Thanks mum.

Four blinchiki for breakfast (Tamara Aleksandrovna already knows they're my favourite) then four hours of grammar with Olga and a different Lena. They are both middle aged ladies with brown hair. Russian grammar is hard enough in an English classroom but it is even more of a headache here.

Most of us went to an outside biker bar down the road for a drink after class. It is on a street near Nekrasova, with three tables and a menu of microwave mini kolbasa pizzas, sausages or soup. I went to the town centre - ulitsa Kirova - on my own afterwards to find my way around, and walked around the 'rynok' (market) to buy some t-shirts and a jumper. It's busy and colourful, with hundreds of stalls selling cheap products or clothes. An Azeri trader gave me a pair of shoes as a present. There didn't seem to be a reason, apart from he was a Manchester United fan and my mum is from Manchester! An afternoon in the market is great practice for my Russian; traders flock around you, desperate for you to buy something, but despite my fake snakeskin gift I may stay in my Burton's loafers for a bit longer.

As I was walking home I bumped into Sarah from my course on ulitsa Svobody, and we "went for coffee" Yaroslavl style, which is buying a bottle of water from a kiosk on the street and sitting in a trolleybus stop. It was good to get to know her better; we're planning a night out on saturday to celebrate our first week here.

'Shchi' (vegetable soup) for tea, then I walked to another internet club, which is only five minutes from Tolbukhina and on my way back from the language school. I have done my homework already so I will probably watch a Russian film on my laptop this evening.

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