Before I get into the real meat of this entry, a real quick Russian lesson for those who don't know anything about the language. I promise it won't hurt. For the most part.
The title of this entry "Гулять" (pronounced goo-LYAHT') is a Russian verb. You can tell it's a verb because it ends in "ть." You can also tell it's the infinitive form of the verb for the same reason. So why am I telling you this? Well, mostly just so you can feel like you walked away learning something today. You're welcome.
Гулять literally translates to "to walk, stroll," but the reason I want to spend some time talking about this verb is for its second meaning, "to make merry, live it up." This is a bit of a cultural phenomena here in Russia that I've really come to love and I thought it might be nice to share with you all back home. This isn't high level vocab or anything, I'm sure most first and second year students learning Russian could tell you what it means, but I didn't really understand it until I had a chance to experience it for myself. When I go out on the weekends my host Galina always tells me to "enjoy my stroll," but it's more than just walking around. When Galina says this to me what she's saying is something more like "enjoy your time," or "have a good time." It's not entirely about taking a walk, but, at least from what I've experienced, more about enjoying life.
You might say to me "well no duh Tyler, that's what the second meaning you wrote early says, quit wasting my time" in which case I will call you up over Skype and slowly shake my head at you in disappointment, and you don't want that. There's a few connections that need to be made here that might be hard to see if you've never had the chance to experience this. First of which is that there is an extremely strong connection between walking around your environment and having a good time. You can go for a walk around the streets in the center of Moscow, or one of the many parks that are scattered all over the place, it's not important, but Russians love to be out and about, despite how cold it can get. The second is that you don't have a destination. There is no point A or point B. You might define the area you're in if you're going to talk about where you're strolling, like "I'm in this or that park," but it's not about going some place, it's about wondering.
Back home if I was going out I had a destination in mind. I knew where point A and point B were and the goal was usually to get from one to the other as quickly as possible. Point A might have been home and point B was wherever I was meeting friends, the space between them was... well, just space honestly. Nothing special. Here the whole point is that the fun happens when there is no destination. There's no goal, just exploring and have a good time.
Let me give you an example:
I meet with my friend Sasha about once a week and our meeting usually go about the same every time. First, we'll sit down in a cafe or bar, order a beer, talk about life, philosophy, news, whatever, pay the check, and then go for a stroll. Some of the most interesting things I've learned here have been while we're just wondering around. Topics come up that you would never think of during normal conversation, like issues with the infrastructure of the new parks in downtown Moscow, or why there are still bulky, outdated phone booths that no one uses still littering the side walks of Moscow.
If you wanted to take the phrase "stop and smell the roses" and put it into one verb, it would be Гулять. For me personally this is one of the things I struggle with the most. I always feel like I need to be going somewhere, doing something specific, but this is a completely new way to consider how to enjoy yourself. It's healthy, it's relaxing, and it encourages you to learn the environment. You have to stop thinking in terms of "here and there" and start thinking in terms of "this and now." It's not about where you are going, or who you're going to meet with. It's about where you are, and who you're with right now. Maybe it's difficult to understand by just reading it, but whenever you have some down time grab anyone you know who's nearby (or go by yourself, it's a great time to do some self reflecting) and just go wonder around. Don't set a goal or a time limit, just see where you're feet take you. Go down a street you've never walked down, maybe you'll find a new cafe, maybe you'll meet someone new. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something about yourself or your environment you didn't already know.
We live in a beautiful world full of things we don't know yet, too often we forget that.
Гулять - "To stop and smell the roses. To learn something new. To live here and now."
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The title of this entry "Гулять" (pronounced goo-LYAHT') is a Russian verb. You can tell it's a verb because it ends in "ть." You can also tell it's the infinitive form of the verb for the same reason. So why am I telling you this? Well, mostly just so you can feel like you walked away learning something today. You're welcome.
Гулять literally translates to "to walk, stroll," but the reason I want to spend some time talking about this verb is for its second meaning, "to make merry, live it up." This is a bit of a cultural phenomena here in Russia that I've really come to love and I thought it might be nice to share with you all back home. This isn't high level vocab or anything, I'm sure most first and second year students learning Russian could tell you what it means, but I didn't really understand it until I had a chance to experience it for myself. When I go out on the weekends my host Galina always tells me to "enjoy my stroll," but it's more than just walking around. When Galina says this to me what she's saying is something more like "enjoy your time," or "have a good time." It's not entirely about taking a walk, but, at least from what I've experienced, more about enjoying life.
You might say to me "well no duh Tyler, that's what the second meaning you wrote early says, quit wasting my time" in which case I will call you up over Skype and slowly shake my head at you in disappointment, and you don't want that. There's a few connections that need to be made here that might be hard to see if you've never had the chance to experience this. First of which is that there is an extremely strong connection between walking around your environment and having a good time. You can go for a walk around the streets in the center of Moscow, or one of the many parks that are scattered all over the place, it's not important, but Russians love to be out and about, despite how cold it can get. The second is that you don't have a destination. There is no point A or point B. You might define the area you're in if you're going to talk about where you're strolling, like "I'm in this or that park," but it's not about going some place, it's about wondering.
Back home if I was going out I had a destination in mind. I knew where point A and point B were and the goal was usually to get from one to the other as quickly as possible. Point A might have been home and point B was wherever I was meeting friends, the space between them was... well, just space honestly. Nothing special. Here the whole point is that the fun happens when there is no destination. There's no goal, just exploring and have a good time.
Let me give you an example:
I meet with my friend Sasha about once a week and our meeting usually go about the same every time. First, we'll sit down in a cafe or bar, order a beer, talk about life, philosophy, news, whatever, pay the check, and then go for a stroll. Some of the most interesting things I've learned here have been while we're just wondering around. Topics come up that you would never think of during normal conversation, like issues with the infrastructure of the new parks in downtown Moscow, or why there are still bulky, outdated phone booths that no one uses still littering the side walks of Moscow.
If you wanted to take the phrase "stop and smell the roses" and put it into one verb, it would be Гулять. For me personally this is one of the things I struggle with the most. I always feel like I need to be going somewhere, doing something specific, but this is a completely new way to consider how to enjoy yourself. It's healthy, it's relaxing, and it encourages you to learn the environment. You have to stop thinking in terms of "here and there" and start thinking in terms of "this and now." It's not about where you are going, or who you're going to meet with. It's about where you are, and who you're with right now. Maybe it's difficult to understand by just reading it, but whenever you have some down time grab anyone you know who's nearby (or go by yourself, it's a great time to do some self reflecting) and just go wonder around. Don't set a goal or a time limit, just see where you're feet take you. Go down a street you've never walked down, maybe you'll find a new cafe, maybe you'll meet someone new. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something about yourself or your environment you didn't already know.
We live in a beautiful world full of things we don't know yet, too often we forget that.
Гулять - "To stop and smell the roses. To learn something new. To live here and now."
Someone decided the normal traffic arrow was boring
Nothing takes that pesky "rape-y" vibe away like an Avatar themed paint job.
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Speaking of interesting paint jobs...
Yeah, that's a Porsche with a Boondocks paint job.
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