Metro, un peu (*a bit about underground)

The crowd in the metro today. Traffic light was broken and that has stopped the trains. This is not my photo, have taken it from news websites, where there were no authors. Sorry, the author :)

That happened only on the Orange Line (see the map). I was living there once when staying with cats before. If interested - just in case - now I live on the Purple Line (again, enjoy the map), and to be honest, being on the south-east of Moscow, my station - Kyuzmynky - looks the same almost always. The Purple line is famous for that, almost a hell in the sense of a crowd. And I work - if that is still interesting - where the Orange line meets the Green line in the centre of the circle. And here where you can see the Kremlin from my window.

By the way, circle/radial system of underground is not the best in the sense of changing the train when you go from - for example - from south-west to south-east, but it is like this here, in Moscow. And for example the Paris idea of metro (and for sure I like examples about France) gives more options for changing the lines.

That was only the way to say hello to you. I love Moscow. I love Paris.
Quite clear, rather sunny, pretty snowy day in Moscow with minus 15C or close. See you later.

Emmanuel Carrere, Romain Gary, moving out, conference also out

Survived after the conference… The bags were quite successful, all gone, all colors were in high demand, and now participants are – hopefully – fully enjoying The Quotations :)

After Monday as a compensation day – I still want to sleep. Tuesday was okay: job and after it – even visited the meeting with French writers. Had to visit the French Cultural Center anyway – to return My Debts :), several DVDs collected within a couple of weeks.

So there was Emmanuel Carrere yesterday presented by Olivier Rolin (he is the editor of this program). Emmanuel Carrere, the one who wrote “La Moustache” (The Moustache) and “L`Adversaire” (The Adversary) as books which later became movies, which both are presented in my boxes (I just moved out!), which I yet never watched. So that was a good surprise yesterday to find out that he is the actual author. And now I have a better motivation to watch and read all that exciting stuff I had on my shelves and now have in boxes which were so heavy to carry! (the moving out process was organized in quite extreme circumstances and held in record-breaking period of several hours, all thanks to our inadequate landlady, god bless her(c).

But back to literature! The series is called “Aimer la literature” (Love literature), organized by the French Center and perhaps the Embassy. The meetings are about reading and commenting. Modern authors – exclusively French for obvious reasons – read extracts from books of their predecessors. Yesterday it was Mr.Carrere reading Romain Gary (“Promise at Dawn”). It was a good meeting, with some laughs and some thoughts, in a big cold conference hall of the library, with quite a lot of participants. Cold – it is cold in Moscow now, and so is in some public buildings (and in my new home, but not speaking about that!).

Back to the writers. Romain Gary is still the only French author who won the Prix Goncourt twice (once under his other pseudonym, Emile Ajar). In reality both of those names are pseudonyms, because in fact he was Russian, with quite a mysterious family story but with a very remarkable mother, whom the book read yesterday is devoted to. Not long time ago, like two or three months ago, the friend of mine mentioned this book and offered it to read. Unexpected acquaintance. As Emmanuel Carrere told yesterday, he also met this book only recently, followed a friend`s advice and was very moved so decided to read it in Moscow. Now it would be good for you to know that this book is well worth reading, to say the least.

Romain Gary was born in Vilnius (Lithuania) and grew up in Nice (France), and knowing these two cities a bit I like to imagine his story. His mother was an actress and quite an independent woman in her epoch, so she raised him alone. In spite of all life dramas she was always fascinated by France, so when Romain was still a boy they moved to France. Through Poland, in a goods wagon I presume, through illness and lack of food. She continued to love France even when in Nice, working hard and continuing to tell wonderful stories about France, their new country. She made her son a French person and a French citizen. He also became a courageous pilot during the war, a journalist, a Consul General of France in Los Angeles… And a so French writer.

As for Emmanuel Carrere, just checked Wikipedia
– it is his birthday today! :)

And as for me, we also have Internet back in our new home. So… all is rather well, I would say.

Interview with Valerie Mairesse

Hey! It`s FINALLY published!
http://cinema-france.ru/interviews/1241-interview-valerie-meress

"Enfin veuve" is in Russian cinemas since today. And my interview with Valerie Mairesse, one from the cast, is published. My first experience of that kind, so useless to ask me avoiding such an excitement. Was taken during the festival "French Cinema today", organized by UniFrance in Russia in October.

All was done perfectly right, trust me. It was a conversation, with toughts, words and laughs, with a touch of... when remembering Coluche for example. With jokes when Valerie was making fun. Interesting. And it was perhaps quite challenging for her - not being the main personage nor the film maker - to defend the film in a new country. But she sure liked her stay in Russia and the experience involved.

