Welcome to the smiling country

 

Hello my beauties! Salut for everyone!

Last year I was glad to come up with an idea of starting my blog with a traditional countries’ greeting and the picture of it. I got some positive words from my readers and majority of people visiting my blog wrote me it was good and my blog stand out from the crowd. However, with the time I finished doing so and these days I was thinking of a new remarkable tradition to set up here…My aim was to make my posts interesting, curious but also informative, kind of educating so I decided to try a new thing: since today I am going to start each of my posts with a sapid fact about the day, something that happened on the day I am writing (but maybe few or hundred years ago). It’s not an extraordinary and unbelievable new idea (Google makes it pretty often while changing its logo in a very creative way) but I’ll try my best to make it enjoyable and informative anyway. 

After searching for the “past headlines”, I found a lot of interesting things but my eyes particularly caught the news about the Dutch youngest solo sailor 16 year-old Laura Dekker, who on the 21st January 2012 completed her voyage around the world that took her exactly a year and a day. Well done, girl! Actually, I do remember reading about it a year ago but it still inspires me and I thought it would be appropriate to share it here, to remind about such a brave young traveler!

I haven’t done a voyage around the world yet but anyway I am continuing with my travelling story. Today it’s “made in Thailand” fairy tale. The plane I was flying with, closed the doors, took off in Beijing and I realized that the next station was going to be “Bangkok” (from one B to another one)). Our plane arrived in the airport called Suvarnabhumi (took me around an hour to write it down)). There was information that did surprise me which I would like to share here, with you, my dears. The name of the airport means “Golden Land” when translated from Sanskrit. Unfortunately, I wasn’t lucky enough to find some bars of gold. Perhaps, it was hidden from a watchful Siberian gaze)). The airport is located in a marshland and before the land was called “Cobra Swamp”. I was glad I did arrive to the “Golden land” instead of the previous one)).
Different sources provide diverse numbers but it’s obvious (and surprising for me) that half of the cost (or even more than that) was sponsored by Japan Bank for International Cooperation because of the need of a round-the-clock airport for foreign exporting, business, etc. Another thing about Suvarnabhumi which kind of shocked me was that the construction was delayed due to the workers seeing the ghosts in the building. Thus, in September 2005, there was a ceremony hold where 99 Buddhists monks chanted to cajole the spirits. In my opinion, it’s really mysterious. 

To continue…as about me, I found the building a beautiful and creative one, also I don’t remember anything bad about it (but it happens always with me, there are no bad memories in my mind). 

Bangkok…what I can say. The first thing that is coming to my mind that LOVE is all around…the King! (sorry Reg Presley for taking a bit of your magical and famous song but that’s true). Before travelling to Thailand, I was covered with the newspapers, TV-news, online-articles saying and warning about the dangerous situation and different boycotts in the capital. Fortunately, it happened that I came to Bangkok on the 5th of December, exactly on the birthday of the king Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX). It’s unbelievably how much the citizens love their king. He is the world for them. I saw people crying while looking at his portraits (in Thai news) and they were tears of joy and happiness! Everything was peaceful, bright and lovely like there were no any problems at the time. The citizens gathered together in such a fantastic day – the birthday of their King! I felt lucky again while accidently arrived to Thailand exactly at this day! It illustrates that we should trust our intuition when booking a flight!))

I cannot point anything really extraordinary out about Bangkok. I suppose many people aware of smiles and friendliness of Thai people! You feel such warm while being there (and it’s not only because of the temperature +30 but because of the citizens too). As about the language – it was easier to communicate in English there than it was in Beijing but still had some problems. Also, there were a lot of Russians, plenty of them…like I didn’t leave my mother-land))) so I was kind of in Thaissia (Thailand+Russia))) Majority of the cathedrals (if not all) were closed due to the big marvelous birthday celebration) therefore I decided to visit a museum/gallery there and my choice was MOCA (Museum Of Contemporary Art). This trip, visit, cultural point on the “to do list” was absolutely wonderful and really inspirational therefore I decided to write about it separately and devote a whole post for the MOCA which I will hopefully post very soon, my lovelies! I hope you are the lovers of art or at least enjoy observing the beauty and creativity and will be interested in my next post. 

Thank you for travelling with “Cinderella airways”. Always yours, Natasha from Russia. See you soon!

P.S. The photos above present couple of night Christmassy views of Bangkok and some of the interesting mannequins I found in a shopping centre there (made of small flowers or clothespins, or the one with Kremlin building instead of the head). 

In the wonderful world of photography!

Hello my dears! Hope you are all feeling fabulous!

