A very small update from me today. Today is a very special day, not because I've done anything (genuinely, just been sat in my room all day), but because on this day in 1989, the single greatest person ever was born: My sister, Rachel!
It's a really weird feeling at this point, because I think this is the first time in my life that I'm not with Rach on her birthday or on a day particularly close to it, but thanks to the internet I can still make sure she feels the love.
So have an absolutely marvellous birthday, Rachel, and make sure it's only filled with good times and lovely people like yourself!
Though as long as you're feeling better than this guy, you can't be doing too badly...
Friday, 27 September 2013
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Sweet Mother of Мёд
Hey, guess what phenomenon is still alive and thriving as much in Russian Universities as it is in British ones?
That's right, Freshers' Flu! It currently has me in its nasty, germy, little claws, so I've been feeling quiet and somewhat out of it the last few days. This does NOT help when you need to speak a foreign language such as Russian to get anything done.
Funnily enough, though, it DID help me do a dialogue in oral class yesterday in which we asked one another how we were feeling. I get the feeling this opening to the lecture may actually have been somewhat prompted by me because the lecturer remarked after the dialogue (in Russian): "Is what you just talked about true? I thought so, you didn't seem very well."
In any case, you're probably wondering about the title of this blog (moreso if you don't speak Russian (in which case "Мёд" (pronounced "Myod") means Honey.)
But that'll have to wait, I have to catch you up on some other things.
So on Saturday I experienced the wonderful, somewhat terrifying place that is the Tver' market. On the way to said market, we encountered a smaller market where people were selling something quite distressing: Little, baby animals. I may be jumping to conclusions, but I can imagine these animals haven't exactly had the happiest possible upbringing up to this point in their lives. There were animals shoved into little boxes for people to admire and take them out and everything and the boxes really were too small for them. In one case there was a turtle which clearly didn't even have enough space to turn around! A part of me wanted to get all the animals to safety but that would either cost me all my money and then some OR, if I were to go with the sudden release option, get me in an enormous amount of trouble with the Russians and most likely do the animals far more harm than good, so I stayed quiet.
They were pretty damn adorable, though...
But I digress, after that we reached the proper, actual market, and let me tell you, it was pretty big! There were food stalls, clothes stalls, game stalls, tool stalls, a stall which seemed to be selling animal pelts for whatever reason. I'd planned to by a шапка ("shapka", Russian hat) and...Well, I DID buy one, but my brain didn't convert the rubles quickly enough before I agreed to buy it, so I wound up spending around £70 on it...I definitely regret spending that much before researching the PROPER amount for a hat, but I won't be too bothered as long as it keeps me warm in winter and doesn't disintegrate within the space of a few weeks. Heck, if I'm lucky, it's a really good quality shapka which will last me forever and was actually a reasonable price for the quality.
Somehow, though, I'm less than optimistic.
Anyway, I hear you cry "But Joe, what about the blasted honey?" Patience, my friend, there is still more to tell.
Sunday was shaping up to be quite a lazy day as well, right until Akvile reminded me about English lessons available at the library which she'd invited me to help with. So at 4pm Akvile, Anna, Sophia, Myriam and I headed on our way to the library. We got to the room where the lesson would be held and started arranging the room.
So, when does the teacher turn up?, I thought to myself, assuming that we were here to help the class with our conversational skills and knowledge of English. It is then that Akvile asked me a rather worrying question:
"Erm, so do you want to be, like, the main teacher or...?"
I'm sorry, what? Put the "main" bit aside for now, we're the teachers?! I deeeefinitely don't remember being told that that was meant to be my role! I haven't set up lessons plans or a syllabus or anything!
In the end, though, it was a lot better than I thought, since we just split up into groups and did the conversations that I had thought we were going to have in the first place. I talked with 3 very nice Russians, albeit very awkwardly, and left the session feeling good and having heard some good recommendations from them of things to do, one of which is to visit a nearby town called Старица ("Staritsa"). At this point a man from a completely different group chimed in and said "Oh, Старица is great, it's very good for practicing rock-climbing!"
This is important because, shortly after the lesson, this same man (Named Илья, pronounced Ilya) invited me to join him at Старица for some rock-climbing! Well, I'm not in Russia NOT to experience things, so I took him up on this offer, we exchanged numbers and, presumably, he'll contact me when/if this trip happens. Anna said she loves rock-climbing as well, so she'll presumably be joining me as well.
"For God's sake, man, what is so important about the honey?!"
Alright, alright, I'll tell you.
By the way, did you know that the ?! punctuation is called an Interrobang? Sounds like something a frat boy would say.
Okay, okay, sorry. So, the honey. This happened yesterday after oral class. I decided I'd pick up some things to help my sore throat, one of which was, you guessed it, honey. Just as I was eating lunch, Elke joined me at the table and proposed that she, Robin and I start sharing groceries and such, since it would probably save us all money in the long run. Robin and I agreed and we headed to ATAK to get food for the next week and, hopefully, a bit longer.
Definitely longer in the case of the honey.
Turns out that the honey at ATAK isn't just jars on a shelf, there's a neat little shack near the entrance with loads of different types of honey. Like, seriously, at least around 14, and I don't really know the difference between any of them. So there I was, at the stall, doing my best to speak Russian. The woman was very friendly and let me sample a bit of my arbitrarily-selected honey (Christ, how many times have I typed the word "honey" now?) However, my general social awkwardness, insecurity in speaking Russian in the real world and feeling slightly out of it (my sore throat had led to a poor night's sleep as well) led me to panic somewhat and buy a whole kilo of honey.
I somehow think I didn't need THAT much honey...It's quite pretty to look at, though! And I wouldn't be in trouble should Винни Пух ("Vinni Pookh", Russian Winnie-the-Pooh) ever pop by for a visit.
So we headed back with our heavy bags of various tasty things/things which, with some work, can become tasty. Robin and Elke needed to stop at the bank on the way back to sort out payment for their visas and, in Elke's case, accordion lessons. I'd done the payment via machine and...
Wait, did I ever talk about the visa payment?
Long story short: I needed to pay 1000 rubles (£20) for a visa extension which, for some reason, is done at the bank. I was given instructions to "ask for a visa extension and pay it at the bank", which I did. I asked a woman nearby who simply pointed in a vague direction out of the room and said "Terminal". Turns out this means the machines lined up outside, but being unfamiliar with the word, I thought she might have meant the little window outside with a person behind it. I asked HIM about it, another employee overheard and took me to...The same woman I had just asked. Strangely enough, she said much the same thing, but pointed more helpfully right at the machines.
