Russian Lesley Garrett

Exciting as it may sound, this week has mainly consisted of going to school.  It’s really good getting into a routine but the school is freezing.  They’re not going to put the heating on until the end of October but right now it is so cold even with my thermal socks.  Last night and today I’ve been feeling pretty ill as well, which made the cold even more miserable.  I was up all of last night with an awful headache which continued today. So I was faced with quite possibly the most helpful of activities. A singing lesson.  To tell the truth, it was absolutely hilarious and you could really hear everyone’s enthusiasm.. we had to sing two famous Russian songs, accompanied by Russian Lesley Garrett (she did actually look like Lesley Garrett) on piano.  The piano is painfully out of tune and it has a horrible echoey warble to it.  So just imagine the eight of us singing these sombre, traditional Russian songs in a minor key with this battered piano.  It would have been video gold.

On Tuesday we also had an art lesson.  We’re going to be painting Russian chopping boards (just what I need) so we had to plan our designs with the teacher.  The teacher doesn’t speak a word of English and she was telling me over and over again that I was doing something wrong but I just gave up trying to understand her.  I think she hated me a little bit actually. But at least I will have a nice bit of toot at the end of term to take home for my mum.  Don’t worry mum, that won’t be your only present.  Lessons have generally been going well though.  Apart from our reading teacher.  She’s quite odd and comes out with some really strange comments.  Today she held me back at the end of the class and told me to relax.  I felt like saying, ‘do you not realise that I have spent this entire lesson trying not to throw up on this Chekhov story?’ Rough times.

On to more pressing matters, my hostess Natasha told me yesterday, ‘If anyone asks you if you are paying to live here, say no.’  She then went on to explain to me, that the woman who lives below us is a bit of a nut job and she  cornered Natasha saying ‘you have an English person living in your house and you have to pay money to the state’ or something like that.  Basically she’s a massive anti-ladette. (that one was for my lolburgering Pollyanna Cotterill).  So anyway, it’s nice to feel legit, with a mad old bag stalking me and probably trying to get me reported to the state.  But, as Misha would say...’THIS IS RUSSIA!’

Yesterday I saw a half dead, twitching dog lying outside the gym.  Apart from that, it’s absolutely buzzing.  Tomorrow I think we’re going to go to the cinema J  Oh yes and I also started my volunteering as an English teacher.  It was really good fun actually.  I was actually the youngest one there as the students are a group of eight girls aged 21-24.  So I will be doing an hour and a half of teaching every Wednesday after school at the Yaroslavl Institute.

Hope everything’s ship shape in England.  I suggest that everyone goes to tesco and eat something normal like hovis, or coco pops, or fish fingers on my behalf.  Seeing as I’m starting to forget what stuff like that tastes like.  However, I just went and bought some grape flavour fanta and a snickers to cheer myself up.  It’s a shame that the shop smells like cheese.

Love J xxx