A lesson learned.

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For some reason the bang on my bedroom door came an hour and a half earlier today. I did everything as usual but went back to bed at 8. It was still dark outside and I was tired after last night.

I woke up at 11.20 and hurried two hours late to Yartek, forgetting to put on my woolly hat. As I walked past the thermometer on ulitsa Svobody it read minus 11, and the wind in my face made it feel even colder. When I looked at myself in the full length mirror next to Valentina Ivanovna's desk I had literally turned purple, with deep bruises over my cheekbones. I deserved my telling off from Lena.

Her grammar class was better. It isn't just me who isn't feeling good, all of us are run down and she helped by giving us simpler exercises.

Due to reading week, illness, moving flat and the leaving party I hadn't been to (teacher)Anya's class for five weeks. It was good to do some real translation again. We read an article from the Observer about Stonehenge that I last looked at more than a month ago. Translation is a skill I need to develop; so many phrases in English have no Russian equivalent (and vice versa) so it takes thought to take what the author wanted to say and write it the best way possible.

I went back to ulitsa Bolshaya Oktyabr'skaya after classes to fetch my hat and put on a second pair of trousers. Myself, Laura, Chris J, Chris W, Clare, Ellie and Chiara spent the evening in Yartek watching Frasier on my laptop. Now it is so cold it makes sense to get together somewhere closer to our homes than ulitsa Kirova, and it's more comfortable than most bars. I stopped to buy dinner on the way, by which time it was minus 13. I was the first to get there and I talked to the lady who looks after the place when Valentina Ivanovna goes home. She made me a new cup of coffee (the one I bought five minutes earlier was already stone cold) and we chatted about our plans for New Year. It turns out we will both be going to Ukraine. I hadn't spoken a lot of Russian this week but my face and hands were so sore that I found myself talking a lot to get warm!

When the others arrived we made some plans for Christmas. Clare has found a hotel in south-west Moscow and we'll stay there from the 23rd until the 26th. Finding somewhere to have roast turkey would be wasted as it won't feel the same as at home, so we're going to have a big Tibetan meal, vive la differance, instead, in a restaurant they fell in love with last weekend.

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