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Published: January 28th 2006
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I went out with Katya last night after our rehearsal at the school. I turned up at her courtyard soaking wet, having slipped on some ice on the step outside and fallen head-first into a pile of snow!
We took the tram to the cinema but the next film wasn't until midnight, so we stayed in the bar for an hour. Katya examined our tram ticket to see if it would bring us luck; if the first two numbers add up to more than the last two then it is a good sign. And, lo and behold, this evening they did.
The Rodina cinema is attractive, with comfy sofas and photographs of Hollywood stars on the walls. My search for an aptly named cocktail was successful this time; A Big Ben is an acquired taste - whisky, lemon juice and Malibu. We walked home in the snow, Katya laughing at me for being so enchanted by it. Her mum has offered to help me choose a coat, but if I buy one now I won't have anything warmer when it gets colder still.
Minus 4 this morning, which meant an extra blinchik for breakfast and Tamara Aleksandrovna blocking the doorway until I had put a hat on! The pavements are white with trampled snow and it's ankle deep where no-one has walked.
Viktor taught us about single parent families today, continuing our theme of Russian social problems. For the first half it was hard to concentrate because walking off the cold street into a very warm classroom made my head ache. His lessons don't help my Russian that much but it's good to learn about the country's culture as well. Lena taught us in the afternoon. We have almost worked through our textbook and my grammar is twice as good now as at the start. I'm starting to get really cross when I make a mistake, which is still quite often. She says that it will rain again soon and wash the snow away, before the proper stuff comes in a few weeks.
After classes we went to get our spektakl outfits from the theatre. It's the same people lending us our costumes who provided for the play that I went to see on sunday. When my turn came I was taken to a dark room on the second floor, man-handled into a butler's jacket by our director Natasha and another woman, shouted at for some reason then firmly pushed out of the door before I had said a word. I will be wearing felt boots called valenki, but I have to share Precious' size eights because there was a mix-up at the factory. So as well as being uncomfortable mine have pink flowers on them!
I asked Natasha Safronova how she knew my sizes when she hadn't measured me. "Jonathan, I know everything". Jamie lives with her, and can confirm that she does
Then I had to walk to a camera shop to get passport pictures made to extend my visa. I thought using a photo kiosk might be difficult, but I needn't have worried. I was pointed to a room instead where a young lady told me to take my coat off and sit in a chair. She positioned me with my hands on my thighs, shoulders straight and my head up, then came towards me with a camera and took three photos, to be collected in an hour. The lady at the counter didn't think I would know how to say "a hundred roubles" so she twisted her computer screen around and pointed at the price. It's so patronising when situations lime that happen (they often do) but at least she meant well.
I went across the street to the travel agents afterwards to buy my ticket to Moscow. My train leaves at 7 next wednesday morning and I get back to Yaroslavl at lunchtime on sunday. I chose first class for a hundred roubles more so I hope I'll be able to do my homework in comfort on the way.
There's no rehearsal today but the people with speaking parts decided to go to the Swedish café (that makes the good hot chocolates) and practice our lines over some hot drinks. I'm sure the other customers were wondering why eight young people were talking like 19th century aristocracy - and when their Marquis was going to turn up!
There's no time to do Anya's translation before tomorrow, but I will at least look up the unknown words tonight.
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