Begin the Beguine
a nice little cole porter ref for you people out there. the relevance is zero but it's on my mp3 player as i type this so i thought i would go with it. it's morning and i sit here typing this at an internet cafe just off tverskaya (right next to pret a manger...and yes, i have managed to fight the urge to go in and have a sanger). no internet at home people. my swanky apple laptop has no build in modem alas so until i get my hands on one i am relegated to internet cafes - which is no big drama. this means no skype for a while.
so moscow. well i arrived in one piece. am set up in a flat between baumanskaya and kransye vorota (for those of you have moscow metro maps to hand) the flat is very russian and spectacularly grotty. but i don't mind all that much as it's a good pitch, nice local neighbourhood and it has a market near by (so that keeps me happy). and i love the fact that when i walk out onto the road i am flanked by 2 sets of golden domes. so very pretty. we are even blessed with a resident one legged drunk who sleeps outside the entrance to the apartment complex. i don't think he has ever been awake for longer than 10 minutes at a time or has ever been to the toilet not in his pants. the smell is pretty special! i have a flatmate. an australian girl. she's a doll. and we are glad we landed with each other - together our russian (which each on our own is spectacularly dodgy) is passable and we seem to navigate the city pretty well. at least we seem to think so...
the course is a little nutz. i have my doubts as i am slowly learning that it's not really about teaching english (some of the things would make you purists out there - and you know who you are - have an heart attack) per se but following a certain formula of how to teach english. i taught my first class on monday and it was dire. but not as bad as i expected and i didn't implode or combust. tuesday however was a different ball game. i totally crashed and burned...and then i did the unforgivable...i swore (it was a little swear. honest. the s-word) it totally endeared me to my students - but not to my teacher. in retrospect it's actually quite amusing. but definitely not at the time. if i manage to pull this off it may actually be the miracle of the century. those looking for english classes need not apply here. for now at least. classmates are ok. i am older than most and have a very different perspective on things...which probably means they won't end up being my best friends - but i couldn't wish for better coursemates.
moscow itself i haven't seen much of - but i hope that'll change over the weekend. what i have seen of it just screams that the city is booming. building everywhere. and everything (within reason) is available. even jaffa cakes. no H&M though.
ok that's it for now as class awaits. i promise i will get better at this....
much love
Cx
so moscow. well i arrived in one piece. am set up in a flat between baumanskaya and kransye vorota (for those of you have moscow metro maps to hand) the flat is very russian and spectacularly grotty. but i don't mind all that much as it's a good pitch, nice local neighbourhood and it has a market near by (so that keeps me happy). and i love the fact that when i walk out onto the road i am flanked by 2 sets of golden domes. so very pretty. we are even blessed with a resident one legged drunk who sleeps outside the entrance to the apartment complex. i don't think he has ever been awake for longer than 10 minutes at a time or has ever been to the toilet not in his pants. the smell is pretty special! i have a flatmate. an australian girl. she's a doll. and we are glad we landed with each other - together our russian (which each on our own is spectacularly dodgy) is passable and we seem to navigate the city pretty well. at least we seem to think so...
the course is a little nutz. i have my doubts as i am slowly learning that it's not really about teaching english (some of the things would make you purists out there - and you know who you are - have an heart attack) per se but following a certain formula of how to teach english. i taught my first class on monday and it was dire. but not as bad as i expected and i didn't implode or combust. tuesday however was a different ball game. i totally crashed and burned...and then i did the unforgivable...i swore (it was a little swear. honest. the s-word) it totally endeared me to my students - but not to my teacher. in retrospect it's actually quite amusing. but definitely not at the time. if i manage to pull this off it may actually be the miracle of the century. those looking for english classes need not apply here. for now at least. classmates are ok. i am older than most and have a very different perspective on things...which probably means they won't end up being my best friends - but i couldn't wish for better coursemates.
moscow itself i haven't seen much of - but i hope that'll change over the weekend. what i have seen of it just screams that the city is booming. building everywhere. and everything (within reason) is available. even jaffa cakes. no H&M though.
ok that's it for now as class awaits. i promise i will get better at this....
much love
Cx
posted by Pigeon Princess at Wednesday, September 13, 2006
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