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

Back to the Babushka

Happpyy New Year! Hope you've had a really lovely time, I sure did, but somehow I am already back in the Motherland unpacking (or clearly not) and wondering what this term will bring.

My four weeks at home were most definitely needed and it has been so so good to see friends and have time with the fam, I did plan to do my log sheets for Exeter (should've done quite a few by now, but can't I just give them the blog?!) and actually keep up my Russian, but hey, I did other things on my to-do list like eating lots of Cadburys (and brought half the factory back with me) so all is not lost. I also got to go back to Exeter which was really nice, apart from when I was served gherkins with my meal at a restaurant…erm…I needed a break from Russia for a reason.

I found myself being surprised by little things in England, like how easy it is to cross the road, how supermarkets work and how it actually gets light before 11am - all very odd and possibly a sign that I was quite settled into the Russian life!?

So school doesn't actually start until next Monday which gives me some time to get back into things, start teaching again and see some friends, oh and hopefully remember how to speak Russian.

My babushka greeted me with a big smile and a hug(!!) and it was genuinely lovely to see her again, the second thing she said to me was that I should've been wearing a hat, and well, for once I agree - it was -13 and I wasn't prepared. Not sure how long we'll be staying here for as it is far from the centre etc, but I have learnt a lot from her and would probably miss her if we moved (yes, it is true). I also would really struggle with telling her I was moving out, so if any of you would like that task you are welcome to come to Russia and help me out, or you could have my room and stay here for the rest of the year, yes that would be ideal.

Although I didn't want to leave Inglaterra yesterday it does feel good to be back in this little land and I'm looking forward to the term.

I'll get back to the unpacking now - after taking out the 37th hairbrush from my suitcase and having a minor panic that I haven't brought back any trousers, I have come to the conclusion that no matter how hard I try, I will probably never be good at packing.

Lots of love, hope you enjoy reading round two :)

Лиза xxx

Landing in London

Пока!

So, I just ate all the remaining choccies out of my advent calendar, that can only mean one thing….I'm coming home tomorrow eeeeeeek :)

Has been SUCH a good 4 months but I am so looking forward to Christmas times at home. I love this little place and I already know it's gonna feel so odd being back - just got out the English money I have here with me, were notes always so small and stubby and coins so heavy?!

This week has mostly been exams (I passed wooooo), saying some goodbyes, eating ridiculous amounts of chocolate, watching many films, being told off by an old lady on the metro, oh and accidentally setting fire to my babushka's oven gloves. After lots of nagging, I finally packed up my room and took down our Christmas decorations, feels oddly sad to be leaving, but ROLL ON CHRISTMAS TIMES, cannot wait, or sit still for that matter.

lots of Лиза love, see you in England!!

xxx

Moskva

Oh hello,
Had a lovely lovely snowy time in Moscow this weekend (it felt more like Narnia if I'm honest), and definitely disagree with the people who say one time in the capital is enough, but, of course, it's got nothing on St Peteys (although this city does need to sort itself out, minus ten but pathetic snow, what's going on?!).
So, the highlight of the weekend for me has got to be ice skating on Red Square, so much fun, I'm still in one piece and so is everyone who was skating near me (phew), it was just incredible to be right there by a snowy St Basils, the Kremlin, Christmas market etc etc. The only down point was seeing the three-year-olds skate past doing spins and other things I've only ever seen on 'Dancing on Ice', ah well maybe one of them could teach me.

We also went inside the Kremlin after spending about a year finding the ticket office, oh Russia (signs are very much lacking in this country and getting lost features highly in my life), but it was totally worth it, despite not seeing Putin. Oh, but I did see Lenin so all is not lost…surreal. Back to being lost… the 'hotel 'we stayed in was cheapy cheap and we knew there would be a catch - they lied about how near it was to the metro stop (15 minutes was more like 25, and in the deep snow this was more like 40) so we tried different methods of getting there/back each time. On one occasion we managed to get on the totally wrong trolleybus (don't know how this went so badly) which was just taking us in a big ring around the residential areas…after about half an hour I thought I'd check with the driver about when we'd arrive at a metro, he said we never would and would tell us when we were within walking distance to one (ended up being dropped off very near to our hotel) the driver asked us a lot of questions about where we were from etc and then gave us each some sweeties as he felt sorry for our failure of a journey. Well, actually...I still don't know if they were in fact sweeties as he seemed overly kind for a bus driver here and I didn't wanna risk it being my gullible self in the middle of nowhere.
Anywhom, the hotel wasn't awful, and it included a free breakfast so you can't complain. Unless you don't really like the buffet selection of muesli, tomato ketchup, sour cream, mayonnaise, peas and questionable porridge.

