I was born into a multilanguage community in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, my neighbours spoke a lot of different languages, although main language of communication was Russian, I was exposed to Georgian, Ukrainian, Armenian and, of course, Azerbaijani languages. I didn't understand most of them, but deep inside I got that desire to understand as much as possible of what people say or write in my evironment, wherever I happened to be. And I always wanted to travel around. That's why after graduating from a chemical engineering academy and a brief working experience at a big chemical plant I found myself a student of romance languages in Odessa. During my studies I began working as interpreter and technical transator, which remained my principal occupation for the rest of my life...