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Time for summer vacations! Crazy and wonderful Russian/Siberian pastimes
Just in time for summer vacations! Thought you’d all like!
New RT documentary, entitled: ‘My Crazy Russian Vlog: Weird & Wonderful Siberian Pastimes’
Where can you take to the snowy slopes in a bikini? Welcome to Russia! RT Doc’s Peter Scott explores some of the craziest things to do in Russia: from festivals on snowy mountains to a smash room ready to be destroyed. Nothing gets in the way of his madcap fun, not even a broken leg.
And here is another one! ‘Russian Daredevils: Adrenaline Rush On Top Of The World’
Meet young people who spend their free time climbing construction sites and towers and ignoring safety ropes – all in search of adrenaline. The higher they get, the better they feel. Their videos on YouTube get millions of views, horrifying parents and relatives while inspiring peers. They are called urban climbers, and they may be looking down on you.
Also see:
- Muslims of Russia: Chechnya – Land of Contrasts
- Putin in Greece: Important Body Language, Signs and Omens
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“Тотальный диктант”: People Worldwide Take Simultaneous Voluntary Written Russian Exam
The outreach of the Russian language and interest in the Russian culture is growing worldwide. After the horrific discrimination to which Russian language was subjected in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia, and lately, in Ukraine, I am glad that Russian Ministry of Education and Science, previously often criticized for inactivity and inertia, is finally starting to make bold moves in the right direction.
I love this wonderful new initiative, whose popularity seems to be mushrooming nationally and internationally! Check it out!
Today, April 16, 2016, as dawn reached various cities and countries, scores took the voluntary Russian language exam. It began in the Far East and as the sun rose, it spread all over the globe. Regardless of age, education, occupation and nationality, people challenged themselves to test their grammar and ability to write in Russian. They took it on Russian subs and icebreakers, on planes and while on an exotic nature tour, in Moscow, Estonia, Japan and China…
This is a new Russian tradition, born a few years ago in Novosibirsk, Western Siberia. It’s called : ‘Totalny Diktant’ – Russian: “Тотальный диктант,” and its popularity is taking over the world. Language diktant in itself is a very old, tried and true Russian educational tradition, which stood the test of time for centuries, and perhaps, millennia.
Diktant is translated to English as: ‘Written exam during which a teacher, or designated reader, reads aloud the secretly pre-selected text to a class (sealed envelope containing text is opened in front of students). Each student listens and writes it down verbatim, while attempting not to make any mistakes. The exam is fully handwritten. What is tested: general erudition and literary language comprehension, attention span, fast reaction (you have to keep up with the speed of dictation), grammar, spelling and punctuation.’
Phew… out of breath just trying to describe in English the meaning of the little Russian word диктант.
‘Totalny Diktant’ is organized by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science. Organizers say that all top ‘students’ – everyone who makes only one mistake or zero mistakes – will receive prizes.
Totalny Diktant, in other words, ‘the total diktant,’ is so named because it is an all-encompassing simultaneous event, whose geography and outreach keep growing.
Here is a brief video with some of the exotic geography and broad outreach of today’s event – time stamps and my explanations/translation underneath the video.
At 0:25: totalny diktant taken by seamen serving on nuclear icebreaker Yamal, Murmansk; 1:00 sailors of the training tall ship Pallada, en route to Japan.
At 1:15: Listvianka village, Lake Baikal, Siberia – local adults and tourists writing their diktant at school desks. 1:20: Kungur, Permsky Krai – extreme Total Diktant: tourists write it in the wilderness of the ancient ice caves, with candles and lots of warm clothes. 1:30 Krasnoyarsk, Siberia – cozy setting of the local bar kinda clashes with this year’s diktant topic: ancient civilizations. 😉
1:40 Novosibirsk University – the birthplace of Totalny Diktant. This year’s topic and text were developed here.
At 1:50 Moscow – in this college diktant is read by Russian Minister of Education and Science, Dmitry Livanov.
Total Diktant this year is taken on all continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, S. and N. America, Australia and Antarctica. Total number of diktant venues: 2185, almost twice as many as in 2015.
At 2:18 Tallinn, Estonia – diktant gathered a record 2000 people, who packed the entire national hockey arena.
2:30 Diktant in the sky: flight Novosibirsk – Moscow.
2:36 – Totalny Diktant in China: “Russian language challenges for the Chinese: hard to tell ‘b’ from ‘p’, as well as ‘a’ and ‘o’ in those cases when they are with, or without, accent.”
2:52 Largest number of participants were in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the two capitals the diktant text was read by famous actors, politicians, scientists and artists.
The total diktant was followed by live TV/internet guidance, with detailed tips and analysis of common mistakes.
3:30 One of the many unusual venues: Donskoy Men’s Monastery, the text read personally by Father Superior.
3:45 Pushkin, St. Petersburg venue – text read by Sergei Naryshkin, Speaker of the Russian Duma.
4:00 Japanese and Chinese students in Vladivostock, the Far East.
4/17/16 Received a question where to find info on Totalny Diktantand and who can participate.