The interview was planned for October 1st, but there was some weather issues for Novosibirsk flights, and the festival group was coming from there already, so finally the interview was on the 2nd.

In the evening of that day there also was a meeting with one new friend of mine, Olya from Tomsk (Siberia), who was in Moscow for a day when going to Germany and France.   

 Pictures are done by my dear friend Ann whom I - thanks to job and landlady`s issues - have not seen for some time now.

Yes, I need another apartment. And that`s nothing to do with the actual photos%)

Back to the interview. Perhaps I`ll translate it into English - sort of can do it - but first of all: have to survive the conference next week (work), and to find another apartment (personal life, hmm). Ciao, see you!

Super bags! Liking work, loving France :)

Hello, here is me with some news. From job! Never fear, nothing terribly exciting about contracts and financial reports...

But! Contracts manager, preparing large conference (for beginning of December) has to have some fun. Productive and positive one, of course.

So! One of my additional tasks is to prepare stuff for participants. Educational conference, so they`ll have books, CDs, some promo materials, notepads, pens – that sort of things which require some sort of bag to put all the stuff in. So the last two weeks were devoted to package-thinking... Not a plastic bag as in previous years – we are ecologically responsible people. Not a textile bag – we used it once, it was quite an ecological touch and also involved additional activity for participants creating their own bags with special paint and patterns, but this time it is a more respectable event so not an option. And not a paper bag – because… Because there was a better idea. A real bag, simple and good enough to carry a notebook if necessary – and we are in IT education, so that makes sense.

And! Believe me, I wouldn`t just mention this quite a tedious work of searching the manufacturer and dealing with all sorts of questions from design to budget. Nothing special with that but searching for some extra sense and fun in that quite a routine task...

...The first idea was to avoid huge logos (usually people are not fond of them, to put it politely; nobody enjoyes to be a walking advertisment, let`s face it). So - just the name of the program. Plus! Quotations... And (here is my favorite part) what quotations?! The ones which are free from copyright of course. But - more importantly – the ones which are not widely known, at least not in Russia. (possible reasons are below). So reading something new and unknown should be at least interesting and search provoking, probably. Again, being "in education", the whole idea is not that stupid.

And now, no more intriguing! Perhaps it is already quite obvious what has happened. Knowing my soft spot for France... Well, yes! Written in silver color on black surface, in perfect Russian letters... Something which was originally in French! Well, they are preceded by Seneca who, thanks to the fact of being an ancient Roman can`t start any possible discussion (I mean his name is quite neutral). But I really love two others mentioned after him: Simone Weil and Sacha Guitry. And even if they are all so totally different... Well, they said something meaningful about education. And I was just making worthwhile bags :)

Now retranslated from Russian, what`s on the bags:
- Teaching others, learning ourselves (Seneca).
- The most important part of teaching is teaching what is to know (Simone Weil).
- Avec tout ce que je sais, on pourrait faire un livre... il est vrai qu'avec tout ce que je ne sais pas, on pourrait faire une bibliothèque (Sacha Guitry). (Hehe, in English: "With what I know it is possible to make a book... with what I do not know - a library").

Ready for any potential criticism of my choice: (1) good phrases anyway = keep thinking (2) make people interested who are Weil, Guitry etcetera = keep reading. Serving educatinal goals in total.

(Simone Weil and Sacha Guitry are not widely known in Russia - if at all - because both of them were quite unacceptable for Soviet times. Simone was too religious and soul-searching. Sacha was too bourgeois. And now it is also considered not to be the best time to promote their values as well, perhaps for the same reasons).

150 bags are made. Delivered this morning to the office. When locked you can`t see the inner color, just black.



Education for the future!

PS: Pictures made on a cell phone, and not even mine, because my camera successfully sank two months ago. Not just sank but in Geneva. Not simply in Geneva but in a toilette. In a public one. Near the lake to be precise. Amen :)

Hello Halloween

Party. Photos. No comments needed. Except... Attention! Some photos are really sca-a-ary!









Such are the people I am working with








And this is a one-room apartment.









That`s not obvious from the pictures but my costume was some mixture of fallen angel and a black fairy, with after-wings scars on the back and a fallen hat.

Oscar and Lady in Pink

Oscar et la dame rose (bande-annonce)
Загружено jonliyah. - Свежие видео программы онлайн

I have no comments. Read the book. Watch the film.
By Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt.

My very first interview(-s)

When: October 2nd. Was planned for the 1st, but there was a flight delay.
What: Interview with Valerie Mairesse.

And she is: French actress, presenting the film “Enfin veuve”. Literally: “Widow, finally”. International movie title: “Merry widow”. Though for Russian release the movie got the name “To love in a French way”. No more original irony, but perhaps not so bad for promotion among Russian public (there is a well known film “To love in a Russian way”, thought to my opinion it is very “cliché”, very).

