In preparation for our trip to Russia, here are translations for the words you requested (spelled phonetically in the Latin alphabet). Mom, please flag any mistakes.
Hello---ZDRAA-stvee-tyea
Thank you---Spaa-SEE-ba
Excuse me---Eez-vee-NEET-yea menya
Sorry---Eez-vee-NEET-yea
You are pretty/cute---Thui do-VOL-no/seem-pat-EE-nuy
How much---Na-SKOL-ka?
How long---Kak DOL-go?
I am sick---Ya BO-lin.
The hospital---Bol-NEE-tsa
Soup---Soop
I can't speak Russian---Ya nee ga-va-ROO pah ROO-skee
Ladies' room---Twah-LYET
I love Russia---Ya LOO-bit Roo-SEE-ya
Airport---aai-roh-PORT
Taxi---Tak-SEE
Putin is cool---Pooteen (nye) ho-LOD-no!
Postcard---Poch-ta ot-KRUT-ka
China---Far-FOR (not sure about this one)
Hong Kong airport---Gon-kong ai-roh-PORT
E-mail---el-ek-TRO-ne-ya POCH-ta
We are tourists---Mee to-REE-stee
Two more I added:
I speak a little Russian - Ya ga-va-ROO nyem-NO-GO pah ROO-skee.
My family is from Russia - Mo-YA sem-YA ot Rossee
P.S. Your blog is so much better than mine is. "If I had to pick one word to describe Ms. Wei wei, I would say that she is very very enchanting."
Friday, October 12, 2007
Munich and Uh-merica
I am going to Munich in 3 hours (at 5am). I took a lot of yes-drowsy cold medicine throughout the week. And now without it, I can't sleep.
German tissues are thick and durable. They are not particularly soft, but there is something about them that I find comforting.
I should have written more about the Russian embassy.
I am not sure what I will do in Munich tomorrow. Sunday I am going to the Dachau concentration camp.
I leave for Uh-merica Monday. I am going there for work. Originally I was going to four cities. Now only three - DC, New York and someplace in the Midwest called Cleveland. I wonder what it will be like.
German tissues are thick and durable. They are not particularly soft, but there is something about them that I find comforting.
I should have written more about the Russian embassy.
I am not sure what I will do in Munich tomorrow. Sunday I am going to the Dachau concentration camp.
I leave for Uh-merica Monday. I am going there for work. Originally I was going to four cities. Now only three - DC, New York and someplace in the Midwest called Cleveland. I wonder what it will be like.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Nice lights
One of the nice things about Germany is that the men do not catcall. You could walk down the street in a bathing suit, and no one would say anything to you.
The closest thing I have had to a catcall occured last Saturday night. I was stopped at a red light on my bike, and a middle-aged man pulled up next to me in his car. He started saying something in German.
"Ich verstehe nicht" (I don't understand), I told him.
"The lights on your bike are excellent," he said. "I could see you all the way from the end of the street."
Granted, there are a lot of bikers in my neighborhood. And it can be dangerous if you can't see them at night. But this man's comment was so innocent and so German. He genuinely just wanted to convey his admiration for the lights on my bike.
The closest thing I have had to a catcall occured last Saturday night. I was stopped at a red light on my bike, and a middle-aged man pulled up next to me in his car. He started saying something in German.
"Ich verstehe nicht" (I don't understand), I told him.
"The lights on your bike are excellent," he said. "I could see you all the way from the end of the street."
Granted, there are a lot of bikers in my neighborhood. And it can be dangerous if you can't see them at night. But this man's comment was so innocent and so German. He genuinely just wanted to convey his admiration for the lights on my bike.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Frankfurt is supposed to be the Manhattan of Germany
It has a few skyscrapers, but only about 660,000 inhabitants.
Writing hard. Posting pictures easier.
(Note: this picture was not actually taken in Frankfurt.)
Writing hard. Posting pictures easier.
(Note: this picture was not actually taken in Frankfurt.)
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Steps to laboriously obtain a Russian tourist visa
1. Google "Russian" and "visa." Click on first search result.
2. Pay $20 for a visa "invitation letter." Believe you are paying for an actual visa.
3. Book flight two months in advance. Be forced to change flight three times.
4. Be charged for each rebook, as well as ambiguous "upgrade fee." Nearly lose Chinese travel partner in the process of rebooking.
5. Follow misleading signs on mile-long, 75 degree incline hill to Russian embassy. End up at bizarre camping grounds.
6. Ask nearby man on bike wearing "Wisconsin" sweatshirt for directions to Embassy. Have him laugh at you for trying to follow the signs. Awkwardly say good-bye to him as you speed down a steep hill together on your bikes.
