little_learner

A few days ago I went to my friend's country house and we did a great walk, about 10 km in both directions. I thought I wouldn't be able to move the next day, but surprisingly I remained alive :) We went to bathe in a lake and then we went to the aurochs. There is a little area there where they are kept. There were about six aurochs, one stood near the fence and people fed him. I wonder how he didn't burst. He was fed a bag of apples, then bread, then armfuls of grass... I'm not sure if "auroch" is the right word, the image of auroch on the net isn't quitesimilar to those animals... well, in Russian they are called "zubr" :)
Some photos along the way:




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Today is the birthday of Sri Aurobindo, a yogi, poet, revolutionary and founder of Integral yoga.



Ocean Oneness


Silence is round me, wideness ineffable;
White birds on the ocean diving and wandering;
A soundless sea on a voiceless heaven,
Azure on azure, is mutely gazing.

Identified with silence and boundlessness
My spirit widens clasping the universe
Till all that seemed becomes the Real,
One in a mighty and single vastness.

Someone broods there nameless and bodiless,
Conscious and lonely, deathless and infinite,
And, sole in a still eternal rapture,
Gathers all things to his heart for ever.

Sri Aurobindo

I study Indian classical dance Kuchipudi for a bit more than a year. It brings me real pleasure. I think it's my favourite dance form. Many people think Indian dance is something like in the movies but it's not true. It's like a distinction between a folk and a classical dance.
And today I've been at a workshop in Indian classical dance by Ananda Shankar Jayant.

"To me, to dance is to be, to dance is to be happy, for I dance with joy (Ananda) to reach that permanent state of bliss (Ananda) I dance in frenzied action to seek that stillness of the soul."Ananda Shankar Jayant

My friend is a student at the Faculty of Biology. They've had practice lessons at Svir river and here are some photos of hers.

*Svir is a river in the north-east of Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It flows from Lake Onega west to Lake Ladoga, thus connecting the two largest lakes of Europe. It is the largest river flowing into Lake Ladoga.(Wiki)






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Have just returned from the country. So calm there and so messy here. Everything around seemingly wants to tear you to pieces. But in fact that's nothing.

I want to show you this wonderful work of art, "The Old Man and the Sea". It was created in a technique of drawing on glass (with brushes and even hands). This cartoon (if it can be called so) won an Oscar. It's by Alexander Petrov. Language - English.

I live in Saint-Petersburg. Earlier it was the capital of the country, but now, and I'm very happy about that, it's not. So there is not so much flurry and bustle here as in Moscow but the pace of life is still rather quick. Luckily I live in a green area practically in the outskirts.
I have thought a lot about the connection between our city, its weather (about 30-50 sunny days a year) , its location (it was built on bogs and marshes) and the prevailing mood of its citizens. In fact it's obvious. It's difficult to keep the inner light and smile when everything around you is so gloomy. I think Dostoevsky could be born only in a country with such conditions. Of course all people are different here, optimists and pessimists, cheerful and bad-tempered etc... but of course we are not so open as Italians or people from the South of France. But that happens anywhere. We are very affected by the surroundings.
I will now stop about this weather thing. What am I talking about, the sun is shining to my window just now as I type these words!

Below is a photo of a sunset from my window taken in autumn.

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My name is Little Learner because studying is one of my favourite things. I think life is a process of education and it seems to me man still has a great amount of things to know. In that aspect we all are children - that's why "little".    
I would like to learn everything I could about everything :) at lest about everything that interests me, and that is a pretty big amouny of things... If only I had time to do that. 
I like languages very much and actually it's my future profession. I created this journal because I have a need to express my thoughts in English. I've been learning this beautiful language since my childhood and I would like to master it to perfection. And it's just cool to express oneself in a foreign language, it's a wonderful experience.
Well, of course I would like to find friends here (and if they corrected me it would be great, but I don't insist! However, it seems to me it's very interesting - to correct someone who tries to speak in your native language! :) ) and just similar-thinking people (or how to say that?, I like to communicate with people from different countries. And I can help anybody with Russian language with pleasure. 

Anyway, WELCOME TO MY DIARY!