SoCultures Magazine 2018 SoCultures Magazine November 2018 | Page 11

SoCultures November 2018 India & Russia composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky also has some of the largest and most stunning Buddhist monasteries in the world. Russia and India also have great literary traditions and the countries have produced literary icons who now belong to all of humanity, such as Alexander Pushkin and Rabindranath Tagore. Tell us your day-today life in Russia. What do you remember as sweet memories? I have lived in Russia over various periods of time, enjoying life both in the Asian end of the country, as well as in Moscow. Living in a small town like Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the Sakhalin region (north of Japan) was a great opportunity to explore the great outdoors. The city is surrounded by temperate forests and has a large central park that borders a deeply-wooded mountain range. Winters provide a wonderful opportunity to go cross-country skiing, ice skating, and fishing on lakes, rivers and the sea, where the top levels are frozen. Temperatures regularly drop to below minus 20 degrees Celsius, but the buildings are warm. Thanks to centralized heating! Each capital city in Russia has a thriving cultural season in the colder months, with drama theatres and classical music concert venues, as well as some contemporary 11