Actually, I have a fair bit to say about questionable porridge as the standards are definitely slipping here on that front. Take these examples…

This one could be held upside down above your head, just to give you an idea

One thing that Moscow has to offer which St Peteys does not is Dunkin' Donuts, now I'm definitely missing all the goodness of British puddings, but when you're midway through one of these, all that goes away, yum. (I may or may not have eaten three in one day).

While I'm on the subject of british food (CANNOT WAIT), the lady who was sleeping on the shelf above me on the night train back to Peteys came and sat down, casually got a Tesco's chicken and stuffing sandwich out of her bag and put it on the table… I just glanced between her and the sandwich etc like I was watching tennis (actually, no, I don't care all that much for tennis, but you get the gist) I then asked her where on earth she got this from and it turns out she was an unusual Russian who loves British food and was on her way back from London and proceeded to pull out mince pies, pasties and BACON from her bag and said in a jokey way "this is all for me, no sharing" only, it wasn't jokey, she did not share. Not that I blame her. Well.

Now onto last week in Peteys - I had a (fairly successful) haircut! I won't lie, the technique used to dry my hair was a new one and I did look like a cross between a poodle and a mushroom when she finished with me, but I am not bald, so all is not lost (quite literally, ha ha). I like to think I'm quite the actor now after situations like these where acting is all I have, maybe I'm doing the wrong degree.

The winter coat competition is in full swing here, it has become my game when I am on the metro on my own, and there have been some great contenders - one time I actually thought a lady had a small dog on her head, and it seems that as the weather gets cooler (I found an icicle in my hair the other day - proof), the coats become more and more fascinating. On the other hand, all of the women here are still wearing six-inch heels and gracefully walk along the icy streets, I am wearing sensible boots yet still manage to slip up every now and again which I try to turn into a skip I was trying to do on purpose (feel a lot like Miranda at these times).

I like to think that by now my Russian isn't as pathetic as it was when I first arrived, but it does appear that I have a very strange accent when I speak it - in the space of three days I have been asked if I am Slovakian, German and Italian, how do I take this?

Well, this has been a shambles of a blog as usual, hope you're not lost in it somewhere.

See you in less than two weeks my friends. 2 little weeks. (I should probably find out how to get to the airport sometime soon)

Love,

Лиза

xxxx

Porridge

Hello :)
IT'S DECEMBER TOMORROW! (I'm a little bit excited for Christmas, can you tell? I may or may not be watching Love Actually as I write this, is that acceptable?)
Even though Russians don't celebrate Christmas until the 7th Jan, the streets are starting to light up and there are huge Christmas trees on Nevsky Prospect (the main street) which are gorgeous. Add a bit of snow to the scene and it's a lovely place to be! Still, really can't wait to be home now, roll on roastdinnersfishandchipscurrybaconsausagesanwichfullenglishcupsofteacakebiscuitscadburyscobbler oh and seeing family and friends, eeeee :)

Anywhom, things are going pretty well here, coped in -4 so there is hope for me! Our babushka is in a fairly good mood but told me that I need to work on my pronunciation of some sounds so that Russians won't think I'm a foreigner (this will never happen, ever) but anyway, she chose breakfast time to give me a masterclass. Apparently I was getting it all wrong, but it was quite the stressful situation as she was constantly switching between "quick eat your porridge, it's getting cold" and "say this word, now this one, come on!" what does a girl do in this situation? I've always been told not to talk with my mouth full, and even so, pronouncing new sounds is quite difficult with a mouth full of porridge.

I don't have much exciting news for you from the last few weeks I'm afraid. Still very much enjoying life here, teaching is a lot of fun and I'm not skiving TOO many lessons at school so that's always a positive. Went to the cinema here for the first time last week to see the 'Hungry Games" as it's called here! I really enjoyed it but it took a while to get used to the dubbing (at points I tried to lipread to work out what was actually going on - need to work on that skill) Turns out cinemas are cheaper than home and have really comfy reclining seats, might go back there when I need a good nap.

I've decided it's high time I had a haircut and next week will be the week! I am very much hoping I select the correct vocabulary and do not come back looking ridiculous...wish me luck!

Potentially off to Moscow next weekend, but we'll see!
Hope all is well and that you're excited for Christmas time too!

