Dave in Petrozavodsk

My final post

2008-09-03T20:31:00.004+01:00

Ok time to sum everything up. Firstly I had a great time and made new friends, I would like to do it again but not for a long long time. St Petersburg reeked of wealth and came as quite a shock after Petrozavodsk. I didn't enjoy it as much as I should because I booked into the worlds noisiest youth hostel, hence I couldn't even be bothered taking photos, I will go back sometime later on a holiday to see the Hermitage etc.

Britain seems really quite strange, Leeds especially so purely because their are so many people and they all look so English. I didn't realise that England is the world capital of broken windows and hyperactive attention deficit children but it seems like it is. Russia had some bad points corruption, dodgy plumbing etc but people seemed so much better behaved. Ho hum.

I have been featured in the Huddersfield Examiner. Fame at last, unfortunately the journalist obviously had a particular slant in mind before he interviewed me, hence the headline "Chess player caught in Russian warzone". They even describe where Petrozovodsk is (ie no-where near the bloody war zone) but never mind, it did read quite well.

I may have some photos being sent to me from other students which I will put on the site but I feel I have typed enough.

конец (The End)

All the rest of the photos

2008-08-28T17:52:00.073+01:00

Well I'm back, I will blog again in a few days and sum up what its like to be home and what I did in St Petersburg. I have spent several hours uploading the pictures and need to go out and eat so will annotate them later.

The only photo I could be bothered taking in St Petersburg - it looked better in real life

Alternative view of Petrozavodsk best known sculpture on the lakefront

Art gallery

The opera house which is about half way through a 3 year renovation, it looks seriously impressive closer up

Lots of the city blocks have areas of greenery around the back and quite often wooden houses, I photographed this one purely because of the striking colour of the house.

local beauty spot called the devils armchair

look closely - its a double decker car

map on the wall of my classroom, I spent 3 months looking at this map when I was struggling to remember something.

Insect bites - I had these all over

Logs in the river in Kondopoga - along the lakefront are hundreds of garages all of them at least hal a mile away from any flats of houses!

Me and Larisa - Larissa isnt as stern as she looks, but I wouldnt dare go to class without doing my homework

Eastern europes larges paper mill

The above 4 are all pictures of Kivach waterfalls a locl beauty spot, it is a russian tradition on wedding days for the party to visit a war memorial, several beauty spots and the statue of a dead commie. The result is that on a summer Saturday you happen across newlyweds everywhere you go.

2 more of the paper mill

another wedding

Lake and fountain in one of the cities many parks

cruise ship docked in Petrozavodsk

Outside the Karelian resteraunt - where the village theme commences

Korean students giving a talk

My honey pie

I think this bloke was the vice-chancellor of the uni

2 pictures of the war memorial with eternal flame. In the top picture its the view beyong the memorial with the tractor factory in the distance - really I am not making this up, zoom in on the picture and look closely and you will see the tractor monument thingy outside.

One of the cities formal squares

Kazan, the host families dog

The bus station in Sortavala - the sign on the left of the marlboro sign says that it is the cash desk of Sortavala bus station, I was rther pleased that I was able to find it to get the bus home.

releasing balloons at one of the bars I went too, apparently it was the bars birthday.

The above two are countryside near Sortavala

The above are all the nicest buildings in Sortavala

View towards the promenard and across the lake, their are some very popular beer and kebab tents and of course lots of public sculptures.

Countryside on Kizhi island

View from the que for the drop toilet on the way to Sortavala

Some of the lesser buildings on Kizhi

My mum - slightly off topic

View from my window during a rainstorm

View from on the lake.

6201 Princess Elizabeth - for anyone who I have mentioned my mums train enthusiast tendancies too - this is the engine. Thanks to Steve for the photo.

Dosvedanya Petrozavodsk

2008-08-21T08:36:00.002+01:00

Well its time for me to say goodbye to Petrozavodsk I leave on the train to St Petersburg at 11pm this evening and I do feel a slight twinge when I think that I my might not see some of the places or people here again. Having said that I am looking forward to being in Britain again - even if I will be using public transport on a bank holiday monday to get home, hmm.

Went to Kondopoga (Kondopohja) at the weekend and saw in what would be a small town in Britain an enormous "palace of culture"(art gallery, concert hall etc), Ice hockey stadium, and new churches as well as the source of this conspicous wealth which claims to be the largest paper mill in europe, the site of trees being floated across the lake to the mill was really amazing - pictures when I get home.

