In 2005, she went to study at the Institute of Music, Theatre, and Choreography at the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia in St. Petersburg. To Yani, St. Petersburg is a world renowned art city, with a strong sense of history. There are many urban parks in the city, boasting a high per capita share of green space, where architecture and nature exist in harmony.
The seeds of her love for the Chinese language, for her husband, and for Hangzhou and China were planted from the day she entered the university. There were many Chinese students on campus at that time, and as a group of foreign students, they often went out and learned together. It was then that Yani had known the magic of Chinese characters.
In her junior year, to better learn Chinese, Yani enrolled in the Confucius Institute at the Institute of Oriental Studies of St. Petersburg State University. As her college and the institute sit in different parts of the city, Yani had to shuttle between studying Chinese and attending classes in those days, but, as she puts it, “there's just enough time on the subway to review my Chinese”. Yani's Chinese proficiency improved rapidly, and since many foreign students began to pursue their studies in China, she also developed the idea of visiting the birthplace of Chinese characters and having a look.
In 2009, she was admitted to Harbin Normal University to further her language studies and two years later she became a graduate student of the Broadcast & TV Arts program at the university.
Thanks to her top-notch Chinese language skills among foreign students, Yani was chosen to represent the city of Harbin and participate in the Chinese Bridge competition, a contest for foreign students to demonstrate their mastery of Chinese language and culture. It was because of the experience that Yani worked as a foreign anchor for CCTV, China’s national broadcaster, and met her future husband.
●马克·夏加尔作品《城市上空》。
Yani returned to St. Petersburg and stayed there briefly. Although she had many good job offers, to Yani, Chinese is the language she loves and she believed China would be provide more possibilities for her personal growth. After careful consideration and preparation, in 2013, she successfully enrolled in the Communication University of China as a PhD student.
In that year, a cultural exchange project in Hangzhou needed to contact a vocalist from the Belarusian National Center for the Performing Arts, and Yani happened to be the link. So she set foot on the land of Hangzhou for the first time, and fate would have it that she and her future husband would be “tied” together from now on.
They got married in 2015 and eventually settled in Hangzhou. In 2016, their first child was born. In 2017, she received her doctoral degree. In 2019, Yani gave birth to the second child. During the period, Yani served as an adjunct professor of the Russian language in universities, participated in many cooperation and exchange programs related to Russian culture, and worked as the art director of classical music class in kindergarten. Now seven years into her stay in Hangzhou, she is enjoying being a wife and a mother.
In fact, Yani admitted that she had hesitated in the face of the new environment and even discussed with her husband whether to go to Beijing together. But one episode has made her determined to stay in Hangzhou. “I still remember that one time when my husband came to pick me up at the airport. He specially chose to drive to the Lingyin Temple via the Beishan Street. It was a summer day, and with the tall plane trees on both sides of the road passing by and the beautiful view of the West Lake in front of me, I wondered how a city could be so poetic,” Yani recalled.
The longer she stays in Hangzhou, the more she found that it has many similarities with Vitebsk and St. Petersburg, with the lush green environment, the combination of urban landscape with nature, the integration of history and culture with modern civilization, as well as the exquisite artistic creation and sophisticated life services. On weekends and holidays, Yani likes to take her children to ballet and symphony performances at the Hangzhou Grand Theater and Canal Grand Theater. Occasionally, she spends the whole day at a teahouse, hanging out with friends from the Russian-speaking community. Now, living in a coastal area, she has even fallen for seafood.
From Vitebsk to St. Petersburg, from St. Petersburg to Hangzhou, Yani lives in one hometown after another. She is also patiently staying true to herself and adapting to all changes with ease, finding joy in the process.
