В последние две недели я занимался изучением и практикой языков, посмотрел несколько шведских фильмов, прочел воспоминания Ивана Твардовского (брата известного поэта) «Родина и чужбина», а затем стал читать роман Достоевского «Братья Карамазовы». I continued my occupations mainly as before. I studied languages less, but I did more reading of books.
LanguagesIn the Finnish textbook and the German grammar book I covered about one half.
Last week on Thursday I went to Moscow to practice languages with a group of young people. Like me, they are registered on
Polyglot, which is a site for language exchange. The meeting was held at a cafeteria Kopeika, renovated in a Soviet style, but much prettier.
This time there were only English speakers, that is about seven Russians who practiced English and one American who knew some Russian. The Russians listened with interest to my stories about Quebec and Finland (the American came afterwards), so I had a lot of speaking practice. In fact; I have not done so much speaking in English for years. I will probably continue to attend these meetings. They are held twice a week (Thursdays and Sundays) and are free to attend.
FilmsI saw several Swedish films:
- Tillsammans (Together) by Lukas Moodison, The films tells a story of a collective living in Sweden in the 1970s. The film is both funny and sad, and is one of my favourites.
- En passion (The Passion of Anna), Tystnad (The Silence) by Ingmar Bergman. I think these two films are not Bergman’s best, they seem too experimental.
- Under solen (Under the Sun) by Colin Nutley. It is a simple and romantic film about a lonely farmer who, in search for a wife, puts an advertisement in the local newspaper.
- Sånger från andra våningen (Songs from the Second Floor) by Roy Andersson. At the turn of the third millennium society disintegrates and succumbs to chaos. The film is made in the genre of the absurd.
BooksI read the memoirs of Ivan Tvardovsky
Родина и чужбина (The Motherland and Foreign Lands). He was a brother of Alexandr Tvardovsky, a well-known Soviet poet.
During the Second World War Ivan was taken prisoner by Finns and lived in Finland. Afterwards he moved to Sweden and worked there as a woodcutter, then as a joiner and carver. He learned both Finnish and Swedish languages well enough for daily life, and he in his profession earned a good salary and respect.
After the war Ivan decided to return to the Soviet Union, where his wife lived, even though he knew that he would most probably be put to prison. And so this happened: he got a very hearty welcome at the Soviet embassy in Stockholm, but as soon as he reached the first Soviet town, Vyborg, he was arrested.
Ivan spent over five years in prisons and camps, mainly in Chukotka (in the Far East). Due to his precious skills, he was not put to hard labour as other prisoners, but worked as a professional, which probably saved his life. He made exquisite furniture (for camp officials), various items of wood and bone, but his main profession in the camp was pattern-making for a foundry.
In the last part of the book Ivan tells how he restored the native house of their family in Smolensk region, where also his brother Alexandr, the poet, lived as a child.
As for Alexandr, during Stalin’s reign he achieved a very high position in the Soviet hierarchy, but in order to advance, he renounced his parents and did very little to help his family, who were persecuted as
kulaks (prosperous peasants). However, at the end of his life he did render some assistance.
The second book, which I still read now, is the novel by Dostoyevsky
The Brothers Karamazov. The plot is very engaging and the language is vivid, though in some parts the author dwells a lot on traditions and practices of the Russian Orthodox church.
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Ариадна Владимировна Тыркова-Вильямс, фрагменты воспоминаний которой о Первой мировой войне и двух российских революциях 