Anyway, Valerie performed only a secondary role in that film, but having been invited (or recruited) by UniFrance, she visited Russia within a group of French movie directors and actors.

UniFrance: a French company promoting French cinema - and through that the France itself - all over the world. Works in cooperation with government and foreign missions as far as I understand.

This autumn event: the 10th Annual Festival “French Cinema today” in Russia. This year it started in Novosibirsk (as seen from its name the town is in Siberia), and then it moved to Moscow. Eight movies due to official Russian release this autumn, plus three more films made in co-production, plus one restored good old classics, plus 24 short films. Funny personal detail: once I posted online announcement for my friends about the festival and the opportunity to watch French films, I got a reply from my friend Varya from Novosibirsk, who wrote that she was going to work as a translator during the Night of French short films! (She works as a teacher of French in the University, but participating in film festival as additional activity sounds great!)

Night of French short films. As we called it: “Long Night of short French films”. Twenty four (24!) short films all night long. Pity I missed it.

A bit about V.Mairesse. She started her carrier in the Splendid team - which was a group of young and talented French authors and actors, in love with comedy and public. In her carrier Valerie was playing for Tarkovsky – who is a recognized “master”, and that was his movie "Offret". She also played in the film with Coluche - “Banzai” comedy, well known internationally. But finally she is a nice, open and smiley person, with a brisk energetic walk, ready to speak, to laugh and to answer questions. No “the star” symptoms. When I was transcribing the “dicto” record, it was full of laughs and lively conversation. It sounds as we are friends chatting about things.

On the other hand, and that is important for me, I found all that very professional. Even if it is not my profession, and actually it was my first experience on this field, even with all my typical doubts and embarrassment… I just know that this time, somehow, by some inner determination perhaps, I managed everything well enough. The trick was to believe that this is pretty damn serious and the person need to be interviewed and not to deal with my complexes. That was a natural process. And then I just imagined everything – how to start, how to greet, how to create a friendly atmosphere, how to remember about the timing. We had a real translator with us - a nice and well informed lady with a French accent in Russian. She also helped in creating a good conversation. It was an obvious bonus to understand French, and it also was saving time and generating new questions all the time, but in fact our conversation – on the record – is a mixture of languages and laughs. Sometimes, caught by conversation and curiosity, I was starting to express something in French and the translator was saying it in Russian for Valerie…

Where, by the way: in a really posh and expensive hotel in the city center. I mean, really posh. With special people on the entrance, orchids in water closet, lots of gold and velvet in decoration – that type of luxury.

The day before the interview, calling my editor in chief:
Me: Any dress code maybe?
Editor: Look, it`s journalists who will be there…

So I opted for the jeans. As almost everybody else. Finally that was a working meeting, several people meeting with other several people to have several conversations in a short period of time.

Other organizational stuff. Coffee in the lobby and CDs with information about films. CDs were perhaps done in the last second – at my job sometimes we have that kind of “products”, just information put in different folders, sometimes files in different formats. I mean, that it is not perfect, but okay as a source of information and just shows that it is done by people in a certain - perhaps stressful - situation.

As the first experience, existing in that particular situation was interesting. A bit of waiting in the “couloirs”, chatting with people you know and making new acquaintances – just to start speaking before the main conversation will be started. Somehow I found myself speaking with a lady, who appeared to be chief editor of the French magazine “Premiere” – the main cinema magazine for me. Finally, funny or not, we finished by me not only getting my first interview that day, but also giving my first one as well. Apperently she – Veronique Le Bris her name is – traveling with the festival team, also prepares the article about the festival.

So where is the proof of all that? My editor, not being the fan of “Enfin veuve” and “comedies romantiques” in general – doesn`t hurry to publish the interview now, postponing to the date of the movie official release which will be in November. Actually he is reasonable as the website is loaded with other interviews now, and let`s think about the general concept, and also already great for me to have the experience itself. On the other hand, without publishing the experience isn`t finished yet.

What I`ve learnt?
- Good to be professional or – in my case – use professional approach.
- Good to use imagination. I was imagining myself Michel Drucker “a la feminine”. He is well known French TV personality who host talk shows with people famous in different spheres.
- Good to create a friendly atmosphere. Even if you are not used to an “easy” version of yourself.
- Listen attentive. The course of conversation may be changed. Impossible to smile all the time, the conversation changes it direction from funny to serious and emotional.
- Be prepared. In case of short and one-word answers I had additional questions and remarks to undercover main questions.
- Believe that all this is interesting for you and you are dying to know the answer. In my case it was not far from the truth.

