Mixed up.

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Minus 5 degrees on the way to school this morning. It didn't feel uncomfortable; it is the dry cold that is refreshing if you are properly wrapped up. I will buy a winter coat if I can find a knee-length black woollen one, just like Jamie's. There was one in a suit shop on ulitsa Svobody but it's too big.

Viktor's class filled my head with useless figures about the Russian tax system. We also talked about the average Russian again, and where the nation stands in the "worldwide league table" of about 200 countries. It is in 97th place in terms of annual income but has the 7th highest number of nobel prize winners. Russia is 'only' the 28th most corrupt country in the world. Apparently there is a way of calculating a happiness grade (out of five, to two decimal places) which Russia scores well below zero: minus 1.75 in 79th place. It ranks just 142nd in the life expectancy list. In Yaroslavl there are roughly eight times as many women in their seventies as men of the same age.

We did more grammar exercises with Lena in the afternoon. The rules seemed a lot harder than they really are which made me confuse them in my head. We are now working from a textbook written in very complicated English which didn't help. The best part of the course so far has been that the classes have been simple, with nothing between myself and the teacher.

An early night will ease the mental block.

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Photos

A long day.
Passed out in Kazan, wearing Precious' jeans after mine split. Not disimilar to my usual 10.50 snooze on the Yartek sofa.