Wednesday 25 June 2008

Advice for Visitors

I have just seen whats going on in Britain according to the BBC website and it seems to consist of death, tennis and Big Brother, so thank goodness I am here. Their is something of a wimbledon effect in Russia att the moment. For a fortnight each summer the parks in Huddersfield are crowded with people playing tennis - the other 50 weeks they are empty. Their seem to be a lot of people playing football in Russia at the moment.

I visited the familly who hosted the previous party for a second time last night, their was endless very nice food (thank you again if you are reading this) and offers of Vodka. But if I can reccomend all visitors of two things;

Firstly learn to say 'tchut tchut' (meaning something like 'a little') ready for when your host offers you vodka and secondly take some vitimin B tablets for a while before you set off. This corner of Russia is full of breathtaking scenery full of lakes and forrests - as you will see when I manage to upload some photos. Unfortunately the one thing that loves lakes and forests even more than I do is the Mosquito and if you havnt taken your vitamin B they also love you.

I now have several wounds around my body which take a while to heal and when I go outdoors I get some more. I have some more interesting stuff to say once I can show you the photo's but thats all for now.

Monday 23 June 2008

Solstice (Not) in Murmansk

Sorry to report that I bottled out of the trip - 3 members of my course did go and it would appear the Physcisists tell the truth North of the Artic Circle the sun does indeed remain fully in the sky.

My excuses for bottling it

1) It was a 20 hour journey each way
2) The group decided to just stay out the whole time they were their and not book accomodation
3) they decided to go by what amounts to 4th class - a class lower than I experienced on the journey here. Its known as Hard Class, you have a hard bench to sit on and a wc beetween 2 carriages.
4) I have a recollection of a train journey from Gdansk to Berlin (although we never actually got to Berlin by train) which only took about 18 hours and recall that I might have been a bit tetchy and not altogether good company by the end of the journey.

Still hope to do the Solevetsky Islands (of the Gulags fame) later in the trip.

Food

Quick update on the food front my Chicken Rogan Josh didnt go down well with the hosts the previous weekend so I introduced them to the full english breafast the weekend just gone. I think the combination of high salt and fat is more suited to the Russian palate as it got the thumbs up. They only seem to sell the streak of the bacon - not the bit you actually want to eat.

I know Andy will want me to mention the football - and yes people were celebrating allthrough Sunday and are looking bleary eyed today.

I have been eating out plenty and have found both a nice Georgian and a nice Azerbaijany resteraunt. The food is not so far removed from an Indian but the resteraunts themselves are quite weird. They seem to want to recreate a village in the caucauses so I ate my meal yesterday next to a real Bear skin quite near the waterfall with the staff in strange costume. The waterfall is about 12 foot high 12foot wide and maybe 6 foot deep - why exactly fitting this into the resteraunt instead of more tables seemed like a good idea to the owner I dont know.

Sorry cant upload pictures yet - but some good ones in the camera.

Thursday 19 June 2008

Football

Glad to see my adopted team Russia have made it through to the quarters, although the opposition Holland have looked pretty fantastic in the two matches I saw. I didnt see last nights match however, the time difference means that they kicked off at 11pm local time (as with many of the matches) and I only use the TV at home when my host is at her Dacha.

Anyway the fixtures are out for the football league and can I ask you to put the following dates in your diaries - especially you two Jonny and Ian;

30 August - the first home match I can make v Northampton
6 December - home to Leeds
Tuesday 10 March away to Leicester
18 April away to Leeds

But the biggest fixture of the season from point of view of the sheer glamour of a visit to the pub next to the ground- away to Stockport County 28 October.

Tuesday 17 June 2008

Phew what a Scorcher

Its 25C in downtown Petrozavodsk - thats 77F in old money. (Unattractive) people are stripping off in the town parks and it takes forever get served in the coffe shops.

Pat and Nina who are students at Leeds uni tell me they are already planning a celebration when they leave as the pace is a little slow for them, I must confess that even as someone who lives in the wilds of Huddersfield the place is a little quiet, Once you have seen the lake and been to the cinema then drinking appears to be the cities most popular hobby, and at 46p for a half litre of Hogaarden who can say the locals have it wrong.

Nothing much else to report apart from my body clock having just given up all together due to constant daylight and their is talk of a group of us visiting Murmansk (its closer to the North Pole than London - so it must be good) at the weekend, purely because we can rather than because their is anything to see.

