Too much to ask?

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I was woken up at 8 o'clock by Tamara Aleksandrovna banging on my door. Still half asleep I opened it.

"Pack your suitcase and get out."

The reason, I can barely believe, is that the bathroom flooded during the night because I left a tap running and she is tired of me being irresponsible. After so much exercise at the skating rink I slept from midnight right until the morning - it is impossible that the leak was my fault. Nevertheless I had no time to say anything. I put all my possessions into my case by 9.15, the time I would normally have packed just my school bag.

Without a goodbye Tamara Aleksandrovna's back was already turned, as I got into the taxi she had ordered even before I was woken up. My first six weeks with her are a good memory, for all her eccentricities and over-friendliness. The next six have been hard; I have needed more independance and respect and received none. She is a kind woman as I have already said, but for all her hospitality she has seen little else in me besides dollar signs. I will miss the Tolbukhina neighbourhood more than her.

I arrived at Yartek and put everything in the staff room. I hadn't eaten, washed or shaved and none of my clothes are clean.

Valentina Ivanovna the secretary, Boris Aleksandrovich the language school owner and Natalya Wobst our representative in Moscow already knew that I had been made to leave, literally hours before me. I sat on a sofa for half an hour while Valentina Ivanovna made some phone calls on the behalf of "her little troublemaker". She found a hozyaika with a spare room on ulitsa Bolshaya Oktyabr'skaya. I will move in later today with a lady called Irina, whose awful cooking and bad temper are part of the reason that Chris U is flying home tomorrow.

I went for a walk to the factory on ulitsa Pobedy to clear my head and to drop my laundry off. I got soaked with rain and even more angry. I sat in Viktor's class for the last twenty minutes but I couldn't concentrate on the work. Viktor was very kind to me, as he always has been.

More news after lunch. I will be living with someone called Marina Ivanovna instead, who had a girl staying with her last month who had to move out because of an allergy to cats. At the time of writing I know nothing about the flat or the landlady. It's nearer to both ulitsa Kirova and Yartek, so maybe the situation will heal itself how I wanted it to in the first place.

I still want to make the most of having my friends here with me. I hope I will be able to catch them up at a jazz club tonight after moving in, and as I write Chris J is buying my ticket for the next Shinnik game, against Rubin Kazan tomorrow afternoon.

All I want is to study well and live comfortably, with a bath and a bed at the end of the day.

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Photos

Balcony view.
A last look from my room.