8 Months In Ukraine: Рюмочки and toasts

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Рюмочки and toasts

This weekend our friends Timur and Yulia came over for a long-postponed and eagerly-anticipated drinking night. Yulia is an amazing cook and brought all kinds of tasty treats, like these:

I've forgotten the name, but the things covered in sour cream have a meat filling and are made from fried mashed potatoes.

Timur brought a local news article about Lewis Caroll's trip to Russia in which Caroll discovered the word защищающихся (the one who defends himself). Apparently Caroll then transcribed the word in his diary as zashtsheeshtshayoyshtsheekhsaya, which is technically correct...but seriously??? As Timur's newspaper article concluded "Not a single English-speaker has been able to pronounce this word."

I swear it's just easier to learn the Russian alphabet!

You might remember Timur from the flooding incident last winter, after which he single-handedly rebuilt the kitchen sink. Recently the apartment has come up with some new issues, like locking us in rooms randomly (the doors can be locked and unlocked with a paper clip, but only from one side. Woe to you if you're on the wrong side and the door decides to lock itself when you're home alone), toilet issues, and the front door not closing at all. The front door issue started a long time ago- it's got a handmade key that is quite the work of art- but the problem became worse about two weeks ago. I talked to the school director, who promised to call the landlord right away....but surprise, surprise, that never happened. Despite a lot of promises and reassurances that the phone call would take place. So thank you, Timur, jack of all trades and hero of this apartment!

Okay, on to the рюмочки (shot glasses, a gift from Timur and Yulia) and toasts in Ukrainian. I'm always startlingly unprepared to give a toast and they know it. These shot glasses make great cue cards. Enjoy : )