I had a send off by going to the sauna - which was a new experience, I should perhaps point out that most of the attendees were from Finland and to them the sauna has no dubious connotation like it does in Britain. I thought the first 2 and a half hours were the worst (yes really) but by the end being alternately in a room too hot to breath in and in a cold pool became strangely pleasureable.

Anway thats everything for now I have to buy my host a present which is proving tricky, she doesnt eat fruit or chocalate, doesnt drink alcohol and the house is allready full of plants in nice pots and Vase's which I imagine were presents from previous students who also couldnt think of anything better. I am in St petersburg for a few days and probably wont post again till I am home.

Top (Sports) news item

2008-08-15T11:38:00.001+01:00

please see the link below - or paste into your address bar

http://www.tranmererovers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10365~1366420,00.html

Dont Panic

2008-08-15T09:28:00.003+01:00

Nothing much new to report except of course Russia has been at war. First of all I should point out that South Ossetia is about as far away from me as it is from Britain. It has also been interesting for me to watch the TV coverage. Lots of pictures of Russian refugees and little comment about how this whole mess started or what the outside world thinks of it. The other thing you get is various people reporting to Putin / Medveded in televised meetings, you dont have to be a body language expert to see Putins posture as the expression of power - he sits their not moving a muscle except occaisionally to brush some imaginery crumbs of his leg, rarely even blinking while the other person talks, just staring them in the eye.

Have been to a BBQ by the beach with the expat crowd and were planning a trip out into the country on Saturday. I will be leaving Petrozavodsk on Thursday and will be in St Petersburg until I fly home on the 25th. I arrive manchester at about 9.30pm and intend to get back to Huddersfield before the Kabana indian resteraunt shuts for the night.

No post for a while

2008-08-07T09:00:00.002+01:00

I have been getting on with my studies and in any case life here has pretty much come to seem normal and not worth blogging. Last night I went to a party given by the Korean students of Russian, - great food but as we could only communicate in bad Russian with strong English / Korean accents conversation was a bit lacking.

Anyway my main news is that I have moved house - my previous host spoke no English and after 9 weeks of me the strain was showing, especially when her English speaking daughter has just gone on holiday for 3 weeks. So I have made a switch, I am glad to say my new host Lidia is lovely and seems to be able to understand my Russian (probably she is good at guessing) her flat is lovely and their is a TV in my room so I can watch the olympics - and of course listen to Russian at the same time. The only down point to the new flat is that it is on Ulitsa Dzerzhinskaya at the bottom end of town and like most Russian houses the heating and hot water is supplied communally. Being at the bottom end of town gets you plenty of heat which is good as its getting chilly but if you want to shower, wash the dishes etc you are best doing it beetween one and seven in the morning otherwise the water is cold.

Oh I think she also complained about the council not repairing some tiles around the bath but I hope I only imagined this. No computer at my new home so I am afraid theire will be lots of photos uploaded once I get home, but not before.

Reply to comments

2008-08-07T08:56:00.002+01:00

Drop toilet = hole in the ground and hardly anyone here drinks Vodka - beer and lots of it but not much Vodka

Chris, hard to tell if someone is being ironic when you cant see their face!

Tranmere in the final of the UK masters - sorry for not publicising it sooner, did we win?, isnt the UK masters a snooker competition?

Sortavala - possibly the most dissapointing place in the world

2008-07-29T08:42:00.003+01:00

Ok so I finally got to Sortavala on Saturday. It is billed as a gem of Finnish architecture (it was on the other side of the border before the war) and as most Finnish towns are a collection of non descript white concrete boxes near a lake I thought I would take a look. I left at 7.15 and arrived at 13.30, the bus was clearly having gearbox trouble and took pot holed B roads the whole way so not the fastest journey, but the countryside was stunning (a few photos to post later). I also got to use the first drop toilet I have seen since I was last in Russia and I reccomend they are best used when the weather is cold not hot.

Anyway I got their at 13.30 and had a ticket to return at 16.00 which didn't leave a lot of time for lunch and sight seeing and the plan was to amend the return ticket, but I soon discovered that the town consisted of a load of white concrete boxes near a lake and I decided that two and a half hours were quite enough.

Sadly the return bus was not available as it had a problem with the gear box but I was given a replacement ticket for a "gazelle bus" which makes the journey in only two and a half hours. I had a walk in the woods for two hours as something to do before getting on the minibus and we set off. Soon it bacame clear that the reason this bus took three and a half hours less is that although it followed almost the same route but without a couple of detours the driver drives like an absolute nutter and doesnt worry about driving straight into / over the numerous potholes or stopping for comfort breaks.

