Well I drank away the cold. Or, as a Russian would put it ‘I lost my problems in vodka’, an excellent solution! Firmin, my neighbour, came round and we had a few bevies and watched some English TV which I brought with me on my laptop. Excellent cure. Today we had a test (no, I wasn’t hung-over) and I think I did OK. After school we took a mashrutka to Nevsky Prospekt, the main street in Piter. I was in the money seat on the mashrutka which is the seat behind the driver. Whoever sits here has to collect the money from the passengers and pay the driver. I’ve managed to avoid that seat until now, but it went perfectly smoothly! Blonde Tatiana, our media teacher, was on the mashrutka and seemed very impressed! I didn’t ... read more

This morning was foggy and rainy and the metro was more rammed than usual. Luckily I was squashed between two fitties which made for cheap thrills. Not sure if they saw it the same way. Still, everyone was in the same boat. Or train, so to speak. Another horrific queue for the mashrutka has put me in mind to arrive ten minutes earlier and walk tomorrow, weather and organisation depending. Today we had phonetics with Nina. As usual, she was very enthusiastic, but I can’t help feeling that focusing on nuances of the language for 2 out of 10 lessons a week would be better spent improving our basics - like trying to buy metro tickets! After another very difficult translation lesson with Oleg we went for lunch in the little Georgian café around the corner ... read more

Once again, up at 8! It has certainly dropped a few degrees. Even the locals are wearing thicker coats now and my breath was steaming this morning. Today was the first day of our new timetable, which meant that we had different teachers for different subjects and were given our syllabi. They have certainly cranked the pressure up a bit now - the lessons today were much harder! After school we went for lunch in a café that Leanne, Debs and Nathan had discovered yesterday on Vasilievskiy Island, which was very nice. Afterwards half of the group went home while Leanne, Tom, Nathan and I headed for ‘Kunst Kammer’, which is technically known as the anthropological museum, but better known as Peter the first’s personal freak show of strange things. Sounded excellent, but as it was ... read more

Ekatarina goes away at the weekend to her Dacha, or summer-house, where her husband, Volodya, is currently working / chilling out. This does give me the run of the flat for the weekend which is very welcome indeed. Russian babushkii insist upon a made bed and an absolutely pristine room - everything in its place. So this weekend I wandered around the flat in my boxers, left everything all over the place, didn’t make my bed and farted in the kitchen. Aaah. I’m easily pleased. I met up with Nathan and Tom (both students from my course in Manc) at Baltiskaya station with the view of visiting Peterhof if the weather was up to it. Which it wasn’t. So, we decided to check out St. Isaac’s cathedral instead. This building is another must-see if you ever ... read more

This morning I was up at 8 to get ready for a meeting at the school. I had a really good shower and a shave while Ekatarina made blini, sort of small pancakes. These ones looked like spring rolls but weren’t as crunchy and had a ground meat inside. Suited me fine. She insisted that I also eat a yoghurt and drink copious amounts of tea while she chatted with me about students who had stayed in the past. One guy, called Will, I already don’t like: “Will never went to bars and spent his free time studying”, “Will was always back nice and early”, “Will this, Will that”. Well good for Will. I too intend to study, but the whole reason that I am here and not in Manchester is to experience the culture of ... read more