The WRAAF theory

It is time to go out, but it is raining outside so I have decided to share another thought with you ..... The WRAAF theory ....
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I have come to conclusion that all of the humanity problems are coming from misunderstanding between the people and I would tell you why.

The world population today is around 6 milliard people and it is growing rapidly. Every person has his own view on the surrounding with his own opinion. But many times I have noticed that the people do think the same way on many things while they express their opinion differently which make the elusion that the person has a different opinion.

It did happen to me to discover that somebody has a different opinion but after a talk I understood that the person has the same opinion and it is just the way he is expressing it. It is not a rule but it happens to many people.

To make my point I will give you an example, lets take something common and see the people understanding of it …. something very common …. Lets try the sounds which do the animals make ….

Now, In your opinion what sound does a dog make??
----------- REALLY THINK OF THAT ! ---------


I have found out that dog is making the same sounds, but the people are interpreting it in a different ways;
Russian will tell you GAF
Americans will say it Whaf
Chinese, for my surprise will tell you - Af
Israelis will make it Wraff (with rrrrr)
Egyptians will make it Waaf ….

As it was asked to prove it, we have the same sound with different understanding of it by people ! :-)

So, next time you have some trouble with anybody .. it is simply of you not to understand each other, that’s all ……


P.S There are plenty of things which are different in the sounds … If you don’t believe me, try it yourself …. While the funniest thing to ask is “In your opinion what sound does a clock alarm make??” the answers will make you smile, promise !

P.S.S I know I should have made it a bit sharper .. but the time is coming to celebrate the New Year so I have decided to publish it as it is and run to the parties ... cheers !

Happy New Year

Dear readers,

I just want to wish you all a Happy New Year !
May all your dreams come true !

as for the last year I was bringing you the stories,
I will bring you more the following one :-)

promise !

hugs and kisses,
sincerely yours,
krakadil gena

THE game - football !!!

As you probably know me, I am true football fan. Really ! :-)))

I just don’t understand why so many people are getting excited about football ! The game is so boring, there are twenty two persons who are running after the ball … while spending hours watching it on the television ??? its not me ….

For me, the whole picture is changing as it comes to real games like world cup ! Then I am really excited, especially on the finals ! It is so interesting to watch professionals who are talented and very well trained doing their best to win the game and bring the glory home ! Take as an example the last World Cup, did you see the Zidan hit ??? if you did not, you just missed the history …

There is another excitement about the football for me, to watch the real game on the stadium. I compare it to the old popular Gladiators Fights at Rome. It is not very similar but the idea of show when thousands of people coming together and watching together with traditional songs, shoutings, some times hating and real hopes. The first time I had discovered this feeling when I was twenty, it was during my undergraduate university studies. One day before the exam while I was studying with my friend Felix, we have understood that there is no way we will know all the required material so Felix has told me that he has a better idea for the time spending. The idea was to travel to Askhelon and watch “MAKABI HAIFA” playing on the stadium. It did not take long to convince me to go. From that first game, I really enjoy going for the football games with my friends and it doesn’t matter who will play, I enjoy the atmosphere :-)))

Here in London I was given a present for my birthday from very lovely family, a football match ticket. I was truly excited ! wow, to watch a real game in London !

A week ago, me and Simosha went to watch the game. Apparently, she is a real fan because she knew all the names and all the history of all the players. The teams were Fulham against WEST HAM. We were on the Fulham side.

The stadium is not big, its capacity is 30,000 seats. It is located by the Thames river, at the Fulham area.

It was really nice game with a lot of action but the teams were not very good.

At some point I was confused which side I am because we were supposed to be the Fulham fans but when I have discovered that Israeli player “Yossi Ben Ayun” is playing in the WEST HAM team, I just wanted to switch … :-)))


Unfortunatelly, the game was finished as 0-0 but it was a great show !
See all the people upset going home ....

The Dark side of The Camden Market

The Visit to Camden Market


Actually it reminded me the old bus station of Tel-Aviv … the same products, the same people … but a bit of different language :-)



It was couple of days ago while we went visiting there. The market best visit time is at the weekend while the whole market idea is about many small shops which are selling almost everything. Only at one point there is a place which is dedicated to the open air selling stands, there mostly the clothes are sold. Nothing to do there …. real waste of time …. and not that much history … the market was established on 1974 ….

