Just 1 lesson

I rushed to the CC again thinking there is a Russian lesson. Alas, it turned out that there was only going to be 1 lesson. No wonder I thought the price was ridiculously cheap for language lesson. Thus I only learnt about 8-10 phrases from the "Russian for Travellers". Guess I will have to go to youtube or some other online resources to learnt it myself.

Russian for travellers

Chanced upon this "Russian for travellers" course when I was checking up a workshop recommended by my friend. Price was also very reasonable ($20 for 6 or 7 sessions). I did a double take when I saw the price initially. Most language courses are a couple of hundreds dollars. Thus I signed up for it. Just went for my first session over the weekend. Instructor is a Russian gal, she has a language school apparently that charges a few hundreds for beginner Russian. I think this course may be like a appetitizer for people to sign up her proper beginner course. Russian is indeed a difficult language. Even a simple hello seems hard to pronunce. My class has an informal setting, the instructor will ask us what we want to learn. The first lesson, we learn how to say Hello, Thank You, Excuse me, etc. Not much of teaching materials, you just write them in your own notebook whatever way you want as she pronunce the words we want to learn. She gives us a lot of opportunity to practice with the person next to you and the pace is relatively slow. I guess that is why the price is so reasonable. It suits me since I pick up languages slowly. Also, I just want to learn the basics for travelling. Just to learn the few phrases to hopefully get by in case I encounter situations where there is no English speakers.

Wind Valla to Central Asia

Decided to chronicle my journey to Central Asia. I have been thinking for years and am shooting for this June. Whether it is possible, I am not sure. Will see. :) Often the very first question people ask me is "Where is Central Asia?".

• Hmmm the countries with the 'stan', Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan (former Soviet Union Republics).


• Some definitions include countries like Mongolia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Xinjiang in China etc.


• Broadly, Central Asia is strongly linked to the Silk Road.

Many people also ask me, "why Central Asia?". Many of time I can feel they are anticipating a very elaborate answer. Some must be disappointed by my answer. But sometimes the simplest reason can be the strongest. "Because it is there and not much is known at the moment of this region. "