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It's fascinating to hear that 150 nationalities live in Kazakhstan. Do any of your friends share a Korean background with you? In the UK too it is quite often the case that people have mixed heritages - parents, grandparents and ancestors from many diverse cultures, other European countries, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other Asian countries, and also from the Caribbean and Africa. My parents and grandparents are all from the Midlands, an area in the centre of England - but I am sure that if I delved into my family tree I would find a diverse collection of people. Three of my husband's grandparents were Irish immigrants - they came to England looking for work and settled in Runcorn, an industrial town near Liverpool.

This photo is looking across the River Mersey to Runcorn. I was wondering if this looks anything like Zhezkazgan but the photo you have put in your post looks more beautiful! My husband doesn't live there now. Now he lives with me in Taunton, a town in South West England.

Anyway, let's turn now to the language you used in your post. You have a really nice friendly style, very easy to read I think. I note that you use the expression 'look like' twice:

"I don't look like Korean at all."
"I look like Kazakh or Tatar."

In these examples you would in fact say:

"I don't look Korean at all."
"I look Kazakh or Tatar."

This is because Korean, Kazakh, Tatar are all used as adjectives here. If you are using an adjective, then you don't need the word like, for example:

"He looks angry."
"They look so cute!"
"It looks Spanish."

When you use 'look like' you should follow it with a noun (or a name), for example:

"I look like Pocahontas."
"It looks like a rabbit!"

To recap:

Look like + a noun
Look + an adjective

So Marina, here is your first task - just a short one as it's the first time. Here are six sentences - would you use 'look' or 'look like'?

1. It looks like rain OR It looks rain.
2. He looks like a nice person OR He looks like nice person.
3. That looks like really difficult OR That looks really difficult.
4. Does it look like cold? OR Does it look cold?
5. People say I look like my mother OR People say I look my mother.
6. He looked like Italian OR He looked Italian.

Just tell me which version you think is correct.

By the way, there are some notes related to this aspect of English on the LearnEnglish website that you might like to look at:
/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1445_gramchallenge21/

Finally, I think you do look a bit like the picture of Pocahontas that you have on your post. But what a great Disney character to look like! It could be worse! Do any readers look like a famous character? Or a famous person? Do tell us!

Marina, I hope to hear from you again soon,
Best wishes,
Kim

Vocabulary

heritage = cultural background
settlement = a place where people live
fascinating = very interesting
ancestor = a relative who lived a long time ago
delve into = examine something very carefully
immigrant = a person who has come to live in another country
recap = summarise, give a summary