I don't want to draw lines and list my achievements for 2010 as I used to and many people do. When you draw line, you close a period in your life and start something new. I don't want to do that. Not now maybe or not anymore.
Maybe it has something to do with my dad's death last October - if I close the year, he will stay behind and we will move on - I don't want to do that, I want to keep a connection to him inside me. It's not that we did not have our hard times - oh yes, we did - but the fact is - there will hardly be ever a man in my life who will love me as much as he did. And that is making me sad. It might sound selfish, I know, but there is not much I can do about it.
Happy New Year, anyhow! :)
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
3 days till new year
Last few weeks have been pretty busy for me – it’s quarter end – the busiest time at work and I started volunteering as technical editor at local Russian community newspaper. I am now responsible for creating the whole issue – writers send me the texts, I search for pictures, insert text and pictures into the newspaper using Corel Draw program. I also create and edit ads and put them into the issue. The newspaper is issued monthly, there are usually 16 pages. The issue I worked on is a 19-pages one –many people wanted to post greetings cards and ads due to holidays.
I really enjoyed the process – it’s where you can follow the creation of a newspaper from scratch and not only follow, but actually manage it – awesome! I won’t say there is a lot of creativity involved – not really, but I had to decide what pictures to pick for certain articles, how to put them on the page to look the best way. I always enjoy new challenges and this one I guess I managed well! J
Monday, December 20, 2010
Easy money
There are always people who dream of getting rich fast by not doing much or anything at all. Whole industries depend on such people – gambling industry for instance, but not alone. There are many courses where people are promised to get famous, rich, and popular or all of it at once – all they need is to get the training. Sure, they must pay for it. Sometimes they have to pay a lot – but they believe that it couldn’t be other way – if everyone could afford the luxury training on how to become popular/rich/famous/glamorous etc. , then it wouldn’t be worth taking.
If you look at the income of those course gurus, you will find a very curios trend – these great teachers of greatness, wealth and prosperity do not gain from shares, stocks or other investments they encourage their students to buy in accordance with their top-secret and extremely successful techniques. Their sacred ways of getting money lead to the simple pyramid – where they recruit new bounty hunters and get money out of them by promising them their so-called “highly efficient ways of getting rich”.
To me it looks like another kind of gambling – and a really well-planned one – where the customers are adventurous and easily deceived – since most of these people believe that they are the ones who are really good at cheating – they are used to being the predator, not the pray and do not feel suspicious of a promise to get rich fast and without effort – this has been their dream for most of their lives and they still believe that the fairy tales should and must come true – you only need to wish hard enough.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Nazism under the Kremlin's wall
Knowing that my blog is not popular at all, I still want to share the news from Moscow hoping that better awareness of the issue will help avoid the worst scenario from development.
Here you can read what happened in Moscow another day. Here are the pictures. The comments are in Russian, but the pictures talk for themselves. I was especially shocked by pics # 23 and 24. The grandparents of these idiots fought and died not to let the brown plague - fascism - take over their country in the Second World War. 10% of the country's population died then - to let the rest survive.
The situation in the country is not easy one - corruption allows those who have connections or money to avoid proper prosecution if they break the law. They can get away with anything - including murder. I am not saying that the southerns from Russian Caucasus region behave properly in Moscow - many of them are indeed rude and violent. However, it is the local law enforcement who must take care of the issue. Also the hooligans that comprised most of the mob on the riot are not peaceful or well-behaved either. When the rage of the people is not aimed at the rotten system, but at a certain nation - that is scary once you know German history of 1930s. The country population was struggling with poverty as well - and Hitler was one to point his finger at Jews to blame for the situation. Everyone knows how that ended. I am sure that there are certain people in the government directing the situation this way, being sure they will gain more power, control and money out of it. Big German corporation leaders were also supporting Hitler with the same rationale. They did not gain anything eventually.
There is a citing - unfortunately, I do not remember who said it - "People that does not remember its history, does not have a future" - I do wish that those who took part in the riot were more aware of their own history!
Here you can read what happened in Moscow another day. Here are the pictures. The comments are in Russian, but the pictures talk for themselves. I was especially shocked by pics # 23 and 24. The grandparents of these idiots fought and died not to let the brown plague - fascism - take over their country in the Second World War. 10% of the country's population died then - to let the rest survive.
