Wow so time has been flying by and my blog has been on my to do list for ooh 3 months... procrastination was always one of my best skills!
St Patricks day, Moscow
So as you can see i survived the Russian winter even though it's still snowing! The Russians celebrated the arrival of spring about a month and a half ago with Maslenitza ( Pancake week...a whole week of eating pancakes.. great idea) which was a Pagan Sun festival initially to celebrate the imminent end of winter! Considering during the week of Maslenitza it was about -15 and was snowing and it still is now I wonder if the word imminet means something else in Russia!! I think the coldest we got was down to -30 but i don't know it did not seem all that bad. But then my house is right next to my school as is my gym and the supermarket so my outside footfall was kind of pathetic compared to that of the hundreds of snow sweeper men and women who spend all day outside shovelling pathways through the city. They are hardcore people and have my full respect especially the ones i saw without gloves!! I would be a terrible snow sweeper! Even more worrying is the 100,00 homeless people who live in Moscow and how on earth they deal with such temperatures. I went with a friend who works for a charity to help out with a sandwich van last week that feeds the homeless and it made you realise how incredibly lucky you are to even have some gloves yet alone a warm house and food.
I've also been to visit an orphanage where another friend works. A group of expats went out there to meet the children with the plan to go on regualr basis and play games and teach a little bit of English. The children were all so polite and smiley and compared to what I was imagining it was a fairly nice building although i think this was a privatley run orphanage and many of the state run ones are perhaps not so nice. It was a lovely day and we think the children really enjoyed it although it was sobering to know that i think the statistic I was told was something like 70 % of orphans in Russia will grow up to be alcoholics and drug addicts, criminals, prostitutes or commit suicide. Many of them are also social orphans which means that 1 or both of their parents may be alive but unable to care for them.
School is going well and I have an amazing new shiny interactive smartboard which has cut my resource making time in half.... ohhhhh I love it!
COOKING LESSON!! I have also very recently made the decision to stay another year ahhhh!! I did ALOT of thinking and went slighty barmy deciding to stay or go. I never thought I would stay even a year but as it turns out Russia is not all that bad. I did think of going somewhere a bait balmier with natural vitamin D and more opportunities to meet members of the opposite sex ...but i thought no I'd prefer another cold dark winter being a spinster!! Wonderful!! :) But my job is good and I am saving enough so hopefully I can have a nice 6 months off and write that book I'm always banging on about somewhere tropical with a studmuffin bringing me cocktails and fanning me with palm leaves!
Actually am looking forward to summer in Mosscow lots as when the sun does come out its so wonderful and the city despite it's smog towers and hideous dirt is kind of charming!
Pouteen N ightWhat else..oooh i went skiing in France in the last holiday which was so wonderful and it was sunny everyday and I ate copious ( perhaps even life threatning amounts) of cheese in many different forms...raclette, fondue..off a spoon, off a fork, off a knife.. with my finger... ohhh it was fromage heaven! And my flatmates brother runs a bar there so there were copious amounts of free drinks..!
Miss Natahsa Newman came out for a visit too which was loverly and my brother and his mates are coming out in 4 weeks for my next holiday ....could be dangerous... 3 married men let loose from their families for the weekend ... I'm not responsible for any wodka induced antics Susannah!!! Just buy him some insurance!
Ok it's been at least 40 mins since I last watched an episode of the Big Bang Theory so i better go before the shakes start!
mwa mwas miss you all !! xxx
St Patricks day, MoscowSo as you can see i survived the Russian winter even though it's still snowing! The Russians celebrated the arrival of spring about a month and a half ago with Maslenitza ( Pancake week...a whole week of eating pancakes.. great idea) which was a Pagan Sun festival initially to celebrate the imminent end of winter! Considering during the week of Maslenitza it was about -15 and was snowing and it still is now I wonder if the word imminet means something else in Russia!! I think the coldest we got was down to -30 but i don't know it did not seem all that bad. But then my house is right next to my school as is my gym and the supermarket so my outside footfall was kind of pathetic compared to that of the hundreds of snow sweeper men and women who spend all day outside shovelling pathways through the city. They are hardcore people and have my full respect especially the ones i saw without gloves!! I would be a terrible snow sweeper! Even more worrying is the 100,00 homeless people who live in Moscow and how on earth they deal with such temperatures. I went with a friend who works for a charity to help out with a sandwich van last week that feeds the homeless and it made you realise how incredibly lucky you are to even have some gloves yet alone a warm house and food.
I've also been to visit an orphanage where another friend works. A group of expats went out there to meet the children with the plan to go on regualr basis and play games and teach a little bit of English. The children were all so polite and smiley and compared to what I was imagining it was a fairly nice building although i think this was a privatley run orphanage and many of the state run ones are perhaps not so nice. It was a lovely day and we think the children really enjoyed it although it was sobering to know that i think the statistic I was told was something like 70 % of orphans in Russia will grow up to be alcoholics and drug addicts, criminals, prostitutes or commit suicide. Many of them are also social orphans which means that 1 or both of their parents may be alive but unable to care for them.
School is going well and I have an amazing new shiny interactive smartboard which has cut my resource making time in half.... ohhhhh I love it!
COOKING LESSON!! Actually am looking forward to summer in Mosscow lots as when the sun does come out its so wonderful and the city despite it's smog towers and hideous dirt is kind of charming!
Pouteen N ightMiss Natahsa Newman came out for a visit too which was loverly and my brother and his mates are coming out in 4 weeks for my next holiday ....could be dangerous... 3 married men let loose from their families for the weekend ... I'm not responsible for any wodka induced antics Susannah!!! Just buy him some insurance!
Ok it's been at least 40 mins since I last watched an episode of the Big Bang Theory so i better go before the shakes start!
mwa mwas miss you all !! xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment