Easy Russian 3: the letters Ф and л

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I'm going to teach you a new letter.

Ф

Looks kind of weird, right? Don't worry, it's not. It's f.

ф = F
F = Ф

It almost looks like a football or a football field.

Try these easy ф words-
кофе = coffee
кафе = cafe 
факс = fax
факт = fact 
фета = feta cheese

фото = photo

Paragliding in Ukraine

My friend Pasha found a Ukrainian paragliding school on Ukraine's Groupon page. I don't know if I was more surprised to find out about the paragliding or simply that Ukraine has Groupon! :p You may remember our hero Pasha from the Easter picnic. After discovering this paragliding opportunity he quickly put his superior picnic-planning skills to work and gathered up all the usual suspects for a Saturday afternoon outing.

Passwords

Yesterday my email account got hacked. True, my password policy was way behind the times; nowadays you're advised to use numbers and symbols and here I was, still using an actual dictionary word! D said that's probably how they got in, pitting an algorithm that could test dictionary words against my email address. He sat me down and gave me the lecture and now (I hope) I'm much better defended against such attacks. But it brought to mind a couple of things I'd noticed/heard earlier this month.

Gorky Park and Саржин Яр

Gorky Park is a gigantic city park here in Kharkov. It had been under construction pretty much since I arrived to the city last year. Rumor had it that the remodeled park was to open by June's EURO 2012 tournament but the soccer championship came and went... and a big tree-cutting scandal was the only news from the park.

Where's my park? is probably what this little boy is thinking.















But fear not, intrepid readers, for the work has finished at last and the entire park is again open to all! The park officially reopened on August 23rd (city day) after a visit from Viktor Yanukovich, President of Ukraine. About 80,000 people showed up that first weekend, especially since all the rides were free on opening day. If you're intrigued by the idea of 80,000 visitors in just a couple of days, check out this 3 minute video on the city's website. It's also a great way to see what the locals look like (not supermodels, not drunks, simply regular people) and hear their thoughts, albeit in Russian: "Now there are no problems with the bathrooms (as there had been before.)" "We feel like real Europeans." And for more, read the impressions of a Peace Corps volunteer who visited the park on opening day.

Is it art?

Behind ХАТОБ, the Kharkov State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, lies a landscape not of elegant costumes and evening orchestras but rather of unpaid teenage labor under the cover of night.

Like ballet, also done for the love of art!

This is a fantastic spot. Just ignore the smell of urine and think of it as the city's free open-air museum.

Changes

All day long my stomach has been tied up in knots. It's the first week of the new semester and it feels like everything is up in the air. I've been trying to design a cool fall schedule but there's a downside to such lifestyle design: waiting to see what actually happens.

Art on the city streets

Kharkov street art