The situation in the country is not easy one - corruption allows those who have connections or money to avoid proper prosecution if they break the law. They can get away with anything - including murder. I am not saying that the southerns from Russian Caucasus region behave properly in Moscow - many of them are indeed rude and violent. However, it is the local law enforcement who must take care of the issue. Also the hooligans that comprised most of the mob on the riot are not peaceful or well-behaved either. When the rage of the people is not aimed at the rotten system, but at a certain nation - that is scary once you know German history of 1930s. The country population was struggling with poverty as well - and Hitler was one to point his finger at Jews to blame for the situation. Everyone knows how that ended. I am sure that there are certain people in the government directing the situation this way, being sure they will gain more power, control and money out of it. Big German corporation leaders were also supporting Hitler with the same rationale. They did not gain anything eventually.
There is a citing - unfortunately, I do not remember who said it - "People that does not remember its history, does not have a future" - I do wish that those who took part in the riot were more aware of their own history!
Another big step in immigration - buying our first home
I was pretty busy last week - we were looking for a house to buy.
Before looking at the market we went to the bank and got an approval from them for a certain mortgage amount. With that being our purchase budget we started searching. At first we just went to different areas and went to open houses. But this felt like blind date - you are not sure if the house is "in your league" when you enter it and you feel a bit awkward when you see that it is above your budget and still walk around it just out of curiosity - I've never been a window shopping supporter - I do not like the idea of just seeing without the ability to actually buy what I like.
So after some open houses we decided to contact a real estate agent and ask her (in our case) to find something within our budget that meets our needs. We did not have many "must haves" on our list - more of "nice to have" - we were certain about one thing - not to look at the houses that were older than 25 years. You never know with the old houses what might eventually go wrong and how much it would cost to fix. Also, we preferred bigger backyards - those small patches that most of the new houses have looked pitiful to me - one would hardly be able to get a BBQ on it... I also wanted one bathroom to be on the ground level - I have seen some houses where the bathroom was on the second level or there and in the basement, but not on the ground floor - and I felt it was hugely inconvinient. The last wish was to have the house in a nice area. No social housing next door or stuff like that.
Our real estate agent was really lucky with us - she showed us two houses and we loved the second one so much, that we decided to make an offer on it. It is a detached 2-storey house in a really nice area - close to highway and malls, quiet place, a big backyard without neighbors behind (there is a playground next to in from the back), windows and carpeting all over the house were replaced in 2010, furnace - in 2008, roof - in 2007, bathrooms were renovated this year as well. There are 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a finished basement and all of it fits well into our budget!
We made the offer on Friday night - they accepted it with some editions on Saturday morning. We wanted the closing day to be in the middle of April, they were hoping to get it sold beginning of February, so we met halfway on the 15th of March. :) They also made the price reduction of 5,000 we asked for to be 3,500, which was even more than we expected. :)
Now they are waiting for mortgage approval and house inspection that we should have ready by Friday. If everything goes well, we will be prospective homeowners in less than a week from now. I just cannot believe it!
Before looking at the market we went to the bank and got an approval from them for a certain mortgage amount. With that being our purchase budget we started searching. At first we just went to different areas and went to open houses. But this felt like blind date - you are not sure if the house is "in your league" when you enter it and you feel a bit awkward when you see that it is above your budget and still walk around it just out of curiosity - I've never been a window shopping supporter - I do not like the idea of just seeing without the ability to actually buy what I like.
So after some open houses we decided to contact a real estate agent and ask her (in our case) to find something within our budget that meets our needs. We did not have many "must haves" on our list - more of "nice to have" - we were certain about one thing - not to look at the houses that were older than 25 years. You never know with the old houses what might eventually go wrong and how much it would cost to fix. Also, we preferred bigger backyards - those small patches that most of the new houses have looked pitiful to me - one would hardly be able to get a BBQ on it... I also wanted one bathroom to be on the ground level - I have seen some houses where the bathroom was on the second level or there and in the basement, but not on the ground floor - and I felt it was hugely inconvinient. The last wish was to have the house in a nice area. No social housing next door or stuff like that.
