Saint Petersburg//Strasbourg

[frussia]

西湖 (West Lake) and Mao (at Yuquan Campus, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou)

[frussia]

oh! today i met a couple guys from uzbekistan and a guy from mongolia and we talked in russian and they said my accent was very good! but man i haven't spoken russian since may? june? and if i don't keep it up i'll lose it

[frussia]

a group of elderly people playing cards

[frussia]

a goldern orb (it's a v fancy hotel in the business sector of hangzhou)

[frussia]

the opening ceremony for zhejiang university! there was singing and dancing and this rockstar violinist called scherzo who is apparently a huge deal?? and man like three hours of speeches so that was a helluva lot of fun

[frussia]

南华圆 (nan hua yuan garden), zijingang campus, zhejiang university, hangzhou, china

[frussia]

i'm in china! it is so hot that i have sweated my sins away but on the other hand the food is super good and super cheap!

[frussia]

goodbye ssees! thanks for being my home for four years. i'm setting off to china tomorrow!

[frussia]

studying languages and sinning are two of my favourite activities anyway just a quick update: i’m moving to china in september! i got a scholarship for a masters in china studies so i’ll be studying there for a year, it’s in equal parts exciting and terrifying. hope all you followers are doing well, take care of yourselves!

[ahlf]

fun fact:  the average life span of a male grizzly bear is 22 years old

[frussia]

shameless self-promoting but hey w/e this is my comic blog if any of you feel like checking it out

[frussia]

tbt: that time i became my own gender in russian conversation class in st petersburg

my conversation teacher had a habit of asking first the "girls" what they thought about a particular matter, and then asking the "boys" and then one day...

михаил: девушки, что вы думаете?... мальчики, что вы думаете?... али, что вы думаете?

[frussia]

не все дома lit. not all at home not all there, not quite right in the head, have a screw loose  

example

"Послушайте, вы, - сказал Ревкин, - вам надо срочно обратиться к врачу, вы больны, у вас не все дома" "Listen, you," said Revkin, "you should see a doctor immediately, you're a sick man, you're not all there" from The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin ("Жизнь и необычайные приключения солдата Ивана Чонкина") by Vladimir Voinovich (Владимир Войнович)  

[frussia]

things i have learnt #6

движуха - a lively party сачок - (literally) net; (slang) truant, lazybones, loafer, skiver сачковать - to skive, play truant хам - brute, lout

[frussia]

построить на песке lit. to build on sand (in reference to a plan, project, theory etc) to base sth. on unreliable facts, approaches

[frussia]

мерить кого-н на свой аршин lit. to measure someone with one's own arshin (≈ yardstick) to judge sb by one's own standards

[frussia]

X до добра не доведёт X will lead to no good.

[frussia]

vocab from "кухня" (s1e2)

пень - stump, stub; blockhead спирать/спереть (сопру/сопрёшь, спёр/ла) - to steal плевать/плюхнуть - to spit; not care (for) - ему плевать на всё, он плюёт на всё - he doesn't give a damn отвратительно - disgusting вон (отсюда)! пошёл вон! - go away! get out (of here)! саднить/за- - to sting, smart чинить, починять/починить - to fix up бездельник - slacker, bum, layabout утончённый - subtle, refined, sophisticated клинок - blade, sword дурачиться/по- - to fool around дёргать/дёрнуть - to pull, tug; to harass, pester (coll.)