Still in Moscow...
Hey Guys!
Sorry I haven’t written more - its not like I haven’t had time, its just that I haven’t really been doing much that you’d be interested in. Mostly, we’ve been staying in and (believe it or not) studying. Or at least, Pasha’s been studying and I have been doing everything but my Russian composition (the problem is what to write in *English* - once it is simply the translating, then I’m fine) but have learnt *some* Russian. Pasha decided at, I believe, 1 or 2 am the other night (day?!) that I would read some Russian and he would help me translate it. Then he started asking horribly thought-requiring questions like “what is the infinitive of стал” (actually, not that thought-requiring, since it is a simple masculine past tense form of стать, to begin), “find the two homogeneous predicates in this sentence” (to which I replied ‘what is a predicate’) and “what is the function of наконец in this sentence” (if you are interested, it is the adverbial modifier of time and translates as ‘finally’). Anyway, I am sure you know how I struggle with naming adverbs and adjectives and all that, so we covered pretty much two sentences (really, really long sentences) in the best part of an hour and I am sure I would have found it far more interesting and educational had I not spent a lot of the time falling asleep.
That is one problem about staying here - Pasha seems to have no concept of ‘night-time is for sleeping’ (which is ok in the holidays, I suppose, although he wasn’t fully on holiday) and ordinarily I am of a similar disposition, but since at Kitezh I am in bed by 11 (on a really late night it might be sometime before 1) and am awake by 8 (since there is the possibility that there may be a class in my bedroom at 9 then I *have* to be up by half eight, although I’m usually woken when Claudia gets up at some unsociably early time around 6:30) so I have spent a month sleeping a healthy 8-9 hours almost every night, during the night. This means that I have been almost constantly tired in Moscow, as we have been going to bed very late, and getting up mid-morning, and just as I’m getting used to it, I’m going back to Kitezh at the weekend and will not want to be in bed at 11pm! Ok that was a bit of a pointless rant, but there we go.
I was meant to be staying in Moscow until today at the latest, since I didn’t want to miss the entirety of kanikuli (the spring holiday) but have been persuaded (hah!) to stay ‘till Sunday. That really *is* the latest I can stay, since I will have to teach classes on Monday. I am quite unhappy at the concept. I really love Kitezh, and know that I will have a great time there and everything, but at the same time I know that I’m going to spend a fortune on my mobile phone (I’m averaging something like 20 quid a month, and you know what I’m usually like with my phone. That is pretty impressive since there is pretty much no signal anywhere in Kitezh, and I have to stand in the middle of a snowy road to make a call…) and also, I’ve got quite used to eating vegetables again.
I’m not sure that I’ve not told this already, but apart from parties, there is just about no fruit, and more or less the only veg is the potato and cabbage in the soup. It is actually possible (I have done it) to go over two weeks with no fruit - you would be surprised at how appealing a battered old apple appears by then!
I said already about the bloody Russians and my visa issues, yes? Well at the moment it is looking like I will have to leave mid-may… I really don’t want to…
So, I was telling you about my week… hmmm… I really did mean it when I said that we hadn’t really done much - we went to the market on Monday to buy some fruit, then collected my film from the photo shop (as well as finally making Borsh!) and then on Tuesday Pasha had uni all day, and I visited my ‘family’ and we chatted at great length, and then yesterday we studied and then went out to buy some bread and potatoes… really doesn’t sound that thrilling, does it? I have enjoyed myself nonetheless.
You know, guys are so daft sometimes. I really amused Pasha with the concept of soaking the semolina pan before attempting to scrub the burnt bits off and he was *really* impressed by the way I tidied the bathroom, which meant that when putting the towels back on the line (the towels hang over the bath, so you have to remove them before you shower and then put them back afterwards) I *folded* them! All three of them! Lol. I shouldn’t mock him, but it is so easy to do sometimes. He explained to me *why* he uses soap instead of washing up liquid to do the dishes - because you get more bubbles with soap. Ok, it makes the sink all scummy, and doesn’t have quite the same efficiency in cleaning the really dirty pans, and its not like he doesn’t have a bottle of washing up liquid, but there are more *bubbles*! It is very hard not to laugh sometimes…
Did I mention that he bought me an Easter egg? Bless him - it was only a kinder surprise, but since the Russians don’t do Easter eggs, and Orthodox Easter isn’t until May, and I really wasn’t expecting anything, it was very sweet.
The weather is still weird - hovering both sides of zero. The snow in the yard has been very gradually receding all week, but it is snowing again now, though I doubt much will settle.
I’m sure that you are all thoroughly bored of my pointless ranting by now, so I will shut up and go. I need to empty the washing out of the machine anyway…
Hope to hear from you soon!
Ali
Ps. If any of you know any interesting similes and metaphors, please mail them to me asap. TA!
