Wanna hangout?

Latin

2006-08-14T05:45:00.000-07:00

I recently learned that this sentence has duel meaning:

Mater mea mala sus est

The mother pig is eating my apples.
or
My mother is a bad pig.

You wouldn't wanna get that the wrong way round...

Pet hates

2006-07-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

I've never had a pet but theres a few things i hate

People who think its ok to stand you up. Agree to do something with you and then just never show. Without a by or leave.

Employment agencies. They take your money and treat you like shit. always.

Chav dog owners. fancy attiring your long haired alsasian in a studded belt collar and calling him Prince. As though the concept of a "Chav dog" exists

Telephone boxes - obviously

yeah well, theres a whole load of other things but i can't be bothered to talk about that now.

home sweet home

2006-06-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

haven't been to paradise, not living in Leeds.

four day bus ride - interesting people, boring people, quiet people, football. four days on a bus.

I was suprised to find that public phone box charges hadn't tripled in price during my absence, though calls to mobiles - about 30p a second. and black and yellow teoelphone boxes steal your money by saying they're gonna text the person you called. How exactly is that going to help anyone especially as if they don't answer they're obviously busy - yeah i'll just hang out in this phone box waiting for the person i called to attept to ring me back - though they won't be able to cos u can't ring a phone box from a mobile. "someone in a phone box tried to call u"- great, who?

however i have discovered the mega train and late night liscencing. Now its possible to get a good night's sleep by sending your noisy. drunken mates to the pub late at night and its not possible to go anywhere very useful on the mega train

if "not writing a cv" was a way to actively find a job i think now i would be inundated with them. imagine all those jobs just waiting for me...

Ode to Polly Ridley

2006-06-11T01:24:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow i leave Moscow.

My life has become one big "to do" list.

I am going to the park today.

Love me x

high days and holidays

2006-05-31T00:21:00.000-07:00

Its all sunny outside and today im going on a boat trip around the city. and tomorrow im going on an excursion to a forest or a monestry or something like that and on Friday im going to the banya. how russian am i?

milk in camomile tea sucks too..

What is a whotleberry?

2006-05-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

All is sunny and rainy in Moskva. I am panicking about exams that i don't know quite when are cos its all in Russian and struggling with a terrible teacher who loves Pushkin. I have nothing against the chap but shes not a good teacher. She only gets really enthusiastic about teaching 10 minutes after the lesson is supposed to have finished.... But last night i cooked Shephard's pie for my suprised babooshka and i have now been promoted to 'jam status" in our flat. That means im allowed to eat the jam on the table. And wot nice jam it is too. the current jar is apricot and blackberry. Thick and sweet but not too sweet. My bab is a true jam maker.

In Russia its common to put jam in your tea.

high on vitamin D

2006-05-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

yeah the sun came out...

you know what, they give you a holiday here but before you know it they've taken away one of your weekend days to make up for it - how does that make sense - have Monday off ut come in Saturday. Thats not an extra holiday its moving the weekend.

blank film

2006-05-03T02:10:00.000-07:00

Im a terrible photographer i take pictures of absolutely nothing. It is an expensive hobby for such terrible results. Its spring - they painted everything - did i tell you that already. i don't know i have lost my memory skills may i'll sue the peter and his gerbil. Kevin your letter was fantastic

Love me.

Spring

2006-04-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

Technically the first day of spring is the first of March Straight after pancake week has finished (yeah a whole week of pancakes - classy huh?) however, thats pushing it a bit because its still very difficult to see the other side of the street due to being shoulder high in snow. Now that May is in sights it is definitely spring. the snow has been carted away to a big snow compound where its kept till next year and now everything is being painted. Last week everyday of the week was a different colour - Monday blue things got painted, Tuesday green things, Wednesday yellow things - you get the picture. EVERYTHING gets painted. Saturday they painted the front doors to our row of flats and Saturday night i wasn't locked out but painted out. The door was stuck fast. i thought i'd become really weak...