I then flustered my way through the process as the same woman rapidly pressed buttons so that I couldn't see quite what she had done, but eventually I put in the money and got the receipt, so everything should be fiiiiiine...Right?
This is kinda important, though, because Elke and Robin tried to pay at the desk because I hadn't seen which of the thousands of buttons had been pressed to access the visa payment. Elke's accordion lesson payment was done smoothly at the desk (as was mine a few days prior) but the two people working at the desk seemed somewhat perplexed by the visa request. Eventually I was called over to help and all I had to say was "Well, I did it at the terminal, but I'm not sure..." and suddenly everything set into motion and, with little fuss, Robin and Elke's visa payments were done as well.
We got home and started sorting out the food items when I discovered: The Honey has spilled out of the box. Fortunately there was an extra little bag around the box so it didn't go EVERYWHERE, but it led to a fun half-hour by the end of which I had a honey-soaked plastic bag, a plate of honey, a bowl of honey and I STILL have around 4/5 of the big, plastic box of honey...
My life was a honey-based mess for quite a while, but it was all fun.
I think I've got it sorted now.
Still, I'd better have a sore throat for a lot longer if I'm hoping to use up the rest of this stuff...
In any case, that's about all I have to say for now. Thank you for reading, and have a nice day/evening, wherever you are.
Joe
That's right, Freshers' Flu! It currently has me in its nasty, germy, little claws, so I've been feeling quiet and somewhat out of it the last few days. This does NOT help when you need to speak a foreign language such as Russian to get anything done.
Funnily enough, though, it DID help me do a dialogue in oral class yesterday in which we asked one another how we were feeling. I get the feeling this opening to the lecture may actually have been somewhat prompted by me because the lecturer remarked after the dialogue (in Russian): "Is what you just talked about true? I thought so, you didn't seem very well."
In any case, you're probably wondering about the title of this blog (moreso if you don't speak Russian (in which case "Мёд" (pronounced "Myod") means Honey.)
But that'll have to wait, I have to catch you up on some other things.
So on Saturday I experienced the wonderful, somewhat terrifying place that is the Tver' market. On the way to said market, we encountered a smaller market where people were selling something quite distressing: Little, baby animals. I may be jumping to conclusions, but I can imagine these animals haven't exactly had the happiest possible upbringing up to this point in their lives. There were animals shoved into little boxes for people to admire and take them out and everything and the boxes really were too small for them. In one case there was a turtle which clearly didn't even have enough space to turn around! A part of me wanted to get all the animals to safety but that would either cost me all my money and then some OR, if I were to go with the sudden release option, get me in an enormous amount of trouble with the Russians and most likely do the animals far more harm than good, so I stayed quiet.
They were pretty damn adorable, though...
But I digress, after that we reached the proper, actual market, and let me tell you, it was pretty big! There were food stalls, clothes stalls, game stalls, tool stalls, a stall which seemed to be selling animal pelts for whatever reason. I'd planned to by a шапка ("shapka", Russian hat) and...Well, I DID buy one, but my brain didn't convert the rubles quickly enough before I agreed to buy it, so I wound up spending around £70 on it...I definitely regret spending that much before researching the PROPER amount for a hat, but I won't be too bothered as long as it keeps me warm in winter and doesn't disintegrate within the space of a few weeks. Heck, if I'm lucky, it's a really good quality shapka which will last me forever and was actually a reasonable price for the quality.
Somehow, though, I'm less than optimistic.
Anyway, I hear you cry "But Joe, what about the blasted honey?" Patience, my friend, there is still more to tell.
Sunday was shaping up to be quite a lazy day as well, right until Akvile reminded me about English lessons available at the library which she'd invited me to help with. So at 4pm Akvile, Anna, Sophia, Myriam and I headed on our way to the library. We got to the room where the lesson would be held and started arranging the room.
So, when does the teacher turn up?, I thought to myself, assuming that we were here to help the class with our conversational skills and knowledge of English. It is then that Akvile asked me a rather worrying question:
"Erm, so do you want to be, like, the main teacher or...?"
I'm sorry, what? Put the "main" bit aside for now, we're the teachers?! I deeeefinitely don't remember being told that that was meant to be my role! I haven't set up lessons plans or a syllabus or anything!
In the end, though, it was a lot better than I thought, since we just split up into groups and did the conversations that I had thought we were going to have in the first place. I talked with 3 very nice Russians, albeit very awkwardly, and left the session feeling good and having heard some good recommendations from them of things to do, one of which is to visit a nearby town called Старица ("Staritsa"). At this point a man from a completely different group chimed in and said "Oh, Старица is great, it's very good for practicing rock-climbing!"
This is important because, shortly after the lesson, this same man (Named Илья, pronounced Ilya) invited me to join him at Старица for some rock-climbing! Well, I'm not in Russia NOT to experience things, so I took him up on this offer, we exchanged numbers and, presumably, he'll contact me when/if this trip happens. Anna said she loves rock-climbing as well, so she'll presumably be joining me as well.
"For God's sake, man, what is so important about the honey?!"
Alright, alright, I'll tell you.
By the way, did you know that the ?! punctuation is called an Interrobang? Sounds like something a frat boy would say.
Okay, okay, sorry. So, the honey. This happened yesterday after oral class. I decided I'd pick up some things to help my sore throat, one of which was, you guessed it, honey. Just as I was eating lunch, Elke joined me at the table and proposed that she, Robin and I start sharing groceries and such, since it would probably save us all money in the long run. Robin and I agreed and we headed to ATAK to get food for the next week and, hopefully, a bit longer.
Definitely longer in the case of the honey.
Turns out that the honey at ATAK isn't just jars on a shelf, there's a neat little shack near the entrance with loads of different types of honey. Like, seriously, at least around 14, and I don't really know the difference between any of them. So there I was, at the stall, doing my best to speak Russian. The woman was very friendly and let me sample a bit of my arbitrarily-selected honey (Christ, how many times have I typed the word "honey" now?) However, my general social awkwardness, insecurity in speaking Russian in the real world and feeling slightly out of it (my sore throat had led to a poor night's sleep as well) led me to panic somewhat and buy a whole kilo of honey.