I got back home with a headache from where my head had been banging againgst the roof of the bus. The morale of this story is that in Russia it is often better to travel slowly than to arrive.

PS My mum informs me that Ceps are a wild mushroom - so now you know.

Sun Sand and Glamour

2008-07-25T11:43:00.002+01:00

First of all in reply to your question Andy, Reindeer meat tastes very like beef, but I prefer reindeer, it is just a little bit liver like which doesnt sound like a great reccomendation but you will have to try it yourself. Also I am belly free for the first time in about 10 years so the diet here must have something going for it.

Anyway yet more excitement in petrozavodsk as we play host to the finals of the Miss Russia competition, which is held on the lakefront - thus justifying the name of my post. I am begining to feel like some of the russian is sinking in which is good and my trip to Sortavala (a pretty village west of here which used to be in Finland) is arranged for tommorow after I cocked up buying the tickets the weekend before.

Photo's of Sortavala to follow - I can see a Miss Russia website on the web with a presume pics of the contest and Petrozavodsk but the Universities computer system is blocking me from getting beyond the front page so I suggest you google it from home.

By the way I am also becoming increasingly tight with my money now I have tuned in to local prices, its interesting to see just how much athe price of something is dictated by wether its a luxury or not rather than the costs of production. Hence Chocolates and Coffee are much the same price as in the UK and I avoid them and tea and beer are dirt cheap, I am altering my expenditure accordingly and can now be seen in resteraunts and cafes doing maths under my breath before exclaiming something like "over a pound for a Cappuchino - not likely"

July Photos (so far)

2008-07-19T20:55:00.016+01:00

All of the above are in Solomenoe

Wild flowers

This is the market at the (north) end of October Prospect. If you zoom in on the picture you will see that the tanker covered in silver foil is selling KBAC (pronounced Kvas) which is the popular summertime drink made from Rye flour, usually non alcoholic - Ive tried it and unless you buy it from the Karelian Resteraunt it tastes foul. Think of getting a can of ginger beer and then adding a few spoonfulls of soil and some lemon juice before drinking and you have the idea.

Traditional Karelian Dancing

Students from Korea

Birmingham Students

Outside the resteraunt the themeing continues with the re-creation of a village fance and sled.

Reindeer - its delicious

Rather pleased with my fish soup

More Pics from the first 4 weeks

2008-07-19T18:04:00.008+01:00

Sunset looking back to Petrozavodsk

Peter the great saying "build me a city here to supply metal goods to St Petersburg, oh hello what do you do, have you done it a long time, really... and other royal things"

The trees at the front of my flat which is why I cant give you a better picture

Look closely - its the Russian Standard Bank, the same name brand and logo as the popular brand of vodka. Is it just me or would you refuse to invest your money in the Old Peculiar building society

No its not Kizhi - I went to an exhibition about a local man who has built a full scale version of the above near St Petersburg, I understand he has also built something (possibly with a viking theme) near Blackpool but I couldnt work out what.

The boat / hydrofoil to Kizhi

High Excitement in Petrozavodsk

2008-07-17T11:51:00.002+01:00

Two things to say first of all - the Russian language menu from the Karelian resteraunt doesnt tie in with the English so your guess is as good as mine what Ceps are (one worries they are left overs from the Bear)

Secondly a great many roads in russia resemble Greenhead Park Tennis courts, which for those of you not familiar with Huddersfield they have more pot hole than original surface. So it was a bit strange that a lot of roads in Petrozavodsk were resurfaced in the past fortnight all forming a chain suggesting someone important might be driving through town.

Anyway by Monday everyone in town knew that President Medveded was visiting today and that is why everything was being spruced up. I have also been told by someone who knows someone who lives on the route he took that they had been told not to watch from upstairs windows as they could be shot as a sniper. Anyway he has been and gone and visited my University whilst he was here but the visit was remarkably low key no bunting, no schoolchildren with little flags and they only closed off the street half an hour before hand.

Sorry but their will definately not be any pictures, I asked one of the guards if I was allowed to take them and he very politely said no although the look on his face said "you crazy foreigner do you really think we will let you point things (even a camera) at the president". You might get some coverage in the Bearents observer - the link is on my first post.