Unfortunately i have to go and write about Peter the great - why was he so great?

bye

Out from hibination

2006-04-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

I mistook myself for a small hedgehog and didn't use the computer for a month or two. I am not dead im sorry if i worried you. Ben, i watched wedding crashers in Russian the other day - they call it "Uninvited guests." i forgot how bad it was. We tried to see a film this morning with the Chav Serbian geezer whos in "Behind enemy lines" this morning but it was sold out. Yeah 11am on Sunday and sold out its gonna be a great movie i think.... we saw Scary Movie 4 instead. Its Russian Easter tomorrow. Stew and I have made easter bunnies for the occasion. oh yeah its Saturday today. Tonight i am dancing in a restaurant beacause our teacher thinks we are good enough. There is no snow anymore. the trucks came and shuttled it away and no more fell. now i am a photographer, i will be back in London in 2 months.

love me. x

Riga

2006-02-18T04:31:00.000-08:00

i had all sorts of things to say but my head is still moving as though it were a train and my eyes are having problems connecting with keyboard letters as a result. Soon im off to explore Riga. It will be better this time - i can talk with more people - i have perfected the art of pointing and i know where my bus stop is... Im sorry this isn't interesting i shall go away now.

poison poison poison tasty fish

2006-02-15T06:32:00.000-08:00

i had this yellow lumminous pudding from the canteen the other day - i was bound by my NYR to try it but it nearly killed me and the 6 other people who were curious. I don't know what it was it was so horrible. I don't even know if it was supposed to be a pudding cos it was in the salad section but it wasn't salad. On a better note i have found the most amazing smoked cheese from the van outside my metro stop, its not square its cylindrical - Annners im writing you a letter telling you all about it.

see ya soon x

wanna hangout?

2006-02-15T06:28:00.000-08:00

Im gonna b in Leeds next week. so if ya fancy hanging out i'll probably b there tues, wed and thur. I need to go for a curry, eat chips from cantors and drink a nice cup o tea. join me if you fancy it....

picnic, pochta, post

2006-02-08T00:57:00.000-08:00

I haven't sent them yet- cos i haven't worked out how but i have found 5 types of picnic bar. This country is amazing. I ate one as well so now theres 4. it wasn't great. weather has stopped at a steady -20 its ok i can deal with that. went sledging last weekend it was so much fun. thanks loads for everyone who has been sending letters - my babooshka has stopped asking who they are all from she just unceromoniously plonks them in my room now. she is a very strange old lady but not unnice. she talks to me a lot and sometimes we hangout in the kitchen and disscus our favourite teas. hers is "Mrs Grey" - it took me a while to work out that that meant Lady Grey.

Andy - thanx for the calendar it is fantastic!

really cold

2006-01-21T01:52:00.000-08:00

outside its too cold to breathe and the wind makes ur eyes stream and then it freezes immediately. its unpleasant. People don't go out unless they have to. tea and cake inside. when u do go out u have to know exactly what it is ur doing and where it is. U leg it from the metro to the shop/ cafe/ metro /wherever ur going and then check that u have everyone ur supposed to have (dressed in every layer of clothing you posses with hat and scarf and hood and jacket hood gives u only tunnel vision and if its snowing its best to close ur eyes anyway.) Then u can revise ur plan/ think again. The cold makes u (me) pee a lot and u just can't function. at all.

MY pOSTcODe is
117485

Andy are u planning on writing to me?? that'd b exciting.

NEW ADDRESS!!

2006-01-13T06:35:00.000-08:00

117485
Г. Москва
УЛ. Волгина 15/2
Поуп Хелена К143
RUSSIA

Yeah so thats where to send stuff from as from 14th Jan. xx

New Years Resolutions

2006-01-13T06:17:00.000-08:00

Well not really Ben, but i am going to attempt to buy more weird things from the kiosks. I had you in mind when i thought of this because i think u'd b quite disappointed in me at present. I give up much too easily - i must learn to point more and shout louder. Thanks for the post-card-a-thon. Its brill-yant.

Well Happy New Year everyone. I had a wicked time in Greece it was + degrees and when it stuff fell from the sky it was liquid!! Patras is a cool city in the winter you can walk around and when you look one way the whole end of the street is a mountain and when you look the other direction the whole end of the street is a bit of a big boat. Its not New year till the boats have sung. They parp like happy boats. for ages. And then it is the next year. Im nearly Greek now cos i have a Koboloi i can sit for hours in smokey cafes and pretend im cool....