Our real estate agent was really lucky with us - she showed us two houses and we loved the second one so much, that we decided to make an offer on it. It is a detached 2-storey house in a really nice area - close to highway and malls, quiet place, a big backyard without neighbors behind (there is a playground next to in from the back), windows and carpeting all over the house were replaced in 2010, furnace - in 2008, roof - in 2007, bathrooms were renovated this year as well. There are 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a finished basement and all of it fits well into our budget!
We made the offer on Friday night - they accepted it with some editions on Saturday morning. We wanted the closing day to be in the middle of April, they were hoping to get it sold beginning of February, so we met halfway on the 15th of March. :) They also made the price reduction of 5,000 we asked for to be 3,500, which was even more than we expected. :)
Now they are waiting for mortgage approval and house inspection that we should have ready by Friday. If everything goes well, we will be prospective homeowners in less than a week from now. I just cannot believe it!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Winter time
I love it when snow is fresh and clean all around. These first days when grey and brown all around turn white are so exciting. Add the Xmas songs and decorations around and you get the holiday spirit inside within no time at all.
It was a bit different in Moscow - though the spirit was there as well, but I was not that excited about this time of year because people would turn even more rushing and traffic jams would get more intense - everyone was preparing for the new year holidays. It felt somewhat nervous, not holiday-like. Maybe it's only my impressions though.
Last night I was driving country highways at night and snow was swirling around me - it felt so peaceful and festive I did not want to arrive to the place I was heading - I wanted to keep driving the deserted white roads listening to the radio forever. It was one of the moments you want to prolong and keep in your memory as long as possible.
It was a bit different in Moscow - though the spirit was there as well, but I was not that excited about this time of year because people would turn even more rushing and traffic jams would get more intense - everyone was preparing for the new year holidays. It felt somewhat nervous, not holiday-like. Maybe it's only my impressions though.
Last night I was driving country highways at night and snow was swirling around me - it felt so peaceful and festive I did not want to arrive to the place I was heading - I wanted to keep driving the deserted white roads listening to the radio forever. It was one of the moments you want to prolong and keep in your memory as long as possible.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
BFF?
When I was 8 years old, I did not have any girlfriends - they appeared to be boring and too obsessed with themselves. They were interested in showing off, discussing boys and playing with their dolls. Though I sometimes liked to play with the dolls, boys topic was boring to me and I did not understand showing off at all. So for some time I preferred boys' company over girls'. Boys were all about playing different games, always full of ideas and ready for any adventure we could think of.
That lasted for some time until one day boys started telling me they liked me "like a girl". This sounded silly to me - yesterday we were climbing trees, discussing our war strategies against the team from the next yard - and all of a sudden they tell me these weird things! I felt betrayed in a way - I did like to be in the center of attention, but did not mean to get attention of that kind. I remember how I returned the boys all their presents to me and had to return to the girls' company.
My first girlfriend was a real bitch to put things straight - she enjoyed manipulating people, loved to be admired by boys and plotted nasty things for everyone around her. I did not blame her a lot for such behavior - her case was a sad one - her parents divorced and were building their own lives she was no part of - she was left with her grandparents and I guess her behavior was her way to gain some self-esteem. I was no exception to her intrigues - got my piece of them all right. We eventually broke up when I realized that she was actually enjoying making people around her feel miserable.
My second girlfriend is still my good friend - we were separated by geography, not difference in characters. We were best friends for a decade - through high school and university years. We did not look alike, but at some point people kept asking us if we were sisters - we were behaving and talking in the same manner.
When we graduated from the university, she went on to study for her second degree in Italy, married there and now is living in Switzerland working there. We sometimes talk on Skype - but our lives are so different now, that we don't have many topics to discuss - being as far apart as we are. The only subject to discuss is to provide short update on our lives which is not what I believe to be equal to a real friendship relationship.
There were more girlfriends in my life, but once we were separated - either they immigrated or I - relationship would cool down. I do not see a big tragedy in it - it is just a natural pace of life - we change, circumstances change - so do people around us. We will always have warm feelings and affection towards people who we spent some part of our life with, but it does not mean we have to try to keep to our past just because of good memories we have together...
That lasted for some time until one day boys started telling me they liked me "like a girl". This sounded silly to me - yesterday we were climbing trees, discussing our war strategies against the team from the next yard - and all of a sudden they tell me these weird things! I felt betrayed in a way - I did like to be in the center of attention, but did not mean to get attention of that kind. I remember how I returned the boys all their presents to me and had to return to the girls' company.
