Why Victory Day is the greatest holiday My great-grandfather, Kornilov Nikolai Abramovich, died in a battle near Leningrad in March 1943. He died of severe wounds on the way to a hospital, and he was buried in the eastern part of the Leningrad region near Lake Ladoga. There was only one man left in the family - a seven-year son, Mitya. He had to do all the hard work as women had. I don`t know how could they survive. All that was grown by themselves in the garden, on the fields, everywhere - all sent to the front. Great-grandmother Mary, like all others in the village, was obliged to work on the farm. Their "salary" was just «workdays» written in the card. Aunts were sick and unable to work, as the old, infirm great-great-grandmother (great-grandfather`s mother) did. My grandmother Nadia was about six months old at that time, her older sister, Lyuba - a little more. Aunts died soon from cooling one, the other from famine. Grandma always says that aunts tried to give them, little children, their tiniest piece of bread. Family saved by a miracle. Great-grandmother was moved from the farm to a local military hospital for a few months. The salary was there not ticks in a labor card, but a bread. However, the period of such work quickly came to an end, and famine had to come back soon. Meanwhile, lodgers came to their house. They cut blade last words in the list, which means that the "Kornilova Maria Ivanovna sent to work in a military hospital for three months". And when the farm began to demand great-grandmother back, the hospital didn`t return her! They said, that if the farm had let her go away once, they didn`t want to lost a good nurse. Of course, if the great-grandfather was alive, their whole life would have been very different. There would not be so much pain, horror. Every family in Russia had their losses and their grief. And no one ever allowed to forbid to celebrate this great day of memory! This is wrong, inhumane and dishonourably. Victory Day - one of the main events in our lives. We all personally owe our own birth to each veteran, to every killed soldier. I hope very much that we will all know and remember our history, and we will transmit it to our children. I really wish that we all know the old military songs and sing them, not yawning staring at the fireworks. Yesterday was the greatest holiday. I wish peace in all the world!

Step 1. My crazy poem I`m so thankful for my new friends! There is a lot what I`ve already learnt since I had signed up on italki. It is very interesting to talk with people from countries all around the world. And it is very unusual for me to help foreigners with the Russian language! I decided to write on Russian something simple and random and got a transcription and a translation after. I think it will be helpful for somebody. Because of I`m a graduate student, I decided to write about my graduation work. So, here is my crazy poem! :) P.S. Steven, thank you for a motivation! *** "Посвящение дипломной работе" Кошка спит на качели. Собака уснула на ели. Грач тоже спит, он ведь очень устал, Спит даже тот, кто раньше не спал. Сосны, морковка, спит даже Вовка, Спит всё вокруг, спит вся Земля, Не спит лишь окно, где работаю я. *** "Posvyash`enie diplomnoi rabote" Koshka spit na kacheli. Sobaka usnula na eli. Grach toje spit, on ved` ochen` ustal, Spit daje tot, kto ran`she ne spal. Sosnu, morkovka, spit daje Vovka, Spit vs`e vokrug, spit vsya Zemlya, Ne spit lish` okno, gde rabotau ya. *** "Dedication for a graduation work" A cat is sleeping on a swing. Dog fell asleep on spruce. Rook also is sleeping, he has very tired, Even those who doesn`t sleep is sleeping now. Pine treers do, a carrot does, even Vovka is sleeping, All around is sleeping, the whole Earth is sleeping, Only a window where I`m working isn`t sleeping. Copyright © LIDIA ULYANOVA 2015

Why I want to learn language One of most repeated questions is "Why don`t Russians know Engish?". There are reasons and excuses. As for me, I`m learning English since I was a 7-years child. And I`m still don`t know it well. How can this happened? I thought that is just because of some laziness. One day I and my family were resting in Egypt. Something went wrong in the dining room of hotel, and I strongly poisoned. I remember how bad I felt myself and there was no one russian-speaking doctor. So, I had no choice - I had to speak English. It was a great surprise that doctor understood my awful speech, and I even told him about my town, our habits and culture. It was my first great English lesson. I regret that I have no opportunities to travel a lot. My steps in learning the language occur only in live conversation. Since then I have a lot random meetings win English-speaking mans, but they are very rare and my training is too slow. Anyway, I need language not for talking only. I`m architect student, and there are a lot of useful arcticles only in English. I dream to read them free. Only originals, not translations, allow you to get a full-fledged information. Of corse, I would like travel a lot. I hope one day I will can. But I`m still want to live in my native Kazan town. Thank you for reading this! I promise myself to write sometimes arcticles like this for train my English faster.