Лиза xx

Estonia

Privyet :)

Yep it's been a little while but we did return from Estonia on Saturday as planned so don't worry,  I wasn't stuck there all this time. (I may or may not have forgotten the password to my own blog, whoopsie, turns out it's not good to rely on the "remember my password" button). Hope you've had a lovely week - now that I get Fridays off I keep forgetting that other people in the world don't share my three day weekend and the weeks seem to go past so quickly, I'll be home in 5ish weeks, craziness!

Tallinn (the capital of Estonia) is a gorgeous little place, we spent a few days wandering around the medieval old town (stunning) and other parts of the city, visiting some museums (yep I've changed), having a tour on a little train complete with  Russian schoolchildren singing songs the entire time, and just having a fun little time in Europe - EUROPE! It felt that little bit closer to home - people all spoke a bit of Russian and English so all was good on the language front, and I found squash and hobnobs so I was very happy indeed. Discovering a bit of the history of Estonia was also so so interesting, I learned loads and would definitely recommend reading a bit about it. After all the hassle of crossing the border on a coach, entering into St Peteys felt like we'd come home, and it was such a strange but lovely feeling. (Don't get me wrong, it's never gonna feel like Birmingham, but I'm feeling nicely settled!)

Reading week went very quickly as expected but it was a nice break from the Russian grammar lessons which were causing my brain to explode slightly. This last week back at school was quite a shock, and I definitely massively overslept on the second day back, however I would like to add that recently the sun has only been making an appearance at 10am each day which is a bit unkind if you ask me and causes much confusion! The cold weather has returned and the array of winter coats I've witnessed people wearing has been very impressive, I am very temped to start a separate blog displaying 'coat of the week', but I feel the Russian ladies wouldn't appreciate this - one babushka pushed me half way down the train on the metro the other day, so taking a photo of them may be out of the question. Hmph. 

Talking of babushkas, or 'buskers' as my Nan has started calling them (Hello Nanny :)) mine has been very (worryingly) friendly and pleasant since we've returned from Estonia - to the extent of baking us her version of apple pie ('piroggi' in Russian, what a word!) and various soups which I must say were all very yummy! I am not lying. So happiness all round. We did make her banana cake a while ago which she didn't seem to like - she didn't lie like we would in Britain and say 'how lovely', she just tasted it, kind of huffed and took it to her room then returned without it - very funny. However, we left the rest of the cake on the table that night and her husband snuck in and ate a fair bit of it, so we know someone's a fan and all is not lost! 

Today we went to the zoo. It was fun. Not sure how some of the animals find the Russian winter - surely African animals can't adapt that easily!? And it was really sad to see how little room some of them were given - the lions and leopards were pacing up and down their enclosures and looked a little bit angry - I've never been nervous in a zoo before but I was slightly today (The railings separating people from animals didn't fill me with confidence). Adding to this was that the walls to some of the enclosures which said 'very dangerous' on them seemed nowhere near tall enough, I'm sure some ambitious animals could do a run-up and jump straight over.. hmm. One of the best parts of the zoo were the little cats wandering about, they just popped in and out of other animals' enclosures - definitely looked into the kangaroo section and spotted one, and another in with the monkeys! When one peeped its head into the grizzly bear enclosure I was quite worried and could imagine Crunchie doing something similar.

Also, I have to add that I saw an alpaca today which felt somewhat odd as I was expecting to see some of those in Bolivia but never did - who knew I'd have more luck with that in Russia?!

That's enough blog for today, 

Much love,

Лиза xx

Town square

Museums

Old streets

Old streets

Town walls

Funny looking wallaby

Feeling all Christmassy now

Cat having a cheeky play in someone else's enclosure

Alpaca yay!

Back soon!

This is probably one of the shortest blog posts of life. Sorry to disappoint.
We're going to Estonia tomorrow :) (if we don't have another Moscow-style disaster) and I promise I will update you properly when I return on Saturday.
Love, Лиза x

P.S. Here are some photos to make me feel less guilty about such a short post.

Olympic Torch in Peteys

Russian malted milks - yes they are yummy and yes I had a cheeky nibble before I even took the photo.

Pushkin chilling in the metro station

Here are some photos of this model 'village' of the whole of Russia (things you find after about 10 rainy days in a row!) It was stunning with moving vehicles and people, night-time/day-time effects, lights,  noises and many other fun things (aimed at children but so good!) and I have loads more photos I can show you when I'm back in Inglattera if you'd like to see them! It's hard to describe the sheer size of this model, but, just think about the size of Russia and the size of play-mobil trees and you're nearly there.