Journaling in English is not rocket science. All you really need to do is to write a few simple sentences every day. Just like so: Day 1 I hate Russian winter. It's cold, windy and slippery outside. It gets dark really early. The streets look sad and grey. That's why I mostly stay home in winter. See? Just write 5 simple sentences. We're not trying to create a masterpiece. It's all about practicing the language 😜

Health care in Russia is sometimes great 100 DAYS CHALLENGE Day #6 I visited a doctor today. She said my knee is almost fine, there's no need in surgery. But still, I have to receive certain treatment and lower my running load a little in order to recover. I'm glad there's nothing really serious to deal with, but it kind of ruins my preparation for the race we're going to have in 3 weeks. This week is a critical part of the training process, and it seems like I'll have to miss it because of the knee. Anyways, I loved the attitude towards the patients at the private clinic I visited today. It reminded me of Korea. Doctors are super friendly and they lead you through the whole process of examination explaining everything they do and find and the meaning of all this to my health. I was really impressed. I don't think I've ever had such great experience as a patient in Russia. EVER. Usually, our clinics are a complete disaster, especially the public ones. It's funny because public clinics are supposed to provide people with a reasonable level of treatment and service. But they don't. I try to stay as far away from public clinics as possible while paying my medical insurance taxes. It all sounds like our public healthcare system is badly broken.

When the body don't cry wolf 100 days challenge Day #5. Last year I ran my first and second half marathon. I was able to do so because I started taking running seriously. But as it appears there's so much more I still have to learn. I started running about 6 years ago. The first time I went to a stadium and ran a lap or two... And felt like I was passing away. Then I took another try, felt pain in my knee and abandoned running for a year or so. After that, I had 4 years of trying running regularly (more or less) in summer, which didn't quite work out as summers are rather short in our part of the world. Another obstacle was the fact that I didn't actually enjoy running. It was the thing I wanted to do because I felt like it would make me a better and healthier person. Like when you take a bitter pill believing it will do you good. 2017 changed my attitude towards running dramatically. I started enjoying the process, feeling better both physically and mentally after almost every run. I started running more often and longer distances. In September I was able to run my first 10km which made me enormously proud of myself. Last year I found a running club which took the process to the next level. That's where I did both half marathons and started running in Fall and Winter. I learned a lot about the right running form, nutrition, consistency. But there's one more thing to learn: how to trust your body. Running long distances is about overcoming. I mean the body kind of tries to stop you from taking too much load because we tend to save our resources as much as possible (thanks to evolution). But you can almost always run some (considerably) more. Nevertheless, sometimes the body does mean you're doing something wrong and tries to prevent you from doing harm to yourself. Yesterday the body told me my knee wasn't alright and it would be a good idea to stop. I didn't listen and got injured. The thing I still need to learn is how to determine when the body is not crying wolf.

100 DAYS CHALLENGE #4 We watched Split yesterday. It's M. Night Shyamalan's movie about a man with 23 personalities living in his mind. This thing is called multiple personalities disorder or dissociative identity disorder. I guess the movie is based on the case of Billy Milligan who had this disorder which was widely covered by the media. I think Split was the best movie of Shyamalan's trilogy. It keeps up the suspense till the very end you don't have any idea how the story will end. James McAvoy acting was great! The personalities that live in his character's mind all behave differently and dress differently. Of course, the simplest way to know who 'took control of the light' is just to look at the outfit. But the thing that makes his acting so good is that you can actually tell the difference between the personalities even if they don't have time to change the clothes. It's about body language, mimics, small details. I watched the movie in Russian but I think I do have to watch it again in English just to find out how James McAvoy changes the manner those personalities speak. I'm pretty sure the dubbing didn't reflect it 100%.

100 DAYS CHALLENGE, DAY #3 Day 3 of my personal 100 days challenge of writing in English every single day. I do appreciate people reading my notes and correcting my mistakes. The corrections can be extremely valuable. Sometimes they give me an example of how to express certain ideas differently to make them sound natural. I believe making things sound natural for native speakers is the most challenging thing for ESL students. Especially for those who can't spend enough time in the USA or Canada or any other English speaking country. You can (passively) get various examples of how to say this or that from the books or the movies, but one day you'll inevitably have to express a thought you've never heard anywhere. Something you've never had an example of. And that's where you do need feedback. Another benefit of corrections is that they can give you an idea of systematic issues you may be missing. I realized I'm constantly struggling with punctuation. It has almost nothing to do with punctuation in Russian, and I keep making mistakes. Thank you so much for the corrections! They do help!

100DAYSCHALLENGE Day #2 Today I went to a local barbershop. It was my first visit since 2017 because 2018 was my "bald year". That year saved me a ton of cash (not quite a ton), I learned a few dozens of "bald jokes" of all sorts and was accidentally mistaken with a couple of bald celebs. It was a lot of fun, but I decided to grow some hair this year. Eventually, it brought me to the barbershop. It used to be a nice place where you were welcomed as a dear guest, offered coffee or "something to drink", provided with a nice haircut and left completely satisfied with your visit. It took them 12 months to dump it all. They became a regular have-your-haircut-and-get-the-hell-out-of-here place. They started lying to their clients about not receiving credit cards because of not having a terminal. Which they have hidden behind the reception desk. They're obviously trying to "optimize their taxes" but it stinks. I'm sure I have to find a new barbershop now. Luckily, we have A LOT of them nowadays. Praise the competitive market!

100 days of writing in Englsh Day #1 Today I decided to start the challenge I've been thinking about since New Year (Big Day To Start New Life in Russia). I want to find out if I can write in English 100 days in a row. It's not only about practicing writing (which is important) but most importantly it's about discipline. There's no way to improve any skill without regular practicing and being consistent in it. I wanted to practice meditation and it didn't quite work because I practiced it occasionally. Many times I went to bed realizing I forgot to meditate because I was busy doing something else. I thought "Ok, we'll fix it tomorrow". Then tomorrow would come but nothing would be fixed because there would be something else to grab my attention. It's been 3 years since I decided to practice meditation. My personal record was 15 days in a row (which is pathetic). Today my personal record is 18 days. Instead of trying to fit meditation somewhere during my day I started planning time for it. In fact, that's the 4th thing I do every day after I wake up (the first 3 are brushing my teeth, writing morning pages in Russian and doing a series of exercises to address my back pain). It's a success so far. Tying all things together helped me not to miss any of those. It works as a "package" (set/bundle) of good habits I'm trying to make part of my life. Writing in English is another thing I want to include in this package. We'll see if it works.