My first girlfriend was a real bitch to put things straight - she enjoyed manipulating people, loved to be admired by boys and plotted nasty things for everyone around her. I did not blame her a lot for such behavior - her case was a sad one - her parents divorced and were building their own lives she was no part of - she was left with her grandparents and I guess her behavior was her way to gain some self-esteem. I was no exception to her intrigues - got my piece of them all right. We eventually broke up when I realized that she was actually enjoying making people around her feel miserable.
My second girlfriend is still my good friend - we were separated by geography, not difference in characters. We were best friends for a decade - through high school and university years. We did not look alike, but at some point people kept asking us if we were sisters - we were behaving and talking in the same manner.
When we graduated from the university, she went on to study for her second degree in Italy, married there and now is living in Switzerland working there. We sometimes talk on Skype - but our lives are so different now, that we don't have many topics to discuss - being as far apart as we are. The only subject to discuss is to provide short update on our lives which is not what I believe to be equal to a real friendship relationship.
There were more girlfriends in my life, but once we were separated - either they immigrated or I - relationship would cool down. I do not see a big tragedy in it - it is just a natural pace of life - we change, circumstances change - so do people around us. We will always have warm feelings and affection towards people who we spent some part of our life with, but it does not mean we have to try to keep to our past just because of good memories we have together...
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Don't worry...
Being an optimist I cannot bear long-lasting sadness or depression. My approach to life is "make it better". If I don't like something around me, I know that I can improve it. If I think that there is no way to improve the situation, that means that I just did not get it yet and need to either think better or change my own attitude towards it, or just to walk away from it. Last option is like runaway, but it is still better in some situations than to spend my time, effort and nerves trying to solve it.
When I feel that there are some circumstances where I cannot do anything to make it bearable, I start telling myself that it is going to pass. Some time it will be gone and I just need to sit there and wait till this time comes. When I was in my teens, every exam was a real horror to me - I thought, if I failed any that would be end of world. Eventually I figured that I would not even remember passing the exam in the long-run... Now I realise that most things in life are lessons to be learned as good as we can, but we need to try and get experience for the future from any situation - be it a good or a bad one.
When I feel that there are some circumstances where I cannot do anything to make it bearable, I start telling myself that it is going to pass. Some time it will be gone and I just need to sit there and wait till this time comes. When I was in my teens, every exam was a real horror to me - I thought, if I failed any that would be end of world. Eventually I figured that I would not even remember passing the exam in the long-run... Now I realise that most things in life are lessons to be learned as good as we can, but we need to try and get experience for the future from any situation - be it a good or a bad one.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Xmas time is coming
It's everywhere around - in the shops, on the radio, in small talks at lunch... I start worrying that I won't have time to buy presents, but I am not yet in the mood for it... I hope it will eventually get hold on me, because I love this feeling of excitement so much! :)
Friday, November 26, 2010
Don't mess with Russians
Yesterday at 12:15 am Alex and I were woken up by loud music. Alex discovered that the music was played in apartment on the 4th floor (we are on the 8th!). He tried to knock on the apartment’s door to ask to lower the sound or to turn it off. He did not get any answer neither did the music stop. We had to call police and ask them to interfere. They tried knocking on the door, but were ignored as well. To our disappointment they said they couldn't do anything more unless this repeats and we call them again. Then they would have to open a file and try to talk to this moron. He eventually did lower the sound at 1:15 am.
I've just prepared a written complaint to the management of our building that we will mail tonight. I also printed several letters to our neighbors from apartments on the2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th floor asking them to mail complaints as well explaining that several complaints would increase chances of management's interference. I will put these letter under neighbor's doors tonight.
I hope that these actions will lead to something.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
First anniversary in Canada
Yesterday it's been a year since we came to Canada. This year has brought as many changes as one can imagine. And the changes keep going. I've never been opposed to changes - I always considered them as new opportunities to pursue, new challenges to become stronger. Nietzsche was right saying "Whatever does not kill me makes me stronger". This saying is exactly the way I feel about negative changes. There is another saying - negative experience is experience as well.
