Episode Transcript
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 0:00
your femininity is powerful in all its forms exceptional women. Rare girls must be appreciated in every way for their perspectives, actions, thoughts, and their unique ways of being such rare girls are inspiring. And this is what this podcast is all about. Hello, my name is Aziz and my guest today is Valyria. Maureen's car. Valeria is a foreign languages student at Taras Shevchenko National University of give Ukraine, learning Italian, French and English. Valerie Yeah, just can't live without music. She plays the piano and sings. She is also into reading and organizing events. She participated in various educational competitions and Olympiads where, as well as being a class prefect before in her school, and the President of the Student Government. Valyria is a tutor teaching Ukrainian and English languages. And she dreams of becoming a journalist and having the opportunity to tell the world about how special and amazing Ukraine is Valeria. How are you today?
Valeriia Murynska 1:34
Hi, I'm fine. Thank you. How are you?
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 1:37
I'm feeling positive. I'm feeling happy and glad to be alive and very curious about you. So I'll begin with this simple question, which is, if your friends were to describe your personality, what would they say about you?
Valeriia Murynska 1:53
Okay, interesting question. So, first of all, I sing, that they would say that I'm responsible, the first place because I am kinda mom of the company. And I'm always watching and caring for them. Also, I think I hope that they will say that I'm kind, and always ready to help them. And also funny,
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 2:21
I love that. I don't know how that translates to different parts of your life. But are you like the mommy of your students when you're tutoring them as well? And why would that be important? In a teacher,
Valeriia Murynska 2:34
of course, first of all, I want to say that when you're a teacher, you should build the right relationship between you and your students. And first of all, it should be like, teacher and student, and as to market as a company, and also just students is because you feel responsible for them. So. And also some of them are, for example, passing some very important exams in their lives. And you're always trying to support them, and know how was they and listen some stories about their lives to understand them better. So that is why it's so important.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 3:17
Thank you. And why did you choose those languages that you're interested in learning? I mean, I can understand English since it's an international language. But why Italian? Why French? What's the story behind that?
Valeriia Murynska 3:33
It was kind of spontaneous decision, actually, when I was chosen Italian. But a year ago, I was like, obsessed with Italian culture. And I also have relatives in Italy. And I was traveling to Italy. I stayed there for a couple of months is and I just fell in love with the country was people with the culture. And also last year, when the Eurovision was and they tell and grew up on a skin one this I also got inspired by them. So that's why I decided to choose Italian and the French because it's like, all Romanian languages. And it's just like the second language that I am supposed to learn while studying on this speciality.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 4:29
That's wonderful. I mean, it seems to me that you're a very mature person who is like you said very responsible and you have a lot of deep thoughts and you take care of your friends. Are you more of the extroverted kind who is popular and has like 100 friends or are you more introverted and you have like, two or three you prefer to stay with a few people, etc?
Valeriia Murynska 4:57
It's kind of difficult question because cuz I am kind of boss extroverted and introverted person because as to my friends, I have a few of close friends and I like spend time with them. That i That's why I can say that I'm an introvert. But I am always open to meet new people. I feel comfortable in big companies, and I'm always looking forward to meeting new friends.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 5:25
Yes, I think that's also related to your love for organising events. Is this correct? Yeah, thank you and tell me about music. It seems to be a different part of you. For me, I believe music is like nutrition for the soul. How did you discover your love for playing the piano? What's the story and how important is it in your life,
Valeriia Murynska 5:48
when I was six, my parents decided that I should go to music school, and that I should learn to play the piano. And the interesting part of this is that I hated it the first time. So the first two or three years were very difficult. And I just want to quit it, to forget about the music at all. And I will always arguing with my parents about how it's it is not important in my life at all, and just take time that I should be gathering with my friends or doing some other things. And then I don't know, it was so sad. And I just realized that I am playing with a pleasure. I'm going to every class with the biggest pleasure in the world. And I live, I like participate in different concerts, and also competitions, and I adore my teacher. And after that after I finished my piano classes, I also decided to sing. So I continued to study in a music school. And it was my own decision, not my parents decision.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 6:59
Thank you. And the themes that people like you spoke about adoring your teacher, etc, are an important part of the music and have your performance. So when you sing or play the piano, the pleasure is it mostly because you're enjoying it personally, even if you did it alone on the top of a mountain? Or is it that you know, you're you know, making some other people feel happy or proud, etc, that adds to the pleasure of the experience,
Valeriia Murynska 7:29
I guess boss of this variance, because, first of all, but first of all, I think that you are playing, you're singing for yourself. It's important for your state for your soul. And the second part of that is you're trying to show something to other people show your different emotions tell about life because music gets North not only about notes and different lyrics, this lyrics always bring something that you want to say to this world. So both of these options,
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 8:07
thank you. And can you describe a day typically right now in your life? When do you wake up? How do you organize your day? What do you do to take care of your mental health to be productive, et cetera.