Thanks for your comments in reply to which , no steam engines, no romance to report and Larrissa is from Volgograd.

Monday 9 June 2008

2 things everyone knows about the English

I was invited to attend a baptism on Saturday and went to a house party afterwards, I was however amazed to discover that like our stereotype of Rusian eating cabbage their are two things that all Russians believe is true about us.

Firstly we drink our tea with milk - this causes great consternation but I was happy to confirm that most people do indeed drink our tea with milk.

Secondly we at Buckwheat porridge (Kasha) every morning for breakfast - without fail. I don't think anyone at the party believed me when I said that not only did I not eat it every morning but I didnt even know what it was a week ago.

Their then followed a long discussion to the effect of was I enjoying the European Cup without England in it , and arnt Russia doing well winning Eurovision as well as the football.

Its 6 degrees out and apparently it was snowing this morning before I got up. The locals are as put out a I am as apparently this is not normal.

I went to Kizhi Island yesterday (sunday) due to the baptism and will post umpteen pictures of the wooden church once I figure out how too on this strange computer.

Friday 6 June 2008

Half an hour to kill so heres a post.

Thanks for all your comments - the weather is beautifull and sunny and I am off to the place with the wooden churches (Кыжи) on Sunday also I have worked out how to turn this thing into an english keyboard without pressing every key on it.

In response to these familly Jewels - I am wondering where they were hidden - can I take 3 guesses

1) the tea caddy
2) Inside some 'artistic' magazines
3) In the fish pond

Am I right?


Oh and so you all know I have told a few people locally that I am keeping this blog so in the interest of international relations I will be censoring all your posts. Also if you want to send me a message you dont want publishing then please mark it clearly as such.

Am off to the coffee shop where they sell Earl Grey.

Thursday 5 June 2008

Indiana Jones

Forgot to mention - I watched the above last night with the other international students, Very confusing plot as it took me a third of the film to realise that the bad guys who were talking in Russian the same as Indiana himself were indeed actually supposed to be Russian.

Their is only one other film showing where language will not be a problem so I am off to see Kung - Foo Panda at the weekend.

I arrived ok and now at last I have found a computer

Thank you all for sending messages but I only recieved the ones I have published - some basics to start off with. By the way I have just spent ten minutes working out how to type in our alphabet as it changed for no obvious reason to cyrilic part way through the last sentance.



The host familly are lovely, the food is better than the Russian resteraunt in Bradford.



My classes are great but I am by far and away the worst student. Fortunately my teacher Larrissa has the patience of a saint.



Petrozavodsk is very nice, a lot like Harrogate but on a lake and no sign of a Betties tea room yet. Also I read a book at midnight last night without the light on - I knew it would be light late here but its pretty weird to actually live with it.





OK so my journey hear was a farce, I got to St Petersburg ok even though it took most of the day and got talking to a chap called Sergei who is in ship building and was flying back from work in Glasgow. He kindly volunteered his wife to give me a lift to the youth hostel although she didnt seem too pleased as their were 2 kids her, her brother and Sergei in the car allready. It was very generous of them but it would have been better if any of them had a clue were the youth hostel was or were willing to just drop me off nearby rather than insist on taking me to the door - it took well over an hour to find and the car was getting rather sticky.



Next day I crossed town carrying my enormous bag and was quite pleased to succesfully order a ticket to Petrozavodsk, Unfortunately I was told the train was full so I had to get the overnight train that evening. You might think that an unexpected day in St Petersburg is a good thing but unfortunately I had a bag I can scarcely lift and I knew the host familly would be waiting for me that evening. Sadly my phone number for them would not work and I had no other way of contacting them. I spent the day visiting all the museums with tea rooms and places where you can leave your bags.

I bought a beer and some chocolate for the train, the lady in the ticket office had advised me I was in a top bunk so I knew I had to share the room but I thought this would be quite convivial.

I was wrong.

If you can picture an english railway carriage but where their is a pair of seats in england here their was 3 bunks, top middle and bottom facing side on to the direction of travel. On the other side of the aisle parrelel to the direction of travell where we would have two seats they had 2 bunks. It was a 65 person carriage with one toilet, a conductor who also sold drinks and so gender segregation! I tried to explain to my host that this wouldnt happen in Brittain.

The punchline to this is that I found my accomodation which luckilly is near the station and the University and apologised proffusely for being 12 hours late and now Dasha the younger of my host familly and also another student has confirmed their is a comfortable bus from Helsinki and I could have come via that route for less cost in half the time.