I am moving house tomorrow. I move in with a babooshka called Ludmilla Vasilnova. Its a bit further away than my old place but its (hopefully) without the unrelentant bed bugs. And my friends can come and visit me - hurrah. And not a day too late considering.

Thanks for all the letters and cards Its been great getting stacks of them! I had a whole pile when i returned from Greece - a good suprise.

Pyat Bluda

2005-12-31T11:32:00.000-08:00

tomas - i reckon i could manage 5 courses! I haven't got your letter yet, i assume you received mine?? I cannot for the life of me think what i wrote but i assure you my 2nd will be so much longer. I can argue with the nichelnik of my obshizhity, get the right colour packet of butter and tell the average man on the the street that i most sicerely do not know the answers to any of his questions.

I made it out of the building - i don#t really understand how it was very early and very cold and it just kinda happened. The plane was bizarrely quite exciting and Athens was 30 degrees warmer then Moscow. I met old friends and new squats and am now staying with A in P. Well, i will write more at a time very convienient to me. THat just leaves me to say a final goodbye to this year and indeed Xronia Polla to you all as they say in these parts. May you all find excitings things, new ideas, old things, good health, good friends and happiness,..... till next time, adieu

formalities

2005-12-27T07:02:00.000-08:00

Im so excited im going to Greece tomorrow. la la lala la ala la. I have a small problem. Im not allowed to leave my flat until the phone bill has been paid or at least guarenteed by someone who is staying here. Now for a week i've been arguing with the administrators that i shouldn't have to pay my flatmateds phone bill. Beki and i do not have a fone in our room. Why should we pay?? Now they just want a name or the cash. My flatmate is never in and i hardly speak to her because of this. I have told her the situation though. So the administrators also know the situation. so they want to see her asap cos i want to leave tomorrow. Now im not allowed to leave till its been done theres security everywhere - they will notice an attempted escape especially if i leave at 5 am. But NOW they won't let me pay it either, "no no your flatemate has to pay it." Its like - "i don't care anymore about the phone bill i just want to leave - how complicated do you have to make it!!"

not to worry eh?

I signed up for a greek course at the embassy yesterday. I had to do it in a silly mixture of greek and Russian but i got the word for embassy and vacuum cleaner mixed up and so just kept repeating "Are the courses held at the greek vacuum cleaner?" that didn't help the situation.

Ben your letter hasn't got here but i am writing you one back anyway - hope you are all ok, love, me

Im stilll alive

2005-12-24T07:25:00.000-08:00

Hi im in the the post office and rapidly running out of time. I am still here. I've started to read War and peace -its really good. I'd never before contemplated even looking at such a big book - im way too lazy but it is really good. Its been all crazy here - many shifts at work, parties to go to, people to say good bye to - many trips tothe airport, shoplifting - they tried to accuse me of it - it wasn't me of corse but it was difficult to explain - we haven't really touched on "What to do if it looks like you shoplifted but didn't actually, at uni."

I have to go now cos the times up and i need to bake a pie. Merry Christmas...........

Chekov is boring

2005-11-29T04:55:00.000-08:00

If you could be a character in a chekov play which one would you be?

peculiarities

2005-11-10T10:59:00.000-08:00

to buy a train ticket out of Moscow you need to show all you visa and passport documents - which means, dad, i cannot buy tickets on your behalf. to buy a simcard you need to show your passport, give them a couple of passpot photos and fill out a sixteen page form. If you want to buy a gun you can do so easily at any kiosk for about 800 roubles no questions asked. If you want your gun to be predominately made of gold or ivory then you need to go to the supermarket.

