Play time.

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It's a bit warmer than yesterday; the ulitsa Svobody thermometer said 4 degrees this morning. I left the flat in my grey woolly hat. As Tamara Aleksandrovna was letting me out of the door she adjusted the peak from over my right eye so that it was in the centre. Has she never seen MTV?

In Viktor's class we took the roles of psychologists, to discuss the problems in the marriages of two fictional couples. I wanted to talk as much as possible but some of my ideas were hard to explain even in English. With Lena we finished cases and moved on to 'aspect' - the difference between "I was writing a letter" and "I wrote a letter". Like all the students I'm feeling run down after eight weeks of classes and play rehearsals every night, but the week after next is a holiday. I couldn't get my multi-entry visa in time (or rather I forgot to apply for one!) so my plan to go to my friend Anastasiya in Ukraine can't happen. Her cousin lives in Moscow, so my new plan A is to meet her there, stay in their flat for two days, talk a lot of Russian, buy a hundred sandwiches to take back then spend the rest of the week in Yaroslavl. Some of us are going to Ekaterinburg, some to Volgograd and some to Velikii Novgorod.

With winter not far away I keep discovering I need things. I went to the market again this afternoon to explore, and to look for gloves. There still weren't any I liked, but the women that tried to sell me Chris's jacket found me again. Had I forgotten them? It was our second meeting, why hadn't I brought them any chocolates! One asked me if it was fashionable in England to wear your jeans so low. I said yes, but the reason my boxers were showing was also because I lent out my white belt at the 'Rubik cube' party and it got lost somewhere. She told me to stay where I was, then dashed round the market to find me a belt for 600 roubles. I didn't want to buy any of the three she came back with, then tried - and failed - to explain the idea of wanting one that clipped into place without buckles! I still look foreign with my school bag, but as soon as people learn I'm here to study not sight-see they really want to talk to me.

I went to the book shop, Dom Knigi on ulitsa Kirova to get a street map of Moscow and also bought a collection of plays and short stories by Evgenii Grishkovets. He's a contemporary author but I only know him as the bar owner at the end of Alexei Uchitel's 'Progulka' who makes the film so memorable. His writing style isn't too complicated and there's a variety of pieces, all about modern Russia. If only I had time to start reading it.

There was another rehearsal tonight, at the place where the production will take place. It's on saturday evening not friday, and my 'theatre' is in fact a primary school classroom, with the audience sat on the floor of the same room taking up most of the space!

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Photos

The Church next to ulitsa Kirova.
And next to the market.