The only interesting thing to see there is the decorations above the shops … true art !




if anybody is looking for witches clothes ... this is the place :-)
They have so many different "dark side" clothes ... wow ... unbelievable ...
Sometimes I thought it to be cool because the people really collecting the stuff,
but I have discovered it to be really boring. Nowadays, this is the same as to go normal shopping, you buy anything you want ... just the money which is matter ...



anybody to real shoes ???? (our people are everywhere :-)


What I did found there is my favourite shoes shop, they claim to be the only original shop in London.


As you probably know, I am real fan of the Dr.Martin trend because they have never disappointed me. Although the last pair I bought discovered to be not water proof, which did disappoint me a bit :-(

The empty city and the Christmas day.

It is unbelievable, everything is closed ! Transportation is stopped, the shops are closed, the pubs and restaurants are closed. You wouldn’t believe it but the Casino which is near my house is also closed !

Another strange fact to me is that Santa is coming on the Christmas day. Probably the Russian version of him, the “Ded Moroz” comes on the New Year evening …

But lets start from the beginning. Here, the Christmas day is celebrated for the two days. The first day is called a Christmas day while the second one is the Boxing day. The first time any reminder of the Christmas celebrations is dated by the 336AD in Rome. By tradition, the Christmas day starts from the evening before by the family dinner. Following the traditions, although we are not Christians, we have decided to take the offer for the dinner. It wasn’t religious family, just our friends so all the celebrations were about having a nice meal with couple of bottles of Cognac and a lot of fun.


I am used to know, from my childhood, that Santa Clouse coming with his presents on the New Year evening. Apparently, he comes on the Christmas day. The name Santa Clouse (from internet sources) comes originally from St. Nicholas and with the years through the Dutch and English language was converted to Sint Nikolaas then to Sinterklaas and finally to the to Santa Claus. By the way, the tradition for the Christmas tree was started originally from Germany. They made the tree decorations and it become very popular. It was prince Albert who brought the first Christmas tree to the royalty at 1836.



On the Christmas day, the city is empty. No people on the streets, the transportation is not working and nothing is open. We decided to visit the BBC building, so we walked around the city for many hours. Checking the map later, we have covered something like 18 kilometres by foot.

During the evening, we have made a walk trying to find anyplace to dink a beer, but nothing come out. We have finished the evening with private dinner which included mesh potatoes, chicken and Jack Daniels.


The origin of the following day (from internet sources), the Boxing day, has come from the many charity boxes which were putted inside the churches for money collecting for the poor people. This day is almost like weekend, most of the people are having a day off with most of the shops closed.

The Five & half day to run London

Hi all,
I am not the one you think I am.
I am Bialik & I am writing in this blog for the first time.
It is very strange to be on this side of the monitor & the world.
It my first time in London and I can say I like it a lot .
First of all the city is just huge I never been in such places before.
Guys who live in Israel - we never thought that such a things are exist.
It enough to go to British National Museum to understand how great it is.
Secondly here it is a very special authentic views and places and it especially
beauterful because of Christmas, London is shining of decoration and it's
very special & festive atmosphere everywhere(for women -the sales is everywhere).

Well I whant to post my point of view about our dear friend - Krakadil Gena.
What can I say - he never changes.
OK, he does changes - his English became much better
it can be noticed in his blog- less & less people understanding him.
When he spoke this morning with his friend Abi I tried to understand
what it is all about - it was really hard. I have noticed that in order to
speak as British you shouldn't pronounce half of the word.
In other things -he is the same -"Combinator" as usual!
For Example:
1.He already knows some important people (nice).
2.He pays almost nothing for rent in area where Audi A6 - it's a worker car(nice).
3.He is in college that many of British may just dream about(nice).
4.He has plenty of friends and every one ask him to spend the christmas(nice).
All this in 2 monthes .

Well that's all for now.
Hope it was interesting : -)

nnm russian party

there is very famous Russian web site .. www.nnm.ru which is popular for supplying news about programs, movies and music. it is like a big blog where many people can publish a lot of information ... so one of the guys published an idea to make a meeting in London. I saw this publication and put it in my Calendar.

Original Invitation Post

Actually I prefer not to be in any contact with Russian / Hebrew speaking people in order to practice more the English speaking language. That day, it was a bit boring evening something like a week ago, one of the parties which I intended to go was cancelled so I decided to check out what is the London Russian community.