I somehow think I didn't need THAT much honey...It's quite pretty to look at, though! And I wouldn't be in trouble should Винни Пух ("Vinni Pookh", Russian Winnie-the-Pooh) ever pop by for a visit.
So we headed back with our heavy bags of various tasty things/things which, with some work, can become tasty. Robin and Elke needed to stop at the bank on the way back to sort out payment for their visas and, in Elke's case, accordion lessons. I'd done the payment via machine and...
Wait, did I ever talk about the visa payment?
Long story short: I needed to pay 1000 rubles (£20) for a visa extension which, for some reason, is done at the bank. I was given instructions to "ask for a visa extension and pay it at the bank", which I did. I asked a woman nearby who simply pointed in a vague direction out of the room and said "Terminal". Turns out this means the machines lined up outside, but being unfamiliar with the word, I thought she might have meant the little window outside with a person behind it. I asked HIM about it, another employee overheard and took me to...The same woman I had just asked. Strangely enough, she said much the same thing, but pointed more helpfully right at the machines.
I then flustered my way through the process as the same woman rapidly pressed buttons so that I couldn't see quite what she had done, but eventually I put in the money and got the receipt, so everything should be fiiiiiine...Right?
This is kinda important, though, because Elke and Robin tried to pay at the desk because I hadn't seen which of the thousands of buttons had been pressed to access the visa payment. Elke's accordion lesson payment was done smoothly at the desk (as was mine a few days prior) but the two people working at the desk seemed somewhat perplexed by the visa request. Eventually I was called over to help and all I had to say was "Well, I did it at the terminal, but I'm not sure..." and suddenly everything set into motion and, with little fuss, Robin and Elke's visa payments were done as well.
We got home and started sorting out the food items when I discovered: The Honey has spilled out of the box. Fortunately there was an extra little bag around the box so it didn't go EVERYWHERE, but it led to a fun half-hour by the end of which I had a honey-soaked plastic bag, a plate of honey, a bowl of honey and I STILL have around 4/5 of the big, plastic box of honey...
My life was a honey-based mess for quite a while, but it was all fun.
I think I've got it sorted now.
Still, I'd better have a sore throat for a lot longer if I'm hoping to use up the rest of this stuff...
In any case, that's about all I have to say for now. Thank you for reading, and have a nice day/evening, wherever you are.
Joe
Tuesday, 10 September 2013
I'm learning the Accordion!!
Well, not yet, but from the sounds of it I will be soon! I just wanted the chance to use the title as my next blog post.
So let's have a recap of the events of the last few days, shall we?
You remember my lazy Saturday? Well, that evening ended in Akvile and Myriam's flat where a bunch of us watched the first part of a comedy film "Двенадцать столов" (12 chairs) and drank (not in a "Let's get smashed wooo!" kind of way, more just "We have vodka, why the hell not?" kind of way.) The story was about a dying old...woman, we think, who left her precious jewels inside the cushion of one of her 12 fancy chairs. A farce ensues involving her son-in-law, the conman he asks to help him find the chairs and the vicar who blessed her on her death bed to find these chairs and collect their fortunes! It's a fun film, but we're only about halfway through it because the first half lasted about 1 1/4 hours! We may be watching the rest tonight, nobody's really certain...
Anyway, plans were made that evening to go to Торжок (Tarzhok) the following day, and by golly we did! Setting off on a fairly grim Sunday morning from Tver' we travelled by Маршрутка (Marshrutka, kind of like a tiny bus) to the bus station where we got an Автобус (Avtobus, which was weirdly enough more like a coach...) to Торжок, and let me tell you, it was incredibly worth the 2 or so hours. I have pictures on my phone, but I don't have any means of getting them onto the computer! Whyyyyy?! So yeah, someday I'll be posting all the lovely pictures and mixing them into this post. In the meantime, just try to imagine them.
So the first thing we learned about Торжок, there's a hell of a lot of churches there. We visited at least 4, and I'm pretty sure there were more. The first church we visited was fairly large, ornately decorated and pleasant to look around for a little while. The second church (well, technically the third, the second church seemed to be inaccessible) was quite clearly Торжок's pride and joy: It was huge, blue, beautiful and more portraits of saints and other important religious figures than you could shake a crucifix at (though if you DID shake a crucifix at them I imagine you'd be forcefully asked to leave very swiftly). And yet, despite all that, it was not my favourite of the churches we saw that day, but that will come later.
We then visited the monastery, which was also brilliant. It was, as many monasteries are, very old and very tall. We talked for a little while with the very kind Russian woman sitting at the bottom (whom I had trouble understanding because she had false teeth which led to a multitude of those strange, somewhat gutteral "sch" noises as she spoke), gave her the admission money and headed to the top. The view was spectacular, and was only improved by the lovely weather we had that day, an enormous contrast to that of Tver'. After we'd had enough of being up really high, we went to the church located in the grounds of the monastery. As we went in, we were greeted by another set of Russian people, seemingly just random civilians themselves, with whom we chatted for a little while. The man was especially friendly, and was happy to have the chance to show off the English and German that he knew. He told us about yet ANOTHER church nearby, about which I'll go into detail later, and offered to show/tell us the way once we'd checked out THIS one.
So yeah, the monastery's church was also nice. Simpler than the rest, a lot fewer portraits and less gold, but it still felt holy, which is a good thing in a church. I didn't get any pictures of the churches, unfortunately, just because I was worried about offending somebody or doing something sacriligious and being exiled, which is a TOTALLY rational fear, by the way...Anyway, we left and met up with our good new Russian friend whose name we TOTALLY learned. I was a bit worried when he offered to drive us, especially since there wouldn't be space for us and we'd have to split up, but our group had common sense and I think it was a perfectly innocent invitation in the end anyway. One of the women with him also gave us a small stack of Christian newspapers which I think we all still have, so that should be good for some light(ish) revision!
But yes, the final church. My favourite church. The goddamn best church there...
Was incredibly unimpressive. It was, like, a really tall wooden shack with a few pictures in it, but...It was just beautiful in its simplicity. It wasn't overwhelming, it wasn't flashy, it was barely even decorated! But the tower was the most impressive of any of the churches we visited that day, and it just made me feel happy to be there! I believe other members of our party took pictures of the church, so I'll see if I can steal and repurpose them later on.
