Once in Prague I was standing in front of a bookstore. The sign was written in several languages. I was reading the Russian, but I did not realize that I was doing this initially. I saw книга and read it, I do not remember the rest, I just remember seeing and reading it without realizing what language it was in. That was a very good feeling. When I first started learning Slovak I heard the song "Cigaretka na dva t'ahy." I was very happy to be able to figure out what the title meant without having seen it. Sometimes when I am not able to practice languages I start to doubt my abilities. It made me feel good when I said "Слава Богу, сегодня пятница" to a Russian guy who did not know I knew any Russian, and he just understand it. A minute later he realized that I had said it in Russian. He came running into the hall and said, "How do you know Russian?" He said that he was surprised to hear an American pronounce Russian correctly. I am embarrassed that my pronunciation in Czech and Slovak is not better. (Слава Богу, сегодня пятница = Thank God it's Friday.)
I had several recordings of operas. My favorite Operas are in Russian, German and Hungarian. "The Nose" by Shostakovich, "The Love fro Three Oranges" by Prokofiev, "May Night" by Rimsky-Korsakov, Bluebeard's Castle by Bartok, and "Lulu" and "Wozzeck" by Berg. There are a few operas in English that I also like. "May Night" is the only opera that I have owned that was composed before 1900. It has some of the most beautiful music that I have ever heard.
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