I'll go for a pause.

So, in the last 50 hours:

- I have been speaking English for about 30 hours

- I have been laughing for about 10 hours altogether

- I have received the excellent mark for my simultaneous interpreting exam

I love English. and I'm a sinister perverted Russian witch))))

week-end

This was what I would call a student week-end. Instead of preparing for the finals we went to the Hermitage with a hilarious boy from the Lake district who says "boot" instead of "but". Later on Max and I went to a book fair. I didn't buy any books actually, but I did buy a plate (!) from Samarkand, two postcards (one of them is in fact a picture for "Cabot-Caboche" by Danniel Pennac) and a CD with cossack music. Haven't listened to it yet, though.

Today I went to the dacha to see my parents (mostly my dad, because my mom comes to see me quite often), it is sunny an warm at last and we had a great meal outside. Then together with my mom we hurried back to town. she went to a concert and I went to the cinema with a girl from the Czech Republic. She came with her friend (who had the same name if I'm not mistaken) and I was stupid enough to tell them that they could speak Czech because "I understand some of it". So they did and I haven't got the slightest idea of what they were talking about. On the other hand it was funny to listen to them, getting only occasional words. We saw a Spanish film called "Azuloscurocasinegro" which was great, by the way. My linguistical disaster didn't last long after the film because the other girl went home and we could get back to Russian. The girl said she loves Russian literature and her favourite writer is... Daniil Kharms!!!! It was quite a surprise!!! I recommended Dovlatov and 'glazirovannye syrki" to her.

digest

1) I've taken my first and the most diffucult exam - simultaneous interpreting. That was rather difficult and brain-killing, but I hope it wasn't too bad for a satisfactory mark. Anyway, I did better than usual.
2) Thanks to Lena (you're a treasure) I've found this couchsurfing thing and we won't have to sleep at trainstations, it seems. Tomorrow, V. and I are showing the Hermitage to a boy from the LAke District. He's been to Mongolia!
3) We have finally transferred the money to Cathedral Camps and have received the confirmation of the payment. Tomorrow I'm hoping to fax our applications.
4) My research doesn't seem to be that useless and hopeless, I had a fruitful talk with my tuitor.
5) It seems that the last week of University studies in my life is over... I haven't fully realized that, but I'm going to be sad about that. I'm pretty sure.

Yesterday was grey and rainy. I was walking along Nevsky, my hair started curling because of the rain and I thought that with all my rotten nature I love this marshy city.

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...

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.

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...

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.

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!