There was also a kitty outside which let us pet it, so that was pleasant.
After that the day slowly drew to a close, really. We tried to visit the Pushkin museum, but a rather gruff man in camouflage pants told us quite distinctly that they were closed, so I guess we'll just have to go back some other day! We took the train back home (which would have been half the price if I'd had my student card by then, but oh well, it was still only around 150 roubles (£3)) and...that's about it, really.
The following day (Monday) was partially eventful, partially not. Lectures happened as normal, but I got my Student Card! It's wonderful and weirdly official looking in comparison to the little plastic cards back at Manchester. However, I'm a bit worried about the paper inside tearing as life goes on...Oh well, I'm sure it'll be fine. Some of us also went to the library again in search of rumoured language lessons! There were details of a German group there, but sadly no Japanese...Not sure what's happening with the German group either, actually, I think there was meant to be something today, but I haven't heard anything about it...Other than that I don't think much happened. I found a Terry Pratchett book in Russian, but I didn't have any money on me at the time and I ran out of time to buy it today, so tomorrow it will be MINE! "Guards, Guards!" was the first Pratchett book I read, so it'll be extra meaningful to have it in Russian (though if someone sees "Thud!" in Russian, please let me know!)
As for today, as I said, we went back to the music school and we were actually allowed to see people this time! And our Russian didn't magically disappear into the ether! AND we signed something and talked to people who seemed to be willing to teach us, so I'd say a rather huge success! Elke and I have scheduled a first proper meeting/lesson for next Wednesday, so more news then! Apparently Elke misremembered her lecture schedule, so she won't be able to make regular meetings on Wednesdays, but that's alright because I think lessons are individual anyway, so I can keep the slot.
I think that's all the news that's fit to print...Upload...I dunno, so I'll leave it there, I suppose. So once again everybody, thank you for reading! Good night!
Joe
So let's have a recap of the events of the last few days, shall we?
You remember my lazy Saturday? Well, that evening ended in Akvile and Myriam's flat where a bunch of us watched the first part of a comedy film "Двенадцать столов" (12 chairs) and drank (not in a "Let's get smashed wooo!" kind of way, more just "We have vodka, why the hell not?" kind of way.) The story was about a dying old...woman, we think, who left her precious jewels inside the cushion of one of her 12 fancy chairs. A farce ensues involving her son-in-law, the conman he asks to help him find the chairs and the vicar who blessed her on her death bed to find these chairs and collect their fortunes! It's a fun film, but we're only about halfway through it because the first half lasted about 1 1/4 hours! We may be watching the rest tonight, nobody's really certain...
Anyway, plans were made that evening to go to Торжок (Tarzhok) the following day, and by golly we did! Setting off on a fairly grim Sunday morning from Tver' we travelled by Маршрутка (Marshrutka, kind of like a tiny bus) to the bus station where we got an Автобус (Avtobus, which was weirdly enough more like a coach...) to Торжок, and let me tell you, it was incredibly worth the 2 or so hours. I have pictures on my phone, but I don't have any means of getting them onto the computer! Whyyyyy?! So yeah, someday I'll be posting all the lovely pictures and mixing them into this post. In the meantime, just try to imagine them.
So the first thing we learned about Торжок, there's a hell of a lot of churches there. We visited at least 4, and I'm pretty sure there were more. The first church we visited was fairly large, ornately decorated and pleasant to look around for a little while. The second church (well, technically the third, the second church seemed to be inaccessible) was quite clearly Торжок's pride and joy: It was huge, blue, beautiful and more portraits of saints and other important religious figures than you could shake a crucifix at (though if you DID shake a crucifix at them I imagine you'd be forcefully asked to leave very swiftly). And yet, despite all that, it was not my favourite of the churches we saw that day, but that will come later.
We then visited the monastery, which was also brilliant. It was, as many monasteries are, very old and very tall. We talked for a little while with the very kind Russian woman sitting at the bottom (whom I had trouble understanding because she had false teeth which led to a multitude of those strange, somewhat gutteral "sch" noises as she spoke), gave her the admission money and headed to the top. The view was spectacular, and was only improved by the lovely weather we had that day, an enormous contrast to that of Tver'. After we'd had enough of being up really high, we went to the church located in the grounds of the monastery. As we went in, we were greeted by another set of Russian people, seemingly just random civilians themselves, with whom we chatted for a little while. The man was especially friendly, and was happy to have the chance to show off the English and German that he knew. He told us about yet ANOTHER church nearby, about which I'll go into detail later, and offered to show/tell us the way once we'd checked out THIS one.
So yeah, the monastery's church was also nice. Simpler than the rest, a lot fewer portraits and less gold, but it still felt holy, which is a good thing in a church. I didn't get any pictures of the churches, unfortunately, just because I was worried about offending somebody or doing something sacriligious and being exiled, which is a TOTALLY rational fear, by the way...Anyway, we left and met up with our good new Russian friend whose name we TOTALLY learned. I was a bit worried when he offered to drive us, especially since there wouldn't be space for us and we'd have to split up, but our group had common sense and I think it was a perfectly innocent invitation in the end anyway. One of the women with him also gave us a small stack of Christian newspapers which I think we all still have, so that should be good for some light(ish) revision!
But yes, the final church. My favourite church. The goddamn best church there...
Was incredibly unimpressive. It was, like, a really tall wooden shack with a few pictures in it, but...It was just beautiful in its simplicity. It wasn't overwhelming, it wasn't flashy, it was barely even decorated! But the tower was the most impressive of any of the churches we visited that day, and it just made me feel happy to be there! I believe other members of our party took pictures of the church, so I'll see if I can steal and repurpose them later on.
There was also a kitty outside which let us pet it, so that was pleasant.
After that the day slowly drew to a close, really. We tried to visit the Pushkin museum, but a rather gruff man in camouflage pants told us quite distinctly that they were closed, so I guess we'll just have to go back some other day! We took the train back home (which would have been half the price if I'd had my student card by then, but oh well, it was still only around 150 roubles (£3)) and...that's about it, really.