Sorry I haven’t written more - its not like I haven’t had time, its just that I haven’t really been doing much that you’d be interested in. Mostly, we’ve been staying in and (believe it or not) studying. Or at least, Pasha’s been studying and I have been doing everything but my Russian composition (the problem is what to write in *English* - once it is simply the translating, then I’m fine) but have learnt *some* Russian. Pasha decided at, I believe, 1 or 2 am the other night (day?!) that I would read some Russian and he would help me translate it. Then he started asking horribly thought-requiring questions like “what is the infinitive of стал” (actually, not that thought-requiring, since it is a simple masculine past tense form of стать, to begin), “find the two homogeneous predicates in this sentence” (to which I replied ‘what is a predicate’) and “what is the function of наконец in this sentence” (if you are interested, it is the adverbial modifier of time and translates as ‘finally’). Anyway, I am sure you know how I struggle with naming adverbs and adjectives and all that, so we covered pretty much two sentences (really, really long sentences) in the best part of an hour and I am sure I would have found it far more interesting and educational had I not spent a lot of the time falling asleep.
That is one problem about staying here - Pasha seems to have no concept of ‘night-time is for sleeping’ (which is ok in the holidays, I suppose, although he wasn’t fully on holiday) and ordinarily I am of a similar disposition, but since at Kitezh I am in bed by 11 (on a really late night it might be sometime before 1) and am awake by 8 (since there is the possibility that there may be a class in my bedroom at 9 then I *have* to be up by half eight, although I’m usually woken when Claudia gets up at some unsociably early time around 6:30) so I have spent a month sleeping a healthy 8-9 hours almost every night, during the night. This means that I have been almost constantly tired in Moscow, as we have been going to bed very late, and getting up mid-morning, and just as I’m getting used to it, I’m going back to Kitezh at the weekend and will not want to be in bed at 11pm! Ok that was a bit of a pointless rant, but there we go.
I was meant to be staying in Moscow until today at the latest, since I didn’t want to miss the entirety of kanikuli (the spring holiday) but have been persuaded (hah!) to stay ‘till Sunday. That really *is* the latest I can stay, since I will have to teach classes on Monday. I am quite unhappy at the concept. I really love Kitezh, and know that I will have a great time there and everything, but at the same time I know that I’m going to spend a fortune on my mobile phone (I’m averaging something like 20 quid a month, and you know what I’m usually like with my phone. That is pretty impressive since there is pretty much no signal anywhere in Kitezh, and I have to stand in the middle of a snowy road to make a call…) and also, I’ve got quite used to eating vegetables again.
I’m not sure that I’ve not told this already, but apart from parties, there is just about no fruit, and more or less the only veg is the potato and cabbage in the soup. It is actually possible (I have done it) to go over two weeks with no fruit - you would be surprised at how appealing a battered old apple appears by then!
I said already about the bloody Russians and my visa issues, yes? Well at the moment it is looking like I will have to leave mid-may… I really don’t want to…
So, I was telling you about my week… hmmm… I really did mean it when I said that we hadn’t really done much - we went to the market on Monday to buy some fruit, then collected my film from the photo shop (as well as finally making Borsh!) and then on Tuesday Pasha had uni all day, and I visited my ‘family’ and we chatted at great length, and then yesterday we studied and then went out to buy some bread and potatoes… really doesn’t sound that thrilling, does it? I have enjoyed myself nonetheless.
You know, guys are so daft sometimes. I really amused Pasha with the concept of soaking the semolina pan before attempting to scrub the burnt bits off and he was *really* impressed by the way I tidied the bathroom, which meant that when putting the towels back on the line (the towels hang over the bath, so you have to remove them before you shower and then put them back afterwards) I *folded* them! All three of them! Lol. I shouldn’t mock him, but it is so easy to do sometimes. He explained to me *why* he uses soap instead of washing up liquid to do the dishes - because you get more bubbles with soap. Ok, it makes the sink all scummy, and doesn’t have quite the same efficiency in cleaning the really dirty pans, and its not like he doesn’t have a bottle of washing up liquid, but there are more *bubbles*! It is very hard not to laugh sometimes…
Did I mention that he bought me an Easter egg? Bless him - it was only a kinder surprise, but since the Russians don’t do Easter eggs, and Orthodox Easter isn’t until May, and I really wasn’t expecting anything, it was very sweet.
The weather is still weird - hovering both sides of zero. The snow in the yard has been very gradually receding all week, but it is snowing again now, though I doubt much will settle.
I’m sure that you are all thoroughly bored of my pointless ranting by now, so I will shut up and go. I need to empty the washing out of the machine anyway…
Hope to hear from you soon!
Ali
Ps. If any of you know any interesting similes and metaphors, please mail them to me asap. TA!