A breath of fresh air.

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Another useless lesson with Zhanna to start my day. After lunch there was a grammar class with Elena. The exercises weren't bad but they were of the type I have done a hundred times before.

At the university we are spoken to as outsiders, not linguists. A linguist is always trying to improve his language; a foreigner is judged on his mistakes. Never good for the self-esteem, which is so important when studying languages.

Natalia our RLUS rep has come to Tver for two days. Myself Michael and Tamzin showed her around the town this afternoon and talked about the course. She found work in Moscow after she graduated so it was useful for me to talk to her about life in the big city and the best way to find a job. I think she enjoyed coming to the provinces, where the air is clean and where you can buy three scoops of praline Baskin Robbins ice-cream for the price of one in the capital. It is always the right weather for morozhenoe, even when it is minus 10 outside.

The political system in Russia is no longer Communist, but some of its' methods for keeping power away from the average man still remain. For example I have no radio in my flat - but I do have a speaker on top of the fridge, which I can turn on if I want to listen to the station which has been pre-chosen for me. Central heating is still state controlled, so not even the owners of the obshezhitie can decide what temperature the rooms are.

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Photos

Changes.
Building circa 1800s, car circa 1950 and 'bi-lain' mobile phone advert on the lamp-post circa 2002.