S.

I've finally started what I've been talking about for a while;
Since today and for a month, two times a week, I'm learning spanish.

Believe it or not, I was so excited today after the first class :)

It feels like back to school - but I'm much smarter (hopefully :) than I was 15 years ago when I started on my first foreign language, and can grasp things faster.

It's much easier to learn spanish as the alphabet is the same, and you pronounce words as their written (not as in English when ph=f, or oo=u etc). There are grammar differences such as application of gender to all words and their endings respectively, etc etc. However that part is easy for me to understand, because this is the same way how russian grammar is structured - we also have gender for all nouns, a table is 'he' for example, as in spanish a house is 'she' etc etc.

It was actually interesting, to see how native english speakers are trying to understand concepts of other languages (I'm the only non-aussie in the group). Hard to apply something that is alien, not all get it - but hey, feel for a change how the rest of the world feels when learning english! :)

The most exciting part though is the feeling of fulfillment - I'm actually on my way to speak a second foreign language!!! On a basic level, but I'll be able to communicate at most of countries (if combine russian, english, spanish speaking territories).

Citizen of the world I am, continue to be! :)

Labels: learning, spanish

Yesterday morning while discussing with my marketing team Live Earth concerts around the globe (it was a big thing here, as Sydney was hosting one of the events; my work mates went for a concert here and loved it!), we touched on the topic of continents (Live Earth was held on every continent).

And to my great surprise I've discovered that in english-speaking world it's considered that there are 7 continents, while I learned at school that there are 6 of them!!! (and those that are seven for people here in Australia, are called 'parts of the world'/'chasti sveta' in my countries)

Main difference is that we consider Europe and Asia as one continent, Eurasia, while in western school they are 2 separate ones.

After jokes from my teammates on the subject of our education I actually went online to wikipedia and found the following facts:

The ideal criterion that each continent be a discrete landmass is commonly disregarded in favor of more arbitrary, historical conventions. Of the seven most commonly recognized continents, only Antarctica and Australia are separated from other continents.

Several continents are defined not as absolutely distinct bodies but as "more or less discrete masses of land". Asia and Africa are joined by the Isthmus of Suez, and North and South America by the Isthmus of Panama. Both these isthmuses are very narrow in comparison with the bulk of the landmasses they join, and both are transected by artificial canals (the Suez Canal and Panama Canal, respectively) which effectively separate these landmasses.

The division of the landmass of Eurasia into the separate continents of Asia and Europe is an anomaly with no basis in physical geography. The separation is maintained for historical and cultural reasons. An alternative view is that Eurasia is a single continent, one of six continents in total. This view is held by some geographers and is preferred in Russia (which spans Asia and Europe).

The 7-continent model is usually taught in Western Europe, Northern Europe, Central Europe, China and most English-speaking countries. The 6-continent combined-Eurasia model is preferred by the geographic community, Russia, Eastern Europe, and Japan. The 6-continent combined-America model is taught in Latin America, the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Iran and some other parts of Europe; this model may be taught to include only the 5 inhabited continents (excluding Antarctica).

Full story here

I guess the reason is that post-USSR education system (which I went through) was very science based, and my geography lessons were based on views of those from traditional geographic community (as it prefers 6-continent model)

It's great to learn something new I never suspected and/or thought exploring!! Go living diversity dimension of my internship :)
I thought it's such a fundamental thing as I learned it at school, but it appears there are different fundamentals in other countries even on science subjects :)

It made my day - our world is such a diverse and great place! :)

Labels: continents, cultural difference, theory

firstly, I've finally signed in for Spanish language courses!!!
It took me 4 months to do that, but well, better later than never. One month of 1,5hr classes twice a week - and I'll be at Beginners 1 level (well this means I'd know basic words and can say things in present - I guess this is the trick of all those courses, to have 10 different language proficiency levels, so you sign up for more and more).
I start 23 July. VERY EXCITING! My Spanish-speaking friends, keep track of my progress please :)

And the second great thing - I've bought the ticket for Crowded House concert in Sydney in November, where they will be playing, with 'Augie March' as their support. The group is very popular here, considered Australian however half of the group is from NZ (well, love is blind :) Tickets were sold out in one day, and me and two of my other work friends are in the lucky ones!!!
I'm very-very much excited - Crowded House is the band that sings some of my all-time favorite songs (Weather with you, Don't dream it's over, Fall at your feet etc etc), and more to that - it's going to be the first big concert I've ever attended. Life is awesome :)

[and on the topic of music - one of my ever favorite songs+video is Bad Day by Daniel Powter, check out the clip here: http://www.danielpowter.com/ Love it, how some sydneysiders or generally aussies say :)]

