Subj : Re: hi
To : Nicolay Simonov
From : Carol Shenkenberger
Date : Sat Dec 31 2005 04:08 pm
*** Quoting Nicolay Simonov from a message to Carol Shenkenberger ***
CS> No problem! If looking for 'active ones' I can name a few, some lower
CS> volume Hand some higher. 'MEMORIES' is a good one for chatter like
CS> this echo.
CS> Memories is mostly USA/Canada Hfolks but very friendy.
NS> Yes, I'm receiving it. Are there any restrictions forbidding a foreig
NS> me to write? :)
Naw, they'd love to see you there! Just remeber most there havent encountered
the dreaded 'H' problem and may have software that makes for that to happen
when you quote them. Grin, some of them may ask you why you have all those
stray 'H' symbols as they dont know they are the ones causing it.
CS> COOKING His a good one if you are into cooking at all.
NS> Well, I fear I'm not. But it may interest my sister. Oh, by the way,
NS> studies Spanish and Italian. Please, tell me (if you know) how can I g
NS> using these languages for her?
Oh I know several sites. Who do you connect to? If you can do a Bink type ISP
based connection, check Docs Place as he has lots of them there. Renato Zambon
can get you into lots of Spanish echos as well as the main node in Spain
(Albano).
CS> Yup! We still have some points in Fidonet in places. Not out here in
CS> Japan Hbut there are spots where you can still find them. It never
CS> was as popular Houtside Z2 as where you are though.
NS> Yes, there are lots of points in Russia. I didn't suppose it was a zo
NS> peculiarity..
It's just more 'popular' where you are than elsewhere. Other places when
people see a point number used, they tend to assume it's a personal config for
the sysop and that you are the sysop of a BBS in the nodelist <g>.
CS> and Hpeople were friendly. The second time we had to be in uniform and
CS> while most Hfolks were friendly, some were not (old cold war era
CS> thinkers).
NS> Yes, some of Russian people have thoughts of that. Mostly not young p
NS> They are sure that the cold war still hasn't stopped. I think they are
NS> not right. The world is globalizing.. It's time to visit other countr
NS> learn foreign languages and English first of all. English-speaking cou
NS> plays a big part in the world nowadays. It's not a very good idea to t
NS> they don't.
Well, mostly i had fun there. English is probably going to get you the most
'bang for the buck' (most value) as a second language now. It used to be that
it was French one needed but that stopped some 100 years ago.
BTW, you may not know it but your use of english is so good, it's very hard to
tell you didnt grow up speaking it. Your only 'signal' is that your grammer is
better and you use the ' (apostrophe) in the right places where most of us on
BBSes dont act so carefully. (Dont I know is actually Don't but I'll rarely
bother to add that ' in there).
NS> Another thing which makes me think of itself :) What do people in the
NS> countries you've been to say about Russia? About its international act
Umm, cant say as I asked? I do recall some restraunts had russian translations
in Korea. Sometimes there you see Korean and Russian but most of the time you
will also find some minimal english as well. Places where your sailors go when
conducting international trade.
NS> Yes, there are many ones. You know, at school we had a special subjec
NS> about Moscow. Our teacher was very enthusiastic, she took us on excurs
NS> around Moscow, telling us many interesting things.
NS> But on another hand, there are very many modern buildings which often
NS> spoil scenes of Old Moscow, if built in historical places or near. Now
NS> the centre of Moscow is a strange architectural mixture.. But it is st
NS> worth-seeing ;))
Ah that's true of any place. Old buildings come down and new modern ones come
up so you get a 'hodge-podge' (a mix of things). In the USA it's a bit less
obvious because it's a young land and to see *anything* other than a tree thats
500 years old is a MAJOR WOW there. You on the other hand have churches still
standing that predate my country being found by Europeans.
NS> In the end of November I was in Kostroma. In comparison with Moscow i
NS> a VERY small town. Few people and cars, no 'Shhhhhhh..' from the windo
NS> I liked it very much. The old image of the town is kept with effort -
NS> for tourists. By the way, almost all the signs are in English, too. In
NS> my hotel room there was a TV set receiving English channels, and over
NS> the reception there were different clocks: London, New York, Tokio.. :
Humm! Must be one of the vacation spots looking for tourists. Brings good
money in and also fosters well being among us all so it's a place I would like.
I'd like to see Red Square too, just because it's a name of a place I have
heard of. I'd like to see that famous tomb (Stalin? Lennin?) with the man
under glass, and the palace of the last Tsar. I'd love to see some of the
siberian mammoth findings of the ancient men with their carvings. It's very
unlikely i will ever see any of those things, but I have been to Vladivostok at
the least so seen a little of your land.
Most enjoyed thing there: These little pastry shell things with a small meat
filling that tasted of buttered meat. Excellent even if i forget what they
were called there. I learned to make something like them here in Japan with
the local ingredients but you just cant beat them made hot and delivered to the
bar where you are having a beer and trying to talk with people with a
smattering of common language bits <g>.
Least enjoyed thing: There's this 'tunnel' you have to walk through to get
from the dockside to the main town and it not only smells badly of drunk guys
pissing on the walls but had BIG rats over a foot long in the body. This is
the seedier portion of Vlad but to get from where we were to the 'nice side'
you had to transit it.
NS> I think it's better to have more than one. Even than two.. In our Uni
NS> in the next term we will be able to study second foreign language: Ara
NS> or Chinese - for choise. What would you advise?
Arabic probably as it is more widely spread. For 'Chinese' you'd need to check
which one of the several languages spoken there and make sure the one you were
learning would be 'common'. There are at least 5 'chinese' langauges and i'm
being very restrictive there as i think there might be some 10 more not well
known outside their local area. Mandarin might be the most useful one for a
person outside to gain?
Arabic would be much easier for you to learn as it is also a 'western' pattern
language. I mean, the word 'walk' once understood means exactly what you think
it does whereas in Asiatic Japanese there really isnt such a word but rather a
phrase that indicates 'pushing the world by with your feet' ( a centric
attitude where you are the center and make other things move around you).
