Morning :)
Yep, pancake WEEK is here, it is an actual thing - called Maslenitsa - and I am very much enjoying it. Maslenitsa is an Orthodox festival, which as far as I can understand (not very far) signifies the start of fasting (so same as pancake day, just different dates). Each day of the week has a different theme, for example "Eating too much" or "Being young again". It is also supposed to include sleigh rides and snowball fights but alas, it is practically tropical weather here at the moment so that won't be happening. On Saturday there will be a big celebration near the fortress including many more blini (pancakes) and a bonfire. I have also learned a new Russian phrase which literally translates as "the first blini comes out a blob" which is used in all new situations which don't turn out as planned.
Tutoring, due to this, has been great this week (as if they don't normally feed me enough) I was given a giant bowl of yummy borsch, a big slice of cake and some blini, I would quite happily take this as pay but don't tell them that. Was a teeny bit embarrassing when the girl's mum asked me how she was getting on and I said "yes, her Russian really is coming along…Oh... and her English too!" but hey, I like to think that, aside from these little errors, my Russian is improving.
Speaking of food, I will now tell you about breakfast here. So we haven't had another stir fry thankfully, I politely told the babushka that I'd much rather have a light breakfast. The next day I discovered she'd found BACON(!!!), so asked for a bacon sandwich, I was a bit confused and assumed she'd misunderstood as I was given porridge, but went with it, then she gave us a little salad, some blini, and then came the bacon. Which was amazing. But I had to save it for later to avoid exploding. She's also tried to feed us fried potatoes, cabbage and meat wobbling in jelly (called holodetz) for breakfast… interesting.
We're getting to know the babushka now and learn her little ways - there are some things that we have to do like leaving certain doors open/closed or putting stuff in certain places, but hey, we can deal with that, especially since she buys Twinings tea and feeds us at all times of day. However, I do think she has a fear of mushrooms as she told me I had to eat the whole packet I'd bought in a day otherwise I'd be very very ill.. quite confused, and after sneakily eating them for the rest of the week I can safely say I'm feeling fine. I have heard that this may be a superstition as a friend's babushka said a similar thing. Ooh and on that note, I'll share a few other Russian superstitions that I've learned with you - this post is becoming quite educational!
So, one of the main ones that is very very important to know is that you should only give someone flowers if there is an odd number of them, if you gave someone, say, six flowers in a bunch this would be very very offensive as even numbers are only ever used at funerals.
2) - never whistle indoors as this could bring misfortune to your family. Thankfully I can't whistle so haven't had any awkward situations regarding this.
3) Before going on a trip you should sit down for a few seconds once all of your stuff is ready as this brings safe travels. Our old babushka definitely made us do this before going to Moscow and we were very very confused, especially since we were in a massive rush and didn't quite fancy "having a little rest".
4) If you leave the house and forget something you really shouldn't go back for it. (pretty much a daily occurrence for me) If you absolutely must return, then you should look in a mirror before you step out again.
5) If you aren't married you shouldn't sit at the corner of tables - if you do then you won't marry for something like seven years.
6) Don't say 'happy birthday' to a person before their birthday (have done this twice now, both times received very odd looks, whoops)
I'm sure there are many more but I can't remember them at this moment!
Also, big news.. went to Riga last weekend!! It was quite spontaneous but a lot of fun and I will tell you all about it in the next post as I don't have much time now.
Happy Maslenitsa!
Лиза xx
Thursday 27 February 2014
Tuesday 25 February 2014
Some little snaps
Hola, I'm about to be called to the kitchen for brekkie (this seems to be a daily moment of fear - what will be on that table?! I will tell you more about this when I actually write something later), so for now, here are some random little photos which should have been attached to other posts! Лиза xx
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| This is when we actually had snow here, near to my old Babushka's |
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| This was an event recognising 70 years since the siege of Leningrad |
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| Frosty Palace Square |
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| Another cheeky plane photo |
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| No snow but still pretty chilly! Blocks of ice have been falling off buildings - always fun |
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| Just a few bags - only came with the suitcase! |
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| Wallpaper with St Petey's on… nice |
Sunday 9 February 2014
Babushka Number Two
Privyet :)
Well, as you may have guessed, this post will mostly introduce you to my new babushka. I feel it could be quite a long one and would very much recommend you go and get a cup of tea (or some borsch) if you are intending to get to the end of it.
