minats_zone

I haven't posted to the blog for such a long time as 'blogspot.com' was unavailable in the hotels we stayed in Vietnam for some reasons. Though there was a charged broadband connection in both New World Hotel (Saigon) and Furama Hotel(Da Nang),I failed to access my blog. I tried many times but in vain. So I'm writing now about my New Year and other impressions in late December 2008 and early January 2009. The Big New Year Day and other occasions(Christmas) we spent well as this trip to Vietnam had been carefully planned by Stanislav long before it took place. The main aim of our jorney to Vietnam was not only Stanislav's business, but more importantly our new family reunion with Olya. She flew to Saigon from San Francisco with a stopover in Taipei (Taiwan), whereas we flew to Saigon from Moscow with a stopover in Daha (Qatar). Both trips took approximately 13-14 hours. Just imagine: we started from the opposite hemispheres!!! Well, our stay there was not full of act...

Well, this winter in central Russia is really unusually snowless. Everything is green and there is no sleet, which is typical of November and December. On the one hand, it's not so bad as your shoes don't get soaked and cars are relatively clean. However, this also makes many people feel rather depreseed and low, let alone grey skies with no sunny spells at all. Here, in Moscow, we are used to seasons changing and the visibility of this is very important for us. Everyone feels that there is something wrong with nature when snow doesn't cover the ground in winter. Snow is really very meaningful for us as it creates the feeling of renovation and whiteness, which we all lack in our lives. As for the New Year trees, they are plentiful and exceptionally beautiful all over Moscow. I love them so much...They remind me of my happy childhood. Have a look at some of them in the background of grey Moscow and its never-ever smiling people (unlike Americans). But still all our people ar...

Well, I'm still waiting for some photos to come (they were promised to be sent to me by my fellow- examiner in Novokuznetsk - Natasha Karelina), but it still remains to be seen if I receive some if any. Natasha's likely to be very busy after the trip to Siberia as she has got 2 small boys and was away from home for one week. But I also have some news to share with you. First, I've examined in Saratov on December 13th and reached the town by top class train called in Russia - SV. I must admit - it was an experience to remember!!! Basically, our Russian trains have changed a lot for better and I was pleasantly surprised to see these changes. Good service, polite attendants, good compartment etc. The exams went smoothly and I had no problems whatsoever. The only bizzare thing has been the absence of snow both in Moscow and Saratov: - absolutely bare grounds and landscapes everywhere. They look dull and made me feel a bit bored. I must say that this winter is extraordinarily wa...

Today has been really hard for me as I reterned from my Kemerovo and Novokuznetsk trip. They are in the Kusbuss region, Eastern Siberia, notorious for its coal mines where miners dye regularly for different reasons - gas explosions, old equipment and, perhaps, Russian carelessness. This area used to be pretty rich and successful but now the industries are on the decline, though mining is still the main source of money there. Surroundings are really wonderful there, too; high hills covered in thick snow with good slopes and forests and rivers around. At the airport I saw many snowboarders coming from Moscow and other parts of Russia. Though industries are not developing there, the both towns made very good impression on me as they are clean (machinery clearing snow from the streets is everywhere)and packed with good shops and cafes. Many new and modern buildings appeared everywhere - good apartment blocks, hotels and even Churches and Musks!!! They are situated very close to each other ...

I've just started a new FCE group at school 1359. Today we've had a kind of ice-breaking session to get to know each other. They seem to be quite ambitious 13-year-olds who want to sit the examination in March 2009. They are motivated but rather weak at speaking, but it's just matter of time. The coursebook I've chosen for them is a new promotional series "Spotlight on FCE", which I have to promote for the CenterCom. Therefore, I decided to learn more about it by working on it, though it always takes up a lot of time to get used to a new coursebook. Hope it works out well for myself and the students. Well, on Thursday (Dec.4th) I'm flying to Siberia (Kemerovo and Novokuznetsk)to examine KET/PET there for J&S school in Omsk. It's going to be pretty cold there, I guess around -15C. So I hope not to get frozen there as it's +5 in Moscow and everything is green here but really it's a "warming up' here, in Europe, but not in Siberia!!! ...

Well, there has been nothing much to happen recently. However, I'd like to mention a couple of rather remarcable things.Firstly, good news. It crossed my mind that Stanislaw and I have been married as the Christians for 8 years already. Today (November 24th) is our 8th year anniversary. Before that we had been in a civil marriage which is not supposed to be recognised by the God. So on the big day of November 24th, 2000 we decided to be blessed by the God in the Holy Trinity Church in Udelnaya (it's where our dacha is situated). This church is a good old one that has not been closed down in any hard times in Russia. It's very important as many churches were either pulled down or converted into sth awful (sometimes even toilets).There were only two of us and the prist, Father Vadim, who ran the ceremony. I'm happy this event took place in our lives as we both belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. Well, another news is not so good: four out of six of our pond fish died a...

Dear all. By the way, quite a number of interesting things happened to me over the time I didn't post to the blog. Perhaps, I'll share with you some of them later on, however, the most exciting was our first encoutner with Marina's new dogs this weekend. She brought them to our dacha and I could'n help admiring them. Imagine, they are one month old (born on October 12th) and the breed is Cony Corso (if I'm not mistaken with spelling). Their Mom Amanda (you can see her with Konstantin, Marina's boyfriend in the photo) is only one year old and this pregnancy was not a planned one. She gave birth to 10 puppies (8 black and 2 steel-like) just out of the blue. It occured because she was not looked after properly (Marina was busy, as usual) and Badjio, the male Cony Corso dog living there, too, was walking freely at their dacha in Chekchov. The result of this adventure is obvious - these amazing puppies. Now, we've uploaded an Internet announcement to welcome so...

Hi, there. The week after Ekaterinburg was pretty busy as I had to catch up with some things I postponed and I had no time and opportunity to do anything for pleasure. But still, I managed to take some good photos of Moscow and around my dacha (outside Moscow) on those early days of November. The weather is really very bright this autumn and everything looks great. The occasion for taking photos of Moscow I had on my way to BKC IH (to return materials for training session in Ekaterinburg), just in the city center, and also in Krilatskoye, a new area of Moscow where the famous Rublevskoy highway runs (rich new Russians live there). I got there by chance, to have my car mended as I was promised a good car-service there. Have a look at the photos and you'll notice some signs of changes in Moscow. On the whole, Moscow looks very neat and tidy these days as a great number of cheap workforces from ex-soviet countries are doing the job of cleaning, sweeping etc. Anyway, they do it well an...

Dear everyona, I've just got back from a rather challenging trip to Ekaterinburg.I really got tired there and it was 2.30am when I finally stepped in. The main problem was that I had to carry a pretty large bag with all the training materials (booklets, videos, instructions etc.). This was not easy and my shoulders are still aching. Nevertheless, the whole experience was worth it. I met so many nice young teachers from all over Ural and Siberia and we had so interesting exam sessions with guinea pigs (volunteer candidates - school kids) that this made up for all the problems. My tranees were really highly motivated and it was not difficult to run the sessions with them. The hotel I stayed at was also rather good (its name is 'Fort'; a small, family-run hotel not far from the centre). The weather was really good and sunny. I even managed to walk along the local flee-market (they sell semi-precious stones there and 'Russian Souvenirs' like matreshkas, ushankas etc. th...