Luckily we did not have many negative changes during the last year. Compared to Russia living in Canada is quite calm and enjoyable. There is no such stress and life goes at a slower pace - one has a chance to actually enjoy it. I do not feel that time files by and I do not have enough of it to stop and think of where I am and where I am going, and where I want to go to...
During the year I have been writing down wish-lists for myself - way of programming myself to get where I wanted to. I checked them yesterday - most of my wishes have come true. I have found a job (technically it has found me, but that is not important), we found new friends, we prayed, we went into sports, we watched movies and series we wanted to watch for so long, we read many books, we studied and travelled...
We would be ungrateful not to say thank you Canada for giving us a chance to make a fresh start in a better place!
Luckily we did not have many negative changes during the last year. Compared to Russia living in Canada is quite calm and enjoyable. There is no such stress and life goes at a slower pace - one has a chance to actually enjoy it. I do not feel that time files by and I do not have enough of it to stop and think of where I am and where I am going, and where I want to go to...
During the year I have been writing down wish-lists for myself - way of programming myself to get where I wanted to. I checked them yesterday - most of my wishes have come true. I have found a job (technically it has found me, but that is not important), we found new friends, we prayed, we went into sports, we watched movies and series we wanted to watch for so long, we read many books, we studied and travelled...
We would be ungrateful not to say thank you Canada for giving us a chance to make a fresh start in a better place!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Real Human Being
As part of our quarterly meeting yesterday Dave Howlett was making a presentation about Real Human Being concept he invented and is promoting. I liked the presentation itself - it was fun, entertaining and at the same time thought-provoking.
I am not sure I am going to become an active follower though. Maybe it is in my nature or in my experience, but I am inclined not to trust such kind of trainings and lectures and not to take them as a directive for actions.
Maybe we had too many people trying to deceive us back home – getting us believe in their fair intentions only to get money out of us. There is a feeling deep inside “I’d better not trust one fair person, than I will get deceived by a bunch of cheaters”.
Also, I am already trying to pursue the very same goal as the RHB concept – to be a good person, to help people around not to get something in exchange, but just because I feel it is right to help. This is in substance the idea of Christianity as far as I see it. Hence there is no need for me to become an adept of RHB at all.
I am not sure I am going to become an active follower though. Maybe it is in my nature or in my experience, but I am inclined not to trust such kind of trainings and lectures and not to take them as a directive for actions.
Maybe we had too many people trying to deceive us back home – getting us believe in their fair intentions only to get money out of us. There is a feeling deep inside “I’d better not trust one fair person, than I will get deceived by a bunch of cheaters”.
Also, I am already trying to pursue the very same goal as the RHB concept – to be a good person, to help people around not to get something in exchange, but just because I feel it is right to help. This is in substance the idea of Christianity as far as I see it. Hence there is no need for me to become an adept of RHB at all.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Characters
I recently read an immigrant's complaint - she was saying how hard and depressing Canada is for her. She came here without English, had to learn it for a year and now, when she started getting to some job interviews, nobody makes her a job offer. The reason for that according to her is in her accent. She says she is disgusted by such unfairness.
I was always fascinated in a way by people who come to the foreign country without making an effort to learn its language and feel offended when nobody is willing to hire them directly at the exit from the airport. I guess it is an easy way to live with a feeling that everyone around owes you. Period. No further considerations as to why and how. Just the unbeatable certainty. People like that never learn from their mistakes - they are sure that any misfortune happening to them is due to someone else's fault. Like I said, fascinating!
As for the person I was describing above, I guess that she fails to get a job offer not due to her accent, but due to her feeling of disgust towards those interviewing her. There is always an intuitive feeling of what somebody really thinks of you - and I guess that when HR person feels being afraid of and disgusted by, they will hardly want to hire the person.
I was always fascinated in a way by people who come to the foreign country without making an effort to learn its language and feel offended when nobody is willing to hire them directly at the exit from the airport. I guess it is an easy way to live with a feeling that everyone around owes you. Period. No further considerations as to why and how. Just the unbeatable certainty. People like that never learn from their mistakes - they are sure that any misfortune happening to them is due to someone else's fault. Like I said, fascinating!