Anyway thats it except to say that a second batch of students have left today to go back to Birmingham University - very nice but boy they made me feel old. One by the way was someone I had met 2 years ago in Huddersfield so we were a bit surprised to meet again here. Oh by the way I am doing some studying - I think I have finally got all the cases, reflexive verbs and the weird grammer around russian numbers but am still struggling with perfect and imperfect which as far as I can see have no logical pattern in Russian.

Wow its just like being in Tesco's

2008-07-13T09:21:00.002+01:00

Ok so I have been doing nothing in particular, I rejected the University / travel companies kind offer of spending a day away on Valaam island for nearly 100 pound - which given that no food or accomodation involved means 100 pound for a coach journey and ferry - am investigating going their next weekend under my own steam.

Whilst doing the above I went on google maps, if you tried to look up petrozavodsk previously you got a brown smudge but it is now a very nice picture. My house is on the East side of Anokhina (just south of Ulitsa Lenina - the main street) where the two photo images join, hence my house kind of appears twice if a little out of focus.

Spent yesterday in Solomonoye to the north of town, nice walk through the woods and picnic and some lovely pictures of brightly painted wooden houses on slopes leading down to the lake, including some of cows in the street. Petrozavodsk is a very modern western city (in a quaint Harrogate esque sort of way) so it was a bit strange to walk to somewhere in 2 and a bit hours that feels like we were in 1908 rather than 2008.

In reply to your post Andy, I have my shoe off as I say this, Nyet, Nyet, Nyet.

Anyway Tescos dont seem to have got here just yet but I think the big Russian chain Sigma is so similar it is disturbing, most of the details of life here are still different from the UK but a walked around Sigma thinking I was in Seacroft center, only when they played No more heroes after Leo Sayer on the piped music did it begin to feel incongrous, oh and they have a big tank of live fish for you to choose from near the exit as well that was a bit different. Lenta by the way (for any supermarket anoraks) is their version of Kwiksave and the Finnish company Stockmans to fill the Beatties / House of frazer niche - but sadly Petrozavodsk doesnt have one yet.

Weather incredibly warm, my Russian is still awfull, but having a great time.

More Food

2008-07-08T12:10:00.002+01:00

Before I get onto the main topic I ought to mention Ive seen several new movies such as the incredible hulk and my moms new boyfriend and they have all been rubbish.

Ivetta my host had her birthday on Sunday so myself and her daughter Dasha went to Petrozavodsk fanciest resteraunt. Photos to follow...

Copy of menu in English below

http://gornica.ru/content/section/2/32/lang,english/

The food was very good - I had eaten Reindeer before (its very nice) and seen Elk on the menu but I decided to pass on the Bear as it felt like I was flirting with cannibalism. As with all the other resteraunts here it is themed to look like the place the food comes from so the room was made to feel like the inside of an old wooden house.

Oh I also ought to mention that I have just finished laughing at the football

Did they pronounce the russian player Djerk'off with the correct pronounciation on the BBC? and also do any of you know what Schweinsteiger's name means (not you Cate - you told me).

We have photos

2008-07-03T20:18:00.018+01:00

The lake front in Petrozavodsk - its just like Brid on a sunny day

I have loads more pics in my camera but as this is killing my hosts bandwidth allowance I will stop here for now. Will annotate the pictures over the next few days

Dash the daughter of my host installing the new curtains (before they fell down 2 days later)

Its a steam engine

The first set of students depart along with locals going to do their national service (hence the flag)

The students

Veiw from a bridge in the town center

Kasha

View from Kizh Island (looks better if enlarged)

One of the two main churches on Kizhi

Its chucking it down and I cant get the person to line me up to one side of the church, the boat has just arrived - hence the crowds.

Our boat (hydrofoil) from Petrozavodsk to Kizhi

View from the lake front

Which English Man do I remind you of?

2008-07-03T12:08:00.003+01:00

Well in a poll of two the most popular choice is apparently Hugh Grant - not because of my looks or any alledged use of prostitutes but because I bumble just like his characters (apparently).

I regret to report that my relationship with my hosts took a return for the worst last night when I criticised Russian Pizza. If I said to you that they responded by saying "does it have too much Mayonnaise on it" you will get the generall picture that it was rather an unusual Pizza. More generally by the way the food is very good - and I still havnt had Cabbage. I caused further alarm and distress by drawing the curtains in my room and finding that I had somehow removed the curtain rail from the plaster along with the curtains - cue my assertion that I had only had one bottle of Baltica number 6 (Its a Porter beer and very nice) and that it must have been loose before hand. I might buy some chocolates before I go home.

