The best English teacher I’ve ever had is from Edmonton, Canada. I don’t have his classes now, but I can get to talk to him when he’s having a cup of coffee and a cigarette before a class.

Gwain is my role model. He loves Russian culture and the language. He quotes Vysotsky and sees use of language a native speaker would never notice. And he even blogs in Russian.

I’m of course quite skeptical about his Russian, perhaps just as well as he’s skeptical about my English. Gwain, however, says that he puts his own “collocations” on purpose, just like Zoschenko or Harms. A statement that can encourage anyone to re-read Harms’ stories :)