it’s been interesting. Grammar was good for me, listening was terrible, and reading was decent. Luckily for me, I just gave an oral report on Chechen terrorism, so the words were still fresh in my mind and one of the articles on the reading test was about terrorism.

Unluckily for me, I was randomly selected to do an OPI, so instead of having a 15 minute face to face interview with a teacher at the school, I get to have a half hour telephone interview with Rifkin, whom I didn’t even understand when we were talking face to face. Right now, I’m sitting and waiting for the phone call, and it’s kind of nerve wracking. On the one hand, I’m not worried, because really, I have been speaking Russian all summer (for the most part…), but on the other hand I really want to do well and I hate the telephone, even in English. My teacher told me not to worry because the goal for our level is a 1.5 and even if I don’t speak as well as I normally do, I’ll still get at least a 1.5, but I think she was just trying to reassure me. When she first heard that I was the one who got picked for the OPI from our level, she just looked at me and shook her head and said, “Ой.”

In any case, the score isn’t really important and I should just look at it as practice for the future, because when I go into the military or the intelligence community or wherever I end up, I’m sure I’ll be taking plenty of tests like this one.

Hmm, he was supposed to call already and he has not. I don’t know what this means. Maybe I’m supposed to be somewhere that is not my room? But where? The schedule says home. I don’t know what this means. Ужас.

ясно как божий день…

Студент: Я не понимаю разницу между “менять” и “изменять”…
Преподаватель: “Менять” значит “to change” и “изменять”… значит “to alter” или “to change”. Понятно?
Студент: Нет…
Преподаватель: Почему?

Интересно…

Сегодня на уроке по чтению, мой преподаватель нам сказала, что в России, психолог не очень престижная профессия. А почему?

“Антидепрессант- зачем? У нас водка! Если у тебя депрессия, я просто скажу, поплачь и выпей бутылку водки.”

Я люблю моего преподавателя

Смешно.

Один:

Джейсон: Володя, какое ваше самое любимое пиво?
Володя: (Я забыла… пиво из Бостона может быть.)
Джейсон: Отлично. А Веня… сколько вам лет?
Веня: Мне 20 лет.
Джейсон: Uh huh. A ваш самый любимый сок?

Два:

Джейсон: Хорошо, кто поедет с кем?
Ольга Анатольевна: Веня, у вас есть машина?
Веня: Да, у меня КРАСНАЯ машина.
Ольга Анатольевна: А вы хотите одну или двух девушек?

Три: (после того, как мы ходили в бар и выпили)

Я: Почему он думает, что я служу в Air Force?
Веня: Maybe he thought you were Heidi. That’s not very observant of him.
Я: We both have brown hair.
Веня: Yeah, but you’re… you. And she’s… Heidi.
Рома: That’s so true.

Четыре:

Джон: Как по-русски “mullet”? Вот, как бизнес здесь и вечеринка здесь…

Устала… как всегда

Сегодня я решила, что у меня “burn-out”… еще шесть недель. Ой. Нужно время для меня и только меня, но моя соседка по комнате всегда в своей комнате и ест яблоки так громко! Мне очень не нравится когда я могу слышать людей, которые едят. ОЙ!

Сейчас я хочу пить пепси, читать книги (по-английски!), и говорить с друзьями (по-английски!). После контрольной завтра, нет уроков два дня.

Я думаю что я буду ложиться спать. Надеюсь, что когда я встаю завтра, все будет лучше…

ФСБ взрывает Россию…

… а мои профессора взрывают мою голову…