The last few weeks have been busy, and at long last I have finally finished my photography / portfolio website, pavlinaya.net. The good news is, in April I am expected to begin Russian courses at the ProBa Language Centre in Saint Petersburg! I will undertake the work/study program, a unique exchange program which offers intensive Russian language for English instructor from a native speaker (such as myself). At the moment, I have all plane tickets booked and am awaiting my official invitation letter so that I might apply for the visa. It will be my second visit to Russia and I am looking forward to intensive study once again. I had initially planned to take courses here in the U.S. but due to lack of enrollment, they were cancelled. Thankfully I discovered this program which will be much better, and instead of moving to a larger city in the U.S. temporarily just for the sake of a Russian course, I thought, why not just return to the country itself?
I learned the German language mostly through social interaction in my work as an au-pair, coupled with intermittent courses at the local Volkhochschule in Vienna. What helped me most greatly was having penpals with whom to write on a nearly daily basis. I found writing out my thoughts in a foreign language helped me to rapidly increased my understand for linguistic structure and daily use.
I learned the German language mostly through social interaction in my work as an au-pair, coupled with intermittent courses at the local Volkhochschule in Vienna. What helped me most greatly was having penpals with whom to write on a nearly daily basis. I found writing out my thoughts in a foreign language helped me to rapidly increased my understand for linguistic structure and daily use.
Speaking of penpals, today I have received in the post a lovely gift from one of my dear Russian friends in Saint Petersburg. During my visit in December, I noticed a beautiful handmade ring that she was wearing featuring the famous animated hedgehog from Hedgehog in the Fog / Ёжик в тумане, Yuriy Norshteyn's wonderful Soviet-era animated creation of a Russian fairytale. I was so impressed by the little ring, my friend decided that I must also have one. We went searching all over the city, from handmade boutique to boutique looking for it, but alas they were all sold out! So then she promised to send me one as soon as she could find one. Thankfully the package arrived today and now I own one of the cameo-style rings! I am grateful that we didn't find it because our search lead me to discover many boutiques and the Handmade Bazar in the city, which luckily was happening during my short two week stay.
She also sent me some wonderful chocolates! вкусный! I hope that as I learned German previously with my penpal's help, having such wonderful native speakers as friends will aid me greatly to learn the language. Now I just await to apply for my visa before I am off again to Russia. I've been researching more and more about Russian crafts and hope to update very soon with more articles on my findings, as well as my experiences.
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