Family

I grew up in a big, extended family and it was really good: my grandparents, uncles, sisters, brothers and my mother. Unfortunately, my parents divorced when I was a child, but now my parents have friendly relationship. So most of the time, my grandmother brought me up, ‘cause my mum was busy at work.

   I think a big family is good. You're never lonely and there's always someone to hang around with or do stuff with and lots of things to share and you can learn some good values about sharing and being patient. On the other hand, its rather noisy, because you are surrounded by a lot of people and they always, can argue with each other. Also, if you are the youngest in the family like me, your relatives always make you do the washing up after dinner and keep your room tidy. And your uncles never let you borrow their private things. 

    

Nevertheless, in a big family, you always have company. You have a wide variety of people to spend time with, and it’s very important for me.

Best friend

     In my life there are people who are very important to me. And one of them is my best friend her name is Sasha. I met With Sasha when we were kids, because our moms were friends too.

We have a lot in common, but in many ways we are different. But it doesn’t interfere with our friendship. Sasha is sociable and friendly, as well. She’s cheerful, but she can be impatient at times. She’s confident and reliable. We often argue, but I never swear. She knows that she can seek help at anytime, and I support her in any case, just as she did. Sasha never gossips about me, and she knows that I never gossip about her either. We defend each other. We don’t keep that information confidential. We love going out together and chatting on the phones, and we do it every day. Her best quality is her sense of humor. She always makes me laugh.

    Sasha is a very special person who means a lot to me! And I think, that I’m lucky. We are inseparable and nothing is more fun than being together!

My favorite books

  In my previous blog, I wrote about books. But now I would like to talk about my favorite books!

   Well, I never judge a book by its cover and I don’t care if a book is written by women or men.  I prefer going to book shops or to the library and leaf through the pages and if I find the book interesting, I buy it. I like different genres: detective stories, novels, short stories, science fiction and so on. It depends on my mood. Some of my favorite books are Guy de Maupassant "Dear Friend", Stephen King «The Shining», Remarque "Three Comrades" and "Triumphal Arch"… The last book that I read was «Sister Carrie» by Theodore Dreiser and I liked it very much.

   The story takes place at first in Chicago and then in New York. The main character is 18-year-old Caroline "Sister Carrie»  Miber. Dissatisfied with life in her native small town of Columbia City, she takes the train to Chicago, where her older sister Minnie, and her husband Sven Hanson, agreed to take her in. Carrie soon embarks on a quest for work to pay rent to her sister and her husband, and takes a job running a machine in a shoe factory. But she lost it because of illness. To find a new place was not easy, and Kerry was already in despair when once again she met Charles Drouet – a charming salesman of a large firm (she met him on the train and she was attracted to him). He persuaded the girl to move from family and live with him. He gives her everything what she wanted. But soon she got tired of this relationship…Drouet introduces Kerry to George Hurstwood – the owner of bar, and Hurstwood begins to care for her, hoping for reciprocity. Although he was married, he could’t stop thinking about her…Well, the plot of this story is very confusing and its end is too unexpected. If you are interested in it, I advise you to read it!

    To sum it up, I want to say that I can’t imagine our lives without books. We learn a lot of interesting things when we read books. Books are our great friends and teachers.

My language learning experience

  Learning a foreign language is possible for most people. All it takes is willingness, work and method. Well, I would like to tell you about my own language learning experience.

   My first exposure with the English language was in Middle School. But I think, if you really want to learn a language, learning it only at school isn’t enough. Nobody learns a language the same way. As many people as many learning methods. First of all, you should do a little reading, a little writing, a little speaking and a lot of listening.

Well, I was able to combine all of these. My friends recommended me to buy Oxford Bookworms books. This edition has a very large number of different stories (for example, I read Three Men in a Boat and Gulliver’s Travels) for all levels. Besides books there are disks with a lot of exercises for text comprehension and vocabulary explained in English. Everyone can choose a story and difficulty level whichever you want. I really like these books!

    It’s also a good idea to find a good teacher. Teachers are more knowledgeable, so you can completely count on what they are saying. But I think, not everyone can have enough money to have a private teacher. You must rely on yourself!

    But of course, in my opinion, the best way to learn a foreign language is go to a native speaking country… If you have the opportunity, take advantage of it! Well, as to me, I prefer watching my favorite movies in English.

   To sum it up, I think that if you want to speak a foreign language, don’t sit back. Be disciplined and learn to manage your time. Don’t leave things to the last minute. It’s a good idea to do tasks in good time.

My food memories

  There are four of us at home- my mother, my step-father, my little sister and me. My mum does most of the cooking, but we all help her (step-father goes to the super market, my sister and I wash the dishes). She is a great cook. As a family, we always used to try new things and experiment with food. I always love trying new food. Unfortunately, when I was about seven, the only thing I really dislike was seafood. I didn’t like it, and that made life difficult for my mother, because everyone else liked it. Well, now I can eat whatever I want.

Restaurants are always a real treat…We usually go there, when we have some special events. But certainly, we prefer eating at home. 

  I like cooking very much. Every weekend my mum and I cooked something and always tried to cook something new. I like Italian food: soups, spaghetti, pizza, ravioli and so so on. That’s why sometimes we cooked something Italian. On weekdays we don’t have much time to potter around the house. In the morning we go to work and classes, and come home very late. Because of this, the weekend’s dinner is always really important in my family.  

  My favorite foods were fried chicken, fried potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy….And of cause desert! Pies, pancakes, ice-cream, cakes…we cooked it all at weekends. I think a happy childhood gives you a balanced view of food and yourself. I eat what I fancy and I feel good about it.