minats_zone

Hey there My Name's Day was on January 25 and it was so nice to hear from some of my close friends and relations. The weekend is also somewhat special as we've had Marina, Kostya and little Stephan visiting us at dacha. Stephan is a cute and amuzing boy. We enjoyed him playing around and smiling. Yet he doesn't smile very often, he's rather serious. Have a look at some shots. Another good news is our going to New York on February 26 till March 6 to see Olia and Nun Anna, my aunt staying at Novo Diveevo Convent near New York. If it's possible to see my other nearest and dearest at NY at this time, let me know, I'll be looking forward to hearing from you...Love...

Hey there, It's almost three weeks already since the disastrous icy rain fell down on Moscow and region but it's still here and the winter is in its prime. Many trees died, some are about to die...We've never had such awful weather conditions...The snow keeps coming down covering everything with thick white blanket. It's beautiful but a bit scary...Have a look at some pics I made around my dacha...

Hi there, Our trip back to Moscow was much better than we expected. To tell the truth, we had no delays or any other problems except waiting for 1,5 hour for out Lugguage at Domodedovo. Now we're still adapting to a busy Moscow's life. Yesterday we enjoyed a superb performance of Vasily Lanovoi and other leading actors in a French play 'Frederick' at Vahtangov Theatre where the New Year Tree before Old New Year (January 13) is beautiful and the atmosphere is very special. Hopefully, this is a good start before a new module at HSE commencing on January 17. Love to all of you...

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The weather is warm but foggy. I swim and we enjoy the surroundings and cable car trips to the mainland and back. Got some pics and video on the last day...Don't want to say 'Good bye 'to this welcoming  place  'Vinpearl' See and download the full gallery on posterous

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Download now or watch on posterous CIMG0045.AVI (21646 KB) We go on enjoying our stay in Vinpearl, Vietnam. The weather has become rather wet and foggy but we play tennis and go to the Mud Bath Hot Springs.The day after tomorrow heading for Hanoi city for a couple of dyas where Stanislaw does his business but I'll just spend some time around the town.. 

It was a huge New Year 2011 party at the Vinpearl hotel, The tables were placed around the huge swimming pools and a big stage was just in the center of that. We were sharing the table with two couples from Vladivostok with their kids. Spent a really good time there talking to people and watching the show,,,

Download now or watch on posterous CIMG0015.AVI (19500 KB) This video was shot at Vinpearl amusement park.

These .are some shots made on the New Year Eve 2010'11 in Vietnam, Vinpearl, Nha Trang See and download the full gallery on posterous

Hey there, I was unable to post any earlier as we had such an awful flight from Moscow that it really took us quite a while to recover. The point is that we were supposed to take off on December 26 but appolling weather conditions prevented us from this. It was a kind of snowy rain or blizzard that resulted in devastating almost all our airports. Domodedovo airport was cut off electricity, Sheremetievo was stopped for the reasons of black ice on runways and the only airport that remained alive was Vnukovo. Our flight landed there, although it was supposed to do so at Domodedovo and this saved our New Year holiday. We were delayed by 15 hours but eventually took off from Vnukovo and 10 hours later arrived to Ho Shi Min city at 11:30pm. There we stayed at the hotel and at 7am left for Nha Trang by the local aircraft. You can imagine how tired we were at the end. But this is nothing compared with the situation in which thousands of Russian passangers got. I mean those who tried to fly t...

Well, the year 2010 is coming to an end and I'd like to send all my nearest and dearest some warm words saying how much I love and remember you. Here is my 'Fotobabble' greetings to all of you I hope to hear from you and receive some nice cards or photos. Leaving for Vietnam (Ho Shi Min city) on Sunday...

