Back to it!

So after a gorgeous Cornish Christmas ( with lots of loafing, cheese eating and port drinking) and a New Year in London it was back to Russia.  It was so lovely seeing everyone.  It was also a novelty to chat to people at tills, be able to catch a bus and know where the hell i was going and not get chased by packs of wild dogs!  (ok that has not actually happened yet but according to my perhaps slightly ominous guidebook it's only a matter of time and coming back from the cinemas the other day i swear these two stray dogs were eyeing me up with intention to chase. Obviously i used my degree in Animal Behaviour to communicate with them through mere eye movements that this would be a mistake on their part!)
Anyway so after such a lovely time it was actually quite hard coming back to reality and I was a little bit sad to leave dear old Blighty!  One good thing is that is has properly snowed now and Moscow does look a lot more beautiful under a blanket of white.  It's still only -2 which really does not feel all that cold, however, i see it's going to be -8 on Thurs so perhaps the real winter is on it's way as it's supposed to be much, much colder than this right now according to the Russians.
I am religiously taking my vitamin D tablets as due to the fact it does not get light till about 9.50am and is dark early we only see the sun for 45 mins a day when we take the kids out ( that's if the sun is even out).
On Saturday i woke up at 10.20 and was so excited as the sun was streaming in the window so i rushed to open my balcony door and stood there in my rather little  dressing gown trying to soak up as many rays as possible despite the fact it was -2!  It's very icy and have seen a number of hilarious and some not so hilarious falls.  One poor lady had fallen and her ankle was at a very scary 45 degree angle.  I have had a few near slips ( apparently skechers' tone your butt as you walk' snow boots have no grip!) but not fallen yet fingers crossed!

Saturday was also my Birthday celebrations.  6 years ago someone leant me a book to take travelling in Sri Lanka called The Master and The Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.  I remember it being one of those books that I was addicted to and could not put down until it was finished.  It starts with someone falling under a tram at a place in Moscow called Patriarch's Pond and being decapitated.. ( nice!).  I can honestly say i never imagined then I would ever be celebrating my 31st birthday in a tiny little restaurant next to Patriarch's Pond called cafe Margarita!  It was such a lovely night with the restaurant being the size of someone's living room and a piano player and 2 violinists playing through the meal. And my present from everyone at school was my favourite.... yes a massage!!:)   And then it was onto a club where things got a bit less sophisticated and er well can't remember much apart from dancing lots and perhaps some vodka!Oh and perhaps trying to leave without paying our bar tab because we could not see the waitress and figured they  might just have forgotton about a large table of people! We all made it downstairs apart from Darren who got stopped by the bouncers so we had to go back and rescue him and pay our dues! ooops   I tried really hard to go ice skating the next day as planned and even paid for my ticket but my body at the last minute decided it might be a wee bit dangerous to attempt this.

Hmm ooh and in another attempt to fight the darkness I joined a gym!! Yes me!!  I know i have joined gyms before but i only ever used the pool or sauna and never ventured into the alarming terrain of the actual machine room.  And there was that one step aerobic lesson with Tash which ended with me leaving early with an old woman due to lack of coordination!  But Collette my flat mate ( and a proficient gym user!) is showing me the ropes and tonight i went on a  cross trainer and a running machine!  Now i thought i was quite fit and due to the fact i generally only ever feel about 20  i was quite alarmed when Colette ( who is 23) seemed to have a bit more stamina!  That will change Kearny..watch out! :(  31 i tell you it's depressing!  Our gym is brand new and really nice but it is also a fight club and the main clientel appear to be male gym bunnies. You would think this sounds good but they are like extreme body builders ( body builders TV is the only thing on in there.. so gross!  I think the men might think perhaps these two English girls are in there admiring them but actually our conversations go a little along the lines of ' Ew look at him... that is totally gross why would you want muscles that big.. imagine when he's old and stops working out!' Hoping none of them speak English.  Anyway soon we will have an induction with Alex who is one of said gym bunnies and despite his scarily disgusting huge muscles is a very nice man!

Anyway time for bed i think school again tomorrow... 7 weeks and counting!!  Oh and if anyone is on skype call me anytime I love to see your gorgeous faces!  boediddley is my user name!

From Russia with love Boe Boe x