The following day (Monday) was partially eventful, partially not. Lectures happened as normal, but I got my Student Card! It's wonderful and weirdly official looking in comparison to the little plastic cards back at Manchester. However, I'm a bit worried about the paper inside tearing as life goes on...Oh well, I'm sure it'll be fine. Some of us also went to the library again in search of rumoured language lessons! There were details of a German group there, but sadly no Japanese...Not sure what's happening with the German group either, actually, I think there was meant to be something today, but I haven't heard anything about it...Other than that I don't think much happened. I found a Terry Pratchett book in Russian, but I didn't have any money on me at the time and I ran out of time to buy it today, so tomorrow it will be MINE! "Guards, Guards!" was the first Pratchett book I read, so it'll be extra meaningful to have it in Russian (though if someone sees "Thud!" in Russian, please let me know!)
As for today, as I said, we went back to the music school and we were actually allowed to see people this time! And our Russian didn't magically disappear into the ether! AND we signed something and talked to people who seemed to be willing to teach us, so I'd say a rather huge success! Elke and I have scheduled a first proper meeting/lesson for next Wednesday, so more news then! Apparently Elke misremembered her lecture schedule, so she won't be able to make regular meetings on Wednesdays, but that's alright because I think lessons are individual anyway, so I can keep the slot.
I think that's all the news that's fit to print...Upload...I dunno, so I'll leave it there, I suppose. So once again everybody, thank you for reading! Good night!
Joe
Saturday, 7 September 2013
Lazy Saturday
So my first Saturday in Russia has been spent pretty much as a normal Saturday back home, i.e. doing very little at home. Finished my translation homework, watched Youtube videos and ate some bread and Nutella, though who knows what the evening may yet bring!
Besides, today's weather hasn't exactly been ideal for going out and seeing the sights, so hopefully I can do that tomorrow.
As for now, though, I'll give you a quick little catch-up on the last few days which haven't been quite as eventful as in my previous posts. I've just about got into the routine of Tver' Uni, which has some pretty amazing hours, all told! Lectures start at 10am and last until 1.30pm and we have Fridays off, so we have our fair share of free time! Back on our first day we had to take a short test so the lecturers can get an idea of where our russian ability lies. I've been told by a couple of fellow students that I'm in one of the more advanced groups (though I don't know why they know this, I don't recall being told much about the groups...) which is both a blessing and a curse. It's good, because I can feel proud of myself and I imagine it'll help boost my Russian ability immensely, but conversely it has led once or twice to a lecturer providing examples of work that seems to have been covered in the post A-Level classes at Manchester, but not in the post Beginners. Thankfully, Jordan has very kindly offered to help me with that sort of thing, so if more stuff crops up I'll just go pester him. It also makes me worry that my translation work is meant to test structures I haven't learned yet, but I'll find that out once we go over the homework, I guess.
Speaking of the lectures, the lecturers here are all really nice, especially our lecturer for oral class (with whom I was left to practice work thanks to the good old system of "Let's break off into pairs when there's an odd number of students in the group!", but I think I did pretty well) and I'm managing to understand most of what they're telling us, or at least the overall meaning which is the most important bit, I suppose. Our group only seems to have 3 lecturers for our 8 classes, whereas the others have at least 4, possibly 5. Either way, lectures are going pretty smoothly and the homework isn't overwhelming me just yet...
Beyond that I've spent a fair amount of time getting to know the people who are also staying in the Russian accommodation. I have yet to engage any of the natives living there with any meaningful conversation, but it's nice spending time with the other foreign students! I've also managed to get registered at the University library, which should really help provided I remember how it is you get there...I remember the vague area, so I'm sure a bit of exploration will get me there pretty simply (and maybe finding a few other cool places!)
Yesterday a group of us went to the music school to find out about possibly filling up our free time with learning how to play new instruments! It went...erm...interestingly. Akvile and Sophia were fine because they'd already been and got through the first phase (I believe they'll be studying the cello). However, the rest of us had a bit more trouble, since around half of us wanted to learn piano, but the groups were full, and 3 of us (myself, Elke and Rowan) decided we'd like to play the accordion...Or possibly another instrument that is very similar to the accordion but not quite, it doesn't have the piano-like keyboard (though I'd quite like the keyboard, so that should hopefully be quite easy to sort out once/if we proceed to the next step of the process). After a lot of erming and aahing and not really being sure what was going on, we talked to 2 of the teachers who, apparently, don't have the time to teach us, but there are some other teachers who might. In any case, we're going back on Tuesday so, if all goes as planned, we'll be learning to play the accordion soon enough!
We visited a little gallery right opposite the music school, which had a lot of really cool photographs in it! Obviously, though, cameras were forbidden, so I can't share them with you...We also found a new supermarket as well, and it's always good to have a big choice of those.
...
Well, I've now very briefly met some Russians from this accommodation as I was summoned to help with an internet connection issue (which was one of those lovely issues where your computer is being weird for no reason but then you call someone in to help and it was suddenly just fine. Strange to be on this end of that problem for a change) but they left before I could really ask them anything. Still, maybe if I see them around I'll be able to feel a bit less shy and engage them in conversation!
In any case, this post is far too long and nowhere near interesting enough, so I think I shall end it here! Thank you kindly for reading, and hopefully my next blog post will be entitled "I'm learning the accordion!!"
Until then, farewell!
Joe
EDIT:
Oh yeah, totally forgot about Анти-кафе! It's a neat little place we were taken to by a Russian student the other day. It's a little cafe with a bunch of board games and a PS3, I believe, and the system works thusly: You pay based not on what you order, but how much time you spend there. The first hour costs 2 rubles per minute (120 rubles per hour for all you hour-fanatics out there), and 1 ruble per minute for every subsequent hour. The upside to this deal, though, is that you can have as much food and drink from there as you want for free! You can also play any of the games for free, and it's a neat little place, if you ask me! Spent a large amount of my time there speaking French, though, strangely enough. Apparently every Monday at 6pm there are Russian films as well, so I'll most likely go along to at least some of those!
Besides, today's weather hasn't exactly been ideal for going out and seeing the sights, so hopefully I can do that tomorrow.