no punctuation

2005-11-04T05:27:00.000-08:00

mum can you read it now question mark

sometimes i wonder why running down the esculaters in the metro here isnt an olympic sport take my advice kids dont even attempt to race a russian on the esculators you re going to loose they are so fast and wo betide anyone who tries to run down the esculator without going absoulutely top speed cos believe me there will be 10 others behind you trying to over take but its just not possible cos there are a million people sensibly standing on the righthand side full stop sometimes theres a gap in the line of sensibly standing people and if as a slow runner you dont jump in there there will be the 10 people behind you all trying to over take at once full stop its scary stuff full stop its so bad for the knees full stop

its plus 10 today positively sun bathing weather fs it is a holiday today i think today is celebrating the end of communism they moved it from the 7th this year but im not sure i quite understood the explaination our teacher gave us but we get a day off which is the important part fs

there are so many things to write about but right now i have forgotten them all fs while im thinking does anyone have chris dirt s address cos i think he moved but i don t have his address right now question mark

Tapes - oops iwas trying to fool you all into thinking there was no punctuation on this keyboard - but actually there is really. The only thing is there are no question marks. Well actually there are question marks but they're on top of the 7 and to the right and i don't know how to get that.

They love tapes in this country - its great. I have borrowed a walkman and have begun to listen to Russian stories on tape. Unfortunately i couldn't read the case with the first tape i bought so i didn't realise it was in fact "Robinson Cruisoe the musical!" Its a slightly serieal experience standing on a jam packed train at 9 in the morning with Robinson Cruisoe the musical blaring out at full volume. i am beginning to beable to sing along. Its quite funky. If anyone wants to make us a tape and send it to us (address somewhere on here) of cool things to listen to then that'd be wicked cos musch as i love musical childrens stories in Russian urm its not the best music/things to listen to!

On that note - ha ha - I'm outta here. Ben i didn't get your email, unfortunately but i will send you one soon,

lots of love....

2005-10-30T02:28:00.000-08:00

Hi to all of you who come here through Antonis' photo thing. Fraid i can't really do photographs cos here nothing fits in the lens - everything is too big and i am well aware that there are times when a blurred headless person and half a building can be considered "arty,"
however, it is rarely so when i do it. For those of you that don't come from A's photo thing maybe you should think about going there next :)

http://www.fotographie.org.uk/secondbunch/index3.html

Its plus 2 today - sun is shinning - possitively sunbathing weather. Ok im running outta time again - this wasn't very well thought out -

matt can you tell Mand D i will call them soon, love and trucks........

Pervi Sneg - First snow

2005-10-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

I know im not very prolific at this blog writing thing but i find it hard to believe that the only posting that has sparked any kind of conversation is the one showing my address.

Yesterday it snowed - for a whole 5 minutes i was excited to see the flakes outside the window. then i left the house. brrrr. there was several inches by the end of the day. Its slushy and unsightly and slippery and cold. Its only autumn. Right now there is driving sleet, the ground is solid the puddles are frozen. there is a chilling wind. "tis bitter cold." I walk around covered from head to foot and the cold blows right through me. My fingers have cracked and i think im suffering from scurvy.

Ok its not that dramatic but i think the scurvy parts true. Our balcony has turned from a fridge to a freezer over night - Anyone for a frozen beer??

School is going well - i still can't say much but i think this is normal - though im pro at describing what ive eaten for breakfast. My teacher hasn't threatened to kill me this week and i am enjoying the work.

Please feel free to write interesting comments, lots of love....

my address

2005-10-18T05:52:00.000-07:00

Maybe you can't read this but this is where i live for all those keen letter writers out there.....

115419
Россия
Г. Москва
Ул. Шабаловска д.36
Поуп Хелена
Russia

Name is included

Eeyore

2005-10-18T05:34:00.000-07:00

Its the beginning of the end the temperature has dropped and today it looked like rain, no more fresh sunny mornings, no more football on Sundays its all gloom and doom from here on.

Jumpers.

I went on an excursion to the ancient village of Suzdal on Saturday. I enjoyed the bus trip it took several hours to get there and back. It was my first trip out of the city. It gets colder away from the smog. The town itself is very small though houses 14 churches and a monestary. It was quite a bizarre trip, made more so by the language barrier (it was all in Russian - of course) and it was quite commercialised, everywhere we stoped - a viewing point in the middle of nowhere, or a toilet stop carpark, or where ever there was always stalls of the same tourist tat made in China. But really weird things like wooden bells? There was this crazy guy in a tower near the monastry and his magic power was bell ringing. He was a one-man-band disguesed as a bell ringer. he rang 16 bells. Really big ones and small ones all in this tower. He had to do it with his hands and feet. From the ground he looked like a puppet. dancing. and making a terrible noise.
But the tour guide was so proud of him.

