With acceptance of federal program to develop Sochi as a year-round resort, the city is bracing for rapid development. It means we’ll need a lot of well educated working people really soon. According to sochi-news.ru there are 4296 children who will complete the “main” school course and 3309 will graduate from high school this year in Sochi. And they all need to decide where they want to go next.

“Make your choice” education exhibition and conference, which took place in “Zhemchuzhina” hotel this year, is designed to help them do just that. Many higher and professional education schools gathered here to tell this year graduates what they have to offer. They bring their teachers, and the students who demonstrate their skills acquired in their school.

Sochi-news.ru has following information on education schools in Sochi: there are 19 000 students learning 43 professions in 16 higher ed schools and branch of schools; 5 000 students are learning 39 professions in 14 professional schools.

I just want to add that in Sochi there is really only one big university – Sochi State University for Tourism and Recreation.

The high-school course in Russia is 11 years, and the “main” course (also called “complete middle school education”) is 9 years. After 9 years “main” course the students can decide to continue with the high school, and complete all 11 years – this will give them the opportunity to apply to a university, an institute, or an academy (all five or more years of higher ed), OR they can continue their education in one of the “specialized professional school” which is usually additional four years of ed. directly related to getting a profession (for example in construction, food industry, or in music) and experience in it. The first choice of higher education will often give a higher paid job, with better possibilities of professional growth. The second choice gets people a job quicker, since they can have a profession and some experience by the time they are 19-20 years old, however these jobs often pay less. Kids who choose the professional ed after 9 years of school can still complete the high-school course by attending “evening school” which are high schools operating during evening hours.

«Russia is planning to spend huge amount of money to develop this region, around 12 billion dollars. Almost two thirds of it will go into infrastructure: roads, solving ecological issues, communications, to improve people’s lives. This money will be used to unite people from all over the world around sports. We will use this money not to buy guns, not to buy ammunition, not to buy combat aviation, not to buy tanks. We will use this money with one purpose, so the people from around the planet could gather here, in Sochi, on our territory, and extend hands to each other. We will do everything to ensure Sochi will become worthy capital of the 2014 Olympic Games.»

– Vladimir Putin during meeting with the members of the IOC evaluation commission on their first working day in Sochi.

Nike Free Mountain 2007 competition will be in Krasnaya Polyana from March 1st to March 3rd. Program includes freeride and jibbing (sub-style of freestyle that uses obstacles such as trees, stumps, rails, etc.) competitions, and will gather around 200 skiers and snowboarders from Russia. Prize fund is $15 000 US.
 
Source: sport-express.ru

Nike regularly sponsors other sport and adventure competitions in Sochi in spring and summer.

The biggest news in Sochi today is that IOC evaluation group, which arrived a day before, has begun their five day tour of the city. I guess we won’t get any on the results or even rumors, at least not ’till all three candidate cities are toured by IOC. The only kind of reaction from the evaluation group was that they were amazed by the mountains/sea view of Sochi’s during landing. Meanwhile the city will be “hit” by over 80 cultural programs  this week, most of which (if not all) will have “in support of Olympics in Sochi” slogan. Some of these events will be visited by IOC. They will also meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will probably confirm once again government’s financial commitments and promises of completing all constructions on time.

Actually this is the weakest point of Sochi’s bid – having everything done on time. That is because 80-90% of all Olympic projects must be created from the ground up. There were previous talks about hiring American and European companies to help Russian companies to manage all the construction, as Americans and Europeans have a lot of experience in managing projects this big.

Thirteen new electricity-powered trains will operate in Sochi if the city will be selected as Olympics host. These trains will have three carts of different comfort levels, and they will travel with speeds of up to 140 km/h. New trains will have A/C, automatic temperature control, powered sliding doors inside, fire fighting systems, and a lot of other hi-tech cool stuff. These trains will operate between Adler and Tuapse.

This week has seen, probably, most heated arguments from opposers and supporters of hosting Olympic Games in Sochi. Not surprisingly, though, IOC officials will visit Sochi in a few days on their last tour of the city, before they select an official host in June.

So, lets take a look at both sides (long post) Read the rest of this entry »

This is a video clip of Agury waterwalls in Khosta district. It was probably taped in spring, because during summer there isn’t that much water in the river.

Russian Ministry of Transportation announced today new rules which are intended to improve air-travel safety in Russia. Igor Levitin, Russian minister of transportation, said that all Russian airline companies will have to replace all their Tu-134 and Tu-154 airplanes. Around 270 of these planes are operating in Russia today. It is expected that many of these planes will be replaces by new Sukhoi SuperJet 100 (formerly known as Russian Regional Jet or RRJ) which is expected to be approved for commercial use soon, and by regional Airbus jets. Among other rules is increased training time required for pilots and mandatory installation of training simulators in Russian Federation for any airplane that will be certified to fly in Russia.

Source: lenta.ru

This is great news. I’m 185 cm tall, and my legs simply don’t fit between my chair and the one in front on both of these planes, and I’m glad they’re finally doing something about it :)

Ok, I previously quoted gazeta.ru article about Russian businessman Dmitry Shumkov acquiring 50% of French prestige skis manufacturer Skis Lacroix. Well, apparently that not true, recent Skis Lacroix’s press release denied that this information was true.

Russian businessman Dmitry Shumkov, who is also a member of Association of Russian Lawyers and Russian Olympic Committe partner, has acquired 50% of French prestige skis manufacturer Skis Lacroix. Following this deal, Skis Lacroix promises to invest €300 million in building Russian factory to build mountain skis, and in hotel constructions in Sochi.

Source: Gazeta.ru

Aleksandr Zhukov, vice-premier of the Russian Federation and the head of organizational committee for Sochi Olympic bid support, pledged today during his meeting in UN Paris headquarters, that construction of all Olympic projects in Sochi will comply with the requirements of UN Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

Meanwhile UNESCO had offered Sochi its expertise to help in evaluation of Olympic projects.

World culture festival «Etno-Sochi» will take place in Sochi, on the square in front of city administration, on February 22nd. Participants from Africa, India, Latin America, and Caucasus will perform their national music, and dances, treat visitors with national food and drinks, and teach them how to play their national musical instruments. The culmination of the festival will be etno-parade, and will end with “fire-show”.

Sounds fun! :)

It was announced that second railroad track from Tuapse to Adler will be constructed in the event Sochi will become 2014 Winter Olympics host city. “Vesti” news agency quotes head of North-Caucasus Rail Roads: “Today, the Tuapse-Adler track practically exhausted its carrying capacity and requires additionally financial investments”.

What we have today is this: a single track with a few “pockets” where trains can stop to let another train to pass by. This track is running along the sea shore, as you can see on the picture below, Read the rest of this entry »

Over 1200 people volunteered to help during upcoming visit by the International Olympic Committee. All these people will be accepted to volunteer during Olympics if Sochi gets the Games.

Source: yuga.ru

As I previously wrote, on March 8 (International Women’s Day) Sochi will host Missis of the World contest. New details about prizes were recently unveiled. As reported by “Komsomolskaya Pravda – Kuban” newspaper, the five finalists will receive prizes worth no less then US $10 000, and the winner will receive a crown with diamonds worth US $50 000. In addition to that, Missis of the World will receive other prizes; however organizers are keeping what they are a secret for now.