Welcome! I’m Mikhail, which is pronounced in North American English as “me-kale”), but I’m oftentimes called Misha.
I’d like to get my voice out there since people often tell me that I should share my experiences with the world and those will fine it who seek, so here we are. I am many things; a xenophile, polyglot, and nature lover, gardener, cosmetologist, etc. Currently, I’m working on a degree in environmental sciences and sustainability, but have studied Jewish history and Czech language, and have an extensive background in language acquisition, travel counseling, and education development, and cosmetology and barbering license, though I don’t use it much nowadays, but it’s still active!
First and foremost, this is meant to be a space where I aim is to cultivate an area of learning, tranquility, and simply provide my insight on various topics, share my adventures and passions with those who happen to find themselves on my little place here.
The original name for this site was intended to be “Navenadnik” (נאַווענאַדניק): It’s a noun from Eastern Yiddish – נאַווענאַדניק – it has Hebrew origin, the word for wanderer – transliterated as navad (in Hebrew, נוד). Because of its simple, yet complex truth, I identify with it wholeheartedly due to my personal life experiences.
At its root, we have the Hebrew word for wanderer, נָע וָנָד, followed by the Yiddish suffix, a borrowed grammatical feature from Russian (ניק-/-ник) married together with the eastern Ashkenazi prosody to create a true word that embodies one who wanders and breathes in the wonders of this word in its unique beauty from all corners.
This website is the product of a framework I’ve wanted to develop for quite some time; in its current form, it’s but a wee seedling which will hopefully grow in time to become something of a clearinghouse for an array of topics, ranging from travel, fashion, Persian calligraphy, Ashkenazi herbology, infrastructure and sustainability, photography, fitness and cooking, and perhaps even community with time. In the meantime, please enjoy some of the readied areas as I share glimpses of life. Please enjoy and check back for updates – Safe travels.
