The Russian word for grapefruit is грейпфрут. Grapefruits are a delicious fruit and commonly used to treat obesity, respiratory problems, and flu symptoms. In my backyard, grow two grapefruit trees and I make very good use of them. Once a year, when the grapefruits are at their ripest point, I pick all the fruit off the tree and use it to make grapefruit juice грепфрутовый сок. Everyone in my family loves this healthy drink especially in the mornings. Because our grapefruit trees are very large, they produce many grapefruits each year and we always invite our neighbors over to help pick the grapefruits off the trees. We always end up giving a few dozen grapefruits away to our neighbors each year.

I remember when my mother first started introducing my little sister to grapefruits. Victoria was approximately one year old when my mother handed her a slice of grapefruit. We expected that she would make a funny face so my parents stood around taking pictures when she put the grapefruit in her mouth and squinted. Laughing, my parents said «Mоя дорогая! Ты выглядишь так смешно, когда ты кушаешь этот грейпфрут!» “Мy dear! You look so funny when you eat this grapefruit!”

The Russian word for garlic is чеснок. Garlic is not only delicious in certain dishes, but also a very good remedy средство for colds because of its antibacterial properties. My aunt found garlic to be very useful in treating her own flu symptoms. She took a few cloves of garlic and diced them finely with a knife. Afterwards, she placed the diced garlic between two thin pieces of cloth and tied it around her nose and mouth. She walked around with this mask for fifteen minute intervals three times a day and by the following day her flu symptoms were completely gone. Usually when I had a cold, my aunt tried to persuade me to try her garlic remedy but I always refused and told her that she was crazy for tying a handkerchief full of garlic around her nose. «Оля! Пожалуйста попробуй мое чесночное средство и твой грипп сразу пройдет» “Olga! Please try my garlic remedy and your flu will immediately go away”. Even though I could see that her remedy always worked, I refused to try it and preferred suffering until my immune system took care of the flu.

It is important to note that the word гриб refers to the word mushroom while the word грипп refers to flu. These two words sound very similar, but they obviously have different meanings.

The Russian word for fish is рыба. In general fish is a good source of omega 3 fatty acids and a variety of minerals and vitamins. Many delicious Russian dishes can me made out of fish. In particular, many fishermen like to make a traditional fish soup called уха. The only ingredients needed to make уха are water вода, fish рыба, potatoes картошка, carrots морковь, salt соль, black pepper чёрный перец, and sometimes other spices специи. It has become a tradition in my family to make уха every time we go fishing. Usually my family goes fishing in the winter because the fish are especially hungry during this season. Early in the morning рано утром and late in the evening поздно вечером are the best times to catch fish, and I enjoy having a hot cup of уха after sitting for many hours in the cold weather.

Fish is also a popular alternative during a religious fast пост because meat is a prohibited food. Each year two weeks before Christmas, my mother says «Завтра мы начинаем религиозный пост и будем есть рыбу вместо мяса» “Tomorrow we start the religious fast and will be eating fish instead of meat.” The switch from meat to fish has never been a problem for me because I find fish to be absolutely delicious!

The Russian word for water is вода. I like to live a healthy lifestyle and as a result, I find myself watching the health channel quite frequently. I was watching a program about water and the reporter said «Доктора рекомендуют людям пить от двух до трех литров воды каждый день» “Doctors recommend that people drink two to three liters of water every day.” It is critical to consume enough water to avoid dehydration, especially in Arizona. A few reasons for drinking enough water daily are to increase energy поднять энергию, free the organism of toxins избавить организм от токсинов, loose weight потерять вес, and improve function of the digestive system улучшить функцию пищеварительной системы. There are many more benefits to drinking an adequate amount of water, but even the short list I came up with should be enough to motivate everyone to drink more water. Despite the obvious importance of water, many people still do not consume enough even when hiking on a hot summer day. I often find it strange when I hear a story on the news about a hiker who chose not to bring enough water and had to be airlifted to the hospital due to acute dehydration.

Don's additional notes: the dimunitive form of вода is водичка, so if someone says «Не хочешь водички?», then you know that they mean “Do you want some water?” But you have to be careful because the diminutive of водка is водочка, so if someone says «Не хочешь водочки?», then they mean “Do you want some vodka?”

The Russian word for vodka is водка, and the dimunitive is водочка. So when when he offers you a bit of vodka, a Russian might say «Не хочешь водочки?» Vodka is so associated with Russian culture that doubtless we will blog on the subject many times.

There are many jokes about Russians and vodka. Here is a representative one:

The Russians have an amusing tradition of making rhymes about all sorts of things. I remember in 1986 when I first went to Russia, Gorbachev raised the price of vodka in order to dissuade Russians from drinking excessively. (In this he was following the example of the short-lived Andropov.) I remember my buddy Алёша quoting the following to me:

By "the same thing they did in Poland," they meant the uprising by Solidarity.

The Russians have a thousand stories about the power of vodka. One of them is that vodka foot baths can help eliminate foot odor. The MythBusters tested this hypothesis, and to my great surprise pronounced it true. Mind you, they were washing the feet in vodka, not drinking it. There have been a couple episodes where they explore other vodka stories as well.