As for now, though, I'll give you a quick little catch-up on the last few days which haven't been quite as eventful as in my previous posts. I've just about got into the routine of Tver' Uni, which has some pretty amazing hours, all told! Lectures start at 10am and last until 1.30pm and we have Fridays off, so we have our fair share of free time! Back on our first day we had to take a short test so the lecturers can get an idea of where our russian ability lies. I've been told by a couple of fellow students that I'm in one of the more advanced groups (though I don't know why they know this, I don't recall being told much about the groups...) which is both a blessing and a curse. It's good, because I can feel proud of myself and I imagine it'll help boost my Russian ability immensely, but conversely it has led once or twice to a lecturer providing examples of work that seems to have been covered in the post A-Level classes at Manchester, but not in the post Beginners. Thankfully, Jordan has very kindly offered to help me with that sort of thing, so if more stuff crops up I'll just go pester him. It also makes me worry that my translation work is meant to test structures I haven't learned yet, but I'll find that out once we go over the homework, I guess.
Speaking of the lectures, the lecturers here are all really nice, especially our lecturer for oral class (with whom I was left to practice work thanks to the good old system of "Let's break off into pairs when there's an odd number of students in the group!", but I think I did pretty well) and I'm managing to understand most of what they're telling us, or at least the overall meaning which is the most important bit, I suppose. Our group only seems to have 3 lecturers for our 8 classes, whereas the others have at least 4, possibly 5. Either way, lectures are going pretty smoothly and the homework isn't overwhelming me just yet...
Beyond that I've spent a fair amount of time getting to know the people who are also staying in the Russian accommodation. I have yet to engage any of the natives living there with any meaningful conversation, but it's nice spending time with the other foreign students! I've also managed to get registered at the University library, which should really help provided I remember how it is you get there...I remember the vague area, so I'm sure a bit of exploration will get me there pretty simply (and maybe finding a few other cool places!)
Yesterday a group of us went to the music school to find out about possibly filling up our free time with learning how to play new instruments! It went...erm...interestingly. Akvile and Sophia were fine because they'd already been and got through the first phase (I believe they'll be studying the cello). However, the rest of us had a bit more trouble, since around half of us wanted to learn piano, but the groups were full, and 3 of us (myself, Elke and Rowan) decided we'd like to play the accordion...Or possibly another instrument that is very similar to the accordion but not quite, it doesn't have the piano-like keyboard (though I'd quite like the keyboard, so that should hopefully be quite easy to sort out once/if we proceed to the next step of the process). After a lot of erming and aahing and not really being sure what was going on, we talked to 2 of the teachers who, apparently, don't have the time to teach us, but there are some other teachers who might. In any case, we're going back on Tuesday so, if all goes as planned, we'll be learning to play the accordion soon enough!
We visited a little gallery right opposite the music school, which had a lot of really cool photographs in it! Obviously, though, cameras were forbidden, so I can't share them with you...We also found a new supermarket as well, and it's always good to have a big choice of those.
...
Well, I've now very briefly met some Russians from this accommodation as I was summoned to help with an internet connection issue (which was one of those lovely issues where your computer is being weird for no reason but then you call someone in to help and it was suddenly just fine. Strange to be on this end of that problem for a change) but they left before I could really ask them anything. Still, maybe if I see them around I'll be able to feel a bit less shy and engage them in conversation!
In any case, this post is far too long and nowhere near interesting enough, so I think I shall end it here! Thank you kindly for reading, and hopefully my next blog post will be entitled "I'm learning the accordion!!"
Until then, farewell!
Joe
EDIT:
Oh yeah, totally forgot about Анти-кафе! It's a neat little place we were taken to by a Russian student the other day. It's a little cafe with a bunch of board games and a PS3, I believe, and the system works thusly: You pay based not on what you order, but how much time you spend there. The first hour costs 2 rubles per minute (120 rubles per hour for all you hour-fanatics out there), and 1 ruble per minute for every subsequent hour. The upside to this deal, though, is that you can have as much food and drink from there as you want for free! You can also play any of the games for free, and it's a neat little place, if you ask me! Spent a large amount of my time there speaking French, though, strangely enough. Apparently every Monday at 6pm there are Russian films as well, so I'll most likely go along to at least some of those!
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Passless-Daddy
Well, if things keep happening as often as they have up
until now, seems I’ll have no choice but to make a daily blog. (Actually, I
won’t. Despite the fact that I’m writing this on my second day in Russia, the
poor internet connection in this room means it may not be published for a long
time unless I fancy my luck with an unprotected wi-fi server for the next 4
months.)
So today was a sort of initiation day. Robin and I set off
and tried to find where our test was going to be, going solely on the information
“3rd floor”, which is not especially helpful when there are several
different buildings, each with at least 3 storeys. I really feel that we’ve
been left quite distinctly in the dark, but the main part of that comes at the
end of this post…
In trying to find our way, we vaguely embarrassed ourselves
in front of a group of Russian students who asked us what lecture we were
attending, to which we replied a mumbled sort of “we’re from Britain and we
don’t know what we’re doing”. Eventually, having been passed to around 4
different people, we were registered and eventually found our way to the
correct testing room (apparently just one floor up or down in the same building
from just about everyone else we know, so lucky them…) The test itself was
alright, some difficult parts but overall reasonable, and we were then
introduced to some of the people who will be tutoring us over this coming
semester, though I’m not sure I managed to follow it particularly expertly.}
After this we were taken to buy new Russian SIM cards, which
is a far more complicated process than we first thought, requiring our
passports and at least around 2 hours. However, they almost all seem to have
worked (last I checked Jordan was having trouble with his, but it may have
resolved itself by this point) and we moved on with our vague tour of Tver’,
including a trip to Атак,
which is pronounced precisely as you non-Cyrillicists think, a fairly cheap
supermarket in the vicinity.
Time passed and we were invited for a few drinks around at
Angus’ place, an invitation which we didn’t turn down. We got some drinks with
Han, Stefka and Anna from the nearby 24/7 supermarket and had a grand old time.
Right up until around 12:30. The socialising was fun, and
couldn’t have been better, but when Robin and I decided it was time to retire
for the night things got…Tricky.
So, turns out there’s an 11pm curfew of sorts at the
University (about which we were told nothing) which means that any students
hoping to enter after said time must present a пропуск (meaning pass) which we had not been given. We think this is
because we were only technically registered earlier that morning, so processing
time left us high and dry пропуск-wise.
It took us a fair amount of persuasion to convince the woman at the desk of who
we were and what room we were in (especially tricky for me because the number
card for my room had broken off my keys around 6pm, so there was no real proof
that I inhabited this room. By the way, сломался is the way to go if something breaks beyond your control.