Can't believe I haven't even been back for a week yet, it's been so busy here, but all is looking very good indeed for this term.
So. All I can say about Wednesday was that I felt like a very bad person - Babushka was very angry that I'd left it until two days before to tell her that I was moving (and that's fair enough I guess) and reeled off a list of tips for how I could be a better little girl for my next host as well as ways I had disappointed her, but then on Thursday things changed, she was all lovely and we left things on a good note, she even told me I could ring up for a chat or pop round for some tea if I liked (I would, of course, provide the tea as Russian tea is not the greatest).
My new babushka is quite a bit older than the first one and so far seems very funny, kind and generous. She greeted us with "I'm deaf, almost blind and a little bit silly" which I loved, although our first meeting is something I'd quite like to forget - as I tell you this next story I can assure you that I'll be cringing. Is that how you spell cringing?
Somehow, since moving here, my friend and I have acquired quite a lot of stuff, and that is an understatement. We had to take separate taxis to move flats. We got to the new place which is much more central, rang the doorbell, and our new babushka - a friendly and bald lady - came down to greet us. To our horror we discovered that there was no lift in the building as it is quite old, and we were on the fourth floor. Uh oh. So we left some of our bags downstairs and started taking others up, the babushka tried to help but was struggling, bless her, so we told her to wait for us in her flat. On our next trip up the stairs with luggage one of her neighbours came to help us out and I decided to strike up a conversation, just the standard "So do you live in these flats too? We're from England and are moving in upstairs" la la la. Strangely, when we had finished, this lady followed us into the flat and we both assumed she lived there too, but then, well, she took off her coat..and her wig…
There is nothing you can do in this situation to improve things right?
Moving on. Please.
When we first arrived and settled down for a snack in the kitchen with her I feel she tried to get her own back from this, erm, wig situation, by making me try this beetroot jelly she had which was her favourite (or so she had me believe) I went all out spreading it on my bread, took a big bite and I can honestly say that I thought my insides were being ripped out, it was that spicy. Struggled to reply to her question of whether or not I liked it, but with a smile on my face (not sure how) I said "hmm, it's okay - quite a strong flavour though".
A couple of the things she has said have made me chuckle to myself, the first one was "If I'm ever in a bad mood, just come in and tell me to sort myself out" closely followed by "I'll provide you with breakfast, of course, have it whatever time of day or night you like, but if I'm asleep don't wake me up, just help yourself to whatever - meat, dumplings, porridge etc".
The next day we had breakfast with her at about 12, all of us in pyjamas, loving life. I have been informed that tomorrow morning we'll be having chicken stir fry and rice before school. Not sure I'll be able to cope with that, but why not hey?!
Her flat is quite different to the old one, it's boiling in here for starters - I feel like bacon, which is horrible because I now keep thinking about bacon and missing it. But it sure is nice and toasty :). It also has wallpaper with the buildings of St Petersburg on it, now I think that is pretty cool.
Getting wifi was a bit of a struggle at first - when my friend asked her for the password she replied "I'm not too sure really, can't you try and guess it?" But alas, all that is sorted now and I am writing this blog from my new bedroom, which has a door. A DOOR :).
So, now onto the olympics (you're doing well if you're still with me here) It's quite exciting being in here while it's all going on, and, in Russian terms I'm not THAT far from Sochi (Google says 29 hours on foot, compared to the 111 hours to Yakutsk). I even saw a little dog wearing a tracksuit, what more could you want? (this reminds me a little bit of Bolivia <3)
Teaching is still a lot of fun, started tutoring a girl at her house and, after each lesson, her dad insists that I stay and have some caviar etc with them, winner winner.
Finally, I'll leave you with another embarrassing moment (like you need another one?!). There are sooo many flyerers in St Petersburg, especially in the centre, and I usually avoid being swamped with leaflets by saying in Russian "I don't understand, I'm English" (I know, it's sneaky), but for some reason, on our way out the other evening, this phrase did not come out well at all and I ended up saying "Sorry, I'm an English ladies" which made the guy laugh. A lot. He nearly fell over.