Labels: crowded house, spanish, sydney

When this Monday my work mates asked about 'how's the weekend?', you know this kind of question that doesn't really imply interest :) - I answered and have realized I actually had a great last weekend in the city. So I am here to share with you the secret :)

A SAMPLE GREAT SYDNEY WEEKEND - Sveta style

Saturday morning - late wake-up after partying on Friday night; breakfast reading morning papers;

This is how Sydney looks about noon on 'winter' day of June 30th: oh the city! i love it


Early afternoon:
Beautiful Minds - The Centennial Exhibition of the Nobel Prizes. I visited with my friend from work, it was a great one. Created in 2001 in Sweden, the exhibition travels around the world (check the web).
My highlights:

- There is so much around us that is a result of some invention awarded with Nobel prize, and we rarely know about it; there are hundreds of life stories behind what sometimes seems a boring subject of science


(this is a text of Nobel's will)

- Stories of Soviet Russian laureates: Pasternak (literature, the author of Doctor Zhivago), who was forced by the USSR government to reject the prize in 1958. I knew the story from my Russian literature lessons, but it was interesting to read actual articles in foreign papers of that time;
and second of Gorbachov, USSR first and last president, laureate of Nobel Peace prize. I stumbled upon an article "Acclaimed by the world, blamed by his people" (which is how it's considered till now in post-USSR)in UK paper of 1990.


MUST READ for all Russian-speaking readers of my blog - it's like travel back in time, where people thought the USSR would become a different country with all the new 'wind of change', and it simply didn't exist a year later... Great read, I recommend to close up the picture and explore :)

- There were also audio speeches of Martin Luther King, Ernest Hemingway, many others; I loved the most the acceptance speech of a Jew writer of books in Yiddesh for kids, Isaac Basheris Singer.

- and the quote of Alfred Nobel himself:
"You say I'm a riddle - it may be,
For all of us are riddles unexplained"
I love the sound of this phrase, how it flows..

Back to the itinerary!..

Late afternoon: walk in the city center, chatting with a friend, getting down to Darling Harbour for coffee (It's so peaceful and sunny on Saturday afternoon!..). And believe it or not, the highlight of the time was that I found a Dutch fast-food place in DH!!! Yes, I've had real poffertjes, and fries with real Dutch mayonnaise that i missed so much, and croquettes; and even the guy owning the kiosk was Dutch, i could tell by his accent :) Oh all memories of my Dutch year came back; I was so happy to find some real Dutchiness in Sydney! :)


Saturday evening:
Wonderful Czech food in a small restaurant in Kings Cross, at a birthday dinner of one of @ alumni (Bohemian Beer Cafe is the name of the place - I'm definitely coming back!), followed by a clubbing night, in Kings Cross also (of course, where else would you move if you are already in Kings Cross? :)

Sunday morning:
Coffee at home, and then - finally on for my first Yum Cha experience! It is a Chinese brunch (similar to Dim Sum for those who know), but where you just sit, and waiters come to the table with trays of food, you just pick up whatever you like. Like a buffet, but just you don't move from the chair :) It was great! and even better was the fact that Su and jem were there and could advise what to have; And yes, I've tried the chicken feet, and it wasn't too bad at all :)))
The place is massive, fits may be a hundred;


Yum cha is apparently very popular in Sydney, lots of people have it on weekend noon; this is the crowd of people waiting to be seated...
(luckily we went in an hour before that queue formed!)


Sunday afternoon:
Paddy's market, which is basically as our open markets in almost every big city in Belarus/Russia/Ukraine; the place of cheap mostly asian goodies where you can find anything, from socks to jeans to food to jewelery

China Town in Sydney:


Sunday afternoon - continued:
coffee time and reading in Coffee Club, cafe near Hyde Park;
and a slow walk home, with wandering around small streets and parks

(Alexandria - suburb where I live)

Mid-winter view: this is what I'd see in late spring/early autumn at home :)


Sunday evening:
cooking at home with my friends, housemates Jem and Su. (note how modern young people cook - find recipes online, and cook using a laptop instead of the cook book :)))


They attempted to make pizza, and I concentrated on ANZAC biscuits, which weren't too bad for the first-timer at all! (check here what's so special about ANZAC biscuits for aussies)

Sunday late evening:
had some friends over watching The Banquet movie - as most modern Chinese movies, filled with flying, martial arts that reminds slow dancing, and gorgeous dresses.

Sydney experience unveiled! that was a great weekend indeed, feel free to try - no royalty fees attached :)

Labels: sydney weekend friends