Hello everyone, dear friends! It's 6. 20 now, and we're on time.
Today we are celebrating the sunrise. How is your morning? I'm drinking tea, standing on the roof of my house.
We have been living in this apartment for the last month, then we are moving. But what did I want to talk about today? You know that my name is Yaroslava, this is a channel for those who study Russian, and that in these videos, traditional videos, we meet every month to talk, to chat, to find out how you are doing, how I am doing , what are the plans, what's new.
Can you see me clearly? Okay, so be it. I've written a big list of what I want to talk about today, so pour some tea and let's get started.
Well, first of all, how was your January? It seems to me that the month just flew by, very quickly. It seems to me that a few days ago it was 2024, and now it’s already 2025, it’s already February, and I wonder where time flies.
Do you also have this feeling? Do you think so too? I probably didn’t tell you, but every three months, once every three months, I write a list of my goals, my projects, what I want, what I want to achieve.
And this year I already wrote this list. I wanted to share with you what I have already done, what I plan to do, what interesting things are happening in my life. Write in the comments what is happening in your life, what you want to do this year, maybe you have already done something.
Let's get started. The following information will not be new. I think in one of these videos I already told you that I have one problem.
I feel like I look at my phone too much. I'm on my phone very often. I think I'm addicted.
I think I'm addicted to YouTube. And not only do I watch different videos, but I also read different comments that people write. And it takes a lot of time.
This year I thought, wait, we need to end this, we need to live in a new way, right? I read two books, the first book is called “Anxious Generation”, author – Jonathan Haidt. I'll probably add it here because I don't want to block the sun.
It certainly looks divine! Fabulous. This book is about how modern children, how this generation of children live in the era of social networks and how, as the author thinks, this affects their psyche, their self-esteem, and their character in general.
He believes that this generation of children is very anxious. I was born in 92 , and my childhood was absolutely “telephoneless”. I didn't have a phone, we didn't have internet until a certain age.
We were outside all the time; in the summer I was sent to my grandmother in the village. It was such an ordinary childhood. I think you probably had a similar childhood.
And if we think about how modern children live and grow up, then their childhood is not like ours. And the author, in general, is worried. And I understand that the Internet and social networks influence me too, although, excuse me, I am almost 33 years old.
The second book I read on this topic, the second book is called “Digital Minimalism”. You probably know the author. This is popular podcaster, YouTuber Cal Newport.
And this is a book about being a digital minimalist. I didn't really like this book . It seems to me that this book could just be a post and that’s it.
But you know how this joke goes? This meeting could have been an email, this email could have been unsent. This year I want, I promise, I want to look at my phone less, be on my phone less, and be more present in real life.
Look how the sun has already risen. Do you take photos like this when you're on vacation? Do you hold the sun on your palm?
Of the other, perhaps more interesting goals for next year, for this year, already this year, not next. I want to take part in two tournaments and competitions. I want to take part in the competition fitness bikini.
Maybe you know that I go to the gym, I train, and I thought, why not? You can take part in such a competition. And the second competition.
I want to take part in a chess tournament. I understand that these two things are very different , but I thought, why not? I don’t have a goal to win, I don’t want to win anyone, I want to take part, see what it’s like, check what I can do.
And if I don’t take last place, I will be very happy. Even if I take second to last place, I think it will be great! In chess, I am now learning openings.
And I won’t say that I’m very good at it, but I understand a little. Recently, a few days ago, we went to the park, and in the park there were chess tables, and there was a chess player playing there. I played one game with him, and even several times he, this man, told me “very well, very well.
” And I thought, okay, this is probably a sign that not everything is bad, that not everything is terrible. And as usual, I go to the gym. By the way, my knees hurt.
Maybe I told you? Probably not. In general, the conversation is 30+.
My knees hurt. My back hurt. Now it seems like – pah-pah-pah, thank God!
- everything is fine, everything is fine. I was very worried, because a year ago, when I was in Mar del Plata, I remember I recorded a similar video, and I told how my back hurt very badly, that I couldn’t move at all, I couldn’t do nothing. And I was worried that this time my back would hurt so much too.
It was a nightmare! I'll keep you posted on how my preparations go. Maybe you want to take part in something this year, in some competition, or maybe you want to pass the TRFL exam?
Be sure to tell me, it’s very interesting. Look how the sun is already high. Beauty!
If you wanted me to be your Russian language teacher, now is the time. In our community on buymeacoffee, we choose one topic once a month , and in the next three weeks I prepare special meetings, special tasks so that you know this topic just fine. A sprint is three weeks of work on one topic.
For example, this month we chose pronunciation, so if you want to understand how native speakers speak, if you yourself want to speak pure, beautiful, understandable Russian, then I invite you. I give feedback to each participant and every week we have a meeting. The first week is a webinar where I answer all questions and prepare a presentation.
The second week is a group lesson so you can use what we talked about in the webinar. And in the third week I invite a guest. This time, in February, for this sprint I want to invite us to an actress with whom we can talk about different accents.
Because this is the first sprint, I'm only opening this up to 10 people. Please check the link in the description to see if there are places available or not. If there are places, then welcome!
And if not, then I’ll be waiting for you next month, there will also be an interesting topic. Look, it’s already become somehow hot, because the sun is already high. Now let's continue.
Last year I realized that I want to be a cultured person. I want to listen to classical music. I want to read classical literature.
I want to understand art. I want to understand philosophy. That's why I joined a book club.
We have already read Madame Bovary and Madame Bovary. To be honest, I liked Anna Karenina more. And now I'm reading The Idiot.
I have never read “The Idiot” by Dostoevsky. So far I really like it, but I’m only at the first chapters, and the book, of course, is huge. I thought, if I want to be a cultured, educated person, then perhaps I need to read the Bible, to better understand the spiritual, religious sphere.
And yes, I decided, okay, I'm going to read the Bible before bed. I thought that these would be some kind of philosophical parables, maybe something philosophical. So far I'm reading the first part, which is called Genesis, Genesis, and I'm a little shocked because I have to read the Bible with GPT chat because I don't understand anything.
More precisely, I understand, but I have so many questions. For example, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden and they ate fruit from the tree of knowledge. God said, now you know good and evil, now you are like one of us.
Of us? I thought there was only one God. Who is "us"?
OK. There was a story about Noah, who fell asleep naked and drunk. His son saw him, and the Son of Noah told his brothers that Noah was lying naked and drunk.
As a result, Noah cursed his grandson, that is, the son of this son. Why? I don’t understand what this grandson has to do with it, he wasn’t there at all.
I am already silent about what Abraham did with his wife Sarah when they came to the Egyptians. So I read the Bible with GPT chat, I ask all these questions. Well, it’s very interesting, that’s for sure, that’s a fact.
From such everyday things, you know that I am collecting documents for Argentine citizenship, because I have now been living in Argentina for almost two years. And finally, I collected almost all the documents, thanks to my mother, who does this in Russia. The biggest problem was getting into the Russian embassy, the Russian consulate.
I tried for almost 8 months, I wanted to sign up back in March last year, but I was only able to get to the consulate in December, only in mid-December. I was already so close to making a new episode of Learn Russian with News on this topic. But I went to the consulate, I’m no longer angry, so I won’t make a video on this topic.
The documents are almost all ready, and I hope that in a month I will be able to start my own business. And we'll see. I already have plans, where I want to go next, what I want to see next, what countries I want to visit.
So we wait. And probably the last thing. You know that there is no monetization on my channel.
At least there shouldn't be any advertising, but soon, probably even the next video will be my first advertising integration. This will be a very useful video. It took me several days to write this and I hope you enjoy it.
Video about how to find the right Russian language teacher for you. What beginners need to look at, what intermediate students need to look at, and what advanced students need to look at. Therefore, if it is relevant to you, I warn you, there will be such a video, wait.
If you want to learn Russian with me, there is a link in the description, and I’m waiting for you at our sprints. Look, the sun is already high, beautiful!