7. Arrive at deserted embassy at 1pm. Learn from seedy Russian man that it is closed after 12pm.
8. Do not learn any lessons from previous day. Return to embassy on German federal holiday.
9. Nearly pass out while riding up hill to embassy. Pant and be covered in sweat. Begin believing God is inhumane.
10. Approach embassy to see that it is flooded with angry, disoderly people. Ask nearby woman, " is this a line?"
11. Watch woman speak mysterious Russian to the embassy guard. Have him demand your cell phone.
12. Explain that you do not have cell phone. Be forced to leave iPod with woman standing outside embassy.
13. Be told you have the wrong dates on invitation letter. They are off by one week.
14. Attempt to return to Embassy. Repeat steps 2 and 8-12.
I am justifying all this by telling myself that this ordeal has helped prepare me for what Russia will be like. (Why then, you may ask, would I want to visit?)
To be continued...
2. Pay $20 for a visa "invitation letter." Believe you are paying for an actual visa.
3. Book flight two months in advance. Be forced to change flight three times.
4. Be charged for each rebook, as well as ambiguous "upgrade fee." Nearly lose Chinese travel partner in the process of rebooking.
5. Follow misleading signs on mile-long, 75 degree incline hill to Russian embassy. End up at bizarre camping grounds.
6. Ask nearby man on bike wearing "Wisconsin" sweatshirt for directions to Embassy. Have him laugh at you for trying to follow the signs. Awkwardly say good-bye to him as you speed down a steep hill together on your bikes.
7. Arrive at deserted embassy at 1pm. Learn from seedy Russian man that it is closed after 12pm.
8. Do not learn any lessons from previous day. Return to embassy on German federal holiday.
9. Nearly pass out while riding up hill to embassy. Pant and be covered in sweat. Begin believing God is inhumane.
10. Approach embassy to see that it is flooded with angry, disoderly people. Ask nearby woman, " is this a line?"
11. Watch woman speak mysterious Russian to the embassy guard. Have him demand your cell phone.
12. Explain that you do not have cell phone. Be forced to leave iPod with woman standing outside embassy.
13. Be told you have the wrong dates on invitation letter. They are off by one week.
14. Attempt to return to Embassy. Repeat steps 2 and 8-12.
I am justifying all this by telling myself that this ordeal has helped prepare me for what Russia will be like. (Why then, you may ask, would I want to visit?)
To be continued...
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Germany Unification Day
Today is Germany Unification Day. No parades or presents, but I did get the day off work.
I celebrated the birth of my dear, young Federal Republic by bulldozing all the walls in my apartment (heh) and visiting two very German museums.
The first was the Deutsches Museum, which documents advances in German science and technology. It had one of the world's two trautoniums, on which Oscar Sala composed the music for Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." Creeeeee-py.
It also had an exhibit on new technologies that are allowing women to detect genetic defects in their unborn babies. The exhibit said that if a woman does not take advantage of these technologies, she may be accused of being irresponsible. And so the question becomes whether the "right to decide" is really a duty. Hmm.
I then went for my fourth visit to the German history museum. They had a special exhibit that detailed the expatriation of German Jews at the beginning of WWII. In all its exhibits, the Bonn history museum has excellent primary source materials. This was no exception. It had several of the Nazis' original manifestos and the board games that they created for their children, in which sending Jews to other countries was the object of the game.
I always have trouble believing that some of the things I've read about in history books really happened in Germany so recently. You walk down the street and everything feels so normal.
Most of the vestiges of divided Germany are invisible (they are either economic or in terms of cultural mentality). That is why when I visited Berlin I was so struck by some of the visible legacies - the remnants of the wall and the hats worn by crosswalk figures in East Germany.
Prior to coming to Germany that same sense of disbelief always characterized my understanding of the Nazis. But seeing this exhibit really helped me believe.
I celebrated the birth of my dear, young Federal Republic by bulldozing all the walls in my apartment (heh) and visiting two very German museums.
The first was the Deutsches Museum, which documents advances in German science and technology. It had one of the world's two trautoniums, on which Oscar Sala composed the music for Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." Creeeeee-py.
It also had an exhibit on new technologies that are allowing women to detect genetic defects in their unborn babies. The exhibit said that if a woman does not take advantage of these technologies, she may be accused of being irresponsible. And so the question becomes whether the "right to decide" is really a duty. Hmm.
I then went for my fourth visit to the German history museum. They had a special exhibit that detailed the expatriation of German Jews at the beginning of WWII. In all its exhibits, the Bonn history museum has excellent primary source materials. This was no exception. It had several of the Nazis' original manifestos and the board games that they created for their children, in which sending Jews to other countries was the object of the game.
I always have trouble believing that some of the things I've read about in history books really happened in Germany so recently. You walk down the street and everything feels so normal.
Most of the vestiges of divided Germany are invisible (they are either economic or in terms of cultural mentality). That is why when I visited Berlin I was so struck by some of the visible legacies - the remnants of the wall and the hats worn by crosswalk figures in East Germany.
Prior to coming to Germany that same sense of disbelief always characterized my understanding of the Nazis. But seeing this exhibit really helped me believe.
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