It's this time of the year

It's this time of the year: I am studying Russian. Next week we have the final test. And if all goes well, that was it for my fifth year then. It wasn't my most fruitful year, I was too busy with other things. Yet, I'm happy not to have given up. There is always the possibility to give it a new impetus if the time turns out to be (more) right.




In the meantime, enjoy some of the pictures I took in Ukraine. Early June, I visited Kiev and the Crimea peninsula. A must! And yes, there was the opportunity to speak Russian. As it turned out, in Crimea they don't speak Ukrainian, only Russian. Even education is there in Russian, as I was told by our local guide. Add to your destination list, Russian language lover!

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...

Очень холодно!

It is terribly cold here in Belgium. Yesterday it was about
-10°C. With our maritime climate, we are not used to it. A little snow on top of it yesterday evening during peak time and we broke our record of kilometers traffic jam. Winter tyres become worthwile considering...

My Polish colleague tells me it was -27°C in Poland that same day. But people are used to it there, is her opinion, and houses are isolated well. Still...

On the Russia Today website, I read that Ukraine had
-35°C and that  there are already hundreds of deaths in Ukraine, Russia and Eastern Europe. Horrible!

Russia Today ends with some good advice: "Dieting is strictly discouraged – consume enough food and drink to allow the body to keep generating heat." Ha, can do that! Will do immediately :-)

Next holiday destination: Ukraine

 Lonely Planet

Hohohooo. Not Santa Claus but me in good cooperation with my husband/babysitter and my good old friend/travel partner made it happen: today I booked my next holiday.

Destination: Ukraine.

Travel partner: good old friend with whom I used to do lots of citytrips until we both got kids. Luckily last summer we found each other back in our travel yearning and we headed off for Bilbao. It tasted like more...

The travel programme: limited in time as the kids will be missing us (we think/hope/fear), we will cover Kiev and Crimea in 4 days/4 nights. Good preparation will be everything, so I am already the proud owner of the Lonely Planet Ukraine. It is a little pleasure of mine - especially during grey, boring days - to leaf through travel guides and dream of what is yet to come :-)

Anyway, next to the vacation with my family of course, this is something in 2012 I am really looking forward to! And yes, of course, I hope to speak some Russian there. I know it is not the first language of the country but I hope there will still be many opportunities to speak it. I will soon find out!