This is a voluntary global initiative, no restrictions on age or nationality. You can do it in any country, as long as you can write in Russian. As I said, this year the exam was taken on every continent. For those interested in participating or organizing it in your city next year, here is the site. The site also includes Russian language tutorials, and as far as I understand, you can also take the diktant online. Check it out and good luck!
Website: http://totaldict.ru/
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New on LadaRay.info: Russia – The Great Balancer
Mysteries of Siberia and Amazing Shamanic Singing from Khakassia
Reblogged from Lada Ray Blog:
This post is about Khakassia, Siberia – a hidden cultural and archeological gem, full of treasured forbidden history monuments and home to incredible shamanic throat singing. Khakassia is now being rebuilt, while struggling to overcome tragic consequences of the recent forest fire.
Khakassia is a small autonomous republic in southern Siberia, Russian Federation; population about 500,000. It’s located between the large metropolises of Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk.
Map of the Russian Federation – Khakassia is in red
Just like the nearby Tyva and other mystical stretches of Siberia and the Far East, Khakassia is the realm of ancient shamans, famous for its one-of-a-kind throat singing. This land of steppes and forests resembles an open-air museum, the keeper of mysteries of our true past. It is called the archeological Mecca of Siberia, with 30,000 stonehenges, remnants of ancient cities and fortresses, kurgan pyramids as burial sites, and rock engravings strewn all over Khakassian steppes.
Khakassia primordial stone engravings
Sunduki, Khakassia: 16,000 year old stone monuments – kurgans/pyramids
The primordial rocks dotting the landscape are sacred ancestral energy portals commonly found in Siberia, Crimea, Caucasus and all over Russia. The British Stonehenge was made famous, but you could say that the entire Russia is one giant Stonehenge. Some of these ancient portals are still awaiting their discovery.
Khakassian stonehenges, Siberia, Russia
Recently, Khakassia experienced a terrible tragedy. An unusually dry and warm weather for this time of year resulted in a giant forest fire. This fire was carried by the improbably strong winds, reaching 30 m/second. Since the traditional construction material of choice in the forested northern parts of Khakassia is wood, a number of local villages burned down, leaving thousands displaced.
Meet Ruslan Gurude, amazing shamanic singer from Khakassia.
Ruslan Gurude (Ivakin) is a multi-talented economist, singer and composer from Khakassia. During the first show of the New Star («Новая Звезда») All-Russia singing competition, he amazed both audience and judges with his powerful performance of a Khakassian shamanic song. His incredible throat singing, common for these parts, but interpreted by Ruslan in a fresh and unique way, left his audience in awe.
I think our only salvation from the mindless, mind-numbing pop that is flooding stage and TV screens all over the world is this kind of genuine, authentic folk singing. The future is the kind of singing that is encoded with our genetic memory. This is what the world needs to listen to in order to awaken and recall our real roots. It is up to us to decode it and remember the truth…
Read more and listen to Ruslan Gurude’s songs
Guest Post: GETTING TO KNOW THE BEAUTY OF RUSSIA and ITS PEOPLE
Truly, ‘To Russia With Love.’ Amazing in its scope and heartfelt desire for peace and understanding expose of Russia, complete with beautiful photos, by a friend of FuturisTrendcast and Lada Ray Blog, lightworker Nancy Detweiler from Virginia!
Don’t miss it, dear readers! Read/view the entire post on Nancy’s blog… And remember to tweet, FB and click on those likes!GETTING TO KNOW THE BEAUTY OF RUSSIA & ITS PEOPLE – A PICTORIAL/PROSE DOCUMENT
RUSSIA IS RULED BY URANUS & AQUARIUS
URANUS is the planet of Innovation, Intuition, & Scientific Studies – Electric Blue is its color. As you view the photos of Russia, note how often a bluish hue fills the air and how many of the buildings highlight the color of blue in their structure. A sky blue is the color of devotion.
AQUARIUS’s symbol is the Waterbearer to Humanity—the energy of Sister/Brotherhood. Decades ago, the world renown medical intuitive, Edgar Cayce, predicted of Russia: “Through Russia,” Cayce said, “Not in respect to what is sometimes termed Communism or Bolshevism — no! But comes the hope of the world freedom — freedom! That each man will live for his fellow man. The principle has been born there. It will take years for it to be crystallized; yet out of Russia comes again the hope of the world.”
Russia is a Yin/Yang Country
According to Lada Ray
GETTING TO KNOW THE BEAUTY OF RUSSIA & ITS PEOPLE
Nancy, with Twin Flame Uriel
You and I are presently experiencing just one brief lifetime within the total span of our ETERNAL SELF. For Phyllis, others among my friends, and I a beloved portion of our ETERNAL SELF was spent as a Russian. The love we feel for Russia and its people is palpable.
SOMEWHERE IN TIME
Phyllis Min, IHH Program Coordinator
October 1991
“Does my heart hang down low?
Should I cry when they go?
How can I say what I feel,
For the longing does not speak a word.
Grieve me not for this I know, that …
Come tomorrow, I will be whole.”
