Administrative Assistant
Nika Efanova was born and raised in the Russian Far East in a city only 30 kilometers from the Chinese border. However, it was not until her family moved to Europe that she got a proper introduction to and discovered her passion for East Asian cultures and languages.
Her love of the Japanese language began with kanji, and almost eight years later, that continues to be her favorite part of studying the language. During those years Nika had the good fortune to study in both Japan and China. The experience cemented her love for the Land of the Rising Sun and left her with many fond memories of adventures in the home of Chinese characters.
In 2013 she graduated with a B.A. in Japanese Language and Culture (which she is proudly holding in the picture here) after writing her thesis on funeral Buddhism in Japan. Currently she is working at the best bakery in town (and in the country, as she would like to argue), surrounded by chocolate and temptation on a daily basis. In her spare time Nika is studying for the JLPT N1 test, honing her drawing skills, and preparing to take the leap into the IT world.
She loves all the kanji but if she had to choose, her favorite character would probably be 勝 from the verb 勝つ (かつ: to win). The reason might be that, in addition to being quite competitive, Nika was named after Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. Or it might be because her absolute favorite Japanese dish is カツ丼 (かつどん), which many Japanese students eat before exams because the name contains a homophone for 勝つ. The jury is still out.
