Month: February 2016

Food

If you encounter a bicycle in Moscow, it’s more likely to be a mountain bike, whereas in our area, it’s more likely a road bike. So far, I haven’t seen any other types of bicycles on the streets, only horned road bikes are what you come across.

At Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, DC

https://www.swarmapp.com/r_aliev/checkin/56b66429498e5939a372042b?s=nox1IpnKvmNEhAOeH73zZwP6q6w&ref=fb&source=openGraph

Yesterday, we visited an interesting family in McLean. Their daughters play the violin and piano well. They take private lessons. Since I’m also interested, I inquired about the conditions. Compared to Moscow, it’s definitely an expensive pleasure here.

A piano lesson costs about 180 dollars. This is with top-notch teachers, etc., but overall, there’s not much choice among the “less prestigious” ones. The lowest I could find was 100 dollars per hour (they sell by half-hour). Specifically in the case of teachers who charge 180 dollars, any upright piano or especially an electronic one won’t suffice, a normal, albeit small, grand piano is expected.

This is to say, what you can get for a reasonable sum in Russia turns into an elite activity here.

Ivan Shapovalov

Passed!!!! They will send the license within seven days

Learning American English through placards)

Bought an old but in good condition Raleigh R600 road bike. Great for sports and commuting – light and fast.

http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=2002&Brand=Raleigh&Model=R600&Type=bike

Rode it around the garage, will take it to work tomorrow. But today, tried to get to work on a board in the morning – complete darkness. Roads around here are not for longboarding. But for biking – they’re okay.

Victor Romanovsky, Petr Didenko, Анна Паршина, Tatiana Egoshina, Alexander Kroll;-)

Larger views: (1) https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/47606/31950017.d2/0_d4493_3366e040_orig

(2) https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/47606/31950017.d2/0_d4494_dfc9ddac_orig

Being a Russian-speaking IT professional is very profitable: not only a huge English-speaking internet opens up for you, but also an equally vast Russian-speaking one. Just consider Habrahabr alone. For a German, Indian, Spaniard, Italian, only half of all this is accessible (and that with difficulty) – the English-speaking part, since they will not learn Russian, but we have to learn English. The situation with the Chinese is complex – Google is blocked there, and therefore they have a lot inside their own internet. How much exactly – I am figuring out.

Currently, in the neighboring Skype chat, there is a lively discussion where Ukrainian, Russian, and English are being mixed. One asks in Russian – they reply in English or Ukrainian. And it’s fine – everyone has adapted, using the language that’s convenient for them, and if it comes to a misunderstanding – they switch to some common language.

A few words about the American internet from my fresh perspective from within: there is less competition among the giants here, and more among all sorts of small players. The “giants” here are significantly more advanced in terms of functionality. Choosing a car or insurance online here is considerably more pleasant.

In American apartments, there are two downsides: (1) noisy neighbors and (2) in the evenings you have to speak softly and not stomp around, otherwise they will complain where necessary

Lisa unpacked her backpack. The kefir smuggled from Russia in her carry-on had already died.