SILP 2015 is over. Our students left, taking with them their newly acquired language skills. I wonder – where will this year take them? Their loving professors and TA will surely miss this fun group of dedicated and talented men and women.
On Friday after classes, the Russian students gathered together at
Larkin park to celebrate the upcoming end of the program, eat shashlyki, and relax 
before the IPA. Every citizen of what used to be the Eastern Bloc has his or her own recipe for this “meat on a stick” meal believed to be of the Georgian origin. Since usually men are assigned the grilling duty, we have asked Conner to be in charge of the grill. We all agreed that shashlyki turned out to be very delicious.
One of our students used her grandma’s recipe to make (entirely from scratch!) Napoleon, a cake with many thin layers, separated with different types of frosting or cream. With its light texture and sophisticated presentation, this dessert is considered a must have at any Russian gathering. I failed to capture our talented cook with her culinary art, but Morgan here is doing a good job protecting her piece of cak
e from the hungry crowd.
Good food draws out good company. Our MIIS colleague from CNS stopped by with two visiting teachers from Russia. They passed on shashlyki, but as you can see, they loved the cake.
All the photos from our shashlyki outing, including skewer battle and kids-vs-students (or something like that) soccer match are here.
SILP 2015 Russian has been an absolutely fantastic experience and we could not wish for a better group to join us this year.
It has been a very busy weekend for SILP Russian students. We started it participating in the SILP Talent show. The students performed several scenes from “Koshkin Dom” (“Cat’s House”) and also sang a very popular in Russia song “Kon'” acapella beautifully. On the picture you can see the full cast of “Koshkin Dom” right after the performance. We made our animal masks the day before and we are very proud of them.
On Sunday, a few early risers attended the morning liturgy at St. Seraphim of Sarov Parish in Seaside near Laguna Grande park. This church is very traditional, with a modest exterior and a lot of beautiful icons inside. As the people were filing in for service, we could observe the worship practices. It was a beautiful liturgy with singing and chanting. It seems that once a month the service is conducted in English, and we just happened to attend on that same day. Батюшка, Maria, and other members of the parish welcomed us warmly. Now we are wondering – why is it important to stand for the whole duration of the service? Please post your comments to discuss.
In the afternoon, while we were waiting for the blues bands to set up, we walked to the Seaside beach. On the way to the beach we went for a thrill ride in a glass elevator in Embassy Suites. There, while I was trying my best NOT to look down, students were having fun.
Fun continued on the beach. Somehow no matter how old people are, we all love playing in and with the sand. Once Conner got his legs back, the students walked back to Laguna Grande park for the Blues In the Park festival where Conner danced with Professor Aptekman.
Our 
day was unusual on many counts. The very warm weather persuaded even the most dedicated students to relax during lunch in the shade of a big tree on the lawn in front of Colton Hall instead of congregating in the Samson Center.
Then Jeff found Kobzar (with English translation) and decided to give Ukrainian a try. Alas, Ukrainian turned out to be quite different from Russian, but we managed to get through one short poem.
In the evening five students stayed behind to watch Брат , a movie about life in Russia (Saint Petersburg) in the 1990s. These were the times of red coats, golden chains, 6-series Mercedes, lots of violence, and people trying to find their place in the new world order.
On the evening of July 17, the SILP Russian students walked over to Professor Apollonio’s apartment for a double treat. First, they learned how to cook borsch from scratch. You can read the disputed history of this hot/cold dish here. We added a Ukrainian twist to this dish by also making pampushki (bread rolls) with garlic.
While the soup was cooking, the students got an opportunity to meet Janet Whitchurch, 
an artist who translated and illustrated Pushkin’s “Tale about a fisherman and a golden fish”. She spent several years working on both the translation and the illustrations. Her illustrations are sharp and witty, with references to the Russian history.
Her translation clearly turned out to be a great success. We read the entire book (side-by-side Russian and English) and had fun with it. Now we know that SILP not only offers excellent language instruction, but also adds a valuable skill of enabling its students to speak English with a proper Russian accent.
We are all very grateful to Professor Apollonio for welcoming our crowd into her apartment.
If you play an association game and you mention the word “Russia”, at least one person would think of nesting dolls, or matryoshkas. They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, political innuendos, etc. The link below will take you to a website that explains the name behind this toy (and yes, when I was a little girl – I had a set, a family, with a pattern of mother-father-sister-brother-swaddled baby), its history, and why Russian-speaking people get a bit rustled by misuse of the word “babushka”. Check it out here .
On Friday, July 10th, the SILP Russian students applied their artistic talent to painting their own matryoshkas, a little souvenir they can take home to show to their families as a proof that we are not only rigorous, but also fun. We have discovered that some of our students are also quite talented artists. The full photo gallery can be seen here.
It was the first long weekend since the beginning of our program. Some of our students traveled to see family and friends, while others ventured into the wild to reconnect with nature and recharge. It seems that Big Sur was a popular destination for the Russian-learners and Russian-speakers. 
We ran into some trouble trying to translate Big Sur into Russian. Who would like to suggest a nice poetic translation that will capture its beauty?
(Images by Professor Aptekman (via Grisha?) and Maria)
On Wednesday night several students got together after classes to watch a Soviet comedy classic –The Diamond Arm – about a simpleton who accidentally became a mule for the diamond smuggling ring. The movie generated a lot of phrases that are now used in everyday life. I think our students picked up a few of them. We also tasted a poppy seed roll, a traditional snack, which was absolutely delicious.
The Russian students gathered on Friday evening at Professor Aptekman’s apartment to cook and eat Russian food. We made shchi (soup) and pirozhki with different fillings. We had a whole assembly line going with Professor Aptekman managing the entire enterprise, Professor Apollonio presiding over the roller, and Chef Jeff and Bruce performing quality control. Now we all know how to make these simple and delicious dishes. 
On Saturday we met at Pavel’s Backerei in Pacific Grove and enjoyed the decadent breakfast of pastries with cheese and berries.
Please enjoy our pictures here.
In the second week of SILP, students are asked to process what seem to be infinite amounts of information a
nd to sort through never-ending sets of data. How to cope with this information stream? Russian professors recommend taking frequent short breaks. Russian tutor suggests brief exercise bursts, e.g. stretching, pushups, sit-ups, or whatever your 3, 5 or 7 minute fitness app suggests. Brain research shows that taking frequent short breaks and changing activity helps you regain focus or, even better, have a moment of enlightenment. After doing a brief set of pushups, Jeff here had a revelation about aspect.