It was really nice evening with a lot of beer and a lot of talking ... blia blia blia :-) There where couple of people who came from abroad specially for this meeting, which was really surprising. All of the people are working in different kind of works here ... from Hotel Clerks and Building to Bank Accounting and Computing.

One accident did happen to me, I was asked to help and bring a tray with the beers to the table. There were 8 pints of beer standing on the tray, so when I was trying to pick it up I felt that I cannot move it ... apparently, the table was wet and the tray was stacked to the table ... so when I pushed it a bit harder, the tray suddenly started moving and one of the glasses felt down .... ufff .... it was all over the bar ... :-)))))))

anyway .. for more pictures and for comments about this evening you can check it here ....

the photos about the meeting

the fog

(I wrote it two days ago but didnot have time to publish it ...)

the famous London fog is back !!!


It is very unusual fog for couple of reasons; The famous London fog wasnot seen here for many decades. It was described in many books as the Famous London Fog, but it has disappeared after the London changed its home heating fuel from carbon to gas (at 60ties). Another unusual point about this fog is that it stays in the high places and not at the lower ones. It can be seen easily, because in the north of London which is a bit of on the mountain, the fog is really heavy while in central of London the fog is almost doesn’t exist. The reason for this as it was written in the newspaper is because of the atmospheric pressure ... which is strange ... I am used to see the fog in the lower places ...

My friend, Sasha, who lives in London for the last twenty years told me that this is for the first time he is experiencing such a widespread fog.

swiming pool quiz

ok, I have decided to publish for another quiz ....

so usually when you come to the swimming pool ... you get to the water and you start swimming .. some people swim clockwise ... some not .... every pool has his own regulations ....

the quiz question is .... how is the swimming directions are organised here ???
:-))))

only full answer will be accepted ... :))))

the mood

I thought not to write anything today ... I am not in the mood ... it is happens to me sometimes as probably to everybody. When I do think for the reasons for that ... I think the main reason is the yesterdays party. Actually we had two parties yesterday. The first one is from the IBE Institute and the other one is the Mechanical Engineering party. Unfortunatelly it is social parties so you cannot dissmiss them, you have to show your face there ..... and as in every social party .. free drinks are served ... now show me someone who wouldnot drink if it is for free .... ("na haliavu piyut daje trezvenniki i yazveniki")

by today morning the alcohol level in the blood was reduced naturally ... then the morning started from the wish ... not to go anywhere and do nothing ....

later on after arriving to work I have discovered that I am almost the only person who did arrive ...

trying to concentrate and write something didnot work ...

to read something ... didnot work eather ....

by the way, I have finished the "Detective" book yesterday night... and today I took the book called "Wheels" by the same author ...

... if I couldnot work, I decided to go swimming ... it was really hard ... swam 500 meters ... and I went out ....

the Sauna was really nice, so I just sat there ... it was warm and I thought ...

today evening all the people I know are going to the club ... 20£ per entrance ... which is extemily expensive for me .... I decided to stay home ....

English Thoughts

.... when I write something on the research topic in english language, so first of all I think what do I want to write ... then I think of how to write it ... then what is the best way to use the language .... and after I do understand how it should be written ... I cannot remember what did I wanted to write about :-))))

Sandwich Disaster

The menu of my meals here is very various. During the week I am eating a home made served food at the local student place for a really cheap price of two pounds a meal. This option is not available for everybody ... only for special club members ... :))
Usually we are served with soup then the main meal including meat and rise/potato and of course with salads. The meal is finished with desert and a fruit. On Fridays we are served with fish & chips which is well known as a traditional British meal.

For the weekends (saturday/sunday), I am preparing my own food which is usually pasta or potatoes.

But this weekend I was really lazy to prepare any meal ... so I have decided to go the sandwich way !!!

I have spent almost twenty minutes preparing sandwiches ...
Bread - Humus - Tomatoes - Cheese - Bread
- The humus is from Israel, my mom brought me a box of real humus ;-)

Total of two sandwiches, each of them in separate nylon ...

I put them a side and went to get dressed ...

after closing the door, I remembered of the sandwiches, so I come back
and took the nylon ... unfortunately it wasn’t transparent.

After four hours already in the college, I have discovered that I took a wrong bag ... and all I have in this one is only the sliced bread ...

yep, the yesterday meal included only the bread and the tea ....
while I came home ... the fu*** sandwiches were waiting me the same place I left them :-)))))

Chanukah

Because I don’t have anybody to celebrate it with ... I am almost forgot about it ... (yea I know ... stupid excuse) .. but to these who do celebrate it ....
HAPPY CHANUKAH !!! :-)

christmas parties

Christmas time is huge celebration event in London. There are so many parties and so many events that it is unbelievable. The city decorations are being placed from mid November while the offices decorations are putted at the beginning of December.

