Blogs from Russia, Europe - page 292

As I was on my way out this morning I bumped into Kseniya in the lounge. I hadn't spoken any proper Russian for about a week so it was good to have a conversation again. When I sat down to write some more of my essay I realised something. My brain hasn't fully realised how much my Russian has progressed since September, and I am still used to thinking that I will struggle for things to say when I don't any more. If the essay was 5000 words in English and not 3000 in Russian I am convinced I would have finished by now, instead of procrastinating over a couple of hundred. The barriers that stop me working are now much smaller; maybe that is why I enjoy speaking so much more than writing, as it ... read more

I felt as jaded today as my diary writing must seem. It was the first day that I had set aside to start writing my essay, so I spent the afternoon sat by my kitchen table with a pad of paper, a pen and my books. Getting started is always the hardest part; I wrote a decent introduction, then re-wrote it, then changed my title slightly and made a better plan. Although I need to finish it (2700 words left) before I go to Ukraine I still procrastinate, so every 20 words or so I would find something to eat or tidy the table. The weather was too warm to stay in all day so I went for a walk in the evening to clear my head. The sky was clear blue, and all the water ... read more

Lyudmila Giorgevna gave a lecture about religion this morning. Her friday classes are always interesting but never too formal, perhaps a way to get everyone into a good mood before the weekend. All the international students at Tv.G.U sit around a table in the middle of a classroom and listen for an hour without taking any notes. Every five minutes or so she loses her train of thought and moves on to talking about something else, which comfortingly is usually how we are all feeling. Russia is a religious country. Many old people kept the Russian Orthodox faith through the years when it was forbidden and still go to church regularly, as do a lot of young people. Islam is the national religion of the former Soviet republics in the south, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, where many ... read more

Literature class isn't compulsory so I had a lie-in until 11. Since Kazan I have been feeling very weak and tired all the time, and sleeping and eating more isn't making a difference. I fall asleep most evenings at about 9 and wake up an hour later, which means I miss the best part of every day. A trip to see Helen in Moscow on saturday should give me some of my energy back, so I can make the most of my last three weeks in Russia. I don't want to let them pass me by, although there isn't much I want to do any more. In the afternoon lesson we were allowed to work on our own towards our 'referat'. It is a big essay that influences our marks at the end of the course. ... read more

In Zhanna's lesson we watched one of my favourite films, Vozvraschenie. No-one else had seen it before so I was ordered not to give the ending away. At lunchtime Aleksandr Ivanovich took some of us 15 minutes out of town on a trolleybus, to see a gala at the Tverkskaya oblast' House of Culture. About a hundred children from schools all over the region had prepared songs or sketches. Before the curtain went up the woman in charge of the event gave a very long and clichéd welcome speech, then a monk in a long red robe came up onto the stage to bless everyone. It was the type of performance where you needed to be related to one of the children to enjoy it. They were all very brave for being so confident in a ... read more