Soviet Joke

2008-07-03T12:04:00.002+01:00

Stalin, Khrushev and Brezhnev are on a train...

The train stops for no obvious reason and after 10 minutes Stalin stands up and gives an order "shoot the driver"

The train still does not move and another ten minutes pass before Khrushev stands up and gives an order "rehabilitate the driver"

The train still does not move and after a further 10 minutes Brezhnev stands up and gives an order "everyone close the blinds on the windows and pretend the train is moving"

I promise this will be my last intellectual / non funny joke on the blog.

End of the first 4 weeks

2008-07-02T09:46:00.002+01:00

Ok so first of all let me apologise once again that their are no pictures, their are some belters in my camera but i spent 2 hours yesterday trying to get them out of my camera and on the computer and it just doesnt work. All I had to do at home was plug it in and away I went but here its no use. The photos you cant see include pictures of classmates, my accomodation, and a steam engine (sadly not in use but left by the side of the track by way of ornament.

Anyway my first 4 weeks were up last Friday which means that most of my classmates who were doinbg a 4 week course have left - to be replaced by dozens of new people from the University of Birmingham.

Apparently at the end of each 4 weeks we have to put on a show of singin dancing etc to the other students so I had to 'perform' as "Ivan the fool", "Unsuitable husband No 3" and sing Katyusha along with some other students. So I have 4 weeks to look forward to my next dose of ritual humiliation.

We had an excellent goodby party (brilliant photos sorry you cant see them, we discovered that Smokie are a really big band in Russia and my teacher looked at me aghast when I tried to jog her memory of the Smiths with a few song titles. Apparently calling your song "girlfriend in a Coma" is unlikely to translate well. TTFN

Advice for Visitors

2008-06-25T09:47:00.002+01:00

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.

Solstice (Not) in Murmansk

2008-06-23T11:27:00.003+01:00

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

2008-06-23T11:13:00.002+01:00

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.

Football

2008-06-19T08:15:00.002+01:00

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.

Phew what a Scorcher

2008-06-17T13:53:00.002+01:00

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.

2 things everyone knows about the English

2008-06-09T12:50:00.002+01:00

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.

Half an hour to kill so heres a post.

2008-06-06T12:17:00.003+01:00

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.

Indiana Jones

2008-06-05T09:24:00.002+01:00

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

2008-06-05T08:55:00.003+01:00

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.

Just about to leave

2008-05-30T19:41:00.003+01:00

Last chance to post before I set off - I only got my hands on the visa at 1.30 this afternoon. I am feeling a little nervous now but have everything packed and ready. The Uni sent me details on Wednesday of the family I am staying wit, a 50 years old (Mrs) Ivanova which pretty much equates to being told I am staying with a Mrs Smith, got a further email yesterday to tell me its now a different Mrs Ivanova who has a 30 year old daughter. Dont know why but I have this feeling I would have felt more comfortable with the old lady. Please keep any comments clean if you want me to post them.

Thanks for the pressie to everyone at work and sorry I had to dash off earlier today.

Until then I am going to post one of my own photo's just to check I can. It is my front garden and will give me something to look at if I get homesick.

In answer to your questions

2008-05-14T22:53:00.002+01:00

I leave on the 31st

No I havent got my Visa Yet

No I am not going their in search of a wife

No I don't need innoculations

I am staying with a local familly that the University have found for me - but as yet I know nothing about them.

Youre all welcome to visit

No there are no Indian resteraunts that I know of.

News and Weather

2008-04-23T19:53:00.003+01:00

This is the nearest you will get to the local news although fishing and mining stories figure prominently.

http//www.barentsobserver.com/

Webcams for Petrozavodsk (current weather details in the top left hand corner). You can get different views by clicking on the blue lines.

http://webcam.drevlanka.ru/

Photo Gallery

2008-04-23T19:34:00.015+01:00

The University

Where I am going

Old Building

Sculpture on the lake shore

Kizh Island wooden churches (nearby)

The railway station

Surreal snow sculpture

Statue of Lenin

Hello

2008-04-23T19:23:00.001+01:00

Hi this is for anyone wanting to know what I am getting up to, and to reassure my mum that I am still alive.

Not long to go now and I still have my visa to sort out and am waiting for confirmation that my Jury servic has been postponed. So until I have any news pleasde have a look at the photos I have got off the net.