Yeah 10 more...

2005-09-30T03:57:00.000-07:00

Just stumbled upon a new emailing joint. A little bit swanky for my taste but hey new things is good. It is the start of another weekend and so everything is full of promise. Tomorrow i will check out Botannical gardens and river trips. Weather is beatiful - sun every day, no rain. T-shirts all the way. The stray dogs that hangout on mass at the metro station bask in the sun all day. They never bother you, but they're always there - just chillin. At some metro stations they all go on adventures together - crossing the road, finding water, whatever... - if i'm ever reincarnated i want to come back as one of them. I wonder if the ones at our metro stop would mind if i joined their gang. What do you reckon their iniciation ceromany is? Who knows?

Another 10 minutes

2005-09-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

No time to construct ordered sentences - on a timer..... must learn to touch type.....Just been on a sight seeing trip to St Peter's Monastry. As usual we walked off the metro in a different place and walked for what seemed like miles in the wrong direction! Traffic, roadworks, noise was all contrasted by a sudden tranquillity as you walk into the monastry grounds. Its really brightly painted red with green turrets. It kinda looks ridiculous. Its an interesting place and the people were very friendly even though we didn't kno what they were trying to tell us. I was mistaken for male so didn't have to do the flower ritual thing that all the other women had to do. Shaved heads have their uses. There is so much gold inside and chandeliers and stuff and icons and madstuff like that. And babushkas screaming every now and again and some priest guy with the biggest beard.

Last Friday we went on a school trip to a honey market - there was so much honey and you could taste it all and everything like 100s of different types. We made ourselves feel sick in the first 10 minutes cos we tasted so much. We are in a really low class. We draw pictures of rockets and alien objects and act things out a lot. We also get no half days - cos we have loads more to catch up with - this is a bad thing. There is much too much to see and do and often its much too tiring to even think about it all. If you think posting a letter in Chapeltown is complicated you wanna try it here - i queued for a good 40 minutes 3 times until i realised that particular counter only dealt with pensions. When i work out how to get stamps i'll start posting letters - i have written some - honest!

Right times up - send us a line when you get the time, Lots of love.......

Beginnings

2005-09-24T01:50:00.000-07:00

Its a beautiful sunny Saturday morning - t-shirt weather if you walk quickly enough. I set about doing some chores this morning. Today my metro card works - i do not have to resort to joining the "My metro card doesn't work today" queue where some cross babushka will shout at you and then proceed to spit and stamp on your card until the machine accepts it. After two weeks here i do not know quite whether i like living here - there are good things and bad things but most things are just really odd. I have two favourite metro stops - Tretyakovskaya and Vorobevi Gori. At the first you can get lost very easily but once you've worked it out there is a weird boat staue thing, a rather run don yet picturesque church and of course my favourite internet cafe and the second is a stop in a bridge over the river. Its cool.

The most astounding thing about Moscow is the opposites - beautiful buildings stuck right beside 60s concrete blocks, regimented trees and proper parks, Amazing dining halls with chandalliers and gold everywhere juxtaposed with an ABBA soundtrack blurting out from the speakers!

There are many bad snacks on the roadsides. Dont eat the cheese pies - they're very bad - always stick to greek ones in greece. They do these pretzel shaped things - some are nice. They are sweetbread things that spin round on a machine thing. Most are iced but you get them with nuts and cheese and stuff. If you pick a bad one though you get landed with luminous green/yellow - really unappetizing. There are jam pies - they're alright if you like bad jam. Russian soups are really good(usually) . Chocolate is terrible, i don't care what Russian people say - it really is!

wel only 1 minute left so i'll leave it here, take care - ansd have a nice time Mum and Dad,
Love Hel

Moskva...

2005-09-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

Well this is it... The train pulls into some station in Moscow and the trumpets sound (no really - they do) and here i an - Moskva. i have 11 minutes to tell you about a week. My goodness - what do i say. it really is fashionable to dress like the Lenningrad Cowboys!! Hot chocolate fans should get themselves here right now and those that have any addiction to the ole' PS2 - the same. The metro is like being in that little box of a games console. Confusing and all the same and not sure if you've been here before?? And terrifiying too but im not quite sure why. i really have lots to say but being a little enibriated i can't think what. It is realy going very well and hope u are well too, Lots of love....