She gave me a new one which I pray will last longer) and she asked us what we
had been told by…Well, anybody, to which we could respond with nothing much
beyond “ничего”, meaning
“nothing”. As I say, I think due to our very late arrival, at least Robin and I
have been left with irritatingly little information about the procedures. We
weren’t told about the curfew, we were told about the пропуск earlier today
during the introductory lecturer meetings but didn’t receive anything, and the
whole experience was a bit nerve-wracking. Worst case scenario, I think we
could have maybe snuck our way back in to our friends’ accommodation.
In any case, tomorrow we’re going and getting whatever the
hell it is we need so that we don’t have to be back by 11pm for the rest of the
semester (though I might consider doing so just for the rest of this week, I
have no problem just staying in my room). However, all things considered, I am
very proud of how Robin and I performed during the negotiation. Our Russian was
at least sufficient that there was no point at which the woman at the desk
couldn’t understand what we were saying, and there were very few times at which
Robin and I looked at one another blankly and asked the woman to repeat herself
or explain what she was talking about, and assuming nothing goes unbelievably
wrong tomorrow with пропуск-acquisition,
we should be able to avoid this situation in future.
Indeed, we were all set to head upstairs with our head
held…Well, not high, exactly, but at least around middle range, the quality of
our Russian virtually outweighing the awkwardness of the situation, riiiiight
up until Robin bumped a nearby billboard and knocked it off the wall…
Ну, всё в порядке.
So, let’s see what happens tomorrow then, eh?
G’night!
Joe
[Written after the bulk of this post] I have a пропуск!
Sunday, 1 September 2013
Hello Tver'! Oh bugger...
Well, it's finally happened. I'm actually IN Russia now! And let me tell you, it feels...Pretty normal, actually.
...
Sorry about that, had to pause writing this blog entry because Natwest thought I wasn't who I am and almost left me penniless in Russia which is (strangely enough) not ideal. Here's how NOT to do your banking when YOU spend your Year Abroad:
Step 1: DON'T forget to tell your bank you're travelling to Russia well in advance. Natwest at the very least gives you the option to do it online, so that's what I've done.
Step 2: If, as I am doing, you are using a Currency Card in Russia, make sure that you give it plenty of money WELL IN ADVANCE of leaving the country, if you top up a large amount (which you WILL need to do for all the stuff you'll need to pay for), your bank is going to think it's fraud and stop your card. This is less vital if your bank has an automatic fraud service which CAN be done over the phone (such as Natwest). I don't know if the fraud warning stopped the original transaction going through, but it would certainly have stopped any future top-ups and left me, once again, without money. If Natwest DIDN'T have a phone anti-fraud scheme, I would be well and truly [censored].
Step 3: DON'T leave your phone without credit if your only means of topping up are via the debit card that you are no longer allowed to use to call the Fraud service and sort the whole mess out because the card you are using has been blocked due to suspected fraud. It's kind of a closed circle which leaves you wanting to tear your hair out.
I was only saved in this matter by the absolutely marvellous and wonderful Robin Thomson whom I met today at the airport and with whom I am now sharing a flat. He's known me for less than 12 hours, and yet he was more than perfectly understanding when I asked him as calmly as I could if he wouldn't mind topping up my phone for me using HIS card so that I could unblock my own. He is a saviour, a gentleman and another incredibly positive adjective, as I believe the issues are now resolved.
If the thought hasn't already crossed your mind, DON'T LET YOURSELF GET INTO AS CLOSE A SHAVE AS THIS. There is no guarantee whatsoever that you will have a nice flatmate who will help you through this trouble, and will be so understanding to someone who is, to all intents and purposes, a complete stranger. (Although if, because you are foolish, you DO find yourself in this situation, you may be able to persuade friends of yours who have joined you on the course, but it is SO not worth the stress).
Natwest says they'll unblock my regular Debit Card, I should have a good amount on my Currency Card to get through at least a couple of months here in Russia and this whole experience has taught me a valuable lesson. Even if Natwest pull this crap again when I next need to top up my Currency Card (which I most likely will need to do at some point), I'll make sure I top up my bloody credit first.
*deep breath*
Other than that, getting to Tver' was simple enough. After a rather kerfuffley check-in at Heathrow and a fond, sad farewell to my parents, I chilled with my good friend Morgan until my plane turned up. The flight was fine as well, 3 hours, a free meal and some good company, I ain't complaining. Although it seems the connection for my headphones was broken, so I couldn't watch the little screen for anything other than flight details or silent films (Oh man, I should've seen if there WERE any silent films, those would've done the trick!) but it's alright, I mostly just napped.
We then arrived at the airport in Moscow at around 3:30pm local time, and the queue for passport control was...troublesome. We first got into a queue which had nobody working on it at the front, before being ushered to another, very slowly moving line. I mumbled a quiet "Здравствуйте..." to the woman at passport control who looked at me with...What's a more intense word for "disinterest"? I didn't feel hatred or anything coming from her, just...Complete and utter indifference. In any case, everything became relatively simple after that: we found the RLUS group and were sentenced to the corner with the other english students where I met several people, Sophia from Sheffield University and Angus and the aforementioned Robin. Robin and I talked for most of the time we were waiting (around 2 hours, if I recall correctly). Isn't it strange how this guy I just happened to bump into at the airport would not only be my future flatmate, but would also end up saving my proverbial bacon? And Oliver thought it was a small world because he met another Slovakian at the airport...
So eventually I was bundled into a minivan along with Robin, Sophia and 4 other students who had joined me from Manchester, namely Hannah, Stefka, Jordan and James. The trip was largely uneventful, as we chatted and laughed and pointed out all the shops which we also had back in England (extra credit to Stefka for being chief pointer-outer). Some of our group got McDonalds on the way, which tided them over nicely until they reached Uni.
Partway through the journey, though, my brain caused my stomach to drop and my heart to skip a beat by giving me 5 simple words to think: "I'm on my Year Abroad". There's no more "going", there's no "will be". Just "am". I still think the gravity hasn't entirely sunk in yet, but soon enough, I'm sure, as my brain comes up with new, startling things for me to suddenly realise. But I digress.
When we pulled up at our accommodation, the woman who greeted us (very friendly, but doesn't speak English) said she specifically needed me, Robin, Sophia and Miriam (a girl studying at Glasgow who, for some reason, was absent). I was a bit worried at first, being separated from my Mancunion friends, but all that's happened is we've been put into separate accommodation just around the corner. This is apparently the Russian accommodation, presumably with proper Russkii studenti in it somewhere, though I have yet to run into any. (But I've only been here for, like, 2 hours, and it's late, give me a break!)
