Back to school.

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After a breakfast of blini s medom, or pancakes with honey, I followed the map to Yartek for my first day of lessons. Before they started the class compared notes on our landladies. We can't quite understand why they behave towards us as English grans do with toddlers, but we're here to learn about Russian culture - and for all of us all the attention is very welcome!

Chris J got his verbs mixed up last night, and instead of saying he wanted to go to the bathroom for a shave he said he wanted to go to the bathroom "to smash things"!

I told them that I had got out of the shower this morning and put my towel on the line to dry, got dressed, and when I turned round Tamara Aleksandrovna had taken it down and started cutting it into three strips with scissors. I didn't understand her reason so I still have absolutely no idea why.

We each had a ten minute conversation in another room with six teachers, to put us into three groups according to how good our Russian is. I'm in the second group with Elizabeth, Clare, Chiara, Chris U (all studying at London University) and Bhavina (Sheffield). I'm the only one not to have been to Russia before. There is no sense of 'I'm not as good as him' or 'she's much worse than me' and everyone gets on really well.

My first teacher is Larissa. She's tall, slim and has short peroxide blonde hair with a blue patch at the front. We went through newspapers and spoke about the media, and she wrote down new words in chalk on a 20th century style blackboard. She also told us about some of the places to go at night.

There's a tea break at mid-day where the groups get together, and today we met the people who would be teaching wood-carving, balalaika (folk guitar) and painting after lessons. I would like to learn to play the guitar but haven't made my mind up yet. I spoke to Nina the painter for half an hour and felt almost comfortable speaking Russian. Simply being here and hearing it everywhere you go, you take so much in without appreciating it.

Dinner was meat and salad, with water, milk, tea, coffee and more coffee. I tried to find the internet café afterwards but ended up getting lost on a street I'd never been to - as I spend most of my free time doing at the moment. I had turned right at the top of ulitsa Nekrasova instead of left, and ended up a mile away from where I wanted to be, staring at the big crossroads where the Lenin memorial stands, where the House of Culture should have been. Streets look so different to the ones I'm used to walking down, it's hard to tell them apart. And I don't know any landmarks yet which means I never know which direction I'm walking in. I looked at some Russian mobile phones in a shop, but I can't buy one without a passport so until the language school gives it back to me I'll have to make do with window shopping.

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Photos

Dawn, Precious, Sarah and Chris W
Russian grammar keeps us confused even during break times!