Nowadays, everywhere and everything is decorated. The formal celebrations are separated to two events. The first event is the Christmas which is taking place on the 25-26 of December. It is considered to be a family celebration event, plenty of the people are going home to their parents or relatives. Everything is closed at those days including shops and transportation, the city is going to be stopped….. The next event is the new year evening, the night between the 31/dec to 1/jan ... it is the party time while a huge mass of people getting drunk and going to the Trafalgar square to the happening. The huge Trafalgar Christmas tree (20meters long) is already standing at the Trafalgar square. This tree is donated each year to London people from Norway country for helping them during the Second World War.


Before the actual Christmas holidays are starting, from the beginning of December there are plenty of organised parties. This parties are social parties and mainly to bring together the colleagues of the work. In my case, we have already had; a research team dinner, a lab people launch, the student union Christmas party. The next week we have the department Christmas party and the institute Christmas party .... too many parties ... really ... in our research team we have decided to make the next year party in August ... so it will be a bit of change :-)

The research team dinner was really good, we went to German restaurant which was very nice as a place but the meal portions were so small that we were hungry after it. Our team is very multi origin ... British, Greek, Italy, Israel, China, Japan, Germany, Egypt, Spanish ... hmmm did I forget anybody ?


the guy with the blue shirt is Ferdinando, my supervisor :-)



The other party which we attended with my friend is the student union Christmas party. It was so-so because most of the people were really young ....


The friend who take me there is Abbi, he is like me - just started his ph.d in robotics. He is religious Muslim guy while his parents are originally from Egypt. As you probably know, it is not allowed to drink alcohol by the Muslim religion so he drinks Pepsi while I drink beer :-)


The funny thing was that we have decided to make a picture with the Santa Claus ... as the representative of our religions, me for the Jews and him for the Muslims wished him a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!!!!

nice book

If you are interested in reading, something in English not very hard but something which will make you read, find any book of Arthur Hailey ...

Nowadays I read the book named "Detective" it has a nice written style and it is easy to follow ...

I read the book before I go to sleep and I open the newspaper on the mornings ... the latest newspaper story is so similar that sometimes I am confused which part I was reading in the news paper and which one was in the book ....

Not all the UK news are covered in the world, so you probably don’t know, but in the Ipswich city in UK there is some serial killer who did already kill five prostitutes. The case is very complicated and it has daily newspaper coverage. The book is also about murders and solutions ... so everyday I read in the book about additional murder and on the morning I read about another body which was found in the Ipswich ....

At the book, I am almost at the end .. and as I follow the newspapers, the Ipswich detectives are very close to find the suspect ....

so if you do looking for a book to practice English ... Arthur Hailey's books are recommended by me ;-)

anybody to recommend anything else ???

moms visit

I was so busy for the last couple of days, it was just unbelievable.
My mom was visiting me for the last week and I had to finish writing my primary literature review and apply to the scholarships. The time table was very tight; working in the mornings and going with my mom around at the evenings. The evening walking part was really great so literally we went by foot most of the city. I was very proud of my mom because when I was almost falling of my legs she was keeping walking ..... duracell mom :-)


When she went back home I was a bit upset it is the same strange feeling I had when my father went home ... to stay alone in this huge city .... the reality ;-)

the last evening I had asked how does she find my life, her reply was simple "you are living nice, a bit of doggy way"

Almost the same sentence my father used to describe it ...



To finish this post I wanted to tell you that I have been to the house of the famous English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. The house is located in the centre of London not far from the Buckingham palace. As I understood, he was living to this house for many years, it is a huge and very nice house with private elevator inside !!! to give you an impression of the place, I have decided to post the picture of one of the toilets in this house ...

Brita - update

I have received additional photos of Lias Brita from Din-Din ... so I have decided to put them in the web album ... anybody to give me more photos to share there ???
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/krakadil.gena

that time in Israel

the time I am here ... the celebrations in Israel are continuing ...
it is the Brita of Lia ... Felix and Lina daughter ...
cute cute cute cute !!!!!