As for the person I was describing above, I guess that she fails to get a job offer not due to her accent, but due to her feeling of disgust towards those interviewing her. There is always an intuitive feeling of what somebody really thinks of you - and I guess that when HR person feels being afraid of and disgusted by, they will hardly want to hire the person.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Sponsorship
To get my mum to live with us in Canada on a permanent basis I need to apply for sponsorship, wait for about 5 years and then get her the same permanent resident status I now posess. By that time I hope I will get my citizenship - one must live in Canada for 3 years being a permanent resident to be able to apply for citizenship.
I am currently gathering paperwork needed to apply for sponsorship. It is quite a list - I guess the same size as when I applied for immigration, which makes sense. What I cannot comprehend is why I have to pay $550 now, where they will process her file in 3 years only? I.e. the file will be lying there waiting for its turn. It would make more sense to ask for processing fees when you start processing, wouldn’t it?
I am currently gathering paperwork needed to apply for sponsorship. It is quite a list - I guess the same size as when I applied for immigration, which makes sense. What I cannot comprehend is why I have to pay $550 now, where they will process her file in 3 years only? I.e. the file will be lying there waiting for its turn. It would make more sense to ask for processing fees when you start processing, wouldn’t it?
Travelling
Mark lost the race and his teammate Sebastian Vettel is 2010 world champion or Weltmeister as he put it being a German. Well done, Sebastian! :)
My mum is going to come to stay with us for 2 months in a week. I was busy preparing both her for the trip and our place for her arrival. She is flying with a connection in London - and as far as I know, Heathrow is a really confusing place even for those who have travelled a lot. Last time my mum travelled was years ago and she always travelled with me at her site to take care of everything. She does not speak any language but Russian. I have been able to speak English at a level good enough for travelling purposes since I was 10 years old or so. I also speak German and therefore had no issues while traveling in Austria or Germany. I can remember how awkward it feels when you cannot talk to anyone around from my trip to France. French people won't speak to you any language but French even if they know other languages. I have no explanation for this, but it is really annoying - when we arrived at the international train station in Paris and were not able to buy subway tickets any other way but by feverishly gesturing to the woman in the booth. I felt like a total idiot and I did not like the feeling.
I only encountered a similar feeling once after that - in Sicily, but since the Italians do not pretend not to speak other languages, but actually don't bother to learn them, it did not feel that irritating. They are also not acting pathetic when you try to explain yourself, but instead are doing their best to understand you.
So now that my mum is on her own on the trip I am trying to do my best to help her on the way. I have downloaded a step-by-step instruction on how to get through her connection in London. I translated it and in case she gets lost, provided her with notes saying "I do not speak English, please help me get to the gate of my flight" to show to people around in case she needs help. I will make such notes for Canadian customs as well. And when she goes back to Russia, I will make her start learning English. :)
My mum is going to come to stay with us for 2 months in a week. I was busy preparing both her for the trip and our place for her arrival. She is flying with a connection in London - and as far as I know, Heathrow is a really confusing place even for those who have travelled a lot. Last time my mum travelled was years ago and she always travelled with me at her site to take care of everything. She does not speak any language but Russian. I have been able to speak English at a level good enough for travelling purposes since I was 10 years old or so. I also speak German and therefore had no issues while traveling in Austria or Germany. I can remember how awkward it feels when you cannot talk to anyone around from my trip to France. French people won't speak to you any language but French even if they know other languages. I have no explanation for this, but it is really annoying - when we arrived at the international train station in Paris and were not able to buy subway tickets any other way but by feverishly gesturing to the woman in the booth. I felt like a total idiot and I did not like the feeling.
I only encountered a similar feeling once after that - in Sicily, but since the Italians do not pretend not to speak other languages, but actually don't bother to learn them, it did not feel that irritating. They are also not acting pathetic when you try to explain yourself, but instead are doing their best to understand you.
So now that my mum is on her own on the trip I am trying to do my best to help her on the way. I have downloaded a step-by-step instruction on how to get through her connection in London. I translated it and in case she gets lost, provided her with notes saying "I do not speak English, please help me get to the gate of my flight" to show to people around in case she needs help. I will make such notes for Canadian customs as well. And when she goes back to Russia, I will make her start learning English. :)
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Formula 1 - go Mark go!
Yas-marina circuit in Abu-Dhabi that hosts the last race of the season in very beatiful. Last June we went to Motreal and attended all 3 days of the race. From then on I became a F1 fan. There is a huge difference between watching it life and on TV screen. We wish we could go see the Abu-Dhabi race - it should be quite an experience.
My favourite pilot is Mark Webber - I won't deny - my choice was partly (yes, partly) influenced by his look and resemblance with Colin Firth - who is really gorgeous. For those who do not know what I am talking about here are the pictures:
Colin Firth
And Mark Webber:
Now that the female readers are back from their flight of fancy and male readers stopped scrolling down, let me continue. The tomorrow race will decide if Mark becomes a champion or not. So today I could not miss the qualification - it was the first time when I came late to the CMA class. Mark is the fifth in qualification which means unless something happens to those in front of him (do you hear me over there?) he will start the race in the fifth position. It is not that bad and might even turn out for good - cause he was not really good at turning pole position into a win during the year.
Anyway, I wish I could be in Abu-Dhabi tomorrow - never wanted to go there before. :)
My favourite pilot is Mark Webber - I won't deny - my choice was partly (yes, partly) influenced by his look and resemblance with Colin Firth - who is really gorgeous. For those who do not know what I am talking about here are the pictures:
Colin Firth
Anyway, I wish I could be in Abu-Dhabi tomorrow - never wanted to go there before. :)
Friday, November 12, 2010
Why immigrate
People keep asking me this. Why did you come to Canada? Meaning "What was wrong with Russia?"
One needs a good reason to leave their homeland. Well, I had a bunch of them.
As I heard somewhere "Russia is a country with unpredictable past" - as absurd as it sounds, it is true. When power in Russia changes - and I have witnessed one of the changes - where we stopped building communism and went on to democracy - history books are re-written in the process. Good guys become bad guys and vice versa. You might say that it is a natural thing when the regime changes. It is. However, there were 2 such changes during the XX century - which witnesses of how unstable the situation in the country is.
If you ask someone in Russia what their plans for the next 25 years are, they won't understand the question. Russians do not plan for such a long time ahead. They have learnt how naive it is to plan something there. If you live on a volcano, you do not go planning your future. This volcano life is quite tiresome. Constant feeling of uncertainty can drive one crazy over time.
Aside from volcano feeling there is corruption. You cannot live in Russia and avoid meeting with it. It is everywhere. You need to get some document from officials - don't forget the envelope with bribe or you don't get it. You want your child to go to university? Go and pay for that. A friend of mine had to bribe the police and the judge so that the man who tried to kill his pregnant wife and was caught by my friend at the crime scene was actually sentenced and sent to jail.
I was born in USSR. There were universal healthcare and education systems that were free. They still say that these systems are in place in Russia. Well they are not. Healthcare has lost on its quality over the years and keeps worsening every year. Same is true for education. There are private hospitals and schools available as alternatives. But they do not guarantee a much better service or quality and around 95% of population cannot afford their services.
Social inequality is another factor that influenced my decision. Russia is famous for its oil and gas export. However, the money from it is distributed among those close to the top - government. If you visit Moscow, you will see so many luxurious cars you will hardly encounter anywhere else. Exclusive yachts can be seen on city's rivers, cottages with price tags of millions dollars can be found all around the countryside close to the capital. Those cottages are hidden behind 10-meters fences, security services with automatic firearms are patrolling these houses... They belong to those who call themselves elite. I was employed by one of them some time ago - most of them have a criminal background and believe to be owners of the country.
There is also a thin layer of middle class - those who are educated, ambitious and able to earn enough money to buy a car, travel to the favourite destinations among Russians - Turkey or Egypt - once a year and rent an apartment. You cannot afford to buy one living in big cities - the prices are ridiculous (1 bedroom apartment in Moscow starts from 300k dollars, whereas average middle class salary is somewhere at 1500 USD). Mortgages with interest at 20% are of no help in the situation as well.
The total majority of the population is fighting poverty. There was a poem written by a famous Russian author back in the XIX century that is still up-to-date - it read "Russia is the coutry of owners and slaves". I did not want to live in that society anymore.
There are many more minor reasons why I chose to leave, but I tried to list the major above.
One needs a good reason to leave their homeland. Well, I had a bunch of them.
