Thursday, May 19, 2011

FEMEN

For the Portuguese speakers only: Exclusive interview with FEMEN on my website: http://www.tudosobrearussia.com.br


Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Rent a kitty just for a few hours

In Russia, some superstitious people (almost everyone) believe that when you are buying or renting a new place to live, the first who should enter the "sacred walls" is the cat (the most popular pet in Russia, as you know).

Lately, one agency from Novosibirsk (a city in Siberia) decided to earn money with Russian traditions and created a service which allows you to rent a cat just for a couple of hours. Basically, just for the ritual for cat to enter the new house.

Acording to the tradition the presence of the fluffy animal brings good energy to your new place, so now you don't have to actually own one to "babtise" your corner, but simply - rent one!

Meow!


Saturday, April 30, 2011

Ukrainians vs Russians



When I was living in Ukraine it was really obvious that Ukrainians never liked Russians. It was always this quiet hatred towards their mentality, their habbits, their lifestyle. How strange is this? We all have same Slavic origin and we are all coming from the same nonexistent anymore union, how can we be so different, up to the point of hating each other?

Yuriy Lutsenko - former interior Minister of Ukraine, who was on the side of Yulia Tymoshenko's government explains what kind of differences he sees between Russians and Ukrainians.

According to him, for the Russian people the main thing in life is state, their own country. A typical Russian person is described by him this way: "A roof leaks in the house, the cow is not milked, the goat died, the children are hungry, but the Russian citizen stands on his knees in front of an icon of Jesus Christ and prays to Moscow and to the Tsar and to the State, because for him those are only things that are able to protect him.

At the same time, for the Ukrainians, in his opinion, the main value - is their own freedom. "Ukraine is the a country of fugitive slaves. They were always running from the tsar and a king and a prince and a wife and any type of chaos in general. In Ukraine, if the family works well independently of the state, it will survive without any interference,"- shared his thoughts Lutsenko.

Mikhail Zurabov, a Russian ambassador once in his interview stated that Ukrainians and Russian in fact, are the same. This has outraged the Ukrainian nationalists, who declared the Russian diplomat as persona non grata.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Sashlyk or Russian meat skewers

Shashlyk it's a type of meat skewers that are really popular in Russia and other Eastern European countries.

This dish originally is coming from Central Asia and Caucasus. The Russians are normally preparing Shashlyki in the open air, duruing the hot seasons. There is a tradition, for example, to get together to eat meat skewers on the 1st of May (Mayovka), the celebration of the International Workers' Day, or Labour Day. Normally the first warm days are coming with the month of May and it gives an opportunity for the russian people meet some friends and celebrate this event.


I prepared a recipy for you guys of the shashlyk that my father used to do, it's really delicious! But there is one thing you have to remember, the best meat for the skewers is lamb, no doubt, but there are many people that are using pork as a alternative of a soft and juicy meat (my father prefers pork). I have never seen people preparing any beef shashlyk, at all.


So, here it goes:

Pork skewers with vodka

Take the 5 kg of pork and cut into large chunks, cut the 5 kg of onions too, as rings, put spices:  salt, pepper, garlic. Poor 300 grams of vodka on the top, close the meet with some lead or simply another plate
 and put away in a cool place for 24 hours. After it has been marinated fry it on the grill and enjoy your meal, it will come out delicious, trust me!



You can also add some seasoning to the fried meat:


Seasoning
 with garlic & vinegar















To prepare the
 condiments you'll need: a couple of teeth of garlic, 1 onion, one-third cup of the white vinegar, some herbs like dill, basil, parsley, coriander, cilantro or tarragon and a third cup of boiled water
Crush garlic and mix with salt. Add the ground spices. Dilute vinegar with water and add it to your garlic weight, then mash everything thoroughly.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

For the Portuguese speakers

Guys, for those of you, who speaks Portuguese, my new website: Tudo Sobre a Rússia

Chernobyl - 25 years

Chernobyl as a challenge to Europe 




Today is 26/04, the 25th anniversary of the reactor accident at Chernobyl. Since then, the "Chernobyl" means a huge environmental disaster whose devastating consequences caused deep shock for half of the planet. Atmospheric emission of radioactive substances at the time of the explosion and the post-impact accident resulted the contamination of many European countries. 

The territory of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, within the area of ​​150 km2 has got into a danger zone.
 As a result of long-term decay of radioactive substances, amount of disease in infected areas didn't not reduce, but rather increased. Which still causes cancers, infant mortality, and genetic defects in many Eastern European countries. The Chernobyl disaster - is a large-scale threat to both social health and the economic development.





Video: 25 years of the Chernobyl, didn't make the problems disappear

Monday, April 25, 2011

Why FEMEN is protesting topless?


The FEMEN girls are back breaking the traditional feminism. The members of the group affirm that an ordinary feminists' protest is for women that want to be equal to men. In their  they want to be placed as women. Therefore, showing how sexy they are. Currently FEMEN has 300 members - 30 of them are topless "warriors" of the group. The average age is 22 years old, but there is also one 63 years old lady.
In the interview for a Brazilian news website G1, FEMEN group is sharing their secrets. Why actually protesting topless?
Isn't it on the contrary: to show the body, attracting million of eyes, humiliates the woman instead of appreciating her
Inna Shevchenko, 20 year old leader of the movement and a journalism student says that before girls used to organize protests dressed uo normally, but it had no effect, so they decided to make it really extreem. "When a woman takes off her clothes, it's because something very serious happened and people want to know what is it," explains the leader.
Her mother cries every time she sees her daughter in the press, being arrested, as it happens quite often. "My mother grew up during the communism, for her even the ordinary protest is already a serious one, she would never understand women protesting and naked women protesting is something totally crazy for her" adds Inna.
According to the Ukrainian law it is prohibited to show genitals in public. "But it is not about genitals," argues a young activist. "Men may walk with no shirt on the street and women are sunbathing topless during the summer, so why cannot we protest this way?" - questions.
Source of the article and the photo: G1









On the photo, FEMEN is protesting on the 19/04 against the use of nuclear power due to the 25 years of the nuclear accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine.