ABOUT ME

Travelling a lot I'm usually asked ab my nationality. And when we talk ab Russians this is the time when we have to deal with stereotypes.

- Oh you are Russian? No you look like Chinese or Japanese.
- No, I'm Russian. Russia is a very multinational country. My mother is Russian and my father is Buryat, it's some kind of Russian mongolian.That's why I'm so beautiful:)

But hearing ab Russians people usually expect to see a slavic girl with blonde hair and blue eyes instead of me. Just a simple case. We were at A Small World party (some kind of closed club for professionals) in Istanbul. And I was asked where I'm from by a man who looks like a Turkish or some kind of this. Then I asked him where is hi from.

- From Netherlands.

The music was very loud so I had to ask him once again. He repeated. I said: okay.
And he was surprised why I asked him 2 times. He decided I was doubting in his words. I could tell him all this stuff that his appearance is not like an appearance of an average Dutch man, but I didn't. I think it's impolite. But he wondered whether am I really from Russia. But I am.
Though this is not only foreign people's problem who know ab us only triangle whith vodka-matreshka-perestroika tops. This spring I interviewed an italian actress Irene Muscara who fall in love with Russian culture when studied at school. And then she made a long trip to come to Russia, to be a student of one of our best theatre directors Evgeny Kamenkovich. The burocracy process of making a work permission and resident permission is very tough in Russia. And the living conditions I guess differ very much from Europe. But Irene is passionate about our country and this admires me very much. So Irene usually has to spend a lot of time in queues. And while she is staying there people usually ask her if she is a Georgian or a Moldavian. Irene is very bored to explain everyone she is an Italian (she has green eyes and dark blonde hair) so sometimes she says:yes. Only to make people be calm to believe in their templates.

Or she has some difficulties with finding a job in cinematography coz she's got a little accent and to our directors' mind can play only foreigners. When she is talking she is from Sicily employers usually expect to see a hot brunette.
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I'm proud to be Russian.I'm proud to be a part of this great culture, to read Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Brodsky in original, to be passionate ab Russian dramatic theatre. I'm proud to meet an American woman at Skogarfoss waterfall hostel in Iceland who is originally Polish and she understands Russian language. I'm proud to meet a Georgian woman working in Cesme hotel and talk to her ab our Soviet cinematography's actors like Vakhtang Kikabidze and Georgian musicians like Nino Katamadze or Mgzavrebi. And I'm proud to be a part of another great culture - finally my dad's ancestors created the second biggest Empire in a human's history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MABYN3SBMc

Here is my blog about Russian culture in English http://moscowinspiring.wordpress.com/. Enjoy your reading!

PHILOSOPHY

Sometimes it seems to me that I spend all my money just to find the place, where I could be born. (It's not my philosophy, just the translation of my favourite columnist's Evgeny Zhadkevich idea).

It's never too late to have a happy childhood.

Pourquoi je suis sur Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

My friend Ayuna involved me

Centres d'intérêt

architecture, sustainable living, internet-projects, table games, contemporary dance, ski, skating, swimming, table-tennis, nomadism, skyscrapers, dacha, literature, cinematography, theatre, photography, music, dancing on the table:)

• culture
• literature
• architecture
• photography
• dancing
• partying
• clubbing
• reading
• traveling
• blogging
• music
• skiing
• tennis
• swimming
• history

Morceaux de musique, films et livres

"Todo sobre mi madre" by P.Almodovar, "500 days summer", "Inception", "Casablanca", "Closer", many Soviet movies
books: "Idiot" by F.Dostoevsky, "Anna Karenina" by L.Tolstoy, Sergei Dovlatov, Joseph Brodsky,
"Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, "The French Lieutenant's Woman" by J.Fowles

Enjoy amazing Russian composer Evgeny Grinko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYCOg-yglNM&list=UUU32BHYHzgvEP73sl_JKxpw&index=7

If you are interested in Russian literature I highly recommend you to read Dostoevsky and Dovlatov.

Une aventure extraordinaire que j'ai vécue

Once I was along among night tundra (on Arctic Circle, Ob river, Salekhard).
Once I danced on the table in Paris.
Once I was a barmaid in Istanbul.

Enseignez, apprenez, partagez

I would like to show you my fav places in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Here it is my ad movie "Funky Moscow" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO9aOuaFcok

I've got a deep interest to theatre - so I can advise you the coolest performances in Moscow.

Pays que j'ai visités

Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine

Pays dans lesquels j'ai vécu

Russian Federation

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