Right you are! All the week long we’ll be preparing for the most outstanding holiday of a year – Halloween!

I wish I were a fairy to make your dreams come true!

I didn’t think I’d really like living in a mega city…but Moscow, you have charmed me. You’re already in possession of a great advantage through just being Russian, and since I love Russia and Russians, I’m predisposed to love you, since you are so deeply associated with those things. But then you found a weak spot in my armor…you have parks…not just parks, but woods, lovely woods with long, rambly walks and poetic birch trees and yellow leaves (be still, my heart), parks with babushkas perched beside ponds where people fish and paddle about in rowboats, with the smell of shashlik wafting through the fresh, cool autumn air.

And the Metro. I like the Metro! Is that weird? My Russian friends would probably say «да.» But I can’t help it. Not only is it fast, efficient, and the best way to travel around the city, and not only does it give me a sense of gleeful accomplishment to navigate it successfully (thanks to Father), but it’s a mass of humanity constantly in semi-silent motion, and for a people-loving people-watcher, it’s a feast. I’ve seen so many faces on the Metro that made my fingers itch for a sketchpad and a charcoal stick, faces that give me the ludicrous desire to sidestep cultural taboos and do the unthinkable – carry on a conversation with a stranger in a public venue. And SMILE while doing it!

Yes, I like Moscow. Мне нравится здесь.

my memory verse today: «When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise» (Proverbs 10:19).

and some travel humor:

So, when packing for Russia, I was on a one-track system – think cold. Logical, yes? Sort of. It’s not very cold yet. And the heat is already on in most buildings. And it’s HOT in here! Church today was super-hot! Oh man. I wore a sweater with a skirt, under which were my merino wool -33 leggings…ug! I was roasting. I noticed that my clever Russian friends wore pantyhose instead of thick wool leggings, but of course, this inexperienced American had only brought, you guessed it, merino wool. Which will be great for being outside in the minus 33 temps, but terrible for a small, crowded, heated room. Woof. So, on the way back from lunch, I stopped by a nearby little market and bought me some hose. Glory to God! I’m ready for next Sunday.

Any questions?

Till learnig in school, I get poor marks on English lessons, and didn’t think of it, like a big part of my life (I didn’t like to learn ever, but all learned, so I did). At the end of the school life, I sudenly wrote a litle poem in English, an I thought: «Wow, I’m using English preaty well, aren’t I ?».

At that time I loved to play HoMM III, and realy wanted to play with someone real (not just computer), but there were no good russian sites to do this. So I just walked on American site, read forums, read the messeges and was king of shoked : «Wow, I realy can clearly understang, what are they speaking about.» At fist I was very shamed, to write something, but then I realised, that good English, that I’m use is preaty rare, and people just go on path of simplycity (No one cares ! lol =)).

Anyway I, in my habitual (used traslator, lol) maner, didn’t love to chat much, so at that moment my way of progressing «my english skill» stoped. I read instructions on electrical stuff, my parent bougth, and played games on english (they were not lagging so much, as their russian pirates analogs (want to paste lol, but stoping myself, in case of too many lols, lol)).

Time passed by, and I sudenly started to watch anime (with Russian subtitles), even joined the anime club, and spend a lot of my time in it. I wached anime so much, that I started to look for good ones, and sudenly smashed into the wall. This wall thas named «too poor anime society in Russia». There were no enough russian subtitles to all the series, I wanted to watch. So I started to watch amine with english ones.

To cut long story shot, I was waaay to bad english user to read english subtitles good and fast. If it was joke in a text, I acted like :» – Huh ? – What ? –  Errr  - Ohhhh. – It was a joke. – damt.», and it was  real hard to read them in realtime, trying to have fun of watching something. I stoped to watch anime ? No way. I still watch it with russian subtitles. But what I did to my «hunger of more» ? – I just started to read manga.

Sad thing so say, but I wroted the whole post, and it vanised away right in front of my eyes, by one stupid click. Poor poor me. I have no backups of the the second part (about manga), so I’ll just write it later (sory).

Sorry, for bad English.

What can I tell you, about me ? Lets see …

I’m a human (more or less).

Name – Yaroslav (son of Igor and Olga), age 22 (at this point), and you need to be sure, that I have biiiiig smile on my face, till I writing all this stuf.

I live in Russia, in one of the poorest regions capitals, named  Ivanovo.  My life is full of unlogical things, but it’s still fun, you know.

Not so long ago I came back to my sweet home, from army (with full poket of beautiful russian poems), and now runing in cirkles at my dad’s house, helping with my 2 newborn sisters, trying to learn how to make money by speculations, wandering how stupid and painfull for my cash can be car-driving lessons, and at last (but not at last, you know) meeting old friends.

World is a wonderfull place, and I’m happy, to see that some cool stuff (like you site), are keep coming, even without my work, help, and even ideas, you know.

Glad, to meet  you all !

Сегодня я получила такой подарок – посылку из США от очень доброй и замечательной девушки Келси.

Today's Treasures

Мы познакомились два года назад здесь, в России. Келси приезжала в русско-американский студенческий лагерь по обмену «культурным опытом». Как только я увидела эту девушку, то поняла, что нужно скорее бежать знакомиться с ней.

Келси, как и я, работает учителем и мечтает стать писателем. На мой взгляд, она уже замечательный писатель – и у нас будет возможность в этом убедиться. Потому что Келси согласилась быть соавтором этого блога!

Впереди нас ждет множество интересных постов, написанных Келси и переведенных мной, о культуре ее страны и о всяческих языковых вкусностях и полезностях.

A key to my heart