So it's 7.00 am and I have woken to the sound of lots of traffic, my chest feels like an elephant has been sitting on it ( assuming it's the smog.. nice!) and i still have 2 hours before I have to get up. Normally I would go for a little stroll and check out my surroundings but I think it may be safer to wait until my flat mate Jen has shown me the basics. We overlook what I am going to call Lenin Square for obvious reasons although don't know the real name which is also the location for the main police headquarters.Yesterday there were lots of them hanging out in the square having a good old chin wag and looking jovial, but having read that police stop people (especially foreign looking people) to check documents and often want a bribe I think I will stay in bed. Considering I break out in a cold sweat and feel instantly guilty when a police car drives past me when I am driving I can only imagine how I will react when a Russian police man asks for my documents. I will be practicing my innocent look in the mirror later on!
I was lucky to get here in one piece considering i was flying with Aeroflop and was doubly relieved to arrive in Moscow as 90% of the passengers on the flight appeared to be Japanese, and for one ( maybe 10 plus) terrible moments I thought I had made a terrible boarding mistake and was going to the wrong country.
The Russian flight attendants did not speak English well and we had a frustrating moment when the lovely British girl sitting next to me asked for water and recieved blank looks. Lots of water themed gesticulations on both our parts later and she figured it out. I stuck with orange juice as she seemed to understand this!
I was very proud of how brave I was with the flight considering I hate flying. The only hairy bit was landing when it felt like there was a giant on each wing having a go on a pogo stick. I dealt with this by breathing VERY deeply but the lovely girl next to me appeared to deal with it with hysterical laughter. On touch down the whole plane burst into applause which was nice although I did not have the gross motor skills to get two hands together as was semi hyperventilating!
I was met by a lovely little man called Erlan who had quite possibly the most fantastic 1970's maroon car..like the rectangle box shaped ones and driven the 35 ks to my flat. Russian traffic is as bad as I have read..6 lanes across in places, weaving in and out with no signalling, using the dirt track on the side as an extra lane. You can imagine my joy when he answered the phone at 120k an hour! For anyone who has had me as a passenger you can imagine how much strength it took for me to sit quietly!! Passed first wodka victim sprawled out on the sideway snoring away! Passed Ikea to which for some reason have me a warm fuzzy feeling.. I wonder if they have meatballs!!
So plan for today is go with Jen to my school which is 5 mins away and then go for a medical. This involves a blood test for one which initially freaked me out as we all know how much I love needles. But then Jen told me that they sometimes do an anal swab!!!! Suddenly the thought of having blood taken seemed like a trio to Disney world! I am holding out hope that they won't as they did not do it last year but did the year before. Pray for me!
My room is lovely.. double the size of my one at home all decorated properly and I have a wicked arm chair which looks like it's from the 1970's so all good there. Jen has been telling me about the school (as we sipped gin and tonics on my balcony admiring some new tower blocks that are being but in the distance) and the 'performances' we have to put on ( let's just say Hallfield ladies it's in a different league to our class assemblies! eek!). Luckily they have dance and music teachers so hopefully they will help me! I have also discovered I have the grandson of the owner of the school in my class so no pressure there!
Ok going to go have a yummy breakfast of craft cheese slices on bread which they kindly put in the fridge for me. Have a feeling getting a nice bit of crunchy mature cheddar here may not be so easy but luckily my strange appreciation of nasty processed cheese slices will get me through ( remember Darwin Claire??) yum yum.
Over and out comrades I'll be back soon to let you know if I get violated at the medical!
I was lucky to get here in one piece considering i was flying with Aeroflop and was doubly relieved to arrive in Moscow as 90% of the passengers on the flight appeared to be Japanese, and for one ( maybe 10 plus) terrible moments I thought I had made a terrible boarding mistake and was going to the wrong country.
The Russian flight attendants did not speak English well and we had a frustrating moment when the lovely British girl sitting next to me asked for water and recieved blank looks. Lots of water themed gesticulations on both our parts later and she figured it out. I stuck with orange juice as she seemed to understand this!
I was very proud of how brave I was with the flight considering I hate flying. The only hairy bit was landing when it felt like there was a giant on each wing having a go on a pogo stick. I dealt with this by breathing VERY deeply but the lovely girl next to me appeared to deal with it with hysterical laughter. On touch down the whole plane burst into applause which was nice although I did not have the gross motor skills to get two hands together as was semi hyperventilating!
I was met by a lovely little man called Erlan who had quite possibly the most fantastic 1970's maroon car..like the rectangle box shaped ones and driven the 35 ks to my flat. Russian traffic is as bad as I have read..6 lanes across in places, weaving in and out with no signalling, using the dirt track on the side as an extra lane. You can imagine my joy when he answered the phone at 120k an hour! For anyone who has had me as a passenger you can imagine how much strength it took for me to sit quietly!! Passed first wodka victim sprawled out on the sideway snoring away! Passed Ikea to which for some reason have me a warm fuzzy feeling.. I wonder if they have meatballs!!
So plan for today is go with Jen to my school which is 5 mins away and then go for a medical. This involves a blood test for one which initially freaked me out as we all know how much I love needles. But then Jen told me that they sometimes do an anal swab!!!! Suddenly the thought of having blood taken seemed like a trio to Disney world! I am holding out hope that they won't as they did not do it last year but did the year before. Pray for me!
My room is lovely.. double the size of my one at home all decorated properly and I have a wicked arm chair which looks like it's from the 1970's so all good there. Jen has been telling me about the school (as we sipped gin and tonics on my balcony admiring some new tower blocks that are being but in the distance) and the 'performances' we have to put on ( let's just say Hallfield ladies it's in a different league to our class assemblies! eek!). Luckily they have dance and music teachers so hopefully they will help me! I have also discovered I have the grandson of the owner of the school in my class so no pressure there!
Ok going to go have a yummy breakfast of craft cheese slices on bread which they kindly put in the fridge for me. Have a feeling getting a nice bit of crunchy mature cheddar here may not be so easy but luckily my strange appreciation of nasty processed cheese slices will get me through ( remember Darwin Claire??) yum yum.
Over and out comrades I'll be back soon to let you know if I get violated at the medical!
agog to hear about the medical!!!
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