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Discover the Russia You Never Knew

with Greg McNafferson

I left the US for Russia five years ago and now I've realized what Russia is. Russia is not what many people think it is or what the media presents to us. I have decided to create this site for clarification. I think tourists who are going to visit Russia should know the truth about this country.

Linguistic Football & Jugglery

I never really questioned the origin of the Russian word for “T-shirt”— “footballka,” coming from the word “football,” obviously.
My command of Russian keeps improving, as I not only learn words, but make logical connections and figure out language relationships. I started thinking about the origins of “footballka” and I figured it out — apparently Russians were first exposed to t-shirts when they watched international football (soccer) matches.
And then wham! it struck me — I got a hunch and started looking for patterns. Sure enough, there is a similar word, “baseballka”, but you’ll never guess what it means! Unlike “footballka”, it’s not a shirt at all — it’s a hat! And “golfiki”, from “golf” are stockings! Likewise, a “basketballka” is a sports shoe, a “volleyballka” is shorts, and “hockeyka” is a hockey jersey!
Apparently, lots of Russian clothes are named after sports that were at some point new and unfamiliar to Russians. My hypothesis is proved by two facts: first of all, ancient Russian footwear, woven of tree bark, was called “lapti”. Well guess what an authentic Russian sport was called — “lapta”! Both are now associated with olden days only. Also, strangely enough, one clothing item that we also call after sports — the “polo shirt” — Russians have named after another sport, calling it “tenniska”.
What kind of clothing do you think the “olympiyka” and the “pingpongka” are?

[ А вот этот кусочек не назовешь friendly, так же как его нельзя назвать близким к действительности, мягко говоря. To say the least. Сказать по правде, такого я про Россию еще не читал. Если это претендовало на шутку, то шутка не удалась.

Toilet-gardening and Bathtub-plantation

Although it has gotten to be much easier to obtain fruit and vegetables in the winter, fresh produce costs a lot and the vast majority cannot afford it. Therefore, most Russian families prepare for winter by freezing sacks of potatoes so that they keep longer. A family with large supplies of potatoes won’t lose more than one or two people a year to scurvy.

Most vegetables that Russians make do with during the winter, however, come from little home gardens. Most apartments aren’t big enough to really grow foodstuffs, so they use an ingenious solution, forced on them by years of vitamin deprivation: they fill up their bathtubs with dirt and plant beets and carrots there. You might think it interrupts everyday routine, but Russians don’t really use bathtubs anyway. In the summer, they prefer lakes and streams, and in the winter, those of them who do wash, stroll to a river with an ice pick, chop a hole in the ice, and take a healthy swim.

Bathtubs are a reminder about the early soviet times, when the government, in an attempt to prove to the world that Russia is a civilized European country, put out a decree that every apartment must be outfitted with a bathtub under the threat of a death sentence.

The toilet gets used in the gardening business too, because what is a home without flowers. The toilet bowl gets filled up with dirt as well and flowers bloom in it year round. Don’t forget, however, that different people like different plants and make sure you check what’s planted inside before you plop down — I was once a victim of my own forgetfulness and in a hurry to relieve myself sat down on a crop of cacti at a friend’s house. Needless to say, his hopes to produce home-made tequila were ruined.