Year Of The Krolik

In honor of Chinese New Year, the year of 

the RABBIT, a redux of a relevent

personal post from April 2009.

Two kroliks......

When preparing for my trip to Russia,

a favorite Russian speaking NY editor

warned me that not knowing the language

I could go missing in Moscow.

With little time before departure, I

thought I'd try to at least learn the Cyrillic

alphabet. (after all, little Russian kids do it

all the time).

Soon I was sounding out Russian words for

ordinary objects in a traveler's pocket Russian

vocabulary book.

One day, part way through the list of food

items, I read the word кролик. Pronunciation,

krolik, English translation, hare or rabbit.

Grandfather Кролик (Crollick)

My paternal Grandfather's original name when he

left Russia in the early 20th Century was Krolik.

(changed to Crollick in England, which at some point

changed to Croll when his widow, my Grandmother

immigrated here).

My Krolik collection

Seems many family members already knew this.

Why hadn't anyone told ME?

"You never asked".