I didn’t know this, but Elena Vesnina, Russian tennis player, member of Russian FedCup team, lives in Sochi!

Russia is currently ranked number one in FedCup rankings. Number one, baby! :-)

«Professional partnership London – Sochi» program took its start in the end of January in Sochi. The program provides for delegation exchanges between colleges and education establishments.

On January 22, professors from three London universities met with pedagogues from the «Black Sea humanitarian academy». During their week-long visit, guests from UK will have specialised seminar on teaching medical English, and will share their experience in organizing short term language courses for hotels’ personnel.

The point of this visit was to establish contacts and find common interests of two Olympic capitals in experience exchange of preparing staff for the Olympic Games. Educational consulting firm from London also plans to monitor knowledge level of English language among Sochi residents, students, and hotels’ personnel. Meanwhile city administration has set difficult goal for city’s teachers – to teach all residents at least one foreign language! Currently, out of 400 000+ residents only 10% know foreign languages in adequate level.

Sochi teachers will visit London in April, after which a document will be signed between two cities on educational tourism.

My friend Arkasha, who works in Krasnaya Polyana, sent me recently a few photos he took there with his mobile phone. Check ’em out:

Larger images inside. Also, “Aibga” Hotel fire photos » Read the rest of this entry »

Tender will be announced for the constructtion of the high speed railway between Sochi and Moscow in the near future. «Russian Railways» in partnership with Canadian Bombardier and Italian Finnmechanica announced that will compete for this project. Their $19.6 bln plan is to modernize existing infrastructure, and have trains going with max speeds of 200 km/h (125 m/h) and reaching final destination in just 15.5 hours. Night time rides will be setup, so passengers could get on the train in the evening, and arrive to Sochi next morning.