After an actual age I am finally back, and so is the blog!
I genuinely don't know where to start with this one, so much has happened, but also so little - just had a two week flop at home, much needed but also made me very conscious that I only have four weeks left in this lovely land, eeeeeek, you would think that after 8 months in a place you would have done your bucket list, but alas, I haven't finished writing my list. A list. That's what I'll do! Here is a list of what's been going down since my last post.
1. My mother and brother came for a visit - it was a lot of fun. Aside from the fact that it actually took forEVER to find the 'hotel' they were in - literally a person's flat and had no signage whatsoever, I do feel like finding it was one of the great achievements in my life. Anyways, it was lovely to show them a a bit of the motherland, introduce them to my babushka (big moment!), get them lost on numerous occasions -not forgetting the Hermitage - and also go to Swan Lake on Ice (yes that's a thing!) and the opera which was amazing, who knew I could be so sophisticated?! (does this compensate for the time my water bottle exploded on me on the bus and I had to walk home with a massive wet patch on my jeans and a old man pointing and laughing at me?! please say yes.) But yes, it was great having visitors and taking them to some of my fave places. Another good thing about having visitors was the huge amount of chocolate and treats that my mum managed to bring me…she definitely has a big role to play in keeping Cadbury World in business.
Okay so this is basically just normal paragraphs!
2. Some friends from uni came to visit (here's my big shout out to Emma and Alex, HIII!) Their efforts at speaking Russian really were impressive and we had lots of laughs, so funny to see how newcomers see the city as I don't feel like a tourist anymore!
3. The white nights are on their way - it's currently midnight and still not pitch black outside! Tourist season is just starting to kick in and the place really is gorgeous.
4. I've done a lot of teaching English, who knew I could blag so much about English grammar?! - I do really enjoy teaching until a student asks me whether an uncountable noun can be countable in some situations, needless to say my lessons with beginners reading The Three Little Pigs are slightly less stressful! Also, sharing M&S Percy Pigs with a class always goes down well! 'If in doubt, share food' has to be a good motto in life.
5. Summer came and went - had a beautiful couple of weeks with gorgeous gorgeous sunshine, St Peteys couldn't have been prettier... and then boom came some more snow! This caused a 'total wipeout' style situation where, for a couple of days, icicles were falling down all over the place, but at the same time the road sweepers had these sideways hose things going on and pedestrians were hopping around all over the place. Very funny until a whole block of snow fell down off a roof right in front of me!
6. Babushka has been really making me giggle, gonna mis her! The other day she was shouting "Liza, Liza, come quickly" in a way that made me worried she'd fallen over, I ran to her only to see her standing there with a new wig on twirling around and asking me whether it suited her! The only babushka moment that tops this one would have to be when she came into my room and asked me which one of her cheeks was bigger than the other! She also used some of my rent money to buy me some plants and comes into my room daily to check up on them which she finds very exciting - I often get a report on their progress!
7. Victory Day. This is by far the biggest public holiday in Russia, full of parades, flowers, banners, flags, costumes and singing. Such a good time to be in this beautiful land, it all felt so very Russian! The constant rain in no way dampened the spirits, with all sorts of events going on across St Peteys and the country.
Hope this finds you well and gives you a bit of an idea of what I've been up to lately, or at least reassures you that I am still here! I will post photos as soon as I can.
Lots of love,
Лиза xx
