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Hi! I'm your Russian-speaking friend.

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Today we're going to watch Shorts together.

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Shorts are short videos on the YouTube platform, or "on YouTube."

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Everyone has different tastes.

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This phrase means that everyone likes different things.

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I, for example, really like the channel of the Belarusian coffee shop "Varka."

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If I understand correctly, it's a franchise.

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So I'm talking specifically about "Varka" on Grushevka in Minsk.

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Have you ever been to Minsk?

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I have. In my opinion, it's a very beautiful city with wide streets.

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I watch and like a lot of videos

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on this channel, and I'm even subscribed.

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But you can't see that here, because I'm using a different account,

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which I created in order to

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publish my own videos in Russian.

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Their slogan is "the one and only Varka on Grushevka."

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Let me show you why I like their short videos.

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Let's watch, for example, this video.

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First watch this clip and tell me how much you were able to understand.

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Would you like a little bag?

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The word "pakétik" is the diminutive-affectionate form of the word "paket" (bag).

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When I hear "pakétik," I think of something small or cute.

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So the bag that the girl is holding in her

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hand can quite reasonably be called a "pakétik."

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No, thanks, I'll carry it like this.

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Notice that he didn't pronounce "spasibo" (thank you) clearly.

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He said "pasibo."

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Regardless of the situation, we like

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to shorten words, to pronounce fewer sounds,

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so "pasibo" sometimes sounds

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more natural than "spasibo."

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Oh well.

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The girl gave up.

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She sees that a bag would come in handy for him, but she doesn't say anything.

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Notice that the subtitles

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are probably generated automatically,

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the word "po-vashemu" is written with a hyphen.

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A hyphen is a little "minus" sign.

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In Russian there is the dash (—) and there is the hyphen (-).

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We use the dash in sentences.

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The hyphen is shorter in length, like a minus, and is written inside words.

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As you can see, the word

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"po-vashemu" is usually written with a hyphen.

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Don't worry if you don't

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know whether to write a hyphen or not,

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because even many

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Russians don't know the rules and write incorrectly.

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And where, in your opinion, should I put this?

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On my head?

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That's irony.

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To this man it seems obvious that a bag is needed.

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The girl is confused.

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She answers: "I take it you do need one."

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From his reply she understood that he does need a bag.

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Another man bought something very

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small, but still asks for a little bag.

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Whereas other customers could

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buy more things and decline a bag.

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"Yes, sure," she calmly replies and gives him a bag.

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She hands him the bag.

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A new customer comes in, and the girl again tirelessly asks:

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"Do you need a little bag?"

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To which she gets a question in return: "For this box?"

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The answer is already hidden in this question.

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She nods.

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The man says: "Are you kidding?"

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He thinks he doesn't need a bag.

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Obviously not.

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Even from his intonation you could tell that he doesn't need a bag.

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But the girl is a café employee, so she has to ask.

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You can tell from the girl's eyes that she's very tired.

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I like this little sketch, because

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it shows a working day at the coffee shop.

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I've never worked in food service,

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so correct me in the comments,

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if you disagree with me.

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But it seems to me that this looks quite realistic.

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First we'll watch together, then

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we'll break down what happened in the video.

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A customer comes in and immediately sizes up the girl's appearance.

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He notices that she has no

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piercings, no nose ring, no tattoos.

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So he starts to doubt

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how good a barista she is.

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When he leaves, she takes out her diploma and

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tells him that she graduated from law school.

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"Yurfak" is the faculty of law.

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That is, she's a lawyer. Possibly an attorney.

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This new information makes the man in the jacket look back.

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In the description it says:

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"By the way, Anya really does have a legal education."

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Let's read the comments.

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Molodoy 7565 writes:

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"Five years to be a lawyer, hop-hop, and you're a barista."

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It's a fun rhyme.

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"Law diploma = cool barista."

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This short clip is also built on the urban legend that

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a good barista must necessarily

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meet certain criteria.

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And a law diploma is one of those joking criteria.

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What's notable is that this man in the jacket is actually

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the director of this coffee shop on Grushevka.

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The next comment is from Aleksey.

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"Nikita looks so suspicious, but he himself has

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no piercings, no nose ring, no tattoos,

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and he's supposedly the coffee shop director."

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By the way, in Russian we often

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leave parentheses at the end of a message.

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Two parentheses means a big smile.

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About how to correctly place these

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parentheses, I could make a separate video.

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If you're interested in that, write to me in the comments.

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Steila2013 writes: "I'm actually

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a lawyer, and coffee is just, you know, for the soul."

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This is a reference to another well-known

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phrase that taxi drivers often say.

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In films and in real life, taxi drivers in Russia and in

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the post-Soviet space, in the CIS countries,

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often say that they actually have, for example, a business.

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And the taxi is just, you know, for the soul.

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Finally, let's watch one more very short video.

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Tell me, this salmon quiche, is it filling?

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Yes, it's enough to feed five people no problem.

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I don't think I know five people without problems.

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The man asked whether the quiche is filling.

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The girl answered him yes, it's filling, and that it's so

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filling that five people could eat it and be full.

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"Filling" implies the feeling

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of being satisfied, when you eat and eat and get full.

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To which the man replies to the

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girl that he doesn't know five people who have no problems.

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Five people without problems.

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Because he heard her answer differently.

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It seemed to him that she meant this quiche would feed

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exactly five people who have no problems.

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Because "no problem" depending

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on context is understood differently.

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In the comments people started writing similar puns.

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For example: "Champion, can you beat him?

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I'll beat him even blindfolded.

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And what if his eyes aren't blindfolded?"

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Here it was meant that the person who says he can

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beat someone is so good at it,

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that even if his

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eyes were blindfolded, he would still manage.

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But his interlocutor thought that the eyes should be blindfolded not on

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the one who's going to do the beating, but on the one who's going to be beaten.

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So he asked: "And what if his eyes aren't blindfolded?"

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Someone writes: "So that there are no

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problems, KiSh (Korol i Shut) should be listened to, not eaten."

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Notice how this word is written here.

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In this context it's an abbreviation of the rock band Korol i Shut (The King and the Jester).

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The commenter suggests listening to this

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band instead of eating quiche.

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That's also a funny play on words.

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The clips from the "Varka" coffee shop on Grushevka are soothing for my soul,

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and it's very pleasant for me at the end of the

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workday to read the comments and have a laugh.

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That's all for today. Thanks for watching.

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See you soon!