Valeriia Murynska 8:21
So first of all, I want to say that I am not kind of morning person. But I understand totally understand that it's better to wake up earlier. So usually I wake up like at 9am, then it's a part of morning procedures. And then I cook breakfast for myself. And always always it's a radio or my phone playing in in the kitchen. So I'm trying to bring myself some good mood to be in a good mood and music always helps me in that. Then I am preparing for my classes at university. Because I'm starting not in the morning. I'm starting from 1pm to like six or 7pm. So in the morning, I'm studying preparing my homework, then I have classes, but my schedule is very different and it's always changes. And also I have lessons with my students. It can be in the morning or in the evening. They are online lessons and I'm always happy to see them to speak with them. Then I am usually dedicating time for myself. I read a book or watch some serious and at night I think I have also one two hours to read something for my union. Our city to prepare some works. And at 11pm I guess I go to bed.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 10:06
That's really interesting. And I want to know that your routine and life now change so much compared to before February 24. How was that day for you of the invasion? How did you hear about the war getting closer? Tell me the story of that day and how your life changed since that moment,
Valeriia Murynska 10:31
we live in the center of city. That's important because usually we are not surprised by loud sounds or something like this. Because there are always some parties and teenagers gatherings. And cars are always there. So but, and also fireworks. So we have a plenty of them sometimes. But one night, me and my brother just heard something strange. And first of all, we thought it was really, they were really fireworks. Because we kind of get used to that sounds. And after a few a few minutes, we realized that it is too loud. My brother just looked at me and hit, he was like explosions, I at first actually didn't understand. And I wasn't ready to hear that. And to fully process that. Then we looked at to our telegram and understood that the war begins, we woke up our parents, and we immediately started to pack our things. I also have a small sister, she was like two years old when this happened. And I was trying to tell her what is happening really, I was like, we are going to have a car road. So everything is fine, because I really didn't want to explain to her what is really happening. And I didn't want to understand for understanding for her, I didn't expect to understand it for her. She's like two years old. And it's hard to explain to this girl that there are bombs. So we packed our stuff. And we were trying to move to another place because there's a safer place in the west of Ukraine, where my father is from, so we have apartment there. And we were trying to get there. But the problem is that in Kyiv, and that day was so many costs, so it was just barely possible to get out of the city. And we spend night. Also, in case of bad not in our apartment. And then finally the next day by sounds of explosions, we managed to get out of 3d, and we spend amounts in the west of Ukraine in a small city called Red we live and then we go went to Italy and also spent there for Manses. And actually I got back home just two weeks ago.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 13:28
I understand that really like a lot of action like and a lot of adventure. How did you change in your psychology or personality during these six months? Did you begin to appreciate every moment even more? Were you before more of a workaholic? Now you're both a workaholic and someone who tries to enjoy the evenings or different periods of the weekend and more time for his friends or it just made you think there is like so many bad things in the world? Or how did it affect your mental health, your understanding of the world and your psychology? I have
Valeriia Murynska 14:10
different very different feelings and emotions about this situation. Of course it was here because so many great people died because of this were so many children and women and innocent people. Also, it was anger, anger because I saw just how had this happened. How could the world be so dangerous and violent place so I had the sorts of SO and how to people can be so violent and cruel. But about appreciation Life Of course and I think a lot of people I I understood that we were complaining about many different things in our lives, we were always saying that something is bad, something should be different. And now I understood that it was kind of perfect life. And to be perfect, it's enough to have your family, your friends in a safe place. And being in your native city, and being able to safely just walk around or do some just simple things like waking up going to a for a wall committee, your friends starting just simply studying at university. And I all the time that I was in Italy, I was thinking only about returning home. And I just understood that home. It's not only about people that are around you, but also about like, place a certain place where you should be. And for me, it's my native city.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 16:05
I like that. And since you are someone who traveled to many places and speak so many languages, which is very connected to culture, how would you explain to foreigners? Who are Ukrainian people? What is Ukraine's culture? And how different is it both from other parts of Europe, and of course, from Russia,
Valeriia Murynska 16:28
I think the whole word understands it now that Ukrainians are the most bravest, I are the bravest people in the world. And I was so impressed. And it was so touching when I saw so many volunteers, and also kids that are trying to help. It's like, not a number, like 45 million of people. It's like, all these people are family now. And they always were and this situation actually shows how united we are, and how brave how kind and always ready to help our people. As to Russians, people, actually, I even don't want to say something and to explain something because it's just they have people with their without their own thoughts. And without their own opinions. They just couldn't say something from their point of view. They are listening to stupid TV shows and to stupid news. And they are just not able to process their own thoughts and try to react to the situation. They're even laughing about other people telling them that people are being killed in Ukraine and their children and women. And they are not brave. They're not brave enough to show something for the government to show something they could just stand against their government. They just unable to do it. And they are they even don't think that it's what happened in the EU in Ukraine, a special operation of the cold it
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 18:19
I understand that and that's absolutely sad, really unhappy. You are in your country, you are at home that you know Ukraine is standing still and that all I hope for is peace, victory. And all I can say is love. Oh, can I any slower. Thank you, Valerie. This was my privilege, my honor. Such a wonderful way to understand more about you and share more about your life and your story. And I wish you a great day. Thank you very much. It was also a pleasure for me