I am here today to tell you about my special day and I would like to start with a quote by Brad Garrett (an American actor and stand-up comedian):

“You take away all the other luxuries in life, and if you can make someone smile and laugh, you have given the most special gift: happiness” ©

 I absolutely agree with this statement and I am always for happiness and happiness! Nothing else matters! Also, I had my birthday on the 12 of October and that’s why I’ll try to make my post today a very happy and a bright one!

So…my birthday (not the 100^th but I am slowly, slowly getting there)). To be honest, it was a difficult thing to make a programme as it happens that last years I celebrated “the process of getting older” abroad and had really amazing things to do, to see, feel and touch. And here I am – in the middle of nowhere. I was going to pretend it’s an absolutely ordinary day and do nothing or work…But then I wouldn’t be a real Cinderella. Well, there is a hard work in her story but we shouldn’t forget about those magical moments in the fairy tale! So I got a kind of present which was a photoshoot in a lovely place called “fashion box”. Isn’t it lovely to celebrate a birthday in a box?))) Apart from this event I had some others while also meeting with my loved ones but I don’t really like to mention my friends here as I won’t be able to mention all of them anyway and I don’t want to let anyone down…so going to tell about my experience “being  a model” (even for a couple of hours)

To start with, I was asked to bring about 4-5 costumes (outlooks), I selected them in advance and brought even more while going there with 2 luggages and a bag! I laughed a lot about it. It looked like I was moving to another part of the world))

One of the photographers saw my stuff and asked me if I just came from Egypt (for those who are not familiar with Russian “tradition” – a lot of our citizens go to Egypt or Turkey and buy a lot of clothes there). Anyway, I went to Egypt only once and it was 10 years ago so if I was coming to the studio from that hot country, that would be one of the longest trip I’ve ever had so far:))…

And then the fun begins. I got introduced to an absolutely lovely visagist called Alyona. She didn’t look posh, overdressed and that I liked! She was just like me – with no make-up, simple clothes, so I felt relaxed and good. In addition to that, she was such a friendly and smiling person. I got on well with her and we talked a lot during my make-up and hair-styling session. As I was sitting right in front of a mirror I could see the big transformation! It was almost like in the fairytale but instead of the God-mother I had my visagist and I wasn’t preparing to go to a ball but to a photoshoot))

After my face and hair were done, I met my photographer. I was really happy that I was going to “work” with him because there were different photographers and I saw that one at first and knew – I needed to have this experience with this professional!

The whole photoshoot was really cool and great! I was so happy I found this event as a part of celebrating my old age). My photographer’s name was Oleg Evseev and he was such a sunny, friendly and interesting person to talk to. I actually felt that I talked so much that the information I said there was enough for writing a new blog))) As we were working with the curtains closed and other people couldn’t see us, I bet they were thinking that Oleg put a radio on but it was just me (Radio Nata)).

The problem of me being photographed was that I couldn’t relax and had a tense face at first. That was a bit strange because I am actually a very open person and not the one who gets stress while meeting new people.

What I really liked about that birthday-experience that Oleg were suggesting me a lot of things, face-expressions, positions, places and other things in order to have as better result as we could. And all the lights and shadows he made…I felt that I was by one side with a magician of photography! We also joked and laughed a lot (and with the visagist as well) and I believe that the best experience is the one that included fun!

I am not sure what else I want to say and share. It happened more than a week ago but I am still overwhelmed with wonderful emotions! That day was a really special for me and apart from having such a photoshoot for the first time in my life, I also met incredible people there and that just another evidence of life being such a gift no matter where you are! What’s more I was left with 111 stunning photos which will be a lovely memory for me.

And now I want to return to the quote I used at the very beginning of this post and say – I didn’t have luxury presents on my day but I smiled and laughed a lot (actually I do it every single day) and I do hope I also bring some happiness to the people around me and then the world gets brighter and more enjoyable! Lets smile and laugh together, lovely people! 

With the most wonderful wishes to everyone, from Russia!

Oscar award???

And Oscar goes to…..Westminster’s Cinderella…I would like to thank my mom and dad, my family, all friends who support me in this difficult period of time. I couldn’t imagine one day I will get this award!! Thank you, thank you!! I am almost crying…because…I need to wake up(( and so I am here, with you, my dears. I am not sleeping anymore. I am updating my blog! I was actually thinking to hire some people who would write here instead of me but with 2 pounds that I have I don’t think they will write much)).

Anyway, I am continuing the story. Last year I was quite busy and it’s not because I spent the whole year getting London International Awards, Miss Venezuela, Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, Czech Lion, Young Artist Awards, British Comedy Awards…It was a busy year but at least it all was a dream. In fact, in reality I just got a seat from a generous man on the tube.

