Russian for beginners and travelers

Hello again. Long time not been here. Was there more pain than pleasure in learning Russian the last few weeks? Luckily not. I nicely continued going to evening class, did my test before Easter holiday and am now ready to start the last trimester. Although I lacked a bit of enthusiasm and commitment to really improve my Russian knowledge, all things considered. One evening per week is just not sufficient and I didn't find the time to do some extras.

I managed to watch the interesting tv-series Rusland voor beginners though. It was a Belgian Dutch-language series but as Lena De Winne, Russian wife of astronaut Frank De Winne, was the central figure of the series (she travelled each episode with a Belgian personality through Russia, focusing on themes as religion, ecology, economy, arts, etc.), most of the conversations and interviews were either in English or in Russian. So, if this series will ever be released on DVD, I will certainly let you know here - it is also worthwhile watching it if you do not know the Dutch language.

And concerning this upcoming trimester of my fifth year of evening school... I participated a bit half-heartedly in the lessons lately, yes, but I have a good motivation to start focusing again: in a few weeks, I will go to Ukraine. Okay, Russian is not the first language in Ukraine but I imagine that some knowledge of the Russian language will certainly help during the trip. So, time to rehearse the Russian for travelers vocabulary...