Posted in Advertising, Art, Communication, Culture Shock, Russia, tagged BT, Tracy Emin, Nescafe, Damien Hirst, Bistro, McDonald's, Nick Hornby on March 30, 2008 | No Comments »
Now you wouldn’t want to give anyone the impression that you are anti advertising.
Far from it, in fact. You find ads endlessly fascinating.
You take a secret delight in an industry that is blatantly all about manipulation. So much more honest than the pretence of making objective news reports.
It’s quite soothing just to be able to relax [...]
Read Full Post »
You have now given up work so you can prepare for your training to become a school teacher, starting in two weeks.
In honour of this, on your last day you baked a cake for your colleagues which, owing to a kitchen accident, enjoyed the twin flavours of chocolate and pesto. You also attended the leaving party [...]
Read Full Post »
So you got there early and took your seats in, if not splendid isolation, then certainly the dead centre of the cinema.
And B raised a slightly satirical eyebrow, which was intended as a comment on your earlier vigorously expressed opinion that 2pm on a wet Saturday afternoon would see the showing of a recently released [...]
Read Full Post »
The name ‘Solnushka’ isn’t one that any self respecting native Russian speaker would choose.
This is because it’s a term of endearment.
Loosely speaking, it means ’sun’.
But in actual fact, it’s closer to ‘cute little sunny wunny oochie coo’.
It is, essentially, the Russian equivalent of calling yourself ’sweet cheeks’. Or ‘honey bun’. Or ’sungglums’. Or something [...]
Read Full Post »
So there you are at work, dubiously contemplating some hapless trainee’s latest assignment and grumbling wrathfully about the total inability of modern university trained youth to reference their sources in any manner which makes sense (”…what are they teaching them? Surely they can’t all have done travel and tourism for their degree?”), when a colleague comes in [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Britain, Communication, Culture, Culture Shock, ESC, Eurovision, Eurovision 2007, Eurovision Song Contest, Flags, Language, Lasha Tumbai, Morality, Music, Patriotism, Russia, TV, The Rest of the World, Ukraine on May 13, 2007 | 12 Comments »
You adore the Eurovision Song Contest and you say this totally without the kind of qualifiers that Brits usually add at this point. Such as ‘it’s so tragiclly kitsch’.
In fact, you are rather bemused by the fact that the British persist in regarding the thing as a monumental joke and yet follow programmes like Pop Idol with [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Architecture, Books, Britain, Culture Shock, Drink, Music, Public Transport, Russia, Sergei Lukyanenko, Sightseeing, The Rest of the World on April 23, 2007 | 7 Comments »
Having discovered that you had slightly misinterpreted the setting of the book by a Spanish author - with large chunks of it set in Spain simply because Spain is the centre of the universe, as opposed to somewhere suitably Continentally decedent for odd Art to take place - it got you thinking about the other series [...]
Read Full Post »
You can be very boring on the topic of grammar. And punctuation. Particularly commas. The rules are comforting, even if you do treat them as something of an abstract concept when it actually becomes time to apply them.
You are considerably more interested in how we actually use language, though. And the routines we follow and [...]
Read Full Post »
A chap called Hobgoblin, who you came to via Charlotte and Aphra Behn’s postings on the topic, has requested movingly and persuasively that people blog about what it means to support the troops. This seems like an admirable project, even if it didn’t run headlong into your latest train of thought, so here goes.
It’s not something you feel you [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Britain, Clothes, Culture Shock, Education, Feminism, Footwear, Morality, Religion, The Rest of the World, Work on February 4, 2007 | 11 Comments »
There are a number of things which colour your attitude towards the whole debate about whether or not Muslim women should be allowed to follow their religious duties and impose their dress codes on the rest of the work force, not least of which is that your stubborn puritan streak puts you much more in [...]
Read Full Post »