That's more than enough for this post, if you're a post sending person, don't send me anything to my old address please :) and if you're not a post sending person, send me some post :) hehe.
Joking.
But if you want to, I do love getting post.
Lots of love, I'll add some photos at some point.
xxx
Well, as you may have guessed, this post will mostly introduce you to my new babushka. I feel it could be quite a long one and would very much recommend you go and get a cup of tea (or some borsch) if you are intending to get to the end of it.
Can't believe I haven't even been back for a week yet, it's been so busy here, but all is looking very good indeed for this term.
So. All I can say about Wednesday was that I felt like a very bad person - Babushka was very angry that I'd left it until two days before to tell her that I was moving (and that's fair enough I guess) and reeled off a list of tips for how I could be a better little girl for my next host as well as ways I had disappointed her, but then on Thursday things changed, she was all lovely and we left things on a good note, she even told me I could ring up for a chat or pop round for some tea if I liked (I would, of course, provide the tea as Russian tea is not the greatest).
My new babushka is quite a bit older than the first one and so far seems very funny, kind and generous. She greeted us with "I'm deaf, almost blind and a little bit silly" which I loved, although our first meeting is something I'd quite like to forget - as I tell you this next story I can assure you that I'll be cringing. Is that how you spell cringing?
Somehow, since moving here, my friend and I have acquired quite a lot of stuff, and that is an understatement. We had to take separate taxis to move flats. We got to the new place which is much more central, rang the doorbell, and our new babushka - a friendly and bald lady - came down to greet us. To our horror we discovered that there was no lift in the building as it is quite old, and we were on the fourth floor. Uh oh. So we left some of our bags downstairs and started taking others up, the babushka tried to help but was struggling, bless her, so we told her to wait for us in her flat. On our next trip up the stairs with luggage one of her neighbours came to help us out and I decided to strike up a conversation, just the standard "So do you live in these flats too? We're from England and are moving in upstairs" la la la. Strangely, when we had finished, this lady followed us into the flat and we both assumed she lived there too, but then, well, she took off her coat..and her wig…
There is nothing you can do in this situation to improve things right?
Moving on. Please.
When we first arrived and settled down for a snack in the kitchen with her I feel she tried to get her own back from this, erm, wig situation, by making me try this beetroot jelly she had which was her favourite (or so she had me believe) I went all out spreading it on my bread, took a big bite and I can honestly say that I thought my insides were being ripped out, it was that spicy. Struggled to reply to her question of whether or not I liked it, but with a smile on my face (not sure how) I said "hmm, it's okay - quite a strong flavour though".
A couple of the things she has said have made me chuckle to myself, the first one was "If I'm ever in a bad mood, just come in and tell me to sort myself out" closely followed by "I'll provide you with breakfast, of course, have it whatever time of day or night you like, but if I'm asleep don't wake me up, just help yourself to whatever - meat, dumplings, porridge etc".
The next day we had breakfast with her at about 12, all of us in pyjamas, loving life. I have been informed that tomorrow morning we'll be having chicken stir fry and rice before school. Not sure I'll be able to cope with that, but why not hey?!
Her flat is quite different to the old one, it's boiling in here for starters - I feel like bacon, which is horrible because I now keep thinking about bacon and missing it. But it sure is nice and toasty :). It also has wallpaper with the buildings of St Petersburg on it, now I think that is pretty cool.
Getting wifi was a bit of a struggle at first - when my friend asked her for the password she replied "I'm not too sure really, can't you try and guess it?" But alas, all that is sorted now and I am writing this blog from my new bedroom, which has a door. A DOOR :).
So, now onto the olympics (you're doing well if you're still with me here) It's quite exciting being in here while it's all going on, and, in Russian terms I'm not THAT far from Sochi (Google says 29 hours on foot, compared to the 111 hours to Yakutsk). I even saw a little dog wearing a tracksuit, what more could you want? (this reminds me a little bit of Bolivia <3)
Teaching is still a lot of fun, started tutoring a girl at her house and, after each lesson, her dad insists that I stay and have some caviar etc with them, winner winner.
