Day 3

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First speaking class today. I'm so frustrated!!!!!!
There's so much you want to say but you simply can't find the words - who am I kidding - I simply don't "know" the words. Irinia, our teacher is a proper teacher and teaches according to the methods I sue when teaching. So it's all good! I can now (after 2 years - about bloody time!) properly introduce myself and ask people some basic questions. Finding the toilet is no longer a problem - reading the menu still causes some issues. But we'll get there! I think we're also not doing a bad job speaking Russian to each other as we've told to do so. This sometimes leads to hilarious situations with certain words: if in doubt - make them up! How about showerovat and pluginovat? I also found out that speaking Russian with a Dutch accent is the most funniest thing in the world - by now you're probably thinking I'm sad!

After our lesson we grabbed some lunch which cost me the full 95 euro cents! We then speed walked to the Kremlin of Riazan. More holes in the road and on the pavement which I keep being fascinated by. It's a miracle you don't see more people walking around with crutches because of twisted ancles. In fact, people in wheelchairs are hopeless in this country. I seriously don't think wheelchairs exist here full stop.

The Kremlin wasn't anything like I had ever seen before. First we climbed the bell tower which gave us an impressive view over town. The outskirts are really green with lost of forrest. Apparently there's also 2 rivers running through Riazan but I hadn't spotted them yet. After the bell tower we visited the 'cathedral' - the typical Russian churches with colourful meringues on top. As an art historian (hm hm) I was very impressed with the Russian architecture and icons. The back of the church is a flat wall covered in nothing but icons; from top to bottom. It's like reading the bible if you follow the characters who are depicted. The last thing we visited was the folk museum, which gave us a good inside of how people used to live here and what they used to wear. By then my feet were KILLING me. Everything is miles away and it seems even further because it's so hot. (I'm appreciating Floridean air conditioning on a different level now!!)

At 4pm we were expected at the house of the parents of a Russian teacher who teaches at our uni in Belgium. They keep pots, pans, plates and cuttlery during the year until a new batch of students arrives. We entered the block of flats where they live which was an adventure in its own... Some flats have balconies, some of them don't, simply because they've fallen off over the years!! It slightly reminded me of the flats in Poland but only 10 times more grim, poorer and dated. They offered us to take the lift (I think you can picture this lift after my descriptions of Russia so far!) but I kindly declined and took the lfiht of stairs up to the 9th floor. I forgot to mention I'm becoming increasingly fit here - and I'm loosing weight. The amount we've walked so far and the litres of sweat that I've produced are simply ridiculous!! I really feel like they've showed us all corners of town so far but after having looked at a map, we've only covered about a square inch!

It's about 35 degrees here today and I really feel I should try to put a plug under my armpits to prevent them from leaking. I'm exhausted.

Natasha came around in the evening to drop off a kettle for us to use. She stayed for a while so we tried to speak as much Russian as possible. There's always somebody who has understood something, so between the 9 of us, we're just about managing.

I decided my hair needed washing and the prospect of standing under frozen water wasn't all that appealing. I started off hanging with my head above the shower tray and literally got a head ache from the cold water straight away. My hair had changed into stallagtites (is that how you spell it??). Then I got in the shower and was brave enough to wash my feet (it was a good thing I'd been to the loo before as there might have been a little incident otherwise!). My feet are so dirty from walking with my flip flops all day, it was virtually impossible to get them clean. Moving the cold water up my legs I was starting to get goozebumps. By the time I got to my shoulders, I had frost bite and to finish it off I could have done with a thermal blanket after having washed my back. But not to worry, walking back into my room, sweat was already breaking out again...

We all sat down and did our homework - oh yes - on top of things they torture us with homework! The boys got the beers out and obviously I couldn't stay behind and had some cold Russian beer. It's very similar to Belgian beer, perhaps a little weaker than Stella - but good. We haven't tried any vodka yet, but we're thinking about having a little party on saturday night. The problem is that our dorm shuts at 11pm - so we wouldn't be able to get back in if we'd come back later than this...

Once again went to bed way too late - I'm not sure how long we're going to keep this up but it diffinitely won't last a full month!

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Comments

[The Dude]

What are you doing?
Wowsers Lotte, I mean Liz. Drinking Vodka in the shower to keep warm is my suggestion. I hope that through all the insanity you are still having fun. Remember, just keep spekaing Russian and then hopefully you will simply learn the entire language! I'll kep reading the updates!