Valerie looked happy and interested to see Moscow and Russia. Going to Siberia is great by itself, that is more real Russia, when not in Moscow. Later the other translator said that Valerie was surprised by the quantity of expensive shops in Moscow (“a lot, where do ordinary people shop?”) and the traffic jams (“your streets look so wide and big, so why is the problem?”). I like to see things in other towns or other countries, but I also like when others also see something new for them. That`s what creates exchange and thoughts about others.

I`ll let you know how it is developed. Bye now.

Welcome back

Looks "St-Pete teaser" was here for quite some time... No point of speaking about it now, it`s all gone. It was good as a journey and as a working experience.

Then I had Geneva for a weekend and Paris for a bit more. Which means Europe twice a month! That`s what happening when I - luckily - have the annual Shengen visa. No more hassles, no more far forward booking, no more documents collecting, no more visiting embassy visa centers etcetera... Well, all that happiness till next May, and we`ll see later.

Both journeys were really exciting, pretty crazy and so full of everything, that I`d prefer not not describe them now. But briefly:

- Geneva, in spite of its Swiss and posh image - I had it of my own. Sleeping under stars and sky, in a sleeping bag of course. Soaking under tha rain and getting sun-almost-burn the next day. Lots of music, lots of talks, lots of people around. Why all that? Suspens. Great fun, sort of I never had before.

- Paris... Well. To start with - I adore that city. Even knowing its less perfect parts and its citizens also not always perfect - doesn`t matter. Perhaps I was a Parisian in my previous life. This time Paris was so full of theatres for me. Every evening, during a week, which has already surprised even my closest friends. Right now, not going to tell more, because need to go out very soon... Oh, I also ate my first couscous - not very French of course, but in real Quartier Latin, in a realy lovely little restaurant... That is not to think that I can speak about food more that about the theatre.

The other thing I wanted to share. There was the French Cinema Today festival in Russia, the tenth already. Organized by Unifrance. They promote French cinema all over the world. This year there were eight new French films presented, ready for Russian release, plus several more films to complete the festival program. The festival was in Novosibirsk and then in Moscow. I just had one day to return from Paris.

Each new film was presented by its producers, or authors, or actors. And here is an exciting part: I was interviewing one of the person! That is my work - volunteer and enthusiastic - on the Cinema-France website. By the way it is registered as mass media now, so that`s how our team appeared to be there.

...The Gas company came to check appartment now, so they took my time, and now - need to run, have some appointment. Promise to tell about the interwiew later! I loved that experience!

St-Pete teaser :)

Bonjour everybody, a bit in a rush but glad to present one more teaser. Whole week out of Moscow, lots of work, lots of fun. Small tasks and critical deadlines accomplished, me proud of myself. Nice people around, new topics to discuss, some ideas to think about. Okay, I promissed only a teaser, so no more comments and enjoy the pictures :)












2 am, by the way

I-Camp, exotic fresh air

Hello, clarifying the previous teaser.
So it was I-Camp, a non-official non-conference about Internet and staff. Supposed to be useful for those who work on the field and need to hear something new now and again.


For me it was more breathing fresh air and having general relax. More than 100 kilometers out of Moscow, towards south-west, Kaluga region. Fields, forests, high skies, and speaking about the actual event – a lot of free time and meals three times a day. As for the fresh air - we almost got an oxygen stroke, as the difference from Moscow air was pretty obvious.

The yurths. The place has a small collection of Kirghiz and Kazakh yurts.


And also wigwams, but they are not for lodging. And yes, they are a bit out of place being American, not Asian.


Working and learning time


Sleeping time. Internet first (there was Wi-Fi).


The doors


The ceiling, covered for night or when raining.



Actually the hole on the ceiling gives quite a lot of light, but doesn`t matter – there was electricity as well, with Wi-Fi, thinking about the topic of the meeting.


Because the yurts were built and used by nomads in steppes – empty windy spaces – and because nomads, as far as I understand, don`t use nails and hammers, or at least consider them to heavy to always carry with them – they use small pieces of rope to hold the construction. That should make the construction firm, but a bit flexible under the wind.


Inhabitants of the place. Constant and temporary.



Cleaning lady

Studying the maps before way home


Because of high grass, which becomes wet at nights with dew, and because it was wisely left to have a more natural view of the place, but because no one wants his feet to be wet – there are wooden paths all over the place, one meter above the ground. It gives a nicely strange feeling almost not to step on real earth for several days.



Honestly, I had more to tell about the place and about what we`ve seen, but I forgot everything already :)


Right now I have couple of hours before jumping to Saint-Petersburg train. One night after I will be in this extremely beautiful city, which is full of contradictories of course, but doesn`t matter - I love St-Pete. Bye now, all the best!