I was born in an ordinary, not very rich family (my father worked as an engineer, mum was the children's psychologist, they didn’t earn much, like many others in our country at that time), in a town near Moscow. But in the days of the Soviet Union only Moscow was the City where the life was in full swing, all the rest was considered to be a province. So I was a small town kid. At the age of 9 I remained without a mother (mum died) and very soon I faced all the burdens of life: we had neither washing-machine, nor dishwasher. In the childhood I also learned how to cook food: up till now to have supper at restaurants in Russia is rather expensive (in the days of my childhood it was absolutely impossible because of high prices), and meal delivery appeared about 5-7 years ago, and only in large cities. Therefore in Russia almost all girls and women are rather good at cooking. When I was 16 I left school and entered the university (Moscow State University), philological faculty. In the days of the Soviet Union Moscow State University by Lomonosov was the best among higher educational establishments in the country. We studied free of charge, and lived on a small scholarship - 40 roubles (the average salary in the country was then 110-120 roubles). Almost all students were helped by their parents, but when my father married for the second time, I had to combine study and work. In most of Higher educational establishments in Russia students study for 5 years, except medical colleges – 6 years) Almost all women in Russia give birth to the first child at the age of 20-25. When I graduated from the University I decided to come back home, but my father lived in our flat with his new family. In those times it nearly meant ”to become homeless”, without a roof above your head, let alone a student with a baby without any savings for renting a flat. Up till now in Russia the majority of people live with parents, sometimes even with grandparents because in the country there is not enough accomodation and to rent a good apartment is awfully expensive. Besides, to rent an apartment for a long term is practically impossible. (The usual term, which is possible – from 1 to 3 years. In Moscow the situation is slightly different, because it’s a big business and commercial center, and many houses and other buildings are built there every year.) My elderly Granny felt sorry for me. She had a small 2-bedroomed flat in a five-storied house in our town and gave me a shelter. Together we had lived for years. The life was not very easy, but we were friends. When Granny died (she was nearly 87 ), it took us a lot of time to get over her death. So far we have remembered and loved her.
I have tried many professions: a philologist, a journalist, even tried to be an entrepreneur. Now I am working on some projects connected with electronic business and mass media in the Internet.