Blogs from Tver, Centre, Russia, Europe - page 6

In the literature lesson today we talked about Gogol's 'Shinel', and after the break read through a piece of paper about essay-writing technique. I will always be a lazy student, and spending evenings doing essays is one thing I cannot stand. After classes I asked Lyudmila Giorgevna if four of us could be excused from lessons tomorrow. Maybe another weekend road trip will shake some of the lethargy away - we have found a town, but have no idea where we will be staying while we are there. Some of Yulia's friends came to visit this evening. Vitalii knew everything about English football - including the songs of all the big teams which he loved singing to me - and Maksim was his quieter, sadder sidekick. We sat in Yulia's kitchen drinking coffee, until Ella called ... read more

Another quiet, and perhaps slow, day. Tuuli and Jonathan became Oksana and Aleksei for the first lesson. We sat at the front of the classroom in our roles as pretend television researchers and asked the class our questions. In fact I have been thinking about looking for a job somewhere in the Moscow media when I return to Russia. At lunchtime the unknown woman was still listening in, as I talked to Natalia from the obshezhitie reception phone. She said "allo?" a few times again - didn't answer me as I said "allo" back - then there were some loud clicks as she tried to make a phone call of her own. So much for spring arriving and buying a lighter coat. The temperature has fallen to minus 9 and the wind blowing down ulitsa Trekhsvyatskaya ... read more

I had more luck at the market this afternoon without Yulia to distract me. On the street it was much colder than yesterday, and there was a strong wind blowing wet snow into my face. The sky has turned dark grey again which makes everything seem more unhappy. I turned right at the end of the rows of tables and stalls, into one of the parts of the market that is just for clothes. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a black corduroy coat with a wool trim, and asked the man in the stall if I could try it on. When he said it would set me back three 500 rouble notes I didn't complain or try to haggle, so relieved was I to have found something to wear. He stored the ... read more

Our friday excursion this week was something slightly different. We walked in double file half an hour from the obshezhitie, to the Z.A.O-Hleb bread factory on ulitsa Chaikovskovo. Industry is a huge business in Russia; every type of juice, milk, meat or bread that is not imported arrives in supermarkets from factories in little-known industrial towns, many in Siberia and to the east. First we went upstairs to leave our coats and bags, and to get kitted out for the trip to the factory floor. No blue plastic-bag shoes were needed this week, but each of us was handed a light blue knee-length cotton smock and a blue shower cap, to be worn at all times. A warm, cheerful blonde lady showed us around. She greeted us with a big loaf of brown bread - fresh ... read more

Aleksandr Ivanovich taught us this afternoon. I'm not looking to become a translator - why spend days huddled over a book and a dictionary when there in Rossiya outside your window? - but it's obvious that I will get nowhere without at least some of the skills, and his lessons have the best structure to them. With all the snow turning into puddles in front of my eyes it's impossible even to walk to the end of ulitsa Zhelyabova without getting my trousers wet up to the knees. I ran out of clean clothes today, so I had to go to the basement to use the hostel washing machine for the first time. It is probably older than I am, and not very user-friendly. I stuffed as many socks and shirts into it as I could, ... read more