Finally, I'll leave you with another embarrassing moment (like you need another one?!). There are sooo many flyerers in St Petersburg, especially in the centre, and I usually avoid being swamped with leaflets by saying in Russian "I don't understand, I'm English" (I know, it's sneaky), but for some reason, on our way out the other evening, this phrase did not come out well at all and I ended up saying "Sorry, I'm an English ladies" which made the guy laugh. A lot. He nearly fell over.
That's more than enough for this post, if you're a post sending person, don't send me anything to my old address please :) and if you're not a post sending person, send me some post :) hehe.
Joking.
But if you want to, I do love getting post.
Lots of love, I'll add some photos at some point.
xxx
Tuesday 4 February 2014
Sooorpris!
(Surprise!)
Definitely just spent the weekend back in the best place to surprise my mama on her 50th, and it was so worth it, even though I'd only actually been back in mother Russia for like 10 days… thank you student finance for paying for this!
It was sooo nice to pop home, eat some strudel and see the fam, but alas, now it's time for the proper start of my term, which kicked off last night when I taught an English lesson after being stuck in the plane because the runway was too slippery, and then stuck in the longest queue of life at customs because Russian service isn't the best, and then being stuck on a bus because it was rush hour and then being stuck in the metro because I hadn't topped up my card (yeah that bit was probably my fault) so yes, I literally legged it to the class and gave my students some Cadbury's in the hope that they'd forgive my lateness…they did.
Anywhom, I landed in a very snowy St Petes which is now a very mushy St Petes after the temperature rose to 1 degree(!!!!) but people are loving life here - the ooshankas (big Russian hats) are out, as are even more ridiculous coats, all is fun.
I was greeted by my babushka's voice saying "Elizabet, I can't talk, I haven't got any clothes on" - wasn't quite expecting that I must say.
On that front, well, we are moving out on Thursday yippeeeee to live in a place in the city centre which is all very exciting, or at least it was very exciting until I had to tell the babushka… awks. She was very disappointed in me and a wee bit angry but I guess that was expected, hopefully she'll get some new students, and hopefully she'll be nice to them.
So yeah, MOVING OUT SOON :) which means I need to pack everything into the suitcase that it came in…which seems like an impossible task, and probably is.
I'll write a longer post soon, but I have a lot to be doing now, I will just leave you with this…
I just saw a man walking down the road in shorts and flip-flops. In the snow. In Russia.
Love xxx
Definitely just spent the weekend back in the best place to surprise my mama on her 50th, and it was so worth it, even though I'd only actually been back in mother Russia for like 10 days… thank you student finance for paying for this!
It was sooo nice to pop home, eat some strudel and see the fam, but alas, now it's time for the proper start of my term, which kicked off last night when I taught an English lesson after being stuck in the plane because the runway was too slippery, and then stuck in the longest queue of life at customs because Russian service isn't the best, and then being stuck on a bus because it was rush hour and then being stuck in the metro because I hadn't topped up my card (yeah that bit was probably my fault) so yes, I literally legged it to the class and gave my students some Cadbury's in the hope that they'd forgive my lateness…they did.
Anywhom, I landed in a very snowy St Petes which is now a very mushy St Petes after the temperature rose to 1 degree(!!!!) but people are loving life here - the ooshankas (big Russian hats) are out, as are even more ridiculous coats, all is fun.
I was greeted by my babushka's voice saying "Elizabet, I can't talk, I haven't got any clothes on" - wasn't quite expecting that I must say.
On that front, well, we are moving out on Thursday yippeeeee to live in a place in the city centre which is all very exciting, or at least it was very exciting until I had to tell the babushka… awks. She was very disappointed in me and a wee bit angry but I guess that was expected, hopefully she'll get some new students, and hopefully she'll be nice to them.
So yeah, MOVING OUT SOON :) which means I need to pack everything into the suitcase that it came in…which seems like an impossible task, and probably is.
I'll write a longer post soon, but I have a lot to be doing now, I will just leave you with this…
I just saw a man walking down the road in shorts and flip-flops. In the snow. In Russia.
Love xxx
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