As I heard somewhere "Russia is a country with unpredictable past" - as absurd as it sounds, it is true. When power in Russia changes - and I have witnessed one of the changes - where we stopped building communism and went on to democracy - history books are re-written in the process. Good guys become bad guys and vice versa. You might say that it is a natural thing when the regime changes. It is. However, there were 2 such changes during the XX century - which witnesses of how unstable the situation in the country is.
If you ask someone in Russia what their plans for the next 25 years are, they won't understand the question. Russians do not plan for such a long time ahead. They have learnt how naive it is to plan something there. If you live on a volcano, you do not go planning your future. This volcano life is quite tiresome. Constant feeling of uncertainty can drive one crazy over time.
Aside from volcano feeling there is corruption. You cannot live in Russia and avoid meeting with it. It is everywhere. You need to get some document from officials - don't forget the envelope with bribe or you don't get it. You want your child to go to university? Go and pay for that. A friend of mine had to bribe the police and the judge so that the man who tried to kill his pregnant wife and was caught by my friend at the crime scene was actually sentenced and sent to jail.
I was born in USSR. There were universal healthcare and education systems that were free. They still say that these systems are in place in Russia. Well they are not. Healthcare has lost on its quality over the years and keeps worsening every year. Same is true for education. There are private hospitals and schools available as alternatives. But they do not guarantee a much better service or quality and around 95% of population cannot afford their services.
Social inequality is another factor that influenced my decision. Russia is famous for its oil and gas export. However, the money from it is distributed among those close to the top - government. If you visit Moscow, you will see so many luxurious cars you will hardly encounter anywhere else. Exclusive yachts can be seen on city's rivers, cottages with price tags of millions dollars can be found all around the countryside close to the capital. Those cottages are hidden behind 10-meters fences, security services with automatic firearms are patrolling these houses... They belong to those who call themselves elite. I was employed by one of them some time ago - most of them have a criminal background and believe to be owners of the country.
There is also a thin layer of middle class - those who are educated, ambitious and able to earn enough money to buy a car, travel to the favourite destinations among Russians - Turkey or Egypt - once a year and rent an apartment. You cannot afford to buy one living in big cities - the prices are ridiculous (1 bedroom apartment in Moscow starts from 300k dollars, whereas average middle class salary is somewhere at 1500 USD). Mortgages with interest at 20% are of no help in the situation as well.
The total majority of the population is fighting poverty. There was a poem written by a famous Russian author back in the XIX century that is still up-to-date - it read "Russia is the coutry of owners and slaves". I did not want to live in that society anymore.
There are many more minor reasons why I chose to leave, but I tried to list the major above.
First post
Ok, here I go - cheating on livejournal nastyushca that I have had for 5 years now. The Journal is in Russian - do not bother to follow the link unless you speak it.
The saying "do not put all eggs in one basket" has been bugging me for a while now. But today I decided to actually do it.
I guess the first post should be some introduction of the author to the public. So be it. My name is Anastasia, I am living in Canada since November 2009. My husband Alex and I came here from Russia. My immigration process took me 3.5 years to complete, which is unusually long compared to others.
We are now living in Waterloo, Ontario and like it here a lot. We have two cats - one came with us from Moscow, the other we took in June 2010. We love them dearly and they seem to bear with us ok as well.
My other hobbies include plants, reading, watching movies, travelling, photography, Formula 1 racing, football (or soccer as they call it in North America for some freakish reason). I am also a fan of Babylon Five series.
I am working in finance and studying towards my CMA (chartered managerial accountants) designation.
The saying "do not put all eggs in one basket" has been bugging me for a while now. But today I decided to actually do it.
I guess the first post should be some introduction of the author to the public. So be it. My name is Anastasia, I am living in Canada since November 2009. My husband Alex and I came here from Russia. My immigration process took me 3.5 years to complete, which is unusually long compared to others.
We are now living in Waterloo, Ontario and like it here a lot. We have two cats - one came with us from Moscow, the other we took in June 2010. We love them dearly and they seem to bear with us ok as well.
My other hobbies include plants, reading, watching movies, travelling, photography, Formula 1 racing, football (or soccer as they call it in North America for some freakish reason). I am also a fan of Babylon Five series.
I am working in finance and studying towards my CMA (chartered managerial accountants) designation.
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