Well, let’s come back to volunteering for LOCOG. As I said before, I have met incredible people there. I felt that I was such an important person while interviewing applicants. Many of them were really worried about the interview. The funny thing is that I was worrying as well and I wanted to tell them “Come on! Don’t you worry!I am just a girl from the middle of nowhere. I just learnt English yesterday))”. However, I knew it was an important role and I took it very seriously (believe me – I can be serious when I need to). I think politicians’ job isn’t as serious as Selection Event Volunteer’s one.

My volunteering role involved greeting people like “Hello! I feel nice like sugar and spice, I feel good, so good, so good and what about you? Pam-pam-parapa-pam”)), just kidding, I tried hard to be serious and concentrate on my job. Anyway, apart from greeting people, I also asked them some questions. I wish I could ask them the questions that I had in my mind such as “If all the nations in the world are in debt (Even US has got debts), where did all the money go?”, “Do fish ever get thirsty?”, “Why is it called a “building” when it is already built?” and so on. Unfortunately, or maybe, fortunately, we had special booklets with the questions written on them.

And again I want to say how many lovely people I’ve met while volunteering. It’s not because I doubt your memory but I just like to repeat everything as a parrot. Natasha…Natasha…my name is Natasha)))Anyway, I interviewed people from all over the world and majority of them were such an inspiration. I could see the light in their eyes and the stories they told me were just amazing. It is a great thing to know that there are so many lovely people in the world and all of them wanted to volunteer for the Games 2012!

We also had a supervisor who finished the University of Westminster that I am currently studying at. It was lovely to meet her and to talk about the uni. I was impressed that she just finished the uni and already got such a fantastic job!

To be continued…

19th floor = over the moon!

Hello, bonjour, hola, privet, hej, oi, merhaba, guten tag, my dears!!! I welcomed all of you in this way not because I wanted to show off that I am a good user of Google Translator, but because I just imagined for a second that there is a reader of my blog in every single country…well, I am allowed to dream, aren’t I?

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away…when I wrote that I went to the interview for being a SEV. I was just myself, at the interview. I didn’t pretend being a Russian president (as I always do in my daily life); I also didn’t pretend being a famous Hollywood actress. Yes, it was just me and after talking about myself, my happy life and the experience I obtained in Turkey, India and England before, I left the building. In couple of days I knew I was successful and was going to be a volunteer for LOCOG (first of all, I was thinking it stand for Love Ocean, Chocolate Oasis Gallery). In fact, it was London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. My explanation was almost correct.

Anyway, after getting the SEV role, I decided to change my life completely. I was planning to participate in swimming, judo, gymnastics and equestrian lessons. However, after realizing that I won’t have time for all of that, I just went to a restaurant and celebrated such great news! I know, I am such a sporty person!

There is so much to tell you, my lovelies, about this particular volunteering but as I have a lot of incredible things to cover in this blog, I don’t know how to express all the happiness I had while I was volunteering in Canary Wharf (Lets just call it “CW”…no, actually if I call it CW I will think about a Chocolate Waffle all the time, which isn’t a good idea. As you can see I don’t like deserts at all).

Well, I will just tell you briefly about Westminster’s Cinderella being a Selection Event Volunteer. We had a special system on the Internet where we could book any sessions we like to volunteer at (any days, any time – morning, afternoon, evening). I am so proud of myself – even being such a disaster in using the Internet I could manage to learn the system and could book the sessions for myself. As you can probably guess, my sessions were always in the morning because in the evening anything could happen with my clothes, shoes, transport, etc.  Thank you, Sharl Perro!

I was volunteering in an amazing building, on the 19^th floor. I attached to the post a photo of the room,  where I was doing this job. I think even Gustave Eiffel would be jealous if he sees the view.

Apart from feeling like a VIP in that place, I also met absolutely incredible people who were my managers, supervisors, potential volunteers and many others. They were not the X-People, they were people A, B, C, D….actually, the whole alphabet cannot describe them! I am still being thankful for the opportunity to meet them in London, in CW))…

I will share with all of YOU some more of my happiness later on, but now I need to call my friends from the University of Westminster. They are doing a very interesting project and I am involved in it. When it’s ready and I am a silly actress on the Youtube, I will post the link here so you will see why I have stopped my story for a while…who stayed between Cinderella and the blog))). However, they are lovely guys and these are their Facebook pages (if you want to know what their projects are about) http://www.facebook.com/GoMadGoWesTminster?fref=ts , http://www.facebook.com/GO.MADWestminster?ref=ts&fref=ts , http://www.facebook.com/BounceToWestminster?fref=ts .

My very best wishes to all of you, my lovely readers! Keep being positive, smile to the world and I shall see you soon!!

P.S. I am planning to show you my face soon, which, I suppose, is an exciting thing so please stay with me and I will do some videos for you but first of all, I need to talk with Mr. Spielberg or as I call him just simply Stevie)))