minats_zone

Dear all. Today is a big day in my life as it's my daughter's Angel Day. Though she was born on July 31st, we decided to give her the name Olga as the nearest Saint born in July was Saint Olga and her day is on 24th July. So my daughter is supposed to be like this great woman, the grandmother of Saint Vladimir who baptized Kievskaya Rus in 10th century. It was the beginning of Christianity in Rus. Here is some information just to remind us about Olga and that time in Rus: "Holy Olga was the first sparkling star on the dark pagan horizon of ancient Russia". The Russian Princess Olga was baptized by the Patriarch himself and the Byzantine Emperor became her Godfather.This left mark on Olga's face. Her spiritual beauty was glowing from within as if Olga were an angel. Even today in remote Russian monasteries and in the crowded towns an observer can catch glimpses of such holy Russian faces. Saint Olga never dared to baptize her grandson Vladimir. But her wise instr...

Dear all. It was a really busy time in my life as within one week I had so many events one by one. First, I had my aunt Irina and my daughter Olga together in my small flat visiting on the occasion of our Dad's 55th anniversary. The occasion itself took place on July 3d in a small cafe called "Gusar" not far from "Kakhovskaya" metro station. The cafe belongs to Stanislav's friend from Dagestan, Aldemir, and, as you can imagine, everything was perfectly organized with exclusive manu (Georgean and European food) as well as professional girls-dancers. They performed every 5-10 minutes and were so gorgeous and amazing that even the oldest among our guests (people over 70) could not help dancing and enjoying themselves as kids. I was really happy as I could see my family reunion: daughters - Marina and Olga, grandson - Stas, he's 16, and my dearest and nearest husband Stanislav altogether. He was, definitely, the highlight of the day, but the girls- dancers o...

Dear all, Here I am in Moscow, after summer ESOL exam trips and visiting Yaroslavle with my aunt - Irina (a nun from the USA). I'm a bit tired after all those trips in May, June as they went one after another and not always I was ready and willing to go in for it. Nizhny was pretty lovely as the sun was shining and the kids in school 67 (specialized English school in the area of Nizhny N. where Russian writer Maxim Gorky lived) were really lovely and amuzing. After 3pm I was free to vizit their city Art Gallery and I really enjoyed Mark Shagal there as there was his exhibition called Biblical Shagal. It was so impressive that I didn't expect to be so overwhelmed by it. In fact, I was so ignorant that I'd always associated Shagal with "Black Square" - nothing else. Have a look at some of his masterpieces under the above title. I think you'll love them. As for the Yaroslavle, I was there for 2 days,from 26-28 June with my aunt Irina who had lived there before 19...

Dear all, here I am in Moscow again after many examining trips around Russia. I really enjoy travelling, so I don't want to complain. There were ups and downs in my trips, as usual, but generally these trips were exciting and memorable. I'll describe them one by one. 17/18 May - Saratow, just after coming back from Vietnam. It was nice and well organised, thanks to Barbara Danshina, the local woman in charge. The Volga river there is very wide and we even enjoyed sailing a jet boat belonging to Barbara's family. See some pictures above. 23-26 May - Omsk. It's a beutuful Russian city in Siberia, close to Kazakhstan. It's full of old buildings and houses, many theatres and cafes with relatively good food and prices. The main church has been restored there and now it dominates over the city centre. Their major Saint is St. Silvester who was tortured and murdered in 1920. The remains of his body is kept inside the church in regarder as a shrine. Have a look and go...

Here I am in Moscow doing usual things. But let me tell you about our last days in Hanoi. We lived in the same Lake Side Hotel as in winter 2007-8, just in the city centre. You can have a look at the view from the balcony of our hotel over a small lake. Time passed so quickly there - we had meetings with Stanislav's people from plants and companies in Hanoi. I think the talks and arrangements were successful as Stanislav always smiled and was happy after these meetings. We also took an exciting motobike-ride around Hanoi with our friends. We even managed to take some curious photos on a ride - of LENIN, of boys doing martial arts and people sitting on the grass (they simply enjoy it!). However, I think the culmination of our stay there were the massage sessions, which we had in the nearest massage saloon. It was so good and effective, not to mention that it was unbelievably cheap!!! The sessions lasted for 1 or 1,5 hours and the body feelt so good and relaxed after them. But stil...

I can't be silent after I've learned about nearly 22,000 people that had been killed or missed in a devastating cyclone Nagris in Burma, Myanmar. It's really hard to imagine that this devastation and disaster occured not so far from peaceful and flourishing Vietnam and Thailand,in Burma, one of the poorest states of SE Asia (and, probably, the planet), which had been under harsh military rule for decades. Thousands of buildings were flattened and lots of people became homeless. The humanitarian aid is the only supply they can rely on. And this cyclon broke out on Saturday, May 3d when other people were doing usual things or even enjoying life (like me). Now I realize more clearly than ever that happy moments in life are so precious and they are of inestimable value to us. We shouldn't forget about this and help each other as much as possible.