Hello!

[Chloe]

Hello!
I'm from St' Petersburg, Russia, but I have been living in Germany since few years. Now it's difficult for me to write in English, because I forgot a lot since I've been learning German, but I try to do my best.
My hobbies are opera, Soviet movies, travel, healthy food.
I'm very happy about this web-site and wish all a lot of fun while learning English.
Best wishes

[Duckduck]

Hello!
I'm from St' Petersburg, Russia, but I have been living in Germany for a few years. Now it's difficult for me to write in English, because I forgot a lot since I've been learning German, but I try to do my best.
My hobbies are opera, Soviet movies, travel, healthy food.
I'm very happy about this web-site and wish us all a lot of fun while learning English.
Best wishes

Dear Chloe,

As you can see, I made a little correction in your post: you use "since" when talking about a point in time (1999, last Monday) and "for" when talking about a time span (a few years, two weeks).

I think your English is really good, but of course we can always try to get even better. I studied Russian, by the way, and wrote my Master of Arts paper about the novel "Proscanie s Materoj" and the film adaptation by Sepitko/Klimov. Do you know the film? I think it is one of the best films of the time, really moving but also political and interesting. Nice to have you in the forum!

Cheers
Duckduck

[Chloe]

Hello Duckduck!
Thank you for your correction! It's always very useful for me!!!
I have never seen this movie, but I heard about the movie "French lessons", which was based also on the novel by V. Rasputin. Have you seen it? There are many beutiful movies, which were made while Soviet era. When I lived in St. Petersburg, I saw american, french or german movies, but now it's very nice for me to see russian movies.
By the way, I read about Sepitko. She was a very good film director. Unfortunately she died in a car crash in 1979. Her husband shot a movie "Larissa" about her.
Best wishes,
Chloe

[Duckduck]

Hello Duckduck!
Thank you for your correction! It's always very useful for me!!!
I have never seen this movie, but I heard about the movie "French lessons", which was also based on the novel by V. Rasputin. Have you seen it? There are many beautiful movies, which were made during the Soviet era. When I lived in St. Petersburg, I used to watch American, French or German movies, but now it's very nice for me to watch Russian movies.
By the way, I read about Sepitko. She was a very good film director. Unfortunately, she died in a car crash in 1979. Her husband shot a movie "Larissa" about her.
Best wishes,
Chloe

Hi Chloe,
yes, that's true. She died while she was filming "Proscanie" and her husband Elem Klimov finished the film for her. If you ever come across it, watch it, because it is just wonderful. Do you like Rasputin? I know that for a time he was not so popular because he was considered right-wing, politically speaking. But I enjoyed his novels because they made you think about the past, the present and the future.

Cheers for now
Duckduck

[Chloe]

I have never read Rasputin's works, but I will do it soon. Next week I 'll fly to St. Petersburg and I'll buy me his books. I tried to read Dostoyevsky's novel "The Gambler" in German, but it was strange. I like Russian and I don't want to miss it, first of all when I read a books of Russian writer. I think, it's very nice, when on can read books in the original! I hope, I can read some day books in English!

[Duckduck]

I have never read Rasputin's works, but I will do so soon. Next week I'll fly to St. Petersburg and I'll buy some of his books. I tried to read Dostoyevsky's novel "The Gambler" in German, but it was strange. I like Russian and I don't want to miss it, especially when I read books of Russian writers. I think, it's very nice, when one can read books in the original language! I hope, I will be able to read books in English one day!

Hi Chloe,
my Russian was never good enough to read Russian novels and really enjoy them. I had to look up too many words. But I like the language very much, unfortunately, I never speak it now because people round here are more interested in English. Rasputin's novels belong to the genre of "derevenjskaja proza". "Proscanie s Materoj" describes how a small island in a river is forcibly evacuated in the 1950s, because the government wants to build a huge dam and the area has to be flooded. Really philosophical and sad but also important. It's about losing our past on our way into the future.

See you and enjoy your trip back home!

Duckduck