To cut a long story short, my room is alright, a bit grim in places, but everything seems to work. The mattress is tougher than...a tough thing (my brain is too tired for good comparatives at the moment, maybe I'll come back and edit this later) and the toilet water is always brown (though this is apparently due to a cleaning chemical rather than...other substances. You think they could've gone with a less worrying colour, though, surely?) but it'll do just fine. I even quite like it! It's charming in a "Let's see what'll go wrong first!" kind of a way. I'll upload pictures of it in the future, but for now I need to sleep, I think.
So, my dear friends, until next time.
Good night! And don't let the bank bugs bite.
Joe
...
Sorry about that, had to pause writing this blog entry because Natwest thought I wasn't who I am and almost left me penniless in Russia which is (strangely enough) not ideal. Here's how NOT to do your banking when YOU spend your Year Abroad:
Step 1: DON'T forget to tell your bank you're travelling to Russia well in advance. Natwest at the very least gives you the option to do it online, so that's what I've done.
Step 2: If, as I am doing, you are using a Currency Card in Russia, make sure that you give it plenty of money WELL IN ADVANCE of leaving the country, if you top up a large amount (which you WILL need to do for all the stuff you'll need to pay for), your bank is going to think it's fraud and stop your card. This is less vital if your bank has an automatic fraud service which CAN be done over the phone (such as Natwest). I don't know if the fraud warning stopped the original transaction going through, but it would certainly have stopped any future top-ups and left me, once again, without money. If Natwest DIDN'T have a phone anti-fraud scheme, I would be well and truly [censored].
Step 3: DON'T leave your phone without credit if your only means of topping up are via the debit card that you are no longer allowed to use to call the Fraud service and sort the whole mess out because the card you are using has been blocked due to suspected fraud. It's kind of a closed circle which leaves you wanting to tear your hair out.
I was only saved in this matter by the absolutely marvellous and wonderful Robin Thomson whom I met today at the airport and with whom I am now sharing a flat. He's known me for less than 12 hours, and yet he was more than perfectly understanding when I asked him as calmly as I could if he wouldn't mind topping up my phone for me using HIS card so that I could unblock my own. He is a saviour, a gentleman and another incredibly positive adjective, as I believe the issues are now resolved.
If the thought hasn't already crossed your mind, DON'T LET YOURSELF GET INTO AS CLOSE A SHAVE AS THIS. There is no guarantee whatsoever that you will have a nice flatmate who will help you through this trouble, and will be so understanding to someone who is, to all intents and purposes, a complete stranger. (Although if, because you are foolish, you DO find yourself in this situation, you may be able to persuade friends of yours who have joined you on the course, but it is SO not worth the stress).
Natwest says they'll unblock my regular Debit Card, I should have a good amount on my Currency Card to get through at least a couple of months here in Russia and this whole experience has taught me a valuable lesson. Even if Natwest pull this crap again when I next need to top up my Currency Card (which I most likely will need to do at some point), I'll make sure I top up my bloody credit first.
*deep breath*
Other than that, getting to Tver' was simple enough. After a rather kerfuffley check-in at Heathrow and a fond, sad farewell to my parents, I chilled with my good friend Morgan until my plane turned up. The flight was fine as well, 3 hours, a free meal and some good company, I ain't complaining. Although it seems the connection for my headphones was broken, so I couldn't watch the little screen for anything other than flight details or silent films (Oh man, I should've seen if there WERE any silent films, those would've done the trick!) but it's alright, I mostly just napped.
We then arrived at the airport in Moscow at around 3:30pm local time, and the queue for passport control was...troublesome. We first got into a queue which had nobody working on it at the front, before being ushered to another, very slowly moving line. I mumbled a quiet "Здравствуйте..." to the woman at passport control who looked at me with...What's a more intense word for "disinterest"? I didn't feel hatred or anything coming from her, just...Complete and utter indifference. In any case, everything became relatively simple after that: we found the RLUS group and were sentenced to the corner with the other english students where I met several people, Sophia from Sheffield University and Angus and the aforementioned Robin. Robin and I talked for most of the time we were waiting (around 2 hours, if I recall correctly). Isn't it strange how this guy I just happened to bump into at the airport would not only be my future flatmate, but would also end up saving my proverbial bacon? And Oliver thought it was a small world because he met another Slovakian at the airport...
So eventually I was bundled into a minivan along with Robin, Sophia and 4 other students who had joined me from Manchester, namely Hannah, Stefka, Jordan and James. The trip was largely uneventful, as we chatted and laughed and pointed out all the shops which we also had back in England (extra credit to Stefka for being chief pointer-outer). Some of our group got McDonalds on the way, which tided them over nicely until they reached Uni.
Partway through the journey, though, my brain caused my stomach to drop and my heart to skip a beat by giving me 5 simple words to think: "I'm on my Year Abroad". There's no more "going", there's no "will be". Just "am". I still think the gravity hasn't entirely sunk in yet, but soon enough, I'm sure, as my brain comes up with new, startling things for me to suddenly realise. But I digress.
When we pulled up at our accommodation, the woman who greeted us (very friendly, but doesn't speak English) said she specifically needed me, Robin, Sophia and Miriam (a girl studying at Glasgow who, for some reason, was absent). I was a bit worried at first, being separated from my Mancunion friends, but all that's happened is we've been put into separate accommodation just around the corner. This is apparently the Russian accommodation, presumably with proper Russkii studenti in it somewhere, though I have yet to run into any. (But I've only been here for, like, 2 hours, and it's late, give me a break!)
To cut a long story short, my room is alright, a bit grim in places, but everything seems to work. The mattress is tougher than...a tough thing (my brain is too tired for good comparatives at the moment, maybe I'll come back and edit this later) and the toilet water is always brown (though this is apparently due to a cleaning chemical rather than...other substances. You think they could've gone with a less worrying colour, though, surely?) but it'll do just fine. I even quite like it! It's charming in a "Let's see what'll go wrong first!" kind of a way. I'll upload pictures of it in the future, but for now I need to sleep, I think.
So, my dear friends, until next time.
Good night! And don't let the bank bugs bite.
Joe
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