about me

Some words about me...   Hello again. So you want to know more about me? All right... My name is Zhenya and I was born in 1979 (putting it this way saves me updating this page every year, he-he..). In June 2003, I finished my post-graduate studies at the Moscow State University, after having written a great big thesis, and was awarded the title of 'kandidat nauk' (which is equivalent, they say, to a PhD). And now, after almost a year's waiting, I can prove it! I have finally received my pretty red-and-golden 'kandidat' diploma. My project was about various styles of writing in fiction and the problems of translation. I do a little translation myself. For example, I translated a whole big book into Russian, called 'Jurgen' and written in 1919 by an American writer by the name of J B Cabell. I like translation and I really want to do it all my life... although at the moment, I'm busy doing something completely different, namely teaching - English of course - at the Institute for the Foreign Languages at the Russian State University for the Humanities, better known in Moscow as RGGU. Funny job being a teacher, I can tell you... wonder what the students think! :) My second foreign language is Swedish, so in case you're from Sweden, sa kan jag saga Hej pa dej pa svenska! (och ursakta for att svenska bokstaver inte kommer fram). Knowing some Swedish, I had a unique opportunity to work with a theatre trouppe from Stockholm when they were on tour in Moscow. They were called Stockholms Stadsteater (Stockholm City Theatre) and they were giving A Dreamplay by August Strindberg. The director was an American, Robert Wilson, and the whole thing was absolutely fantastic, from the first day up the last... Apart from languages, I try my hand at other things as well, such as song-writing. The texts are all here now... so that you can judge for yourself whether I should've started on the whole thing in the first place... Another thing I'm fanatical about is English sitcoms. My favourites are Blackadder and Mr Bean, Keeping Up Appearances and Fawlty Towers, and - the moment you've been waiting for - MONTY PYTHON, of course! And don't get me started on that, otherwise I'll go on for hours and run out of available Web space! Oh yes, and of course my other great interest is music. I'm very much into the 60s and the 70s - oh those were the days... - and my favourites are The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel and early Queen (and that's why my friends call me Fredie (no, it's not a typo, it's supposed to have one 'd'!)) and The Who and... and... well, you know. All right, that's about it... at least that's what I can think of right now. I'll keep building, though, so check back regularly (fat chance...) for more information and - hopefully - cool and useful links! Oh yes, and the last thing... the names. Yes, Zhenya, Fred(ie), Eric the Cat - they're all the same person - myself. You know me by the first one if you just know me, you know me by the second if you know me bloody well and you know me as the third if you're a PythOnline person. So there!