Grumps from Riga

2005-09-10T04:52:00.000-07:00

Everything the helpful woman at Warsaw bus station told me was incorrect - time, destination and price. However, i boarded an earlier bus that went a greater distance for a lesser price.

Cash back.

Riga train station has nothing on Warsaw bus station. Firstly there is nowhere to sit down. Its full of cops that move you on all the time. Even from the waiting room. Where am i supposed to wait 10 hours, with my heavy luggage, for my train? Secondly there are no good snack shops Thirdly when you give all your polish notes to the money exchange woman she gives you a couple of coins in return. Its roibosh. No-one understands my Russian, everyones unhelpful and i just got thrown out of the women's toilet. I'm not coming back here in a hurry.

Lift off

2005-09-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

Borded bus yesterday at Victoria. First change Greenline bus station?? It took hours I could have walked it quicker. Dover was warm and sunny which is a first for me It was oddly pleasant. I do like Dover. The road you come down from London - the A whatever it is, just shoots out into a winding ramp thing like a playmobil toy and there you are incacerated whilst your strip searched in one of those customs box things. The channel was choppy, Belgium was tedious, Holland unrememerable and Germany dark. Poland was a welcome change. I've never been before. My excitment didn't impress the polish woman sitting next to me. It was 3am.

From Warsaw bus station you can go to Hel. Buses go from stop number 2 at 0900, 1015, 1200, 1300, 1345 and 1900 hrs. It is a lovely bus station. Very calm. No noisy announcer shouting constantly. And you can sit facing any direction on one of its many long benches. It is 36 C today. It costs 1.50 zl to pay for the toilet, water 4zl for 1.5 litres. There are many activities to be checked out - bars, lovely internet cafe and feng shui. People walk slowly. I have lost my list of uesful polish phrases but found some italian ones. My polish is unfortunately limited to - hello, where, ticket and moth. i haven't used ALL those words yet.

Oh dear its Friday.....

5,4,3,2,1....

2005-09-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

After a 2 hour cycle ride accross London, commencing 5am, i find myself 20th in the q outside the Russian Embassy. Contrary to other peoples experiences that u are in the same position as the other people and everyone will talk to you and u'll have friends for life, i find myself between some very nice brazzilians who, unfortunately, speak only to each other (in portugese) and a man doing advanced su doku puzzles. Who does hard stuff like that at 7 in the morning?? By 8am i have been singing "i would walk 500 miles and i would walk 500 more" for three hours solidly. (i blame u Andy.) In actual fact the cycling means that i couldn't walk half a mile let alone 1000 as the song suggests. Also im dying for a piss. I get to the front at 10. they take my passport and my money. I return at 4 they give me my passport complete with my very expensive sticker. I have a visa.

My first quest is to seek out Moscow's 4 types of picnic bar. I leave London tomorrow. I will keep u posted.

My favourite Good Buy

2005-09-04T02:47:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I bought a game called Fooling Nosey from a charity shop in Leeds. It advertises itself as a fascinating game that you can play again and agian, rekindling strong emotions and is for the least used of our senses - smell. It does in fact contain 14 little bottles of red artificial chemicallised dye. The aim of the game is to recognise what flavour each one of them is - apparently if you get 4 right you are doing very well. In reality some of them are obscure beyond recognition and most some of them are plain horrible. The game isn't very interesting, takes an inordinate amount of time, you can't play it repeatedly and it gives you a red nose and a headache.

the first bit

2005-08-10T00:29:00.000-07:00

Hello, this is my first time. Please be gentle with me. I hope you are all well and if you stumble here by accident then you stumble somewhere else pretty quick cos im fairly certain that if you don't know me it won't be particularly interesting. For those of you who didn't receive an email this will be my kind of keeping up to date travel diary thing - read it if you want, email me if you want. I have every intention of not emailing you. Unless of course you are extremely interesting.

Love and trucks.....