Do any of you have Ukrainian ancestry?

... that's written Ukrainian I was taking about. I can maintain a lengthy conversation with say, my mother or my aunt. With others, I'm a bit embarrassed in case my proununciations aren't quite correct. But I'm stubborn & keep bumbling along with it!

Dobryy vyechir, msolga--Tak, I do know some Ukrainian words as well as having some knowledge of the Russian language. Ukrainian is relatively easy to pick up if you know Russian (is it not?) and it's possibly the same for Spanish-speaking people to absorb Italian quickly. In fact I'm intersted in traveling to Russia, Ukraine, perhaps other areas of Eastern Europe!

Nimh, since you are a resident of Russia, I'm wondering what are the places I should see and what activities can I do whenever I tour Russia--I would love to know more about Moskva and Sankt-Petrograd!

You're going to talk about Russia (home of the oppressors! ) on this thread??????

.. & Dobryy vyechir to you, too, S'n'C!

Sorry, I'm not in Russia I live in Hungary! (see "location"). I havent been in Russia since I was in Petersburg for a month in '95... fascinating city but I'm sure its changed a lot since then!

Nimh---please pardon me, I'd inadvertently confused you with the wrong a2k member!

I had intended on asking SerSo, who is a Russian native and resident, on what I can see/do whenever I have a chance to travel there, perhaps Ukaine, Czech Republic and Hungary as well

Hungary is renowned for its many bath houses, right? :wink:

Yes, I am quite sure St. Petersburg, not to mention Russia itself, has gone through a drastic change since you've last been there....a LOT can change in one decade!

Dobryy means good, yes?

littlek wrote:


DA! (yes) :wink:

Woohoo! I also know the word that sounds like spaceeba and is said when you get your vodka (thank you).

very good, littlek!

btw, the Russian word for 'thank you' is spelled spasibo (but pronounced 'spaceeba') when it's interpreted into the Roman alphabet

Oh, I knew I wouldn't be getting the right spelling!

Dobryy vyechir, k!

Fancy some borscht & a wee nip of vodka, maybe?

Did someone say borscht ?



I'm there, even have my hand carved wooden spoon prepared (I use it for borscht and potato soup only).

Yes!
There's some for you, too, Sturgis. Here you are!

Doing good... and you?

Will their be some hearty black bread along with the borscht or should I bake some to bring along?

Do bring some ... & some Polish sausage!

I was wondering, Sturgis, if there was such a sausage as "Polish", or if it was an all purpose name for some generic Eastern European variety? My parents used to buy tons of the stuff from the delicatessen. As a (sort of) Pole, do you know? Or maybe it's an Oz thing?

I find differences between Polish and Ukrainian sausage, so I would say it goes somewhat beyond a standardized generic for Eastern European. I have also notice a difference when strapping on the old feed bag at restaurants which purport themselves to be Ukrainian, Polish, Russian(?..sort of vague isn't it??) and other areas. Even Hungarian and Romanian have fallen into the sausage wars.

My mother was not exactly a stellar cook so food was unbelievably bland (she shunned spices)and burned (charcoal a tasty way to start and end your day) when she cooked. Fortunately my father did most cooking but he stuck with the "American" foods since that was what he knew and did for his job (he ran a food catering business).

Thanks for that. I was wondering.

My mother wasn't a half-bad cook. I grew up preferring Ukrainian food to "Australian". The best thing about growing up in a European household is that I was conditioned to try just about anything new, once at least! We weren't allowed to be picky & refuse anything. It's been amusing seeing a lot of the staple food of my childhood become "trendy". The last thing I would have expected.

Ah, yes! The try everything at least once situation. How many times was food placed before me that frightened me? However I always gave it a whirl...often with extreme prodding...and most of the time it wasn't that bad. (still not a big fan of tripe).