While listening to the background music playing of “Somewhere In Time,” I am directed to take up my pen and attempt to put into words what I am feeling. It is about the…
View original post 5,747 more words
Russia’s NEW Ambitious Anti-Dollar Move: $150 bln Investment in Baikal-Amur Railroad
Everyone in the world knows the famous Trans-Siberian Railroad (Trans-Sib), built in the 19th century and connecting Europe through the expanse of Siberia, along the southern shore of Lake Baikal, to the Pacific Ocean and China.
Old rails along the shore of the pristine Lake Baikal
Old railroad tunnel, Baikal
Beautiful Baikal
But few abroad know about another, equally famous in Russia, railroad called the simple abbreviation, BAM. BAM means Baikal-Amur Railway, or in Russian: Байкало-Амурская магистраль.
It is also called Baikal–Amur Mainline. “The Baikal–Amur Mainline is a 1,520 mm broad gauge railway line in Russia. Traversing Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, the 4,324 km long BAM runs about 610 to 770 km north of and parallel to the Trans-Siberian railway.” Wikipedia
Map of BAM and Trans-Siberian Railroad. BAM is in green and orange. Trans-Sib is in red.
The construction of BAM began 40 years ago today, July 8. It was dubbed the ‘construction of the century.’ Many young enthusiastic people moved to Siberia to build this railroad. The excitement was tremendous, reminiscent of the earlier Soviet industrialization years. The young people formed many of the so-called ‘stroy otriad,’ which means a ‘construction band’ as in ‘a band of brothers and sisters,’ and would go together to the cold Siberia. After they had completed the construction, they would often stay there, start a family and man the railroad they had helped build.
I remember some pretty awesome songs that were written especially for BAM. Here is one of them. It is called Яростный стройотряд, 1979 – The Roaring Construction Band. This video contains some authentic photos from that period. Performed by the legendary Alexander Gradsky and well-worth listening to! Gradsky has one of the best voices you would ever hear – I promise; and the song is cool, too. I’ve translated a couple of verses:
I’m the fresh wind, the soaring flame,
And it’s our time, my friends.
I wish us luck on our quest
To save ourselves from the indifference.
The joyful tune of the guitars,
A roaring construction band,
As if a fire in the steppes,
The campfires of songs ablaze.
Have a listen:
In the 19th century, the Russian Empire had plans to build the railroad covering the northern part of Lake Baikal and Eastern Siberia and running parallel to the Trans-Siberian. This was a super-ambitious project as such railroad would go through the wild permafrost lands that no man had ever traversed. The project never materialized.
Only in the second part of the 20th century USSR dared it again. On July 8, 1974 the very first rail was set into Siberian permafrost, and BAM was born. Baikal-Amur Railroad went parallel to the Trans-Siberian, but much further north, by the northern shore of Lake Baikal and further into the Far East, towards the Amur River.
BAM was finished before 1991. At that point, USSR collapsed and the new rulers decided BAM was a waste of time and money. The ambitious project was criticized and maligned. BAM was neglected and its enthusiastic, but aging population was forgotten.
However, the times have changed. On July 8, 2014 Russia has celebrated the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the famous construction by starting a new, even more ambitious, line of the BAM railroad.
Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia will spend over $150 bln in order to add another 7,000 kilometers of rails to BAM by 2030. This will complete the railway coverage of the entire Far East. The money for the new mega-project comes out of the Russian reserve fund (specifically, the Russian Commonwealth Fund), which until recently Russia invested in the US Treasuries.
This effectively signals 3 very important things:
1. Russia’s ambitions are back – this is the signal that the country expects growth and robust development.
2. Russia is confirming its Asia pivot – as I’ve been predicting since February 2014. BAM connects Trans-Siberian and Baikal with the Far East/Pacific Ocean and various points in Asia and Siberia. This includes the resource-rich points of the north, as well as potential hard-to-reach tourist destinations.
3. Russia re-affirms that it will stop the silly practice of financing US dollar (which is a form of economic slavery) and will instead use its hard-earned reserves to finance projects inside the country. Finally – it’s about time!
This is a massive shift, and yet another confirmation that the US dollar is approaching its point of no return!
Below is Putin’s Skype with BAM engineers and railroad workers for the 40-year anniversary of BAM. He congratulates them with the anniversary and talks about the $150 bln investment at 13:10. Towards the end, the new leg of BAM is symbolically initiated:
What BAM looks like today – report from the BAM capital, Tinda starts at 0:30 (includes some historic footage from 1970s). Map of BAM starts at 1:34:
Another map of BAM and Trans-Siberian Railroad here.
More awesome pics of Sacred Lake Baikal: THE EARTH SHIFTER Mystical Setting: Lake Baikal, Siberia
Speaking of Siberia and Baikal, check out
Excerpt 4: Siberian Shaman Tengis
from THE EARTH SHIFTER
Lada Ray novels set in Russia:
THE EARTH SHIFTER (visionary fantasy/spy thriller)
GOLD TRAIN (spy adventure/thriller)
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