Linka, I dont believe it, is that you on the right side ?? wow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mihailo with Tanechka, he is the next Lomonosov .... :-)

our celebrities; Linochka & Jenek and the Irochka s Maximkoy !!!

this happens usually after bottle and a half ...

The couple of the evening, SOS with gorgeous Lariskin !

untranslatable ... "NAPASASHOK"


-anybody for more pictures ???
-any personal comments about the evening ??

... wish I was there .... .....

cats and dogs

London is an empty city from homeless animals ... for the last two month I didn’t see any cat or dog without the owners ...

yesterday was my first time ... we have been walking with my mom along the Thames river near the Tatu museum, and suddenly, a fully black and very nice cat has crossed our way ... I was very surprised of that ....


as you probably know, I don’t believe in a bad luck of the black cats ... anyway, because it was my first time to see a cat here and this special time she decided to cross me the way, we have decided not to take any chances and to give somebody else to cross first ... there was a couple behind us ... so we let them first ....

my surprise was even higher because the cat has stopped and waited ... after the couple has passed, the cat suddenly started walking back and crossed again our way ... this time I was suspicious of this cat and its movements ...

so we waited again for another couple to cross first ... and the same happened again !!! the cat just crossed our road to the other side!!!! Eventually it was following us for at least 5-6 minutes and crossed our way something like 4-5 times ... then we started walking fast and just run away from it :-))))

as you can see, the cat didnot afraid of the camera, and was happy to pose for the pictures ... anybody to know what should be done as soon as black cat crosses the road ???


check out this quite couple .. it was pictured by me in the tube ... they were holding hands and were very happy, lucky them :-)))))

The Stansted Airport

I have been to Stansted Airport yesterday night, meeting my mom ....

The Stansted Airport is placed around 60km from London and its not that easy to get there. It is one of the three London airports available. Others are the Gatwick and the Heathrow. The Heathrow is the closest while the Stansted is the most far away.

There is a train from the Liverpool street to the Stansted airport available during the day (travel time 45min)while the price for one way ticket is 15quids ... (30$) the bus is also available for 8quid one way .... travel time 1.5 hour ...

But if you do arrive during the night, its really hard to get to the city. No trains and no tube. So the easiest solution is to take the bus to the city and then night bus to the required location in the city. This bus way has some disadvantages .. the most visible one is the confusion of the first time to London .. you have no idea about the locations so if you are not that good in navigation it will take you really long to get anywhere .... ofcourse the easiest solution is to stay at the airport, wait till the morning and the first train is around 6am ....

But there is another solution which I faced yesterday ... it cost me 10pounds to the door of my apartment .....

Because there was a delay in the flight arrival, I was stading and waiting ... the funny thing was that I felt like in Israel .. most of the people around me were Israeli taxi drivers ... with usual names (I wrote them down) Shmuel, Hagai, Sason, Nati, Asaf and Rafi .... they were joking and discussing .. it was really nice. They were waiting for the same flight arrival. On the flight, here were passengers who booked their taxi through the tourist agency in Israel.

They asked me, if I need a ride ... and I told them that it can be nice ... after they heard my living area ... they told me 30pounds per person .... after I have told them that I am a student .. the prices dropped to 20pounts per person ...

its a bit expensive ... 20per person .. one of the guys told me to wait and see if they pack all the car .. if not, the price will probably drop a bit more ...

and it did happen, after 20 minutes waiting ... they told me 12.5pound per person ... i told them 10 ... another couple of minutes .. one of the drivers agreed ... and took us home ..... there were 12 people in the taxi .. and the total journey time took around 100minutes ... so finally around 3 am we were safelly home ..

If I think of it back, it is really nice, if its your first time to London and you dont know directions ... even if they charge you 20quid .. it worth it .. they bring you to the door ;-) (their service is also available in Paris)

unfortunately I had to wake up around 8am to go teaching .. it was a bit nightmare because I was so sleepy during the lesson :-)

(ooopss ... a bit long post today)

famous sister

Anybody watched Russian channel RTR lately ???
there was a stupid serial named "Bilet v Garem" .. anybody liked it ??

just wanted to update you that my sister was acting there ... it was her first time to act on a real television ... to make it clear, we think that she can perform better, but we are very proud of her !!!!!!! WELL DONE !!! :-)

it was a short role ... it involved fighting,talking,discussing ... eventually she was killed .... the Israeli part of the movie was filmed on the dead sea around half a year ago ....

its only the brief photos .....