It was so nice to see 'Usual Miracle', a musical and beautiful love story at Dubrovka concert hall yesterday. It was on the day of massive public unrest in Moscow with nationalists and milicia conflicts all over the centre of Moscow, so we had to go there on metro. This is a notorious concert hall that was taken control of by Chechen terrorists in October 2004. There were 800 people there at that time and many of them died.The terrorists kept people as hostages for 2 days then a gas attack was undertaken by the army forces and many people were freed. Now there is a memorial for those who died there but the hall itself is still very popular. We were there for the first time and I took some photos of the place. Anyway, I felt a bit uneasy there, but the music and acting were perfect. Got back home only late at night as traffic jams were awful all day and night... Bye for now...

Like this video clip. Sent to me by Dima Curious bear takes a step too far, quick question diffuses the situation. [VIDEO] This is my post

Hey there, It was quite a while since I last was in Saratov, but this city is, probably, written on my life books. So I went there again examining from YLE to FCE. It was pretty cold there but when I was leaving (on December 4) it was raining! The train to and from Saratov is quite comfortable so I did sleep there but had no chance to go to the theatre in Saratov and it's a pity as it's supposed to be very good. We have many leading actors here in Moscow who came from Saratov. The exam girls took me to the exhibition of theatrical decorations and arts. There was an unexpectedly good and rich collection dating back to the late 19th, early 20th century. It came from S-Petersburg's private fund and the exhibits were a real surprise for me. Well, Stanislaw was ill last week after China as he got back on the coldest day with -20C and waited for his chauffeur to pick him up from the airport. Today he has been to work but still weak and coughing. Love to all of you my dearest...

Hi there, This week was somewhat special. First, on November 17 the HSE BI faculty celebrated its 15 year birthday and I took part in this party at a very nice restaurant run by the son of our famous actor Oleg Tabakov. Food was really healthy and delicious there. Some of my Ss danced and played the violin there. It was really interesting to see them do that as I could never expect them to be so resourceful! And on November 20 the first heavy snowfall occured at night so now it's absolutely white here at dacha. In Moscow, I guess, it's not so nice, though. Have to finish now and say goodbye to all of you my dear people...

Hi there, I've just got back from Saratov where I was running seminars on ICT at Saratov IRBIS University on November 11 and 12. It was pretty hard as I was welcomed to take part in the series of seminars for the teachers of Saratov and the Saratov region by Vyacheslav Stepanovich Potapchouk (my ex-boss at CenterCom). However, when I arrived, I found myself all alone as all other lecturers had gone to Penza, Samara and Volgograd to keep lecturing. This was a big surprise for me as I expected to be speaking along with other lecturers, but it was not so. I had to give talks by myself. First day I was speaking from 10:30am to 5:00 pm. Second day it was from 9:00am to 12:30pm. But thanks God, the audience was very friendly and welcoming and it encouraged me to do my best. The feedback from teachers seemed to be positive and the last day proved this as many more people than on the first day arrived. I'm very grateful to the IRBIS girls - Anna, Elena and others who were very supporti...

This week was short (three working days only) as we have a long period of public holidays now (from November 4 to November 7). This holiday replaced the day of Great October Revolution, which used to be on November 7 all over the USSR but now it's called differently, nobody knows the real name of it. Probably it's 'All Russia Unity Day' or sth else. We are staying at dacha and enjoying good films and programmes on TV. My new 1st year groups at HSE I saw only once. They seem to be fine but too many Ss in each - 16/17. My previous 3d year groups were smaller and the Ss were more mature than these teens aged 16-17. Well, I'll try to teach them IELTS but not sure the book HSE administrators chose (Foundation) is the right one for them as many of them have already passed FCE (it equals to IELTS 6-6,5). Remains to be seen... Another bad news is that Goulia's (my close friend from Cypros) Mom died in her Moscow's apartment. She was with a helper around who did ever...

I've just got back from SF CA and already posted to Facebook. Shortly, everything has been perfect including weather, arrangements, services, food etc. Andy was on his crutches but it was a kind of special thing on their Big Day. It was a pity Michael and others were unable to come. There were 18 of us at the church and slightly more at the 'Skool' restaurant. Choir was singing very beautifully and the Father Yaroslav Belikov who ran the service was really good and helpful. So have a look at some photos and get the impression...God bless the couple...