Friday, 10 April 2009

I read my translation at the Translations Evening and it was very warmly welcomed. That inspired me and now I'm thinking of continuing, or rather starting from the beginning, because the exract I read is right in the middle of the novel. People laughed at all jokes they were supposed to laugh at)
My sister posted some family photos on the Internet, I was looking at them and suddenly felt bitterly sad...

Tuesday, 7 April 2009

I have finally received the confirmation e-mail for my Reading ticket!!! Hurray!
And today I'm going to the oceanarium with my school teacher's niece called Elly, or Elza.

Sunday, 5 April 2009

the contents of my drawer

I was digging in my drawer and came across dozens of old letters, stickers, postcards, papers etc... It brought back so many memories... Sometimes it was just like seeing a particular image and feeling that very feeling I felt at one particular moment in the past...

Thursday, 2 April 2009

April Fool's Day



Although nobody made fun of me, I had a good laugh right at the beginning of the day. Here's what happened.

keep on riding




oh, and some photos from the horse-riding!

translation

I'm now working on my translation of an extract from "Ni d'Eve ni d'Adam" by Amélie Nothomb. I've told Max that I will read it at the "Translation Evening" at his faculty. I've always wanted to take part in this event, but given that this is the faculty of Oriental Studies and I don't speak any languages of the kind and much less do I translate from any, it was rather difficult. But this year it occurred to me that I could translate something ABOUT the East from English or French. And a novel by a Belgian (!!!) writer about Japan is exactly what I needed.
It turned out to be rather difficult, though in French it reads extremely easily. In Russian these short sentences don't sound the same way... instead, they sound primitive... It's getting easier though as I'm working through to the end of the episode, so, hopefully, I'll be able to find the adequate way of translating.
And I'm thinking about the title. This phrase in French is used in combination with the verb "connaitre" (to know), and altogether it means "not to know somebody at all", "ni d'Eve ni d'Adam" standing for "at all". But "At all" doesn't look like a title, does it? It's no better in Russian. The official translation in English is "Tokyo Fiancee" which sounds boring to me... Yes, it's about the plot, but it loses the flavour... Food for thought, huh?
And I'm going to post the extract here, though it's huge and in Russian.

Wednesday, 1 April 2009

Reading?

I finally managed to get through to the website and ordered a ticket. The bank says the money has been charged, but I haven't received the confirmation e-mail so far, which is a bit worrying. I've decided not to care and start bombarding the site with question if I don't get the letter in the morning. Anyway, the lineup is fantastic! I'm especially excited about Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead and Vampire Weekend!
I've been limping all day because everything is aching after yesterday's horse-riding. I liked it a lot though, and what's more, it made me realize that I have some muscles!