Ya narisovala portret moei babushki s maminoi storony. Snachala ya hotela
narisovat' obeih babushek, no k moemu stydu, ya nashla vsego odnu fotografiyu
moei vtoroi babushki, i dazhe ona byla plohogo kachestva. Ya vse ravno
popytalas' ee narisovat', no mne ne ponravilsya rezultat, tak kak poluchalas'
sovsem nepohozhe, kak by ya ne pytalas'.
'Grandmother" po-russki znachit "babushka", no mnogie deti zovut svoih
babushek prosto "baba". Moih babushek zovut Baba Tanya i Baba Galya. Polnoe
imya pervoi - Tatiana, no my (ee vnuki) ispolzuem korotkuyu versiyu ee imeni:
Batanya. Prozvische Baby Gali - Balya, hotya ee polnoe imya - Galina.
Voobshe-to, eto neobychno sokrashat' imena babushek kak my eto sdelali, no
tak my vyrazhaem otlichie nashix babushek ot drugih. Mozhno zametit', chto ix
imena byli sokrascheny ne po odnomu pravilu, i zadatsya voprosom, pochemu
Batanyu my ne zovem 'Banya' ili pochemu imenno Balya - prozvishe Baby Gali, a
ne Bagalya. Delo v tom, chto 'banya' po-russki, eto mesto gde moyutsya. Bylo
bu smeshno tak nazyvat moyu babushku. A Bagalya prosto ne zvuchit tak
xorosho, kak Balya.
Zamechatelno, chto imya Batani ochen ei podhodit. Kak mozhno zametit',
koren ee imeni - 'botan', tot zhe samiy, chto i v slove 'botanika'. Ono ei
podhodit, potomu chto Batanya provodit mnogo vremeni zabotyas' o
nasazhdeniyax: polyax i derevyax v derevne. Nash dom v etoi derevne dlya nas
vsego lish dachya, no moya babushka zhivet tam pochti postoyanno. Ona
razvodit tam koz i kurits, i ei ochen nravitsya zabotitsya o hozyaistve.
Vtoraya moya babushka - uchitel russkogo yazyka i literatury. Ona
rabotaet v internate i v osnovnom uchit detei vozrasta 'high school'.
Obe moi babushki ochen dobrie i zamechatelno gotovyat. Ya ochen lublu ih
obeih, i skuchayu po nim, tak kak oni ostalis' v Rossii, kogda ya pereehala v
Ameriku. Ya budu ochen' dovol'na. esli to chto ya o nih napisala, dobavilo k
proektu o babushkah so vsego mira.
'Grandmother' in Russian is 'babushka', however many children simply call their grannies 'baba'. My grannies are Baba Tanya and Baba Galya. The first's full name is Tatiana, but we (her grandchildren) use the short version of her baba title: Batanya.
Baba Galya' s nickname is Balya, though her full name is Galina. It's pretty unusual to abbreviate babushka's name like we did, but that is how our grannies are special.One could probably notice the difference in the way we abbreviated the names and wonder why Batanya was not called Banya, or why Balya was not Bagalya instead. The thing is, 'banya' means 'russian bath' in Russian, which is something similar to sauna. It would be funny to call my grandmother that. And Bagalya simply doesn't sound as nice as Galya.
It's interesting how Batanya's name suits her. As one could notice, the first part of this name sounds as 'botan', the root of the term 'botany' (in Russian, 'botanika'). It is relevant, because Batanya spends a lot of time taking care of the fruit and flower garden and the potato field in the village. The house that we have in that village is a summer haven for my family, but for my granny it's a true home. She also has goats and chickens there and is very fond of taking care of this household.
My other granny is a teacher of Russian language and literature. She works at an orphanage and mostly deals with kids of high school age. Both my grannies are very kind and they cook amazingly. I love them both very much, and miss them now that we are apart. I will be happy if what I has written about my grannies would contribute to the grandmother project.
Sincerely,
Olya
Russia - now living in the USA
